For a number of different reasons, HATER has been on my mind a lot recently. I was at the BLACK COUNTRY BOOK CON this Sunday, and had a number of great conversations about the books. More than anything else I’ve written, the series seems to have had a lasting impact on folks who’ve read it. I never get tired of hearing readers’ reactions to that scene in book one, and I always get a kick when people who’ve made it through all six books realise just how closely the events of HATER, DOG BLOOD, and THEM OR US are entwined with ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING, ALL ROADS END HERE, and CHOKEHOLD. As an author, I don’t think I gets any better than being able to chat face-to-face with readers to whom your work has really meant something. It’s humbling. It’s the greatest complement.
So you might think it odd if I tell you that most of my recent thoughts about HATER have tended to be quite negative.
From a practical perspective, I’m disappointed that the books aren’t as readily available as I’d like. It’s no great surprise really as they’ve been around for a long time and all books have a shelf life (no pun intended). Apart from their age, the main reason for this I think is that publishing plans have always been influenced to an extent by the proposed screen adaptation. As you probably know, this is something that has been on/off/on again/off again for the best part of a couple of decades, and what happens with the project is wholly out of my hands. It’s frustrating. For the record on that score, there’s been a huge amount of positive movement over the last couple of years, but I don’t have any concrete updates to share. For the time being, I’m in limbo.
But I think what really saddens me is that, almost 20 years since I started writing the original novel, its themes continue to resonate. In many ways, they’re even more relevant today, and that’s a pretty depressing thought. Those heady days of summer 2006 when HATER was first published feel like such a distant, innocent time in comparison to the polarised, volatile, violent, war-strewn, division-filled, overheating, truth twisting world of today. And whatever happens in the US over the next few weeks, months, and years, I can’t see the situation improving any time soon. HATER was always about reducing the reasons we fight to a basic, instinctual level and trying to show what the inevitably grim conclusion of that would be. Sadly, the bizarre events and cartoonish violence of the series no longer feels so far-fetched. I never explained the cause of the HATE – it didn’t matter in the context of the books – but I always had it in mind that it was due to a genetic predisposition or quirk, something like that. I never would have expected the trigger to be ideologies and intransigence. Twenty years ago, that would have seemed preposterous. Not so much anymore.
One thing that’s remained constant all this time has been the enduring impact of the original HATER cover with it’s bloody scrawl – designed and assembled in double-quick time one summer afternoon using my youngest daughter’s poster paints. Folks have always seemed to enjoy walking around wearing HATER t-shirts, so I’ve made a range of items available with the iconic logo. You can check them out here. For no other reason than to bring a smile to my grumpy face, the range has been updated to include the cute little fella shown below.
To find out more about the HATER books, click here. And as soon as I hear anything more about the future of the series or the screen adaptation, I’ll share it here. In the meantime, just keep an eye on the TV news – it’s becoming increasingly indistinguishable from dystopian fiction. If you squint hard enough, you could be watching HATER play out in real time.
