An Interview
with Brendan le Grange
Where
are you from?
I was born in Cape
Town, South Africa, and lived there until I’d finished my first degree;
thereafter I spent eight years working in Johannesburg, two in Copenhagen, and
now four in Hong Kong (with two weeks a month in Manila these days).
What
inspired you to write your first book?
I’d started doing some writing
on the side for work – training articles on credit risk strategy – but soon
figured that if I was going to spend time and effort writing, it would be a lot
more fun for that writing to be fiction. Initially that though took the form of
general procrastination, with lots of reading about how to write but very
little writing, but eventually I took the plunge.
From that point I knew
I wanted to start with something plot-driven, something fast-paced, but it was
two small pieces of architecture that started to give the picture shape: a
smudged carving of three dragons walking into a church in Tallinn and a
stained-glass window showing a vanquished dragon in a church in Dotlingen,
Germany.
Both were such small
but charismatic pieces that I knew they’d make great clue markers. With them
in, I needed a link and for that the Hanseatic League was perfect. So I
borrowed from their history, added some spice, and started to write…
Do
you write full-time or part-time? How do you balance your writing life with
your family/work life?
Very much part time. The
bulk of my words are put down on my iPad while on the ferry I take to and from
work, or in more normal environments when work has me stationed away from home.
But of course, with a full time job and a toddler at home, it’s always difficult
to balance demands.
How
did you come up with the title?
The book is simply
called Drachen, which in turn is the
name of the ship whose wreck kick-starts the adventure. In that way it was an
obvious choice, though in other ways it wasn’t, since the wreck is only ever in
the background and I was worried it would cause some confusion.
Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
Ha,
no, not at all, I’ve unfortunately never found any ancient treasure though
perhaps that’s because I have also never been in any high-speed car chases or
suspended shoot-outs!
That said, my good guys
are all named and shaped after real friends of mine. The bad guys on the other
hand are entirely fictional; in the end I never had the heart to turn a friend
into a psychopath!
What book are you reading now?
I’ve been reading only
my Twitter followers this year, and have discovered a few real Indie gems that
way; and in far more genres than I would normally read.
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
Yeah, there are a lot
of indie authors doing a really great job: I can certainly recommend Daniel
Pollock, Peter Morin, Fiona Quinn, Harlan Wolff, Joel Hames, and Melanie Ansley,
but my ‘to be read’ list is long and I have no doubt there are a few more winners
in there!
What are your current projects?
I’m writing the
follow-up to Drachen: I don’t want to
give away too much, but it set in Hong Kong and picks up on one of the open
storylines from the first book, though perhaps not the one most people would assume.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest
book?
I
don’t know. It is easy to make the book different, and tempting to react to any
neutral review, but while there are obviously weaknesses in Drachen many of those either differences
in taste or limited by my talent!
Who designed the covers?
Si Maclennan, a South
African graphic designer. We took inspiration from movie posters, focusing on some
of the more iconic action scenes in the book and framing them against the
backdrop of the sailing ship – a link back to a traditional cover norms for the
genre.
What do you think about e-publishing
versus technical publishing?
E-publishing is a great
opportunity for all authors, although I fear that at times that ease can tempt
us into releasing a book too early – certainly in my case I am always having to
fight my urge to release, making sure I get enough detailed line editing and
proof reading.
If
you could live anywhere, where would it be?
I’ve been lucky enough
to travel to forty countries and live in three, so I’m always open to ideas… If
we put away practical concerns, somewhere with a soft beach and a coral reef
would be great!
If
you could have any super power, what would it be?
I’m not really a super
hero sort of guy, but I tell you what, if I could spell and punctuate more
accurately it would make writing much easier J
Brendan le Grange was born and educated in South Africa, though he now lives between Manila and Hong Kong with his beautiful wife and daughter.
As a business consultant, he has travelled to forty countries and lived in three. And it is reading binges to break up these transits - with the likes of Clive Cussler and Jack du Brul - that inspired the writer to emerge, bringing to life the cities, characters, and history he encountered.
Le Grange's debut action thriller, Drachen, is a wild chase through North Europe along the Baltic coast. Based on a reimagined history of the medieval Hanseatic League, a young marine archaeologist discovers evidence of a treasure so valuable, it will test every allegiance.
I’m on Twitter @brendanleg and #DrachenThriller
Drachen is on Amazon.com at http://amzn.com/B0133U3HGC and .co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0133U3HGC
It’s also on Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/drachen-1 at and B&N at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drachen-brendan-le-grange/1122455738?ean=2940152073379
