As my loyal readers are already well aware, there’s a new fantasy book out there that is a must-read: Ancient Canada.  Recently, I was able to chat with the author for a world exclusive interview about his book, his inspiration, and the future of his characters.  Enjoy!

Thankyou for taking the time to talk with us today. Now Clint… may I call you Clint?

Of course. You can call me Clint. You can even call me Betty. Can I call you Al?

You could, but then you’d have to be my bodyguard. So, tell us a bit about the book.

(Laughs) Sorry, I can’t help the fact that over time I’ve developed a canned answer to this one. Here goes. Ancient Canada was just published by SynergEbooks and is for sale through their website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and various other places online. It is a story of mythology with a different narrator for each chapter. Each narrator has their story to tell, and together they link to bring the story of Lavender and Marigold. Lavender has the ability to see life and death in various forms, and uses this gift to survive after she and her older sister, Marigold, are exiled. Marigold has no gift, so she struggles with a sense of uselessness. Marigold helps Lavender with the burden of having her gift, and serves as the lead narrator to the overall story.

I see. So why Canada? Were you inspired by any actual Canadians?

I have been, but there are a couple reasons for Canada. I have to be careful I don’t give away too much, but the entire story has to take place in the Arctic Circle. So it had to be Canada. Another reason was to invent a system of mythology and a national epic – I have to be even more careful here – for a country most people don’t think of next when they hear “Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome.”

And so you had no interest in Modern Canada, or even Future Canada?

Great question. Helps me explain the last one. The Canada in Ancient Canada exists in an alternate Arctic Circle with a vague time period. This is not the mythology or national epic of the actual Canada. It’s too late for that. This is the story of mythology and national epic for the alternate Canada, the one in my book. And for that I wanted a Western nation, but it had to have some land in the Arctic. Geographically it’s the same as the real Canada, but culturally it’s different. Ancient Canada was a book written by the characters within the book. It’s an entity published by Marigold, the lead narrator, to tell the story of her and her sister’s journey. They wrote it for their contemporaries, somewhat like Homer telling the story of the Iliad, only much sooner after the events occurred.

Your book is written in a very particular style; how did you come up with that?

The reason for it was to give the feel of mythology. Classics were typically written in metered text, in verse. That would be a bit much today. But I still wanted to develop a style that immersed the reader into an ancient world, so I had to be very careful with my word choice. And that’s the short answer: just being very, very careful with my word choice. Using an online thesaurus a lot, and always looking for a similar, understandable way to say the same thing in a different way. It wasn’t anything complicated, just very painstaking. And it was always me picking the words, so it stays consistent. Since everybody says it really feels like another time period, I’m very glad I did it. But I just couldn’t have the Queen of Svalbard saying things like, “Dude, you rock.” So I didn’t really have a choice. Although originally Marigold was going to speak a little like that, with sort of a modern slang. I thought it might bridge the rest of the book with the reader and add some comedic value. But it didn’t work, which became obvious pretty early on. It just kept killing the immersion, breaking the fourth wall as they say, so I took it out. Anyway, now that the editing is done, it’s nice to think, speak, and write normally. Yeah, it affected my speech a little bit.

Because of the “fantasy” element of your book, some critics have compared it to “The Lord of the Rings” books. Let’s settle the debate right now – who is the better author: you, or J. R. R. Tolkien?

I think it’s because of the density and detail that they say that. Lord of the Rings and Ancient Canada aren’t beach reads. Also, they’re both epic dramas, like the Odyssey. Other comparisons have been to Margaret Atwood, a Canadian fantasy/sci-fi author who has won a million awards, and C.S. Lewis, who was influenced by Tolkien. And Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer, because Ancient Canada has a revolving narrator. It has not been compared to Shakespeare or Proust. Let’s round ‘em up. Tolkien, Homer, Margaret Atwood, C.S. Lewis, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Proust, and I’ll throw in Tolstoy while we’re at it. But I’m still going to dodge the question. I love your tie by the way.

Tie?  Oh, that’s just some barbeque sauce. How did you first come up with the idea for this book?

Walking around New York City around 2005. I was looking for a restaurant, and wanted to try something new. Where else can you find a Colombian restaurant, a Viet Namese place, and an Ethiopian restaurant? Problem is I still couldn’t find a place with a style of food I’d never tried. I thought that it was time for someone to make up a country, make up a style of cooking, and open up an “authentic” restaurant in that style. From there the idea evolved into something not requiring a bank loan application, and I wanted to write a new story of mythology. I figured they just aren’t coming out with as much mythology as they did thousands of years ago, so we were due. I came up with my alternate Arctic Circle, a mysterious time period, and off we went.

Wait, you were visiting me on that New York trip!  I should be entitled to some royalties!

Uh, we’ll discuss that later.

The story largely revolves around two sisters, Marigold and Lavender. Are these characters slightly fictionalized versions of yourself and your brother?

No. I was determined not to drag family members into this. Not a single character was based on any family member, friend, or anything like that. A couple were named after friends and family, but not based on them. Lavender and Marigold are based on left and right-brained personalities. That means Lavender is more math and science, and Marigold is more artistic and verbal. I used my own personality to round them out. I gave Lavender a sense of self-doubt, and Marigold a casual, humorous side. Well after developing the characters I learned more about Oscar Wilde, and realized how much Marigold’s personality had in common with his. Mostly the sense of humor. I didn’t base Marigold on him, but I could definitely see it if a reader thought that.

On a scale of 1 to 100, how much of your book is based on documented historical events?

Do you mean Canadian history? Or ancient history? Because it’s about a 1 either way. It’s an alternate world with a vague time period. But there are definitely other connections, like the Seed Bank the King of Svalbard talks about. He mentions how his people discovered it centuries ago. There is a real Seed Bank, or Seed Vault, on Svalbard, which is also real. Anyway, that’s all I’ll say on that.

What’s next for you – and for these characters? Can fans look forward to an audiobook version, a movie adaptation, and a sequel?

I let the characters take a vacation. They’ve been through a lot. They’re probably visiting sunny Emberland right now. As for a sequel, I’ve got about 118 pages of notes and I’m ready to pull the trigger. But I have to promote the book first, and that’ll determine if a sequel is written. I’ve got so many things I want to do if it happens, so many ideas for other gifted characters like Lavender and the others in the first book, and what was happening in Canada while the girls were on their journey. Also, since the book is an entity within their world, it would be fun in the second book to show how the first book affected their world. On a large scale mostly, but even the petty stuff would be interesting. You know, like characters getting annoyed with Marigold for publishing things they thought were off the record. I think they did something like that in the British version of The Office. I’ll keep the website ancientcanada.com updated with news of any sequel possibility. As for the movie, yes, we’re working to put together a movie adaptation. We just need to get all of the pieces together. We still haven’t found a producer, a director, a girl with purple eyes who can act, a girl with blonde hair who looks close enough to be her sister, a movie studio, and $100 million budget. You don’t have any of that lying around, do you?

Nope. Too late. Sorry, you should’ve asked a week ago. Hey, thanks for doing the interview!

Thank you! As the Lichen says, “Peace and all good!”

Remember readers, Ancient Canada is on sale now – check it out!