Robert McCammon’s work in the past few years since we last spoke in 2013 has been very varied – there’s been new tales for historical problem solver Matthew Corbett; two standalone novels – The Border and The Listener – and a further Western adventure for Trevor Lawson. In the wake of publication of the latest Corbett novel Cardinal Black by Cemetery Dance, McCammon answered a fresh batch of questions from Paul Simpson…

How has Matthew’s journey worked out, compared with your original plans for it – or did you find during the research for Freedom of the Mask and Cardinal Black that things needed to change?

This has always been an interesting journey for me… I know where I’m going, and where I want Matthew and the entire cast to go (more or less) but I’ve never known exactly how to get them there, so each book is really a surprise for me. I don’t have any outline or plan written out… everything is in my mind and of course subject to change if I run into problems… but so far all has worked out probably better (and more easily) than I’d hoped.

Speaking of that research, what were the most useful sources for the wonderful recreation of the UK in the books – the writing is incredibly evocative? Did you actually make it over here to do any of it or was it all achievable “remotely”?

I wish I could say I’d been to England and spent a lot of time there researching, but I can’t… everything was done remotely, using either the Net or the many books I have on the city of London and the country at that time in history. But I do plan on going sometime soon!

What was the most surprising thing that you discovered during that research – and did you manage to get it into the books?

From Speaks The Nightbird… when the blacksmith has a “relationship” with his horse. Not an uncommon thing at the time, but if you were found out you were hanged… and the horse was also destroyed. Also my research into the mania for gin at this time in London… destitute men and women sold their children (and babies) to get money for the drink… quite amazing… and a pretty terrible thing too, because there were plenty of people looking to take advantage of the need among the poorer classes to drown their situations in strong drink.

Has Matthew himself, or any of the other key characters, surprised you during the writing?

Well, I think they’ve all become more human in the course of the series. Professor Fell has surprised me because of his back story… Really, he’s to be pitied, and now that his power is waning he is the target for many who are actually much more terrible than himself. I feel sorry for him. Weird.

Professor Fell’s village in Wales feels very reminiscent of The Prisoner – were you a fan of the show, and what about it particularly appealed to you?

I absolutely loved that show and of course Fell’s village is based on the one in The Prisoner… I just couldn’t pass that opportunity up. As a matter of fact, the first mention of Fell’s village is in the second book, The Queen Of Bedlam… so I had that in mind a long time back.

Can you give any hints as to where Matthew goes from here?

The King Of Shadows is the title. It’s kind of a summing up of what has gone before… an orchestral interlude, if you will… before the massive loud explosion of the final book.

Are we going to hear more from Trevor Lawson? There were some intriguing hints at the end of Last Train from Perdition as to where the stories could go, and back in the day you mentioned there’d be 2 more stories after his debut.

I do have the next one begun. That’s about all I can say right now. We’ll see.

What prompted you to write The Border and return to science fiction after so long? I know you’ve tended to avoid sequels (bar Gallatin – and would love more tales from him!) but do you have any plans to continue in that world, or indeed another SF tale?

I grew up reading science fiction… all the great science fiction magazines like Amazing, Fantastic, Analog, Galaxy and Worlds Of If (always loved that title). I have hundreds of those right now that I really enjoy re-reading. But The Border isn’t really a science fiction novel because there’s no science in it and I wouldn’t know how to write about science. It really is a “monster novel” and I wanted to write something where I could fire up my imagination and just let it go full-throttle. It was a really fun experience, creating all the monsters and the situations.

But no, I don’t plan on doing sequels because in my opinion a sequel is never going to be as good as the original book and that might disappoint some people… probably would. I do know there are some sequels that people feel are better than the original, but I feel like after I’m finished with something I’m pretty much done with it. Anyway, I’ve got a lot more to do. I’ve always felt like I would someday run out of ideas and that would be the end of my writing, but it’s amazing how those juices keep flowing.

The Listener was one of my favourite novels last year – when we spoke in 2013, you mentioned that there were some stories that you weren’t sure you were ready to write yet. Was this one of them? And what were the particular challenges involved with telling that story?

Glad you enjoyed it! I was ready to do The Listener when The Listener was ready for me to write it, and I know that might sound strange but there you go.

The challenge with The Listener was being true to the period in an era where many are trying to rewrite history. Also, I thought the dialect might anger some people but I recall hearing that dialect many times as a young boy growing up in Alabama. I wanted to be respectful of the black culture and the strides made since the 1930s… and the 1950s and the 1960s and really on and on… but I didn’t think the book would work without the dialect that I recalled hearing as a boy. Then again there was the “n” word, and I had to use that because not only was it the temper of the times but there is so much anger and hatred in it that it had to be used to show the “inner workings” of some of the characters.

That was another historical story – do you find that writing period pieces is liberating or confining in terms of having to stick to “established” history, both political and social? Do you find that you’re commenting on parallels to our modern world or do you try to steer clear of that?

I truly enjoy writing historical work, and I don’t find it confining at all. As an example, the use of language and “puns” in the Matthew Corbett series is just fun to do. I can use humor in that series where humor might not fit some of the other books.

I think I am commenting on parallels to the modern world… take the “White Velvet” gin that quickly made so many people into addicted wrecks in Freedom Of The Mask. Can you think of anything (or things) that has turned people into addicts in the modern age? I certainly can, and they’re not all drinks or drugs.

I’m not sure I’m doing this commentary on parallels so much as it just is what it is… though the eras have changed, communication has sped up, travel has sped up also and the world seems to have gotten smaller (but no less dangerous than in the colonial era, and it was likely more dangerous then regardless of the gentlemanly manners that often hid the characters and motives of very vicious individuals).

Everything we regard as commonplace the people of Matthew’s era would have considered to be witchcraft. Wi-Fi??? Come on! The ability to download movies or music through the AIR? Have to be Satan’s work, of course!

But the essence of people does not change. People are still the same today as they were in Matthew’s time or in the time of The Listener. Just the outward world changes, but the inner worlds of people—the hopes and desires, the joy and sadness and even the hatred—does not change. So if there are parallels in my historical work to the modern world, it’s because the people I write about are still around today… just wearing different clothes, driving a vehicle that would’ve been Hell’s chariot to the citizens of three-hundred-years ago New York, and every day using that Satanic invention called Wi-Fi.

And finally, what’s in the pipeline that you can mention please?

As I said, The King Of Shadows, then I think a book of short stories set in Matthew’s world before the last book in the series. After that I know I have two more I want to do and one will be quite a departure for me… the lead character is an architect, so I’m going to really have to do my research for that one.

 

Many thanks to Hunter Goatley for assistance in arranging this interview