Barry Gornell

Biography

Liverpool-born ex-firefighter Barry Gornell lives on the West coast of Scotland where he is trying to grow up with his children. He is fully supported in this by his wife. His preoccupations are landscape, isolation, family and the weakness of men who want to be strong. He has carried the living and the dead and feels the weight of both.
   

Writing excerpt

Luther Grove used a cleaver to remove each foot at the joint. The separation exposed a clean, rounded knuckle of bone either side of the blade. He turned the paunched rabbit onto its back. Starting at the left side of the cavity, he separated the gut muscle from the skin in much the same way you would open the pages of a book or magazine. Inserting his hand, he worked it around the back to the other side until he cradled the pinky torso in his four fingers.  Holding the stripped chest with his left hand he peeled the skin over the back legs as though taking off the animal's socks before working each front leg out of its fur between finger and thumb. The effort of pulling the released skin forward and over the shoulders lifted the animal from the wooden board, exposing its taut neck. A neat purple hole showed where the single bullet had entered. He was circling the neck with a sharp knife when he heard the growl of a diesel engine. A large red pick-up was coming down the track from the main road, tunnelling through the trees. It rolled with the ruts and potholes, puffing up summer dust clouds that hung in the morning glow like camouflage in the air. It stopped outside the new entrance to the Jennings place. It wasn't the one that had stopped outside the old entrance just over a year ago, or returned two or three times in the intervening months. This year's model, top of the range, shiny and over equipped, it carried the same personalized registration plate, P4YNE.   

Their arrival had been imminent.

Comment

"I'm delighted, relieved and encouraged."