James Herbert, OBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 8 April 1943, London) is a best-selling English horror

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 writer who originally worked as the art director

Art director

The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....

 of an advertising agency. He is a full-time writer who also designs his own book covers and publicity.
Herbert lives near Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

 with his wife and daughters. He is the son of a stall-holder at London's Brick Lane Market

Brick Lane Market

Brick Lane Market is a London market centred around Brick Lane, Tower Hamlets. It is located at the northern end of Brick Lane and along Cheshire Street in east London. It operates every Sunday from around 8am to 2pm....

. He has two brothers; Peter, also a market trader (retired) and John, an insurance broker.
His first two books, The Rats

The Rats (novel)

The Rats is a horror novel written by British author James Herbert. This was Herbert's first novel and included graphic depictions of death and mutilation. A film adaptation was made in 1982, called Deadly Eyes. A 1985 adventure game for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum based on the book was...

and The Fog, are disaster novels with man-eating Giant Black Rats in the first and an accidentally released chemical weapon in the second.