Hoi!
A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to interview one of my very favourite authors
but before I launch into that clip I thought I'd give you a little bit of context.
The author is called Garth Nix and he is the writer of this series called The Old Kingdom
and the latest books in the series have been published by Hot Key Books
which as you might know I used to work at.
As I worked on these books I read them all and absolutely fell in love with them
I even had the chance to go on tour with Garth Nix for a little bit.
I do miss working on these books and just talking to everyone about them.
And so I was really happy I had the chance to chat with Garth
as he was on his UK tour. He's actually from Australia.
The book we are talking about is "Goldenhand". It is a fantasy novel
and of course you will hear more about it in the actual interview
I hope you guys enjoy it.
It's quite rare when you actually have the chance one of your favourite authors lots of questions about the books
and ask him about his writing
I'd love to hear in the comments how many of you have read The Old Kingdom books
Just because I'm quite curious.
I've talked about him in the past. I'll put links in the description.
I'll definitley talk about them more in the future
But for now here's the interveiw. Enjoy!
Hoi!
Today I'm here with author Garth Nix
and we're here to chat a little bit about "Goldenhand" which is here behind me.
and I've got a really fancy snazzy fan copy here as well.
A special gold proof -Exactly
It's a very desirable item
Would you mind introducing yourself?
Sure. I'm Garth Nix author of many many books.
because I'm old and I've been doing this for a long time
But most recently "Goldenhand" the 5th book in The Old Kingdom series
which began with "Sabriel" all the way back in 1995.
So for those of you who don't know anything about The Old Kingdom series
we are going to try and do a brief introduction to all of the books
This is where it gets tricky. The Old Kingdom series are high fantasy books
They're set in a kind of divided world.
Part of it is called the Old Kingdom where magic works two different types of magic work
but the 1918~ish technology of the other part which is called Ancelstierre doesn't work
and in Ancelstierre which has this sort of World War I technology the magic from the North doesn't work.
And the two are divided by a wall
and I always like to point out that I wrote "Sabriel" or "Sabriel" came out shortly before
Goerge RR Martin's "Game of Throne" with its wall
and Neil Gaimon's "Stardust" with its wall
so we're all writing them and ran them at the same time
and most of the stories are about member of a family called the Abhorsens
whose job it is to make sure the dead stay dead.
The dead come back in the Old Kingdom
and Death is an actual place you can go in to if you're either an Abhorsen or an evil necromancer
Great I think that is- that is - it's tricky to summarise but that's good.
There are a lot of other stuff going on as well
but that's one of the primary things I guess -Yeah
Now one question that a lot of people have when they want to start reading the series
when they haven't read any of the books before is "Where can you start?"
Yes, it's slightly complicated because "Sabriel" is the first book published
So "Sabriel", "Lirael", "Abhorsen" are the original trilogy
but as it's expanded to a series I've also written "Clariel" which is a prequel
and then "Goldenhand" which continues from "Abhorsen"
which is quite confusing.
I actually think you can start anywhere but I would probably start with "Sabriel"
I would read "Sabriel", "Lirael", "Abhorsen", "Clariel" the prequel and then "Goldenhand".
Even though "Goldenhand" continues pretty much straight on from "Abhorsen"
but that said I think you could read them in any order
and personally I actually often read series out of order. I did as a child too.
One of the things I always wonder is when you start writing - you continued writing the series
obviously with "Goldenhand" do you ever have to go back and re-read any of the books
just to make sure your on the same page with yourself. -Oh yes. Oh yes
I've had to re-read my own books multiple times when returning to, you know, to write new editions.
simply because I can't remember all the details and there's many many details to remember.
I also have to go back and look at my notes as well sometimes so
and I'm not fond of re-reading my own work. I actually like to move ahead.
I always wanna write the next book and not have to worry about the previous ones
but writing in my exisiting world, I have needed to check things and go back and re-read them
but one of the nice things is I'm often suprised - I think "I need to set this up so I can make this happen."
and then I go back and check "oh I have set it up"
It's already there
Yeah some tiny little detail in one of the past books has already laid the groundwork
for something that I want to do in a later book.
I'm also curious how much do you know about the world outside of what you've written about in the books?
I tend to not know that much. It's a good question because fantasy writers
some fantasy writers know everything about their books.
Yeah and they have it all written down. -Yeah they work it all out
I mean Tolkien famously is probably the best example
everything the languages, the history, the works.
Now I'm much more - I work out what I need for the story
and I discover the world as I'm going along with the story and the characters
and I typically only work out what I need and a little bit more
One of the question I got on Twitter when I put out a call. People are very curious to hear about
if there's any plans for TV shows or films or if you've had any offers for that?
There's been an long involved film history with "Sabriel"
"Sabriel"' has almost been made twice - Oh wow.
and it's fallen over for various reasons basically to do with budgets and money.
As is often the case. I mean thats the nature of the film world
We almost had it set up again last year. - Oh ok.
That fell over for other reasons and I'm talking
at the moment about a possible television series - Very exciting
I was kind of.. I wasn't pro-television for a long time. I was like let's focus on the film side.
But as television has got so much better and interesting - Yeah definitely
and particularly for fantasy because for a long time good fantasy or high fantasy television
and if course "Game of Thrones" has changed all that. -Yeah, it definitely is.
We'll see. You just never know with these thing. Negotiations are long
I wouldn't hold my breath. There's always been talk. There's been very close to films being made.
Fingers crossed. -Fingers crossed. Absolutely,
Fingers crossed for something good.
Yeah definitely. I guess that's more important that just getting it made.
In the end it's more important.
Very often a lot of the books in the series have a journeys in them
chases and journeys etc. "Goldenhand" is definitely one of those as well.
Is that something you really work towards or is it inevitable?
Or is it just sort of, you know, favourite thing of yours to write?
It's a good question. I don't think it's inevitable but journeys...
You have several different kinds of journey I suppose.
I mean you have an actual physical journey, you know, crossing lands
I think that's interesting. I think they provide so much opportunity for adventure and story.
and so they are always fun to both write and I hope read.
And of course you also have internal journeys
of growing up often or maturing or coming to terms with things or personal discovery and so on.
So I suppose all of having sort of a geographical journey often works with having a personal journey as well.
Yeah I guess I just like that kind of story
so I like telling them as well.
So I always tell people about this series that it has some of my favourite female characters
You write female characters so well
and I was wondering if you feel like the discussion has change at all or had become more prominent
from when the first books came out which is about - is it 20 years ago?
Certainly when "Sabriel" came out and it's 21 years ago from its first publication in Australia
20 years from first American publication
it was noticed at the time and it was complimented for having a strong female protagonist
In "Sabriel" which was good. I was please that people responded to that
I think there is more talk about it in the genre now but of course there is actually many many more examples
but I am happy to be complimented on the fact "Sabriel" is and early early fantasy
and an early young adult fantasy with a female protagonist
but of course there were others and I was very much influenced Robin McKinley's
"The Blue Sword" and "Hero and the Crown"
By Tamora Pierce and her "Alanna" books
By Ursula Le Guin and Tenar in "TheTombs of Atuan"
So I mean they were around they just weren't as prevalent
and I deliberately set our with "Sabriel" I wanted to reverse a whole bunch of stereotypes.
Good necromancers. And writing about her was part of it
but also she was more interesting to me
I would like to take all the credit for deliberately trying to do something interesting with gender
That was part of it but also a big part of it was that as I started writing the story
thinking about the story and working out how I was going to tell it
I just found her more interesting.
Right - She just ...she was just there
Another one of my favourite thing about the book is that the dead creatures
they are some of the most terrifying descriptions
Usually it's quite difficult if there's a monster that looks so different from anything you've seen.
Like how can you make sure you decribe that well?
Do you have any inspirations that you go to? Like any specific images?
or do you try to draw up the darkest thing you can think of?
That's an interesting question because I do like monsters and creatures
and I typically.... I go for things that frighten me.
So I start writing them and if they frighten me then I think they'll work
Then the job is done.
But then I guess I treat them the same way I treat characters
in that I try and make them real I try and make them feel real
and I really invest a lot of energy and thought and emotion to make all my characters feel real
and that includes the monsters and the creatures and including the Dead. What do they want?
Why are they doing what they do?
So I'm trying to invest them with more than just the classical image of the shambling zombie type thing
and I never use that word and I don't call them undead. They are "the Dead".
Yeah. -and they come in many many different varieties
because death transforms spirits and flesh.
Can I confirm the pronunciation of the new character's name? Is it Ferin (/fɛrɪn/)?
Well I would say Ferin (/fɛrɪn/) but I would also say you can pronounce the names however you like.
Ok. Oh that's the thing with Sabriel and Lirael -Yes
Across the board. I'm not one of those authors who say this is how you pronounce it and there is no other way.
I think you hear it in your head a certain way when you're reading
that's absolutely fine -Then that works
So Ferin is a new character who comes from nomad tribes. Is that the best way to describe it?
Was that based on anything specifically?
The tribe who live in the north beyond the Old Kingdom
are based on a whole bunch of different nomadic tribespeople of different times
I'm always doing passive reseach where I read about things and I store them up for later use
I read lots of history and I read a lot about various nomadic peoples
including the like classic ones, like the Huns and the Goths and so on
but going right up through the Mongol Empire and so on
The are not based on one particular kind of nomad
but I take many different peices from different cultures and different parts of history.
My final question is one that I feel that I always wonder when I am reading the books
basically the character sometimes go into Death.
Sometimes the go a little bit into Death and sometime the go a little bit further
I'm always waiting for them to go into Death and I know it's used quite sparingly
and so I wonder if you've ever been more tempted to have them go into Death more often
but you sort of want to keep it a bit more sparing? Is it something that you think about?
I think that I use it sparingly because
even though the Abhorsens are able to go into Death
and they have the seven bells that they use to command and control the Dead
and also to ease their passage through the gates and so on
it's still actually incredibley dangerous and difficult
So I can't have them going there all the time
because they wouldn't go there all the time. They do it as required I guess
so I think that reflects my desire to reinforce the reality of the world
whereas if it was like going to the shopping mall to pick up the groceries
then it would lose so much of its impact.
I hadn't actually thought about it until you asked me that question
but I think that is why.
and there is a lot more to explore of course in the Old Kingdom and in Death
and in Ancelstierre and in the nomadic parts beyond the Old Kingdom
I will explore more in Death I'm sure at some point. In the books I hasten to add
and in prehaps in some short stories which I've got underway.
and I hope there will be more novels too I do have ideas for them. It's not what's next.
but I still hope to come back to the Old Kingdom again.
That's good to hear.
Obviously I urge you guy to go check out "Goldenhand"
I'll leave links to all the books in the description. And you're on social media as well right?
Absolutely -I'll leave some links in the description
@garthnix on Twitter. Facebook: Garth Nix
Lovely. You always post fanart that people have made as well and shared with you.
People give me fantastic fanart in particular when I'm on tour.
People, they give me photos of their cosplay. They give me paintings and drawings and things they've made.
It's really brillant.
I love having written books that inspire other people to make art.
Thank you everyone that has done that.
I hope you guys enjoyed this video
and you've gotten to know a little bit more about the Old Kingdom and "Goldenhand"
and I'll talk to you guys later.
Doei.