Crowboy

About David Calcutt

David Calcutt was born in Wednesbury, West Midlands, in 1950, and now lives in Walsall. He taught in schools for ten years, then was a Community Arts Director for three years. He is now a freelance playwright and storyteller. The main influences on his work are myth and folk-tale. "Those ancient myths have provided us with some of our greatest works of literature, art, music and theatre...."

Q & A on Shadow Bringer with David Calcutt

1.    What inspired you to write Shadow Bringer?

A few years ago I saw on a very windy day I saw something black flapping in the sky.  It didn’t look like a bird and for a moment or two I couldn’t work out what it was.  Then I realised it was a plastic bin-liner.  It gave me an idea for a story that eventually became “Shadow Bringer”.

2.    Describe it in two lines?

It’s a supernatural, psychological thriller, in which a boy is haunted by a shadow creature.

3.    How long did it take you to write?

The first draft took around four months.

4.    What do you think people will say about this book?

They’ll probably say it’s nothing like his first book.  I hope they’ll say they find it tense and gripping, and it made them afraid to switch the light off.  Especially if they have an attic.

5.    Are you working on something else at the moment?

A couple of things.  There’s the beginning of a fantasy adventure story, and also a book I’m co-writing with another OUP author, Marie-Louise Jensen.  It came about from a conversation we had when we met at a award ceremony in Dublin, and it’s really taken off.  We’re both very excited about it. .

6.    What is your favourite food?

I don’t really have a favourite food.  I like lots of different kinds of food.  I like to eat.

7.    What makes you laugh out loud?

Anything absurd,  surreal, or rude.

8.    What is your one luxury item you would take with you on to a Desert Island?

Probably my guitar.

9.    What is your most treasured memory?

I have lots, and I keep on acquiring them.  Memories should grow with you and not remain in the past.

10.    What is your weakness?

Gazing into the distance when I should be working

11.    What is the worst/most unusual job you have ever done?

Being a street-entertainer was probably the worst.  It was cold and it rained.  I went home.

12.    What is your most embarrassing moment?

There are quite a few  – all too embarrassing to talk about.

13.    What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

I had a dream in which I was being chased by a tiger.  The tiger caught me and said if I hadn’t run away it wouldn’t have chased me.

14.    What is the best piece of advice you could give to someone?

If you see a tiger on the street, run.

15.    Last album brought? First album ever brought? 

The first that I bought myself was, I think, “The Times They Are A-Changin’” by Bob Dylan.  The most recent is “Elegy of the Uprooting” by the Greek composer Eleni Karaindrou.  The Greeks call her the tenth muse.  She is.

16.    What are you reading at the moment?

“Njal’s Saga” by an anonymous and brilliant Icelandic writer, and “Light in August” by William Faulkner.   Also Ted Hughes’ poetry - but then I’m always reading this.

17.    What would be on the soundtrack of your film – and who would play you?

The music from “The Third Man”.  Orson Welles.  In fact I’d rather be in that film.

18.    Favourite holiday destination?

The Greek island of Lesvos

19.    Which authors have most inspired you?

Shakespeare, Ted Hughes, Dylan Thomas, William Golding, Nikos Kazantzakis, George Seferis, Herman Melville, William Faulkner, Flannery O’ Connor, Jorge Luis Borges, John Steinbeck, James Joyce.

20.    What is your favourite children’s book?

“Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson

21.    Most treasured possession?

My bike, and whatever notebook I happen to be writing in.

22.    Where are you happiest?

I’m pretty happy in most places. 

23.    Favourite biscuit?

Chocolate digestives.

24.    Pet hates?

Too many to list.  Stupidity’s probably at the top.

25.    If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

I’d be less quick to judge, and work harder