Author Mark Chadbourn reads from his new book (with audio extract)
FANTASY author Mark Chadbourn's own life story reads like a work of far-fetched fiction.
He's been chased through the Californian desert by gunmen, set on fire in the Arctic Circle, managed a rock band and worked on a Marmite production line.
As an undercover journalist he has explored the seedy New Orleans underworld and when he set out to expose the villains of the UK antiquities trade – a kind of antiques rogues show – he found himself cornered in a locked Brighton shop by gangsters.
Call it “method writing”.
“My career as a reporter was a terrific foundation for novel writing because you find yourself in situations you wouldn't have otherwise experienced,” says the 38-year-old double winner of the British Fantasy Award, whose latest book is The Burning Man.
“I always volunteered to cover stories others didn't want to touch.
“During a visit to the Arctic Circle with the army, a lamp exploded and set me on fire. I had to dive into a snowdrift to put myself out.
“When I was cornered by a group of gangsters during my investigation into the criminal elements of the antiques business I had to talk my way out of trouble. They made me hand over my camera and tape recorder.
“There have been some hairy moments but they have all provided valuable material and when I turned to fiction I applied the same principles: experiencing situations and events I was writing about to make the scenario realistic for the reader.”
For his first novel, Undergound, he crawled through a half-mile long tunnel the width of a coffin to learn about the working conditions of miners.
“It was frightening,” recalls Mark, who grew up in Woodville, South Derbyshire. “But these men would spend up to 12 hours a day for decades in that environment.”
Mark, who now lives in Moira, was born into a family of miners stretching back generations. “My father and grandfather were both adamant that I wasn't going into the industry because it was such a tough life.”
The family clubbed together to send him to university and it was while he was a local news reporter that he began penning his first novel.
“I'd been writing stories since I was five, inspired by the Narnia Chronicles. Once you read those books, they stay with you. I was fascinated by the supernatural.
“My novels are urban fantasies; they are set in the real world but have fantasy elements. I write about the world outside our window and what happens when it collides with events and characters from other times and places.
“As a fantasy writer the only limit is your imagination. There are no boundaries and that's why I find it so rewarding.”
The Burning Man is Mark's 12th published work of fiction and the second in his The Kingdom of the Serpent trilogy.
Its hero Jack Churchill is an everyman character who embarks on a breathless journey around the world during a battle against ancient dark forces.
“Churchill is dragged into strange events he has a destiny to follow,” explains Mark. “The book explores how the world would cope if mythical gods from different cultures appeared today.”
His adventures take him to Norway, Greece and Egypt on a terrifying voyage of discovery.
Religions, myths and creatures of legend are themes Mark has explored in his previous books, including two trilogies, Age of Misrule and The Dark Age, that have sold across the world, been translated into different languages and sparked interest from movie bosses.
As one of the UK's most popular fantasy writers, he was invited to pen a Doctor Who novella four years ago, just before the character was successfully revived for TV. Called Wonderland, it was set among the hippy community of San Francisco in 1967.
He has also worked on series such as Holby City and The Bill and is a senior writer for daytime soap Doctors.
“Whether it's my fantasy novels or a script for a medical series, the genre is not important. I am just interested in the human mind and how people respond to events – in real life, the after-life, this world or another.”
He insists that his fans – and there are many thousands around the world who eagerly await each novel and discuss the plots on internet message boards – don't conform to a stereotype.
“Fantasy is the biggest-selling genre in the UK so it must reach out to readers from different walks of life. I travel the country for book signings and readings and encounter people from every demographic, from 16 to 60, who read my books.”
Mark has been invited to pitch ideas for new medical, police and sci-fi dramas and is working on the third book in The Kingdom of the Serpent series.
“It's a busy time and it is important to remain disciplined,” he says. “I never miss a deadline – that was drummed into me as a journalist – so it is vital that I set aside times of the day where I focus on my work.
“I used to find that I was at my most creative in the evening and would write from 10pm to 3am – but that is less practical since I had children. So I start at 9am and work throughout the day. I'll haul my laptop to the pub, a cafe or the garden just to keep my surroundings fresh.”
“It stops me being trapped in the office and working in different locations can often spark an idea for a new storyline.”
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