The first print run of The Rats (100,000 copies) sold out in three weeks. His first two books, The Rats and The Fog, were disaster novels with man-eating giant black rats in the first and an accidentally released chemical weapon in the second. He is survived by his wife, Eileen, and three daughters. No cause of death was given but a spokeswoman for the publisher said that he had not been ill.

On 20 March 2013, Herbert died suddenly at his home in Sussex at the age of 69. Later in the same year, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours, presented by Prince Charles. In 2010 Herbert was honoured with the World Horror Convention Grand Master Award, presented to him by Stephen King. In 1979 Herbert had to pay damages when it was ruled that he had based part of his novel The Spear on the work of another writer, The Spear of Destiny by Trevor Ravenscroft. Herbert would write his drafts in longhand on 'jumbo pads'. He had two brothers: Peter, a retired market trader and John, an insurance broker. Herbert lived in Woodmancote, near Henfield in West Sussex. James Herbert's gravestone in the churchyard of St.

He left the agency to join Charles Barker Advertising where he worked as art director and then group head.

He left school at 15 and studied at Hornsey College of Art, joining the art department of John Collings, a small advertising agency. He attended a Catholic school in Bethnal Green called Our Lady of the Assumption, then at 11 won a scholarship to St Aloysius Grammar School in Highgate. Biography īorn in London, Herbert was the son of Herbert Herbert, a stall-holder at London's Brick Lane Market.

His books have sold 54 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into 34 languages, including Chinese and Russian. A full-time writer, he also designed his own book covers and publicity. James John Herbert, OBE (8 April 1943 – 20 March 2013) was an English horror writer. Horror, dark fantasy, thriller, science fiction

Lair by James Herbert