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Blokes vs Books: inspired by adventure
Kia ora Russell, and congratulations on the launch of book four in your series. Please tell us a bit about The Khalada Stone series.
The Khalada Stone series is an epic, Nordic/Arabic inspired adventure fantasy series. It’s a blend of personal experience and inspiration taken from historical, desert forged figures such as T. E. Lawrence and the great Islamic warrior, Saladin.
The Khalada Stone follows the subtle tributaries that give rise to a desert empire. Power to rule, once commanded by ancient warrior Husam al-Din, now lies within the three main characters – al-Din’s blood heir, Na’ilah – and two brothers, Ohrl and Faerl. It becomes a race between all three to claim al-Din’s full power, yet only one can succeed, with madness claiming the others if they fail to unite Husam’s mind.
If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones, Lawrence of Arabia, Dune or Kingdom of Heaven, this may be for you. It’s full of intrigue, manipulation and betrayal.
You say that inspiration for your novels came from travels around the Middle East in the 90's...
In the days before ISIS, I spent four months back-packing through Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Egypt, then on through Tunisia and Morocco. Being a commercial photographer, I detailed the journey visually and in journals. Months later, I became a cruise-ship photographer in the Caribbean. I joined my girlfriend at the time in Belize and travelled through Central America. It was a tumultuous time, the relationship fell apart, but it gave me those personal experiences to weave an emotional story around an epic, year-long adventure.
My photography career takes me all over the world. I seek inspiration within cities, landscapes, characters and experiences to help evoke a sense of realism in an imaginary world, from the favelas of Rio to isolated Scandinavian towns and desert fortresses. I photograph my covers, finding locations around the world that exemplify locations in the book. You can watch a 40 minute ‘behind the scenes’ film of the cover shoot in America of my fourth book.
Our current Blokes vs Books campaign is all about promoting Kiwi men as readers. We devised the campaign after some research showed that men’s reading rates had dropped here in Aotearoa.
Do you have any idea about why that might be, and any tips for busy guys to squeeze more reading into their day?
At expos I hear a lot of excuses for not reading. Not enough time, I watch TV instead, I’m a gamer, but I think these days the biggest obstacle is attention span. We’re used to passively consuming information – film, TV and web videos entertain us without us having to think. We’re lazy, so if you’ve never been a reader, try finding books similar to your favourite TV shows. They’re often more in-depth, so just take your time. Give things a try. Like TV series, they’re hit and miss, but you’ll soon find authors you like. When you do, you’ll immerse yourself in a world far more than you would watching TV.
What would you say to someone who has been secretly dreaming of writing a novel? Do you have some tips for a newbie?
Get your ideas down on paper. Be as specific or general as you want, then clarify what you want to write. I do broad structures for my books, breaking each section into smaller ones, then again and again, so that when I write, I’m concentrating on specific concepts and scenes, knowing that each links into the next rather than trying to hold the entire concept in my head.
What are you reading right now, and have you got any book recommendations for us?
I’m re-reading James Clavell’s Shogun. I’ve always loved the machinations of Japanese feudal intrigue, and Clavell’s Straun family saga (set in Hong Kong) was an inspiration to the level of detail required in my series.
What’s next in line for you, Russell? Any new book projects in the works?
I have one more book in The Khalada Stone series to complete. I’m currently pitching this for a TV series, having helped develop another feature film in the UK. I’ve been quietly plotting two, one-off books projects – a children’s adventure and a psychological thriller, plus two series concepts that I will also try and script for TV. Within the Khalada Stone world, there’ll be a prequel and several stand-alone books.
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