The Writing Life with Ben C. Davies

Discussing the failures of the Democratic Party, ICE, and representation in literature—read our new interview on the release of the short story collection, And So I Took Their Eye.

In this week’s edition of The Writing Life, Ginosko editor sat down with founder Robert P. Cesaretti to discuss the release of Ben’s debut book, And So I Took Their Eye.

Ben, who helped launch The Writing Life series at Ginosko, now steps into the spotlight to answer the questions himself. Much of his new book responds to the contemporary treatment of immigrants and refugees. In this interview, he speaks about the persistent hostility toward immigrants in the U.S. and critiques the failures of both the Democratic and Labour parties. He also offers insight into the creative process behind the collection, including how he approached writing diverse perspectives with nuance and care.

---

About You as an Author

1. What inspired you to become an author? Was there a defining moment or influence that set you on this path?
Like many writers, I read a lot as a child. Every summer, my family would go camping in France, and before each trip, my brother, sister, and I would load up boxes of books from the local library. I’d stay up late in my sleeping bag, reading by torchlight, then carry on the next day on the beach.

In terms of committing to writing myself, in my early 20s I lived in a rural village in Guatemala for a number of years; before smartphones, with no internet and not much to do apart from my work at the local non-profit and surf. With so much quiet time, it was there where I really started to write, a momentum that has not dipped since.

2. How would you describe your writing style and approach to storytelling?
I usually begin with a loose idea and a strong feeling for how I want things to wrap up. I don’t tend to plot everything from the start. Instead, I write my way into the story and let it reveal itself over time. The characters often take shape as I go, and it’s through that process that I begin to understand what drives them and how they’ll behave.

3. Who are some of your biggest literary influences or favorite authors?
Around five or so years ago, I really started to focus my reading on translated fiction and work by authors from beyond the UK and US, and it opened up different ways of writing that have had a big influence on my own work. This collection is heavily influenced by those books. I have tried to play with voice and form, experimenting where I never used to, largely because of these authors.

Two authors I often come back to are Fernanda Melchor and Shehan Karunatilaka. They’re almost annoyingly brilliant, and everything I do is just a pale imitation of either.

Selva Almada

’s Trilogy of Men also had a real impact on me, especially when writing the opening and closing stories of this book.

---

About And So I Took Their Eye

4. What is the title of your upcoming book, and how would you describe it in a few sentences?
The book is called And So I Took Their Eye. To give the official description:

Guided by the ancient creed of "an eye for an eye," And So I Took Their Eye is a gripping collection of interlinked stories exploring what happens when justice is taken into your own hands and ultimately, what it means to be human. Set against the legacy of U.S. imperialism in Latin America, the hollow virtue-signaling of Silicon Valley progressives, and the ways toxic masculinity, both overt and insidious, shapes the lives of people and the systems they are trapped in, this collection examines abuses of power in a world fractured by inequalities.

As these characters confront these brutal truths, morality blurs, forcing them to question the meaning of belonging and the lengths they will go to carve out their place in an unforgiving world.

5. What inspired you to write this book? Was there a particular event, idea, or personal experience that sparked it?
My time living and working in Guatemala was at the heart of the book. The day-to-day life there, the eye-for-an-eye mentality, and the political and historical legacies including the 1954 CIA coup and the role of United Fruit Company all played a part. The title story began from something a local friend said, which I initially tried to capture literally but eventually transformed into a metaphorical reckoning, influenced by the coup.

Beyond that, I began to explore the eye-for-an-eye concept more widely, relating it to places I have travelled and lived. It got me thinking about how it appears in different ways across cultures and societies. In my experience it’s universal, posh Brits or tech Bay Area Democrats do it too, they just do it differently. I just think when the structures are not there to support people in the way they should, this revenge shows up in more extreme forms. These structures can be the state or society, but also family or friendship. When you do not have that network around you, things can crumble first. That feeling got me to explore the idea further, the culmination of which is this book.

6. What themes or messages do you hope readers take away from your book?
I hope readers come away with a renewed sense of empathy. We are living through dark times, marked by the rise of authoritarianism, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and brutal agencies like ICE that seek to dehumanize, not to mention the current horrors in Gaza. In this context, my book is a voice of retaliation: sometimes quiet, sometimes angry, sometimes disguised, but always pushing back against these forces.

One of the central themes of the book is that its critique isn’t limited to the right—it also challenges the left to take a hard look at itself. Whether motivated by genuine intention or political opportunism, the left’s often performative and hollow gestures can end up doing more harm than good. These days, it’s hard to say what the Democrats—or the Labour Party in the UK—truly stand for, despite how eagerly they present themselves as progressive standard-bearers.

True Colours, one of the stories in the collection, speaks directly to this dynamic. On the surface, it focuses on San Francisco’s unhoused population, but it was written in 2023 as a direct response to the actions of the Biden administration and Keir Starmer’s Labour Party in Gaza—two political forces that claim to be progressive defenders of human rights while actively supporting and enabling the atrocities that have unfolded. This hypocrisy hasn’t just tarnished their credibility; it has helped create the political vacuum in which figures like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage continue to gain traction.

7. Did you encounter any challenges while writing this book? If so, how did you overcome them?
Representation was one of the hardest and most important aspects of writing this book. The stories move across many locations around the world, but I knew they could not all be told solely from my own identity. I had to think carefully about how to inhabit different perspectives while remaining respectful and self-aware.

One of the stories, Whose Story?, wrestles directly with the question of authorship: who gets to tell which stories, and why. It grew out of a real experience I had on the beaches of Greece, when a boat of refugees capsized ashore. For a time, I found myself retelling that story to others, but eventually I had to pause and ask: who is this for? Am I sharing it out of genuine care and awareness, or am I centering myself? These are uncomfortable questions, but they are essential, and I believe writers should remain in that space of self-interrogation.

Many of these stories are rooted in things I have witnessed, lived through, or been directly connected to. In some cases, I am the character, and I have simply shifted the lens to explore how the same moment might feel from another perspective. Publishing has long centered white, Western voices, and it’s vital that that is changing, yet I also believe literature remains one of the last spaces where we can truly attempt to imagine each other’s lives. If we confine writers to only their own demographic categories, we risk losing something vital, something that challenges both writers and readers to step outside their comfort zones, to imagine the lives of others, and to practice empathy.

I believe there is a difference between appropriation and well-researched, empathetic storytelling, though I know this line demands constant self-evaluation and ongoing reflection. I did everything I could to remain in the latter camp. I invited Guatemalan friends to read early drafts and offer honest feedback, some of which reshaped parts of the book. That felt like the bare minimum. Writing outside your own experience requires openness and a willingness to be challenged.

---

Personal Connection & Impact

8. What does this book mean to you personally?
It represents years of living with and learning from a place that shaped me in numerous ways. Writing it was cathartic, a way to hold complex histories and emotions that do not easily fit into everyday conversations, and sometimes to write endings that life sadly did not serve.

9. If readers could remember just one thing after finishing your book, what would you want it to be?
I would want them to remember that justice is not available to everyone, and does not always come in neat packages, and sometimes, it does not come at all. But the human need for it is real and urgent. What we do with that need can either feed cycles of harm or open space for something better. Revenge takes root where connection is absent. If there is a thread that runs through these stories, it is that empathy (and I know I say this word a lot), however fragile, can be a form of resistance.

10. How do you hope this book will impact or resonate with readers?
I hope it stirs something. I hope it unsettles. As mentioned, the world right now feels like it is fracturing, between borders, ideologies, and identities. I wanted these stories to sit in those fractures, to reflect the human cost of systems that devalue certain lives. If the book prompts even one reader to think differently about immigration then I will feel I have done something worthwhile.

11. If you could sit down with a reader after they finish your book, what would you want to ask them?
Which story stayed with you the most, and why? Did any character’s choices challenge or change your perspective? What questions did the book leave you with?

---

Looking Ahead

12. What is next for you? Are you already working on another project?
I have the final draft of another novel completed. It explores some of the same themes as this collection but through a longer, more immersive narrative. Once again, it is set in Guatemala and examines the impact of capitalism on a small community and one man’s fight to resist it.

I’m also working on a project about the American Dream, but that’s just in the idea phase.

13. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Only write if you love to write. Do not do it for success or riches. If you write for other reasons, it will bring little joy. Simply having the time to write is a luxury, and the act of doing it is where the real value lies.

14. Where can readers find you online (website, social media, etc.)?
You can find me at bendaviesauthor.com, and I am active on Instagram at @bendaviesauthor and on Substack under the same handle, where I share updates about my work, and the writing residency I co-run, Studio Luce.

For anyone in UK, please come to the launch of the book at Bàrd Books on August 19. I’ll be in conversation with Jadelin Gangbo, the author of the incredible, ‘Ground’.

---

Ben C. Davies is a Californian-based author whose debut short story collection, And So I Took Their Eye, was published by Bridge House Publishing in July, 2025. Originally from the UK, his short fiction has appeared in journals such as The Fiery Scribe Review, Left Brain Media, and Downtime Review, while his articles have been featured in Electric Literature, The International Times, Work, Huck, and Lost.

He serves as an editor for the Ginosko Literary Journal, is a member of the San Francisco Writers Grotto, and is currently finishing his debut novel, Black Sand.​ In addition to his writing, Davies is the co-founder and director of Studio Luce, a Guatemalan writing retreat and artist residency, and helps authors with marketing and publicity through Studio Luce Books.