my journey to Iran is on

Ricardo on 8th September 2011

Ok, I’ve received the code notification that has been sent to the Iranian Consulate in London authorizing them to give me a visa. I received the news last night with some relief. Now that it is real, I am going to have to make all the preparations in earnest for the trip.

I have been in love with Persia, specifically ancient Persia, since I was a child. So this trip is going to be for me something of a pilgrimage. When I completed the structure for my novel set in ancient Persia quite recently, the notion to go to Iran came to me spontaneously – and, specifically, when I realised that there was still time to get there at around that part of the year when my characters are going to be moving across the same landscapes. My intention is to traverse the same path as my characters, observing the landscape, eating the food (I know it’s different now from what it was then), and looking into the faces of the people and watching their body language. Smelling the smells; feeling the weather on my skin. I have read that the light in Iran is peculiarly limpid and that this has a way of making colours more intense. It is likely that I am only ever going to write a single book set in Iran and thus it seems foolish, since I have been long determined to visit the country, not to go now. I wish to infuse the visceral reality of Iran into my work.

I am travelling on my own and am taking my iPad and have been told that wi-fi is available in hotels and bus stations. If this fails I will haunt cybercafes. By hook or by crook I intend to share my experiences through this blog with whoever is interested – hopefully you! *grin*

on a broad front

Ricardo on 17th May 2011

I have been advancing on a broad front. The Stone Dance acted like a dam to any other ideas. I suppose that my jumping into such a wide range of projects is a reaction to that constraint. I’m sure I shall calm down soon *grin*

Towards the end of last year I wrote Matryoshka, a sci-fi/fantasy novella that I gave out to a few people to read. Reactions were mixed and I accepted advice that it was better to set it aside to mature.

I then turned to completing the research (there will, of course, always be more *wry grin*) and structure for my historical novel. I then put this aside until the coming autumn – when I intend to actually start writing it. Life here in spring and summer is slightly too distracting – because family and friends come visiting me – to tackle something as demanding as this historical novel. When I get into the world of the ancient Near East – I want to be able to live in it in peace.

Last year I did quite a lot of work on a different historical novel – wrote some of it – but decided it wasn’t good enough. It is this that I have transformed into the more ambitious work I am now proposing to write.

After that I wrote and helped storyboard a second graphic novel with Adrian Smith that is based on Milton’s Paradise Lost. I’m quite excited about this one – however, it’s not going to happen anytime soon because Adrian is working on these (this one and the previous one, working title Malta) in his ‘spare time’, and they are for him a “labour of love”. What he’s done so far is stunning.

Concurrently with this I worked out the story and plot of a sci-fi novel that I might try and write quickly before I start writing the historical book. I can sense eyebrows rising out there at the words “write quickly”, but it might be possible since it is quite traditional in structure and rather straightforward. We shall see.

I then brought Matryoshka out of storage and have been rewriting this and was excited with how well it was going. This in turn I have had to put aside as I have been working on a pitch for a sci-fi TV series with Alan Campbell. This is unlikely to come off – however we’ve developed a great background and written compelling story arcs for a number of series (*grin* nothing wrong with ambition!) and have come up with lots of episodes and who knows.

So, that’s what I will be doing today. Once the pitch is complete, I will return to Matryoshka and nail that! Then we shall see.

more from Fórum Fántastico

Ricardo on 28th November 2010

Raquel Garrido had already kindly given me links to the talk I did in English on World Building [parts one, two, three, four, five, and six]

She has also given me links to the video she took of me in conversation with Rogério Ribeiro in Portuguese [parts one, two, three and four]

If that wasn’t enough, Daniel Cardoso also made audio recordings of the talks which he has sent to me suggesting that some people might be interested in having them to listen to in this format.

So here is the talk on world building (in English), and the conversation with Roger Ribeiro (in Portuguese).

at Fórum Fantástico 2010

Ricardo on 16th November 2010

It was hell getting to the Forúm Fantástico. I flew from Edinburgh at the unearthly hour of 6am… I’ve NO idea why it is necessary to be there 2 hours before the flight, and I wasn’t, but still! I loathe flying – it is by far one of the most unfortunate modes of transport devised by the human species. All that queueing, waiting, undressing, unpacking, dressing, packing, waiting, going here, waiting, going there, waiting, being sardined into an aluminium tube then squeezed out the other end. Could anything more ludicrous be conceived than a metal box hurtling through the air jammed full of hassled, short-tempered apes?! I would’ve rather gone by camel.

Amsterdam was suffering a gale. When the pilot managed a hair-raising landing, we all spontaneously burst into clapping to thank him for having saved our lives. Of course my connecting flight was also delayed. By the time I arrived at my hotel in Lisbon, I had been travelling for nearly 13 hours. It took me less time to get to Cambodia!

Hours late, I got a taxi to the convention. The driver hadn’t a clue where that was, and we wandered utterly lost before Rogério Ribeiro came to my rescue – not for the last time. The poor man organized the whole thing on his own (with some help from Safaa Dib) from Pisa!?

Eventually, a whole load of us went out for dinner. I had a real laugh with Daniel Cardoso, Inês Rôlo and Sofia Correia, chums I knew from facebook…

After yet again not enough sleep, I opened the morning’s proceedings with a talk on ‘World Building’… from which come all the gesticulations above. I did this in English because it would have been unfair to inflict such a ‘technical’ talk on my audience in my ropey Portuguese. (I found out later that Raquel Garrido had filmed the whole thing and you can find it here (part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). This was followed by a talk on ‘Technology and Atmosphere’ by Stephen Hunt and another on ‘Characters and Characterization’ by Peter V. Brett. I later had interesting chats with both of them.

When I got back from lunch with my editor Raquel Dutra, I watched a panel on ‘Fantastic Lisbon’ with four Portuguese authors who, with delightful fluency and wit, opened my eyes to a world of Portuguese fantasy and sci-fi I simply hadn’t realized existed. It’s easy to fall into believing that speculative fiction is entirely an English language affair.

After David Soares launched a book, I did an interview with Rogério in my less than sparkling Portuguese. Daniel produced a recording of this and I will try and put it online once I have it.

Stephen and Peter did their interviews. Then we all did a signing.

Then it was out for dinner (with among others Guadalupe Cabral and Inês Botelho), bed and the flight home the next morning.

Though quite a small convention, Fórum Fantástico was beautifully located, smoothly organized with a great mix of warm and bright people. As speculative fiction increases in popularity in Portugal, I am told that the Forum will grow bigger. I hope so, it deserves to be even more of a gathering than it already is.

in Lisbon next weekend

Ricardo on 7th November 2010

I am going to be in Lisbon, Portugal next weekend attending Fórum Fantástico 2010 as a guest. I am hoping to be wandering about on Friday (12th Novemember) afternoon. On Saturday (13th November) I will be giving a talk on ‘worldbuilding’ in the morning and talking about my books in the afternoon.

Here’s the programme.

a graphic novel

Ricardo on 8th September 2010

Over the past 4 weeks I have been writing a graphic novel called Malta with my friend Adrian Smith. I can’t really talk about details at present… Adrian and I have been talking about doing some joint project for a long time.

I’ve not written a graphic novel before and have been pleased to find that it is a form that comes naturally to me. This shouldn’t perhaps be that much of a surprise when you consider how visual my writing is.

entrevista com Diário de Notícias

Ricardo on 16th July 2010

Isto é uma entrevista que dei ao Diário de Notícias de 22/5/10… não é fácil ler o artigo assim, mas o texto também está aqui… As fotos foram tiradas num daqueles dias de chuva em maio – e estava muito frio – deve ser por isso que parece que tenho uma cara de enterro… *sorriso*

(edited text courtesy of Daniel Cardoso)

coming up for air

Ricardo on 8th July 2010

ok, anyone visiting this blog may well have noticed that I have recently disappeared without a trace. Some of this was due to the pressures of organizing my midsummer party – an annual event – and one upon which the sun shone :O) – In Scotland this is not something that can be counted on. The reason I host this is because the life of a writer can be very solitary and I have many friends that I love dearly but rarely see. Some indeed came from far afield – including Joanne who I have seen only once since we shared various mind-numbing university lectures in extremely abstruse mathematics. There are not enough of these events that, momentarily, provide a node where many people’s lives meet.

After that I went camping in the Lake District with some friends. This too is an annual occurrence – though, normally, we go off into the wilds of north-west Scotland – which wildness perhaps better suits my temperament.

Before all this madness began, I was having some difficulties with my ancient historical novel. I had started writing it, but it simply wasn’t ‘energizing’ me… I pulled my head free of it and surveyed the ‘view’… and discovered that I was doing it all wrong! I simply wasn’t being ambitious enough. I know, I know… look what a mess ambition got me in last time *grin* So, I’ve worked out what I need to do to my historical book to make it challenging enough for me and, hopefully, worthy of my readers’ attention… This said, I have put it aside for a while because I am working on another book. It came to me suddenly and I have vanished down a rabbit hole pursuing it ever since. It looks like being a cross between fantasy and sci-fi and is pleasingly bizarre and very strange – just how I like it! *wide grin* I am going to try and write this one quickly… but no promises.

I intend to resume a more regular pace of blogging… but, again, no promises.

Meanwhile, here is a link (it begins on page 12) to an article to which I contributed some muddled thoughts. It’s about Google’s ongoing attempt to put the world’s books online. Overall, this is a goal I tend to feel good about, but I am not at all sure that the way Google is doing it is a good way – indeed, I am a tad suspicious of Google’s motives… This said, I don’t really understand the issues well enough – for some reason, I just have not wanted to engage with them – not sure why, but there it is.

One final thing, I would very much like to put as many of these blog posts up in Portuguese… Though in matters concerning Portuguese editions I am prepared to muddle along in my rather dodgy Portuguese, I really couldn’t face trying to ‘translate’ a blog of this length. If there is anyone out there (or a number of people out there) who might like to do this for me, I would be very grateful.

oh, and I am going to FINALLY get round to responding to a number of comments that were left hanging.

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