The Hoard of Mhorrer is set in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsular: what made you choose this particular setting?
Primarily, I wanted a stage that was quite different to the one in the first book. In The Secret War the story is set against a lush playground of Belgian and English countryside and later on, Italian vistas. With The Hoard of Mhorrer, I wanted a setting that logistically wouldn't take too long to travel to and contrasted greatly to Europe's landscapes, and what better than a scorching wasteland of sparse vegetation and iron-coloured mountains?
But I think later, as the story progressed, I realised there was something more going on there – that I was building a mythology in the cradle of civilisation, a place where religions and gods were created. There was this feeling that I had inadvertently set a quest to find the greatest metaphysical danger to humanity in a place where the beginnings of Western religion kicked off and where Egyptian gods once held sway. So I hid a satanic order called the Rassis Cult - that are older than any western religion recorded - deep in the valleys of the Sinai, and wrote this massive climatic battle between good and evil not that far from where Moses discovered the burning bush. I think you could say I took advantage of the setting the way a writer should, but I recognise I really fell on my feet by deciding to set the book there from the first draft.
Which are your favourite characters in the novel and why?
The best thing about writing a series of books is revisiting old characters and investing time in new ones. William Saxon is one of those characters I enjoyed writing about. In The Secret War he's this young, energetic man with boundless belief in his own abilities but hampered by his disbelief in the supernatural (which is not so good if you're fighting demons and vampires!).
In The Hoard of Mhorrer seven years of fighting monsters have not made him less pragmatic, but he's seen untold horrors and abominations to make him believe in most things metaphysical. He's an exile from England, but he has almost everything he's ever wanted: a beautiful lover, command over some of the best soldiers in Europe, adulation, adventure and a sense that he's fighting for something good and right, rather than over territory or for someone else's ego. But the cracks start to show as the story progresses, and William's outwardly moral character begins to break down. After fighting demons so long, he's become more ruthless than he would care to admit – there's a dehumanising influence from the secret war, and you start to see it in William.
I’ve also introduced three new players in The Hoard of Mhorrer that are the 'what ifs' of William's character:
Lieutenant Peruzo, William’s second in command, is William if he had fought the secret war as long as Peruzo has. His friendship and loyalty to William and the cause is tempered by a subtle darkness and uncompromising brutality. You’d like him on your side, because he’d make a dangerous enemy.
Marco – William's nephew – is William many years ago: he's young, arrogant, foolish, and heroic and with no experience of fighting angels and demons. He's an 'untainted William', and William struggles to keep him that way, unwillingly to let his nephew be stained by the eternal war. In the end William realises that Marco is old enough to make his own decisions, and is in fact an asset to the cause.
Thomas Richmond – an English merchant unwittingly caught up in the war – is William if William had not followed his best friend, Kieran Harte, to Italy several years ago. Richmond’s distance from the secret war shows William what he has sacrificed during the last seven years, and he begins to hanker for the simple life he had before Gembloux at the beginning of the first book. In a way, Richmond’s burgeoning friendship is the catalyst for William turning away from the war with Hell. He provokes a reaction to the war and whether or not William should continue to fight it.
As a collection, these new characters - and the old - have been fantastic to write about. The Secret War’s characterisation was quite minimal – the story was the main focus, as was the momentum of the adventure. But in The Hoard of Mhorrer you get into the characters more; you see their motivations and their loyalties, and morality is blurred.
Tell us about your route to publication.
I've been writing fiction since a teenager, and after a couple of near misses, I was discovered amongst 40,000 entrants in a writing competition on Channel 4. Previously, The Secret War had been sent to a few publishers and agents, but none could handle the mix of muskets and monsters. They wanted me to rewrite the book as a straight historical novel or a horror novel. Not the two. I stubbornly refused and you know I'm glad I did. Through the Channel 4 writing competition, Mike Barnard approached me to be part of the Macmillan New Writing list, and The Secret War was published in January 2007.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a writer?
Write for the love of the craft, not for dreams of riches. Too often I've visited writing forums where people have asked “what can I write that will make me lots of money?” There's nothing wrong with trying to make money out of what you do, but there are better ways. If I wanted to be richer than I am now, I would have stopped writing books and followed a career in computers, like my dad.
Writing is all about the right motivation and having a story to tell. If the motivation is wrong, or the story's not there, then ninety-nine times out of a hundred, you'll be wasting your time.
Do you regard yourself as a ‘genre’ writer?
It would be churlish of me to say ‘no,’ as the ‘genre’ is the meat ‘n’ veg of what I write. The great thing about ‘genre’ books is that they’re easy to locate. You can walk into a bookshop and see your book in roughly the right place and not buried to the side of unlikely companions. But it does mean that someone who doesn’t usually read fantasy or horror or sci-fi might not come to you for story.
Outside of the genre bubble, if you call a book a fantasy, non-fantasy readers expect there to be dragons and elves, and with sci-fi they expect spaceships and robots. There’s a lot more to fantasy and science fiction than that, but the genre label puts up this impenetrable wall largely through the reputation of its major authors (Tolkien, Assimov, Rowling etc.) that stops potential readers from discovering them. I think that’s more a problem within the genre – it can be quite stifling, but then it can also win you legions of fans. So genre is both a blessing and a curse in that respect. A lot of comments I receive for The Secret War are from readers who don’t usually read fantasy or horror but somehow found their way to its pages and thoroughly enjoyed it. If I can break down that wall a bit further with The Hoard of Mhorrer, it will be an achievement.
Is research important to you?
Very. But it’s too easy to become overwhelmed by research. After all, readers are coming to the books for story, not to read about a make of 19th century pocket watch, or how many steps lead up to the British Museum (unless it’s crucial to the story). I think writers can get too buried in research-detail to the detriment of the story. So I tend to write the story first and then fill in the historical detail later. It means the story remains the focus, and the research becomes window dressing.
What are your favourite and least favourite things about being a writer?
The writing is definitely my favourite part. Sitting down and being creative for an hour or more a day is like a drug. I get withdrawals when I don’t write for more than a couple of days. I’m addicted to it.
I’ve enjoyed the process of being published immensely, but the route to publication has been tortuous. I’ve been plagued by cow-boy agents looking to rip off aspiring writers, agents who won’t reply to letters, and then there’s the rejections… Every writer, great and small, has had to deal with rejection at some point in their lives, and it takes a big character to stand up and say it doesn’t bother them. I think what got me through it was a pig-headed stubbornness that I inherited from my dad. I just didn’t give up. That and a support network of friends and family who believed in me.
Which writers have most influenced you?
I first started reading genre fiction when I was about ten years old. I picked up a copy of Frank Herbert’s Dune, and while I didn’t understand half of what was going on, I’d say my fascination started there.
Soon after, I read more standard fare, such as Tolkien and CS Lewis, which led me to the likes of Moorcock, Edgar Rice Burroughs and HG Wells. I can’t ignore the influence Stephen King had on me. His short stories were never far from my hand when I started writing my own stories as a teenager.
In my late teens, I went on to devour books by Clive Barker – a massive influence on my writing – and then on to HP Lovecraft, Borges and later still Stephen Pressfield, who delivers time and time again the greatest pulse-pounding battles scenes on the printed page.
What book do you wish you had written and why?
It would probably be Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield. It’s a persuasive story, written by an author at the peak of his powers, and a classic book of its genre. Gates of Fire is a novel I’ve re-read and dissected many times because the battle of Thermopylae is utterly compelling and written with ferocious energy that leaves you shaking with every turned page. The fact the author has invested time and emotion into the characters makes the conflict almost unbearable. History tells you they are going to die, but as a reader you’re almost pleading for mercy. Very few genre books move me to tears like this one did. Storytelling, or writing fiction, is about the manipulation of the reader, and Pressfield does it perfectly so that you don’t care if you cheer or cry when he wants you to.
The Hoard of Mhorrer is a sequel to your first novel, The Secret War. Are you writing further books in this series?
I’ve surprised a few people recently by saying I have plots for twelve Secret War books written down in a dusty old notebook at home, but I think I would settle for just two more in the short term (I have other writing projects to pursue). Later this year I will start writing The Traitor of Light, which is more a companion book to The Hoard of Mhorrer. It’s a Dar’uka novel which builds on their legend, revealing their flaws and motivations but without dispelling their mystery. The Dar’uka are pretty enigmatic and the worst thing I could do is show and tell everything. The Traitor of Light will set up the climax in The Fortress of Black Glass which is going to be a very, very dark book. I wrote a brief outline for book four that says: “For every last battle there are sacrifices…” It won’t be the easiest book to write, and will probably be the longest of the four novels, but expect plenty of adventure, battle, mayhem, and more vampyres and daemons than you can shake a stick at.
