Location, location, location

Visiting the end of the world Scream Magazine issue 8

Location, location, location

You've heard me talking about Lowestoft a lot recently. Ryan Fleming, one of Moody's Survivors, visited the town after reading THEM OR US and, armed with the book, a local, and a tourist's guide of the area (written by me), he took photographs of some key locations. The very talented David Naughton-Shires (who you've met before if you've been a regular visitor here, and who you'll be meeting again very shortly) then worked a little of his post-apocalyptic magic on the pics. I used them to illustrate my presentation last week, and I thought it would be good to share some of them here. Welcome to Lowestoft!

This is the far end of Hinchcliffe's compound. Continue down the road and you'll soon reach the magistrate's court, the building where Hinchcliffe bases himself – aligning himself with the pre-war positions of authority.

A little further still, and you're getting close to two important landmarks. First up is Gulliver – the wind turbine which towers over Lowestoft. In THEM OR US, Hinchcliffe talks about Gulliver as a beacon of hope, but Danny's not so sure: "Hinchcliffe reckons he's going to get it operational again one day soon, so the town will have a steady power supply rather than having to rely on generators and the like. I hope he's right. For now it just stands here useless: one of its massive blades broken, its internal mechanics and wiring no doubt completely fucked. It's a huge white elephant: a constant reminder of what this place used to be."

And very close to Gulliver is an enormous Bird's Eye food factory. In the book, it's ominously referred to just as The Factory. I'll not reveal what's going on inside there, suffice to say, they're not making fish fingers…

Carry on along the coast, heading out of town, and you can walk for miles alongside the sea wall. This is the route Hinchcliffe takes when he leads Danny to the hotel where… again, I'm not going to tell you what the hotel's being used for. You'll have to read the book.

And finally, a couple more locations. First, the library where I spoke last week. To me, the mention of the library is one of the saddest parts of the novel, which clearly illustrates how far we've fallen as a species. Danny says that books are "used to fuel fires more than to fuel minds these days."

And then there's Southwold. The place where Danny begins to realise that… sorry – can't tell you that in case you haven't read the book. It's also where he faces his final… no – can't tell you that, either.