Mark Chadbourn

Mark Chadbourn

Mark Chadbourn is the author of the popular Age of Misrule and Swords of Albion fantasy series. Known for the sense of realism he brings to his novels he also has a passion for fairy tales and mythology that he blends with history to offer a fantastically rich read. A native Midlander, Mark has had an interesting array of previous jobs including band management and investigative journalism and is now working full time as a writer.

Have you found that people engage more with the historical or the fictional characters?
Mostly the fictional characters as it's their story that I'm telling so readers can immerse themselves in the true sweep of their emotional lives.  But I have 'fictionalised' some of the historical characters, in that I've given them some depth as no one knows what they were really like, so Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake, say, do have their own fans.  I kept Elizabeth I deliberately distant, though, as this was more a tale of the common man and woman than monarchs and aristocrats.

Is the series fantasy with a historical back-drop or historical fiction with a fantasy component?
I've tried to merge the two seamlessly. The trick is getting to know the real Elizabethan world in such minute detail - the people, the places, the events, the clothes, the food, the customs, the furnishings, everything - that you can then see the spaces in-between and that's where I populate it with the fantasy elements.  Several readers have mentioned they can't see where the reality ends and the fantasy begins and I take that as a compliment.

What were the most surprising sources of information that you came across during all of your extensive research?
So many. I came to realise that the Elizabethan era wasn't so very different from our own - foreign wars for scarce resources, new technology changing society, civil unrest at home and enemies abroad, and the growth of a spy network.  I was particularly interested in how magic shaded into science at the hands of Dr John Dee, the court astrologer, who straddled both disciplines, and that society was so liberal that there was a gay brothel in the centre of London.

Did having historical events as a timeline help give structure or complicate the plot while you were writing?
When I started writing these stories, the intention was to set them around real events, to show, I suppose, what was happening in the background and all around the edges.  So from that perspective, the real historical events acted as a spine to the story and I weaved the plot around it. 

Had you always planned to return to the world of Faerie that you wrote so vividly in 'Jack of Ravens' et al?
I never think that far ahead - I just keep an eye out for stories that excite me. When I came across the origins of England's spy network under Sir Francis Walsingham, it happened to be when I was reading of some of the Elizabethan fears of the supernatural and fairies so the two seemed a natural fit. I'd already created the character of Will Swyfte for Jack of Ravens and he was such a vibrant fellow there seemed so much more I could do with him.

Is it hard to keep the suspense going when the majority of readers know the outcome of the 'big' events?
Not really because the story isn't really about the big events, it's about the lives of the characters set against that and, being fictional, they can live or die so there is always a sense of jeopardy. It's the emotional investment in the characters' lives and survival that drives all the tales.

What's next for Will and the gang in Book Three?
In The Devil's Looking Glass all the threads of the first two books come to a head.  The characters must battle to prevent the powerful sorcerer Dr Dee falling into the hands of the Fay enemy. It has living dead pirates, The Tempest, and a trip to the New World and the heart of darkness in an Apocalypse Now-stylee.

What influenced you to use mythology and fairy tales?
Mythology and folklore have been with us since the oldest days. They contain so much power and deal with rich, affecting issues and emotions and I wanted to see if they were still as powerful to a modern mind as they were to our ancestors.  On top of that, they're heavy with symbolism and dream-imagery and that adds a delirious quality to any fantasy story.  Who could resist that?

Mark Chadbourn’s website
Un:Bound website

Mark will be doing a book signing on Saturday 20 August, 12:30 – 2:30pm at Leicester Highcross Waterstones.

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