Photography: Paz Castelló website.
Paz Castello, a writer from Alicante with a long career in the world of communication, presents a new novel entitled None of us will have compassion. He started publishing in 2013 with The death of 9. Other titles have been My name written on a toilet door, Eighteen months and a day y The key 104. THE thank you very much the time that you have dedicated to me for this interview where he tells us about that new novel and much more.
Paz Castelló - Interview
- ACTUALIDAD LITERATURA: Your latest novel is None of us will have compassion. What do you tell us in it?
PEACE CASTELLO: En None of us will have compassion (Editions B) story the story of Camila and Nora, which at first may appear to be two very different women by age and vital circumstances, but it is soon discovered that they have something in common: at two They were used by the men of their past and now they are not afraid to confront them, making the decisions that affect their lives. Camila is a mature woman who decides to separate from her husband. This makes him reach a suspiciously advantageous divorce agreement for her.
While investigating the hidden intentions of her ex-partner, she meets Nora, a young student, twenty years younger than her, who has been keeping a terrible secret for years and who comes to Alicante seeking revenge. Between Camila and Nora a very special relationship arises with shades of thriller, but with a sensuality to the surface. Is a story of sisterhood and female empowerment, with a load of mystery and very powerful intrigue.
- AL: Can you go back to the memory of that first book you read?
PC: I think I remember that one titled Gold Stories. I couldn't tell you the author. It was one collection of stories somewhat moralistic but very of the time. My father bought it for me at a flea market. He was very fond of antiques. It was in the early seventies and by then it was an old book. I remember he bought me too Moby Dick, but I read it later.
- AL: And the first story you wrote?
PC: The first thing I wrote was poems. From a very young age I began to read Gloria Fuertes and I loved it. I suppose, in some way, I was trying to imitate her.
- AL: What was the first book that struck you and why?
PC: When I was twelve I read East wind, west wind, Pearl S. Buck. It marked me a lot because through a book and at such an early age, I discovered another culture, another way of thinking and understanding the world. The traditional Chinese culture versus the western mentality that the novel portrays was very shocking to me. Especially the role of women in different societies.
- AL: That favorite writer? You can be more than one and of all times.
PC: I'm going to stay with Agatha Christie, for the genre she wrote and for being a pioneering and very iconic woman. Of course there are countless authors that fascinate me, but since mentioning them all would be unfair to many others, I am left with the great lady of mystery.
- AL: What character in a book would you have liked to meet and create?
PC: It is very difficult to choose, but it comes to mind for example, The Little Prince. As a child I would have loved it to be real. It was something like an imaginary friend. Also the Alice by Lewis Carroll. But the list would endless.
- AL: Any special habits when writing or reading?
PC: Only two: silence and comfortable clothes. From there the journey begins.
- AL: And your preferred place and time to do it?
PC: I have to write en casa. I don't know how to focus elsewhere. There are those who write in libraries or even coffee shops. I need solitude and tranquility. For me it is a kind of trance state for which I need absolute concentration.
- AL: Other genres that you like?
PC: My favorite is thriller but I read everything. What I ask is that it be a good story and that it be well told. I am also a reader of poetry and ,.
- AL: What are you reading now? And writing?
PC: The Last of the Trilogy Blas Ruiz-Grau, You will not die. Am ending a novel. Other domestic noir with a very hot social issue. So far I can count.
- AL: How do you think the publishing scene is? Too many books, too many authors?
PC: It's a very difficult and hard world. Too competitive and short-lived where the laws of marketing are sometimes more powerful than the literary ones. I try to get away of that energy that sometimes surrounds the sector and focus on making good literature. I'm a writer, that's my job. Everything else is beyond my control.
I think there have always been people who write, only that the internet has made us more visible. In the end it always occurs some balance between supply and demand, as in any other sector. This does not mean that it is fair and that collateral damage does not occur.
- AL: Is the moment of crisis that we are living difficult for you or can you keep something positive for future novels?
PC: Personally, this crisis has been enriching. Fortunately, health has respected us. I always try to extract the positive from difficult situations. At the end of the day, it is the way we have to turn things around. I don't think, however, that I use it in the books I write. I am of the opinion that it takes time and distance for the background of what we have learned to internalize and help us creatively. I apply it more on a personal level. I give thanks every day for all the good that life offers me. I value the little things more.