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ROGER TAYLOR/EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW This interview was done through email during the school year of 1999 for a project I had to do. I hope you enjoy it, but please be aware that it is not to be copied without the express written permission from Roger Taylor or myself. Questions
and Answers Q: How do your works differ from traditional fantasy? A: I think this is probably best answered by my readers though I quite deliberately try to avoid curses, prophecies, 'magic', trolls, dragons, dwarves, etc. Curses and prophecies: I do not believe in pre-destination - who could have foreseen just a few weeks ago that you would be listening now to the words of a complete stranger on the other side of the Atlantic? While much great literature has been written using prophecy (some Shakespeare and most of the Greek classics for example) I don't think it is a device I could use convincingly. Ditto magic. As an engineer I think my feet are too well attached to the ground to work with spells and incantations. Magic too easily becomes a cop-out for an author to escape from difficult situations he has written himself into. And too, there's more true wonder and magic in modern scientific knowledge than most people can begin to imagine. Trolls, dragons, dwarves etc: These were used splendidly by Tolkien and done to death subsequently by others. I never had any urge to include such characters. Besides, there's more than enough wild variety in so-called ordinary people. Q: What authors influenced you and who are your mentors? A: I suppose if I was being pedantic I would say everyone I've ever read has influenced me. Certainly I can recall one book which was so awful that the realization that the author was being PAID for it, and by ME!! struck me so forcefully that the ominous thought came into my mind - 'I could do better than that.' Of such are the beginnings of slippery slopes made! However, more seriously, reading classics - the Iliad, the Odyssey, Shakespeare, Dickens etc - showed me that while societies and cultures may have changed, people haven't. That is quite a revelation when it happens. History is a far more important subject than many people appreciate. Of more modern authors I would say those who made we want to write include Franz Kafka, with his dark and haunting introversion, Orwell with his brutal perceptiveness in '1984', and Ray Bradbury with such works as his marvellously evocative 'Dandelion Wine' and 'Something Wicked This Way Comes', (wonderful stuff). Then there is Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, with again, marvellous writing and wonderful imagination. And, stylistically very different, Kurt Vonnegut with his imagination, his quirky, unsettling insights and his deep black satire, ('The Sirens of Titan' is priceless). I've no mentors as such though obviously I have been influenced by different people at various times through my life. It's always worthwhile listening to other people - everyone has something to offer- and a useful motto is 'never despise any source of knowledge.' Q: What inspired you to write non-traditional fantasy as opposed to more traditional fantasy? A: I think I answered this in question 1. Also, writing is such a peculiarly personal activity and involves trusting the unconscious mind so totally that it is difficult to say what control one really has over the general trend of one's output. I suppose I would have to say that I write what I write because I like it. I would certainly quail at the prospect of spending month after month at the keyboard hammering out a thriller or a historical romance. Q: Do you feel you build on the fantasy legacy by writing the style of works you do? Or are you consciously trying not to? A: I really do not know. Some of the things that have influenced me I mentioned in question 2. I am a little queasy about judging my own motivation, not having full access to it. I am fortunate in that I have never bothered TOO much about what other people think about me. On the other hand, everyone wants to be loved, and I do want people to enjoy my books. And of course, if anyone likes them well enough to read them more than once I may well have fulfilled an unspoken need in both of us though we may never meet. Q: What other types of writing have you done? A: Mainly letters (a LOT!) to politicians, journalists and public officials. Two examples of this can be seen on web pages www.asshe.demon.co.uk/culapc.htm and ditto/culacpo.htm. They may not mean much to you as they are very much related to a British problem, but the first paper in particular is one I am very proud to have co-authored while the second just HAD to be written - the problem of 'quis custodiet ipsos custodes?' has always been of the utmost relevance to any would-be free people, anywhere. Q: How wide an audience is there for the fantasy genre? A: That's a marketing question and I'm afraid I have no idea. I doubt it's as large as for romantic fiction or thrillers, but nevertheless if I sold a book to every member of it I think I'd be more than pleased. Q: What do you think defines fantasy as a genre? A: I'm not too happy about the whole concept of genre fiction. I suspect it's really a marketing creation - or a librarian's - of a shelf-stacker's. Looking at some of the books I've mentioned: Ray Bradbury is usually classed as a SF writer but 'Dandelion Wine' is neither SF nor fantasy - it's an atmospheric tone poem, perhaps a 'rites of passage' book, but mainly it's just good writing. '1984' is a fantasy but tends not to be classed as such. 'Sirens of Titan' is sort of SF but is mainly social satire. My own books range over a wide variety of 'non-fantasy' topics. And what should we call Macbeth or Hamlet? Ghost stories? And Titus Andronicus? A cannibal slasher horror? Q: What is the appeal of fantasy, and why are there such devotees of the genre? A: It's in our nature to extend ourselves. It's the same drive that has people jumping out of aeroplanes, clambering up shear rock faces, hurtling recklessly down mountainside on strips of wood etc. You probably haven't thought about this in these terms but I am sure your parents would agree when I say that, from the very beginning, children constantly test their limits - mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, every way. That's why parents spend so much of their time saying 'no,' or even 'NO!!' They are trying to show where those limits lie. Of course, the clash between their assessment of your best interests and your own, influenced as you are by this drive, can prove problematic - so I'll say nothing more. Q: Do you see yourself taking another direction with your writing in the future? If so, what areas/topics/issues/types of writing would you pursue? A: I honestly do not know. I started off as a consulting civil and structural engineer and am now a writer and a manager of a beleaguered shooting club. In its turn, this last used to be a pistol club, now it is a rifle, shotgun and archery club. Planning ahead is fine, necessary even, but it is VITAL not to CLING to plans and to be willing and flexible enough to change direction as circumstances dictate. Given a wish however, I would like to influence politicians away from their 'show before substance' and 'soundbite' attitudes towards govenment, and move them in the direction of a more rational, problem-solving approach. This, of course, may really be fantasy. I appreciate you might find this answer rather serious but, as I said before, history is a FAR more important subject than is generally appreciated, and political, or should I say, social, apathy can have unbelievably appalling consequences. I enjoyed your questions, though I shudder to think what you make of the answers, being unable to see you eyeball to eyeball. Anyway, I hope they spark a laugh or two, Best wishes to all of you, Roger Taylor |
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