The Bookgeeks Interview: Tad Williams
Tad Williams’ debut fantasy series Memory, Sorrow and Thorn sold millions of copies around the world and established him as one of the greatest fantasy writers of modern times. His virtual reality saga, Otherland, and his standalone novel The War of the Flowers were published to similar popular and critical acclaim. The third volume of the Shadowmarch series. Shadowplay, has recently been released (it was going to be a trilogy, but Williams’ fans know his track record with trilogies!), so we caught up with him to ask him about his craft…
The Bookgeeks Interview: Brian Thompson
Brian Thompson was born in London in 1935 and now lives in Oxford. He has written two award-winning volumes of memoir: Keeping Mum (2006), winner of the Costa Prize for Biography and the PEN/Ackerley Prize, and Clever Girl (2007), longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. More recently, he has written two two volumes in the Bella Wallis series of mysteries.
Bella Wallis is a respectable society woman with a secret identity: in an office buried deep within the seedy backstreets of London, she writes sensationalist novels exposing the scoundrels that litter high society under the pen name Henry Ellis Margam. She first appeared in The Widows’s Secret, and the in the follow-up The Captain’s Table. She can be found blogging here, and you can read Jennie’s review of The Captain’s Table here.
The Bookgeeks Interview: Dave Simpson, author of The Fallen
Ever been held hostage in a dressing room with your parents? Ever been thrown off the bus in the middle of a Swedish forest or abandoned at a foreign airport? Ever been asked to play at one of the UK’s biggest music festivals with musicians you’ve just met who are covered in blood, or taken part in a ‘recording session’ in a speeding Transit? If so, you’ve probably been in The Fall.
Dave Simpson made it his mission to track down everyone who has ever played in Britain’s most berserk, brilliant group, The Fall. He uncovers a changing Britain, tales of madness and genius, and wreaks havoc on his personal life.
Dave Simpson writes on music and the arts for the Guardian newspaper from an isolated base in the North of England. He has been a fan of the Fall since 1979, and once admitted to hating the Beatles.
Bookgeeks’ own Simon Parker asked him for his thoughts on Mark E Smith’s musical circus:
The Bookgeeks Interview: Chris Hannan, author of Missy
Chris Hannan’s work as a playwright has been produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican (1991) and by Sir Peter Hall at the Old Vic in London (1997) as well as by the National Theatre of Scotland in its inaugural season (2006).
He often creates big central roles for women. The Guardian hailed Elizabeth Gordon Quinn as a “monstrous and magnificent heroine”.
Four of his plays have had their world premiere at the prestigious Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, including Elizabeth Gordon Quinn and the award-winning Shining Souls. His 1990 play The Evil Doers was produced by the Bush Theatre in London and won numerous prizes including a Time Out Award, and in 2001/2 he was the Judith E. Wilson Visiting Fellow in Drama at the University of Cambridge.
In 2008 his first novel Missy was published in the UK and the US – so we thought we’d ask him about the process of creating it and his inspirations…
The Bookgeeks Interview: Ben Kane, author of The Forgotten Legion
Ben Kane was born in Kenya and raised there and in Ireland. He studied veterinary medicine at University College Dublin but after that travelled the world extensively, indulging his passion for ancient history. Now he lives in North Somerset, where he researches, writes and practises as a small animal vet. He is author of The Forgotten Legion, recently reviewed by Simon A, and The Silver Eagle and is currently working on the third novel in the series.
We intruded in to to his inbox to ask about his writing habits, his historical passions and his views on the use of animal entrails for forecasting the future…
The Bookgeeks Interview: Jay ‘Bird’ Dobyns, author of No Angel
Jay Dobyns, alias Jaybird, is an ATF undercover agent who infiltrated the Hells Angels motorcycle club from 2001 to 2003. He was offered membership into the gang after faking the murder of a rival Mongols Motorcycle Club member and providing ‘evidence’ of the staged murder to Hells Angels leaders. Dobyns and his partners worked undercover for 21 months leading to Federal arrests and search warrants on July 8, 2003.
He’s written a book about his experiences, No Angel (read Simon A’s review, and there’s competition to win signed copies too), and we talked to him about his reasons for writing the book and what he feels about the Hells Angels now.
The Bookgeeks Interview: Marcel Theroux, author of Far North
Marcel Theroux is a British novelist and broadcaster, who has written The Stranger in The Earth and The Confessions of Mycroft Holmes: a paper chase for which he won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2002. His third novel, A Blow to the Heart, was published by Faber in 2006, and his fourth, Far North in March 2009 (read Simon A’s review). He is the older son of the American travel writer and novelist, Paul Theroux, and his younger brother, Louis Theroux, is a journalist and television presenter.
We caught up with Marcel to talk to him about his writing and the ideas and inspiration behind Far North.
The Bookgeeks Interview: John Wray, author of Lowboy
John Wray was born in Washington, DC in 1971. His first novel, The Right Hand of Sleep won a Whiting Writers’ Award. He was recently chosen as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists 2007. Jennie recently enjoyed and reviewed his latest offering, Lowboy, calling it “a thriller, a coming of age novel, and an immersion into the head of a schizophrenic boy.” We caught up with John to ask him about his craft.
Photo credit: Amber de Vos
Are you a bookgeek?
I’ve never been asked an easier question in an interview. Yes, absolutely. I’m a geek, and I love books. But of course Mother is the ultimate authority on this issue. Perhaps you might ask her.
The Bookgeeks Interview: Giles Kristian, author of Raven: Blood Eye
Born in 1975 to an English father and a Norwegian mother, Giles Kristian has led a varied and somewhat unconventional life and admits that this suits him just fine. As the lead singer in nineties pop group Upside Down, he achieved four top-twenty hit records in the official UK sales charts and appeared on countless national and international TV shows including MTV and VH1. Upside Down were the subject of a BBC documentary which followed the band’s formation and rise to fame, including their first appearance on Top of the Pops.
Later, he worked as a model in London, appearing in national TV ads and poster campaigns. His poetry has been broadcast by the BBC, which has in turn led to him receiving numerous commissions. In 2004 Giles began working on Raven, the story of a boy’s relationship with a band of marauding Norsemen from across the grey sea. It is a rich and violent coming-of-age story with more than a touch of the old sagas about it, which I really enjoyed. I asked Giles about how writing compares to pop-stardom, and what happens to Raven next…
The Bookgeeks Interview: Josh Bazell, author of Beat the Reaper
Josh Bazell has a BA in writing from Brown University and a MD from Columbia University. He has worked as a screenwriter, and while in medical school investigated suspicious deaths for the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York. He is currently a medical resident at the University of California, San Francisco, and is working on his second novel. We recently read and enjoyed his fusion of medicine and the Mob, debut Beat the Reaper (review), and we chatted with him about his writing and the US medical system.
For our traditional opener: are you a bookgeek?
Books have been important to me my whole life, but after reading Nightmare Alley I’ve stopped referring to anyone who doesn’t actually bite the heads off chickens as a geek. Which I guess makes the answer “Yes.”
The Bookgeeks Interview: Douglas Jackson, author of Caligula
Douglas Jackson’s debut novel Caligula (recently reviewed and enjoyed by Simon A) is the first in a three-book series set in ancient Rome, and centres on the character of Rufus, a young slave. Douglas Jackson was born in Jedburgh in the Scottish borders and now lives in Bridge of Allan. Caligula grew out of his love for history, which was ignited as a boy when he grew up in the shadows of 12th century Jedburgh Abbey.
He is now an assistant editor at The Scotsman, and wrote Caligula on a packed commuter train between Stirling and Edinburgh every day on his way to work. He was signed up by a literary agent when he asked for feedback on his writing on www.YouWriteOn.com.
The Bookgeeks caught up with him to ask him about the inspiration for his debut, the research behind it and what’s next for Rufus and the Emperor’s Elephant…
The Bookgeeks Interview: Nick Harkaway, author of The Gone-Away World
Nick Harkaway is the author of The Gone-Away World, which we at Bookgeeks thought was rather marvellous and is now available in paperback (and which was recently nominated for the BSFA Best Novel Award).
Nick was born in Cornwall in 1972. He studied philosophy, sociology and politics at Clare College, Cambridge, and then worked in the film industry. He has trained in fencing, aikido, jujitsu, and kickboxing, and is notably bad at all of them. He lives in London with his wife, Clare, and he’s working for on his second novel. Nick’s father is John Le Carré, who we also think is rather marvellous!
We picked Nick’s brains about dreams, inspiration, whether or not he’s a book geek, and his recent nomination…
The Bookgeeks Interview: Michael Kimball, author of Dear Everybody
Michael Kimball’s first two novels are The Way The Family Got Away (2000) and How Much of Us There Was (2005), both of which have been translated (or are being translated) into many languages. His third novel, Dear Everybody, has just been published in the US, UK, and Canada, and here on Bookgeeks we really loved it. Time Out New York calls the writing “stunning” and the Los Angeles Times says the book is “funny and warm and sad and heartbreaking.” Kimball is also responsible for the collaborative art project–Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard)–and the documentary film, I Will Smash You (2009).
We asked Michael for his answers on a postcard to our cunning questions about books and writing…
The Bookgeeks Interview: Mark Sarvas, author of Harry, Revised
Mark Sarvas is best known as the host of the popular and controversial literary weblog “The Elegant Variation” which has been mentioned in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Guardian (A Top 10 Literary Blog), Forbes Magazine (Best of the Web), Los Angeles Magazine (A Top L.A. Blog), The Scotsman, Salon, the Christian Science Monitor, Slate, The Village Voice, NPR and numerous other fine publications (and we’re not jealous, oh no). His debut novel, Harry, Revised, was published in 2008 by Canongate in the UK and Bloomsbury in the US.
Mark lives the quiet life in Los Angeles, where he has been a newspaper editor, travel agent and bass player. He has written episodic comedy for HBO and Showtime as well as screenplays for Warner Brothers, producer David Foster, and the World Entertainment and Business Network.
We picked Mark’s brains about books, writing and whether or not he’s a grammar nazi…
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