Tuesday 22 December 2015

English Historical Fiction Authors: A sparrow's flight through King Edwin's great hall at Gefrin

Today I have a post on the English Historical Fiction Authors blog. In this blog post, I talk about Bede and his famous description of the sparrow's flight through a hall in winter, King Edwin's hall at Gefrin - that features in The Serpent Sword - and the inexorable passage of time.

Check it out here: A sparrow's flight through King Edwin's great hall at Gefrin




Sunday 20 December 2015

More interviews and award news!

A couple of interviews with me have been posted on other blogs recently, so if you want to read more about me, the writing, the history of the Bernicia Chronicles and what is coming up next for Beobrand, check out these interviews with other historical fiction authors:

With L.A. Smith:
https://lasmithwriter.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/interview-matthew-harffy-the-serpent-sword/

With Annie Whitehead:
http://anniewhitehead2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-story-bug-and-7th-century-author.html?spref=fb

In other news, the full long list for the Historical Novel Society 2016 Indie Award has been posted. The Serpent Sword is there amidst great novels. The short list will be posted on 1st January, so fingers crossed!





Wednesday 16 December 2015

Another great review of The Cross and the Curse

As part of the build up to the release of The Cross and the Curse in January, I have been sending out advance review copies to bloggers and reviewers. One such review has gone up on David's Book Blurg, a great site for punchy reviews of mainly historical fiction and fantasy novels, with a few other genres thrown in for good measure.

David has rated it 5 out of 5 and says the following:
"This is by far the best sequel I’ve read to date"
"Harffy clearly knows what a reader wants and gives it to them"

Read the full review.

Pre-order The Cross and the Curse.


Tuesday 1 December 2015

Being compared to the great Bernard Cornwell is not such a bad place to be!

In the last couple of days, I have featured on the websites of two talented historical fiction authors.

First, I wrote a guest post for Samantha Wilcoxson's blog on what it's like to be compared to the great author, Bernard Cornwell.

Second, Stephanie Churchill has written a great piece about THE SERPENT SWORD and THE CROSS AND THE CURSE  and my writing in general, where she also compares me (favourably!) to the historical fiction master himself!

Meanwhile, THE SERPENT SWORD is currently on special offer in the US and UK - only 0.99 for a limited time only!

Buy it here: getbook.at/TheSerpentSword


And THE CROSS AND THE CURSE is available for pre-order. (Release date 22nd January 2016)


Finally, if you're looking for a present for someone special, you can order a signed paperback of either book from www.matthewharffy.com.

Sunday 22 November 2015

THE CROSS AND THE CURSE - Pre-order NOW!

It is with great pleasure that I announce that the Kindle version of book 2 of the Bernicia Chronicles, THE CROSS AND THE CURSE, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.


Pre-order here: getBook.at/CROSSandCURSE

Giles Kristian, bestselling author of God of Vengeance and the Raven series says the following about THE CROSS AND THE CURSE:
"A tale that rings like sword song in the reader's mind. Warriors, shield walls, the carnage of the war as it tears at a land that is not yet a nation. Beobrand is a hero to stand shoulder to shoulder with and his story is one to be told round the hearth fire on a dark night. Harffy knows his genre inside out and The Cross and the Curse proves it."
This sequel to The Serpent Sword throws you straight back into Beobrand's world. See what adventures await him in the maelstrom of early seventh century Britain. Beobrand makes new friends and confronts enemies old and new. There are more battles, treachery, twists, love and loss. I don't think you'll be disappointed!

THE CROSS AND THE CURSE will be released on 22nd January 2016. (I will try and get it out a bit sooner than this, but that is the absolute latest date when it can go live and the book will miraculously appear on your Kindle if you've pre-ordered it.)

THE CROSS AND THE CURSE will also be available in paperback, but that will not be on the website until the launch date.

Sunday 15 November 2015

THE CROSS AND THE CURSE - Amazing endorsements from great authors!

It's been a busy few weeks. I'm currently reading through the first complete draft of book 3 of the Bernicia Chronicles, BY BLOOD AND BLADE, and so far I'm enjoying what I'm reading, which is always a plus!

I've also been working on the formatting of book 2, THE CROSS AND THE CURSE. That's almost done now, and the paperback and Kindle version will both be available in January 2016.

I've also done a few interviews with different authors. The latest of these went live this weekend on Christoph Fischer's blog.


The week before last, I got together with Matt Bunker, from the group Wulfheodenas, and a talented photographer friend of mine, Stephen Weatherly, to take photos for the covers of books 2 and 3. Matt took the cover photo for The Serpent Sword, but this time round he is wearing his war gear, so taking the photos would prove a little difficult!

Stephen took nearly 300 photos in two hours and since then we have been going through them, selecting the best and then working on polishing them for publication. The cover for THE CROSS AND THE CURSE is nearly ready and is looking fabulous. I'll be revealing it soon, so watch this space.


In the meantime, I have started to receive some endorsements from great authors who have read advance copies. It is always scary when others read your work for the first time. Getting great reviews and comments from readers is wonderful. Having other authors enjoy it and being prepared to endorse a book, is an amazing feeling. I am over the moon with the quotes I've received so far, so I'll leave you with some of them here!

"A tale that rings like sword song in the reader's mind. Warriors, shield walls, the carnage of the war as it tears at a land that is not yet a nation. Beobrand is a hero to stand shoulder to shoulder with and his story is one to be told round the hearth fire on a dark night. Harffy knows his genre inside out and The Cross and the Curse proves it."
Giles Kristian, bestselling author of God of Vengeance and the Raven series

"The Cross and the Curse is a terrific novel that strikes just the right balance between fact and fiction, the plausible and the romantic, and it illuminates the Dark Ages like the bolt of lightning in its first few pages: in rare and unexpected ways. Top stuff."
Toby Clements, author of the Kingmaker trilogy

"The best historical fiction enables the reader to simultaneously live in the here and now and the then and there. Matthew Harffy has this skill in abundance. He peoples his work with everyman and everywoman, allowing a bridge across the centuries, a meeting place. Matthew Harffy’s first novel, The Serpent Sword, was superb. The second book, The Cross and the Curse, is every bit as good. He is one of the most accomplished and exciting voices in the field today. I love his novels."
Martin Lake, author of A Love Most Dangerous and The Lost King series
Read Martin's complete review here.

"Harffy’s debut novel, The Serpent Sword, was first rate and it’s often with trepidation that a reader will wait for Book Two in a series in the hope that it will pick up the banner and carry it forward. The Cross and the Curse does that eminently. I reviewed The Serpent Sword from the point of view of emotional reveal and I am pleased to see that Harffy continues to use this metier in order to give his characters real dimension. It  allows the reader to peel back the layers of Dark Age society beyond the implicit violence. His wordage is skilful and beautifully wrought, rather like a perfect damascened sword. Harffy is a writer to watch …"
Prue Batten, author of The Gisborne Saga and The Triptych Chronicle

“Like an oyster which grows a pearl through the irritation of a grain of sand, so Beobrand develops as a person through the horrors he witnesses and fights with, over, and against.  We see his humanity, we see pieces of ourselves, and we love him for it. Matthew Harffy has created a gritty, authentic world, home to a hero who shows us the complexity of what it means to be human – the darkness and the delight.  The Cross and the Curse is historical fiction at its finest.”
Stephanie Churchill, author of The Scribe's Daughter

Wednesday 4 November 2015

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: David Cook

As part of my ongoing series of author interviews, today I welcome to the blog the talented historical fiction author, David Cook. David is a relative new kid on the block when it comes to the historical fiction scene, but he's already published several successful novellas and, as you will see, has plenty more stories to tell.

So sit back and let's get to know a bit more about David Cook and his writing.



Tell us about The Soldier Chronicles series of novellas. You have just launched the first novel length compendium of the first 5 in the series. What is the reasoning behind that decision to bundle them together? 

Fire and Steel is an anthology of the novella's; all designed to be snap-shots of a particular soldier in the long period of war between the years 1793-1815. All fiction, but very much based on actual events.



I self-published Death is a Duty in April and fortune's good wheel allowed me to spend nine days in June, Belgium, during the bicentenary anniversary of the Waterloo campaign. I was sat on the battlefield, high up where Napoleon's grande battery tried to shatter Wellington's centre, enjoying lunch with my good friend Adam, on the 18th - the day of the battle- and I overheard some Scottish re-enactors talk about the battle. And it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't really taken that into consideration with the Highlanders of the Black Watch, the principle regiment as featured in the story. So I made some corrections on the spot, thanks to my ever-present notebook.



Upon my return to the UK I revisited the other four stories where I made corrections, re-jigged parts, expanded dialogues, fleshed out parts and with the series now enhanced, I'm very pleased with the end result.

I believe you started writing The Soldier Chronicles as backstories for the characters in your first (as yet unpublished) novel, The Desert Lion. What has happened to that novel? Will it be published soon?

Yes, The Soldier Chronicles will work as companion pieces to the series which starts with The Desert Lion. Right now, I'm waiting for it to come back from my editor and from there I will be amending the story over the next six weeks. I will then begin to pitch the story to agents and try the traditional publishing route. (Matthew: Good luck!)

The Desert Lion started it all off; all my writing. I read a journal of a redcoat soldier who recounted the Egyptian expedition of 1801 and I was fascinated by it. It's practically unheard of or written about and I thought it would make a brilliant story.



What attracted you to the period of the Napoleonic wars and these characters?

My father's love of the period and history passed down to me, but I it was from Secondary school history and English literature lessons that opened my eyes. The writings of Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott spoke about society and battles and upon getting Sharpe's Siege as a Christmas present, my love of the period was complete. It all opened my eyes.

I also think from war-gaming the period and learning how their armies marched, the logistics, troop uniforms, weaponry, the different characters of the period and the politics just add to the fascination to this day. Talking to re-enactors who speak of their love of the period helps you understand how it can turn your mind to smoke - like a good woman!



Have you got more Soldier Chronicles planned? 

I have books 6-10 mapped out. Book 6 is called Tempest and is about the last invasion of Great Britain, when in 1797 a French force managed to slip through the wooden walls of the Royal Navy and land in Pembrokeshire, Wales. They wanted to unite the workers, spread liberty and revolutionary zeal and burn the city of Bristol to the ground. Can they be stopped in time? Tempest will be out, Spring, 2016.

What about novels set in the same period?

The Desert Lion will start the planned series of books from 1801-1815. I have rough outlines that will probably change, so I'm not sure just how many the series will go to. Perhaps  10, 12, 15 - I don't know.



I’ve seen you’ve also worked on a retelling of the story of Robin Hood. What is the status of that project?

After I sent The Desert Lion to agents around 2008 and getting no interest with the early drafts, I decided to write about something different. It would be a story that I wanted to read, love and told in first-person style and I've always loved the legend of Robin Hood. The Wolfshead is about one of Robin's trusted men and will set the record straight about the legend, intermingling history; but not about the Crusades or the Peasants Revolt. As I'm English I grew up with the stories and have seen the legend watered down over the years, particularly with TV and films. I have gone for 13th century brutal violence, religion, and grit. I'm really proud of it and someday hope to get it released.

If you had to choose only one real historical figure to feature in your future novels, who would it be and why?

It would be Sir John Moore, the creator of British Army training reforms for light infantry - which went on to become the elite regiments. Moore was present in Ireland, and features in Liberty or Death, the first story in The Soldier Chronicles. He also plays a part in The Desert Lion. He was a kind man, courageous, ahead of his time and a humanitarian. Another reason to write about him is that there isn't much on the shelves dedicated to him and I think there should be.



When did you start writing? What made you take the plunge and write your first book? I think you, like most authors including me, still have a full-time day job that pays the bills. Do you foresee a future when you can give up the day job and write full time? If so, how far in the future is that moment, do you think?

It started writing because I wanted to read a book about the Egyptian campaign and there wasn't one. It was, and still is, a hobby, because I work full-time. The dream is to become a full-time writer, but I don't see that as an option in the near future.

What has surprised you most about writing?

I'm surprised that characters have their own voice! I'm surprised when things happen that I didn't plan at all.

What writer or book has had the biggest influence on your work?

It would be Bernard Cornwell and Sharpe's Siege was the catalyst.

What are the best and worst things about being a writer?

Writing is a lonely job, it's a double-edged sword.

What is the best book you've read in the last twelve months?

Make Me, by Lee Child. The latest Jack Reacher novel and its brilliant. I love the plot twists, the character definitions and the action.

What is the most exciting experience you've had as a result of writing?

It's connecting to other writers, readers and book lovers.

And now for the quick-fire questions:

Tea or coffee?

Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon.

Burger or hot dog?

Burger.

Villain or hero?

Hero, because they can do things wrong too.

Beer or wine?

Beer.

Movie or TV series?

TV series (this is before Star Wars The Force Awakens comes out though :) )

Happy ending or tragedy?

Happy ending to the story.

In the car, audio-book or music?

Music

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions and best of luck with Fire and Steel and your future writing.

Connect with David online:

Monday 26 October 2015

Blurb for THE CROSS AND THE CURSE

Preparations for the publication of THE CROSS AND THE CURSE are moving on apace. I've done most of the formatting and started writing the acknowledgements. Plans are afoot for a photo shoot for the cover. The latest thing I have been working on is the blurb for the back cover.

BRITAIN 634 A.D.
Before The Battle of Hastings.
Before Alfred fought the Danes.
Even before England. 
Warlords battled across Britain to become the first King of the English. 
When Beobrand’s valour brings about a stunning victory against the native Waelisc, the King of Northumbria rewards him with riches and land. Beobrand wishes for nothing more than to settle on his new estate with his bride. But he soon finds himself beset with enemies old and new, even fearing the power of a curse has him in its grip, as he begins to lose all he holds dear. 
With treachery and death surrounding him, Beobrand confronts his foes with cold iron and bitter fury. On his quest for revenge and redemption, he grudgingly accepts the mantle of lord, leading his men into the darkest of nights and the bloodiest of battles.

UPDATED with change in red.

BRITAIN 634 A.D.
Before The Battle of Hastings.
Before Alfred fought the Danes.
Even before England.
 
Warlords battled across Britain to become the first King of the English.
When Beobrand's valour brings about a stunning victory against the native Waelisc, the King of Northumbria rewards him with riches and land. Beobrand wishes for nothing more than to settle on his new estate with his bride. But he soon finds himself beset with enemies old and new. He even fears that the power of a curse has him in its grip, as he begins to lose all he holds dear.
With treachery and death surrounding him, Beobrand confronts his foes with cold iron and bitter fury. On his quest for revenge and redemption, he grudgingly accepts the mantle of lord, leading his men into the darkest of nights and the bloodiest of battles.
What do you think? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.

Saturday 24 October 2015

#luckyseven - excerpt from Bernicia Chronicles 2, THE CROSS AND THE CURSE

In the last week I have completed the first draft of book 3, BY BLOOD AND BLADE, and I'm busy making all the preparations for THE CROSS AND THE CURSE to get it ready for publication. Things are looking great and I'm excited about releasing the second of the Bernicia Chronicles in January (pre-order available soon).

In the meantime, I've been tagged by a few writers (S.J.A. Turney, Char Newcomb, and Deborah C. Foulkes) in the #luckseven game.

The rules for #luckyseven are:

  • Go to a page ending in a 7 in your current manuscript
  • Go to line 7
  • Post the next 7 lines or sentences – as they are – post on your blog or on Facebook!
  • Tag 7 other people to do the same

So here are seven-ish lines (hey, maths isn’t my strong point!) from page 7 of book 2 of the Bernicia Chronicles, THE CROSS AND THE CURSE:

“I will come with you,” Hengist said. 
“No,” Nelda turned to him, a savage glint in her eye. Blood trickled from her lip and her face was bruised, but Hengist did not believe he had ever seen a more beautiful woman.
“No, my son, you will stay here and you will be great! You will serve kings, like your father did. And you will bring them down, Hengist.” She clutched at his arm so tightly that it hurt. “Stay and topple these worshippers of the soft Christ god.” 
He was ashamed at the rush of relief that washed over him. The thought of fleeing their home terrified him.

Now I tag the following authors: Giles Kristian, Toby Clements, Angus Donald, Steven McKay, Justin Hill, David Cook and Annie Whitehead. Let's see if any will take up the challenge!

Thursday 22 October 2015

7 questions with the Histocrats (and an update)

Last night I finished the first complete draft of book 3 of the Bernicia Chronicles: BY BLOOD AND BLADE. It is still a long way from complete, with lots of editing and rewrites ahead, but it is a real milestone and it feels great.

In other news, I am working on the cover and formatting of book 2: THE CROSS AND THE CURSE, and will be setting up the pre-order on Amazon as soon as I fix a date for the release. It's looking like December or January at the moment.

As if all of that wasn't enough to keep me busy, here is an interview I did recently for a group of experienced educators and history enthusiasts who go by the collective name of The Histocrats.

Check out the interview. It is short and (hopefully) sweet:

http://chattingwiththehistocrats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/7-questions-with-matthew-harffy-author.html

More news and announcements soon.

Keep on reading!

Monday 19 October 2015

BOOK REVIEW: The Betrothed Sister by Carol McGrath

The Betrothed SisterThe Betrothed Sister by Carol McGrath
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Betrothed Sister is the third novel in the Daughters of Hastings trilogy. Each is a standalone book, but part of the larger tale of the women of King Harold’s family.

This story follows Thea, daughter of Harold, as she leaves England after her father’s defeat at Hastings. She flees into exile in Denmark and then Russia. McGrath imbues the main characters (Thea, her grandmother, her maid, Gudrun, and the trusty skald, Padar) with a charm and depth that makes it easy to love them. Thea is a stranger in strange lands and this gives McGrath the perfect opportunity to have her ask questions and to marvel at the unusual customs and things she witnesses. The reader learns of the ways of the Rus through Thea’s eyes and we root for her to finally marry the prince to whom she is betrothed for such a long time. And to find the happiness that she craves and deserves.

What McGrath does best is to bring humanity to the situations in which Thea finds herself. From the nasty sisters who plague her time at the court of King Sweyn of Denmark, to the bitter Lady Olga, who makes the English princess’s life miserable in the land of the Rus, the interactions between these noble women are what really make the book shine. In fact, I would have liked to have seen more of the interplay between characters and less of the sweeping battle of thousands-strong armies of the novel’s finale.

McGrath states in the author’s note that she read Russian Studies at university. It shows. She is clearly at home with the subject matter and her research stands out in glittering details, like jewels embroidered into one of Thea’s many-layered gowns. But like those bejewelled dresses, everything is in its place, nothing stands out to spoil the overall effect.

Carol McGrath has woven a story of early medieval royalty as rich and poignant as a princess’s wedding rushnyk.

View all my reviews

Thursday 15 October 2015

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Martin Lake

I am very pleased to welcome to my blog, prolific historical fiction author, Martin Lake. He has written about Tudor ladies, common men struggling for survival in the Holy Land after being knighted by Balian d'Ibelin, Saxons battling against the Norman oppressors and King Alfred's long war to become supreme ruler of a united England.

Successful at whatever period or character he turns his pen to, Martin is an inspiration to all authors. He took a few moments out of his writing day to answer my questions. So sit back and enjoy.


Your “The Lost King” series of novels follows the life of Edgar atheling and the events around the Battle of Hastings. What led you to write that series? What attracted you to the period and the character?

I’ve always written and always liked history and one day woke up with the blinding insight that I should write historical fiction.  I’ve been fascinated by Anglo-Saxon history since the age of eight when I got a Ladybird book about Alfred the Great. As time went on I grew suspicious of the tales that England was a primitive world until the noble Normans came along to put all to rights. When I found out that the last named English king was not Harold Godwinson but the almost forgotten Edgar I knew I had to explore a little more. I discovered the extent of his resistance to the conquest, his long and colourful life and realised that his story had been virtually obliterated. I was hooked.



I read on Facebook recently that you have just completed the fourth in the series. Tell us a bit about it. 

There is little information about Edgar’s life. History is always written by the victors. In Search of Glory is set in the period between 1074 and 1086 which is especially sparse in references to Edgar. Norman writers describe him as a lazy, incompetent fool who moons around William’s court until he is finally allowed to leave England on what appears to be a trip of knight errantry. This dearth of information allowed me a huge blank canvas where I could allow my imagination more latitude than when I wrote about Edgar’s earlier years. It is, perhaps, more driven by the development of his character than by recorded events. Having said this, my researches suggest that he was more active in these years than the records state. The book covers the failed Revolt of the Earls, the civil war between William and his eldest son, Robert and yet another threatened invasion by the Danes. All this against a background of the Normans tightening their grip upon the population.



When will it be released?

December 2015. It can be pre-ordered now.

How long do you plan for the series to be?

I plan for two more books. The fifth one will feature Edgar’s adventures in Byzantium, Italy and back in England and Scotland where he intervened in the dynastic struggles for the Scottish throne. The final book will focus on his time in the First Crusade and his involvement in the civil war between the last two of William’s sons.



Which of your other series are you currently working on or working on next? 

I have two series which I have in the pipelines. One is set in the period of the Third Crusade. It focuses on the lives of the ordinary men who Balian of Ibelin knighted to defend Jerusalem and the consequent havoc wreaked upon them and their families. The other series, The Long War for England, is about the wars between the English and the Northmen for the mastery of England. It starts with Alfred the Great but will continue into the reigns of his son, daughter and grand-sons.

But before I work on them I’m going back in time 4,000 years with a novel set in early Crete and Egypt.



Your newest series is The Long War for England, which tells the tale of King Alfred the Great. That story has been told many times before, what makes your take on it different?  

I’m focusing on one family and their service to the royal house of Wessex, attempting to show through them how people began to think of themselves not as Saxons or Angles but as English. The Alfred of my books is a more complex character than the legends and tales tell. He is a reluctant hero, as frail as any man and as heroic. I am intrigued by the idea of change and that there are a few key times when events shape people while they shape events. I also want to tell more about women in the conflict. In particular I focus on Alfred’s daughter Aethelflaed and her friend and servant Inga.

When did you start writing? Do you write full-time now? What made you take the plunge and write your first book?

I first started writing when I was eleven and wrote a poem about the First World War. I’ve never really stopped except, ironically, when I studied English literature at University. I find I’m still drawn to the things I first read and wrote about. Key moments were writing short stories for my eleven year old school pupils, winning a completion with one of them and hearing it on the radio. Many years later another moment was winning the first prize in a competition to write a sequel story to The Wind in the Willows.  I’ve almost forgotten what my first books were. They’re in a drawer somewhere.
Oddly enough, a key factor in making me really increase my focus on writing was having an accident. I slipped on a two-inch high path, shattered my arm and elbow and broke my ankle. (I used to say it was caused by cage-fighting but it was the path!) I could no longer drive and my business was already stuttering so this was a seminal moment. Now or never, I thought. I bought a Dragon Dictate which was great although I soon realised I could type faster with one hand. I’ve not stopped since.

I write pretty much full-time now, from 5.00 am to 10.00 at any rate. The thing which has made the most important contribution is self-publishing. It’s opened doors and my imagination.



One of your books, A Love Most Dangerous, was picked up by a traditional publisher, making you one of the new breed of “hybrid” authors. How did the experience of publishing with Lake Union Publishing differ from self-publishing? What are the pros and cons that you can see to each approach?

I was approached not by a traditional publisher but by one of Amazon’s own imprints, Lake Union Publishing. From what I gather they are rather different to the Big Five publishers, especially in terms of working relationships and royalties. When I got the email from Lake Union (which I almost deleted thinking it was spam) I was a little hesitant, despite having failed to get a publishing offer for many years. I loved being an indie writer and worried that a publisher would seek to control my whole career. What finally swayed me was the realisation that I was entering a partnership with Lake Union, I had much more control over things than I had anticipated and I would not be tied hand and foot to them.

There are a great many advantages. First there is the superb marketing acumen which comes from their being part of Amazon. This has benefited not only my Lake Union books – I have learned a lot from it and use the ideas for my self-published books. I have been incredibly impressed by my editors, both for A Love Most Dangerous and the forthcoming Very Like a Queen. They have been a joy to work with, suggesting things, always suggesting and never insisting, which has helped me hone and polish my books in a way I would not have imagined. This experience has also helped improve my own self-editing skill.



What writer or book has had the biggest influence on your work?

Lots of writers: Isaac Asimov, Frans G. Bengtsson, Sebastian Faulks, George MacDonald Fraser, G.A. Henty, James Joyce, Christopher Priest, Rosemary Sutcliff, Simon Scarrow, J.R.R. Tolkien, Henry Treece, H.G. Wells, John Wyndham.

Of these I’d have to single out: George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman and Rosemary Sutcliff’s Sword at Sunset.

What are the best and worst things about being a writer?

The best thing is creating a world which thrills me and characters who surprise. Writing sentences which sing. Being able to work at what I love, where and when I want.

The worst thing? Getting stiff legs from sitting too long.



What is the best book you've read in the last twelve months?

Singing Home the Whale by Mandy Hager. And, I have to say, The Serpent Sword by Matthew Harffy. (Matthew: I promise I didn't pay him!)

What is the most exciting experience you've had as a result of writing?

Writing scenes which make me laugh, gasp or cry. Self-publishing my first work. And getting the first week’s sales figures for A Love Most Dangerous.

And now for the quick-fire questions:

Tea or coffee?
Tea.

Burger or hot dog?
Burger – especially in France.

Villain or hero?
Hero with a touch of villainy.

Beer or wine?
Wine.

Movie or TV series?
Movie.

Happy ending or tragedy?
Happy.

In the car, audio-book or music?
I haven’t got a car. On public transport, staring out of the window, at other passengers or reading.

Thanks so much to Martin for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer my questions.

Connect with Martin Lake:

Website 
Facebook
Twitter
Martin Lake's Newsletter

Tuesday 29 September 2015

Guest blog post and a giveaway!

Today I am guest blogging on Suzanne Adair's website.

Check out the post to read all about 7th century food and drink and for a chance to pick up a free signed copy of The Serpent Sword (delivery available worldwide). All you have to do is leave a comment to enter the draw.

Anglo-Saxon Eating, or The Dark Ages Diet




Wednesday 23 September 2015

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Edoardo Albert

Today it is my great pleasure to welcome to my blog, author Edoardo Albert, with whom I share a love of seventh century Northumbria.


I remember the first time I heard of Edoardo. It was during the London Book Fair 2014. My agent was pushing my book, The Serpent Sword there, so I was following with interest what was going on at the fair, even though I didn’t attend it. Imagine my surprise (some would say horror) to see Albert's book Edwin, the first in his Northumbrian Thrones trilogy, being launched at the LBF. For anyone who doesn’t know, The Serpent Sword begins towards the end of Edwin’s reign, and my second book, The Cross and the Curse picks up with the reign of King Oswald. So, seeing that Albert had got his book out there before mine had even been pitched to publishers felt like a real punch in the stomach. As time went on, I decided to look on the bright side. If he could get a book deal for books set in 7th century Northumbria, then so could I! There was clearly enough interest out there. Having read Edwin, I know that our approaches are very different, and I’m sure there is plenty of room for both of us on people’s book shelves.

I think the horror was mutual! There I was, thinking I'd got 7th-century Northumbria all to myself, and then I saw your blog and Twitter. If I remember right, my first reaction was 'Oh, bugger.' Followed by a string of muttered words deriving straight from Old English. Still, it's interesting how ideas can, as it were, be in the air, to be caught by a number of different people. Have you ever read Jasper Fforde's brilliant Thursday Next novels? They're set in an alternate England where a few people can enter the parallel literary universe - and some book characters can come into the 'real' world. I still cherish the image of Miss Havisham, cheroot in mouth, brandishing a sawn-off shotgun as she finishes off ne'er-do-wells. Anyway, the point of this is that at the time Fforde was writing the first of these books, I was working on a short story where literary characters also were real, living beings, inhabiting a parallel universe. Only Fforde's work was much, much better than mine!


Hopefully, our shared inspiration might mean that we've tapped into some aspect of the zeitgeist, meaning that there should be more than enough room for your Northumbrians and my Northumbrians. To readers of Matthew's blog - and to the man himself - I must now make a shameful admission: I have not (yet) read The Serpent Sword. I wanted to, I intended to, and then my publisher asked me to read a novel they were set to publish about Hild of Whitby. I did so, but only just - reading another writer's take on 'my' characters was, for me, intensely, extraordinarily disorientating. It felt as if my mental map of people and places was being subtly pulled out of true. So, herewith my apology: I will read The Serpent Sword (and The Cross and the Curse) but only after I finish writing Oswiu: King of Kings, the final volume in my Northumbrian Thrones trilogy. Actually, by then it will probably be a relief to set these characters free!

Tell us a bit about how you chose the period and how you went about getting published.

You might guess from my name that half of me is Italian. What's not so obvious is that the other half is Sri Lankan (and that half is split between Sinhala and Tamil) - the surname comes from an attempt by a great grandfather to ingratiate himself with our colonial masters. So, not a drop of Anglo-Saxon blood in me. What's more, I was born and brought up in London and, like most Londoners, deep in my bones I really, truly thought the country ended somewhere around junction 10 on the M1. So how did I end up writing about 7th-century Northumbria? Well, my wife's sister is married to an archaeologist, Paul Gething, who is director of the ongoing excavations in and around Bamburgh Castle, the Bamburgh Research Project (note for any budding archaeologists: you can sign up to work on the dig when it's active during the summer). Paul kept on inviting us up to Northumberland to see the dig and, in the end, I ran out of excuses. So, in 2002, we drove up from London - I realised I was getting into the north when, somewhere after Doncaster, a loft of racing pigeons matched our car, wing beat for wheel turn, for some thirty miles as we drove up the A1. Those birds were fast! We were doing a steady 70mph and they paced us.

The pigeons found their loft and we turned up the road from Seahouses towards Bamburgh and - you know those cartoons where a character's mouth drops to the floor in amazement? That was me. For ahead of us, squatting upon the great lump of dolerite that forms part of the Great Whin Sill - a layer of magma that squeezed between rock layers 295 million years ago and set hard - was Bamburgh Castle, commanding land and sea and sky. It was an epiphany. And then, when I stood on the vast beach in front of the castle and saw, out to sea, the Farne Islands, alive with swirling birds, and to the north Lindisfarne Castle upon another outcrop of the Great Whin Sill, I realised I had happened upon one of the most extraordinary places in the British Isles.

Talking to Paul and the other archaeologists, I swiftly learned just how extraordinary. The Bamburgh Research Project has been digging on and around the castle since the late '90s, but already their findings have done much to bring about a complete reconsideration of the role Northumbria played in Early Medieval England. But Bamburgh has been settled for much, much longer than that. Before Doggerland was drowned by the tsunami triggered by the Storegga Slide, neolithic hunters sat upon the rock, looking east over the land of rivers and marsh that connected Britain to Europe, while they marked the movement of the herds of bison and deer.

I got so excited by all Paul and his colleagues had discovered, I asked why they hadn't written a book about it. Turned out, a publisher, the History Press, had already asked them to do so, but Paul had simply been too busy. By the time I learned this, we'd made a number of trips to Northumberland, heading up the A1 most summers (although we never raced pigeons again), and the crash had crashed down upon the publishing industry, putting an end to my job as a journalist and editor at Time Out. So, with more time on my hands than was good for me, I suggested to Paul that we co-write a book about the history and archaeology of Northumbria, with him providing the knowledge and me doing the words. I went along to the London Book Fair and spoke to the people at the History Press, and they gave the project the go ahead. So, in 2012, my first book was published: Northumbria: the Lost Kingdom.


But in writing Northumbria, I learned of the stories of Edwin, Oswald and Oswiu. Even at the time, I thought their successive reigns made an extraordinary story arc - so much so that I was sure someone must have written about them before. But, it turned out, no one had.

Now, this might be interesting to you and the readers who have followed your path towards getting an agent and then, when the agent could not find a publisher for The Serpent Sword, self-publishing with great success and a view towards landing a publisher for the next volume in the Bernicia Chronicles. I took a different tack. I'm a writer with a publisher (well, four publishers at last count) but without an agent. I first went to the London Book Fair in 2010 and I struck lucky that year: 2010 was the year of the Icelandic volcanic dust cloud, when all air traffic was halted, and that meant that half the people who were meant to come to the LBF2010 couldn't make it. And that meant that the people on the stands were desperate to talk to anybody - even writers! OK, I didn't get far with the Random Houses of this world, but I made some good contacts with smaller and medium-sized publishers, which lead to Northumbria for the History Press, and the start of a series of short biographies of major figures in Islamic history for Kube Publishing.

Building on that, I returned to the London Book Fair (I now had something to show people) and, among others, approached Lion Hudson, suggesting I do something similar for them as I had for Kube. But, as luck would have it, turned out they were launching a new fiction imprint, and seeing that I could actually write, they asked me rather for ideas for novels. I sent back three: a young adult novel set around Bamburgh; an urban fantasy/theological thriller (Charles Williams with jokes); and the suggestion for the Northumbrian trilogy.

What's particularly interesting, from a writer's point of view, is the thought a publisher puts into choosing what to publish. It's not just a case of reading a book and loving it. No, the ideas (and then the first three chapters of Edwin) went to marketing, PR, the editorial team, just about everybody. The key questions were, one, was it any good, and, two, could they sell it?

Marketing and PR came back with the answer that publishing Edwin was a 'no brainer', so, there I was. In a world where every single manual for writers seems to say that having an agent is essential, I'd signed a three-book deal with Lion. What's more, while attending an archaelogical conference, I'd got speaking to an editor at Amberley Publishing and they later approached me, asking if I'd be interested in writing a book for them. Which was how I came to write my biography, In Search of Alfred the Great, with Dr Katie Tucker, the archaeologist leading the search for King Alfred's mortal remains.


So, I would say there is still space for a proactive writer to manage his or her own career, in partnership with a publisher or publishers, but without necessarily having an agent. However, this is a long, hard slog; you have to be prepared to put in the legwork, to use every connection and contact you can make, to take rejection and downright rudeness with equanimity or at least the resolution to show the bastards, and to keep going on and on and on… Rather like this interview!

I notice that your publisher, Lion, is a Christian publisher. How important has that fact been in your writing of Edwin and Oswald (and next, Oswiu)? They are all important kings in the rise of Christianity, but does your publisher insist in any way that the religious element of their stories is pushed to the fore in the novels?

As I mentioned above, I approached Lion because I thought they would be interested in doing something similar to what I had already written for Kube. However, when they asked for novel proposals, the fact that Edwin, Oswald and Oswiu are probably the three key kings in the Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons was certainly of interest to them, as it fitted with their own brief. But I must make clear that Lion have in no way tried to pressure me to make the books fit a 'Christian' template - quite the opposite in fact. Speaking to them, one of the key things Lion is trying to do with their fiction imprint is to get away from the idea of 'Christian fiction' that has become popular in America, where problems mount up and then everything is solved at the last minute by the wave of a Bible and a sudden conversion. Think on writers like Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene and JRR Tolkien: all three Christians, whose faith informed and moulded their work, but there is no sense reading them that you are being hit over the head with a folded Bible. That is what Lion is looking for, and what I hope I have done.

And a more personal question – are you at all religious? Is this what drew you to these kings?

Yes. But it's been a rolling road, via childhood and youthful atheism, an early interest in the occult, neo-Platonism, comparative religion and, finally, back to where I started from. Is that what drew me to these kings? In part, I suppose, but more it is the fact that conflict is the driver of stories and here, in their tales, you have a conflict of world views, of civilisations, as well as the ordinary motivations of revenge and glory and honour.

Also, I wanted to understand the conversion. There's a tendency among writers today to romanticise the pagan Anglo-Saxons but the simple fact is that, when faced with a choice between paganism and Christianity, the Anglo-Saxons freely chose Christianity. Now, it was by no means a straightforward process, with all sorts of factors coming into play, but this was no conversion at the point of a sword. So, why did they do it? We have very few sources for the nature of Anglo-Saxon paganism, so our understanding of the religion is a reconstruction. But obviously, in the 7th century, men like Edwin and Oswald had the real, live religion all around them - they had been brought up in it and they knew paganism for what it was. So, why did they change, and adopt the religion of the Britons, the people their forefathers had defeated? I'd suggest this is deeply mysterious - and quite fascinating. So, in these books, I set out to try to propose some answers to this question. And, what's more, there's lots of swords and battles too!

I also think there are clear and interesting parallels to our own day, when we see and read about clashes of world views and religions: we are living in a time of transition as much as Edwin, Oswald and Oswiu were.

Tell us a bit about your latest novel, Oswald and the Northumbrian Thrones series.

Oswald: Return of the King begins with the exiled ætheling of Bernicia, who is living on the Isle of Iona, learning that his uncle, King Edwin - the man who had killed his father - has been killed and the kingdom, Northumbria, is being ravaged. Oswald is faced with the choice of remaining in the north west, with the sea-spanning kingdom of Dal Riada and the monks of Iona, or returning to attempt to claim the throne. The book tells Oswald's story: how he chooses to return and wins the throne, and then sets about the conversion of his people, and the forces ranged against him.

I'm sure, if there had been any betting men in the 7th century wagering on whether the Anglo-Saxons would stay pagan or become Christian, the clever money would have gone on them continuing pagan. Augustine's mission to Kent had stalled and all but withered away after the death of the king who invited him; kingdoms that had accepted Christianity (Kent, Essex) were reverting to paganism, and there was still the open question of why should conquerors accept the religion of the people they had conquered. Oswald is the key that unlocks this mystery.


Were there any surprises for you while writing these books?

How fast I could go when my back was up against the wall and deadlines were approaching! I wrote Edwin in four months and Oswald, which is longer, in three!

Which of these three Northumbrian kings do you like most? 

The one I'm writing about at the time! But I do have a sneaking fondness for Edwin.

What writer or book has had the biggest influence on your work?

My favourite writers are JRR Tolkien, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Evelyn Waugh and CS Lewis. Their biggest influence is my vain hope to some day come somewhere near matching them (although, clearly, I have also shamelessly nicked from Tolkien in the title of Oswald: Return of the King; my only defence is that Tolkien writes of Oswald in his seminal essay, Beowulf: The Monster and the Critics and there are clear parallels between his life and Aragorn's).

What are the best and worst things about being a writer?

The best thing about being a writer is the writing - as simple as that.

The worst thing is the poverty - very few writers make a living from writing and I'm certainly not yet in that category.

What is the best book you've read in the last twelve months?

Definitely Godric by Frederick Buechner. It's a slim book, only about 150 pages, telling the story, in the first person, of an obscure saint, Godric of Finchale, who lived from 1065 to 1170. But the language… The best I can do is quote a bit:

'Here are the sounds of Wear. It rattles stone on stone. It sucks its teeth. It sings. It hisses like the rain. It roars. It laughs. It claps its hands. Sometimes I think it prays. In winter, through the ice, I've seen it moving swift and black as Tune, without a sound. 
'Here are the sights of Wear. It falls in braids. It parts at rocks and tumbles round them white as down or flashes over them in silver quilts. It tosses fallen trees like bits of straw yet spins a single leaf as gentle as a maid. Sometimes it coils for rest in darkling pools and sometimes it leaps its banks and shatters in the air. In autumn, I've seen it breathe a mist so thick and grey you'd never know old Wear was there at all.'
There, what do you think? Extraordinary, no? I'd almost say, go out and read this book over any of mine.

What is the most exciting experience you've had as a result of writing?

The final full stop!

Once you have completed the Northumbrian Thrones trilogy, what’s next? More historical fiction? Or something else entirely?

Even while writing the Northumbrian Thrones I've been doing other things. In between Edwin and Oswald I wrote my biography of Alfred the Great. And then, after finishing Oswald, I wrote - and have just finished - London: A Spiritual History and, in the process, I suspect invented an entirely new genre: hageography. You know how Peter Ackroyd and Will Self and others have been writing psychogeography? This is the intersection between mysticism, magic and myth, filtered through general and personal history. Once I've written Oswiu - at the moment, I don't know. A deep breath I should think!


And now for the quick-fire questions:

Tea or coffee?

Tea

Burger or hot dog?

Burger

Villain or hero?

Hero

Beer or wine?

Wine

Movie or TV series?

Movie

Happy ending or tragedy?

Happy ending

In the car, audio-book or music?

On my own, audio-book; with family, music

Thank you very much, Edoardo, for taking the time to answer my questions and let's hope the interest in seventh century Northumbria continues!

Connect to Edoardo Albert:

www.edoardoalbert.com
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Sunday 20 September 2015

First review of THE CROSS AND THE CURSE

As I am gearing up for the release of book 2 of the Bernicia Chronicles, THE CROSS AND THE CURSE, I have started to send out the manuscript to other authors in the hope they'll like it enough to give me a review and some quotes for the cover and the website.

Well, the first to respond has been Martin Lake, the great author of books such as Land of Blood and Water and The Lost King series. To receive a nice review from anyone is a great feeling, but to get a review such as this from a writer of Martin's skill and stature is just wonderful. I am extremely thankful to Martin and hope other readers feel the same way as him once the book is released!

Martin Lake's review of THE CROSS AND THE CURSE

One midnight several years ago I sat at the Great Sphinx listening to love poetry written five thousand years ago. I felt the ache of lost and found kinship with ancient forebears. I feel the same when reading Matthew Harffy’s work.

The best historical fiction enables the reader to simultaneously live in the here and now and the then and there. Matthew Harffy has this skill in abundance. He peoples his work with everyman and everywoman, allowing a bridge across the centuries, a meeting place.

His hero Beobrand is heroic and fallible, his wife Sunniva has the fears and longings of any woman whose young husband is called to battle. Other characters are also very much part of their time while being the sort you might bump into on the street today. King Oswald, for example, has the charisma of a mighty monarch even though his kingdom is a sparsely inhabited, tiny parcel of land. The reader believes Oswald leads a mighty war-host until the author deftly reveals it is made up of merely two hundred men. It is, of course, only two hundred men. Yet at the same time it is a war-host.

While reading The Cross and the Curse I was with the people of seventh century Bernicia as they split timber to make new homes, watched anxiously alongside them to see if the fire would flame enough to send a sacrifice to the gods, felt the terror and thrill of the shield-wall and the disgust and exhilaration of killing while escaping death.

Matthew Harffy’s first novel, The Serpent Sword, was superb. The second book, The Cross and the Curse, is every bit as good. He is one of the most accomplished and exciting voices in the field today. I love his novels and recommend them to you.

Thursday 17 September 2015

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Justin Hill

Of all the novels I read while writing The Serpent Sword, two stand out in my memory: The Wake, by Paul Kingsnorth and Shieldwall, by Justin Hill. Both are set later in history than my Bernicia Chronicles, but they stood out for each using language to evoke the time and place of Anglo-Saxon England. The Wake is quite radical, with a so-called “shadow tongue” used by Kingsnorth. A mixture of Old English and modern English to conjure up a “word-scape” of what it might have been like to live and talk in England a thousand years ago.


Justin Hill’s writing is easier to digest, but his love of the language of the period shines through each page of Shieldwall. His use of words that are firmly rooted in Old English and his poetic cadences that bring to mind the epic phrases of Beowulf, elevate the book beyond other novels set in the same era. I once joked when editing The Serpent Sword, that I could see the point when I had started to read Shieldwall during the writing -- my prose suddenly got better! Justin Hill’s writing is powerful and poignant. Few writers make me revel in the language they use in the way that Hill does in Shieldwall.


So, having explained that I am a fan, it should come as no surprise that I am extremely happy that Justin has agreed to do an interview with me. I hope you enjoy reading his responses as much as I did.

Your first books were about exotic (at least to me!) locations, such as Eritrea and China. What made you choose to write Shieldwall, which is set in England in the 11th century?

Well, first of all, thank you so much for the comments about Shieldwall. The initial inspiration for the book was the language I would use in telling. It sets the mental geography for the reader. It’s subtle, but hugely important part of the book.

With the exotic locations – well, I spent my twenties avoiding a career. I worked as a VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) volunteer for most of that time, and so the books I was writing were largely based or inspired on the places I was living.


Shieldwall was a home-coming, in many ways. I’d always loved the Anglo Saxon and Viking periods of history, and I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed as a writer who only wrote about exotic foreign places and so had been looking for an English story.

Having grown up in Yorkshire, in the 1980s, with both sides of my family having grown up in mining villages, I’d originally tried a novel that portrayed life twenty years after the miner’s strike. It didn’t really work. The first few chapters of that novel are languishing on a hard drive somewhere.
I was living in Ireland at the time, and there was a lot of talk about ‘800 years of English oppression.’ It seemed a little lazy, historically, as the first 200 odd years were Norman, not English oppression, and then it seemed that of all the countries subdued by the Normans in the early medieval period, it was the English who had lost most: our language, literature and literary traditions, our geo-political position spanning the Scandinavia and Europe.

No one had written about that period, and so I started looking at the Battle of Hastings, and the story grew from there. It was clear that the story of Hastings had to start with the Danish Conquest of 1016, as it puts into play the characters and storylines that end in 1066.

Shieldwall is part of a trilogy. Tell us a bit about the other books. When are they due out and at what stage of the writing process are you at?

Yes, Shieldwall was originally planned as the first of a trilogy, but I am open to a longer sequence of books. I’m finishing up the second book, which is working under the name Viking Fire. It picks up the threads from Shieldwall, and carries them forward. It is the story, essentially, of Harald Hardrada, commonly thought of as the last Viking.

You have recently written the novelization for sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Green Legend. How did you go about getting that gig and how has it affected you as a writer?

I’m on a fairly short list of writers who have written successfully about modern and historical China. I also knew the agent for Wang Dulu’s family (the writer of the original novels) and so I think I was a fairly obvious choice.

It was very liberating to work on. Firstly it was a pleasure to be back in the Chinese landscape and working within a landscape which I could embroider with all the fabulous wealth of Chinese traditions.

The biggest impact it had was exploding everything I thought I knew about writing. I’d previously said that I couldn’t write a book if I knew what was going to happen at all stages of the story. Essentially, the writing process was as much a journey of discovery for me as it was for the readers. With Crouching Tiger, I was given a copy of the script, and asked to plan out a synopsis of the novel.
The script wasn’t long enough to base a whole story, so I went back to the original Chinese novels, and framed something that linked to the first film, and then continued along the path of the script.
The other challenge was that there were only six months to finish the whole novel, so I cleared the decks and powered through, finishing 8,000 odd words a week to get the first draft done.
It was incredibly invigorating to be doing something so fresh and original, and I’m hoping to bring some of that speed and efficiency into my future writing. I’m generally frustrated by how long it takes me to write a book, so would love to speed this process up.

How did the process of writing based on a screenplay work? What was the biggest surprise for you while writing The Green Legend?

A film script was couriered to me from LA. Each page had my name printed across it so I kept it under lock and key as I worked on a synopsis.

We were looking for a style vaguely along the lines of Game of Thrones set in China, so I worked on a few style pieces, to make sure we were all happy with the tone and style, and then I worked on the overall synopsis.

We’re all familiar with the way the screen condenses stories; this worked the other way round. The script was too short for a full length novel, so I went back to the original books and brought in some of the storylines from that. The original Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was based on the fourth of five books, but it deviated from the books in some major ways.

I worked to make it all comprehensible and cohesive.

You lived until recently in Hong Kong where you taught at university. You have now returned to the UK. Are you planning on being a full-time writer now, or will you be teaching again, or perhaps you have other plans?

I’ve decided to go back to writing full-time. There’s a lot on my plate, but it’s an exciting time for historical novels, so I’m aiming to get the books out better and faster.

I’m really enjoying being back in the UK – especially the change of the seasons. Hong Kong doesn’t do seasons in the same way – I’m watching the first couple of trees that are starting to turn. I can’t wait for autumn and winter.

I’m hoping all the changes will feed into the writing…


What writer or book has had the biggest influence on your work?

Undoubtedly JRR Tolkien in that he turned me from a slow reader who liked kits of batteries and light bulbs, to one who devoured books.  I remember being amazed by the way Tolkien created a fantastical world which still felt so real. I closed Lord of the Rings and thought ‘I want to do that!’
So, at ten years old I went from wanting to be a fireman to wanting to write books. I never changed my mind. That was a huge help, I think, in actually getting published. Single-mindedness and stubborn determination.

My reading varies wildly, though. I loved the work of David Gemmell and Julian May as a teenager. At university Thomas Hardy completely bewitched me. I think the next gob-smacking moment was discovering the writing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and the Tang Dynasty Chinese poets, who remain a great source of inspiration.

Now I’m very eclectic in my reading. I read pulp, literary fiction, academic literature (often an oxymoron!) poetry and histories. At the moment I’m reading English Historical Documents Volume I, which covers the years up to 1042.

I like to hear characters voices in the original. They speak to you more directly.

What are the best and worst things about being a writer?

The best thing is the first page of a novel, when anything can happen. It is the five star review on Amazon, when someone gets and loves the book. It is the email from a reader. It is the sweaty palmed reader who waits to talk to you after a reading. It is the first public reading of a new novel, when the audience goes silent, and the for the first time the book comes alive in the minds of an audience.

The worst thing – huh – not sure I can think of anything. The pay, perhaps: but we don’t write for pay.


What is the best book you've read in the last twelve months?

It has to be Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantell. I found Wolf Hall too easy to put down and not pick up again, and still haven’t got to the end, but Bring Up the Bodies was a much more focused and compelling book with all the literary flourishes of Thomas Cromwell.

What is the most exciting experience you've had as a result of writing?

My first novel – The Drink and Dream Teahouse – was an explosion of all kinds of themes and ideas.  It was six months from beginning to end, and in some ways it’s as good as anything I’ve written since. It’s ballsy, confident, ignorant and naïve in a way many first novels are, and went onto be a Washington Post Book of the Year, which was all an extraordinary experience.


Once you have completed the Conquest trilogy, what’s next? More historical fiction? More film adaptations? Or something else entirely?

I don’t see myself exclusively as a historical novelist, so have a lot of interesting ideas. I find it takes me a long time to bring together my ideas and themes for a modern novel, so they’re a long time coming. I’d like to write about Hong Kong, which would be a modern novel. But I’d also like to go back to non-fiction. What gets called Creative Non Fiction, CNF, these days. Not sure what that would be – but I’m thinking something along the lines of an almanac.

And now for the quick-fire questions:

Tea or coffee?

Tea. Jasmine tea, or Yorkshire Gold.

Burger or hot dog?

Burger.

Villain or hero?

Hero.

Beer or wine?

Wine. Preferably a Pomerol or a Chablis Grand Cru. Or even better, one of each.

Movie or TV series?

TV series. Sopranos style.

Happy ending or tragedy?

Tragedy. Bitter sweet like Lord of the Rings, or Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

In the car, audio-book or music?

Music. Sing a long stuff.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions and for all the support you have given this debut novelist!

Connect with Justin Hill:

www.justinhillauthor.com
https://www.facebook.com/justinhillauthor
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