We’re pleased to have join us for this edition of the
Gazalapalooza Author Spotlight novelist Simon Tolkien. Tolkien’s here to tell
us something about his brand new thriller, Orders
from Berlin, and to share with us some of his insights about the writing life,
and life generally.
As is our wont with all our intrepid Spotlight guests, a bit
of authorial background is in order. Tolkien was born in England in 1959, and grew up in a small village
near Oxford. He
studied modern history at Trinity College, Oxford,
before establishing in Britain
a successful legal practice specializing in criminal justice. The author of
four gripping novels, Tolkien now lives with his family in sunny southern California.
Did we leave anything out? Oh, yes…
Before we venture further, we’re sure our guest’s last name
rings a bell loudly for many of you. Perhaps all the more so with this weekend’s
highly anticipated theatrical release of the movie, "The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey." Tolkien is the grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien. In 2003,
shortly following his debut novel’s release, Tolkien said of that heritage,
"Living in the shadow of The Lord of
the Rings has not been an easy experience and I was always telling myself
that I couldn't write fiction. However, I began writing my first novel on
January 1, 2000. The first effort was rejected and that was hard, but I was
determined to carry on and the result was The
Stepmother (since retitled Final
Witness — ed.). I think that my grandfather would be both pleased and proud
that I have become a novelist. My book is a courtroom drama; it could not be
further removed from his world of elves and dwarves, but writing it has made me
feel close to my grandfather again. It is as if I have come into my true
inheritance."
We agree. And in the years following the publication of Final Witness in 2002, Tolkien has proudly
continued his family’s august literary legacy by authoring excellent novels
that consistently earn well-deserved acclaim from critics and readers. Tolkien’s
second novel, The Inheritance, was published
in 2010, followed a year later by his third, The King of Diamonds. Those books appear in more than half a dozen
languages round the world, and we’re confident the fate for Tolkien’s latest, Orders from Berlin, will be at least the
same.
Preliminaries now complete, it’s time to welcome Tolkien to
the bright klieg-lit glare of the Gazalapalooza Author Spotlight. Without
further ado, let’s get this Spotlight underway.
Gazala: In my
omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for
offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a
limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than
it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the
collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the one
fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and
why you choose them.
Tolkien: Doctor Zhivago — because it is the most
true novel I have ever read, describing how we pass in and out of life in a
haphazard way, caught in cross currents, unable to control the vagaries of
chance that can be most cruel. And non-fiction — a huge, well-written history
of the world complete with illustrations to keep me distracted while I wait for
rescue.
Gazala: Your latest
book is an excellent and gripping thriller titled Orders from Berlin, about a Nazi plot to assassinate Winston
Churchill during WWII. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend
it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation
doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual
reader. Tell us something about Orders
From Berlin, and why its potential reader should make the leap and
become its actual reader.
Tolkien: Here’s why
— it’ll take you back to the fall of 1940 when the world’s fate hung in the
balance poised between good and evil, when fact was stranger than fiction, and
an assassination could have changed the course of history. It’ll make you feel
what it was like to live in a city that was being bombed day and night and in a
country that expected to be invaded by the most terrifying military machine
that has ever been assembled. You will walk through the corridors of power and
meet Churchill weighing options in his underground bunker, Hitler venting his
fury on his generals, and England’s
top spies meeting in secret conclave. And you will stand on the shoulder of a
young detective constable and feel his anxiety and frustration as he works
alone against overwhelming odds to try to foil a plot to kill Churchill and take
England
out of the War. It’ll keep you awake into the small hours and leave you
satisfied when you close the book at the end of the final chapter.
Gazala: What are books
for?
Tolkien: To take us
out of ourselves, to extend our limits, and to people our imagination. To
entertain and to move and to instruct. To make us see the world in an infinity
of different colors and to make us more than we are.
Gazala: W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?
Gazala: W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?
Tolkien: Somerset Maugham is the greatest
writer of short stories that I have ever read. I particularly love the ones set
in Malaya that bring a vanished world to vivid life in a few pages, setting up
and exploring conflicts that can rarely be resolved. Maugham could not have
done this without a mastery of his art and I don’t think that starting at page
one and seeing what happens can ever be a recipe for success. Writing good
novels requires great organizational skills, particularly if the writer intends
to keep his reader absorbed in the unfolding story. My years of practice as a trial
lawyer have helped me with plotting. And there is research too — a book can be
more interesting if it takes the reader into another world or historical
period, although I think it’s important that this is not done for its own sake —
the novelist’s purpose is to create, not educate. For me the research and
plotting can take longer than the actual writing, but I need to make sure that
I don’t over-prepare. It’s vital to leave enough space inside the plot
structure for the characters to develop into real three dimensional human beings
with credible motivations for their actions. And the story needs to evolve
naturally but cohesively out of their interplay.
Gazala: I've got to crack this coded message — time is of the essence. Ask yourself a question, and answer it.
Tolkien: Q: What do you believe in? A: That we may
well be alone and that God — if He exists — is not involved in the day to day
workings of the world. I am left cold by the emphasis in western religions on
the continuation of life after death; the importance that Buddhism places on exploring
a consciousness beyond the self makes more sense to me, as do its tenets for
how to live life wisely. That death makes life more precious, not less. That
love and creativity and artistic endeavor make human beings more than they are
and that the evil of men like the Nazis has at its root a complete limitation
of imagination and empathy. That we need to understand that the dead were just
as alive as we are now and that the past is another country just as real as our
own — simply to walk down a street in another time is the greatest experience I
can imagine. And finally — as you say — that time is of the essence.
Yes, time is always of the essence. And to save you some
time, we’ve made it very easy for you to get your own copy of Orders from Berlin. All you have to do
is click here, and Amazon will have your copy heading your way in mere moments.
