Author Interview : Richard Abbott, author of 'Half Sick of Shadows' (Part - 1)

Richard Abbott

Read up, the first part of the Interview with Richard Abbott, author of 'Half Sick of Shadows'. The book is quite different from the ones we, usually get to read. It is a wonderful part of the British history and yet it is fantasy, too. Blending these two is this author's true talent and allure. 

In this part of the Interview, he tells us how the story first happened, the kind of research, he put into it, why he thought of this particular poem to develop into a story, and what takes precedence between the characters and the story, and more, Folks...

How did ‘Half Sick of Shadows’ happen? What kind of research did you put into it?

Lord Tennyson ... Wikipedia

Funnily enough, I was on a walking holiday when the idea first came along! I was listening to a version of Tennyson’s poem put to music (https://youtu.be/80-kp6RDl94) and suddenly thought how it would work as a story, told in a rather different way than usual.

Other than the poem itself, I did a lot of investigation into several British prehistoric cultures, so I could describe things like the houses correctly.

How did you think of using this particular poem and developing it into a story?

The poem has been a favourite of mine for a long time. Then on that holiday, it collided with some other reading I was doing.

Tennyson’s words are often rich and suggestive of depth, and so the idea of taking them into a fantasy direction quite different from the normal one of magic and curses took root.

How and why did you choose to use the character of the Lady as your heroine, exactly?

That kind of followed from the poem – The Lady is the only character described to any extent there, with even Lancelot featuring in only minor ways.

The original Arthurian stories present things rather differently, with more focus on the triangle of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot. I brought in some of those details but added a lot more back-story for The Lady herself.

Authors have a way of telling their story, with elements that are most important. Between your storyline and your characters, which takes precedence?

I’d say that in this case the characters drive the storyline, especially that of The Lady as she becomes more restless and determined.

But also, the landscape of ancient Britain is itself a kind of character here, with all the changes quickened to the timescale of a single lifetime (albeit a very long one).

Which particular character, besides the Lady did you feel most close to? Why?

Probably Brendan, the musician in the last society, The Lady sees – the one linked to Arthur. 

He doesn’t take centre stage at the end, and isn’t part of The Lady’s memories from earlier times. But he’s the one who first recognises her, and has the closest understanding of her.

You can Read the Review here and Buy the Book right here, as well.

 

Book Review : 'Half Sick of Shadows' by Richard Abbott

‘Half Sick of Shadows’ by Richard Abbott is an adaptation of a ballad by Tennyson. A poem, that many of us have read, enjoyed and loved. It is a retelling of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s ‘The Lady of Shallot’.

At a stonewalled house in an olden time in Britain, this particular story starts off with the unnamed Lady’s birth. In the house, surrounded by nature the Lady wakes, at first. Everything seemed new, from the flowers and the leaves. Here, all there was to do was eat, sleep and change. As a little child, she just did that much, and there was no one, except a Mirror which would keep on guiding her.

Time passed, as the Lady went to sleep again. Then as time moved on, another age is born. She has begun to grow, but the form, which she finds herself drawing from, is too thin and exasperating. She slept again, and this time she awoke yet again. Times are passing and changing. She wishes for people to value her but they seem to be changing and missing.

As she continues to hibernate, she wakes again, this time she can watch and even stroll and even begins to build an outline. And with it, the world too. The earliest hunters to the tiny settlements, to even the medieval times. She can see the world, but she always seemed curbed and away from everything. 

The Mirror is her only guide; she is allowed to sing now and then but the pall could always be drawn between her world and the other world. She always desires and wants to see the rest of the world, but her life is always so restricted that it never seems to happen.

She seems educated and learned of the world around her as the mysterious Mirror continues to guide her and set her on the path. Everything and everyone seems different. There are animals, birds and beasts, which look and feel different from the last time. Even her home seems changed every time she awakes. The people on the outside of her tower worship her as they think her a divine being. She manages to bond with a few, as she discovers her own power and her dangerous position she seems to be in.

Her only guide is the Mirror and she can see that she has changed so much over the years. She considered herself, she thought of herself, her own roots and feelings.

Richard Abbott

The Mirror captures all this, and with it, it captures all of the Lady’s movements, her conversations with the few beings of the world that surround her, the times she talks to a little boy, a woman, a man, sometimes even a King, and a Queen.

She keeps at it, as eras go by. She discovers the beauty of the web, she must weave. But she never had discovered the idea of sharing, because it has never occurred to her. She left behind most of these and kept on moving through the time. Would she ever stop? Would she discover why everything around her was so? Will she know if it was to end? I would say give both of them a read, the poem and this book. Both of them are equally worth it... :)

 You can Buy the Book, right here.

Author Interview : Kalyanaraman Durgadas, author of ‘Songs of the Cauvery (Part 2)

Here is more to this very Interesting Interview, with Kalyanaraman Durgadas, author of 'Songs of the Cauvery'. Here, he explains how he relates the book and its characters to day to day lives, which particular character he feels most close to and why, the next book he has planned, who was it that told him he could become an author, his favourite authors and why, and the books he is currently reading, and much, much more, Folks...

How would you relate the book and its characters to your day to day lives?

This is an extremely interesting question. As I researched more and more of the public persons of that era, I found that there was any number of people with unshakeable integrity. I can name, off the top of my head, fifty public figures of unimpeachable integrity. I cannot name too many such public figures of today.

 

The characters in the book were not run-of-the mill, average people. They were ‘outliers’. It is certainly difficult to relate these characters to the people you meet in our everyday transactions. 

In this day and age, where evolutionary theorists are finding it difficult to explain altruism in living beings, often explaining it away as a kind of overarching selfishness, I hope the book points to an alternate way of thinking that has prevailed among us and hopefully will continue to grow and flourish.

Which particular character did you feel most close to? Why?

I felt closest to Janaki. My mother, an extremely intelligent and sensitive woman, got married at the age of 14 and her dreams for continuing her education came to an abrupt stop in her Form IV. Even though she went on to become a well-known writer in Tamil, having published around 100 stories in Tamil literary magazines, she never got over the sense of ‘incompleteness’ of her education till her death.

Janaki, in a sense complements her by obsessively pursuing education.

Could you tell the readers about your experiences and how it was related to

Kalyanaraman Durgadas

what you wrote?

My training as an engineer and entrepreneur helped me in meeting and interacting with a lot of people. Perhaps that is the only extent that has helped. My extensive reading also helped.

The plays that I have written and produced helped me to set the scenes with a sense of drama.

What is the most fulfilling part of writing a book?

Writing the powerful scenes in the book, seeing it all come together, some characters simply deciding to what they want to do despite your initial plans, people writing letters saying they were born in the land of my story and the story transported them there…

The many great reviews the book has received from The Hindu, Deccan Herald, Pioneer, Bangalore Mirror, Deccan Chronicle, Youth ki Awaz and other readers has been a great motivator in the validation of my ideas of what makes a good story.

If I had to choose, I would say the reader reactions are the best part.

What is the next book that you have planned?

I have already started ideating and trying out a few chapters. These are the things I definitely know about it:

I have a theme.

It won’t be a historical novel.

It will be engaging.

I have some characters. Let’s see what they do.

Who was it that told you that you could become the author, you are today?

I started reading early, at the age of four, soon with a kind of omnivorous ferocity, in both English and Tamil and when my mother wrote, I was the official proofreader. That must have been from when I was nine on wards. I even gave suggestions on plot, character and word-choice.

My mother encouraged me and was certain that I would be a writer. Sounds rather lame, considering that she also thought I was good-looking, but that is the truth.

Any advice to writers that would like to be published today? How tough is it to be published?

Unfortunately, my experience has been rather smooth, unlike the usual stories of even famous authors plastering their walls with rejection slips and exulting when there is a hint in one of them that the editor has actually read their manuscript.

The very first publisher I sent the manuscript of ‘Songs of the Cauvery’ to, Rupa publications, wrote to me within three weeks of submission and told me they will be sending me a contract.

The publication of the comic fantasy that I wrote, ‘The Sorcerer of Mandala’ was even smoother. I had sent it to a beta reader. She liked it so much that she sent the manuscript to a publisher in the USA and I received an offer from Yali Publications even before I submitted!

In case, you are wondering, I wrote both ‘Songs of the Cauvery’ and ‘Sorcerer of Mandala’, more-or-less simultaneously. I finished the latter within a month of finishing the former. The publication of SOM was just 15 days after SOC!

Who are your favourite authors and why?

Walter Scott from Wikipedia

Oh many-- almost too numerous to recount here. These are given below in no particular order.

I loved the classics – Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, Bronte sisters, Alexandre Dumas.

I love humour -- I have read all of PG Wodehouse, at least once. Other favourite humourists are Terry Pratchett, Stephen Leacock, Evelyn Waugh, GK Chesterton, Douglas Adams

Mystery and adventure: Edgar Wallace, Raymond Chandler, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, Franz Kafka, John le Carre (a particular favourite), Lawrence Sanders…

RK Narayan

Others: Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, JD Salinger, JK Rowling, Haruki Murakami, VS Naipaul, Bruce Chatwin, Salman Rushdie, Giovanni Guareschi…

Indian writers: Amitava Ghosh, RK Narayan, Kiran Nagarkar, Firdaus Kanga, Rohinton Mistry, Shashi Tharoor…

Writers in Tamil: Kalki Krishnamurthy, Devan, Sujatha, Ashokamitran, Jayakanthan, B Jeyamohan, Nanjil Nadan…

As you can see, it’s all pretty eclectic.

Which books are you currently reading?

I read many books at the same time, switching between them. At present, I am reading the following:

Rites of Passage -- William Golding

A History of South India -- KA Nilakanta Sastri

When We Were Orphans -- Kazuo Ishiguro

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy -- John le Carre (Re-reading) 



You can Read the Review, Read the First part to this Interview and Buy the Book here, as well.