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MARK & JIM:

I note that you have a Tolkien illustrator contributing to the art work in your novel, are you both big Tolkien fans?

Mark:

Yes, I’m a big Tolkien fan. The originality and depth of his world remain unparalleled. He’s the giant on whose shoulders everybody else stands and to whom all others are compared. His work is a point of departure, providing a creative impetus, but it ought not to be slavishly imitated, of course - a pitfall we’ve managed to avoid, I believe, by embracing themes and plot elements entirely of our own devising.

Jim:

Indeed, as Mark has said, Tolkien is the standard by which all works in this genre of speculative fiction will, if not out of necessity then merely out of convention, be judged. And it is a tough standard, to be sure. I’ve never quite understood what it has meant to be a “fan” of something or someone, but that’s more my own personality quirk than anything else. I surely admire and respect Tolkien’s work, particularly the creative genius that lies beneath the stories themselves. In so far as the cover of The Stoneholding, Ted Nasmith’s artwork is, all of it, brilliant. While principally inspired by Tolkien’s work, I feel Ted captures something unique of The Stoneholding in the cover painting – a broad sweep of landscape, descriptive in its detail and depth, yet despite the evident beauty, it admits a darkness that broods and looms in the distance, distant yet still immanent and impending.

MARK & JIM: 

What is it about Tolkien that particularly appeals to you both? 

Mark:

For me what appeals most is the way he interweaves simplicity and domesticity with high heroism in his characters and narrative. Good and evil are clearly defined on his canvas, but allow at the same time for a transcendent subtlety. I fell in love with his world. The way it all hangs together is sublimely evocative and fulfills an archetypal yearning we have for the idyllic and pastoral in our technology-driven world.

Jim:

Well, I would suggest three things that appeal to me about Tolkien’s work. Naturally, as I mentioned earlier, the sheer genius of the story, not simply as a story, but as a history. Tolkien has created in Middle Earth, not simply a setting, a stage upon which his characters act out their bits, but he has created a civilization and a culture, undergirded by an historical and philosophical reality. Further, these philosophical and historical presuppositions to the world Tolkien has created are rooted in the reality of a clear ethical and moral ethos; namely, that the realities of Good and Evil, in all their necessary complexities, are presented with clarity ­­– namely that Good is good and Evil, evil, and never the twain shall meet. Finally, and perhaps a bit strangely, one of the things that appeals to me the most about Tolkien’s work is that the story was not conceived simply for its own sake, but as a vehicle for Tolkien’s exploration of language and linguistics. Somehow I feel this lends a curious integrity and honesty to the work itself ­– the story springs forth from the man’s passion for words and language, and he just happens to be a master storyteller!

 MARK & JIM: 

Apart from Tolkien, what, or who are your literary inspirations and why? 

Jim:

Apart from Tolkien and Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, the only fantasy I've ever read was Conan the Barbarian when I was a teenager. My tastes always tended toward a different type of speculative fiction, namely early science fiction, often British, stuff by the likes of Jules Verne, John Wyndham, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle and C. S. Lewis and the like – I thought Lewis' "Space Trilogy" was brilliant. I just recently re-read A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, enjoying it again. In somewhat the same strain are the dystopian works like 1984 and Brave New World. And I really enjoy good spy novels by the likes of John le Carre. Mark’s put me onto Bernard Cornwell’s work, which is very good. I tend, however, to simply read whatever’s closest to hand.

Mark:

For me, my earlier inspirations were the great English romantic writers, particularly Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott. These must have been part of Tolkien’s mental landscape too, as were authors like Robert Louis Stevenson and Rider Haggard, great exponents of the adventure novel. Among modern writers in this vein I very much admire Bernard Cornwell, a master craftsman. I would describe as brilliant the way he balances description with narrative vigour and character development. He’s a writer of the first rank.  In terms of writers of fantasy, I enjoy Raymond Feist, who’s actually an admirer of Cornwell too.

MARK & JIM: 

Collaboration is a risky business at the best of times, what made you decide to work together? 

Mark:

I had reached a point in my work where I needed an external, critical eye in order to move forward in my craft and make a career breakthrough. That’s where Jim came into the picture. Initially Jim functioned as my editor, but then the relationship grew quite organically to a point where we both acknowledged that co-authorship was a better description of what we were doing together.

Jim:

Full collaboration with Mark came quite by happenstance, really. He invited me to read his work over, and the relationship developed from there as he drew me further and further into the world of the work. We discovered the old saw “two heads are better than one” to be quite true. But these two heads are very different; Mark and I have extremely divergent interests and tastes. Yet it’s a complementarity that seems to work. If collaboration is a risky business, I feel in this case it’s a risk well worth taking.

MARK & JIM: 

How well has your literary partnership worked?

Mark:

I suppose what has facilitated the whole enterprise of literary partnership is a high degree of complementarity in terms of the skills we bring to the table. Our strengths and weaknesses balance out astonishingly well. On top of that we are temperamentally compatible. All in all, the arrangement has been a huge godsend. Together we’ve crafted a novel towards which the response has been overwhelmingly positive on the part of readers and critics alike. It’s a finely crafted piece of work forged by our joint efforts.

Jim:

 Yes. Mark and I have a good and solid working relationship. I think it’s the foundation of trust, honesty and openness upon which the partnership is built that will be its mainstay through the challenges and trials that, no doubt, lie ahead. I’m not so naive to think that everything will be steady sunshine and roses; however, I am really looking forward to continuing our work together.

 MARK & JIM: 

I notice in the novel, their are times when one or both of you seem to be reveling in setting the scene for your exploits with some very lush scenery. Is it one of you in particular that enjoys to write the landscape? If so, who & why? 

Mark:

I’m the culprit here. This facet of The Stoneholding probably stems from my admiration for Tolkien, where landscape is such an integral part of his appeal, so central to his work. I think too that it derives from my conviction that a key thing we have lost in modern life is our sense of being wedded to a landscape that shapes and configures us, even dignifies us, we might say. This notion is part of the rich anthropological heritage of pre-modern societies, where their arts and crafts and cultural artifacts were so closely and richly linked to their environment.

Jim:

Mark has an aptitude for descriptive writing, particularly of painting rich word tableaus of the landscape and scenery of the story. I think that it is a great device, which helps, almost subtly, to build the thematic setting for the novel and the series as a whole. I am a very visual person myself and tend to be descriptive in style as well. Beyond that, Mark and I both live on the verge of the Canadian Shield, surrounded by rugged wilderness broken by scattered farmland. We both love this area. Landscape and scenery are in the blood, so I would say that, by nature, the style of descriptive writing in The Stoneholding is almost inescapable to both Mark and me.

 MARK & JIM:

Kallaquin is obviously ready to embark on one hell of a journey, do you have the other two "Books of the Talamadh" already mapped out? If so, without giving away too many spoilers, what do you have planned for your hero? 

Mark:

 The other two books are extensively plotted, and some of the chapters of the second book are roughly sketched. We’re ready to take Kalaquinn out of the Stoneholding into a broader world, where he experiences adventures and gains a deeper understanding of himself and his appointed role in the world and civilisation of Ahn Norvys.

Jim:

We know where Kalaquinn and his remnant folk are bound, and it is one hell of a journey… but that’s another story!

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions

You’re more than welcome! Briacoil!