I have been doing this interview thing for quite awhile now. I realized the other day that some of my earliest interviews aren't even linked on this blog as they were posted at LoadedShelf.com where I began doing author interviews. I want to share these interviews with you! And so I have created this new feature, Blast From the Past in which I will repost previous interviews for your reading pleasure.
This first interview is especially important to me. I discovered my love of fiction in my early teens and knew right away that I loved history and historical fiction. Margaret George, author of a number of books about the lives of famous monarchs around the world, was my role model. A lot of the history that I soaked up in these books remain with me and are helpful as I finish up work on my Masters in English History. When I first emailed Margaret George I was just sure that she wouldn't have time to respond. She did and perhaps even more astonishingly, her publicist sent me a copy of her newest novel Helen of Troy. I was amazed and delighted to have the chance to chat with someone who influenced who I am as a reader and as a historian as well.
With MARGARET GEORGE
author of: The Autobiography of Henry VIII; The Memoirs of Cleopatra; Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles; Mary, Called Magdalene; and Helen of Troy
Kelly Hewitt: So, how does a girl born in Nashville, Tennessee end up being a world-traveling best-selling author of novels about fascinating European monarchs and historical women of great significance?
Margaret George: I think the question is better asked how my father, who was born in a small town in Mississippi, got a PhD in English literature at the age of 22 and became a diplomat in the U.S. foreign service? He was the greatest influence on me and made it seem natural to be able to write about royalty and such. He is the greatest argument in favor of Shakespeare from Stratford actually being the author of Shakespeare, when people say how could a guy from Stratford know all that stuff...? Well, how could a boy from Mantee, Mississippi, know all the stuff my father did? Answer: he read a lot. Obviously Shakespeare did, too.
I went to a British school from ages 7-9 and everything was king, queen, empire, farthings, shillings and pounds, so I think I was steeped in it very thoroughly when very young. I also lived in the Middle east and visited Egypt when I was 9 (see the photo on the jacket of the hardcover Cleopatra) so all that history seemed very 'normal' and real to me, too.
Kelly: Speaking of travels, I am fascinated with European monarchical history and will be spending some time there this summer -- are there particular locations you find the most inspiring or historically significant?
Margaret: Inspiring locations: the ones away from a lot of people give you the best feeling for the past, because there are no modern people in the picture to distract you. Places in Sweden and Norway are very evocative. I spent some time in Voss, Norway, and could almost see the Vikings walking around. Also, Orkney islands in the north of Scotland, with their rings of standing stones. The vast open landscape of Scotland. The Great Hall of Eltham Palace in London, where the young Henry VIII spent time. Hatfield Palace outside London, home to the young Elizabeth I (although it can get crowded)---they have a Tudor dinner there that is fun to go to in the winter (when not too crowded). Kelly: On your website you write a bit about the research that you did for Helen of Troy. Where you actually writing the book at that time or just soaking in everything?
Margaret: I went to Greece several times while writing Helen of Troy. Usually I prefer to go to a place last, after I have already done all the reading, but I had an opportunity to go fairly early in the process this time. It did give me a good feel for the landscape and mood of the places where Helen lived, which helped illuminate the reading.
Kelly: Helen of Troy is 600 pages plus. Looking at my shelf I can easily see that none of your other books could ever be categorized as dainty. I personally enjoy the length of your novels but I have noticed that some reviewers make special note of their length. What gives? Is it that you're a wordy and detailed writer or does it have more to do with the fact that you deal with historical figures that are complicated and warrant a hefty book in order to cover everything?
Margaret: My long books---both things are true. I tend to take a long time to say something ---I don't think I pad things but my natural way of expression tends to be long. I've had good editors but they cannot change the basic structure of the way I express myself. Then, compounding the tendency, is, as you say, the fact that these are historical figures that a lot happened to, and I choose, so that the reader can really understand the psychology, to treat the person's whole life. That makes for a mighty long tale. Most of these characters have suffered from superficial portrayals in movies and books---often because of time constraints. (The new PBS "Six Wives of Henry VIII" was only half the length of the 1970 BBC production, and it was choppy and rushed and simplistic.) You can only cut/compress the material so much.
Having said that, I am trying a new thing with my next book, the one on Elizabeth I. It is NOT to be her entire life, only the latter part of it. Her long life and reign were too much for one book, even for me!
Kelly: I just read that your next book will have to do with Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare, and the New World! I am already ready to run out and buy it. I know these things take time and research but when can we expect to go out and buy it? Is there anything else that you can tell us about the next novel?
Margaret: I expect you can look for it at the bookstore sometime in 2010. (That sounds so far away, but really, it isn't.) I want to concentrate on her mind and her fight against time and aging. (A contemporary described her as "a lady whom time surprised." Early in her reign she had said that time had brought her there, but later, time becomes her enemy.) Elizabeth is an elusive character and does not reveal much and to write about her requires becoming a detective and looking for little clues about her motives. She was a supreme strategist and no one ever put anything over on her---except her cousin Lettice Knollys, who made off with her soul mate Leicester. I think in some ways Lettice is a mirror of Elizabeth; they even looked very much alike.
Kelly: You said in an interview during your book tour for "Memoirs of Cleopatra" that you were thinking about writing a book about Nero. You've since published historical novels about Mary Magdelene and now Helen of Troy. Is Nero still someone you're considering?
Margaret: Oh, yes, Nero is still very much on my mind. I just bought 2 books about him, including "The Madness of Nero." (Although I'm not sure he was really 'mad'). I hope to be able to do a book on him after Elizabeth I.
Kelly: You've become one of my most favorite historical fiction authors of all time. Are there any historical fiction authors of late that you enjoy?
Margaret: Historical writers 'of late' that I enjoy...I wish I had the time to explore all the new writers. Reading is still my favorite activity, but now I have to spend so much time on non-fiction research type books I can't indulge myself as much as I'd like. I still think Gore Vidal's "Julian", (1964) about the Roman emperor who tried to turn back Christianity in the 4th century, is my favorite historical novel. More recently, I enjoy Susan Vreeland's novels about artists, especially "The Passion of Artemisia," about a 16th century Italian woman painter. She has a new book coming out in May about Renoir, and earlier had one on Emily Carr, the Canadian nature painter, called "The Forest Lover."
I was intrigued the other day when, looking around the web, I saw that Amazon.com is offering a new feature, Amazon Shorts. These short stories, by both bestselling and new authors alike, are emailed right after the purchase and sell for just .49 cents. After buying a few I spotted two authors, Margaret George and David Blixt, both of whom I have interviewed and am a fan of. I thought I would email them both and get some more information about Amazon Shorts and the stories they had submitted.
"Varnished Faces" by David Blixt, author of The Master of Verona
Kelly Hewitt: What can you tell us about "Varnished Faces"?
David Blixt: The title comes from a line in Merchant of Venice, referring to masks. But the idea for the story comes, of course, from Romeo & Juliet. At the party where the young lovers meet, Juliet’s father makes a statement about when he last crashed a party wearing a mask. It turns out it was at the wedding of Bianca and Lucentio from Taming of the Shrew. So this story brings characters from those three stories together, as well as a cameo from Much Ado About Nothing.
Also, in the novel, there are two rivalries – Pietro and Carrara, and Mari and Antony. But Antony has just as much reason to hate Carrara. This short allows Antony to get a little of his own back.
Kelly: Was this short something you had already written or was it something that you put together specifically for the Amazon Shorts?
David: I’d had the idea years ago, but hadn’t written it until after talking to Dan at the Shorts program.
Kelly: What drew you to participate in this new Amazon feature?
David: The chance to keep myself in the public eye between books. This is the first of several shorts I’m putting together – the second has to do with the Count of San Bonifacio, the third with Mariotto’s time in France. All of them have impact on future novels, so I’m having fun laying the groundwork here.
Also this allows new readers to sample my writing before making a $25 commitment.
Kelly: And lastly ... when can your readers expect The Master of Verona sequel?
David: Sometime this Fall. Last I heard, there wasn’t a set date. But we do have a title: Voice of the Falconer. It picks up eight years after MV. I’m working on book three at the moment, entitled Fortune's Fool.
Just after David and I finished chatting via email, his second Amazon Short went live. This short story, "San Bonifacio's Curse", brings together the original lost opening to David's debut novel, The Master of Verona and some newer material that delves into the history of the evil Count of San Bonifacio
"Helen of Troy: The Enigma of Beauty" by Margaret George, author of The Autobiography of Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles, Mary Called Magdalene, and Helen of Troy
I asked Margaret why she had participated in the Amazon Shorts and whether or not "Helen of Troy: Enigma of Beauty" was a piece she had already written or something she prepared specifically for Amazon Shorts.
"It was my agent," Margaret wrote, "who suggested I do an Amazon Short because he had another author who had done one and got a big response to it." George wrote to me via email that while this piece was indeed written for Amazon shorts, that "in a sense it was already written in my head long before."
Margaret George, an author who has always been diligent about her historical research, makes it clear the idea for "The Enigma of Beauty" was her idea. She wrote, "I have always thought---long before any of those studies were published confirming it---that beauty confers a sort of royalty on people who have it, opening all sorts of doors and privileges to them. I welcomed an opportunity to expand on the thought. Of course Helen of Troy is the supreme example of this phenomenon. People ask if she was real. Well, it seems that 'once upon a time' there was a woman (somewhere) who was so beautiful people never forgot her.
Perhaps the Helen of myth is an artistic expression of that, although I think the Trojan War was historic and that it certainly could have involved a woman and men's honor in trying to retrieve her. And although modern skeptics could say that it didn't matter what she looked like, if she was a king's wife he would need to get her back or be shamed, I think he would try harder if she was so beautiful---her value would have been much greater than a plain wife's."
As I said, I have always been a fan of Margaret George's historical fiction so I thought that, while I was emailing her, I might as well ask about the book on Queen Elizabeth I she's been working on. Margaret writes, "'Elizabeth I' is coming along quite well! I took a trip to England in November to revisit some sites and gather some information, and that has brought her to new life for me." So it looks like, fellow Margaret George fans, we have something to look forward to.
Margaret also wrote about a particularly important experience while researching in London. She writes: "I just happened to be trying to go to Westminster Abbey when the Queen was celebrating her 60th anniversary there. I got to see all the noble guests leaving, with hats and fancy clothes, although I did not see Her Majesty herself. But the aura of royalty was something I won't forget, when writing about Elizabeth and the reactions she sparked in people."
I think that Amazon is on to something with it's shorts. Readers are able to spend .49 cents to learn a little bit more about a writer's style or read a short story in a new genre. In addition to Margaret George and David Blixt, other authors who have submitted stories include: Deepak Chopra,
David Morrell,
David McCullough and include celebrities
Nicholas Cage,
Guy Ritchie, and
John Lithgow.
Because Amazon Shorts is a fairly new feature many of these digital downloads are currently free.
Have fun, check it out. Drop me a reply if you find something interesting.
- Kelly
Welcome to Loaded Questions with Kelly Hewitt. In conjunction with a series of interviews I have been doing for LoadedShelf.com over the last year I have decided to begin this blog, a place where I will discuss the new and upcoming books sent to me by publishers, preview upcoming author interviews, and share my opinions.
It feels fitting to first discuss some of my most favorite authors. I am, as you will come to see, a great fan of historical fiction. I am currently working on my masters in
Early Modern English history and I find myself craving a good historical fiction to balance some of the drier and less entertaining history books I consume on a regular basis. That being said, my favorite historical fiction authors are:
Hella Haassee, In a Dark Wood Wandering - Haassee is a living master. The real shame is that many of her novels have not been translated from her native Dutch. In a Dark Wood Wandering is a compelling and well-researched novel about the mad French King, Charlies VI and the royal family's struggle to gain power by the King's weakness.
Margaret George, The Autobiography of Henry VIII - Margaret's novels based on Cleopatra, Mary Stuart, Helen of Troy and others will always have a special place in my heart. These novels were among my first forays into historical fiction and really ignited an interest. Last year I had the chance to interview Margaret George. Read the entire interview here.
Pearl Buck, The Good Earth - A few years ago I traveled to China and spent quite a bit of time in Beijing discovering the amazing history of the city. I have to admit to having been a bit of a fool about Chinese history but I knew the moment that I stepped foot in the Forbidden City. Peal Buck has written amazing novels about China and India that offer a glimpse into the lives of Chinese farmers and the ways in which their lives changed. I think I really came to appreciate Buck after I began reading Sons and A House Divided, books that are part of The Good Earth trilogy. Buck's body of work still amazes me.
Anchee Min, Becoming Madam Mao - Like Buck, Anchee Min is an author I discovered after having returned from China. Her autobiography and historical fiction, which all take place during the Cultural Revolution, are absolutely fascinating. She provides a first hand account of the tumultuous revolution that took place in China. I am always actively looking for a way to reach Anchee Min to do an interview. If you happen to know her or an agent/publicist please let me know!
It isn't all historical fiction...
Christopher Moore, Lamb - Moore is one of the funniest guys around. I fell in love with his style the moment I began reading his book Lamb, about the thirteenth apostle, Biff, who is returned to the living in order to tell the real story of Jesus. He's zany, funny, and edgy. I recently did an interview with Christopher Moore. You can read the whole interview here.
Mary Roach, Stiff - Mary Roach's books are so good because she knowns very little about the subject she's tackling. In Roach's debut book she researched the curious lives of human cadavers and the even more curious things people do with them. Her second work follows the search for the human soul. Wherever Mary's going I am coming along. The audacity with which she approaches experts in the fields she studies inspires, the humor she uses when dealing with weighty issues endears. I just got an email from Mary about the next book (to be published this spring) that is about sex and the laboratory. I also recently interviewed Mary, the entire interview can be found here.
