For The Night is Dark: Ben Jones

Today’s victim is Benedict. J. Jones.  Benedict is a writer from South East London who mainly works in the horror and crime veins.  He has been influenced by the work of HP Lovecraft, Clive Barker, Graham Greene, Arthur Conan Doyle, Chester Himes, Stephen King, Joel Lane, Paul Meloy, Robert Harris, Erich Maria Remarque and John Christopher.  A lot of his fiction deals with London and the oddities that are found in this ancient urban sprawl.

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Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?

I’m a thirty something year old writer coming out of South East London.  I mainly write horror and crime, usually a combination of the two, but have been known to produce westerns and other bits as well.

Do you prefer the term Horror, Weird Fiction or Dark Fiction?

Honestly as an umbrella term all of them are fine but for my own work I’d have to go with ‘dark fiction’ as that probably describes the horror, the crime and even the westerns that I write.

Who are some of your favourite authors?

Always a difficult one but I’d go for Clive Barker, Ken Bruen, Ray Banks, Stephen Bacon, H P Lovecraft, Robert Howard, Graham Greene, Chester Himes, Christopher Isherwood.  More recently Frank Bill and Adam Nevill have really made me look at my own work with an eye to upping my game.

Can you tell us anything about your story in the anthology?

‘Hungry is the Dark’ is a crime/horror combo that’s probably the bastard love child of ‘The Limey’ and ‘The Tattooist’.  There are elements of redemption and a physical embodiment of man’s worst urges – if that doesn’t make me sound as though I’ve vanished up my own arse…  

What is the first thing that pops into your mind when someone says South African horror?

Joe Mynhardt!  That and stories my Dad told me about when he lived over there with my Mum.

Why did you decide to submit a story to this anthology?

It was probably the work that I saw Joe put into his own collection and the vision that he had developed for Crystal Lake.  As soon I saw that I knew I had to try and get involved.

And other than yourself who would you like to see open and close the anthology?

Honestly any out of Gary McMahon, William Meikle, Stephen Bacon, Mark West, Joe Mynhardt, Ray Cluley or Carole Johnstone.  They’re the authors I’m really looking forward to reading but that’s only because I know all their work very well.  I’m sure that everyone else in there is going to smash it as well.  Really looking forward to seeing the completed anthology.

Could you recommend one of your own stories to the readers?

Well, I’d advise readers who don’t know me to seek out the free stuff online first (there’s a fair bit out there) and if they like that then go for either of the Dark Minds anthologies I’ve appeared in or go for ‘All Due Respect’ from Full Dark City press which has my story ‘Habeus Corpus’ in it.


The Dark is coming! Call your friends over. You don't want to go through this alone. You will be taken back into the past, down to the depths of the ocean and across the borderline between our world and the next. You will see snapshots from the lives of small children, old-time cockney gangsters and aimless stoners. You will journey into the darkest house on the darkest street, wander hospital basements and take a flight in the comfort of first class. You will meet Mr Stix. This tome includes stories by some of the best horror writers around: G. N. Braun, Carole Johnstone, Armand Rosamilia, Daniel I. Russell, Scott Nicholson, Gary McMahon, Joe Mynhardt, Kevin Lucia, Tracie McBride, Stephen Bacon, Benedict J. Jones, Blaze McRob, John Claude Smith, Tonia Brown, Mark West, Robert W. Walker, Jeremy C. Shipp, Jasper Bark, William Meikle and Ray Cluley. Are you scared of the dark? You will be.

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