Guest Post: Working and Writing by Ben Kane

Ben Kane

I’ve been a veterinarian for seventeen years now. Like many people who dream of such a career, I started off with a childhood love of animals. Dogs, cats, rabbits, cows – as a boy, it didn’t matter to me. Discovering the gentle, life-affirming James Herriot books helped build up a mental image of being a ‘doctor for animals’, as did the fact that my dad was already in the profession. Alongside my love of all creatures great and small ran a deeply rooted love of history. Don’t ask me where it came from, but I devoured any book I could find about the Romans, the Vikings, the Crusades, the Napoleonic wars, World Wars One and Two – in fact any conflict at all! I still ended up putting veterinary medicine number one on my university application form though. The main reason, from what I can remember, is that although I loved history, I couldn’t see myself as a teacher. There was certainly no concept in my mind of being a writer.

As with most people starting out on a career, my job as a veterinarian took over my life. Straight out of college, I worked in ‘mixed’ practice for nearly three years, which meant dealing with cattle, sheep, horses, dogs and cats. Stints in purely ‘small animal’ and ‘exotic’ (snakes, birds, fish) practice followed in the UK, before the need to travel struck home.

In 1997, I went on a solo trip to the Middle East, following part of the ancient Silk Road. During this trip, I visited many of the ‘stans’, countries which were formerly part of the USSR. In Turkmenistan, I walked the ruins of Merv, an enormous walled city which was attacked and demolished by the Mongols in the 13th Century. As I wandered through the vast site, nearly a mile square, in temperatures of more than 110F, what became evident was that the city’s history was far more ancient. Merv had originally been founded as Antiochia – by Alexander the Great – in the 4th Century BC. Furthermore, Roman prisoners of the battle of Carrhae had been taken there by their captors, the Parthians. Fascinated by this, I did some research upon my return. This confirmed what I had read in Merv, and the seeds of The Forgotten Legion were sown in my mind, and I had my first thoughts of writing a military fiction novel.

After a prolonged (nearly three years) trip around the world, I returned to the UK in early 2001. The devastating outbreak of Foot & Mouth Disease had just started, and believing it was my duty to help, I volunteered soon afterwards. The job took me to Northumberland, where much of Hadrian’s Wall is situated. During the terrible months of slaughtering animals that followed, I was able to visit many amazing Roman sites on the wall. The stunning locations and little museums fired up my imagination as never before, and I decided to write a novel about the Romans at last.

Over the next six years, I went back into normal veterinary practice, bought a house and settled down somewhat. Crucially though, I also started writing, a process which I quickly grew to love. Despite the long hours – 60+ per week – and ‘on-call’ nights and weekends of my veterinary job, it became an obsession. I wasn’t happy unless I could write every day. During my lunch break, I’d use my laptop in the staff room, my car or a cafe. Several days a week, I’d get up at 5am to do a couple of hours before going to work. For years, most weekends were non-existent except for 12 hours a day of writing.

In early 2006, I was fortunate enough to get signed by my literary agent, whose input and help with my writing skills was enormous. Discarding what I had written up till then – until another day – The Forgotten Legion emerged into the light. In summer 2007, I signed a 3 book deal with Random House in the UK. By the time of the book’s release in May 2008, I had gone part-time as a veterinarian. The pressures of family life, writing and a high-octane job are too much to continue forever without the risk of burnout. Currently on a sabbatical from veterinary, I hope to be able to say that I’m a full-time writer in the very near future.

Ben Kane, MVB, MRCVS.
www.benkane.net

Ben Kane Interview

Ben Kane was born in Kenya and raised there and in Ireland. He studied veterinary medicine at University College Dublin but after that travelled the world extensively, indulging his passion for ancient history. He is the author of The Forgotten Legion and The Silver Eagle, and fans are awaiting the final book in the trilogy, The Road To Rome.

Q. For those who haven’t yet come across The Forgotten Legion Chronicles, can you give a brief overview – how would you entice someone to start reading them?

A. The Roman historical fiction genre has been enjoying increasing popularity over the last decade or more. Huge numbers of readers clearly look for books about the Roman time period – and mine are (hopefully) in the vein of Simon Scarrow and Conn Iggulden. Among other things, the trilogy relates a tale that has rarely been told – the incredible true story of how 10,000 legionaries, taken prisoner after a battle in modern day Iran, were marched nearly to Afghanistan to serve as border guards for their captors. It also details what life was like for slaves, those at the bottom of the social ladder, rather than the ‘normal’ method of using a senior army officer or nobleman.

Q. The Chronicles are a trilogy, did you write them in this way from the start, or did your initial ideas expand once you started writing?

A. I wrote The Forgotten Legion as a standalone book, with the idea for the rest of a trilogy in my head. Because my publishers were keen for a trilogy, they bought one, and I had a major writing job on my hands! While the Chronicles is a trilogy, it has the potential for more books down the line.

Q. The books weave together many characters and storylines – do you have a timeline or storyboard to help you, or are you good at keeping it in your head?

A. When I wrote the first book, I winged it quite a bit. Then during the writing of the second, I went off on a few wild goose chases as I enjoyed myself writing about the Roman army on campaign. This time, with The Road to Rome (the 3rd book), I have what happens in every single chapter written down on a document which I check every day. It’s excellent at keeping me on the straight and narrow.

Q. Is the Roman era a time that has always interested you? How much research did you need for your books?

A. Yes, it is, ever since I read Eagle of the Ninth and The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliffe. I also repeatedly borrowed a book about the Roman army from my school library, and had completely forgotten about it until I recently purchased an excellent textbook called Greece and Rome at War by Peter Connolly. Imagine my delight when I found it to be the same book I’d read so many times as a boy!

Q. It’s a popular era for historical authors to write about, what do you think makes your books stand out?

A. That’s a tough question! Perhaps the fact that they’re not about the high-ranking officers or leaders of Rome – they’re about the ordinary foot soldier, slave and gladiator, and how hard life is for them. Unusually for this genre too, one of the main protagonists is a woman.

Q. You’ve done a lot of travelling – do you think that has increased your interest in history, and does it help with your writing?

A. It certainly has increased my interest in history – I’ve visited World War I and American civil war battlefields, Little Big Horn, countless Aztec, Maya and Inca sites in Central and South America and the grave of Tamerlane, Genghis Khan’s grandson. I’ve wandered around the tomb of Alexander the Great’s father, Philip, and seen the treasures found there, and travelled parts of the ancient Silk Road in Iran, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. I think seeing so many places as well as reading about them helps immensely with writing historical fiction.

Q. Have you always been a keen reader yourself? What are your favourite genres and authors?

A. Sorry to be boring, but historical fiction comes top of the list as a genre. I do love contemporary fiction and some fantasy too though. Favourite authors include Simon Scarrow, Louis de Bernieres and Guy Gavriel Kay.

Q. Can you tell us a little about the road to publication – I understand there was a bidding war for the trilogy?

A. It was a long, long slog – about five years of writing, an Arvon Foundation course, and countless 90+ hour weeks (between full-time vetting and writing). Fortunately, I met my now wife when I had already started working like this, so she knew what to expect. Once the book went out on the market in August 2007, there was a bodding war for about a week between 6 of the biggest publishers around. It was so exciting! Preface, a new imprint of Random House won the war, and I’ve been very lucky to gain Rosie de Courcy as my editor there – she’s one of the best known editors around.

Q. The first two books in the series are now published – are you working on the 3rd book, and do you have any ideas when it will be published?

A. The Road to Rome comes out in summer 2010, although I’m hoping to have it finished very soon. The date is down to the publishers – sorry to any impatient readers!

Q. What comes next for you, are you going to continue to write?

A. Oh yes! I’m not going back to veterinary if I can help it. I’m in the fantastic position of having just sold a new trilogy to Preface – about the second Punic war between Rome and Carthage. This was the conflict with Hannibal, so there’s the most extraordinary amount of fantastic action to recall – from his crossing of the Alps with elephants to the battle of Cannae, when he inflicted the greatest defeat Rome was ever to suffer – 50,000 Roman legionaries were killed in one day, which must have been the most appalling sight to see.

Official Web Site

Guest Post: Let’s Talk Fantasy by Raven Hart

Our next guest post come from Raven Hart, the author of the Savannah Vampires series from Ballantine books: The Vampire’s Seduction, The Vampire’s Secret, The Vampire’s Kiss, The Vampire’s Betrayal, and The Vampire’s Revenge.

Hi, all. Raven Hart here, courtesy of my most favoritest book club boss, Michelle. I write the Savannah Vampires series from Ballantine books. Let’s talk fantasy!

I love to talk about what kinds of books, TV, and movies I like and am anxious to hear your suggestions as well. If not for a friend’s recommendation, I would never have discovered Torchwood for example, and I LOVE Torchwood. It’s in my top five favorite fantasy series of all time behind “Buffy,”  “Battlestar Gallactica,”  “Angel,” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

I just saw the new “Star Trek” movie and liked it very much. As far as vampires are concerned I really liked the “Twilight” film but not as much as the books. I’m really looking forward to “New Moon” later this year. I’m a huge fan of HBO’s “True Blood” based on Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books. I also like the Underworld movies and “Interview with the Vampire” based on the Anne Rice book. I wish there were more really high-quality vampire movies out there.

All the foregoing are well known and very popular of course, but here’s a tip about a vampire series you might not know about. Charlie Huston’s Joe Pitt vampire novels are awesome. They are not what you’d call romances although there’s some romance in there. They’re more what I could call noir-style horror novels in a richly-imagined world in which Manhattan and the other boroughs of New York are divided up into vampire gangs.

Another fantasy that I read last year and can’t say enough about was a book called “The Gargoyle.” It was very, very different. Again, not a typical paranormal romance so be forewarned.

So, what are YOU guys reading? What are some vampire books and movies that you think are truly exceptional?

Cheers!

Raven Hart
www.ravenhartbooks.com

~ ~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Raven has been a newspaper reporter, a speechwriter for a K Street PR firm in Washington, D.C., and for most of her career, a technical writer. Believe it or not, though, writing about how to keep your crane hoist in good working order didn’t satisfy her creative urges. So she decided to become a novelist, at least part-time. Since the romance genre makes up half of all paperback fiction, she figured her chances of getting published there were somewhat greater than those of being hit by a meteor. So she joined Romance Writers of America.

During the years that followed she wrote romances for Harlequin and Zebra. Later she sold stories for literary anthologies published by Belle Books. However, while she liked to read good romance novels, horror stories had become her favorite. She was hooked on the sinful, sensual, soul-challenged vampires of Anne Rice.

So Raven created a vampire series of her own, starring two sexy Savannah vampires—southern aristocrat blood drinker William Cuyler Thorne and Jack McShane, a blue-collar, NASCAR-loving vampire who didn’t know what he was getting into when he volunteered for everlasting undeath.