The reason I wrote the first book is that I was brought up on the site of an old castle. It was mentioned in the Doomsday Book (1085) and was starting to fall apart about the era of The Gatekeeper. You see, the castle was made of wood. When I was young I thought this was crazy but then I learned it was before the days of gunpowder in the UK. All you’d have to do was guard against anyone carrying a box of matches. (I later learnt matches weren’t around until about 1800 so this didn’t apply either). But when gunpowder was used, in the late 1300’s, this castle was left to rot in peace. When I was a kid it was just irregular shapes in the field in front of out house.
The village I lived in had cobblestone streets. I used to think they were to make me fall of my bike when it rained. That was not their purpose but it did have that effect. The court house was built in the time of Queen Elizabeth I as was the Yeoman’s House. The wooden stocks had been replaced in Victorian days with iron ones. But it was all old and the children of the area grew up knowing a lot about olden times.
And writing about it? The family is all Manx (except me, I was born off the Island). They all believed in fairies (Phennodderee, Bougain, Foer and the like). My grandmother used to leave the back door partly open and seave saucers of milk and bread for the little people. She was delighted to find the food eaten next morning and was sure she was always blessed. It was years later I realised that you never see hungry cats in that part of the Island, even the stray ones.
My father was a great story teller. I remember one of them was about a Bugain, the nastiest of the Manx mystical creatures. You see, there were three kids in my family and I was the youngest. I had to go to bed first and my bedroom was built over the garage, away from the rest of the family. There were none of those modern lights which you can switch on at the bottom of the stairs and off at the top so I had to go to bed in the dark.
After the story that night I was petrified. I crept up the stairs with my knees shaking. It was when I’d nearly reached my room I froze. I had heard the Bugain. It was shuffling along the corridor higher up, grunting at times and breathing heavily. I was mortified. I knew I was a gonner. I just hoped the end would be swift and painless. But then something happened – something seemed to go snap inside my brain. I started to get angry. I was determined not to go without a fight. I’d show that monster he’d taken on more than he’d bargained for when he picked on me.
I crept up the extra stairs and flattened myself against the wall around the corner from where my pursuer was slowly creeping toward me. My heart was thumping wildly as I prepared for the end. I waited until the creaking of the floorboards was right there then I threw myself around the corner with a bloodcurdling yell.
‘Yaaaaaa!’
It was my grandmother. She had been heading toward the toilet … carrying a full chamber-pot. Well, you guessed it. I was blamed for the wee on the ceiling. I was blamed for the wee dribbling down the walls. But she wasn’t blamed for acting like a ghost and frightening me! So at an early age I learnt that life was not particularly fair. And in The Gatekeeper, Jenny (heroine of The Gatekeeper) soon came to the same conclusion.’
I’m now writing the third book. In it, Jenny learns the Duke of Northumberland is going to be murdered. She gets a job in the dining room of the great house. In those days, dining was very formal. A Lord’s son would carve for his father or be sent into an other family of worth and do the same. He’s have to know how to carve and season anything from a swan to a sparrow, a dolphin to whitebait. If it moved, they ate it. But there are documents about manners for the gentry in those days and some are available reprinted. I’m using the work of Winkyn de Word and part of his talk on manners includes,’ you must not spit over the table cloth or on it. You mustn’t spit in the water brought to wash your hands. You mustn’t spit too far away, but when you do spit, cover the side of your mouth and spit neatly to the side of your chair. The Duke had at least fifty people to every meal and it was taken for granted they’d spit on the floor! I wouldn’t like to be the floor cleaner after that!
Anyway, I’m enjoying the reasearch for my new book.
If you live in Australia, ask your local bookstore to get the book in for you to buy or ask your library to get it in for you. It is in about fifty libraries. And look out for Rudigor’s Revenge later in the year.
In USA and Canada? When it is on the market I’ll certainly announce in on AW. I’ll also be coming out to do a marketing tour. I’ll publicise the release as heavily as I can. Meanwhile, your library can send for it from Zeus Publications in Burleigh, Queensland, Australia.
The rest of the World. Hi there. Lachesis, my Canadian publisher, has world rights except for Austrlaia and will be discussing other releases. I hope to re-visit UK and the Isle of Man but even Outer Mongolia would be a great change of scenery (but I’m not sure how well they read English).
4 Comments
June 2, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Hey Richard – really enjoyed you as this week’s guest writer. I was just wondering, if you don’t mind writing more on Chandler’s blog, what the process is for getting your book published in a different country from your original publisher. I have a vague understanding of how it works from the U.S. to other countries but not how you go from Australia to here. Did you have to get a new publisher? Did your Australian publisher use someone it works with or was it an American publisher that published in Australia? Do you get to easily retain your rights as an author on international publishing? Thanks
June 2, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Sounds like a great story! I’ll be checking it out.
June 3, 2008 at 6:45 am
Jay, my publisher in Australia, Zeus Publications, has only Australian rights – they don’t do anything more than that. So I had to look elsewhere for a publisher. Luckily Lachesis (Canada) had an ad in my writing group’s newsletter, asking for sumbissions, so I sent off to them. They have a standard, world-wide contract which they altered for me to include the words “except Australia” for anything that discusses printed books worldwide – Zeus is not interested in e-publishing. With Lachesis, they are now keeping up a steady emauil contact with me – makes me feel good. They have a publicity agent so, nearer the date, I’ll be asking for help arrange an itinerary to include bookstores in Canada/USA for booksignings, book festivals where they accept overseas writers and any discounted cruises to Alaska (the latter being essential for my book’s success, of course!).
Just another point I didn’t make in my original writing. The reason I have a heroine is that both my daughters came to grief on institutional discrimination in school. They wanted to play football (rugby league). This was ok until there was a match. They weren’t allowed to play because they were girsl and might be hurt. I’d not like to have faced my older daughter at age 14 with the ball if she didn’t want to be tackled. She’d have been worse than the boys! So I’m taking their side in my writing.
June 3, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Very interesting. Thanks for the blog.