Terrie

I think for me Salter stands out because the spareness is also lyrical. I find many ‘less is more’ authors to be a bit dull, but his prose manages to be as poetic as it is simple

Salter is an author I’ve never read. 90% of my favourite                                                                                                                                                   contemporary authors are women, but that may be as much about genre as gender. I read very few thrillers or crime novels, and only occasional l…[Read more]

Salter is very much a writer of men. I was somewhat horrified by his treatment of women in All There Is (although there’s always a detachment to his writing that means it’s never entirely clear who his sympathies lie with). I find his earlier work rather tighter.

@ Daeds and Libby,

re James Salter, 2/3 years ago II read and was impressed by a short story featured in a newspaper. Eagerly borrowed ‘A sport and a pastime’ from the library and found it  heavy-going. Couple of months ago I bought his ‘Collected Stories, but have yet to begin it, but hope to do so with an eye to his style..

Sandra, interesting you say that about unconscious influence from books you read years ago. I’m generally reluctant to specify my influences because I’m certain that I don’t know who all of them are. On more than one occasion I’ve reread something I read in my youth but had only the haziest memory of. And, to my horror, encountered somethi…[Read more]

I wrote a short story with an MC lacking almost all redeeming qualities. It didn’t go down too well, although I quite enjoyed writing it. Patricia Highsmith’s writing is wonderful. Tom Ripley is a work of genius.

Also, hello stranger. How’s it going?

I’m late to this – I seem to be late to a lot of stuff these days. Anyway, I have always liked the style of Patricia Highsmith. This is mainly, I think, because she does bad guys so deliciously. Her stuff is quite dark and sometimes the bad guy gets to win. It was because of her I set myself a challenge to write a story with absolutely no good…[Read more]

I’m not at all sure I’ve fully adhered to the brief, but this scraping of possibilities from my current wip is  the best I can do, before I leave the country 😉

Scene:

Need for a wee had Lucy check the time. Half ten. She’d been lying in her bed for more than two hours. Not moved since she’d taken refuge. Since hearing the click of the stre…[Read more]

Oh, EXCELLENT idea Sea – 0nly problem now, which do I choose??

Yes, I’ve got ??? : -)

Congratulations @ Seagreen, and thank you Squidge for prompt words, comments  and competition – a lot of fascinating uses of the three words.

A great batch of entries. Sadly, my good idea didn’t finally coalesce until I was dozing off last night.

“Stealing and giving odour “ [Twelfth Night]

From my very first whiff of the pipe tobacco I was a sucker for the scent of Balkan Sobranie. Given its name, thirteen-year-old imagination conjured red-jacketed hunters chasing yellow-eyed wolves through night forests. My Dad’s dour, ‘Four Square far cheaper,’ confirmed its blend  of leaves — Latakia…[Read more]