From the age of five I wanted to write and was told there was no reason why I shouldn`t write by various English scholars who taught me at different schools. I was given encouragemet from that age. I eventually started to seriously do something about that encouragement at the age of fifty. Late developer or what? The only advantage about leaving it so long was perhaps I`d experienced an awful lot more to write about.
In my short story collections and novel "Body Language" the reader will meet characters from all walks of life. Gangsters,vicars,nosey parkers and busybodys,lawyers, and even a cowboy. They all have one thing in common. They discover that the only certainty in life is it`s uncertainty. I write - hopefully - what I liked to read all my life. Twists, turns and very surprising endings abound. My influences in writing started with Dickens and then shot off in all directions. Roald Dahl, Steven King, Ray Bradbury, Robert B. Parker and James Lee Burke. I devoured Alfred Hitchcok Mystery Magazines, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Ghost Story Anthologies. Isn`t it strange that all of us like to feel a little bit scared when we are safe and secure in our own homes. But how safe are we in reality? Perhaps my stories can answer that. I don`t guarantee you`ll like the answer however.
Personally speaking my taste-not the correct terminology
I know-has never been for blood and gore and extremely violent deeds. No. But perhps the threat of it?
The unknown? The possibility that all is not right. Or certainly not as it seems to be. That is a very different matter. I remember the fear of the Jane Eyre madwoman in the attic. The turning round of the chair in "Physco". The unknown face at the window in old black and white movies. Noises from wind in old houses. Or is it the wind? Fear lies in the the threat more than the event. The actual event can perhaps be brought under control. But the unkown fear or the fear of the unknown? I think that is a different matter altogether. Safe home now.
Liam Leddy
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