A Few Questions with Peter Murphy…
The author of John the Revelator answers some revealing questions, but remains a gentleman to the end…
At school I was terrible at …
Joining in. I hated joining in. Even now, when I’m at a live show and a band does the crowd participation thing, I hide under the seats.
When I was a child my favourite book was …
Can’t remember the name, but it was an anthology of stories about vampires, werewolves, cannibals etc, that contained a remarkable illustration of Vlad the Impaler lording it over hundreds of vanquished enemies pronged upon sharpened sticks. And I lived for 2000AD.
I started writing when / because …
My English teacher took no lip. God bless her.
The hardest part of writing a novel is …
Trying to not talk about it.
I work best when …
Fed and watered.
I wish I’d written …
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban.
The fictional character I most identify with is …
Rev. Harry Powell from Night of the Hunter.
The greatest influence on my writing career has been …
Bob Dylan. Flannery O’Connor. And Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.
If I wasn’t a writer I would …
Go mad and paint my arse black, as my father used to say.
The most underrated writer / artist is …
Writer: Jennifer Lynch. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer is one creepy book. Artist: Joe Coleman.
My favourite short story is …
‘How To Tell A True War Story’ from The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. And my friend Sean makes a serious case for ‘The Comet’ by Bruno Schultz.
The most evocative piece of sports writing I’ve ever read is …
The Fight by Norman Mailer, specifically the ‘boiler rooms of the damned’ section.
The most romantic piece of writing I’ve ever read is …
La Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri:
‘In that book which is
My memory …
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words …
Here begins a new life.’
My favourite bookshop is …
Raven Books, Blackrock, Dublin. Chapters, Parnell St, Dublin.
My favourite festival venue / festival experience is …
I always wanted to go to Mexico for the ‘Day of the Dead’.
My literary five-a-side football team would include …
Angela Carter, Nick Tosches, Joseph Campbell, Harper Lee and Elaine Pagels. And I’d love to see certain writers, who shall remain nameless, mud wrestle.
The finest / most disappointing film adaptation is …
The finest: Dr Strangelove, (radically) adapted from Red Alert by Peter George.
Most disappointing: Bonfire of the Vanities, The Basketball Diaries, Jesus’ Son etc etc
If I listen to music when I write I usually put on …
Dead Man soundtrack by Neil Young.
I am kept awake at night by …
The Claw of Death.
My guiltiest pleasure is …
I can’t answer that and call myself a gentleman.
My favourite all-time TV show has to be …
Neck and neck between Deadwood and Twin Peaks.
If I could go back in time I would …
Erase Ted Hughes’s memory banks and pass off Crow as my own.
The thing that would most improve my life is …
Plenty more of it.
