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More on KentOnline
Comedian and former King of the Jungle Joe Pasquale has written a collection of spooky stories inspired by his "dark and macabre" lockdown.
Joe, from Higham, is set to release Deadknobs and Doomsticks 2 - Tales from the Lockdown tomorrow to coincide with Halloween.
The actor, writer, comedian and artist is best known for winning I'm A Celebrity in 2004, The Price is Right and a host of stand-up tours.
The book follows the success of his debut collection in 2017 and was written and illustrated entirely by Joe.
He said: "I was due to be touring the country with a play and a stand-up tour to follow immediately after, but when lockdown came, all the theatres were closed, and I, like the rest of Britain, was suddenly left at home.
"I hate being idle and always wanted to do a follow up to Deadknobs & Doomsticks, so I thought now is as good a chance as ever.
"My lockdown led to inspiration for some dark and macabre tales of horror which have influenced many of the 19 stories inside.
"This book still retains elements of the first, there is a very dark humour underlying many of the tales but there is homage to many of the classics horror tales too."
The book has 19 of Joe's water coloured illustrations, one to accompany each tale.
He added: "I also love painting and one of the opportunities lockdown presented me with was time.
"I have been working on a collection of large canvas oil paintings with a horror theme and hope to exhibit those, but the stories in the book set my mind racing and that's a dangerous thing. I suddenly had 19 new illustrations to work on, which was great.
"Do you remember as a child you used to get those great story collections, all illustrated?
"I wanted to bring a little flavour of that, but for grown-ups."
The 19 tales are a collection of surreal and horrific stories and in this edition each of the stories has a post-mortem which shows Joe's thinking and inspiration for each story.
The books will be available from all good book shops and online from Halloween.
