My guest is actor, swordsman, and historical author, C.C. Humphreys. I'm delighted to have Chris visiting today. I've spent the last few weeks in Constantinople, caught up in the epic sweep of history (which I love) and the personal stories of the ordinary people who lived there or came there for battle. It's an amazing story, rich in historical details and full of the joys, heartbreaks, and victories of people caught up in the battle for Constantinople.
Chris shares how a moment can change the course of a story.
I enjoy a good blogging.
(My wife suggested I substitute ‘f’ for ‘b’ but I said we shouldn’t air our
predilictions in public). What I enjoy most about a blog is the opportunity it
gives to focus on an aspect of my life or my craft. (My wife suggested the
phrase ‘pontificate about’ but again I declined).
I have always been a wanderer, from a family of
wanderers. Nowadays, I wander most for my work. I have to go where my novels
are set. Research for me is not so much about getting the facts right,
important though that is. A fact is dry unless it is put into the context of
character and action. A fact needs to be used as a springboard for imagination.
And the ‘facts’ I pick up in the place where my actions have happened usually
give me the biggest bounce of all.
This has never been more true than in my latest novel.
Where would I have been without my two visits to Istanbul? The first was tacked
onto my 2007 trip to Romania when I was researching my novel on the real
Dracula: ‘Vlad: The Last Confession’ (Sourcebooks 2011). I was so close, why
not see this fabled city? ‘Armageddon’ was not even glimmer in my mind then. I
wandered about, visited all the key sites – Topkapi, Hagia Sophia, the Blue
Mosque. I even went out to the Theodosian walls and, knowing something of the
great siege of 1453, marvelled at the courage it would take to both assault and
defend them. I smoked narghile, played backgammon in Pera alleys, drank raki.
Left, sated.
Inspiration is often not a lightning bolt but a thing of
stealth. Istanbul had me and this idea crept up. I found myself reading ever
more about the place until the moment came when I knew I had to tackle 1453.
Once committed, I knew I had to return. I view
a place differently when I have a story in mind. Different senses
operate more fully – especially the sixth one. I long ago discovered that there
is a resonance in stone where extraordinary – often violent - acts have
happened. Walls give off a special energy and I just have to sit still long
enough near them to channel it.
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| St Maria of the Mongols, Istanbul |
I prize imagination above most things - but imagination
stimulated by the senses, grounded in geography and history… ah, there’s the
ultimate! On my second visit to Istanbul I discovered a location for part of my
story and the whole novel changed. I’d read about it, the tiny church of St
Maria of the Mongols. It’s not on the tourist track, tucked away in the
labrynthine streets of working class Fener. I found it eventually, thanks to my
Turkish publishers – who, in a wonderful example of Humphreys’ serendipity were
just publishing ‘Vlad’ the week I was there. (Doing a book signing in that city
of words was truly one of the greatest buzzes of my life)
It
is rarely open to the public. But 20 bucks to the caretaker got us in. I gasped
when I saw this exquisite jewel box with its vaulted roof, its gilt and silver
ikons, its teak altar screen. It had survived the sack that followed the
Turkish conquest of 1453; spared by special order of Mehmet ‘fatih’: the
conqueror. Why? No one knows. But it is into the gap between facts that the
historical novelist leaps. I was free to speculate – and did. This glorious
place became crucial to my characters’ very survival and, back at my desk on
Salt Spring Island, I reshaped the novel around it.
How much is too much? How to strike the balance in an epic adventure between battle, sex and story?
Available now
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The year is 1453. The city of Constantinople is at the center of a clash of civilizations. For the Greeks, it's their home that has withstood attacks for centuries behind mighty walls. For the Turks, it's the prize they have spent centuries trying to win.
Gregoras had vowed never to
return to Constantinople, the cursed home that had betrayed and scarred not
only his mind, but his face, for all to see. But now with 100,000 Muslim
soldiers outside its walls, he can hear its desperate calls for his help, as it
can only be held by men and mercenaries as skilled in battle as Gregoras, of
which few remain.
His return home, though, will mean not only having to face the constant hum of arrow and cannon, but also Theon, twin brother...and betrayer. And with him his beloved Sofia, lost when Gregoras was cast from his home, now bound to Theon in marriage. But the rewards of victory would not only be the glories of the battle, but the redemption of his name and his soul. EXCERPT
His return home, though, will mean not only having to face the constant hum of arrow and cannon, but also Theon, twin brother...and betrayer. And with him his beloved Sofia, lost when Gregoras was cast from his home, now bound to Theon in marriage. But the rewards of victory would not only be the glories of the battle, but the redemption of his name and his soul. EXCERPT
From sword fights with pirates to explosions in tunnels and towers, secret rendezvous in the enemy camp, and the religious and moral dilemmas of war, Humphreys once again uses his dramatic flair and meticulous research to weave fiction into fact.
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