Celebrating Canadian novelist Andrew Pyper and his idea of 'perfect happiness'
The Toronto-based horror novelist died on Jan. 3 at age 56
Toronto-based author Andrew Pyper is known for his mysteries, thrillers and horror novels including The Demonologist, The Only Child, The Homecoming and Lost Girls. His most recent title, William, is a modern haunted house novel written under the pseudonym Mason Coile.
Pyper died on Jan. 3, 2025 at age 56.
In celebration of his life, here's Pyper answering The Next Chapter's version of the Proust questionnaire back in 2014.
Name your favourite writers.
I have so many favourite writers, it's kind of a blur. But if I was to pick some names out of the stream of favourites, I would say Henry James for his masterpiece of scary ghost storytelling, The Turn of the Screw.
It runs the gamut from James right through to an inheritor of James's ghost story, Stephen King, who I continue to read and it continues to be an influence.
Tell me about your favourite character in fiction.
I've had a long crush on Isabel Archer, again from Henry James's Portrait of a Lady. I always felt that she was a wonderful woman who never met the right guy in a fictional sense. I always thought, "Well, there's me, I'm waiting. I love you, Isabel," but she doesn't listen.
What is your favourite journey?
My favourite journey is from the kitchen with a cup of coffee up to the third floor office where I work.
What phrase do you most overuse?
"At the end of the day" is a phrase I use, and every time it comes out of my mouth. I hate myself a little bit more each time so I'm trying my best. I'm in therapy about it, but at the end of the day it still pops out from time to time.
What do you value most in your friends?
I value loyalty from friends, I guess. Above all, they don't have to be perfect. In fact, my friends are markedly imperfect. But if they stand by me, I'll stand by them.
What historical figures do you most despise?
There's villains. I'm in love with villains. I think villains make a story, but that's within the world of fiction. And so I think people who victimize children, I guess above all, are deserving of my greatest loathing.
What do you regard as the lowest death of misery?
Loneliness is the greatest suffering. I remember my dad was a doctor, a small town doctor, an eye specialist. And he saw patients, of course, all the time of various ages. And I remember him coming home from work all the time and saying, based on observations of his patients, loneliness is the greatest, greatest pain in life.
He would see elderly patients, people who had lost their spouses or their children had moved away. I think even more than physical pain, the very quiet suffering of loneliness and solitude, unwanted solitude is something I hope to avoid.
Tell me about your heroes in real life.
When I watch movies with my kids, the ones that emotionally connect with me the most are oddball families, orphans of one kind or another who get together and become a family of sorts. Those are those people who are my heroes.
You know, people who are disadvantaged for one way, one reason or another, who don't have a unit, but who nevertheless find a unit. I can make myself cry when I think about those kinds of people. And so those people are my heroes, people who overcome loneliness to be together.
What's your idea of perfect happiness?
I experience something fairly close to perfect happiness about three times a week … When I'm at the dinner table with my little family, my wife and two kids, we're telling stories and we're laughing. think, "This is it. This is as good as it gets."
Andrew Pyper's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
