Stained Image

I first got the idea for Graven Image when I was looking at this stained glass in nearby Worcester Cathedral. It depicts some luckless bishop getting burned at the stake and looking pretty damn dignified about it. Looking back at notes and drafts, it seems the first line came to me first: "I was in the abbey when I realised I'd have to burn for my sins." From that, it seemed obvious that the guy saying it was a black brothel bouncer named Leon, and that he was stood right here in the cloisters, waiting for some sort of punishment to befall him so the natural order of things can be restored to the local underworld.