Peter Burnett
When did you begin writing?
I wrote some plays and some adaptations for stage (eg The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) in 1993 and 1994 while running my own modest theatre company. Following that I wrote some novellas that remain unpublished and my first novel was published in 2000.
Tell us about your Call of the Isles story.
It’s a challenge to write to such strictures, especially word length, if you are a prolix and verbose novelist, used to luxuriant diction, prodigal in utterance, and given to an almost ceremonial abundance of words. As I am. That is why I rather cowardly, I felt, defaulted to the reportage style. I am fascinated by waste disposal though, so in the process of working with another writer on their book about waste, I had this idea. I don’t think I am the first to have this idea though, and like most contemporary conspiracy ideas, fictional or fantastical, it is all too likely to come true.
Do you prefer writing short stories or longer pieces of fiction?
Longer fiction. I find the short story as a form impossible to master.
What is your favourite novel or short story that has an island setting?
My favourite thing in Gulliver’s Travels is the flying island of Laputa. I read that as a teenager and was convinced I was reading science fiction. I love the novel Web by John Wyndham, set on an island, I have read it several times.
What do you dislike about being a writer?
At present it would have to be my family asking me when my book will be finished. It’s takes a long time, people, and I’m going as fast as I can!
What’s your favourite under-appreciated novel or short story?
Hard to say. Most books find their audiences. I have published many novels by other people, and simply for lack of budget I always feel they have been under-appreciated. I read a manuscript like Lesley Storm’s It’s About Time and Charlie Roy’s The Broken Pane and I am absolutely thrilled with enthusiasm to bring them to the world, but of course they disappear as books often do, and it costs a lot for a micro publisher to keep things in print. I love the work of John Herdman, and John does not seek publicity and works slowly. John Herdman however was why I got into publishing. I feel John is one of the greatest of our living Scottish writers, but nobody seems to have heard of him, far less have read him. Could be because John’s chief form, is the novella.
What are you currently reading?
I’m reading The Mermaid and the Bear by Ailish Sinclair, To See in the Dark by Nicholas Mirzoeff, and The Naked Bible by Mauro Biglino.
What are you currently working on?
I am working on a novel which ambitiously seeks to attack Donald Trump’s legacy. We have no power to stop war and violence, even though nobody votes for genocide and murder. A well made piece of art is the most powerful action a powerless individual can take to moderate the brutality of our out of control and corrupted state powers.
What is the best piece of writing advice you have come across?
“Manuscripts don’t burn” Mikhail Bulgakov.
Where can readers connect with you and your writing?
It appears five of my books have been used to train ChatGPT so I would ask that or an adjacent LLM, if you don’t mind the fact you are communicating with the Pentagon in doing so.
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You can read Toxic Float in Call of the Isles.