Anyone For Cannibalism?

By Richard Parker

I'm losing the Jay from my name for Exhibit A.  My UK debut thriller, STOP ME, was published under Richard Jay Parker but there's another R J Parker in the US and Angry Robot want to avoid any confusion when my new book, SCARE ME, hits the shelves there as well as the UK.

So now I'm Richard Parker and this simplified name is not without history - aside from it being the character in 'Life Of Pi.'  In 1838 Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story entitled 'The Narration Of Arthur Gordon Pym ofNantucket.’  It concerned Richard Parker, a mutinous sailor who is cannibalized by survivors after his whaling ship, The Grampus, capsizes in a storm.

Real life was later inspired by untrue events.  In 1884 a yacht, The Mignonette, sank leaving four members of the crew drifting in a life boat. They cannibalized the cabin boy who had perished after drinking sea water. His name was Richard Parker.

This is why I fly everywhere.  Even Richard Parker, the tiger in Life Of Pi ends up adrift in a life boat...

My editor at Exhibit A, Emlyn Rees, has just sent me this link to a site which features work by a writer named Stuart Noss.  Read more about The Sad Tale Of Richard Parker here...

http://jardinsoli.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/the-sad-tale-of-richard-parker/

I just hope the only voyage I embark on for Exhibit A is a literary one.

Visit Richard HERE

Find him on Twitter HERE