Kate Forsyth's Blog, page 60
March 8, 2013
INTERVIEW: Robert Hood, author of 'Fragments of A Broken Land'
In exactly one week's time (Saturday 16 March 2013), it is the Speculative Fiction Festival, being held at the NSW Writers Centre in Rozelle. To celebrate this wonderful occasion, I am running brief interviews with some of the writers apeparing on the day.
Please welcome Robert Hood, my first guest:
[image error]
What is your latest novel all about?
'Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead', which is published by Borgo Press/Wildside Press in the US and was released on 18 February 2013, is a dark fantasy novel of the “otherworld” variety. “Epic” in nature, it uses many of the standard tropes, often bent out of shape or otherwise subverted during the course of the book. The story concerns a resurrected corpse that may hold the key to saving the world of Tharenweyr or ending it, depending, perhaps, on the actions of those who find it first. Two groups are after it: a ragtag alliance of strangers who have been brought together by chance but are all, in some way, related to those involved in an apocalyptic event that occurred some 2000 years earlier; and a powerful sorcerer who lives partly in the world and partly on the burning shoulders of a gigantic monster adrift in a vast metaphysical space just outside reality. Worldly gods and their demonic opposites seek to manipulate those involved in order to gain supra-creational power – though neither can “see” or understand the source of the power. Very little is what it seems. And the ending is, I hope, unexpected.
That’s the gist of it – though the book is really about the characters and how they deal with the moral dilemmas that are thrust upon them. There are quite a few characters in the novel, including the rather complex antagonist and another who, like the aforementioned sorcerer, exists on the shoulders of a monstrous inhabitant of the space beyond the self-contained world of Tharenweyr itself. However, the main focus is on two characters in particular – Tashnark, the somewhat lackadaisical and troubled son of a slave merchant, and Remis, a newly graduated and idealistic spellbinder. The significance of these two in the cosmic scheme of
things clarifies for the reader, if not for the characters themselves, as the book progresses.
And, of course, there’s a cat…
As a recent, very perceptive reviewer pointed out, the setting itself provides two major characters in their own right: Tharenweyr, the non-planetary world in which the mortal (and immortal) characters live, and Ko’erpel-Na, the city where much of the action takes place. This emphasis on setting-as-character was intentional on my part, so I’m very happy that the reviewer was particularly taken by them both!
The novel is structured around a progression of escalating conflicts, physical and metaphysical. It begins with a bar-room brawl and heads via a series of street-level running fights, a rebellion and a sea-battle toward what may be the end of everything.
[image error]
How did you get the first idea for it?
Fragments has had an excessively long gestation period. The original inspiration for it goes right back to my university days (in the 1970s), when I developed Tharenweyr as the background of a role-playing game in which nascent versions of some of the characters were created by the players involved, including poet/artist Margaret Curtis. This period was particularly formative. My postgraduate thesis was on the works of William Blake – and Blake’s mystical approach to reality very much underlies the philosophical, metaphysical and metaphorical elements of the novel. Over the years, the nature of the world of Tharenweyr and its history grew (even though much of it remains blurry and is yet to be explored). As I wrote the novel, the story morphed in all sorts of ways, becoming more complex; the themes clarified, the characters changed and the plot structure tightened up. Even after it was completed, the novel was continually re-written, edited, lengthened, cut-back etc., until I was finally happy with it. I think it’s fair to say that the story of Fragments developed directly from the world of Tharenweyr and its nature, particularly insofar as this nature is so entangled with my reading of Blake’s prophecies.
What do you love most about writing speculative fiction?
Speculative fiction is a perfect pen for the imagination to play around in. Its possibilities are endless – unconfined by “reality” to whatever extent the writer might deem appropriate for the development of each particular story. For me, specfic has a purity so profound that writing feels like an act of liberation. Yet at the same time, it provides a powerful tool for exploring the real world and our relationship to it. For me, artistic endeavor is about creating metaphors for the multitudinous issues of life and death and the complex interactions (social, political, spiritual) that drive them. Such metaphors speak to the mind and heart together, without didacticism, while distracting readers’ defenses. The various genres of speculative fiction are metaphorical by nature, rich with images and tropes that lend themselves to exploring the complex nature of existence. So though you get to set your own rules, by exploring the consequences of them, you inevitably cast a brighter light on the real world itself.
What lies ahead of you in the next year?
Over the year, I will be writing a few “side stories” related to the world of Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead. Several are available on the website already, in various e-formats, and so far they are free. Who knows how long that will last! You can access them from: http://fragmentsnovel.undeadbackbrain... under “Extras”
I also have plans for a follow-up to Fragments. Though I may not start writing this novel yet, I want to outline it and will develop the background further in preparation. Meanwhile I have three other novels in train – one of them completed (meaning drafted, re-written, edited and re-edited many times), but as yet without a publisher. This one is a dark crime thriller, with potential to develop into a franchise. Of the others, both incomplete first drafts, one is straight-out supernatural horror and the other science fiction. I’m not fast when it comes to writing stories generally, and at novel length, it can take years – as Fragments attests.
In June, a novella I wrote last year for a franchise-related fiction anthology will be making an appearance. The franchise is IDW’s comic series “Zombies vs Robots”. I had great fun writing this story and look forward to readers’ responses. It’s pulpy, bloody and… well, features zombies, robots and cruel psychic experiments in Cold War Russia. What more could anyone ask for?
A new and different franchise tale – again a novella – has rocketed over the horizon in the past day or so -- a different franchise, and even more “New Pulp” in style. I’m looking forward to this one, assuming it happens.
Otherwise I will be completing a few more short stories this year, I hope. Several are underway. In fact, I’m toying with the idea of putting together a collection of science fiction stories, to complement my earlier horror/ghost collections. It would contain mostly re-prints (some of which have only appeared in markets many of my readers would not have seen) as well as a few new, unpublished ones. If not this year, maybe the next….
The best book you've read in the past year?
That’s always a difficult question. I should answer it by naming Connie Willis’ Blackout – the first part of her massive time-travel epic -- or something equally as worthy. But as I re-discovered graphic novels recently and spent most of the past year catching up on how truly excellent many of them are – particularly those by Alan Moore, of course, or Kirkman’s Walking Dead, not to mention the late 1990s’, game-changing Batman tales by Frank Miller (in fact, Batman generally) – instead I’ll name Ed Brubaker’s superb re-boot of Captain America, as collected into the 744-page Captain America Omnibus, Vol. 1. This book covers Cap’s adventures post-Avengers Disassembled, the return of first his signature enemy, the Red Skull, and then Bucky as the Winter Soldier, through to his gut-wrenching assassination in the aftermath of the superhero Civil War. Brubaker’s writing is superb throughout, noirish and dynamic -- consistently developing the story in spite of the serial nature of the initial publication in comic form. Story and dialogue are enhanced and extended by quality art from Steve Epting, Mike Perkins and others, so that the entanglement of word and image that is at the heart of the genre creates meaning greater than the sum of both. The emotions are raw and deeply felt and the result a thing of beauty. More to the point, the book raises, in a metaphorical way that is truly powerful, central issues of authority, terrorist fear, social fracturing and the nature of heroism that plague not just America but the whole of the modern world. Superhero graphic novels offer up significant modern myths that tacitly evaluate contemporary social issues. This epic of an American symbol is a great example of the genre at its best.
Thanks, Rob!
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT - I LOVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK
Please welcome Robert Hood, my first guest:
[image error]
What is your latest novel all about?
'Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead', which is published by Borgo Press/Wildside Press in the US and was released on 18 February 2013, is a dark fantasy novel of the “otherworld” variety. “Epic” in nature, it uses many of the standard tropes, often bent out of shape or otherwise subverted during the course of the book. The story concerns a resurrected corpse that may hold the key to saving the world of Tharenweyr or ending it, depending, perhaps, on the actions of those who find it first. Two groups are after it: a ragtag alliance of strangers who have been brought together by chance but are all, in some way, related to those involved in an apocalyptic event that occurred some 2000 years earlier; and a powerful sorcerer who lives partly in the world and partly on the burning shoulders of a gigantic monster adrift in a vast metaphysical space just outside reality. Worldly gods and their demonic opposites seek to manipulate those involved in order to gain supra-creational power – though neither can “see” or understand the source of the power. Very little is what it seems. And the ending is, I hope, unexpected.
That’s the gist of it – though the book is really about the characters and how they deal with the moral dilemmas that are thrust upon them. There are quite a few characters in the novel, including the rather complex antagonist and another who, like the aforementioned sorcerer, exists on the shoulders of a monstrous inhabitant of the space beyond the self-contained world of Tharenweyr itself. However, the main focus is on two characters in particular – Tashnark, the somewhat lackadaisical and troubled son of a slave merchant, and Remis, a newly graduated and idealistic spellbinder. The significance of these two in the cosmic scheme of
things clarifies for the reader, if not for the characters themselves, as the book progresses.
And, of course, there’s a cat…
As a recent, very perceptive reviewer pointed out, the setting itself provides two major characters in their own right: Tharenweyr, the non-planetary world in which the mortal (and immortal) characters live, and Ko’erpel-Na, the city where much of the action takes place. This emphasis on setting-as-character was intentional on my part, so I’m very happy that the reviewer was particularly taken by them both!
The novel is structured around a progression of escalating conflicts, physical and metaphysical. It begins with a bar-room brawl and heads via a series of street-level running fights, a rebellion and a sea-battle toward what may be the end of everything.
[image error]
How did you get the first idea for it?
Fragments has had an excessively long gestation period. The original inspiration for it goes right back to my university days (in the 1970s), when I developed Tharenweyr as the background of a role-playing game in which nascent versions of some of the characters were created by the players involved, including poet/artist Margaret Curtis. This period was particularly formative. My postgraduate thesis was on the works of William Blake – and Blake’s mystical approach to reality very much underlies the philosophical, metaphysical and metaphorical elements of the novel. Over the years, the nature of the world of Tharenweyr and its history grew (even though much of it remains blurry and is yet to be explored). As I wrote the novel, the story morphed in all sorts of ways, becoming more complex; the themes clarified, the characters changed and the plot structure tightened up. Even after it was completed, the novel was continually re-written, edited, lengthened, cut-back etc., until I was finally happy with it. I think it’s fair to say that the story of Fragments developed directly from the world of Tharenweyr and its nature, particularly insofar as this nature is so entangled with my reading of Blake’s prophecies.
What do you love most about writing speculative fiction?
Speculative fiction is a perfect pen for the imagination to play around in. Its possibilities are endless – unconfined by “reality” to whatever extent the writer might deem appropriate for the development of each particular story. For me, specfic has a purity so profound that writing feels like an act of liberation. Yet at the same time, it provides a powerful tool for exploring the real world and our relationship to it. For me, artistic endeavor is about creating metaphors for the multitudinous issues of life and death and the complex interactions (social, political, spiritual) that drive them. Such metaphors speak to the mind and heart together, without didacticism, while distracting readers’ defenses. The various genres of speculative fiction are metaphorical by nature, rich with images and tropes that lend themselves to exploring the complex nature of existence. So though you get to set your own rules, by exploring the consequences of them, you inevitably cast a brighter light on the real world itself.
What lies ahead of you in the next year?
Over the year, I will be writing a few “side stories” related to the world of Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead. Several are available on the website already, in various e-formats, and so far they are free. Who knows how long that will last! You can access them from: http://fragmentsnovel.undeadbackbrain... under “Extras”
I also have plans for a follow-up to Fragments. Though I may not start writing this novel yet, I want to outline it and will develop the background further in preparation. Meanwhile I have three other novels in train – one of them completed (meaning drafted, re-written, edited and re-edited many times), but as yet without a publisher. This one is a dark crime thriller, with potential to develop into a franchise. Of the others, both incomplete first drafts, one is straight-out supernatural horror and the other science fiction. I’m not fast when it comes to writing stories generally, and at novel length, it can take years – as Fragments attests.
In June, a novella I wrote last year for a franchise-related fiction anthology will be making an appearance. The franchise is IDW’s comic series “Zombies vs Robots”. I had great fun writing this story and look forward to readers’ responses. It’s pulpy, bloody and… well, features zombies, robots and cruel psychic experiments in Cold War Russia. What more could anyone ask for?
A new and different franchise tale – again a novella – has rocketed over the horizon in the past day or so -- a different franchise, and even more “New Pulp” in style. I’m looking forward to this one, assuming it happens.
Otherwise I will be completing a few more short stories this year, I hope. Several are underway. In fact, I’m toying with the idea of putting together a collection of science fiction stories, to complement my earlier horror/ghost collections. It would contain mostly re-prints (some of which have only appeared in markets many of my readers would not have seen) as well as a few new, unpublished ones. If not this year, maybe the next….
The best book you've read in the past year?
That’s always a difficult question. I should answer it by naming Connie Willis’ Blackout – the first part of her massive time-travel epic -- or something equally as worthy. But as I re-discovered graphic novels recently and spent most of the past year catching up on how truly excellent many of them are – particularly those by Alan Moore, of course, or Kirkman’s Walking Dead, not to mention the late 1990s’, game-changing Batman tales by Frank Miller (in fact, Batman generally) – instead I’ll name Ed Brubaker’s superb re-boot of Captain America, as collected into the 744-page Captain America Omnibus, Vol. 1. This book covers Cap’s adventures post-Avengers Disassembled, the return of first his signature enemy, the Red Skull, and then Bucky as the Winter Soldier, through to his gut-wrenching assassination in the aftermath of the superhero Civil War. Brubaker’s writing is superb throughout, noirish and dynamic -- consistently developing the story in spite of the serial nature of the initial publication in comic form. Story and dialogue are enhanced and extended by quality art from Steve Epting, Mike Perkins and others, so that the entanglement of word and image that is at the heart of the genre creates meaning greater than the sum of both. The emotions are raw and deeply felt and the result a thing of beauty. More to the point, the book raises, in a metaphorical way that is truly powerful, central issues of authority, terrorist fear, social fracturing and the nature of heroism that plague not just America but the whole of the modern world. Superhero graphic novels offer up significant modern myths that tacitly evaluate contemporary social issues. This epic of an American symbol is a great example of the genre at its best.
Thanks, Rob!
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT - I LOVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK
March 7, 2013
INTERVIEW: Nancy Bilyeau. author of 'The Crown'
Last year I was browsing through the bookstore looking for a book to take overseas with me. I was travelling to the UK and Germany, and wanted a book that would keep me utterly absorbed as I negotiated endless airports and hotels and transit lounges. I picked up 'The Crown' by Nancy Bilyeau.
[image error]
It was a risk. I've never hear of the book or the author before. But I loved the cover, and I loved the blurb, and so I bought it.
I am so glad I did.
'The Crown' begins with a heart-wrenching scene of a woman being burnt to death, and her young relative - a young nun - risking her life to offer her comfort. The story is set during the turbulent days of of the Tudor king, Henry VIII, when abbeys were being torn down and monasteries dissolved, and the protagonist of the story - Sister Joanna - will have more than her faith tested over the course of the novel. 'The Crown' is an intelligent historical thriller, with nail-biting action, religious conspiracy theories, and a nice dash of romance thrown in.
I loved it!
So, in my usual fashion with any book I love, I had to know more.
The author Nancy Bilyeau has had her life turned upside-down by the success of her first novel. She has given up her hot-shot career as a magazine editor and screenwriter to write the sequel, 'The Chalice'(I can't wait!) and has very kindly agreed to answer a few of my questions:
[image error]
Are you a daydreamer too?
Yes, my whole life. I'm a real Water Mitty. Just last week, I missed my stop on the subway in New York City because of my daydreaming. Growing up, I would bounce a large ball on the patio in our suburban backyard, spinning story lines by the hour. They were vaguely Agatha Christie-ish. I remember in one, an heiress showed up from Argentina to collect the money willed to her but then it turned out she was an imposter. Why Argentina? No idea!
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
When I was eight years old, the class went on a field trip. The teacher asked us to write a report on what we'd seen after we got back to the classroom. She loved my report so much, the teacher made a sign that said, "Have you heard of Nancy Bilyeau, the Famous Writer?" and tacked it to the wall. Ever since that day, I felt that perhaps this was something I could do.
(I love this story - see what teachers can do!)
Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I was born in Chicago, Illinois. My mother was from an Irish-American family in Illinois, the O'Neills. My father was a watercolor artist from Michigan. We moved to Michigan later, and I grew up there. I'm very much a Midwesterner; people say I still have the accent. After I graduated from the University of Michigan, I eventually made my way to the big city of New York, and started a career as a magazine editor. I worked for Rolling Stone, Good Housekeeping, InStyle. In the middle of all this, I married a Canadian man after a long-distance relationship and moved to Toronto for a couple of years. I love going to the movies, hiking, eating Italian food, gathering shells on the beach, touring historic homes. I lured my husband down to New York and that is where we live now with our two children.
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for this book?
I joined a fiction workshop because someone dropped out and they needed a fourth for the minimum number. I came in wanting to write about the 16th century, my favorite. I didn't know what I wanted it to be until I decided to make the protagonist a novice in a Catholic order.
How extensively do you plan your novels?
Not that extensively. I know where I want the characters to go but I don't outline in great detail because it makes me self-conscious and diminishes the creative possibilities, at least for me. In The Crown, the whole sequence at Howard House, the masqued party and meeting with Princess Mary, I came up with it suddenly while almost finished with the book.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
I believe in dreams but I didn't get specific ideas for the books that I am aware of. I think things seep out of the unconscious. though. The Crown is a product of a fever. I had a bad flu with a fever, and while semi-hallucinating with 103 degrees, I thought, I have to get back to that novel (It was about one-fourth written) and finish it.
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
Researching Athelstan, an obscure Dark Ages king, yielded some amazing discoveries.There were things I learned while researching that connected to Richard the Lionheart and Edward the Black Prince that gave me shivers. I can't say what--spoilers!
[image error]
Athelstan, often called the first king of England
Where do you write, and when?
The first book I wrote at the kitchen table and at Starbucks, early in the morning, on weekends and on "stay cations." The second book I took a break from the magazine business and I wrote it every day in the library.
What is your favourite part of writing?
The first burst of inspiration that seems to shoot out of my fingers as I type, and then the revised passage delivering that scene. It's the in-between part that can get you!
What do you do when you get blocked?
I write something anyway, even if it's wretched. I then redo it. And redo it.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
Long walks, particularly in the snow. Seeing movies. Reading books that are far from what I am doing. Going to art museums.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
Earl Gray tea, some jolting classical music, like Beethoven.
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
Daphne du Maurier, A.S. Byatt, Mary Renault, Jane Austen, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tolstoy, Edith Wharton, Norah Lofts and Alison Weir.
[image error]
I love Alison Weir's books too!
What do you consider to be good writing?
The conveying of an idea that is new and yet familiar.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
You must workshop to find out if what you're writing in your head is coming across on the page.
What are you working on now?
I'm plotting out Book Three! It's going to be even scarier, plus Joanna will have encounters with Henry VIII himself. OK, that could be considered scary and of itself, right? But frightening things aside from the King.
[image error]
It was a risk. I've never hear of the book or the author before. But I loved the cover, and I loved the blurb, and so I bought it.
I am so glad I did.
'The Crown' begins with a heart-wrenching scene of a woman being burnt to death, and her young relative - a young nun - risking her life to offer her comfort. The story is set during the turbulent days of of the Tudor king, Henry VIII, when abbeys were being torn down and monasteries dissolved, and the protagonist of the story - Sister Joanna - will have more than her faith tested over the course of the novel. 'The Crown' is an intelligent historical thriller, with nail-biting action, religious conspiracy theories, and a nice dash of romance thrown in.
I loved it!
So, in my usual fashion with any book I love, I had to know more.
The author Nancy Bilyeau has had her life turned upside-down by the success of her first novel. She has given up her hot-shot career as a magazine editor and screenwriter to write the sequel, 'The Chalice'(I can't wait!) and has very kindly agreed to answer a few of my questions:
[image error]
Are you a daydreamer too?
Yes, my whole life. I'm a real Water Mitty. Just last week, I missed my stop on the subway in New York City because of my daydreaming. Growing up, I would bounce a large ball on the patio in our suburban backyard, spinning story lines by the hour. They were vaguely Agatha Christie-ish. I remember in one, an heiress showed up from Argentina to collect the money willed to her but then it turned out she was an imposter. Why Argentina? No idea!
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
When I was eight years old, the class went on a field trip. The teacher asked us to write a report on what we'd seen after we got back to the classroom. She loved my report so much, the teacher made a sign that said, "Have you heard of Nancy Bilyeau, the Famous Writer?" and tacked it to the wall. Ever since that day, I felt that perhaps this was something I could do.
(I love this story - see what teachers can do!)
Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I was born in Chicago, Illinois. My mother was from an Irish-American family in Illinois, the O'Neills. My father was a watercolor artist from Michigan. We moved to Michigan later, and I grew up there. I'm very much a Midwesterner; people say I still have the accent. After I graduated from the University of Michigan, I eventually made my way to the big city of New York, and started a career as a magazine editor. I worked for Rolling Stone, Good Housekeeping, InStyle. In the middle of all this, I married a Canadian man after a long-distance relationship and moved to Toronto for a couple of years. I love going to the movies, hiking, eating Italian food, gathering shells on the beach, touring historic homes. I lured my husband down to New York and that is where we live now with our two children.
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for this book?
I joined a fiction workshop because someone dropped out and they needed a fourth for the minimum number. I came in wanting to write about the 16th century, my favorite. I didn't know what I wanted it to be until I decided to make the protagonist a novice in a Catholic order.
How extensively do you plan your novels?
Not that extensively. I know where I want the characters to go but I don't outline in great detail because it makes me self-conscious and diminishes the creative possibilities, at least for me. In The Crown, the whole sequence at Howard House, the masqued party and meeting with Princess Mary, I came up with it suddenly while almost finished with the book.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
I believe in dreams but I didn't get specific ideas for the books that I am aware of. I think things seep out of the unconscious. though. The Crown is a product of a fever. I had a bad flu with a fever, and while semi-hallucinating with 103 degrees, I thought, I have to get back to that novel (It was about one-fourth written) and finish it.
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
Researching Athelstan, an obscure Dark Ages king, yielded some amazing discoveries.There were things I learned while researching that connected to Richard the Lionheart and Edward the Black Prince that gave me shivers. I can't say what--spoilers!
[image error]
Athelstan, often called the first king of England
Where do you write, and when?
The first book I wrote at the kitchen table and at Starbucks, early in the morning, on weekends and on "stay cations." The second book I took a break from the magazine business and I wrote it every day in the library.
What is your favourite part of writing?
The first burst of inspiration that seems to shoot out of my fingers as I type, and then the revised passage delivering that scene. It's the in-between part that can get you!
What do you do when you get blocked?
I write something anyway, even if it's wretched. I then redo it. And redo it.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
Long walks, particularly in the snow. Seeing movies. Reading books that are far from what I am doing. Going to art museums.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
Earl Gray tea, some jolting classical music, like Beethoven.
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
Daphne du Maurier, A.S. Byatt, Mary Renault, Jane Austen, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tolstoy, Edith Wharton, Norah Lofts and Alison Weir.
[image error]
I love Alison Weir's books too!
What do you consider to be good writing?
The conveying of an idea that is new and yet familiar.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
You must workshop to find out if what you're writing in your head is coming across on the page.
What are you working on now?
I'm plotting out Book Three! It's going to be even scarier, plus Joanna will have encounters with Henry VIII himself. OK, that could be considered scary and of itself, right? But frightening things aside from the King.
March 5, 2013
SPOTLIGHT: My favourite novels set in Tudor Times
This week on the blog I have reviewed Nancy Bilyeau's novel of Tudor intrigue, conspiracy and romance, 'The Crown', and later in the week I'll be interviewing her.
I have to admit one of my absolute favourite periods of history is Tudor times - all the bloodshed, torture, lust and murder - what's not to love?
It was Jean Plaidy who began my fascination with this period of time. I loved all her books about Henry VIII and his wives, the young Elizabeth I, and Mary, Queen of Scots.
[image error]
I must dig out all my old Jean Plaidys and read them again! I think it was her novels that really sparked by passionate love of historical fiction.
However, we have to credit Philippa Gregory with the current craze for Tudor novels. I really love her work! My favourites? 'The Queen's Fool' and 'The Other Boleyn Girl'. Brilliant storytelling!
[image error]
I have also been really enjoying the murder mysteries by British writer C. J. Sansom, set during the reign of Henry VIII, and featuring a hunchbacked yet indomitable lawyer Matthew Shardlake:
[image error]
A few books I absolutely adore that you may not be familiar with are:
'The Queen's Own Fool' by Jane Yolen, which is a brilliant YA novel abut Mary, Queen of Scots:
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'A Traveller in Time' by Alison Uttley which I first read when I was about eleven years old, and which I have revered ever since. Its a classic of children's time travel adventures, delicately done, about a girl who slips back and forth in time while staying in an old farmhouse, and finds herself caught up in the infamous Babington plot to free Mary, Queen of Scots:
[image error]
Another book set in Tudor times that I enjoyed hugely recently is the historical thriller, 'The Tudor Secret' by C. W Gortner:
[image error]
Happy Tudor reading!
March 3, 2013
BOOK REVIEW: 'The Crown' by Nancy Bilyeau
[image error]
Title: The Crown
Author: Nancy Bilyeau
Publisher: Touchstone
Age Group & Genre: Historical Fiction for Adults
The Blurb:
An aristocratic young nun must find a legendary crown in order to save her father—and preserve the Catholic faith from Cromwell’s ruthless terror. The year is 1537. . . Joanna Stafford, a Dominican nun, learns that her favorite cousin has been condemned by Henry VIII to be burned at the stake. Defying the sacred rule of enclosure, Joanna leaves the priory to stand at her cousin’s side. Arrested for interfering with the king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, is sent to the Tower of London.
The ruthless Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, takes terrifying steps to force Joanna to agree to spy for him: to save her father’s life she must find an ancient relic—a crown so powerful, it may hold the ability to end the Reformation. Accompanied by two monks, Joanna returns home to Dartford Priory and searches in secret for this long-lost piece of history worn by the Saxon King Athelstan in 937 during the historic battle that first united Britain.
But Dartford Priory has become a dangerous place, and when more than one dead body is uncovered, Joanna departs with a sensitive young monk, Brother Edmund, to search elsewhere for the legendary crown. From royal castles with tapestry-filled rooms to Stonehenge to Malmesbury Abbey, the final resting place of King Athelstan, Joanna and Brother Edmund must hurry to find the crown if they want to keep Joanna’s father alive.
At Malmesbury, secrets of the crown are revealed that bring to light the fates of the Black Prince, Richard the Lionhearted, and Katherine of Aragon’s first husband, Arthur. The crown’s intensity and strength are beyond the earthly realm and it must not fall into the wrong hands.
With Cromwell’s troops threatening to shutter her priory, bright and bold Joanna must now decide who she can trust with the secret of the crown so that she may save herself, her family, and her sacred way of life. This provocative story melds heart-stopping suspense with historical detail and brings to life the poignant dramas of women and men at a fascinating and critical moment in England’s past
What I Thought:
A historical thriller set in Tudor England, this novel features a beautiful young nun, Sister Joanna, as its heroine. The book begins with the burning of Joanna’s cousin for treason, and sees our intrepid nun being thrown in the Tower and then coerced into a hunt for a mysterious crown thought to have supernatural powers.
Think the vivid historical detail of Philippa Gregory, mixed with the suspense and conspiracy theories of Dan Brown, mixed with the clever puzzle of a murder mystery writer like C.J. Sansom, and you have an unusually thoughful and historically accurate thriller.
The book moves swiftly along, with lots of danger, suspense, and a little romance (my only complaint - a really good romance and this novel would so tick all the boxes for me!) An utterly engaging read, that has me looking forward eagerly to the next in the series, entitled 'The chalice' and due any day now.
Isn't it a gorgeous cover?
You can read more about Nancy and her wonderful books at her website
You can buy them here:
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And please leave a comment - you know I love them!
February 28, 2013
INTERVIEW: Kimberley Freeman, author of 'Lighthouse Bay''
'Lighthouse Bay', by Kimberley Freeman, was one of the Best Books I Read in 2012 (as you will know if you've been following my blog).
Kim is not only a brilliant author, but she also teaches creative writing at the University of Queensland, plus has two children, and so she is a very busy women. So I was very pleased that she spared me some time to answer my questions:
Are you a daydreamer too?
I'm a terrible daydreamer. I love to just lie down and think of things that might be nice, or remember things that I loved doing. I go to sleep imagining things and wake up imagining things.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yes. My mum has the first "book" I wrote at age 5.
Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I was born in London but grew up in the northern bayside suburbs of Brisbane. I live in Brisbane's inner west now, where it's very hilly and leafy. I actually live at the bottom of a mountain, and that mountain is my gym. I walk up it or ride up it on my bicycle several times a week. As for what I like to do: I like to write, I like to hang out with my friends, I like to read but mostly non-fiction now (especially books about history and mythology). My favourite thing in the world is to sit in my garden with a notebook in my hand to catch my daydreams, while my kids draw or play nearby.
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for 'Lighthouse Bay'?
I was at the beach at Peregian, on Queensland's sunshine coast, in the early morning. The Noosa beaches still have their bushland verges, so you go through bush to get to the beach and there are no highrises either. So when you're on the beach alone, it could be anytime: the present, 1000 years ago, 100 years ago... Just the ancient sea and the bush and sand. So I was on the beach alone and I imagined what it might be like to be from a completely different environment--say English Victorian high society--and finding yourself the only survivor of a shipwreck on this deserted beach. It all came from there.
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How extensively do you plan your novels?
Pretty extensively. The planning process for me is a process of big brush strokes, growing more and more narrow and fine as I proceed through the books. So I'll work out some key turning points, then work out a few ideas for scenes to negotiate my way between them. then write a bit, plan a bit, write a bit, and so on.
'Lighthouse Bay' is a parallel narrative, moving between the modern-day and the past. What particular challenges are there to writing in this structure? Do you write one strand and then the other, then weave them together, or are you continually moving back and forth?
I write the books in order, from page 1 to page 400-and-something. The two time periods allow me a break from each story line to think and replot etc.
Why do you think parallel narratives are so popular?
Because it's two stories in one! And also because the present story usually has a connection to the past story, and that means there's a nice easy contemporary access point for the history, for people who find straight historical fiction a little bit daunting.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
I have in the past, but only in my fantasy work that I write under my real name, Kim Wilkins.
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
Yes! I had scenes where the main character had to get from the sunshine coast to Brisbane. I presumed there would be a train, but there wasn't. there was a PADDLE STEAMER!! I had no idea we had paddle steamer history in Queensland, and I was so excited. There's such a romance about paddle steamers.
Where do you write, and when?
When the kids aren't around/are sleeping. That's it. I can't be precious anymore.
What is your favourite part of writing?
Coming up with story ideas, imagining where the plot will go, getting those "ding!" moments when you see how two parts of the story are going to fit snugly together.
What do you do when you get blocked?
I don't. I just keep writing. I have bills to pay.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
I can't imagine it running dry. There are stories literally EVERYWHERE. Every place I go, every person I meet, I could get a story out of.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
I make a playlist of music for every book I write: music that somehow captures the spirit of the story. And I put it on every time I write. My all-purpose playlist is one called "Working in Bed" because I really do write so much in bed. That one has lots of quiet, melancholy songs on it.
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
J. R. R. Tolkien; Marion Zimmer Bradley; Alfred, Lord Tennyson; John Keats; Charlotte Bronte; Ann Radcliffe; Georgette Heyer; Marian Keyes; the Gawain poet; Astrid Lindgren! Just off the top of my head!
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Georgette Heyer is one of my favourite authors too!
What do you consider to be good writing?
Writing that makes the world go away. Writing that performs the magic trick of making the black marks on the white page disappear, and creates worlds in your head.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
It's very simple. Read a lot, work out what makes you love a story, then write a lot.
What are you working on now?
I'm writing Kimberley Freeman number 5, 'Ember Island', which is a slightly gothic governess story set on two islands in 1892--one in the English Channel, and one in Moreton Bay. It's wrapped in a contemporary story, too.
Kim is not only a brilliant author, but she also teaches creative writing at the University of Queensland, plus has two children, and so she is a very busy women. So I was very pleased that she spared me some time to answer my questions:
Are you a daydreamer too?
I'm a terrible daydreamer. I love to just lie down and think of things that might be nice, or remember things that I loved doing. I go to sleep imagining things and wake up imagining things.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yes. My mum has the first "book" I wrote at age 5.
Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I was born in London but grew up in the northern bayside suburbs of Brisbane. I live in Brisbane's inner west now, where it's very hilly and leafy. I actually live at the bottom of a mountain, and that mountain is my gym. I walk up it or ride up it on my bicycle several times a week. As for what I like to do: I like to write, I like to hang out with my friends, I like to read but mostly non-fiction now (especially books about history and mythology). My favourite thing in the world is to sit in my garden with a notebook in my hand to catch my daydreams, while my kids draw or play nearby.
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for 'Lighthouse Bay'?
I was at the beach at Peregian, on Queensland's sunshine coast, in the early morning. The Noosa beaches still have their bushland verges, so you go through bush to get to the beach and there are no highrises either. So when you're on the beach alone, it could be anytime: the present, 1000 years ago, 100 years ago... Just the ancient sea and the bush and sand. So I was on the beach alone and I imagined what it might be like to be from a completely different environment--say English Victorian high society--and finding yourself the only survivor of a shipwreck on this deserted beach. It all came from there.
[image error]
How extensively do you plan your novels?
Pretty extensively. The planning process for me is a process of big brush strokes, growing more and more narrow and fine as I proceed through the books. So I'll work out some key turning points, then work out a few ideas for scenes to negotiate my way between them. then write a bit, plan a bit, write a bit, and so on.
'Lighthouse Bay' is a parallel narrative, moving between the modern-day and the past. What particular challenges are there to writing in this structure? Do you write one strand and then the other, then weave them together, or are you continually moving back and forth?
I write the books in order, from page 1 to page 400-and-something. The two time periods allow me a break from each story line to think and replot etc.
Why do you think parallel narratives are so popular?
Because it's two stories in one! And also because the present story usually has a connection to the past story, and that means there's a nice easy contemporary access point for the history, for people who find straight historical fiction a little bit daunting.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
I have in the past, but only in my fantasy work that I write under my real name, Kim Wilkins.
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
Yes! I had scenes where the main character had to get from the sunshine coast to Brisbane. I presumed there would be a train, but there wasn't. there was a PADDLE STEAMER!! I had no idea we had paddle steamer history in Queensland, and I was so excited. There's such a romance about paddle steamers.
Where do you write, and when?
When the kids aren't around/are sleeping. That's it. I can't be precious anymore.
What is your favourite part of writing?
Coming up with story ideas, imagining where the plot will go, getting those "ding!" moments when you see how two parts of the story are going to fit snugly together.
What do you do when you get blocked?
I don't. I just keep writing. I have bills to pay.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
I can't imagine it running dry. There are stories literally EVERYWHERE. Every place I go, every person I meet, I could get a story out of.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
I make a playlist of music for every book I write: music that somehow captures the spirit of the story. And I put it on every time I write. My all-purpose playlist is one called "Working in Bed" because I really do write so much in bed. That one has lots of quiet, melancholy songs on it.
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
J. R. R. Tolkien; Marion Zimmer Bradley; Alfred, Lord Tennyson; John Keats; Charlotte Bronte; Ann Radcliffe; Georgette Heyer; Marian Keyes; the Gawain poet; Astrid Lindgren! Just off the top of my head!
[image error]
Georgette Heyer is one of my favourite authors too!
What do you consider to be good writing?
Writing that makes the world go away. Writing that performs the magic trick of making the black marks on the white page disappear, and creates worlds in your head.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
It's very simple. Read a lot, work out what makes you love a story, then write a lot.
What are you working on now?
I'm writing Kimberley Freeman number 5, 'Ember Island', which is a slightly gothic governess story set on two islands in 1892--one in the English Channel, and one in Moreton Bay. It's wrapped in a contemporary story, too.
February 26, 2013
WRITING ADVICE from Kimberley Freeman
Kim Wilkins is the author of some of my all-time favourite books, including 'Angel of Ruin' and 'The Autumn Castle' - books which entwine history and the supernatural with intoxicating results.
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In recent times, she has been writing books with a greater emphasis on romance and suspense rather than magic, under the name Kimberley Freeman, using her beloved grandmother's surname. I love these books just as much as I do her earlier books. Although they do not have that chilling supernatural twist, they are still books that utterly refuse to be put down - utterly compelling and readable.
Her most recent novel, 'Lighthouse Bay'was one of the Best Books I Read in 2012, while I can also strongly recommend her previous book, 'Wildflower Hill'.
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Born in London, Kim grew up in Brisbane and has degrees in English Literature and Creative Writing. I first met her in Melbourne when both of our first books were short-listed for the Aurealis Prize for Excellence in Speculative Fiction. Kim won, drat her.
Since then we try and see each other whenever we can. We always talk long and hard about the craft of writing, something we both feel very passionately about.
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Here are Kim's top writing tips:
• Look to your verbs. If you read a page back and it seems lifeless and flabby, find every verb on the page and see if you can improve it. Make a point of collecting great verbs every time you read or watch a movie or have a conversation. Verbs like gasp, surge, quiver, and drench work so hard. Verbs are the muscle of a sentence, and can punch up dull writing in a moment.
• Chillax on chapter one. Easily the most common writing problem I see is the writer trying far too hard to impress in the first few pages of a story. Many stories warm up and get fantastic after page five, but by then the publisher has already put you on the "reject" pile. Often your first chapter is so overworked that it's uncomfortable to read. My advice is to finish the book, then scrap the first chapter all together and write it again without looking at the original.
• Don't write all your fun scenes first. Write in order. If you give a child her custard first, she's probably not going to be all that interested in her Brussels sprouts.
• Be in a viewpoint, always. At the start of every scene make sure you know exactly whose viewpoint you are going to be in, and write the scene from inside their head. A story details a relationship between characters and events. The most impact is always achieved from describing that relationship from the inside.
• Plan your story in advance, even if it's only loosely. It will save you so much time and heartache and, contrary to popular belief, it's actually MORE fun to do it this way. When you know that an exciting turning point is approaching, the scene and the ones around it can play out in your mind over and over as you think them through, becoming richer the more you anticipate it.
• Most important of all: keep going. This is a tough craft, and it's an even tougher business. Dream big if you want, but your dreams can't sustain you on a day-to-day basis. The only thing that can sustain you is the work. Do it because you love it; because not to write hurts. Do it because you are mad about your story and obsessed with your characters. Don't make it another chore to fit into your busy day: make it the special place you go when your day has been rubbish. Keep going and keep going, and then keep going some more.
February 24, 2013
BOOK REVIEW: 'Lighthouse Bay'by Kimberley Freeman
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Title: Lighthouse Bay
Author: Kimberley Freeman
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Age Group & Genre: Parallel Contemporary/Historical Fiction for Adults
The Blurb:
A compelling tale of love, secrets, and the power of forgiveness.
1901: Isabella Winterbourne has suffered the worst loss a woman can know. She can no longer bear her husband nor his oppressive upper-class family. On a voyage between London and Sydney to accompany a priceless gift to the Australian parliament, Isabella is the sole survivor of a shipwreck off the sun-drenched Queensland coast. But in this strange new place, she finds she cannot escape her past quite as easily as she d hoped.
2011: A woman returns from Paris to her beachside home town to reconcile with her sister. But she, too, has a past that is hard to escape and her sister is not in a mood to forgive her. Strange noises at night and activity at the abandoned lighthouse raise her curiosity, and she finds herself investigating a century-old town mystery.
What I Thought:
‘Lighthouse Bay’ begins in 1901, with a woman – the only survivor of a shipwreck - dragging a chest full of treasure down a deserted beach. The narrative then moves to contemporary times, with a woman secretly grieving at the funeral of her married lover. These two women – Isabella Winterbourne and Libby Slater – are joined through time by a lighthouse and its secrets and mysteries.
Tightly plotted and quickly paced, I found myself quite unable to put the novel down, even reading it with one hand while I was cooking dinner with the other. It deftly weaves together romance, suspense, and adventure, all acted out by a cast of strong, defiant women and a suitably dastardly villain. Although it has various love affairs in it, this novel is not about romantic love. It is really more about the relationships between women – as friends, as sisters, and as mothers.
I absolutely loved it! One of my favourite books of 2012.
Title: Lighthouse Bay
Author: Kimberley Freeman
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Age Group & Genre: Parallel Contemporary/Historical Fiction for Adults
The Blurb:
A compelling tale of love, secrets, and the power of forgiveness.
1901: Isabella Winterbourne has suffered the worst loss a woman can know. She can no longer bear her husband nor his oppressive upper-class family. On a voyage between London and Sydney to accompany a priceless gift to the Australian parliament, Isabella is the sole survivor of a shipwreck off the sun-drenched Queensland coast. But in this strange new place, she finds she cannot escape her past quite as easily as she d hoped.
2011: A woman returns from Paris to her beachside home town to reconcile with her sister. But she, too, has a past that is hard to escape and her sister is not in a mood to forgive her. Strange noises at night and activity at the abandoned lighthouse raise her curiosity, and she finds herself investigating a century-old town mystery.
What I Thought:
‘Lighthouse Bay’ begins in 1901, with a woman – the only survivor of a shipwreck - dragging a chest full of treasure down a deserted beach. The narrative then moves to contemporary times, with a woman secretly grieving at the funeral of her married lover. These two women – Isabella Winterbourne and Libby Slater – are joined through time by a lighthouse and its secrets and mysteries.
Tightly plotted and quickly paced, I found myself quite unable to put the novel down, even reading it with one hand while I was cooking dinner with the other. It deftly weaves together romance, suspense, and adventure, all acted out by a cast of strong, defiant women and a suitably dastardly villain. Although it has various love affairs in it, this novel is not about romantic love. It is really more about the relationships between women – as friends, as sisters, and as mothers.
I absolutely loved it! One of my favourite books of 2012.
February 21, 2013
BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Ellis Peters and her medieval mysteries
This week on the blog, I’ve interviewed Karen Maitland, the author of a number of brilliant and chilling supernatural thrillers set in medieval times, plus reviewed her latest book, Falcons of Fire and Ice.
I’ve always loved a good mystery set in medieval times, and for that I have to thank Ellis Peters, the author of the hugely popular Cadfael mysteries.
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Ellis Peters
Although there is a vast difference between the down-to-earth, good-hearted, practical monk Cadfael and Karen Maitland’s complicated and morally ambivalent heroes, I thought I’d shine a quick spotlight on Ellis Peters, whose books gave me the taste for a good mediaeval mystery.
She was born Edith Mary Pargeter on 28 September 1913 and died on 14 October 1995, and wrote a great many books under various names, of which Ellis Peters is the most famous.
Her most popular series are the Cadfael mysteries, named after her sleuthing soldier-turned-monk.
There are 20 novels in the series, set between 1137 and 1145, during the struggle for the crown war between King Stephen and Empress Maud. Many true historical events are described or referred to in the books.
There is always a romantic sub-plot in the books, which I love. Not for Cadfael! He’s getting on a bit in years and, besides, he’s a monk. He’s always helping some poor young star-crossed lovers get together, though, as well as solving a dastardly murder.
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Derek Jacobs as Brother Cadfael
Here is a list of her Cadfael books, in reading order:
1. A Morbid Taste for Bones (published in August 1977, set in 1137)
2. One Corpse Too Many (July 1979, set in August 1138)
3. Monk's Hood (August 1980, set in December 1138)
4. Saint Peter's Fair (May 1981, set in July 1139)
5. The Leper of Saint Giles (August 1981, set in October 1139)
6. The Virgin in the Ice (April 1982, set in November 1139)
7. The Sanctuary Sparrow (January 1983 set in the Spring of 1140)[4][5][note 2]
8. The Devil's Novice (August 1983, set in September 1140)
9. Dead Man's Ransom (April 1984, set in February 1141)
10. The Pilgrim of Hate (September 1984, set in May 1141)
11. An Excellent Mystery (June 1985, set in August 1141)
12. The Raven in the Foregate (February 1986, set in December 1141)
13. The Rose Rent (October 1986, set in June 1142)
14. The Hermit of Eyton Forest (June 1987, set in October 1142)[7]
15. The Confession of Brother Haluin (March 1988, set in December 1142)
16. A Rare Benedictine: The Advent of Brother Cadfael (September 1988, set in 1120)
17. The Heretic's Apprentice (February 1989, set in June 1143)
18. The Potter's Field (September 1989, set in August 1143)
19. The Summer of the Danes (April 1991, set in April 1144)
20. The Holy Thief (August 1992, set in February 1145)
21. Brother Cadfael's Penance (May 1994, set in November 1145)
(Thanks to Wikipedia for the list)
If you haven’t read any books by Ellis Peters before, you absolutely must, she’s a gem. Read them in order for maximum enjoyment.
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Book 1: A Morbid Taste for Bones
I’ve always loved a good mystery set in medieval times, and for that I have to thank Ellis Peters, the author of the hugely popular Cadfael mysteries.
[image error]
Ellis Peters
Although there is a vast difference between the down-to-earth, good-hearted, practical monk Cadfael and Karen Maitland’s complicated and morally ambivalent heroes, I thought I’d shine a quick spotlight on Ellis Peters, whose books gave me the taste for a good mediaeval mystery.
She was born Edith Mary Pargeter on 28 September 1913 and died on 14 October 1995, and wrote a great many books under various names, of which Ellis Peters is the most famous.
Her most popular series are the Cadfael mysteries, named after her sleuthing soldier-turned-monk.
There are 20 novels in the series, set between 1137 and 1145, during the struggle for the crown war between King Stephen and Empress Maud. Many true historical events are described or referred to in the books.
There is always a romantic sub-plot in the books, which I love. Not for Cadfael! He’s getting on a bit in years and, besides, he’s a monk. He’s always helping some poor young star-crossed lovers get together, though, as well as solving a dastardly murder.
[image error]
Derek Jacobs as Brother Cadfael
Here is a list of her Cadfael books, in reading order:
1. A Morbid Taste for Bones (published in August 1977, set in 1137)
2. One Corpse Too Many (July 1979, set in August 1138)
3. Monk's Hood (August 1980, set in December 1138)
4. Saint Peter's Fair (May 1981, set in July 1139)
5. The Leper of Saint Giles (August 1981, set in October 1139)
6. The Virgin in the Ice (April 1982, set in November 1139)
7. The Sanctuary Sparrow (January 1983 set in the Spring of 1140)[4][5][note 2]
8. The Devil's Novice (August 1983, set in September 1140)
9. Dead Man's Ransom (April 1984, set in February 1141)
10. The Pilgrim of Hate (September 1984, set in May 1141)
11. An Excellent Mystery (June 1985, set in August 1141)
12. The Raven in the Foregate (February 1986, set in December 1141)
13. The Rose Rent (October 1986, set in June 1142)
14. The Hermit of Eyton Forest (June 1987, set in October 1142)[7]
15. The Confession of Brother Haluin (March 1988, set in December 1142)
16. A Rare Benedictine: The Advent of Brother Cadfael (September 1988, set in 1120)
17. The Heretic's Apprentice (February 1989, set in June 1143)
18. The Potter's Field (September 1989, set in August 1143)
19. The Summer of the Danes (April 1991, set in April 1144)
20. The Holy Thief (August 1992, set in February 1145)
21. Brother Cadfael's Penance (May 1994, set in November 1145)
(Thanks to Wikipedia for the list)
If you haven’t read any books by Ellis Peters before, you absolutely must, she’s a gem. Read them in order for maximum enjoyment.
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Book 1: A Morbid Taste for Bones
February 19, 2013
INTERVIEW: Karen Maitland, author of 'Falcons of Fire and Ice'
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Are you a daydreamer too?
I was always in trouble for day-dreaming at home and school when I was child. They said that I’d grow out of it, but I never did. I all too easily fade out of what going on around me disappear into another world. The great thing about being a writer is that daydreaming becomes a virtue if you can turn those daydreams into stories on a page.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always told myself stories ever since I was a small child. I loved going to bed so that I could lie in the dark and tell myself the next instalment. I played with toys in the same way. Each of my marbles was individual person who had adventures in the caves beneath the chest of drawers or on the mountains of the bed.
I wrote in secret as a child. I’d spend hours in class and at home writing stories and poems instead of doing my schoolwork. But I never told anyone I wanted to become an author, I was sure they’d laugh and say ‘What you – you can’t even spell the word author!’
Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I spent my early childhood on the Mediterranean island of Malta. Watching the colourful processions as they carried the garlanded statues of the saints from the churches into the sea to bless the fishing boats and the torchlight processions of the three magi on horseback, really fired my imagination.
I’ve worked in many places around the world including Africa and finally settled in the town of Lincoln in England which has a wonderfully preserved castle and medieval buildings including some of the most haunted streets in England.
I love travelling, especially to wild places such as Greenland, Iceland and Albania and I have a certificate to say I spent the night in Vlad the Impaler's castle in Transylvanian, where I got hopeless lost in the shadowy candle-lit corridors. I nearly had a heart attack when a cloaked-figure clapped his hand on my shoulder. But it turned out he was an opera singer who kindly helped me find my way back to my room.
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for 'Falcons of Fire & Ice'?
Some years ago, I was in Iceland and was taken down into a cave. At the bottom was a hot water lake where in Viking times women came to give birth and elderly people were brought to keep warm over winter. The entrance was so well concealed in the mountains that for centuries people had used the cave to hide in times of persecution.
About twenty years before I went into the cave, a group of bathers had been swimming in there. They had just got out of the lake when the water started to shoot out great jets of steam and the temperature rose in seconds to over 200O C. They would have been boiled alive if they’d still been in the water. It was such a strange atmospheric place, that I could almost see the ghosts of the people, who for centuries had taken refuge in the cave, circling around me in the steam and the shadows. I knew had to write a novel about that cave and its dark secrets.
How extensively do you plan your novels?
I have to write a brief synopsis for my publishers before I start, so I know how the novel will begin and end, some of the main characters and a few of the ‘firework’ scenes in the middle.
I usually write the novel from the synopsis until I get about half way through the first draft of the book. By then subplots have developed which weren’t in the synopsis and some minor characters have become major players, so at that point, I stop and take a week off from writing. I spend that week just plotting in the form of brief bullet points, using three or four bullet points per chapter, so I can see how all the strands are going to weave together, then I carry on writing from this plan. The writing of second half of the novel usually goes much faster than the first half.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
I dream vividly and often wake with a scene or image in my head which sometimes find their way into my novels. Years ago I dreamed I was in a room at night and everyone else had fallen asleep. I heard a tapping on the window and couldn’t wake anyone else, so I opened the curtains and three men were standing there with cudgels in their hands wearing terrifying owl masks. This later became one of the inspirations for my medieval thriller The Owl Killers.
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
When I was researching The Falcons of Fire and Ice I discovered that the nightstalker or draugr which is a creature written about in the Icelandic sagas was also recorded in a book written by an English medieval clergyman only about ten miles from where I am now living and that right up to the 19th century people claimed to have encountered one of these creatures.
Before I began writing I knew something of the terrible suffering of the Icelandic people in the 15th and 16th centuries, but I didn’t realise that at one period a man could be flogged and have everything he owned confiscated just for selling a fish to a neighbour or for giving a foreign sailor a piece of his wife’s knitting in exchange for a fishing line.
Where do you write, and when?
Most of the time I write on an old marble washstand in my bedroom, but if I really need a few days to plot intensively I hire a little one-roomed cottage on the saltmarsh in Norfolk where there is no phone or internet and no street lights, just the sounds of marsh, the wind and the distant sea.
I try to keep office hours when I write, working 9.30am to 6pm. It’s the only way to meet the deadlines. In the evenings I sit with a pile of books and look up the answers to questions which have arisen as I’ve been writing that day. Questions like –
• Which spices would have been most commonly used in meat dishes in France around 1224?
• What did 14th century priests wear under their robes?
• What poison would they use on the spike of caltrop?
Keeping a list of questions to look up later means I don’t have to interrupt the flow of a scene while I’m writing to find a name or a word.
What is your favourite part of writing?
Once I’ve written a complete first draft to end of the novel, I can then start to flesh out the scenes and the characters, polish the language and descriptions. That, for me, is the best part as it’s far easier to play around with words already written down than a blank page.
I also love unearthing the pieces of folklore, historical snippets and myths which I use to start each chapter in my novels. That’s great fun especially when I come across something like this which I discovered in a 13th century grimoire –
‘If a woman does not desire you and you would arouse her and make her lust after you, take the genitals of a wolf together with the hair on its cheeks and eyebrows and burn them together. Then give the ashes to the woman to drink in such a manner that she does not suspect. Then she will desire you and no other man.’
What do you do when you get blocked?
If I’m in Norfolk, I go for a walk across the saltmarsh to the sea, just looking at the birds, water and sky without consciously thinking about the problem. By the time I get back, the resolution has popped into my head. If I’m at home in Lincoln then I usually go out into the garden to re-pot some plants or cut the lawn, again not thinking about anything. Doing something physical seems to unblock my mind. Talking a hot bath often works too.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
By reading all kinds of genres of fiction. I love audio books and always have one on in the kitchen when I’m doing domestic chores like cooking or ironing. Visiting museums or reading the potted history of an old country church often gives me a little snippet which eventually becomes an idea for a story, as do old folktales and local myths. Going to visit places such as lakes and old buildings are also a great source of inspiration. Just walking through a wood or standing in a ruin can make me see characters acting out scenes just as if I am watching a film. Places tell stories.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
Regular cups of tea are a must, but I’m also one of those writers who need silence around me when I write. Any noise when I writing really disturbs me, except natural sounds like wind and birds, as because it pulls me out of the scene I’m both picturing and hearing in my head.
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
Only ten? That’s hard. Angela Carter, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Margaret Atwood, Graham Greene, Patrick Süskind, Ruth Dudley Edwards, C.J.Samson, J.K.Rowling, Minette Walters, Alan Bennet
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I love C.J. Sansom's books too!
What do you consider to be good writing?
Writing which produces an image, scene or character that lives on in my mind after long I’ve closed the book. But I believe that any novel or poem is a dialogue between the author and the reader. Only half the book is written by the author, the reader writes the rest by bringing their own imagination, personality and experience to the pages. So both reader and writer have to work to together to achieve a ‘good’ book.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
Don’t put pressure on yourself by thinking your first piece has to be published or imagine you’re a failure, if it isn’t. You wouldn’t expect to go on stage and perform a play for the public or play an instrument at a concert without a lot of rehearsals.
Write until the end of your daily session without editing your work or correcting the spelling/punctuation or tidying it at all. Put it away without reading it. Then start your next writing session by reading over what you’ve written the day before and editing it. That will get you back in the ‘voice’ of the piece and by the time you’ve finished editing you’ll find you’ve automatically started writing on. This means that, after day one, you will never have to face a blank page, because your first task will always be working with what’s already there.
Warning! Only ever edit each section once in the first draft, otherwise you’ll get stuck, like a hamster in wheel, going over and over the first few pages and never moving on. After that first edit, if you think of some change or addition that needs to be made to an earlier section, note it down in a list of changes and make the changes only when you have finished the first draft of the whole story or novel.
What are you working on now?
Three things – I’m writing what I hope will be the final draft of a full-length historical thriller novel The Vanishing Witch set in the 14th century and based on a true story. I’m also beginning another full-length history novel called The Raven’s Head, which was inspired by a rather sinister-looking ruined monastery I visited.
But as well as writing my own novels, I also write a joint novel every year with five other medieval crime writers – Philip Gooden, Susanna Gregory, Michael Jecks, Bernard Knight and Ian Morson, together known as the Medieval Murderers. So we are trying to devise a plot for our tenth Medieval Murderers’ novel. We’ve just been put the finishing touches to our ninth novel, The False Virgin, and are getting very excited about seeing what the cover design for that will be.
Thank you so much for interviewing me. It’s been great fun!
Karen Maitland's website
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT, I LOVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!
February 17, 2013
BOOK REVIEW: 'Falcons of Fire & Ice'by Karen Maitland
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Title: Falcons of Fire and Ice
Author: Karen Maitland
Publisher: Penguin
Age Group & Genre: Historical supernatural thriller for adults
The Blurb:
The year is 1539 and the Portuguese Inquisition ushers in an era of torture and murder. When the Royal Falconer is imprisoned on false charges to remove him from the inner circle of the boy King, the Inquisitors strike an impossible deal with his daughter, Isabela. Bring back two rare white falcons from Iceland within the year or her father dies.
Meanwhile in Iceland, a menacing stranger appears to have possessed the soul of a woman chained up in a volcanic cave and is threatening to destroy the community. The woman's twin sister, Eydis, is desperate to intervene but vivid dreams suggest the twins' only salvation lies with a young girl from afar, travelling in search of white feathers ...
Isabela's quest might hold a more crucial purpose then she could ever imagine and there are those among her travel companions who have an interest in doing her harm. But in order to fulfil her destiny, first she must reach Iceland's shores. Alive
What I Thought:
Karen Maitland has not written many books, but each one of them has been an absolute winner – thrilling, chilling, and utterly compelling . She is so good that as soon as I finished the first book I read of her – ‘Company of Liars’- I rushed out to buy her next one. ‘The Owl Killers’ was just as good – if not better – and so, utterly hooked, I have since pre-ordered her books to make sure I got them as soon as they hit the bookshops.
Her latest book, ‘Falcons of Fire and Ice’, begins with the burning of a man in an auto-da-fe in Portugal in 1539. It’s a hideous scene, yet utterly compelling. The action then moves to the story of Isabela, daughter of the Royal Falconer. When somebody kills the royal falcons – two rare white birds – Isabela’s father is arrested. She is given a year and a day to capture some more, but the man behind the falcons’s death will do anything to ensure she does not succeed.
On a journey fraught with danger and betrayal, Isabela sets off for Iceland, not knowing that among her fellow passengers is the one she thought she has left behind.
This book was so good I couldn’t bear to put it down. On three nights in a row I read long past bedtime, desperate to know what happened. Karen has an uncanny way of bringing the world of the 16th century vividly to life, while never allowing the suspense to flag. Brilliant!
Title: Falcons of Fire and Ice
Author: Karen Maitland
Publisher: Penguin
Age Group & Genre: Historical supernatural thriller for adults
The Blurb:
The year is 1539 and the Portuguese Inquisition ushers in an era of torture and murder. When the Royal Falconer is imprisoned on false charges to remove him from the inner circle of the boy King, the Inquisitors strike an impossible deal with his daughter, Isabela. Bring back two rare white falcons from Iceland within the year or her father dies.
Meanwhile in Iceland, a menacing stranger appears to have possessed the soul of a woman chained up in a volcanic cave and is threatening to destroy the community. The woman's twin sister, Eydis, is desperate to intervene but vivid dreams suggest the twins' only salvation lies with a young girl from afar, travelling in search of white feathers ...
Isabela's quest might hold a more crucial purpose then she could ever imagine and there are those among her travel companions who have an interest in doing her harm. But in order to fulfil her destiny, first she must reach Iceland's shores. Alive
What I Thought:
Karen Maitland has not written many books, but each one of them has been an absolute winner – thrilling, chilling, and utterly compelling . She is so good that as soon as I finished the first book I read of her – ‘Company of Liars’- I rushed out to buy her next one. ‘The Owl Killers’ was just as good – if not better – and so, utterly hooked, I have since pre-ordered her books to make sure I got them as soon as they hit the bookshops.
Her latest book, ‘Falcons of Fire and Ice’, begins with the burning of a man in an auto-da-fe in Portugal in 1539. It’s a hideous scene, yet utterly compelling. The action then moves to the story of Isabela, daughter of the Royal Falconer. When somebody kills the royal falcons – two rare white birds – Isabela’s father is arrested. She is given a year and a day to capture some more, but the man behind the falcons’s death will do anything to ensure she does not succeed.
On a journey fraught with danger and betrayal, Isabela sets off for Iceland, not knowing that among her fellow passengers is the one she thought she has left behind.
This book was so good I couldn’t bear to put it down. On three nights in a row I read long past bedtime, desperate to know what happened. Karen has an uncanny way of bringing the world of the 16th century vividly to life, while never allowing the suspense to flag. Brilliant!
