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
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