The Author Corner interviews Angelo Tsanatelis
The first part of the interview for those that had missed it.
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June 11 2011,
Mary Kyriakou: Let me tell you that it is great seeing you up close and personal, after almost two years. Many things happened in between, me changing countries and all and you at last publishing your book.
Angelo Tsanatelis: It is always a pleasure seeing you Mary, you've become my number one fan and it is a good thing you found the time to visit, skype just doesn't do you any justice.
Mary : It is the English weather, it messes with my skin. But tell me about the book, that is the juicy part. It is out now from Smashwords, it's been sold as an ebook at a number of places...
Angelo : True. I self-published as you know, with the help of Smashwords, a difficult step and a painful procedure, but writing is a high reward job and I am not talking financially here. The book is called the Living Sword Chronicles, you've read it and reviewed it at Barnes & Noble and I thank you for that. It is the first of what hopefully will be a tetralogy, that is four novels that will tell the story of the Living Sword.
Mary : Let me step in here, when I originally talked to you about this story, it was 2007, we go back a few years, it was to be a trilogy, what happened exactly?
Angelo : Well, you are right and very few people know this of course. The first volume of the Living Sword Chronicles series, the Origins, was actually along with the coming Lodge & the Tribe, a single volume. I decided to split them, thus the tetralogy.
Mary : Was it a matter of size, I ask because I know, you are on the verge of a paperback edition and as I've heard from many authors in the past years, when we are talking real paper, size does matter and costs, I might add.
Angelo : Well it was going to be a behemoth, something close to 200.000 words, but no, the main reason for the split up, was the story itself. You've read it as I said, along with a lot of people, that I must thank here and I hope you are going to publish this someday, and I was saying, that it is a very fast forward story. Compact. It has, a certain number of characters, but mostly it deals with this kid growing up, trying to survive. I realized as I was finishing it, that it is a different story in a way, a prologue, thus the origins part. The second reason was that it is extremely violent at times, sometimes at the expense of character built up intentionally. I wanted it to be read like this, at a running pace almost, hard and without much room for thought, because that was the way the main character, perceived the story. You can't expect from a teenager to over-analyze things. And it is the story of a teenager mainly. His choices, his words, his actions.
Mary : It is the story of the Living Sword though, because in the end, it is the connecting point of the whole thing.
Angelo : Philip, the boy we are talking about, is the main character. The Living Sword of course, is always in the picture, because it is the Macguffin, the plot element that drives the story on, you are right, the connecting point.
Mary : What is the Living Sword?
Angelo : Well I was asked about this a couple of times...
Mary : Apologies for being repetitive
Angelo : No, it is not that, no apology is necessary, you are talking like my English teacher, the Living Sword is... and will prove to be, time and time again, in the series, a weapon. It was built as one and it will behave mainly as one throughout. But inside that weapon, resides an actual living being, actually a number of them,
Mary : How is that possible?
Angelo : It was forged that way through magic. Its original and I guess its only name is the Prison Sword after all. Some... people, that I will address, in another story, at a later time, had these amazing abilities and used them to make the sword. They made a lot of them, but this one was special, because it was a prison.
Mary : You are talking about the Three Realms now.
Angelo : Yes.
Mary : Okay, so after the split up, the Origins came out, which I read of course and liked. It had some parts that for me were a little difficult to swallow, like the romance angle. What was this thing with the Princess? How do you go from what seemed to be a sure thing, what with the visions and all, to a country girl? No spoilers, okay, let's just leave this one at that, or maybe an answer with a few words? And tell us a bit about the paperback that is in its final stages.
Angelo : The visions were what they were. Glimpses of a future. The explanation or interpretation of them belonged to Philip, the reader I believe, has a clearer picture of what was going on. It is a future that will happen... possibly.
The paperback edition is ready. Amazon will have it ready for selling, I guess in a month or so, along with Createspace. It is a 238 page edition, a classic 5x8 size book, a pretty little thing and it will come at reasonable prize, can I say it? 12.49 $ I am really excited about the paperback, it is a fantastic feeling having the actual book in your hands.
Mary :The Rootless.
Angelo : Well, we talked about the split up, the Rootless is a tie in novelette, that explains some of the stuff, mainly about the emerging character I introduced at the end of Origins. We follow this character in a journey across the ancient world and we arrive with him, in I hope a smooth way, to the Lodge & the Tribe.
Mary : I will take this opportunity then to ask you about the upcoming, Book II: the Lodge & the Tribe.
Angelo : This is the story I am working on for the last year. It is different from the Origins, because it brings many new characters to the table and the return of the detailed versions of a lot of older ones, along with crazy plotting, manipulative plans, a new race, a mythology and of course a lot of action. Because it is written at different pace and with a different technique, two stories, each at a different time period, it will have more building up of the characters, meaning we will get to know them this time, a lot of side stories, that will address a number of themes and subjects and of course the return of the most important character of them all. The Living Sword.
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This is the second part of a longish interview with author Angelo Tsanatelis. The 1st part I have already posted on the block in the summer. The questioner is Mary Kyriakou.
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Mary : So the second book which I read a bit in its first very rough draft form...
Angelo Tsanatelis : You've read the first chapters I believe.
M: yes, and I really liked the way the story changes, opening up to more characters, giving us more clues to a very complex backstory. Why there is such a big difference in size and writing style from Origins?
A: I probably got better, heh, seriously the more you write the better you become.
M: Probably that is true, but in this case, you had planned the whole thing right from the start, told me so in the beginning of the interview.
A: Yes it was deliberate. And necessary since this time I was dealing with many more characters.
M: Something like forty.
A: Give or take. They aren't all fully fleshed out of course and some from the ones that are, in reality I think I've just scratched the surface, like Rousse. How can you tell all about a man that is seven hundred years old?
M: I always thought that the strangest part in the story was his desire to go on, I mean you would imagine that seven centuries were enough. They would be for me. I think I could be okay with just a couple of hundred years. You don't agree.
A: Sorry, but I don't, no. No one and I mean that literally, will ever pick death over life. It is not in the human nature to do so and given the means I think we would all try to prolong whatever was offered to us. Even if it is for a couple of days. I have seen men over eighty fight death with all they got, refusing to let go. A man or a woman is never satisfied.
M: Persianna.
A: The Princess of the Undead.
M: Is it more of a mocking title? I know the third book will be The Servant of the Princess, but the character is not what I would call a heroine...
A: Good Lord! of course she isn't a heroine. First of all she isn't human and secondly without giving away too much of the plot here, her actions will show her true character and by that I don't want to categorize her as evil per se. But she is a villain plainly.
M: A villain but not evil, something like a rogue, like the Rootless...
A: look me in the eye and answer me honestly if you believe the Rootless is not evil.
M: He is the hero of the story unquestionably. Along with Thomas of course.
A: Performing heroic acts or being the baddest canaille in the neighborhood doesn't automatically make you a hero in my eyes, but of course many could argue with that.
M: Baddest canaille?
A: Skunk, blackguard... it's kanagias in Greek.
M: Okay I got it. I sensed a romance there, that was to be my question originally.
A: Possibly yes.
M: And? could you elaborate on that a bit?
A: There will be a romance in the story, a big unconventional one. But I don't want to disclose yet further details. In the Lodge & the Tribe there are two romantic angles albeit not as frivolous as perhaps you would have preferred. You have to keep in mind that this story has two main viewing angles. It has several narrators...
M: Could you give me a number, I know the main are Rousse and Lossincasa because we knew them from the Origins and the novelette the Rootless already.
A: The Hunter Alquino Miranda, is the third main narrator and Thomas Vermeullen is the fourth. On top of that you will have to add, Persianna, Johannes Taub, that fills many details with his diary and in person, Abel Poisson, the Baron and Pier the police detective from Mons with a couple of lesser characters that were used mainly for dramatic purposes. I mean artistically in the scene creation...
M: So that is four main narrators and another four minor, that is a lot. Aren't you afraid that it is going to be confusing?
A: No. But you never know for sure. Not when you are dealing with real people. In my defense it is a straightforward story at the most part and where it isn't I don't think having more than one perspectives hurts that much the reader, but then again I will see how it will go and I'll get back to you.
M: the story raises many questions, do you give all the answers?
A: I hope not! I mean many things become clear by the end of the book but revealing the whole plot no, the main reason of course is that for that thing to happen I would have probably needed five hundred thousands words and that, wouldn't be a novel anymore.
M: Speaking of length, I know it is a issue are you thinking of splitting the rest volumes?
A: It is one of my main concerns. Who will buy a gigantic book from a unknown Author? I don't know. If I can tell you one thing is that I hated splitting Origins into three volumes. But considering that the length was at two hundred and something thousand words, I had no choice.
M: I see you are concerned, how long is the Servant of the Princess?
A: the rough draft is two hundred and eighty thousands words. I have it printed out and its more than a thousand pages behemoth, that is in real life paper and it weights a ton.
M: Angelo I want to thank for taking the time to talk to me, I know you intent to visit London next month on vacation and I hope we will have the opportunity to talk again. What is the saying here good cutting? I know the Lodge & the Tribe is in the editing stages now.
A: No Author likes cuts, but they are necessary I'm afraid. It was nice talking to you Mary.
