Written

It's been nearly three years since BFKbooks interviewed Alison Weir during which she has written several books. In this interview Ann who reviewed her latest book asked her about 'The Lady in the Tower' as well as her research and other things.

Ann: Jane Grey and Elizabeth were both apparently amazingly precocious and talented. Do you think they were typical of their age and class?

Alison: Both were formidably intelligent, and were lucky enough to benefit from the kind of classical education that had only recently been extended to girls of the royal family; few aristocratic girls were so lucky, although that was gradually changing, as more parents emulated the royal example.

Both Gareth and I read the brilliant 'Dead Tomorrow' by Peter James, and wanted to find out why Peter wrote about organ and child trafficking in Romania. Here are Peter's answers.

BFK: Why did you choose the twin subjects of the black market organ transplant business and Eastern European child trafficking from Romania.

Anna Van Der Post has edited a brilliant book, that shows a different side to coping with children and teenagers on the Autistic Spectrum - especially Asperger's, and I wanted to know her thoughts, about why she felt it necessary to publish such a book - and could it help other parents and children.

Anna also wrote the article A Cautious Celebration of the Autism Act 2009.

Vicky: Why did you write 'Children and Teenagers with Aspergers'?

When an author is being hyped up, you always want to know what makes them tick, and so it was for Gareth who reviewed Stop Me by Richard Jay Parker. Here are his answers.

Gareth: How did you come up with the idea for the novel?

Richard: I've always suspected there's something sinister about chain emails. You never know who it's come from and who it's going to. Also the idea of the recipient being cursed if they don't forward it to ten friends is pretty skewed. I just took that idea to its extreme - what if someone were to die if the email isn't forwarded?

Gareth: What persuaded you write the story as a novel rather than a screenplay?

Timothy Freke's book 'How Long is Now' follows on from 'Lucid Living' and as I'd last interviewed Tim in 2007 this was a good opportunity to do a catch up. He is extremely busy and has very kindly given us some answers that he already has.

Gareth: Why do you call yourself a ‘standup philosopher'?

When I was sent The Stephensons' Rocket to review, I just fell in love with it, because our first dog to come into my family was a greyhound called Feather - and this book brought back so many happy memories. I just couldn't resist asking Jayne a few questions on how she became involved with greyhounds and why she wrote the book.

Vicky: Why did you write The Stephensons' Rocket?

Jayne: I'd been writing children's history books and curriculum resources for about 25 years, but had always wanted to try my hand at fiction. It came to the time when it felt like it was now or never! Then I joined a small writers' group, where I was able to get the help, encouragement and support I needed to achieve my ambition.

Vicky: What was your inspiration for this story?

Reading The Blue Notebook, based on the child prostitutes in the Street of Cages was a profoundly moving experience and I wanted to know why James Levine had written it. Here he answers my questions.

VW: Why were you kidnapped in Delhi?

JL: In 2002, with a team from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, we reported in the medical journal Science, the impact of child labor on education and malnutrition in children from the Ivory Coast. We subsequently expanded these studies to Jamaica, China and several years later, India.

It's always good to see a new author do well and Joe Abercrombie's first trilogy 'The First Law' has certainly taken fantasy readers by storm. Here he has very kindly answered some questions put forward by our reviewer Steve.

S: I enjoyed The First Law trilogy, but found it more gritty and the characters less ‘heroic' than in traditional fantasy novels. Do you see your work as part of the fantasy genre or a kind of ‘cross-over' ?

On a very cold 9th November 2007 morning, I went up to London to chat with Timothy Freke about his and Peter Gandy's very humerous book, "The Gospel of the Second Coming" on the mystery's and myths of Jesus Christ and Christianity. I very much enjoyed meeting Tim and hearing his very different, and I have to say, valid viewpoint. His enthusiasm shines through and certainly made me want to know more of his way of thinking.

Below is a transcript of the audio interview.

VW Timothy Freke welcome to the Bookfiend's Kingdom, this is the 4th book of yours I have read and it's called ‘The Gospel of the Second Coming' which I think is fabulous!

TF Oh well thank you, I'm delighted about that.

VW You have a terrific sense of humour and have distilled all that has gone before into this book and made it so much more fun for people to take in.

Alison Weir is an author who knows how to make her subject matter fascinating, and who's knowledge on the history of the royal family going back several centuries, knows no bounds. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting her, and I wish I'd had Alison as my history teacher, I might have stayed with it instead of swanning of to geography! I had no idea who Katherine Swynford was, but as I learned about her I discovered all about John of Gaunt, Chaucer and many many other historical figures. Alison here talks very enthusiastically and persuasively.

Below is a written abridged version of the interview.

VW: Alison Weir - welcome to the Bookfiend's Kingdom to talk about your book, Katherine Swynford.

AW: It should be Katherine de Swynford, but traditionally everybody calls her Katherine Swynford, so I`ve followed that.

VW: You have a tremendous interest in Royal history.......

AW: Thank you.

VW: This book has so much information that I had to keep flicking backwards and forwards to the genealogies to keep pace with what you had written.

AW: There are so many characters with similar names - and the past is a foreign country, as they say!