British-born Alex Finlayson, who didn’t learn to read until he was 11, is now a high school teacher and has recently published his second novel.
When Mr Finlayson finally learned to read there was a genre that quickly captured his attention: horror.
“I didn’t learn to read until I was 11 years old – I just wasn’t interested,” Mr Finlayson said.
“And it seemed that the older I got without reading, the more childish the books they tried to entice me with.
“Then my uncle inadvertently introduced me to Stephen King and I never looked back.
“I went from struggling to read ‘See Spot Run’ to reading ‘Misery’ from cover to cover in about a week.
“After that, I devoured anything and everything.”
Mr Finlayson’s new book is a sequel to his first published novel, The Book and the Blade, which came out last year.
The story, a comedy-horror, follows a young man named Arthur who discovers he can talk to ghosts and “free them from their bonds in the afterlife” – but only when he’s drunk.
The sequel, The Sword and the Hounds, sees Arthur head back home to his parents to try and make sense of the world.
“I have a fascination with putting very ordinary people , flaws and all, in extraordinary circumstances and seeing how they react,” Mr Finlayson said.
“I love weaving local folklore and legends into my stories.”
Mr Finlayson was born and raised in England but has spent most of his adult life in Australia.
“First in Central Queensland and then here in Logan, with a short break in-between when we moved to England for a few years,” he said.
He works at Emmaus College in Jimboomba, teaching the Study of Religion.
“I said on my very first day at Emmaus that it felt like coming home,” he said.
“My wife and two kids and I spent a year or so living in Waterford before moving to a block in Jimboomba last year.
“We’re quite nomadic but we’ve settled and found a really nice spot surrounded by animals and good people.”
It’s not just novels Mr Finlayson specialises in.
He has also released several “Christmas novellas”, including a horror/thriller about Santa’s reindeer being murdered the night before Christmas.
“This was followed by Reindeer Games 2: Rein Harder with a Vengeance last year, which is about Mrs Claus having to rescue her husband from the clutches of terrorists,” Mr Finlayson said.
“I am currently working on Sleigh: Reindeer Games 3, which is (very) loosely based on the movie Speed… there’s a bomb on the sleigh! … and has a nice little nod to Jimboomba in it.”
To buy The Sword and the Hounds, or find more about Mr Finlayson’s books, head to abfinlayson.com.
