Craig Wallwork's Reviews > Transubstantiate

For me, and a few other writers who know Richard, Transubstantiate seems like the novel been around almost as long as we’ve known Richard. That’s not to say it was written a long time ago, quite the contrary. No, it’s through his enthusiasm and passion, energy and love for this novel, that Richard has ingrained Transubstantiate into my psyche forever.

By far one of the most uncompromising and determined writers around, Richard is gifted at prose as he is sincerely gracious. It’s sickening, if the truth be told. With a very envious publishing career where he was the winner of the ChiZine Publications 2009 “Enter the World of Filaria” contest, and his short story "Maker of Flight" was chosen by Filaria author Brent Hayward and Bram Stoker Award-Winning editor Brett Alexander Savory, not to mention having a story published in Cemetery Dance, I can’t help but feel inspired.

It’d be wise to see Transubstantiate as more the hors d'oeuvre before the main banquet, an appetizer of such allure it will make your mouth and stomach ache. It is the first of many, and the one that marks the beginning of a publishing career that will outlive most of us.

To whet your appetite, here is the official synopsis:

A neo-noir transgressive thriller about a man who has taken himself off the grid and punishes those that the law has overlooked or failed to prosecute. Altered and breaking apart, he follows orders while questioning the reality and motivation of those people that are in his life. A dark past filled with tragedy looms over him while he tries to embrace the ghost of Holly, his only female connection, under orders from Vlad, while taking care of his bedraggled cat, Luscious. At what point does he just end it all? Or does he stay in his role as judge, jury and executioner for the rest of his life?