Just a quick post to say that I will be doing a library event in Southampton next Wednesday at 3.30pm. The event is an open one so if anyone wants to come along and listen to me talking about Lex Trent and writing then feel free! Copies of the book will be available to buy and, of course, get signed, on the day. More details here: http://www.southampton.gov.uk/s-leisure/libraries/alexbell.aspx
Since Lex Trent came out I seem to have done loads of interviews for it. Or maybe it just feels that way to me because a lot of the questions I’ve answered have been replicated and so I find myself trying to think of new ways to answer the same question. I enjoy talking about Lex, so I’m not complaining. Taking time to do your bit to promote a book is a necessary part of a published author’s life.
But there are two questions that have come up a few times now, which I want to set the record completely straight on, and so I’m going to answer those two FAQ’s here on my site as well.
The first one has to do with the fact that Lex’s grandfather in the book suffers from a disease called the Soulless Wake. This is, essentially, a fantasy world version of Alzheimer’s. In almost every interview I’ve done about Lex, I’ve been asked where this came from and, more than once, people have suggested that perhaps it was because of Terry Pratchett’s diagnosis. I want to be completely clear about this: the inclusion of an Alzheimer’s type disease in Lex Trent has nothing whatsoever to do with Terry Pratchett. I have not – and will never – exploit another writer’s illness as a plot point in one of my books. In fact, at the time that I wrote the first draft of Lex Trent – back in my second year of university – Terry Pratchett had not even received his diagnosis yet. My grandfather, though, had been diagnosed with the disease two years previously. This is the reason that it features in the book.
I usually try quite hard to avoid allowing my own life to seep into my novels, but I suppose to some extent it is unavoidable. Everything – both good and bad – that happens to a writer, contributes to who they are. As Dan Simmons has his Wilkie Collins character state in his excellent book Drood: ‘I was a novelist. Everything and everyone in my life was material.’
It was not a conscious decision of mine to address the very serious issue of Alzheimer’s in what is, after all, meant to be a light comic fantasy novel. It crept in, somehow, on its own – I suppose because it was something that was very much on my mind at the time. However, once it was there, I decided to keep it, because it seemed to fit with Lex’s back story very well, and I don’t think that the odd serious scene detracts from the overall light-hearted nature of the book. If anything, I think such moments compliment the rest of it.
I did not react to my grandfather’s illness in the cowardly way that Lex does in the book. I did not abandon him because he had Alzheimer’s – but I understand the temptation. It is not easy to visit someone you love very much indeed only to have them not really know who you are. My grandfather was still alive when I got my first publishing deal, but although he was told about it, I don’t think he really took it in. If his reaction when I won a short story competition at the age of thirteen is anything to go by, I know he would have been absurdly proud, and if I had signed my deal even one year earlier, then I would have been able to tell him about it properly. This remains one of the few real regrets that I have so far in my life.
My grandparents lived several hours away from us so when we went to visit, the trip involved a full day’s outing. We tried to make it there every six weeks. I went, but I had to force myself to go. My grandmother, on the other hand, cared for my grandfather day after day almost for the rest of his life, and however difficult it was for me to see him every six weeks for a few hours, for my grandmother this was a reality that she lived with permanently. She became his full time carer, despite suffering from health problems herself. The way that she was with him was one of the most brave, loyal, devoted things I have ever seen in my life. I would like to think I would conduct myself with the same grace and dignity if I were ever in her position but I seriously doubt I would be capable of that kind of selflessness. The point I wanted to hint at with Lex was that there are different kinds of bravery. Lucius, who is Lex’s wimpy, weedy, gentle twin brother, could not cope with the thrilling adventures Lex takes on, but he willingly stayed behind to look after their grandfather when he became ill – something that Lex simply could not do.
That is where the Soulless Wake comes from. It is a direct result of my own experience – not an insensitive exploitation of someone else’s suffering.
The second – and far less important FAQ – is people believing that I decided to call the main character Lex because that name is a variation of mine. This is not the case either. It is true that Lex and I share some similarities in that we were both law students; we both share a sort of dread of the idea of working as lawyers; and we both had grandfathers who had Alzheimer’s. But the reason I gave Lex his name was because of this man:
This, as any Smallville viewer will recognise, is Lex Luthor, as played by Michael Rosenbaum. I was watching a lot of Smallville at the time, and I loved Lex as a character – I thought he was far more interesting than Clark. I also liked the fact that the name ‘Lex’ has instantly notorious connotations. That was the reason that I took it. Lex is therefore named for super-villain Lex Luthor. He is not named after me.
As previously mentioned here, each time one of my books comes out, my Mum gets me a gorgeous book teacup designed by the eminently talented, and fantastically named, Bethan Lloyd Worthington. Bethan is given a list of keywords from the book, and designs the cups from these so that they are based on elements from the story. It’s like getting a front cover, only even better.
Lex Trent versus The Gods is due to be published on the 4th February but Amazon are sending it out already, and I hear that it has been spotted in some book shops, so I have my teacup a little early.
Photos don’t quite do it justice because the fine detail is easier to see in real life, but they should give the jist. You also cannot tell from the photos that the cup and saucer have both been sandblasted in order to make it appear that they have been lost in the sea for a few millenia – or a few years, at any rate. Whilst I was in Las Vegas last year I went to a Titanic exhibition that showcased some of the exhibits they’d pulled from the wreckage, including cups and plates, and so I can personally attest to the fact that the sandblasting effect is remarkably similar to a cup that really has spent years beneath the sea.
This is the Medusa Lex battles:
This is the whiskerfish that Lex . . . ah, well, perhaps I’d better not say as I don’t want to give key plot points away, but take it from me that this strange little fish is very important to Lex indeed.
Inside the cup is a magic hat and wand. Magic hats are very important in this book, and lead to all sorts of trouble:
And in the top right hand corner below is the gigantic sand castle in the sky where the first round of the Game takes place:
So there it is – my fabulous Lex Trent book cup, which I will no doubt spend many happy hours staring at, especially when in need of inspiration. If that doesn’t make you want to buy the book, I don’t know what will. As I said, it’s available from Amazon right now so there is no need to wait any longer, peoples! Flying ships, medusas, floating sandcastles, magic hats, whiskerfish and much, much more (crones, enchanters, duckigs, space ladders, nasal lice – the list is endless) can all be yours when you buy Lex Trent!
‘Everything should taste like bacon.’
It’s hard to argue with that, I feel. But, as a vegetarian, this obviously presents me with something of a dilemma. Imagine my delight, therefore, when I received this for Christmas:
It is bacon flavoured mayonnaise! Why was this not invented before? You can smother it on anything! I have eaten it with jacket potatoes, pizza, veggie sausages, sandwiches . . . in fact, so far, I haven’t found anything that is not improved by Baconnaise. Although not advertised as a vegetarian product – for this would, no doubt, massively put off the hard core meat eaters – Baconnaise is vegetarian. I wouldn’t say this product was the highlight of my Christmas (because that would, possibly, be a little pathetic) but it was certainly one of the highlights. Baconnaise has brought joy to my life. Rather like when I first discovered a vegetarian red wine after five years, and took to carrying the bottle around the house with me, which concerned visitors for it made me look like one of those depressed, alcoholic writers which, of course, I am not! Aha ha. I suppose eventually I will stop carrying the Baconnaise around with me but, honestly, I could eat it straight from the jar with a spoon, it tastes that good.
But anyway – hello 2010. No doubt, like all the other years, there will be both good stuff and bad stuff. Mostly I am looking forward to Lex Trent coming out in February, as I wrote the first draft of that book when I was twenty years old – three long years ago, although it seems like much longer – and, really, I have had to wait an indecent amount of time to see it on the bookshelves. But I know that this year, my work will be duly universally recognised as the genius that it really is. Or else, people will just say with a haughty sniff: ‘But it’s not Terry Pratchett, is it?’ in much the same way that one might sneer at Daniel Craig because he is not Sean Connery. No one is Sean Connery. Probably not even Mr Connery himself. I think my favourite James Bond is Pierce Brosnan but there it is, we all have different tastes. To me, Baconnaise is the nectar of the Gods – to others it might be some foul spread that no one in their right minds would willingly eat.
Now I’m off to write my traditional long list of New Year’s resolutions, about half of which I might actually keep.
Yes, the Lex Trent front cover is finally here in all its swashbuckling glory, courtesy of illustrator David Wyatt (http://www.david.wyatt.btinternet.co.uk) and designer Nick Venables at Headline, who have both done an amazing job. It is, quite clearly, very different from my Gollancz covers, for the simple reason that this is a very different type of book, but I am every bit as pleased with it.
This cover is the most literal interpretation of a book that I’ve ever had, and when my editor first mentioned having Lex himself on it, I wasn’t too sure. I didn’t think an artist would be able to get him right. Lex, after all, exists only in my head, and as I cannot draw to save my life, there’s no way of getting him out of there to show the artist what he looks like. But as it turns out, the Lex on the cover is exactly the way he appears in my head. The fact that you can’t see his face properly helps with that, I suppose, but everything else – the way he’s standing, what he’s wearing – is spot on.
Lady Luck – the blonde woman rocking the white toga – is also perfect. It’s almost as if Mr Wyatt really did reach into my head and pull the characters out. Because Lex and Lady Luck have been done so well, it’s a real thrill for me to see an image of something that actually takes place in the book.
I’m extremely pleased with the font as well because if Lex were to sign his own name, it absolutely would be with a flourish like that. Having a front cover always makes the book seem more real, and legitimises it in my own head so that I can think: ‘yeah, it’s a proper book, and I wrote it!’ rather than: ‘this is meaningless drivel that no one but me will ever read.’ And now that the book has such an awesome front cover I am looking forward to it finally being out on the book shelves even more than I was before.
