Words on a Page

  Let me start off by saying that I love Cormac McCarthy , and at the time of his death last summer I'd read all but his last two novels, ThePassenger and Stella Maris (which at the time were only available in hardback). I love his use of archaic, biblical and inventive language as well as the demands he puts on his readers—you don’t turn to McCarthy for an easy, straightforward read. His novels deal with complex themes (Love, Death, Violence, the nature of Good and Evil, and the nature of God), and you get the sense that McCarthy, himself, is grappling for understanding of both the world he has been cast into and the worlds he has created. The Passenge r is no different—in fact, in many ways, it is even more challenging for its lack of a traditional narrative structure: a beginning, a middle and an ending. On the surface, T he Passenger feels familiar. It feels like genre fiction . When Bobby Western and a fellow salvage diver investigate a small plane that has crashed in th

The past few months have been filled with activities revolving around the Portsmouth Authors Collective - all of which have have required lots of time and energy and organisation - things that are in short supply in my world. Hence, it 's been a shameful length of time since I posted my last author interview.   Forgive me. * The Portsmouth Authors Collective   seeks to put the spotlight on local talent who live in and/or take inspiration from the city and its surrounding areas. I was thrilled, therefore, to be asked to interview Richard Salsbury a couple of months ago at the launch of his debut novel Mute . Here, we reprise that interview for this blog and for the PAC website .    Author Bio: Richard Salsbury is a novelist and award-winning short story writer based in the south of England. His work has appeared in Artificium , Flash Fiction Magazine , World Wide Writers , Portsmouth News , the FairlightBooks website and on BBC Radio. He is an editor and website designer for