Peter Buckmaster's Blog

It has been an age since I wrote a “blog”. An entire age of Middle Earth no less! Last time I wrote a blog Feanor was still in exile. Well, time to tap the keys once more. As I have written, the song “Rasputin” by Boney M is in my Top 5 of all time. I gathered as many covers as I could and wrote a blog. Please seek it out. Your life will be all the better for it.

And today I bring you another of my Top 5. “If I Were A Carpenter” originally by Tim Hardin (1967) and then covered by a great many incredible artists. The song holds a special place in my heart as it reminds me of my parents and the love they shared.

Please note I am not a musician myself so forgive any misunderstandings regarding the finer points.

The first time I heard this song was the version by Bobby Darin. Listen to this and marvel at his pure voice. Another talented soul who left this world too soon.

After having listened to that version a bazillion times, I sought out more covers. And Jumping Jellybeans! There are quite a few. And all are simply sublime.

Here we have the legend (he’s still alive though so should really say “living legend”) Robert Plant with an absolutely wonderful and respectful rendering of the song. So many covers brutally massacre the original (especially at Christmas!) so we must doth our collective cap to those who preserve what makes the song great but offer their own talents.

The next one is not only a joy to listen to but also to watch. I don’t know if these two are a couple but it feels like there is so much emotion and story between them. They live the song as they sing it. Samantha’s smiles could easily melt hearts.

This next one is a more country & western take. I sincerely apologise for scoffing at C&W in my teen years. The genre is vast and full of incredible music and soulful voices. These two have that glorious twang and long vowels. Close your eyes and you’ll be in a bar where everyone knows how to dance to Copperhead Road.

Next up is the kind of music you want to see live. These chaps feel the music and seem to be loving what they are doing. The double bass brings the gravitas and the slide guitar adds some fantastic licks between the vocals.

We move now to a version that feels like you’ve just stepped back into the 70s. Starts off low-key, then does a Joe Cocker and really gets stuck in. You almost expect Ted Neeley to step in and sing, “My Dad WAS a carpenter!”.

For our next cover we have an extraordinarily talented lady. Not only does she have a voice that lingers but she plays guitar beautifully. And she makes videos so good that you end up watching crappy B-movies! Wichita Lineman – check it out!

Holy Vulcan logic, Batman, stop the press! It seems Leonard Nimoy also covered this song. Hmm, not up to his Bilbo Baggins standard but worth a listen anyway – this is the legend, Leonard Nimoy after all. Let us pray that Bill Shatner never spoke this song…

The next one is so fantastic! Just a guy, in his room, playing his guitar, and doing the utmost justice to a great song.

Much as I grumble about YouTube flooding my playlists with ads lately, I can’t deny YT gives us, the listener, the chance to hear incredible musicians and singers we never would have some thirty years ago. Here is another lovely cover.

And now we plunge back into the 70s. Damn, that was such a musically magnificent decade! Pity I was born five years into it and didn’t appreciate it till much later. This just feels like a perfect example of the time before music became manufactured.

We un-der-stand the glory! We un-der-stand the glory!

A huge bonus of seeking out covers of favourite songs is disocvering previously unknown artists and bands. The next cover is performed by a band I had never heard of. Glad I now have the pleasure of listening to more of their songs. “Ten Thousand Miles” – worth a listen.

Another musician who deserves to be heard. Anyone else get a hint of Joni Mitchell in that voice?

Let me finish with The Man In Black. Quite an upbeat tempo and full of Cash’s depth matched by June’s emotive delivery. Do yourself a favour and watch “Hurt” after this.

Maybe it’s the sign of a great song that people either won’t or can’t murder it. All tese covers are exceptional. Thank you Tim Hardin for giving us such a song. I’ll sign off with the creator himself. No, not V’Ger! Tim Hardin. At Woodstock.

It’s been a long time since I conducted a BB10-Q interview and almost as long since I wrote anything on the blog front. I’m sure you all missed me terribly! You did miss me, right!?

Anyway, let’s get on with our latest BB10-Q interview, this time asking questions of a man who is situated not so far from me geographically. Jeremiah Dutch, welcome to BB10-Q!

Hello Jerry. Where are you now and how are you doing?

I am in my apartment in Yokohama. I am doing well, enjoying a bit of free time with my wife and kids before the school year starts at my university job.

What brought you to Japan?

 The short answer is adventure.  The longer story is I was looking for work after graduation from college and was curious about teaching overseas. I had been interested in the Czech Republic, but then the economy supposedly went bad there, plus I didn’t know anyone there. However, I did have a friend living in Japan. I called him up and asked him how life was here. He said a lot of positive things. So, I applied at a couple of eikaiwa (English conversation school) chains and landed a job with one of them which brought me over here.

What were you writing before you came here?

Mostly I was writing screenplays, many of which I never finished.

Are there any of those screenplays that you yearn to pick up again and finish?

Not really. Most were not exciting enough. I should say I did finish two feature-length romantic comedies (they were the rage in the 1990s) and one short script was turned into a student film, Silent Partner. Although it wasn’t much like the thriller I wrote. After I got tired of screenwriting, I started writing short horror stories and occasionally short non-fiction pieces, some of which got published.

Tell us about your releases and current project(s).

I am about to finish the rough draft of what will hopefully be my first full-length novel, Gaijin House, about foreigners living in Japan.

An adapted excerpt from the first chapter entitled Zen Failure in Kyoto won an honorable mention in the Writers in Kyoto competition last year. Of course I don’t live in Kyoto, but the first chapter is set there.

Seventh Writing Competition Results: Honorable Mentions (Jeremiah Dutch)

I have also started another longer piece of fiction. The working title is Still in Contention. It’s a nostalgic bittersweet story about a recently divorced man reflecting on his life and the ‘86 Boston Red Sox.  

One could certainly write a few books on the “gaijin” experience in Japan! Can you relate to us an uplifting or memorable episode of your life here as a foreigner?

One episode that comes to mind is a random Japanese woman asking me for directions in the middle of a crowded plaza in front of my home station. I am not sure why she asked someone who is obviously not Japanese for directions, but I found it amusing. I took it as a compliment. So many Japanese people are shy and reluctant to talk to foreigners, mostly due to the language barrier, I think. Anyway, I must’ve looked like I knew the area and was trustworthy. It might have helped that I was with my kids at the time and therefore appeared safe and approachable.

Being asked for directions at a station would be fine. Being asked for directions at the place below might be a good start for one of Jerry’s horror shorts…

Who would you say influences your writing?

Good question! Lots of writers. Still in Contention is influenced by W.D. Wetherell. When I was younger, I tried to imitate J.D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King and John Irving at various points in my life. I like Tom Wolfe’s style, though not necessarily his attitude. Nick Hornby, Haruki Murakami are influences and so is the hardboiled style of Robert B. Parker.

I’m currently reading The Shining myself. It’s quite different to what I remember from the Kubrick film adaptation. Keeping spoilers to a minimum, what important elements were missing from the film in your opinion?

I enjoyed both the book and movie, but they are very different. The Kubrick film is very cold compared to the book (typical of Kubrick) and the novel warmer, but much more tragic. Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of the main character is also different from he is in the novel, especially in the beginning. A side character, Dick Halloran, is more important in the book. Also, and this is minor, but in the novel, he is described as having an afro; in the movie he is portrayed by Scatman Crothers, who is bald.

Can you put your finger on what makes Murakami’s works so compelling? I personally find he has a way to make the mundane somehow more interesting and then throwing something surreal into that now interesting life.

I am actually more familiar with his more mainstream books than his more surreal stuff. In the case of Norwegian Wood, there was a tragic comic tone I found very interesting and made the characters seem very human.

Has COVID affected your writing in any way aside from the obvious practical issues?

The isolation almost certainly has. I suppose it kept me inside and writing a bit more than normal, but otherwise I am glad we seem to be getting past it.

You’re self-published. What has surprised you, disheartened you and encouraged you about the process?

My novella, Natalie and Her Lovers is self-published through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). I was surprised as to how easy a process it is. I am not disheartened by anything with publishing through KDP, but understand Amazon’s controversial impact on publishing. I think when I could finally hold the hardcover version in my hands, it encouraged me to write more.  

This is Jerry’s debut, a novella. Please check out the free preview!

Is there any particular reason you chose this tale to tell? Has it been swirling in your head for a long time?

The central conflict of the story had been swirling in my head for a very long time. I think it takes about twenty years from the experiences I draw on in life for me to have enough emotional distance and emotional truth, and enough of a clear idea of what I want to write, to produce something effective. This is probably why I couldn’t complete a lot of the screenplays and only wrote two feature-length ones. For example, writing about Japan, in one of my scripts, which might be okay for a comedy, but not okay if you want to get more serious. That is why in Gaijin House, I am only now writing about young foreigners relatively new to Japan. It is also why Natalie concerns college kids in the 1990s; it draws on my college experience over 25 years ago. Damn, that makes me feel old! As for why I chose to write it, without giving away too much of the plot, although it is set in the past, I think it deals with a subject matter that is still sadly very relevant today and probably more so than we realised in the 1990s.

What are you hoping to achieve in the next ten years in terms of writing?

Hopefully, to have written more books! I am in the process of writing two right now, and I have vague ideas for a couple more that ideally will become clearer in my head as time passes. I will also need to do some research.

Best of luck with it all! And finally, how has living in Japan affected/influenced your writing?

There’s no way I could be writing Gaijin House without the experience of living in Japan. It’s not just in the details, but in certain aspects of the plot and the perspective of living outside of your country, but even with my writing set in the US, where I was born and raised, I think has given me a certain objective distance I might not have had otherwise.

And now for the BB10-Q questions, a list of ten light questions I ask each guest.

Q1) What book are you reading now? OR What was the last book you read?

I am reading Light in August by William Faulkner and The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth. I also just finished reading a rough draft of a Christian novel by David Roderick, a good friend of mine. The working title is All Things Work Out for You. I think it is quite good and I wish him every success with it.

Q2) What genre of books do you usually read?

Just about everything!

Q3) What was the last book that made you cry or laugh out loud or gave you pause for thought?

Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. I don’t know why I waited so long to read that book.

My uncle recommended Slaughterhosue Five to me years ago and I read it. I feel I didn’t really appreciate it and need to revisit. Any thoughts so far?

Murakami and Irving were both influenced by Vonnegut and you see it in their dark humor. His novel takes a very unheroic look at World War Two with almost with the same kind of black comedy you see in Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, but instead, he focuses on the individual experiences of soldiers. That very intimate view of combat is like Tim O’Brien’s semi-autobiographical Vietnam War novel, The Things They Carried.   O’Brien is another favorite writer of mine, although he doesn’t have the black humor nor the sci-fiction element Vonnegut has. I think the sci-fi element represents PTSD. Slaughterhouse Five is interesting when you take into account his own experience, especially as a POW.

Q4) What book do you remember fondly from your childhood?

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, sort of Walden for the elementary school crowd. 

Who is Walden? I’m British and have no idea!

Walden is a book by the American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. He wrote about self-reliance, living alone in a cabin by Walden Pond in Massachusetts in the mid-nineteenth century. 

Q5) Apart from reading, what hobbies do you have?

I love watching baseball, and I am trying to get back into running. I also love to ski when I can.

Q6) Where is your favourite place to read? (Ex. In bed, on the sofa, in a park, in a coffee shop etc.)

On the train and on the sofa.

Q7) What book would you like to see made into a TV show and who would you like to play the lead character?

I hear there are plans to turn The World According to Garp, my favorite novel, into a mini-series. Robin Williams played the main character in the movie, I could imagine Rami Malek or maybe Daniel Radcliffe (with an American accent) in the lead.

Q8) If you could meet a fictional character in real life, who would it be and why?

Maybe Sherlock Holmes. I don’t think I would like him much in real life, but it would be interesting to see how his mind worked. I have read all the books and short stories and have seen the 1980s tv series with Jeremy Brett and the recent reimaging with Benedict Cumberbatch. He’s not just some weird dude with magnifying glass, deerstalker cap and Inverness cape, nor is Dr. Watson some bumbling idiot as he was sometimes portrayed in earlier movies. Watson is a skilled doctor and writer and he’s good with a gun, and brave. I consider him an equal partner in their adventures and he has far better social graces than Holmes. He is also incredibly patient with Holmes’ condescension. If I had to keep hearing about how I “see, but don’t observe” I think I would eventually snap. Come to think of it, I think I would rather meet Watson!    

Any favourite tales? I have a soft spot for The Hound of the Baskervilles, as it really stirs up images of misty English moors and isolated manors.

It’s hard to say, maybe A Scandal in Bohemia. “To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman,” what a great beginning! Who is she? Why is she always the woman? The reader immediately wants to know and is drawn in. This story shows a human side to him. 

Q9) What literary world would you like to experience/live in?

Tough question! Maybe the 1960s Japan as described by Murakami in Norwegian Wood. I wouldn’t care for the extremism and unrest, but it seems so different from the Japan of today.

Q10) If you could say something to the entire world today, what would it be?

Be kind to each other.

Hear, hear! The fact that more than one BB10-Q interviewee has said this gives me hope, and also makes me hope that one day we won’t need to say this as a reaction to the world.

My thanks to Jeremiah Dutch for a thoughtful and wide-ranging interview! Please check out his debut novella, Natalie and her Lovers, and if you read it, please consider a rating and/or review, as these are so important to us indie authors.

I really do enjoy the BB10-Q interviews with authors and readers. My horizons are always broadened that bit more! I hope you too find them entertaining, enlightening and perhaps even motivating! Now go and write/read that book!

The images used above are either my own or taken from the internet and used in the sense of fair play. If any are used unfairly, please inform me and I will remove them. Thank you for your patience.

Kicking off another thread of blogs (Old School Animation) is Ralph Bakshi’s “Fire and Ice”. If you’ve seen it, you probably consider it a cult-classic of old school animation. And it is. But, if you’ll forgive the heresy, I’d say that as a film, it’s not as great as our golden memory tells us. And yet it deserves all the praise it gets. Huh? How can I reconcile such conflicting thoughts? I would argue that “Fire and Ice” is not more than the sum of all its parts, but that each part is somehow greater than the sum. Does that make sense? What are the parts? Bakshi’s roto-scoping, Frazetta’s art, Steve Sandor’s Dark Wolf, voluptuous women who take the term “scantily clad” to a whole new level, and a legacy that has influenced many, including the Dandy Warhols.

Sit down and watch it alone, and I reckon you might get restless. Sit down with some beer and friends, and you’ll have a great evening ahead. Talk about it, seek out information on how it was made, lap up the gorgeous art, let the nostalgia flow, and then you shall be truly entertained! “Fire and Ice” is not just some animated film; it’s something that happened to many of us.

Friday nights at Fire & Ice sports bar had gotten pretty rough…

It is worth revisiting the actual film, though. Soak up the glorious animation and don’t worry too much about the plot. It kicks off with music that begins ominously, builds up into a tense roll, then suddenly sounds suspiciously like Bakshi’s LOTR theme. Who cares? It’s epic! If you want an example of music applied to F&I with some awesome editing, look no further than the aforementioned Dandy Warhols’ “Wasp In The Lotus”. Dark Wolf appreciation time!

Fire and ice is a common element of fantasy (“Ain’t that right, GRRM?”) and this film brings it at its most basic. Literal ice encroaching upon a place called Lava Keep. The one pushing the ice further south is more interesting – Nekron! A guy who probably would have been, in another life, a flamboyant playboy at times, melancholy moper at others, with a penthouse in New York. A prequel? “Gin On Ice”?

It’s the movement of the characters that really catches the eye early on, a product of the famous rotoscoping Bakshi employed. In a nutshell, footage from live action rotoscoped into the animation. If you want the mechanics, then please watch The Making of Fire and Ice on YouTube. It’s a bit dry but worth it to see the actors charging around or hanging from cranes. There’s something about it that grabs your attention. I guess it’s the realism of movement within an animated world.

Above we have Teegra and the actress who played her, Cynthina Leake. When you watch Fire and Ice, it’s hard to believe it was released as a PG film (maybe one of the reasons it didn’t do so well at the theatres). Teegra is very sexualised, voluptuous and clad in the tiniest of bikinis known to humanity, even after she complains about it being cold. Do a John Rambo and cut some old sack-cloth! Which reminds me, the young man who lusts after Teegra does a nice First Blood leap off into the trees below (and fares much better than Rambo did). Anyway, I digress… Yep, Fire & Ice is very 80s in its depiction of women. As Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote upon release, “If you love comic books but can’t bear the unnecessary bother of turning pages, ‘Fire and Ice’ […] may be for you. It would help if you were a sex-obsessed 12-year old boy, but it isn’t essential.” I’m pretty sure if they’d given it a 15 rating, it would have had hordes of horny teenage lads in those cinema seats. The scene where Teegra teases Larn in the ruins would have set pulses racing. But PG? I would have been sinking into my seat if I were watching it with my Mum, cheeks burning away.

“Come at me, bro!”

Dark Wolf is a fantastic creation, and Steve Sandor brings the reality to his battle prowess. He moves like a panther, then delivers death like Conan on a Crom-tastic day. One of his lines is oft quoted: “Don’t hunt for death, boy. It finds us all soon enough.” The kind of line that none of us will ever say in real life, but secretly wish we could, with a grim set to our jaw.

So who was the creative team behind this classic? Ralph Bakshi, Frank Frazetta, James Gurney, Peter Chung and Thomas Kinkade were the primary five, I think. And… Hang on, I recognise that last name there. It comes up every Christmas when I put carols on YouTube. That guy!? Yes, the man behind a thousand Christmas scenes also worked on an 80s fantasy flick full of sub-humans, prehistoric-type monsters and boobs. Quite a shift in subject matter.

“Come, they told me, purumpa-pum-pum…”

Here’s a YouTube video that I recommend watching. The Master himself, Mr Frazetta. This chap is fascinating to listen to, and imparts some real wisdom that applies not just to art but writing also, I feel. I love the way his eyes widen every now and then. I find his enthusiasm infectious. If you’re like me and would love to have a massive coffee table that was home to Frazetta art books, then you’ll appreciate this short video. A true legend!

About ten years ago, it was announced that Robert Rodriguez was working on a live-action remake. I haven’t read anything since and I’m kinda hoping that has faded away. Do we need it? Do we need a live-action Akira? Did we need a live-action Ghost in the Shell? Okay, some 80s animations deserve a live-action chance, but I’d say they are mostly the cartoons we watched as kids (He-Man, Thundercats, Battle of the Planets please!) and not these classic animated films. They may not be fantastic movies but they occupy a space in our own past, in the cultural zeitgeist of the time, and our imaginations. Making a live-action would disrupt this wondrous flow.

I’ll keep this blog short as I’ve been off the radar recently (been a tough year). I hope everyone is well and will continue to wax lyrical about all the phantasmagorical stuff we watched back in the day. And hey, as Dark Wolf tells us, we “better learn to live with pain.”

Till next time…

Titans

Stop the press! What’s this I find!? Good news, brothers and sisters!

Frank Frazetta and Ralph Bakshi’s ‘Fire and Ice’ Returns to the World of Comics and Role Playing Games | Conskipper

Found this yesterday on Amazon Prime so journeyed back to the 80s and the world of Krull, which was just about to be visited by the Beast, who is an alien! So immediately we have a sci-fi angle to this sword & sorcery flick from 1983. How will Krull fare against Conan, the Beastmaster and Red Sonja? Let’s get started!

Gotta love the 80s glam-fantasy title!

The opening titles are extremely well done. We get the angelic singing over the Colombia pictures logo screen, and then THOSE horns. It’s James “The Horn Master” Horner, maestro of Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, and once again he brings the wonder (and elevates the material). Then comes the glaive (that uber-cool but somewhat misleadingly labelled weapon), spinning back and forth, before slicing across the screen and bringing the title. Nice!

We then enjoy more of the score as a list of British thesps appear on-screen. Freddie Jones, Alun Armstrong, Bernard Bresslaw and Francesca Annis. Which gives me an excuse to insert a photo of her!

“Ynir, I have a spicey feeling we will meet again next year.”

Most fantasy flicks start with sweeping vistas or swords being made or some weird ritual. Not so for Krull. Here we have a bloody great big mountain cruising through space. Not the best design for a spacecraft, I would have thought, but hey…

We’re back in an era of Tell, rather than Show, so we have a voice-over. I remember reading an interview with Francesca Annis, where she said she sat down for the first screening of Dune and Princess Irulan’s voice-over begins. Her thought was, “Oh no, we’re in trouble here…” I don’t mind either way. Obviously depends on whose voice it is. Anthony Hopkins giving us some background in a Thor movie I can take; if it were Bobcat Goldthwait, it might not work so well.

“Aaaggghhh, there is a prophecy…”

Ynir says, in his solemn tone, that, “This was given to me to know…” And then informs the viewer of the Beast and his army of Slayyyyyyyersssss! So Ynir was conveniently given some information. Why or by whom we aren’t told, and it’s just one of those things that we used to be cool with back in the day. Now, with the internet and its army of nitpickers, it’d be cause for many a toxic FB thread. Ahh, they were simpler times…

The Slayers

“Slayyyerrrrrrr!”

The design of the costumes has that sci-fi tinge to it. The knights of Krull look like they just popped over from the Tron set and the Slayers are fantasy-dark in an alien way. Another line of dialogue adds to this sci-fi bent, “Their son shall rule the galaxy!” Wohhh, steady on there! That’s quite a leap, considering we don’t see much of the planet of Krull.

Lysette Anthony had her lines dubbed over, which is a great shame, and hard to miss once you know. Apparently they wanted something “more mature”. Listening to her speak in other roles of the time, I can’t understand what the issue was. She seems quite versatile and certainly not lacking in maturity. Hmm, one of those mysteries. Another interesting story I found was that there was some discussion about Lysa becoming the main protagonist by the end of the film, but the production team didn’t want her “less than pure”. I wonder what could have been…

Lysette Anthony. Look at those eyes!

Ken Marshall arrives on the scene wearing a helmet that looks out of place, but you instantly get that classic Hollywood hero vibe. The fight scenes that follow this opening also seem like a homage to Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood and that kind of dashing, swashbuckling style. Marshall is not exactly buff but has the aforementioned air about him that sells his role as future king (very near future… “Ack!”).

One early scene had me rolling my eyes, though. Lysa and Colwyn play a quick game of Hide & Seek, and then fall in love. This seems to be the first time they’ve met, so a bit hard to swallow, but it’s what follows that hasn’t aged well. Lysa says, “I’ve chosen well.” Colwyn then literally checks her out, his eyes running up and down her body. “So have I!” Maybe not such kingly material…

“What do you mean by new rules for Hide & Seek?”

Then the Slayers attack. There are some neat touches to the Slayers that add to their otherworldly ambience. They can move up vertical walls, which stays this side of looking hokey by the fact they are alien, almost insect in their appearance (like a beetle?). Their weapons are basically laser spears. Yes, lasers vs swords was never going to end well for the noble Tron knights. And the Slayer deaths are quite shocking. A tortured screech and their brains (?) exiting their bodies and burrowing into the floor/ground. Good material for the nightmares of young kids! Which breeds fertile imaginations!

The sets look a bit cheap but I’ve read a lot of money was pumped into them. The later scenes in the swamp are atmospheric, but everything lacks a sense of scale. Maybe I’m being too cynical here, as we are treated to some fantastic outdoor photography of mountains, canyons and plains. I guess I always have this feeling that many of these could be remade using today’s technology and really give the fantasy worlds their due (a la Middle Earth). But then again, remakes are painfully hit and miss, and I can’t argue too much with folks that have had enough of remakes and want something new. But Krull? Come on, guys, we need a remake!

“Lemme introduce you to a liddle friend ‘a mine!”

The glaive is one of THE iconic weapons of fantasy film. It is just cool on so many levels: forged in fire, revealed as volcanic rock falls away, blades pop out, it flies, and makes a cool noise. We all wanted one! And I would now like a pair of Colwyn’s hair-metal leggings.

Anyway, finding the glaive is the beginning of the QUEST. Yep, it’s fantasy so we need a quest to keep us moving along and keep us moving into danger. No sitting at home for our hero. And he needs to assemble his team of fighters, clerics, thieves, giants and wizards. He doesn’t get all of them but he does get Liam “Special Set of Skills” Neeson, so how can he fail?

“I will find you, Potter.”“‘Arry?”

Hagrid, Thenardier and Gort are also in the team along with Qui-Gonn, so things are looking up for Mr Eddington.

There are some memorable lines of dialogue. Not on the scale of Conan, but worth quoting, I feel.

“I came to find a king and I find a boy instead!”

“And fame? Nah. It’s an empty purse. Count it, go broke. Eat it, go hungry. Seek it, go mad!”

 “And you Rell, what would you wish for?” “Ignorance.”

While Lysa is stuck in some pervert’s weird mansion, Colwyn and his team brave quicksand, Slayers, and changelings, but our hero’s hair remains Timotei’d throughout. Ynir visits his old flame, now the Widow of the Web, to learn where the Black Fortress will be next, and this is perhaps my favourite scene of the whole film. Not just because the Lady Jessica turns up, but because we have two very capable actors working their craft. Pity their time was short…

As with so many fantasy films of the era, the score raises it a level or two. James Horner brings us a truly memorable piece in “Ride of the Firemares”. Stirring, heroic, full of wonder, this is fantasy music at its finest. In the top 5 fantasy tunes of all time, says I!

And so the quest goes on. Our heroes defeat the vile Beast (nice design), save the damsel in distress, and lose most of the crew along the way (but don’t seem to fussed by that). Rell the cyclops was the MVP, saving their bacon on numerous occasions. Pretty surprised they took a kid along for the ride. Couldn’t they have left him with one of Liam Neeson’s seven wives in one of the villages we never see? Seriously, does anyone actually live on Krull? This film had a severe lack of Extras. And I realised after a while that I was watching Tucker Jenkins from Grange Hill! Thought I recognised that one.

Jokes aside, Krull stood up quite well upon a revisit. It hit the right spot for nostalgia, had a good sense of adventure, cool characters & monsters, and a fantastic score. Let’s rate it!

Acting8/10Generally good all round. Nothing too hammy. And the Brits, as usual, elevating the material with their thespy skills.Dialogue6/10A few nice lines, mostly serviceable, but some real stinkers. “Hurry back to me, Colwyn!” as Lysa is kidnapped by Slayers.Tension7/10Decent. Rell’s timely arrivals allow death to come very close to the heroes.Action7/10The swashbuckling sword swishing is well done, but there’s a lack of impact in the fight scenes. The Slayerrrrrrrs do raise the action a notch, though.Comedy5/10Ergo is mildly amusing, and that’s about it.Special FX8/10Good for the time. Lasers, flying horses, fire from the hand and the glaive. Ergo’s transformations look very dated now, unfortunately.Production Values7/10The costumes and weapons are good, but some of the “stone” sets do look a bit like they were manufactured in a carpenter’s. Score9/10Excellent!Nostalgia8/10
Hit the spot nicely. reminded me of the comic run that was in my ROTJ comics.Ending8/10They defeat the villain and rescue the girl, but at quite a cost.OVERALL RATING73/100A fun trip back into the 80s. Worth revisiting!Conan the Barbarian (87/100)Krull (73/100)Clash of the Titans (70/100)The Beastmaster (62/100)Red Sonja (59/100)Sorceress (35/100)

Wow, this rises above Clash of the Titans into 2nd place! This may change when I ret-con for Nostalgia.

And that’s it for today, folks. Work on Seasons of Change bk2 is progressing. It’s proving a tougher nut to crack but I had a couple of breakthroughs this week, so hope to get a first draft done by the end of July.

A lot of horrible things happening in the world right now, so please take care, and hug your loved ones. And if you need cheering up, then seek out some old school fantasy to read or watch. I have just finished reading Homeland by RA Salvatore. Damn, this one holds up very well! About to dive into bk2.

Galactic legend indeed!

After a run-in with COVID, I am back to firing on all thrusters. Navigation controls are still a bit dodgy but let’s move on and groove on! Buckmaster Books is joined today by a friend I connected to through a fantasy reader group, Sara Eun Lendal. Over the past few years, we’ve chatted about Denmark and Japan, fantasy (obviously!), McDonald’s, folk music, GoT, religion & politics, and butterflies.

Sara Eun Lendal

Hello and welcome to BB10-Q, Sara. Please tell us where you are, what the weather is like there, and what was the last “local” cuisine you ate.

Hello, thank you for having me here on your blog. I’m from Denmark and right now the weather is quite weird for the season, with occasional snow! My last local stuff was burgers!

Something I always enjoy with these interviews is browsing images of the guest’s country. The photo above caught my eye! And I liked the nature pic, too, ha ha! Just kidding. But Denmark does seem to have some scrumptious-looking burgers. Anyway, where were we? Ah, yes, the interview. You clearly speak English and you obviously speak Danish. Any other languages?

Nope, only English and Danish. I have successfully failed at learning French, German, Korean and Japanese

“successfully failed”? I like that, and shall use it more often in my daily conversations. Yeah, I made a highly successful failed attempt at learning German myself. A night class whilst at university was never going to be blessed with regular attendance, though. Okay, I’m going to impress you with my Danish skills now… Næste spørgsmål!

During our online chats over the past few years, I have learnt that you have a variety of interests and talents. First, the talents. What is your area of expertise?

Professionally? I have a Phd in molecular biology and biochemistry, and worked in that academic field for some years, before recently switching to technical documentation for software. So I actually make a living by writing.

Woh, shut the fridge door! Molecular biology and biochemistry!? My brain is tingling with the possibilities there, combining your field of knowledge with fantasy.

You write, too, when you’re not working. What do you write and why do you write?

I write fantasy and have been doing that since I was what? Ten? My first story fragment, which I think is still sitting on an old Mac somewhere, is from when I was ten. Stories just pop into my head. I just love writing. I can’t stop.

Same here. I was thinking the other day about digging out my teenage writings (which were full of suspiciously familiar sounding names & races).

So just looking at the answers to the two questions there, and I am wondering if you use your field of knowledge (molecular biology and biochemistry) within your writing. Does it inspire particular ideas?

Not directly, but maybe in my creature design and worldbuilding. I am a big fan of speculative biology and though magic adds an extra facet, I like my worldbuilding to be at least a bit plausible in regards to the laws of physics.

I’ve seen some nice art by you also. How often do you draw/paint?

Less than I would like to, I am very good at procrastinating, but I try to draw and paint at least two days per week. I also sketch a lot and make many, many doodles when I should be working.

I’m suitably impressed!

Which authors and artists influence you or impress you?

For writing, for sure all the masters of old, like Tolkien, Ursula K. LeGuin and Anne McCaffrey. And Frank Herbert. They shaped my imagination as a child. More “recently” we have GGRM and Guy Gavriel Kay. For artists, I love the images created by Michael Whelan, Salvadore Dali and HR Giger, just to name a few. Elfquest had a huge influence as did mangas and Warhammer art. I really like intricate details and sweeping vistas with a hint of the unknown. 

I love the last sentence there! Yes, art that gives you so much to feast your eyes upon, but also asks questions of your imagination. I used to buy White Dwarf magazine, pretty much just to stare at the awesome art.

The legendary Ian Miller. Loved his Fighting Fantasy art.

I’ve read some of your writing and was really impressed. I was hoping to see more! Any chance you’ll be putting something out there in the world in the near future?

Thank you, and I hope so! I am really trying to put a novel together, and make a schedule to write at least 30 min each day. On the same project, even.

Good luck with it! I’ll be waiting.

I keep seeing Warhammer 40k mentioned on your FB feed. What’s the appeal there? And for a beginner like me, where should I start with the books? Are they worth it!?

Yes, I love Warhammer, even though I never played the game and only have painted a few figures. To me, the appeal is in the whole over-the-top worldbuilding, characters and the grimdark tone. I am unendingly fascinated and entertained by pushing the limits of the imagination. 1000 years in the future. Naah, let’s make it 40000 years. But I understand that it’s not a narrative that appeals (and it doesn’t need to) to everybody.

The books are definitely worth a read, but they do require one to like warfare, violence and unhappy endings. I would say that the books with Ciaphas Cain is a good place to start, they are actually funny! Or Horus Rising, if you want to deep-dive into the lore.

I’ll just leave this here…

What frustrates you about online communities and what makes you happy?

Hmm, I think the most frustrating for me is that it’s very easy to get into a digital argument and to misunderstand people on text.
I love how easy it is to ask questions and share experiences with people, and that you can connect with people (like you) who share an interest despite being from the other side of the world.

Absolutely. I’ve come to see in the past few years how important emojis can be, and also, punctuation! It’s surprising how not putting a full-stop at the end of your sentence can totally change the tone.

But yes, much as the internet can be a cess-pool, it has also given us incredible new opportunities and chances to connect with people from all over the world.

What show/film has disappointed you recently and what has surpassed your expectations or surprised you?

As a huge fan of A Song of Ice and Fire, I think the lasts seasons of Game of Thrones is a given. When they ran out of book I ran out of fucks to give. I was also less than impressed with Picard and the adaptation of A Wheel of Time. On the flip side, Dune was a masterpiece, a visual and cinematic treat that surpassed my expectations by a worm-length. Peacemaker the tv show is also the best shit I have watched in ages.

Agreed. Dune was visually sumptuous!

How do you decide which book to buy next? Word-of-mouth recommendation? Front cover art? Goodreads reviews?

Back in the day, I just went browsing in a bookshop and picked by cover and blurb, but nowadays I use recommendation lists such as on Goodreads. However, I am in two fantasy book clubs, so I have a pile of shame of books you could build a house from. 

Yeah, I suffer from an ever-growing TBR pile. No idea how it happens. A most perplexing mystery.

Okay, what is the nerdiest thing in your home?

From my figurines of hot anime men to special edition Warhammer books, take your pic

Ha ha! I sold/threw out/gave away all my cool stuff before I came to Japan. Would love to rebuild my SW collection, but not sure the wife would be too happy.

And what is the nerdiest thing you’ve ever done?

Going to a convention cosplaying as Tifa Lockheart is probably the nerdiest (only cosplay in my life). I don’t nerd so much in public.

Winter is coming…

Righty-ho, let’s move onto the standard BB10-Q:

Q1) What book are you reading now? OR What was the last book you read?

Green Earth by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Q2) What genre of books do you usually read?

Fantasy.

Q3) What was the last book that made you cry or laugh out loud or gave you pause for thought?

Green Earth. The first book in a long time that impressed me intellectually.

Q4) What book do you remember fondly from your childhood?

Clan of the Cave Bear.

Q5) Apart from reading, what hobbies do you have?

Too many. Painting, collecting fossils, travelling, drinking craft beers, playing video games, diving (occasionally)…

Sara, do you know this one!? Ha ha!

Q6) Where is your favourite place to read? (Ex. In bed, on the sofa, in a park, in a coffee shop etc.)

I can read standing up, so it doesn’t really matter.

Q7) What book would you like to see made into a TV show and who would you like to play the lead character?

Uuuuh. I would like to see an adaptation of Dragonriders of Pern, and Lessa to be played by Zendaya.

Q8) If you could meet a fictional character in real life, who would it be and why?

God. He would have some interesting answers.

Q9) What literary world would you like to experience/live in?

Dragon Riders or Dino Riders. Yeah, I have a thing with riding dragons and dinosaurs.

Q10) If you could say something to the entire world today, what would it be?

Listen to science.

Yes! It would be fantastic if people stopped listening to the random dude on YouTube who hawks supplements. As Richard Dawkins once said, “Science works… bitches!”

A big thank you to Sara for taking the time to join me and answer all these questions. I truly hope we’ll see the completed novel one day, and then some more!

Please take care everyone, keep practicing good hygiene (it’s actually a good idea anyway!), and get vaccinated. I was so grateful for the protection of the vaccines when our family was hit with the virus. Stay safe everyone and go get a burger!

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This has been going round in my head for a while now, wanting to write something about Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, a man so famous people only use his surname. Many probably don’t know his first name and few know his middle name. Yes, the one and only Rasputin!

And they shall know my name! Well, some of it anyway…

As the title of the blog suggests, I will be looking at who Rasputin actually was, what kind of man the myth-making machine made him, and will be interspersing this with as many versions as I can find of the utterly awesome Boney M song about Russia’s greatest love machine. We’ll kick off with the original:

There lived a certain man, his name was Bobby Farrell!

This song was my introduction to the man Rasputin, with Boney M’s “Nightflight To Venus” being one of our family’s car cassettes. It took me a while to get the lyrics right, even thinking the chorus was, “Ra Ra Rushatees!”. Yeah, I don’t know why either. This song has a lot of truth in it, a lot of sensationalism and an incredible amount of groove. Seriously, this song is so good, I think it’s difficult to screw it up, as we shall see.

Anyway, whilst I could do a whole blog on the brilliant Boney M, this time I want to talk about Rasputin. Let’s check the lyrics against the truth!

Rasputin did live in Russia a long time ago, 1869 to 1916 to be exact. He was big, standing at an impressive 6ft3 (193cm), probably strong (citation needed!) and there is something about the eyes. Whether or not most people were scared of him, and the ladies in Moscow swooned over him, I’m not sure. But he was quite the ladies man, so…

It seems he was a charismatic preacher but I think the “Mad Monk” moniker is unfair. For starters, he wasn’t a monk, having never been ordained. And considering the influence he had within the Russian royal family, I reckon he had a fairly good grip on his sanity. I can’t find out where Mad Monk came from, but I presume the Hammer film, Rasputin the Mad Monk, at least helped to spread the fictional title. It’s a good film from what I remember, with Christopher Lee on particularly good form. Rasputin, Dracula, Lord Summerisle – the man could certainly bring charismatic characters to lordly life.

Let’s bring in the first cover of Boney M’s hit, this one by the exceptional and endearing Aurora. I love what she does with the song. A little change here and there, but it’s almost like she’s just playing around.

Next fact-check: were Rasputin and Queen Alexandra lovers? This too seems to be a flight of fancy. He had some sway over Nicholas and his wife, but it doesn’t seem like there was any rumpy-pumpy going on there. However, it does appear to be the case that he had quite a sexual appetite, played around a lot, and had a big chopper. His foot-long member is supposed to reside in a pickle jar in the Museum of Erotica in St Petersburg. Hmm, not sure I really want to know the truth with that. I’ll just settle for Rasputin being a great love machine, possibly Russia’s foremost man between the sheets in that period. Ra Ra Rasputin, indeed!

The healing powers he was rumoured to have in relation to the tsarina’s hemophiliac son, Alexei, have no doubt been exaggerated. But again, there is a grain in truth in it all, I suspect. Reading up on Wikipedia, it seems that this is one part of the Rasputin mythos that leads to vigorous debate. Hyponosis, simple power of suggestion, a calming influence on the boy and his mother, faith healing – all are put forward as possibilities. Who knows? It seems certain though that, as Boney M remind us, the tsarina believed he was a holy healer who would heal her son.

And here I’ll slip in the second cover, which is a bit of a curio. Rasputin, played on a hundred year old organ. Bet you didn’t see that one coming! Please have a read of the comments below this video. One thread gets into a heated to-and-fro over Rasputin’s death. Damn, they really need the lyrics to know how he died! “Oh, those Russians!”

But this miraculous healing power that gained him surprising access to the royal family, would also be his downfall. Being the new boy in court and so popular, is never a good thing. He inevitably made enemies amongst the Russian nobility. “And the demands to do something about this outrageous man became louder and louder!” While he was in the right place at the right time to gain influence with the royal family, he was then in the wrong place at the wrong time when things blew up for Russia in general. Rasputin must have been an easy scapegoat to target the anger. A boozing womaniser who was supposed to be a man of god? A man with the power of hypnosis who had suddenly found favour with the tsar? Quite an easy job to carry out a character assassination. And then they went one step further and actually murdered the poor chap.

“How the heck did I get into a kids cartoon!?”

Third cover coming at you now. This one is a favourite of mine, as it showcases the immense talent of the Ayoub Sisters. I love the last chorus, where they reverse the cello and violin.

So, how did the big man meet his end? Prince Felix Yusupov, a noble, gathered a bunch of his fellows and conspired to kill Rasputin. His version of the events is the story that has made its way into popular belief, an incredible tale of Rasputin being extremely difficult to kill. Once again, who really knows? My gut feeling is that Yusupov wanted to depict Rasputin as a demon with supernatural powers. If they just shot him, it might be seen as a cowardly act. Pretty sure the animated version isn’t accurate. Too much green psychedelia.

Next cover is one for the YouTube generation. I like the vocals in this one, with the singer giving it a bit of fire.

You’ve probably seen the film or the trailer for the new Kingsman movie. I haven’t seen any of the series, but this one caught my attention because of… yes, Rasputin dropping in, played by Rhys Ifans. It looks like they’ve really gone for the “Dude was evil!” angle, just as Guillermo del Toro did in Hellboy. Makes me feel sorry for the chap, to be honest. He was a holy healer who got lucky. Granted he abused his position thereafter, but then got offed by the local toffs. And then posthumously gets elevated (knocked down?) to being an uber-evil man of mystical powers. Let the poor man rest in peace!

“This is as historically accurate as Braveheart…”

The next cover is from a guy who does these wonderful medieval covers of famous songs. It once again shows that the song Rasputin is fantastic, whatever the genre.

I encourage everyone to read up on Rasputin, as the legend/truth is quite fascinating. I’m reminded of him coming up in a GCSE history lesson and feeling a buzz. How could someone from such a cool song be mentioned by my teacher!?

Wikipedia has a good run-down, as usual. And History Co-Operative has a nice Fact or Fiction section.

Who was Grigori Rasputin? The Story of the Mad Monk Who Dodged Death

And I am still not finished with the covers! Seriously, there are so many. Here’s one from an artist who I find adorable. She does short snippets of songs and presents them with such a sweet smile.

I mentioned Christopher Lee and Rhys Ifans have played Rasputin on film, but I must also give a shout out to Alan Rickman, who gave a more subtle interpretation of the man in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny (1996). The title is a bit bloated but it’s worth a watch for Rickman’s performance and seeing Ian McKellan as the tsar, pulling at his moustache.

Someone just told him that Kevin Costner has come to visit.

And yet another cover! I may be wrong but I think these are actual Russian ladies singing. The male singer is not as kinetic as Boney M’s Bobby Farrell, but he is actually singing. This may be heresy but I found Farrell’s prancing around a bit distracting. Sorry! He was a legend but too much for me. Quirky fact: Bobby Farrell died on the same date and same city as Rasputin (30th December, St Petersburg).

What would Rasputin think if someone told him, “In about sixty years time, a Euro-Carribean pop group, managed by a German, will sing a song about your life, and it will become a massive hit, and then years later it will become famous for a whole new generation as people dance to it on a new invention of the age.”? He’d probably have responded, “You’re mad!”. “Funny you should say that…”

8th cover coming at you. This one is fun! The West Cork Ukelele Orchestra!

And number 9. I have to share this one as Taii is so talented, and I love hearing the bass lines for songs. You have to give Frank Farian credit for “writing” such a catchy, memorable and gripping song (the band deny the similarity but it does sound suspiciously familiar to a Turkish folk song, Kâtibim). Although popular in Russia, Boney M were prohibited from playing it when performing in Moscow in 1978. Anyway, bring that bass!

My tenth and final cover of Rasputin is a bit of a find in the vast universe of YouTube. A class of people in Singapore learning the ukelele, I believe, and enjoying themselves. Rasputin has truly traveled far and wide!

And that’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed this light look at Rasputin: The Man, The Myth & The Song. Please tune in for more interviews (got two lined up), hopefully a Throwback Thursday, and a new series of blogs that will give appreciation to a giant of the fantasy genre.

Please take care everyone. Sadly, COVID is still hammering countries all over the world. We can only hope 2022 is the year the pandemic becomes an endemic. Be kind, stay safe and Ra Ra see you next time!

Happy New Year! / 明けましておめでとうございます！

It’s been a busy, old time of late but I am very happy to be back posting a BB10-Q interview with an author whose life is as fascinating as the protagonist of her works. So let’s meet KT Davies and Breed, a lovable war-spawn whose adventures span several books.

Hello there. Where are you right now and how are you doing there with the end of the year approaching?

Oddly enough I’m in pretty much the same place I’ve been for the last year and a half. Thank you Corona virus! I’m in the snowy West Midlands in the UK. It is beautiful, and extremely festive with all the little craft markets and ice rinks and carol singers…okay maybe could do without the last one, but hey ho, each to their own.

West Midlands!? I was there for three years, studying something at Warwick. Lovely area! Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwick Castle, Kenilworth. And what’s that you say? You’re in need of some carol singing? “Hark the herald angels sing…!”

Would love me a bit of snow this winter…

Obvious question: what are you working on right now?

I’m working on Breed 6, the final novel in The Chronicles of Breed,  https://kdavies.net/adtk so no pressure there. I’m also plotting a potential follow-up to my latest novel, The Spider and the Fly.  https://kdavies.net/tsatf

And look at those awesome covers! Once you’ve had a quick gander, have a closer gaze.

I am about to start reading, bk3, “Something Wicked”, so I see I have some catching up to do. Six books!? Crikey, Breed is a busy, little rogue!

Breed is quite a creation. From whence did the little rascal come?

Breed is the ultimate outsider, the random dungeon encounter, the nameless monster heroes kill without a second thought in pursuance of their very important quest. That was my starting point. I wanted to tell the monster’s story, not in a Mary Shelley, ‘let’s pity the poor beast kinda way’. Breed is a protagonist, not a victim. I also wanted the character to be entirely accessible to all readers which is why, in soon to be six books and several short stories, I’ve never mentioned their gender. I didn’t want anything to get in the way of a reader being able to share Breed’s adventures.

Being a chap, I had Breed as male for a while, but it finally dawned on me that the gender is never mentioned. After that, Breed was Breed.

One aspect of Breed I really enjoyed is the heightened sense of smell. In my review I wrote that this “is a brilliant concept and allows for some amusing olfactory imagery.” Any reason behind this super-sense? I have a very strong sense of smell myself, so it appealed to me.

Thanks for noticing that, not many people do. I wanted Breed not just be a human in an alien skin. I wanted aspects of their character to be defined by their physicality as well as their experiences. Being a lizard-like creature, I wanted to incorporate their ability to ‘taste’ the air. I like to challenge myself as a writer so I enjoy a little creative, anthropomorphic interoception.

I’ll just add a cute Komodo dragon in here. I think he’s tasting the air. “Delicious!”

Breed is a rather sarcastic so and so. Do you have a similar sense of humour? If so, please tell me a couple of your favourite comedy shows.

I have what they call where I come from, a ‘dry sense of humour’, nothing like that potty mouth Breed, I assure you. I’m not a big TV watcher but just before the first lockdown I found an old Canadian show called ‘Corner Gas’ and watched it over until the pixels on the tv bleached out (not really but I watched the whole six series about four times). It’s super gentle, nothing much happens, and I loved it.

A new one for me.

I’ve had a look at your web-site and learnt a great deal. You were born in a cold climate, got married in the 19th century, have a few lovable demons running round, and also a cat-worshipping cult of dogs. You like having your ears blasted with heavy metal. You are incredibly creative and skilled at making things! I’m seriously intrigued as to what the dragon skeleton-thingey is. You patrol your lands on horseback and spear any trespassers. And train in between shifts. You read awesome books and play awesome games. Oh, and you throw axes. Did I miss anything? So, my question is, how the heck do you have time for all that!?

I don’t! Which makes me sad.

https://kdavies.net/Go and have a look!

What was the last live metal show you attended? And what concert sticks out in your mind as one that was “survived” as opposed to merely enjoyed?

Oh, this makes me really, really sad because I haven’t been to a gig since before the plague struck. The last band I saw was a Folk-bluegrass ensemble called ‘The Dead South’ they were excellent, and I heartily recommend them. One time at a festival, I can’t remember the band I was watching but out of nowhere I was on my arse, literally wondering what hit me. Before I got trampled to death, some bruiser hauled me onto my feet and apologised for punching me. Apparently, he’d thumped me because he thought I’d punched his sister. His sister also sheepishly introduced herself, she must have been *at least* six foot tall, built like a navvie, and looked like she could bench me. I was both alarmed and flattered that they thought I’d been insane enough to hit her. Anyway, they bought me a couple of pints and we parted ways the best of friends.

Ouch! But good result!

The mask I see on your web-site is pretty amazing. Do you make them for your own cos-play? Or do you sell them?

Thank you. I used to sell ‘em when I was a prop maker. I might start doing so again now that the family have got back into cos-play. Who knows?

And the Dragon-skeleton?

It was a giant puppet/monster for a LARP game. It had glowing eyes and everything. I really enjoyed making it.

What started you on the spear-throwing?

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved weapons (no, you’re weird). Swords, axes, bows, spears, muskets, cannons! shinai, lightsabers, you name it. Not so much modern weapons, but we do play airsoft every now and then.

A nice, little assortment.

And give us a tip on how to throw axes.

Hold the blunt end, breathe through your eyelids, and use the Force. Seriously though, don’t take tips from me because I’m also the person who took a chunk out of their leg while splitting logs.

Again…Ouch!

When I did a ninja-experience here, the trick was to cartwheel the upper body when throwing shuriken.

Now you’ve told me that, do you have to kill me? “She knows too much…”

And…he misses!

And this little spot of banter allows me to seamlessly segue into my next question… You’ve been to Japan! And made a knife at a small forge outside Kameoka. I’ve lived here twenty years and I have never made a knife. Can you share a few more details about your time here? Did you make any faux-pas whilst here?

I have, and it was amazing. Again, I’ve been fascinated with certain aspects of Japanese culture since I was a sprog. I think it ties in with my love of Star Wars which as you know, riffed off Kurasawa’s film ‘The Hidden Fortress’ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051808/ . I also studied Kendo for about eight years on and off, and I’ve done a little bit of Karate and Aikido.

“Obi-Wan, are you a Jedi or a jidai-geki?”

Making a knife using a fan forge was just so cool. As a writer, I squirrel away experiences like that for later use. The village was beautiful, the smith was a master, and he had a super cute Shibu Inu called Merry who my son fell in love with. It was an amazing experience, and I will most certainly do it again. As an aside, there is something magical about forges and smithing which is why I put Wayland (AKA Volund), into one of the Breed books.

I know what you mean about the forge. I get sleepy-dreamy just being in front of an open fire.

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Museum

We crammed in as much as we could in ten short days. We stayed in a groovy hotel in Tokyo with a delightful Asimo type robot greeter. It also had a fantastic coffee shop (coffee is life). We then shinkansened our way to beautiful Kyoto in the shadow of Fuji san. In Kyoto we stayed in a quaint ryokan. In a way, the Japanese people reminded me a little bit of us brits. There seems to be, superficially at least, some cultural similarities–  like apologising for breathing too hard combined with the ability to party like all the booze in the world was about to reach its sell-by date. We saw some great shows. We got super excited and bought a huge Spring, cherry blossom Gundam (from the store under the Giant Gundam in Odaiba city), without any idea how we were going to get it back to the UK. (We ended up leaving several sweatshirts and a couple of pairs of flipflops). I fell in love with Japanese toilets and fully intend on getting one when we reno our bathroom, oh yes. As I said before I practiced kendo for a few years and we were lucky to be able to watch a class in a beautiful old dojo.

Ah, yes, Japanese toilets. They range from a hole in the ground to the Starship Enterprise. The heated seats are particularly appreciated in winter.

As for faux pas, we did our best to study up on etiquette before travelling, as you do. I think we did okay but then everyone was so nice I doubt they would have called us out if we’d screwed up. One unavoidable issues was that me and the other half have a fair few tattoos. So he and I used the tub in our room in the ryokan rather than the communal onsen downstairs. We were allowed to use ‘em, and my other half did, but I ain’t into the whole, getting nekkid in front of strangers thing either.

It’s not as restrictive as it used to be, but some places still have signs up about tattoos. I think some places differentiate these days between standard tatts and the irezumi body art.

Back to Breed. I say in my review for Tooth and Claw (bk2) that this is a book with “a veritable library of put-downs and curses. K.T. Davies has a real flair for that!” Did you grow up with four older brothers or something!? Where does the inspiration come for all these wonderful verbal assaults?

Heh. Where I come from swearing is an equal opportunities hobby. As I’m not a monster, I try to be mindful not to turn the air blue inappropriately like at the local church faire or funerals and Christenings. I don’t always succeed, but I try!

The inspiration for much of Breed comes from the era of highwayman late 17th century to mid-18th. I love frockcoats and flintlocks, and baroque and roll and roister-doisters spewing thieves’ cant.

“Did someone call for a dandy highwayman?”

And onto the last question for this part of the interview: what can we expect to see in the future from yourself as an author or otherwise?

That is a good question. I’ve got so many ideas bubbling away in the old brain pan, it’s tough knowing where to start. Unfinished business first, so that’s Breed 6, possibly another Spider and the Fly, and I’m thinking of revisiting my first novel which was epic fantasy and deserves some love now that I know what I’m doing. 

I, for one, would be very interested in reading some epic fantasy by KT Davies, so here’s hoping!

And here are the BB10-Q.

Q1) What book are you reading now? OR What was the last book you read?

The last book I read was Italo Calvino’s ‘If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller’.

Q2) What genre of books do you usually read?

Anything and everything. Boring answer, but true.

Q3) What was the last book that made you cry or laugh out loud or gave you pause for thought?

The only book that has made me cry was The Lord of the Rings when I thought Frodo was dead, but that was a long time ago.

Q4) What book do you remember fondly from your childhood?

The BFG.

Q5) Apart from reading, what hobbies do you have?

As mentioned above, far too many. Currently, I’m mostly playing online MMOs. I’m also doing a bit of CrossFit because on some level I must be a masochist.

Q6) Where is your favourite place to read? (Ex. In bed, on the sofa, in a park, in a coffee shop etc.)

A sun-kissed beach but that ain’t happened in a while *shakes fist at the Covid sky*. I usually end up reading in bed or the comfy chair by the log burner, if the dogs haven’t beaten me to it. 

Q7) What book would you like to see made into a TV show and who would you like to play the lead character?

Dangerous to Know of course! I think it would make an excellent animated series. I have no idea who would voice them though. 

Who could voice this wonderful character?

Q8) If you could meet a fictional character in real life, who would it be and why?

None of mine that’s for sure, they scare me. Someone nice and fluffy like Dracula.

“I’m fluffy…”

Q9) What literary world would you like to experience/live in?

Not Star Wars, with my luck I’d rock up on Alderaan. I’d go generic steampunk, I think. You’ve got plenty of fantasy, magic, and robots but also indoor plumbing. Even with magic, ye olde medieval worlds without flushing toilets and weevils in your bread does not appeal.

Q10) If you could say something to the entire world today, what would it be?

Oooh, something really cool and inspirational. The thing I find myself saying most often to the sprogs other than ‘bring those plates downstairs’, is that it costs nothing to be nice. So, I guess that’s it. Be nice you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

And that wraps it up. My thanks to KT Davies for allowing Buckmaster Books a peek inside her world. If you haven’t checked out The Chronicles of Breed yet, I urge you to do so. Breed is a great character who gave me so many laughs, and kept me very much entertained with their adventures (which mostly involve Breed trying not to die horribly!).

As always, there will be a giveaway. Details on the Facebook post. I hope you enjoyed this interview, are keeping warm, and staying safe. I can’t speak for the whole world but Japan is in a better place now than we were before summer. It’s not over yet but I feel somewhat hopeful.

Ah, just a quick challenge to throw out there: whilst doing this interview with KT Davies, I was reminded of three episodes in Blackadder, one each from series II, III, and IV. If anybody can correctly guess the episodes, I’ll give you a nugget of purest green (subject to availability from Lord Percy).

I finished Joe Abercrombie’s excellent trilogy at the weekend, and it left me with a thousand thoughts. Okay, maybe not a thousand. One has to be realistic, after all. One line of thinking I had was that characters tried to change but greater forces crushed their efforts. Logen falls back into the world of the Bloody Nine when violence rears its ugly head. Jezal wants to be a better man, too, and ends up in the position to do so, but is powerless against the will of Bayaz. Glokta? Maybe he could change, but one suspects (as he keeps telling the reader), he has had so much stripped away that he is the only way he can be now. Please note I have not read further books. I have a hope that, if the story does continue, Ardee and Glokta will pull each out of their respective pits of despair.

Compulsive reading.

This is perhaps the main theme of The Wire: the institutions and environments make change for the better almost impossible. McNulty wants to do good police work but Rawls and Burrell are far too concerned about their promotions and retirement to allow it. Having good numbers is far more important than actually solving crimes and bringing the perpetrators to justice. Frank Sobotka is fighting against a cop with a petty grudge, changing times and a powerful drug-smuggling operation. Tommy Carcetti quickly comes up against the realities of the political world. And the tragedy of the school kids is heart-breaking. Dookie especially. Even Stringer Bell (no benevolent hero) finds himself in a world just as corrupt as the one he is trying to leave when he attempts to go legitimate. Bubbles is the only one who truly escapes the prison he was in, one of addiction.

Compulsive viewing.

Both First Law and The Wire subvert the more traditional trope of one man (usually a bloke!) heroically changing the world by himself, often because he’s The Chosen One or a fantastically capable police officer. First Law and The Wire give us what is a more realistic view of the way things are, which is that heroes can only run or fight so far, until they are stopped by entrenched, immovable forces. Both the books and the show should make for depressive consumption, but they are not. Not entirely anyway. They are thoroughly compelling, mainly due to the quality of the writing. It is perhaps the struggles of individual characters that make it so engrossing. We want them to succeed and cheer them on, even though we know failure is likely and the cost may be great indeed. The struggle is what gives us hope, maybe. Abercrombie dances perilously close to a hopeless state of affairs, but in my opinion, deftly stays this side of the line, giving the reader enough to grasp at, a slim thread that may lead to something better.

Let’s look at some of the individual characters. I want to start with Bayaz, as the Tolkien fan in me has a few words to say!

Bayaz, First of the Magi, as illustrated in the graphic novel ‘Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law‘

So Bayaz is god-like in his powers and his perception of the world. People are short-lived and nothing more than cattle. He would sacrifice thousands for whatever he believes to be “the greater good”. Bayaz is basically the anti-Gandalf. Whereas Gandalf saw in the Shire something that was worth fighting for, Bayaz is dismissive of even trying to help those less fortunate. Gandalf was a benevolent guide and guardian, marshalling forces against a truly terrible threat. Bayaz? Is he any better than Khalul? Are the thousands of deaths in the First Law books simply a result of their bitterness towards the other? There is nothing noble in Bayaz’ methods or even goals. He claims to be preserving the Union, but is he just preserving something that allows him to delve deeper into magic and knowledge, a buffer between himself and Khalul? A man needs peace and quiet to study after all. I doubt Logen’s father told him that, but he may have.

Just as Bayaz cares not one whit about the deaths he causes towards the end of LAOK, one can argue that those higher up the ladder in The Wire lose no sleep over the death and suffering that occurs in the city of Baltimore. What they do lose sleep over is how it makes them look. As McNulty could see, black people getting murdered in the poor neighbourhoods was nothing newsworthy, but a serial killer on the loose? Now that makes the authorities look bad and provides delicious headlines.

Invested interests make it almost impossible for Jezal to be a good king and McNulty to bring down the drug king-pins. Ned Stark refused to play the games of thrones. Jezal has to play the game under strict instruction from Bayaz. McNulty tries to cheat the game and has limited success. All three lose a great deal but what is the alternative? Ned cannot say no to his king and friend, Robert Barratheon. Jezal is trapped now in the cage Bayaz carefully constructed. And McNulty has to leave the police. They struggle against the way it is, and ultimately failed to change anything of significance.

Logen Ninefingers. His journey with Bayaz and company offers a glimpse of what could be. Away from the violence of the north, away from his bloody past and all the grudges it has born, he becomes a better person. He helps Jezal, finds a kind of intimacy with Ferro, and the Bloody Nine only makes one appearance, I believe (when he and Ferro encounter the Shanka). Keep him away from the violence, or find a way to channel it, and Logen moves away from his brutal past. But alas, he returns to the north, returns to the environment that created him, returns to the killing. I feel we should hate Logen for his misdeeds, but there is a real sense of tragedy there. I’m not qualified to go into just what the Bloody Nine is, but it seems like an extreme form of dissociative identity disorder (DID). Violence triggers the emergence of this other personality. If he had stayed away from the north, would he have had a chance at a life free from the Bloody Nine?

in The Wire, we have more than one character who cannot escape their environment. I want to look at Michael, as his arc is particularly tragic. Like Logen, there are glimpses at a life away from the violence. Michael is intelligent and caring, and in a different environment, one suspects he could have gone onto a prosperous life. But external forces pull him deeper into the darkness. Marlo, Chris and Snoop want him to join their organisation. Cutty’s good intentions are misunderstood due to Michael’s own upbringing. The struggle to care for his younger brother, Bug, pushes him to accepting work within the drug trade. In the end he has become a cold-blooded killer. It’s likely he’ll end up like Omar, with many enemies and a senseless death. The choices he faces are similar to the ones many characters in both First Law and The Wire confront; essentially no choice at all. One path leads to an early death or hurting those you love, the other path brings short-term gains but a road that you will be stuck walking until you die. This is, I think, part of what makes First Law and The Wire so utterly compelling – we don’t condone their actions, but we can empathise to a degree with their predicaments. We want them to find a better way but it’s hard to blame them for the path they take. I find it strange in the real world when people say, “Everyone has a choice.” Really?

I’m not sure there’s an easy parallel in The Wire to Sand dan Glokta. Because Abercrombie gives us so much of his inner thoughts, it is easy to understand him as a person, even if we can’t empathise with him (at least, I hope nobody knows what it is like to endure what he has). Perhaps there are similarities with the lower ranks of Avon Barksdale’s organisation and that of Marlo Stanfield. Wee-Bey and Chris are given orders to kill and they do so. Glokta is given a task by Sult and he knows he must complete that task, in any way possible, regardless of the methods. None of them seem to have any compunction about the nasty things they do. They kill or torture without mercy, but to my mind, the real evil is above them. Sult, Avon and Marlo are utterly without remorse. Sult wants power at all costs, Barksdale wants the money, and Marlo seems mainly interested in not being “disrespected” by anyone. To these ends, they are happy to order their underlings to do horrible things.

Does Glokta have a choice? He makes it quite clear throughout the books that he doesn’t. Each solution to the current problem leads to a future dilemma. Each fork in the road has one way leading to his imminent demise. Do Wee-Bey and Chris have any choice? Perhaps more than Glokta, but I’m not sure they even contemplate there being another way. They have been born into an environment that breeds this kind of violence. What other life have they known? Wee-Bey’s son, Namon, is taken away from that world, and seems to prosper. He is given a chance by someone who has enough power to change the equation in his life. Glokta has no such luck. He must answer to Bayaz. It’s clear that Bayaz will find another to fill the post if the current occupant proves unreliable; Jezal learned this the hard way. Those lower down the ranks are expendable.

Ferro is even harder to find a match for in The Wire. She is one sense, vengeance incarnate, as that is all she strives for. But an external force, Logen, hinted that there could be something more to life. Logen was someone that maybe, just maybe, she could trust. But circumstances took him away, and neither of them had the courage, experience or awareness to act upon on what they were feeling.

Ferro is yet another tragic figure. Her burning vengeance is like rocket fuel, but she’ll never satisfy her thirst. If she somehow managed to kill every single Ghurkish, I suspect she wouldn’t stop and say, “A good job, well done!”, and then relax. I’m reminded of a line in a film I re-watched recently, Michael Mann’s excellent Heat. Al Pacino’s cop (or is it Diane Venora’s character repeating what he said to her?) says, “All I am is what I’m after.” Ferro is defined by her vengeance. If she were given another chance to define herself, maybe there would be a more hopeful future. But Bayaz is unlikely to offer that.

Bayaz is ultimately the embodiment of the status quo. Being close to immortal, he needs for things to stay the way they are, which is serving his interests. Anyone who wants to change the way things are will ultimately come up against him, even if they manage to overcome all those who stand before him. Change seems unlikely in the world portrayed in The Wire (which is the real world) because the institutions are either broken or need for things to remain as they are, ie. serving their interests. Is it hopeless?

I’ll end with an answer to that question, an answer from Tolkien’s world.

It’s hard to believe this right now, to be honest. But I have to believe that there is hope. Hope that someone can help another find a new path to travel. Hope that people will see for themselves that they are being lied to or misled, and so seek another road. Hope that there is more good out there than bad. Samwise would agree, and he’d say it’s worth fighting for.

That’s it for today, my friends. I hope you found this mildly entertaining and perhaps thought-provoking. The weather is cooling here (at least, it’s supposed to be; 29c today) and schools are back to normal. Numbers are getting better here and I feel hopeful that Japan is getting a handle on this pandemic. Please take care everyone and seek out hope over despair.

Beer, books & bangers! This is the life!

PS I don’t own the rights to any images here, of course. I hope I am using them all in the name of “fair use”.

This may be a ruse, but the weather has dramatically cooled here the last two days. The humidity may come back to strike in a sneak attack, but for now, I have that annual sensation akin to euphoria. I no longer have to shut myself in air-conditioned rooms, or sweat whilst taking a poop (sorry!), or feel like a space laser is burning my head when I put the laundry out. I feel free of the oppressive heat.

This summer has once again been tough, but we are fortunate that none of us have caught the coronavirus. My wife is fully vaxxed, my elder son and I have had our first shot, and we are all masking up, washing our hands, and generally laying low. The Delta variant has hit Japan harshly. Up until Delta arrived, Japan was doing an excellent job in mitigating the spread of the virus, mainly through exercising basic health measures. It saddened me to see the massive difference between the numbers here and the numbers in the UK & USA. But now Japan is reaching the top five for daily new cases. And with a belated and slow vaccine roll-out (and worrying contaminations!), the battle with Delta has not gone so well. I can only hope the tide turns in the next few months.

We did manage to avoid a summer of total doom & gloom, though. We cooked some fun meals, and the boys made three dinners. To be honest, we ate a lot over the summer! I seriously need to shed a few pounds before the next annual health-check, else the doctor will chop off an arm to compensate.

So what have we eaten?

Sushi! Since going to the conveyer-belt sushi place isn’t such a great idea right now, we ordered in. This stuff was sooooo good! And I must get back into Dyrk Ashton’s gloriously epic War of Gods.

A Japanese breakfast (grilled salmon, vegetable soup and natto on rice), curry rice, and mabo-dofu, all made by the boys. I definitely have to get them into the habit of doing this once a month!

A bit burnt but that is an awesome breakfast (l): egg toasted onto bread, with the ketchup wall essential to stop the egg sliding off before it’s cooked and making an unholy mess. Steak & cheese sandwich (c) and quesadilla burger (r). All made by myself, and so quite junky!

Before Delta came, I did manage a couple of trips out. The lunch menu at Japanese eateries is usually very good and very cheap (l). Then we have an obento, which I have to say is one of the best things about Japan (c). And lastly, my favourite dish at my favourite bar, Roundabout, ham katsu (r).

Lastly, we have my wife’s birthday meal. Lamb chops from The Meat Guy (Osaka-based company, so good!), and cakes from this wonderful place nearby, La Verdure.

And some beer with a nice variety of music to drink to!

So yeah, we ate a lot! But it was difficult to do much else. The boys’ sports clubs were cancelled, we couldn’t go camping or go out, couldn’t have friends over, and the cinema was a no-go. I live to eat so this is the way, right Mando?

One little trip I made before the heat of summer really kicked in was to a local spot that has some lovely ajisai flowers. It was a very relaxing and peaceful stroll after a nice, brisk walk to get there. Nothing says Japanese summer like the bamboo clicking as the water cascades down. Reminds me of My Neighbour Totoro.

My next book, Yamaya Sisters should be out very soon, so I’m excited about that. Please read The Old Wounds trilogy if you haven’t already, heart-wrenching fantasy with a nice bit of mystery.

Please take care wherever you are. We seem to be some distance yet from the end of this pandemic, and sadly we seem to have plunged deeper into the pit of misinformation. But I don’t want to leave on a bum note, so I’ll put up a picture of Megaloman. I have no idea what show this is, but the song is cool in a goofy way! Till next time.

One of the most rewarding aspects of this whole writing lark is the chance to connect with other authors and find out a bit more about them. Today Buckmaster Books is talking to SL Matthews, author of Nickel’s Luck, “An excellent book that is not only a good yarn but a great example of what a skilled author can do with the English language” . I had a piece of Nickel’s Luck finding this book, as it is outside my usual reading sphere. An author help-page on FB (the wonderful Melinda Martin) ran a thread asking authors to share their web-sites. I had a browse and was hooked in by Shayna’s online presence. Go and check it out to see why!

https://slmatthewsauthor.com/

Shayna Matthews doesn’t just imagine her characters.

I won’t repeat all it says in Shayna’s bio here, but suffice to say, it is rather fascinating! Researching history, weaving on looms, making period rifles, dressing as they did in the Old West and the Victorian era, and appreciating the beauty of Tennessee, to name but a few.

Image from tnvacation site. Hope they don’t mind me sharing this gorgeous picture. Yet one more destination to add to the bucket list.

As always, I shall shut up quickly and let you all hear as much as possible about Shayna and her work.

Top of the morning to you, Shayna. How are you doing over there in Tennessee? Is the weather treating you kindly?

Hi there! I’m doing well, the weather is in the mid to high 80’s, which has been perfect for summer outings here in the beautiful state of Tennessee. Just last night we had a picnic on a bluff overlooking the setting sun over blue-ridged mountains. It just couldn’t be prettier here.

I consider myself lucky to have come across your novel , Nickel’s Luck. Can you tell us a bit about what kind of novel it is, without giving away too much? 

Thank you so much, Peter! Nickel’s Luck is many things. Above all, I call it an epic journey. The book transports you to a place on the Texas coastline called Indianola, in 1870, through 1875. The story is a coming of age action/adventure, about a boy who has grown up in a world of sailors and their superstitions, of fishermen and poverty. He dreams of a different life, one similar to his Pony Express dime novel hero, but his hardships and rough family life intervene. The ocean, (a character in her own right), called the “Mistress” by Ryder, seems to know just how to reach him. The story of the town itself, Indianola, is entirely true. I put years of research into the tiniest details, down to the name of the bakery the boys run past in one scene. I acquired original 1875 newspapers, and they have been a fascinating, and heartbreaking, wealth of information. Writing Nickel’s Luck took me four years due to the attention to detail, and I wouldn’t trade that time for anything. It has been an eye-opening journey.

This is a public domain image credited to Helmuth Holtz. Seeing this brings back a lot of the story to me.

Judging by your website, you plunge deeply into your research. Did you meticulously plan the actual story from start to finish, or did it grow as you wrote?

The character “Ryder” started out as “ranch-hand number 3” in a different novel. But, strange as it is to say, I could not rein him in. That character wanted to run rough-shod all over my pages, his personality was so big, so I began forming his story, until I became borderline obsessed with the story of Indianola, and how young Ryder’s life paralleled the historic port town. It was written, to my editor’s shock and awe, completely without a plotline, and merely a notebook full of fascinating historical facts and trivia for me to remember to work in if the storyline lent room for it. So yes, it grew seemingly on its own, controlled by an ever-grinning mischievous 19th century adolescent named Ryder. He took me on quite a ride, as he will the readers of Nickel’s Luck.

I can appreciate how the character of Ryder could not be tamed, so to speak. Even the awesome power of nature couldn’t bring him down! Along with Ryder, I’m really hoping to read more about some of the amazing characters in Nickel’s Luck. What can you tell us about current and future projects?

Oh absolutely! I am as in love with these characters as my readers are. Nickel’s Luck is actually going to be part of a stand-alone saga — the “Moral Saga.” Currently, I am working on three or four novels for this line, following some of the favorite characters from Nickel’s Luck. They are all set between 1860-1880s, starting with one called “A Song of Silence” which begins in the mountain region of Tennessee, and follows two incredible characters as boys, on two very different journeys up through the Civil War. Another in the works is “Mustang Grey,” which is self-explanatory for fans of the award-winning Nickel’s Luck. Two others are in the works, as well. While there is a definite timeline, most of the books can be read in any order, or as a stand-alone. They are all epic stories, and require a great deal of research. In other words, I am not a fast writer, but they will be well worth the wait, and readers will get to deepen their relationship with these characters throughout the saga. 

Another image from the tnvacation site. Absolutely gorgeous landscape!

Is there anything particular or unusual you are doing to research The Moral Saga and Mustang Grey?

Oh, I thought the research for Nickel’s Luck was massive, but my WIP, “A Song of Silence” has it beat. The research is overwhelming right now, for I am learning about 1860s Southern Appalachia and folklore, medicinal treatments using native plants, music of the mountains, specifically fiddles and how to repair them. Then there is the Civil War, or as the South calls it, the War Between the States. Prison camps, train routes, road blockades, you name it, I probably have a hundred bookmarks marking pages about it, all for one book. My research library is continually growing, and some of the information I need is either impossible to find, or contradicts itself depending upon which side of the war the original sources (such as soldier’s journal entries) fought for. However, it is worth the hassle to learn everything I can about these topics, for the end result is a novel people can trust to educate as well as entertain.

SL Matthews, taking a break from her mountain of research.

Last year was a tough year for the world and we’re still struggling. What has helped you or kept you hopeful?

Last year was brutal for so many folks. I had a hard time of it, and allowed myself to get a bit too caught up in those struggles. Some writers took advantage of staying at home to knock out books. That is what I wish I had done, but I let family loss, grief, and stress get in the way. Honestly, I’m still struggling, as you said, but the ideas don’t stop coming to me. When unrecorded for too long, the characters can get quite loud in my head, so they push me forward to keep writing, as does my husband, who is my greatest support system.

Let us all raise a glass to partners, family and friends who help us get these books out there! We’d be lost without them.

Nickel’s Luck: “a perfect balance of richness & variety in prose”, “It flows strongly and if you love language, you’ll appreciate the skill and effort that has gone into making this book so readable.” Excerpt from my Goodreads review.

You live in SPARTA! . Can you tell us something famous from your state, something delicious and a bit of local dialect?

Hahahaha oh my, I am SO GLAD you asked this question! SPARTA! – (Tennessee) is a small town gem. I am not a native of this region, but my husband is. His ancestors have lived here for hundreds of years. Sparta definitely has their own dialect, but nothing as unusual as a one-word phrase. They use the word Yert. You heard me, YERT. Y-e-r-t. Since I was not born and raised here, the meaning had to be explained to me, and I’m still foggy on the definition. Best I can figure, it is an explanation, a greeting, and an exclamation all rolled into one. Pass someone you know on the street? “Yert!” It is on Sparta T-shirts, found painted on windows, and generally spoken on the streets. I have heard it used as a word that means everything, and nothing at the same time. I have tried digging for the origin of “Yert” – but no one seems to know where it came from. I’ll keep digging!

Sparta is also home to the famed Lester Flatt, of Flatt & Scruggs, (Bluegrass music fans will know those names). Our little downtown holds music festivals, car-shows, and green markets three seasons of the year. As far as delicious? Fried Catfish and hushpuppies are a big thing in this area. (Hushpuppies are deep-fried cornbread-type balls made with chopped onion). Another regional favorite is RC Cola and Moonpies. In fact, we just returned from a festival honoring the delicious snacks. If you’ve never heard of a Moonpie, look them up! They’re little flat cake-like sandwiches with marshmallow & graham crackers dipped in chocolate.

These look goooood! I found this image with a recipe, Kelly’s Moon Pies. I’m tempted to make some. I reckon they’re a bit like British Wagon Wheels (which are tiny these days!) or Japanese Angel Pies, which are also small. Would it be possible to make one huge cake!? Yert!

Okay, back to the interview. My mind was suddenly lost in a maelstrom of strange greetings and delicious foods. The dialogue in Nickel’s Luck is incredibly atmospheric, really bringing the reader in with the characters. Forgive my ignorance, but how similar/different is this to how people speak in your neck of the woods?

Dialogue can be a tricky thing to perfect, especially if you do not live in the region where the dialect is spoken. Luckily, Tennessee and Texas, while different, have many similarities in tone, sound and speech. Bannack, one of the lead characters, is originally from the mountains of Tennessee, and as I am working on several other novels with him, I have years under my belt perfecting his speech and mannerisms. It was easy enough to carry that over to the Texas ranchers and wranglers, altering the speech of each man to form his own personal language. Marbles, I had trouble with. He’s an important character, but he carries a permanent stutter which worsens when he’s around women. Some advised me against writing the stutter outright, but I owe it to both my characters and my readers to write realism in its truest form. Glossing over a character’s flaws is not in my nature. In fact, Marbles carries more than a little of my own verbal awkwardness in speech, so I relate with him well. I taught myself how to write the stutter so it becomes a part of him, rather than a strike against him.

This is a tricky aspect to dialogue, I agree. If it’s done carelessly, it can seem like a cheap or unkind way to make a character different. If it’s done well, though, as I believe you did with Marbles, it brings a great deal of depth to that character. Empathy, rather than sympathy. Are any of the characters inspired by people you know or have lived?

This is an excellent question. The answer is a resounding yes, and at the same time, no. I think many writers, whether unconsciously or not, write bits of people around them into various characters. The Nickel’s Luck “cast” is no exception, with bits of many people I love making up various aspects of a personality. “Bannack,” the stoic cowboy, was written largely after a friend of ours. It was not until years after I had perfected Bannack that I realized the character was the spitting image of our friend. He is indeed a living, breathing cowboy, owning a Dry Goods store here in Tennessee. He was gracious enough to put up with me for many photo-shoots, and is the face of the man you see on the new Nickel’s Luck cover now. Another real-life friend who has shown up in part, is Old Joly the sea captain. There are many other friends who make cameos, though never in entirety. I think of a person, choose a quirk, interest, or characteristic or two and enlarge it, creating a life-like individual who veritably leaps off the pages.

The new cover for Nickel’s Luck. Some of the people in Tennessee may recognise that chap!

I see on your website that you literally live and breathe the world your characters live in. What is the appeal of this era for you?

I grew up in living history reenactments, which I discuss in the question below, and that lifestyle shaped my love for history. My obsession for the 19th Century/ Victorian Era in the American West, however, that I blame on my father, and my grandfather. The former watched all the cowboy movies with me; I loved the fast horses, the scenery of the western landscape, the raw grit stories of surviving the odds. The latter began feeding me Zane Grey novels early on, and I fell in love with the literary west. Now, I search to write the stories largely untold. True stories, like the town of Indianola, Texas in Nickel’s Luck.

Is there any other era of American history or world history that fascinates you? 

My interests lie with the Victorian Era and before, back to the Colonials. Before concentrating on the Old West and the Victorian Era, I had grown up reenacting living history of the French & Indian and Revolutionary War time period. My parents and I would dress in authentic handmade colonial clothing, and camp in fields with hundreds, up to thousands of fellow reenactors for a weekend on up to a ten-day event. We cooked our meals over a campfire, slept in canvas tents, wore the clothes, worked, traded and sold wares just like a real 18th Century town or market. We camped in weather so frigid we had to chip ice out of the water buckets, and in weather so scorching, wearing layer upon layer of long, heavy clothing, folks would pass out from heat exhaustion. We were sticklers for authenticity, and no matter how hot, cold, rainy, or windy, we weathered the best and the worst together as a family. This is where my written characters breathe life, for I have lived the eras I write. I froze with them, and fell ill to heat exhaustion, feared torrential storms. I drove a team of mules as a girl, forged rivers, rode in canoes, scorched my heels around a hot fire, and lived through many a frontier adventure in my childhood. The folks I met became family, thicker than blood, a brotherhood which we carry to this day. It is to this reenacting where my obsession for the story was born, and my friends and our memories live on in the words I write.

I have to admit, I’m somewhat in awe. I camped out in cold fields on training exercises with the ATC, but have never faced such extreme conditions.

Another shot of the Tennessee wilds, Citico Creek.

And finally, in Japan, when people leave the office, they say “O-saki ni shitsurei shimasu!”, which literally translates as “I am being rude to leave before you.” And your colleagues will respond, “Otsukare sama deshita!”, which is something like, “You must be tired!” What would be the equivalent exchange in Nickel’s world? I imagine it would be fairly short & sweet!

Now that’s interesting! I love that. How would Nickel say goodbye in his world? We must remember, it was a different era, and Nickel grew up in a world of sailors and fishermen who believed their health, wealth, and livelihoods depended upon superstitions. With this said, to say “goodbye” was considered bad form, for it might cast the departing person away permanently, or bring them bad luck. In that vein, a woman could not wave goodbye to her husband if he was leaving for a ship, and to say “good luck” was sure to bring about bad luck. The only way to alter the curse of being wished “good luck” was to draw blood. The easiest method of that? A punch in the nose. Therefore, Nickel and his best friend Les adapted the belief that goodbyes were generally not said at all. They would probably adapt a crude method of slinging insults softened with a broad grin and a laugh. Better than a punch in the nose!

There’s something in this, a warming sentiment. Better to say “Till next time!”, or “Till we meet again.”, than Goodbye or Farewell.

Okay, onto the fun questions I ask all authors!

Q1) What book are you reading now? OR What was the last book you read?

 Right now I am reading a borrowed book lent from my husband’s grandmother. It’s an antique, rare book called The Uneven Yoke. I only began the first chapter so far, but it’s about three real frontier families who left North Carolina to settle in the wilderness that is now our little county here in Tennessee. Quite an interesting read, lending both fiction and true-to-life history of local settlers. I’m anxious to finish it, so I may return it and quit sweating over something happening to such a hard to find book, lol. 

Q2) What genre of books do you usually read?

Honestly, what I read most of lately, is research books on various topics while I write on my historical sagas. Writing the epic scope of American history stories as I do, I have to read and thoroughly understand so many aspects of the American Civil War, Prison Camps, Medicine and Folklore, on up through the Victorian Era, as well as ranch life, cowboy code, and Southern Appalachia. When I can, I love to read other works of historical fiction, or a good old-fashioned mystery.

I’m pretty sure I’m not pronouncing Appalachia correctly.

Q3) What was the last book that made you cry or laugh out loud or gave you pause for thought?

Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier. I believe at one point in the novel, I quite literally threw the book across the room in between sobs, and could not console myself for a week. The ability to make a reader respond with that much emotion is the earmark of a great writer, right there.

I like the quote there, talking about America’s hugeness, something I remember about our time there. Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, Yosemite, all huge!

Q4) What book do you remember fondly from your childhood?

Oooh, that’s a tough one, because I read all the time growing up. I think, for me, there are two or three that stand out.
Riders of the Purple Sage, Zane Grey. My grandfather and I swapped his collection back and forth, but Riders is the one he started me with, and that’s the book that did it for me. I wanted to be a writer ever since.
Summer of the Monkeys, by Wilson Rawls. I remember reading this aloud with my parents, and I’ve read it many times since. It’s a heartwarming, sometimes hysterical, sometimes heartbreaking story set in the Ozark Mountains, and I think everyone should read it once, regardless of their age.
Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry. It is through many re-readings of “Lonesome” that I learned the art of writing with heavy character development through the details, and I adore that novel. It changed my life.

Q5) Apart from reading, what hobbies do you have?

I am a woman of many hats, so to speak. I have been busy putting in perennial flower beds, as I learned a love of gardening from my grandparents. I am a textile weaver, mainly straps and sashes for historical reenactors. I actually wove straps and belts for over twenty-five years as a full time job, having learned when I was thirteen. My work landed in museums, movies, and television documentaries, but it’s merely a sporadic hobby now. The stories & characters in my head would not stop harassing me, and so it was easier to switch jobs when I came down with tendonitis in my wrists from constant weaving. I also love to explore new areas/towns/backroads with my husband and son, and we enjoy antiquing, searching for the perfect treasure to inspire tiny details within my writing. I like to needle-felt with wool, particularly in the winter months, and I love to play with photography year-round..

You’re a busy lady!

Q6) Where is your favourite place to read? (Ex. In bed, on the sofa, in a park, in a coffee shop etc.)

My ideal place is to read among a nest of pillows in a hammock, in the garden, but this method prompts snoozing as much as it does reading, lol. Typically I read in bed at night to relax after a long day. I can’t concentrate on reading or writing in a busy coffee-shop, though I admire those who can!

Q7) What book would you like to see made into a TV show and who would you like to play the lead character?

Well, it seems many of my favorite novels have already become movies or tv shows. Lonesome Dove, Open Range, Water for Elephants, Dances with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, Riders of the Purple Sage. All great movies! Actually, I would like to see a new remake of Summer of the Monkeys, or something done with the L’amour classic novel, Lonesome Gods. I have been told repeatedly by readers that Nickel’s Luck needs to be a movie in its own right, and I quite agree, though I cannot imagine who might play Ryder Wheeler.  In my mind I’m seeing someone like the young River Pheonix in Stand By Me. And I love The Last of the Mohicans!

The incredible Wes Studi as Mogwa, one of cinema’s great villains. THIS scene!!!

!!!STOP THE PRESS!!! Shayna has just told me the following: “Since you too love Last of the Mohicans — something else you might find interesting? My father was a blacksmith before his back went out, and he actually hand-forged the tomahawks you see in the movie. I was his assistant in the forge as a girl, so it’s always a thrill to watch the movie and spot your own handiwork on the big screen! As well, one of our reenacting friends is a master Gunsmith, and built the longrifles for Daniel-Day-Lewis, and a few others. It was pretty interesting to be involved, even in such a minute scale.” >

Q8) If you could meet a fictional character in real life, who would it be and why?

This is tough. There are plenty of American heroes in real life I would have loved to meet, if we could travel back in time. Annie Oakley would top that list. But fictional characters? Gus McCrae, Lorena, and Newt, from Lonesome Dove. That novel shaped my life as a writer, and taught me the ability to pay attention to character detailing, even with a rich catalog of characters. And of course, in a perfect world, I would love to come face to face with my own characters; Nickel, Les, Marbles, Bannack. The latter I already feel I know, as he has been brought to life by a friend who steps in to model for book covers and social media.

Q9) What literary world would you like to experience/live in?

I feel I’m already living the literary world I want to be in. I research and write the world I call “Moral” consisting of numerous novels and stories every day, I step into the clothes as often as I can, and once in a while, I get to visit a place reminiscent of their life. I don’t need to imagine it–I’m already there, in the 19th Century. What makes writing novels so magical is the ability to share these worlds with others who share the love of the written story. Books are truly a window into a writer’s soul; for they write their entire world between the cover pages. Amen to that!

Q10) If you could say something to the entire world today, what would it be?

I think young Nickel is far more eloquent with his rustic charm, so if I may channel him for a moment, I believe he would say: “Life’s a hard ride. You’ll lose folks along the way. Reckon you might fall off your own path, but that don’t mean you belly-up and quit. You want somethin’? Dig in your spurs, and go get it. Forge your own road, ain’t nobody else gonna do it for you. Smile, even if it hurts. You see, you gotta live life hard, for all the ones who can’t.”

This is true. We need to keep going, making new memories whilst keeping the memory of those we’ve lost, deep in our hearts.

Buckmaster Books thanks Shayna Matthews very much for a wonderfully full and fascinating interview. I really recommend Nickel’s Luck to anyone who likes reading. I’m a fantasy/crime/horror kinda guy usually, but this coming-of-age journey in 19th century Texas was a delight! Step outside your comfort zones, people! There are so many marvelous works out there.

Shayna is active on Instagram so head over for more!

https://www.instagram.com/slmatthewsauthor/

A Facebook post will be up soon with details for the usual giveaway. So be sure to stay tuned!

Please stay safe, one and all! Summer is heating up here, so time to drink lots of water and stay cool!

And another scene from Tennessee, this shot from Shayna Matthews herself.