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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Interview: Bookbag Talks To R Julian Cox (view source)
Revision as of 16:14, 11 January 2013
, 16:14, 11 January 2013no edit summary
RJC: Having written everything for everyone over my life (ghost writing for politicians, national newspapers as a journalist, copywriting whilst in PR and marketing etc) with the only gap being whether I could write a 'novel'?
Months later I looked at what I had written on and wondered: What happens next? The essential question any reader needs to ask.
Unconsciously I later realised that the spur to my original words had been King Arthur. There had been too an alleged connection with between him and the close by town of Tintagel. And King Arthur is a character one can never find. Was he real or merely a character from fiction? Either way there was enough 'wriggle room' for me to make him 'mine'.
Sited on the cliff tops and easily visible from Bude was also the 'Satellite' Tracking dishes belonging to GCHQ Bude then called by the nondescript name of 'Composite Signals Organistion: Bude'. That I thought was a great technology link to my story. But how?
As for those who do have religious faith I've read a lot of Rev John Polkinghorne KBE, FRS, once a great mathematical physicist at Cambridge before resigning to become an Anglican priest and a one time President of Queen's College Cambridge. He achieved much in the scientific world but is now just as well known for winning the £1million Templeton Prize for his 'exceptional contributions to affirming life's spiritual dimension'.
I based my character Rev Gill on Polkinghorne and appearing the character appears in Chapter 4 of my book.
I think British scientist Freeman Dyson, a former Manhatten Project scientist and a towering figure in science, summed up the ongoing religious/scientific debate best when he said both ask the same question; who are we, where are we going, where do we come from?
In terms of whether Science produces religious conflict one only has to look at what happened when the first atomic bomb was exploded at Alamagordo. Many who were there said 'God! What have we done?', the father of the project, Robert Oppenheimer most of all. He later opposed the Hydrogen Bomb only to be branded a communist and then have his security clearances revoked. It took the US twenty years to say they were sorry. A bit like our own treatment of code breaker and computer genius, Alan Turing. Without him Bletchley Park would have been an empty shell and the Second World War would have continued for another two years it has been estimated.
* '''BB: Prior to the Fukushima nuclear disaster I was coming round to the idea that we might have to make more use of nuclear power, but I’m now back to thinking that it’s rather too perilous. Where do you stand on this? How will we produce the amount of power which we seem determined to demand otherwise?'''
RJC: Nuclear power is perilous and the impact of its 'waste' lasts for a million years, longer than mankind the human mind can imaginecomprehend. I outline what the Americans think is the solution to its bi products - 'vitrification' as outlined in Chapters 3 and 6 both of which are true - but no one wants to take responsibility for the 'end product'. I'm not surprised. But is there any other wayalternative to nuclear power? James Lovelock, the originator of Gaia Theory which posits Earth as akin to a living organism, thinks not and as again I mentioned in Chapter 6. I think in the absence of nuclear fusion, which is what Jonathan Anderson was all about, there is simply no other quick fix to our forseeable energy needs.
* '''BB: I loved the neat flashbacks to Arthurian legend in Shadow on the SunSHADOW ON THE SUN. Is this a particular interest of yours?'''
RJC: As a kid I was always fascinated by Greek Mythology and the Arthurian legend. I used to devour books about them! They still interest me.
The Arthurian aspect I could write a book on!! There was even Melvyn Brag on the radio this very morning discussing the subject in his 'In Our Time' series on BBC Radio 4. Quite clearly there were some of his 'guests' who did not know what they were talking aboutlittle hazy as to its historical reality.Whilst I think we have the issue of the the fictional Arthur pretty well sorted, if not its author, the complex Thomas Malory!!!, we know next to nothing about the 'real' Arthur and whether he really existed at all!
Although there are some historical writings from the past - the British cleric Gildas from the sixth century for example although he never mentions Arthur by name! - there's not enough to establish his certainty. Legend But legend usually has some basis in fact. The 'ex Persian' Lucius Artorius Castor from the late second century I think comes pretty close to an historical Arthur although he's three centuries too early! But what's that in the tribal memory of a nation? And there are reasons why this 'memory' of Artorius might well have lingered on and which I touch on in my Arthurian flashbacks say in Chapter 20 where I mention 'The Sarmatians'. These were originally a group of 5000 highly skilled cavalry led by Artorius and fighting in Britain on behalf of the then occupying Romans.
* '''BB: It must have taken considerable skill to combine an eco-thriller with a ‘time travel’ element and avoid the plot falling apart at the seams. Did you find this difficult - and how long did it take you to pull it all together? Where and how do you write? With or without music?'''
And sometimes when I'm writing I do listen to music but more often I work in complete silence! I get wrapped up in what I'm doing and forget the exterior world! Even forget things like 'lunch'.
But mostly I recognise that being an 'author' is 'a business' like any other which needs to be treated as such. 'The book' is the end product which needs marketinglike any other product or service. I also recognise that 'waiting' for inspiration is for the birds.
I give you a story here. Some years ago I was digging around in the attic and I came across the very first feature article I had ever written for a national newspaper. I re read it for the first time in many years. It was very good. I didn't believe I could match it even all those years and experience later. This thought depressed me for a couple of days afterwards. Then I remembered that the original article had taken me a couple of weeks to write. I could do the same thing now in a couple of hours!!!That's the difference. It's where 'experience' comes in. I brightened up at this thought.
* '''BB: What are you reading at the moment and which book which has influenced you most?'''
RJC: Bad question to ask at this time!!! I'm reading Kristen Lamb's (Google her) 'We are not alone:The Writer's Guide to Social Media' as well as 'The STIG, Man of Mysterythe untold story', a fun book one of my daughter's gave me for Christmas. Also by the side of the bed is James Hilton's 'Lost Horizon' which I'm re reading. And on the Kindle is Andre Camileri's 'Excursion to Tindari, an inspector Montalbano mystery whom I love. I'm even off to Ragusa in Sicily for my holls and which is where the film series is shot . Generally I usually have three or four books on the go at once to match whatever mood I'm in when I want to pick a good book up.
As to 'influence' there are two books: Arthur C Clarke's '2001:A Space Odyssey', completed after the eponymous film, as the film was taken from a short story of his called 'The Sentinel', and something far more esoteric The Notebooks of Malte Laurid Briggs by Rilke.
