Hi, here's Charlie enjoying the latest rip roaring yarn by my guest, Dave Duncan, who's recent novels are a masterful blend of historical, fantasy, and mystery. You can visit his website here.
Jo: Welcome to Word Wenches, Dave. We haven't had a male author as guest before, but as a Scotsman, you would at least be entitled to wear a "skirt." Have you ever worn a kilt?
Dave: I did as a child. It was common winter wear in Scotland. Those cold winds off the North Sea get into everything.
Jo: You have over 40 books published after a successful career as a geologist. When did you start writing fiction and how did you get published?
Dave: Even as a child, I wanted to be a writer, but not to the exclusion of wanting to earn a decent living, which is why I became a geologist. I did take a creative writing course at the University of Calgary (from Myra Paperny) in 1970, and tried sending out some short stories, but without success. I found I could not spare enough time from job and family, and gave up.
Jo: A lot of us have that problem. When did things change?
Dave: In the summer of 1984. I sat down at my computer and began writing a novel, more or less on the spur of the moment, thinking it would be a fun thing to try. I rapidly became (a) hooked to the point where I began sneaking time away from my work, and (b) convinced I was producing the greatest literature since Chaucer.
Jo: I can remember that illusion well! What sort of novel was it?
Dave: A huge fantasy novel. It won some interest but no contracts, so I tried a science fiction novel, but then I rewrote the fantasy as a trilogy. After all that (the equivalent of about 5 books) I produced a standalone fantasy, A Rose-Red City.
Jo: And it sold?
Dave: Don’t get ahead of me. In the spring of 1986 the oil business collapsed. For the first time in thirty years I was out of work. But, yes, two weeks after I completed my last consulting project, Del Rey phoned from New York and offered to buy City. I followed with an SF novel (not the one I had written earlier, which never did see the light of day) and then a fourth or fifth rewrite of the trilogy, "The Seventh Sword", and it was that final version of my first attempt that began to attract serious attention from fans.
Jo: Living proof of my saying that when our early books are rejected, it’s not a disaster; we’re just building our inventory. What were the titles of the trilogy?
Dave: The Reluctant Swordsman, The Coming of Wisdom, and The Destiny of the Sword. They are all available again in e-book or Print on Demand format.
Jo: And now you have forty-one novels to your credit. Congratulations. The three most recent books are The Alchemist's Apprentice, The Alchemist's Code, and The Alchemist's Pursuit, all historical/paranormal mysteries set in 16th century Venice. One reviewer described the series as "...rock 'em, sock 'em Renaissance skullduggery of the most compelling variety." (Rick Kleffel, The Agony Column). Reviews have been very enthusiastic, including starred reviews in Kirkus (The Alchemist's Apprentice) and Publishers’ Weekly (The Alchemist’s Code). An excerpt of the first book is available here. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of these books, Dave. Why Venice? Why the 16th century?
Dave: Here’s the time line: In 1999, Janet and I went on a bus tour holiday in Italy , and Venice was one of the places we visited. (Jo here. The picture is one we took on our trip there, many years ago.) In November of 2001 we went back, stayed a week in Ravenna, and then had a week in Venice on an art tour run by the Smithsonian Institute. I think it was the preparatory “homework” for that visit that cranked up my enthusiasm. I began to think about writing a book set in Venice — did I dare, a stranger who could not even read the language? Eventually I took it on as a personal challenge to myself, and I began The Alchemist’s Apprentice in May of 2004. Ace bought it in February of 2006 and asked for two sequels. (Happy to oblige, ma’am!)
(Jo again. The picture here is a Canaletto from the 18th century.)
In 2006 Janet and I went back again on our own. We mostly just soaked up the atmosphere and more story ideas. We writers are always told to write about what we know. One of the many astonishing things about Venice is how much is knowable of its history and customs—mostly because it was never sacked, I suppose, and because it was a republic with voluminous governmental records that still exist. Once I had devoured forty or so books about it, I might not be a qualified historian, but I knew I knew a lot more than any of my readers were likely to know, and in popular fiction that is all that really counts.
Jo: A great sanity saver in research. Otherwise we’d never stop! So, have you made any errors you know about? My fans occasionally point some out to me. I don’t mind. It means I won’t make that mistake again. (This is another picture, this time of the Grand Canal, showing the less picturesque side of Venice.)
Dave: So far, I’ve only heard about one, an anachronism. Fencing masks in training, which were a later invention. I still have a sneaky suspicion that they wore helmets with visors and just never said so.
Jo: That’s an interesting aspect of research, too. There are such huge holes in what we have, even when there are extensive records, as with Venice. I should perhaps point out that you admitted to fudging a bit on Alfeo’s clothing, giving me this picture of what a fashionable young man about Venice might actually have been wearing.
Dave: That drawing is an exact contemporary work by Vecellio, Titian’s nephew. I did send it to my editor as a suitable model for cover art. Needless to say, it didn’t fly.
Jo: Your protagonist is Alfeo Zeno, an impoverished member of the aristocracy and also hardworking apprentice to Maestro Nostradamus, your detective. How would you describe him? An astrologer? (Not the famous Nostradamus, I should mention, dear readers, but his nephew.) Tell us more about how you came up with your sleuths and how you see them.
Dave: I have been accused of basing Alfeo and Nostradamus on Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe. Really! One doesn’t say such things in polite company! (Guilty, m’lud, but Rex Stout did not invent the immobile detective.) Felipe Nostradamus was a real person, who carried on Michel de Nostradame’s work after this death, publishing in Italy. He claimed to be the great man’s nephew, although Michel’s sons denied this, and nothing more was known about him until my own researches revealed him to be an elderly, cranky, Renaissance polymath: astrologer, alchemist, philosopher, friend of Galileo, &c &c. He’s one of the few characters in my fiction that I based on an actual person, and no, I won’t say who.
Alfeo is a generic swashbuckling romantic, ironic, heroic, energetic, likable protagonist. He is also the faithful lover of the most sought-after courtesan in Venice. I think of him as my alter id.
Jo: LOL! I love his relationship with Violetta, and I love Violetta, too. Such a complex, strong, clever woman. I think she enhances Alfeo because a woman like that loves him, and he can respect her professional life. Did you hesitate about creating such a relationship?
Dave: It made Alfeo a little trickier to draw. He claims that he has his jealousy under control, but he knows that he must share her with her clients, who are the rich men he envies. At the same time, he fiercely denies being a pimp. A courtesan, of course, was much more than just a prostitute. Noblemen kept their wives uneducated and locked up in purdah, and so found them very dull. The courtesans were skilled, cultured entertainers, like geisha girls. Jo: You write sword-wielding young men extremely well. I'm thinking also of your wonderful Blade books. (A series about the King's Blades, blood bound bodyguards. Highly recommended.) Were you once a warrior male, or is this pure research? If so, what sources have you used?
Dave: I read books. I am amazed at how many people, even skilled fencers, say the sort of nice things you just said. I have never fenced in my life. I can’t recall ever being in a fight. One thing that helps, I think, is that I am a lazy writer. I write short, hurrying to get the ideas down; later I pad it out. Some writers write long and have to cut. If you check out my fight scenes, you will see that they are very short, just a terse paragraph or two from the harsh scrape of blades being drawn to the blood (villain), sweat (hero), and tears (of relief, from heroine). When you are moving all four limbs at once and watching an opponent doing the same thing while he tries to carve or skewer you with very sharp steel, you don’t have much time to think deep thoughts. Also, modern Olympic fencing is not a fair comparison. There are tales of expert fencing instructors who went completely to pieces when they had to fight real duels.
Jo: I love the way you present 16th century Venice to the reader. The books are first person in Alfeo's point of view, and he has that deep and easy familiarity with his city at all levels. There's never a feel of information dumping, even though the plots are based on the Venetian social, legal, and political system. How did you go about digesting your research so it feels so natural? (Next picture is Canaletto's view of the Grand Canal.)
Dave: I dunno. I think the key word there is “digesting”. I don’t take detailed notes, although I may jot down ideas. But I read a lot and the ideas float to the surface when they’re needed. I may read up later on something I want to use—like the “War of Fists” that appears in the third book. I did try to put some of Venice’s idiosyncrasies in every story, and even make the plot depend on them. I can’t go into details on that without spoiling, of course.
Jo: What did you learn about Venice that surprised you?
Dave: Everything. It is an incredible place, a republic for 1100 years. (Rome managed about 700 and the USA is coming up to 233.) It won and lost three empires. As a city of about 200,000 people it took on all the great powers of Europe at once and won. It invented street lights and a department of health centuries before anywhere else had such things. And on and on...
Jo: What are you working on now?
Dave: A more traditional fantasy trilogy, “The Brothers Magnus”. It concerns a family famous for both its swordsmen and its sorcerers, and a heroine who loves one brother but is forced into marriage with another.
Jo: Sounds wonderful. Thanks, Dave, for a great interview. I've only been to Venice once, and I want to go back. It's a magical place.
You can read an excerpt from one of Dave's most popular novels here. There are links in the text above to the other books mentioned.
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Now, everyone, Dave is giving away a copy of each of his Apprentice books, one to each of three winners.
Book one, The Alchemist's Apprentice, will go to a random pick of all commenters.
Book two, The Alchemist's Code, will go to a random pick from any questions or comments that Dave finds particularly interesting.
Book three, The Alchemist's Pursuit, will go to a random pick of comments on this specific topic: What do you think of genre-blending fiction? When does it work and when does it not? And -- if you have any ideas on this -- why?
So have at it! Talk among yourselves as well. Have fun.
Jo :)