Featured Interview With Samuel Crowe
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised in and around Birmingham, England, the youngest child of six. I now live in Worcestershire with my beautiful (and very supportive partner) and daughter.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
We didn’t have much money growing up, and reading and learning wasn’t encouraged, but there was a library next to our parish church. I think I nagged my mom to take me in and get me a library card. I remember they had lots of Dr Who, Star Trek and Tarzan books. I spent hours browsing the fiction section. When things weren’t good at home, I’d just take myself off to the library. (Where I live now, we have a fantastic library, one of the first university-public library initiatives in Europe. Their fiction portfolio is fantastic.)
When I was 14 I had a paper round, and the money earned would often go on books. I would take the pilgrimage into town on a saturday and spend time browsing the horror and crime section. I remember the day I bought The Shining. When I got to the register, I didn’t quite have enough so I had to use my bus fare to buy the book as it was more money than I had spare. I think I read the first chapters walking the three or four miles home. I remember how warm it was and how the time went by. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the garden. I loved those days.
My writing began quite early on. I had a much older brother who’d published short stories in women’s magazines, and my mom painted quite a lot. There was a lot of artistic endeavour, but it was insulated and raw and not shouted about or celebrated. I think art is a healthy response to adversity, and so in my troubles I started to imagine and express myself with a pen. I wrote a lot of stories about knights and wizards and creatures that dwelleth under the sea. That sort of thing. Boys own stuff. What I loved the most, though, was poetry. I read and devoured poetry. I wrote oodles of it.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
When I hit late-teens I heard about a cult novel called Crime & Punishment by a guy called Dostoevksy. (Blue collar kids weren’t supposed to read classics, let alone the Russians.) That book had a huge effect on me as both an adolescent and a reader. It was the first time I read a book and heard an authentic literary voice that filled me. That set me on a journey that changed everything. I couldn’t say I knew I wanted to be a writer as a result, only that I felt it. It would be years before I referred to myself in a real sense as a writer, but Fyodor D was the writer who lit my flame.
Another writer who knocked me sideways is Cormac McCarthy. Blood Meridian is a benchmark for me as a writer, of what is possible in fiction. Toni Morrison and James Baldwin also bowled me over. Go Tell It On The Mountain is an incredible novel. So full of force and humanity. I can’t say enough about James Baldwin. Owning a Bladwin book is like possessing a great work of art. What a wonderful, incredible writer.
My own writing is inspired by many many silent voices. I like to give space to the forgotten and the disparate. Which means challenging myself and going to uncomfortable places in order to tell those stories. I take great enjoyment in writing rich, engaging dialogue, life-like characters and setting powerful scenes. My agent describes me as a cinematic writer. She says, I draw the dark beautifully. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for those lighter, popcorn Hollywood moments. After all, I want to draw the reader into something that grips them, a story that entertains but says real things, while giving them value for their buck.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
I’m currently writing a murder mstery spread over a thirty year period. I’ve often opted for the vast stateside panorama in storytelling but I wanted to write something more claustrophobic and closer to home. It’s quite a slow and meticulous process, and the act of writing the story is changing the narrative, which is one of the most fascinating aspects of prose writing. I’m also re-editing some early works for release. The Darkest Ice is one such book. It’s a short, hard hitting book but one I absolutely had to write.
Thank you all for your time and support and thank you to all the readers. I hope you enjoy my work and I look forward to speaking to you all soon.
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