Don't Fear the Reaper
The grim fellow with the Goth wardrobe and the sharp scythe came calling for media mogul Felix Dennis yesterday after what the press inevitably termed a 'battle' with cancer.
I worked for Dennis publishing more than a decade ago. Felix rang me at my desk, having read my debut novel back when I was published as Francis rather than as F.G. and hadn't yet started writing scary stories. 'If I know anything,' he said; 'and I do - you won't be working for me for very much longer.'
That was true. After 12 months, he fired me.
Which isn't really the point. The point is that Felix Dennis had a passion for trees. During his lifetime he created a forest in which thousands of acres of native broadleaf English trees were planted. He used his wealth to transform the landscape around the area in which he lived. He changed its character in a fundamental way. He restored what was there before the clearances a thousand years ago.
In so doing, he became the inspiration for my character Saul Abercrombie in my novel, The Memory of Trees. That story started to take root in my mind shortly after the suits at Dennis handed me my P45. At first, all I had was an arboreal specialist staring at a stained glass depiction in a ruined church in a wilderness. But roots grow and strengthen and spread, and eventually I had the whole story.
Saul endures a grisly fate in The Memory of Trees. But that wasn't my revenge on Felix Dennis. It was just what the story - and his limitless hubris - seemed to require. I liked Felix. I think almost everyone who got to meet him did. And I'm grateful for the inspiration his woodland ambition provided me with.
I worked for Dennis publishing more than a decade ago. Felix rang me at my desk, having read my debut novel back when I was published as Francis rather than as F.G. and hadn't yet started writing scary stories. 'If I know anything,' he said; 'and I do - you won't be working for me for very much longer.'
That was true. After 12 months, he fired me.
Which isn't really the point. The point is that Felix Dennis had a passion for trees. During his lifetime he created a forest in which thousands of acres of native broadleaf English trees were planted. He used his wealth to transform the landscape around the area in which he lived. He changed its character in a fundamental way. He restored what was there before the clearances a thousand years ago.
In so doing, he became the inspiration for my character Saul Abercrombie in my novel, The Memory of Trees. That story started to take root in my mind shortly after the suits at Dennis handed me my P45. At first, all I had was an arboreal specialist staring at a stained glass depiction in a ruined church in a wilderness. But roots grow and strengthen and spread, and eventually I had the whole story.
Saul endures a grisly fate in The Memory of Trees. But that wasn't my revenge on Felix Dennis. It was just what the story - and his limitless hubris - seemed to require. I liked Felix. I think almost everyone who got to meet him did. And I'm grateful for the inspiration his woodland ambition provided me with.
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