Coffinmaker's Blues: Collected Writings On Terror

by Stephen Volk, David Pirie (Introduction)

A Collection of Essays

306 pages, Hardcover

Published July 1, 2019

Reviews

[David Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a diary, nor is it a selection of reviews but rather something much better. Stephen Volk wrote a series of articles for Black Static magazine and this book presents them in all their glory. Volk is an excellent writer and is incredibly knowledgeable about the film and TV industries, as you'd expect from someone who's career has been as long as his. These essays sum up the highs and lows of being a screenwriter, and what is most striking is the issues discussed are still relevant, even though some of the essays are over 15 years old. That's not a long time, obviously, but it seems to be in the film world. Volk's frustrations with studio execs and other clueless types who interfere in film making is palpable, as is his joy when people get what he's trying to do.

This might make it sound like a tough read, but it's not: it's full of humour as well as anger. If you are interested in Volk's work, then you probably already have this. If you are interested in screenwriting as a career - or any other type of writing career - then this is an essential read.

I loved it.

[Dan Howarth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some brilliant insight coupled with some barbed wit. Superb.

[Christopher Teague · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a “how to” book on screenwriting, nor is it a diary: Volk was given two pages each issue by Andy Cox, the editor of The Third Alternative/Black Static, to essentially write what took his fancy at that moment in time, and as such it was the very first thing I read when each issue of the magazine dropped though my letterbox.

When Volk decided to hang up his coffinmaker’s overalls, I was saddened but he left on a high – and this compendium contains two postscripts which weren’t published in the magazine, but are utterly on the ball in terms of the world today.

If though there is one negative it is this: sadly, the author credits the wrong editor for a particular story mentioned in the book. Modesty forbids me for naming the correct editor.

Overall, a great collection of entertaining essays that chart over 30 years of being a being a professional screenwriter.

[Steven West · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of essays from Volk's Black Static Magazine column (2004-2016), with powerful postscripts from 2018/19, begins with a celebration of great ghost stories and ends with musings on the horror of us all - via Poe's very last work. In between are funny, maddening, moving, horrifying, hugely personal reflections on the TV, film and publishing industries, writer's block, Hitchcock, Peter Cushing, movie violence, Dennis Wheatley, working with Ken Russell and William Friedkin, children in horror, CGI, religion and - with typical frankness and insight - Volk's own anxiety and ailing mother. Plus so much more...an outstanding read, worth multiple revisits.

[Phil Sloman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is essential reading. More than simply a look at the creative industry over many decades (though the insights are so valuable), Coffinmaker's Blues gives us a rawness which tells us to question and be angry with the world, but to also take what we see and use it to inspire us to be better in our own works and perhaps in general. It did what any great book should do, be it fiction or non-fiction, it made me think.

[CHAD HADEN · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of essays on the business of writing and horror

[Peter Coleborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here are 50+ reviews mostly first published in the pages of the UK's finest horror magazine Black Static, beginning in 2004 and ending in 2016, with two new essays from 2018. Stephen Volk is perhaps best known as a screenwriter (eg, Ghostwatch); he is also a very fine writer of short stories (check out his collections -- you will be well rewarded for doing so). His quality as a writer shines through on these pages as he dissects and analyses the (behind the scenes) business of making TV and movies. He covers so much ground and so many films, it makes me realise that I have many, many more DVDs to buy and watch (if only I had the time). This is a must read for students of film, both those starting out and the people already enmeshed in that murky business.