“Interview”
An Interview with the Author
DI: Well, it’s taken a few weeks of refusals and incessant begging, but we’ve finally got him with us! After the success of his short story Blur — released January 19th, 2023 — people have been dying to know where he gets his inspiration. Thank you for speaking to us today. Would you mind introducing yourself, so people know who you are?
GT: Gordon Thackery. Flash fiction writer and novelist. And I do wish you wouldn’t call it a short story. It’s barely 350 words — it’s a flash fiction piece.
DI: Of course, my mistake. So, Mr. Thackery. What can you tell us about the conception of this piece?
GT: Well, as with a lot of my writing, the idea came to me in a dream. I dreamt that I was in a strange world in the cupboard under my stairs, where everything was made of sweets — a bit like Willy Wonka, you know the type. Walking through this… this magical diabetic coma. But it was one of those dreams — as I suspect you’ll be familiar with, Mr. Ingram — where you wake up and just must remember it. So, I jotted it down and forgot about it for a while.
DI: Do you remember what brought you back to it?
GT: Yes… yes, I do. It was just before my wife passed away. It was a tragic accident, you know. Very sudden. And I couldn’t think of another way to process the grief. So I dug up my old ideas notebook, and came across this dream I’d had! It felt like fate. I just sat and wrote it out — one sitting! Didn’t even give myself to think- just crazy scribbling. It seemed to have paid off, though.
DI: Undoubtedly. There’s no denying the success of Blur. It had 30,000 online readers worldwide, but has recently soared up into the millions with recent developments.
GT: I do try and remain humble. But I must admit, it does feel good to know people find as much enjoyment in my writing as I do.
DI: Of course. If I may, I’d like to draw your attention to that last line — the line that transforms the piece from a murder into an innocent accident. How did that come about?
GT: Well, I had never intended for it to be so… I’m struggling to find the right word… morbid? I think that works. I was working with the Wonka theme originally, so I didn’t want it to be so sinister — sinister! That’s what I was looking for! Don’t you just hate that, when the words get away from you? Anyway, I did try to keep it light-hearted. But then I thought it might be clever to trick the reader right up until the last minute. That’s part of the fun of writing, for me. The power you have to manipulate the way people view things.
DI: Absolutely. If you don’t mind, could you shed a little light on the impact your wife’s death had on you and your writing?
GT: Ah, yes… my Grace. She was my biggest fan, you know. My biggest supporter. I loved her very much. She really was… sorry, I didn’t want to get emotional.
DI: Take your time.
GT: Thank you, but I’ll be fine. Yes, my Grace. It was hard to keep writing after I lost her. I did all my best work at the kitchen table, and I couldn’t even bare to go in after she died. Everything I saw reminded me of her, you know? I still can’t eat toast without shedding a tear. She used to bring me some, you see, when I was writing. Glass of wine on the side, help sweeten the deal. I’d get right into the flow of things, and she’d put the plate down next to me and say, ‘Eat, Gordon. You’ll waste away!’ It got on my nerves sometimes. But now I wish I’d appreciated her that bit more. She was an odd woman. Surprisingly loud, for someone so little. She had heavy footsteps. I could always hear her stomping about upstairs while I was trying to concentrate.
DI: How did you ever get anything done?
GT: I’d go up into the woods for a walk — clear my head. There was one spot I liked. I can picture it now… so peaceful. A little ring of mushrooms in the middle of a clearing… you’d spot a rabbit in there, sometimes. It was bloody quiet. No one really goes that far into the woods, unless they’ve got a big dog like a German Shepherd or a bloodhound. But then I’d come back in through the front door, and Grace’d start nagging about the mud on the carpet. God, I loved her, but she really did go on about mess.
DI: Would you say that your home life impacted Blur, and the way it was written?
GT: Oh, absolutely. I don’t think that’s any secret, given the circumstances. I was stuck for an ending for a while. That big twist takes a while to come in with these things. Sometimes you have to let it percolate before it comes through. What I really wanted to do was throw a bottle of wine at the kitchen counter and see how it smashed. See which bits of the wall got splattered. But I’d been drinking when I thought of it, you see, and Grace was very cross. She didn’t like me going out during the week. I tried telling her, I said, ‘Grace, it’s very stressful doing my job.’ But she wouldn’t listen. So when (a few glasses in) I was struck with this inspiration about the Malbec, and I told her about the idea, she was livid. Absolutely raging. She started going on about this and that, about how she always had to clean up my messes, and how ungrateful I was, all the usual crap. I was just trying to shut her up, really.
DI: Is that where this comes in?
GT: Ah, my best knife! I thought you’d take that in as evidence. It’s a good one though, mind. Slices through tomatoes as quick as a serrated one. Maybe that’s why it was such a good tool for the job- nice and quick. For all her faults, she deserved that much. I didn’t want to hurt her. Not really. But I either smashed the bottle against the worktop, or I found an alternative source of splattering. And she really was dead against smashing that bottle.
DI: Thank you, Mr. Thackery. Police interview with Gordon Thackery, conducted by Detective Inspector Ingram. Terminated at 15:47.
This story was written in tandem with ‘Blur’, my short story published in the 2025 edition of ‘Beyond the Walls’.
