Anyone who is at all familiar with genre writing knows the works of James Herbert. The British author who wrote 23 novels including The Rats, Haunted, and The Fog, died yesterday at 69 years of age.

Four of his works were made into films -- most notably his book The Rats that depicts London infested with flesh-eating, mutant rodents. The novel sold out its first 1974 printing in three weeks and was loosely adapted into the movie Deadly Eyes directed by Robert Clouse.

Herbert inspired countless horror writers, including Neil Gaiman, who remembers the author:

“Jim’s [sales] numbers were extraordinary and he was very grumpy that nobody noticed. He’d point out that he had outsold Stephen King in the UK. He was a bestselling author which I think also meant that he felt he wasn’t getting the attention that he deserved. He wanted the things he wasn’t getting. He wanted...