Television and Radio’s Dr. Katherine Lewis, DOCTOR Simon Trafford, Dr. Kate Vigurs and Dr. Christopher Heath whose knowledge of history and willingness to chat about it provided much grist to the mill and actual bits of history for me to maul (all maulings are my own). You are all lovely, but you know that.
Then there’s the people who have been such a help/hindrance (I’m looking at you, Twitter) in many and various wonderful ways: Richard Palmer (have you actually read it yet?) Bernardo Velasquez, Maureen Kincaid-Speller, Jonathan McCalmont, Paul C. Smith, Eric Edwards, Tomoe Hill, Paul Watson, Gary Quinn, Lyndon Marquis, Sam Diegutis, Tom Parker, Hookland’s very own David Southwell, (the award-winning) Ian “Spaceship” Sales, Rhys Wilcox, KT Davies, Helen Murphy, The Famous Author Susi Holliday, Kev McVeigh and Clare Bowey (for distracting my wife from my indolence). And all the others who keep me distracted on Twitter, it’s much appreciated; I only wish I had more room here.
Jane, Deborah, Dr. Linda Juby and all the staff at Bradford Royal Infirmary for doing a stirling job in keeping me alive to write things and, well, the entire NHS in doing a stirling job full stop.
Jason Arnopp, Scott K. Andrews, Kit Power, Andrew Freudenberg and Nazia Khatun for making my first ever con such a hilarious experience (thankyou xtra).
Music has always played a huge part in in everything I do and of particular effect on Age of Assassins were: The Afghan Whigs, Fields of the Nephilim/The Nefilim, Jay Munly, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, Reverend Glasseye, Black Moth, Purson and Blood Ceremony.
A whole host of authors have kept me going through the years and their work has fed back into everything I do so if you’re reading this and have enjoyed the book you could do worse than look at any of the following: Richard Adams, Hilaire Belloc, Iain M. Banks, Agatha Christie, James Lee Burke, Alan Dean Foster, Robert Crais, John Connolly, Bernard Cornwell, Steve Mosby, Susanna Clarke, C. J. Sansom, Marlon James, William Hope-Hodgson and Patrick O’Brian.
Di and Bob Dark for letting your glorious daughter marry someone who didn’t exactly have a real job at the time. Or any job. Their glorious daughter, Lindy, for always encouraging me to do this and never being anything but wonderful. Our son, Rook, who is a constant source of joy and amusement. My brother, John, for being my brother. Lastly, Mum and Dad, for always being there and instilling a love of words and a healthy curiosity in me. I guess that worked out.
And of course you, gentle reader. I hope you have enjoyed spending time with Girton as much as I have.
Oh, and, Mikko I-told-you-so Sovijarvi. Yes, yes, you did tell me so. And you were right. Don’t get smug. No one likes a smug Finn.
The story continues in…
BLOOD OF ASSASSINS
Coming in FEBRUARY 2018
extras
meet the author
RJ BARKER lives in Leeds with his wife, son, and a collection of questionable taxidermy, odd art, scary music, and more books than they have room for. He grew up reading whatever he could get his hands on, and has always been “that one with the book in his pocket.” Having played in a rock band before deciding he was a rubbish musician, RJ returned to his first love, fiction, to find he is rather better at that. As well as his debut epic fantasy novel, Age of Assassins, RJ has written short stories and historical scripts, which have been performed across the country. He has the sort of flowing locks any cavalier would be proud of.
interview
When did you first start writing? Have you always wanted to be an author?
I first started just after leaving school but was drawn away by guitars and loud music and spent a lot of time imagining I was going to be a rock star. Sadly, my almost complete lack of musical talent turned out to be more of a handicap than I’d imagined (fancy that, eh?) so I ended up not becoming a rock star, though I did have a tremendous amount of fun, which is what really matters. Then I sort of drifted back to what I’d always loved most—books and words—and the idea of doing something with them that I’d put aside in favour of a bass guitar. That was about thirteen years ago.
But, well, that leads neatly into the next question…
It’s really refreshing to see a protagonist with a disability, what was your inspiration for Girton Club-Foot?
Me! I was in the inspiration. At least six of the thirteen years were spent being really, really ill and nearly dying and all that other very boring stuff chronic illness involves. I have Crohn’s disease and one of the symptoms is chronic joint pain. This can vary between being an annoying ache and being barely able to walk, but—and in this I am like most ill or disabled people—I just get on to the best of my ability. Girton is a (very) exaggerated version of this. He is not his disability; it is only a part of him. He does not let it stop or define him.
Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process?
Sit, write. Eat lots of crisps. I don’t really have a process; it’s just a thing I do. That I am always doing. Or thinking about doing. Or dreaming about doing.
What was the most challenging thing about writing this novel?
Copy-editing. I am, by nature, quite chaotic in everything I do and detail isn’t one of my strengths. Having to sit and consider e v e r y s i n g l e c o m m a was a new experence for me and really quite hard. In fact I may have gone slightly mad and did at one point dream a giant semi-colon was chasing me through our house.
Though, I must stress, it was also enjoyable, because new stuff is always good. I may have done the odd thing that, possibly, might be seen as idiosyncratic in the text, but now I know why and I have really thought about it. First-person writing, for me, is a journey through someone else’s head and the copy-edit was about deciding on Girton’s voice, which maybe isn’t something you would worry about as much in a third-person piece of writing.
So, if the way I have written this book annoys you, you can rest assured that it was entirely deliberate on my part.
You’re welcome.
In the novel, Girton and his master have a unique and distinctive fighting style. Where did the idea for this come from?
I fenced for a bit, until illness forced me to give it up because it became too painful to hold the sword, and that’s in there. I wanted to bring in dance in as well, the idea that the assassins evolved from dancers. And pain management, the breathing techniques and idea of “becoming” something are a way of coping with pain—though for Girton this sort of “meditative” idea is applied to fear.
As to the rest, not entirely sure. I think it’s come partly from a desire to produce a narrative effect as much as to produce a fighting style. I wanted the idea that Girton isn’t really thinking about it. When he’s in full flow (which you don’t really see very much of in this book) I wanted the text to give you the idea he’s reacting on a very instinctual level. The mix of italics and tenses in this passage: