I can’t tell you whether it’s right or wrong to ‘write what you know’ but Retribution is based around what I know. I haven’t stolen any horses or blown up any trains but I’ve trucked cattle and horses at night, known kids who couldn’t find a way out of a small town, seen politicians defeated by ‘my team’ politics, and seen ‘sausage packs’ and timed explosions in the coal mine I worked in. I’ve known rage (misplaced as well as justified), disappointment in myself, thwarted ambition, heartbreak, and the awful, unfathomable loss of animals that I have loved. I have worked with men who had revenge as the mainstay of their life. I’ve had a bit to do with blokes who thought ‘the deal’ and their success were the only bench marks. (Don’t worry I hated them.) So to me, Retribution is not a trivial, rural crime story of people who are hurt by the world. Retribution is a part of me.
I don’t believe revenge serves any purpose in our world even if we feel the need for it often enough. I hope that retribution has value but it may not. I think we can overcome the worst of ourselves but perhaps not every day.
