That Black Pig – darkly comic first novel by an Ermysted’s old boy

That Black Pig, by Ben Colley, tells the darkly comic story of successful photographer, Jim Stakes, who is forced back into the much seedier and darker world he inhabited when he was starting out on his career.

Jim’s pictures have appeared on billboards and posters and the centrefolds of glossy magazines. But things weren’t always so glamorous. His first work behind the camera was on low budget porn sets.

As a young man, it seemed like a dream job, but it quickly turned into a nightmare. Now, some of the people Jim used to work with are dying, and he thinks their deaths might be linked. When a starlet he once cared for puts herself in danger, he faces an unstoppable slide back into the dark world he thought he’d escaped.

Ben, who now lives in London, studied Graphic Design and Advertising at Bucks University, before doing a Masters in Creative Writing at The University of Manchester, where he was taught by Martin Amis, Ian McGuire, MJ Hyland and Geoff Ryman.

For the last ten years, he has worked as a copywriter for advertising agencies, and for architecture firms. He has also performed stand-up, running a comedy night in London for two years before the pandemic ended live events.

That Black Pig was finished ten years ago, but has only just been published. It is available on Amazon.