Landmarks: Barnaby Smith

This week we talk to Barnaby Smith about ‘Time/Trial’ which appears in Landmarks, the latest anthology curated by Spineless Wonders. During this interview, Barnaby talks about his favourite landmark, who inspires his writing and what inspired his micro-lit piece.
Tell us about a landmark that is significant to you.

I genuinely can’t think of one that has special resonance personally. Off the top of my head, there is a national park round the corner from where I live where, despite extremely dense bush, I have never seen any hint of wildlife. There is also an incredibly eerie atmosphere whenever I visit and strange, old debris here and there from human inhabitation. People think something dreadful happened there a long time ago.

What inspired you to write ‘Time/Trial’ ?

I was visiting my sister in Stockholm recently and was put in mind one day of an experience we shared as young children when we horribly chased an injured bird around our property and killed it beneath a tree by crushing it beneath a plank of wood. It’s a painful, haunting memory.

How do you find the experience of writing to a theme?

I generally don’t — and can’t. This piece was somewhat serendipitous.

Describe your writing space.

Currently, at least, I have a separate ‘studio’, or shack, at the bottom of the garden which I share with spiders and snakes. This is occasionally where something approaching writing takes place.

Tell us about a writer or work that has inspired you as a writer

Probably too many to list. Recently I’ve been knocked around by Aldous Huxley’s Point Counter Point and Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie, as well as Australian poets MTC Cronin and, an ongoing fascination, Nigel Roberts.