JACK MEGGITT-PHILLIPS | AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Offering a dose of children’s book creepiness, Cardiff-born Jack Meggitt-Phillips is the proud creator of the hilarious yet deeply disturbing The Beast And The Bethany.
It may seem, with the constant ups and downs of ‘restrictions versus freedoms’, that 2020 has leached us of our beloved spooky season. It has been tough, and continues to be tough. Which is not to say there aren’t delightful people working hard behind the scenes to deliver frightfully good entertainment for our little terrors – while they’re kept safe from the real horrors outside our doors.
So, imagine you’ve been governed by a ravenous creature – the Beast – for the best part of his 511 years. He’s kept you young with potions in return for impressive and exotic dining. But what if the Beast starts asking for something utterly atrocious? What if he tells you his potions are off the menu until you provide the dastardliest treat yet: a human child? Well, welcome to Ebenezer Tweezer’s predicament, as it transpires in The Beast And The Bethany by Cardiff-born Jack Meggitt-Phillips – and what a predicament it turns out to be, when he meets the pugnacious young Bethany…
The book is being championed by its readers, and news is there’s more to come, but how many attempts did it take Jack before that glorious ‘you’re going to be a published author!’ moment?
“I’ve been writing on-and-off since I was 10-ish, so I’ve got a heaving, horrifying drawer filled with fledgling writing efforts,” he confesses. “The whole process has been delightfully bonkers. I’m still looking around every corner, expecting that this is going to turn out to be one cruel, elaborate hoax. I’m very grateful for the chance I’ve been given to essentially muck about with imagination. And if there’s a chance that my books can give children the same feeling I experienced when reading The Bad Beginning for the first time, then I shall be thoroughly thrilled.”
How long does a tasty morsel like The Beast And The Bethany take to put down in its first raw form? “Four months,” he admits. “It’s the first full length book I’d properly finished. There was a lot of writing on train journeys, holidays, and during the occasional underwhelming birthday party. I think I was able to get it down relatively quickly, because I was genuinely interested to see who was going to win this strange battle of wits…”
If Jack could ask for rewards from his pungent Beast, what would they be? “I’m in the market for a new dressing gown,” he says, “a decision that will likely take me months of research into patterns and panache. My dressing gown is very much my writing companion, so I would ask the beast to provide me with one who enjoys Earl Grey in the mornings, and who isn’t adverse to a midnight writing session or two in the evenings.”
We gave Jack a hypothetical: he’s a 511-year-old with oodles of money. Who does he invite to his 512th birthday bash and what do they have in store?
“I generally use the excuse of my birthday to behave as unreasonably and precociously as possible. The day would begin with a bucket of Fortnum’s finest blend, whilst Isabelle Follath [The Beast And The Bethany’s illustrator] sketches a full-length portrait to document my 512th year on earth. I would then use the rest of the day to drown myself in various moisturisers, perfumes, and hair gels, as I prepare for the birthday feast. The feast itself would be a sickeningly egotistical affair where friends, celebrities, great-great-great-great-great grandchildren, and the milkmen would be required to offer specific compliments on my outfit and my many wonderful personal qualities. It would conclude with me being sung to sleep by a Wintlorian purple-breasted parrot. There may or may not be a cake involved at some point…”
Well, when the celebrations are over, Jack’s next move had better be putting words to the page – as readers young and old will undoubtedly want new chapters in his highly recommendable series.
The Beast And The Bethany is published by Egmont. Price: £6.99. Info: here
words KARLA BRADING