PAULA'S PEOPLE: INTERVIEW WITH PAUL FRASER COLLARD, AUTHOR OF THE JACK LARK SERIES

Following on from my review of Mr Collard's novel, THE LAST LEGIONNAIRE, I manage to catch up with himself to ask him a few questions about his writing and whats next for Jack Lark. Please follow this Link if you'd like to win a copy of the book and to read my review

1) I’d just like to say Hi Paul and welcome to the Review Blog. Thank you for agreeing to be our guest and answer a few questions. I’ve recently read the 5th in your Jack Lark series, and I have to say, I was very impressed by your knowledge of the era, the various armies and the battles in Europe in 1859. You must have done a lot of research. Can you tell us how long you studied the period before you started writing the series and have you had to research more as you write each book?

I thoroughly enjoy researching each of the Jack Lark novels. I generally spend a couple of months researching each novel before I start planning the plot, but to be honest, the process never really stops and I will still be researching all the way up to the time the proofs are finalised. A lot of that is fact checking, but you never know when you will come across something fascinating that can add even more flavour to the story. What is interesting is that the amount of research really does change with each book. I am always very pleased when there is a good amount of carry over between novels. For example, I had to research a lot for Jack Lark 6 which is set at the start of the American Civil War, but happily a lot of that research will support the storyline of book 7 which means I can get plotting and writing a lot quicker. 


2) What was your favourite aspect of research or what was the most interesting feature of the Victorian period to investigate?

For me, it is always the first hand accounts that fascinate me the most. I am much more interested to know what it was like to be a soldier on the battlefield than I am to find out which regiment carried out which manoeuvre at what exact time, or what the generals were thinking when they flung their troops at the enemy. I try to convey that in Jack’s stories and I concentrate on his small part of the battle rather than try to convey an epic portrayal of the battle as a whole. 

3) What were your earliest influences that you can remember and what books do you like to read for your own pleasure? Do you have a favourite author?

Anyone who knows me, or has read any of my books, will have an idea how much the novels by Bernard Cornwell have influenced me. For me he is the master of the craft and I can still recall the feeling of being utterly captivated when I sat down and read my first Sharpe novel when I was eleven. Sadly, I struggle to find time to read much fiction as all my free time is spent researching. I do love post-apocalyptic fiction and thoroughly enjoyed the Dust series by Hugh Howey. I do occasionally indulge in reading historical fiction, but I am careful to avoid anything written in a similar period to my own as I think that may well make me feel horribly inadequate. Right now I am both reading and collecting all the books written by Christian Cameron as I think he really is one of the very best writers working today.

4) I know that you have a full-time job. How do you manage to find the time to write and fit in family life as well?

I try to be very disciplined in finding time to write. I always use my commute to and from work as this gives me the best part of two hours a day I can dedicate to my writing. The rest I fit in when I can, using weekends and time off to get the rest of it done. So far I have found this works pretty well and I can write one to two books a year plus all the other associated work that comes with being a writer. It also helps that I love writing. I never had a great ambition to become a writer, I just thought I would give it a try and I am still amazed to have got so far. Except for a few, rare occasions (usually when I have foolishly started to catch up on a box set like Game of Thrones) I thoroughly enjoy escaping into Jack’s world. It is a treat at the start and the end of the day that I really look forward to.

5) How did you come to develop Jack’s character, did you base him on anyone in particular and how has his character changed in the years that you have been writing his story?

When I started to try to write a series, I knew I would need a character who could stand out and make a name for himself. The idea of an imposter was actually my wife’s and I love the freedom it gives me to keep moving him into new settings and new campaigns. It is this ability to set each novel in a new setting and with a new cast of characters that really is at the heart of the Jack Lark series. Writing a series also gives me a great chance to develop Jack’s character. He starts out as a very naïve, and impressionable young man who is driven to better himself and to seize an opportunity for a life that he could not hope to achieve in any other way. The experiences he endures will change this ambition greatly. Through the novels we can see how Jack hardens and the doubts he has about himself slowly disappear as he understands who he is and what he has become. My editor, Frankie Edwards, helps me a great deal with this and she offers a very different perspective when it comes to developing Jack as a character. I think this is one of the best parts of writing a series and I hope that my readers will be able to see how, and more importantly why, Jack has changed into the man he is in each of the novels.

6) Discounting Jack himself, who is, or who are your favourite characters to write and why?

I have a huge amount of fun creating Jack’s supporting cast. Apart from one or two exceptions, each character will only feature in a single novel and, although this gives me a bit of a headache as I need to keep creating new characters, it gives me a great deal of freedom to bring in all sorts of different types of character without being forced to bring along a whole ton of back-story baggage. I am currently planning and writing book 7 and I am having a blast creating this book’s cast.

7) I understand that Jack is going to be joining the American civil war is his next adventure. The American Civil War has always been a fascination for me, though I don’t know that much about it. What made you decide to send him there and what’s been the most exciting aspect of the civil war that you have found in your studies?

I always knew I wanted Jack to go to America and I thought that, with five books done, it was time to reinvigorate the series and have him arrive in Boston just as the American Civil War begins. I am hoping that featuring the ACW will broaden the appeal of the series and I was very keen to avoid it getting “stuck” in the British Empire. I didn’t really know very much about the civil war apart from having watched a few war films at some point. The research has been fascinating, especially as I set the book at the very start. The book features the First Battle of Bull Run which really is a unique battle with neither side really knowing what they were about – making it the perfect place for an experienced soldier like Jack to play an important role.I have especially enjoyed reading the first hand accounts of the soldiers who fought at the start of the war. Their voices really do echo through the years and there has been quite a few occasions when all ideas of research are forgotten as I get swept away in one man’s account of his experience of that battle.

8) How many much more of Jack’s story will you be giving us, before you decide to retire him and will we be seeing any more of his old love Mary?

I have no plans for Jack to retire! The poor fellow has a lot more adventures left in him and I think it will be a long time until I put him to rest (in one way or another). I do have the idea that the very last Jack Lark novel will have a cover image that shows Jack facing the reader for the very first time!
Mary’s return is quite possible, although I think it might be more interesting to see her son Billy feature again at some point. I really enjoyed bringing Mary back into Jack’s life in The Last Legionnaire along with Major Ballard, “the devil” and his ne’er do well enforcer, Palmer. I am not sure I’ll try that trick again, at least not for a while.


9) Have you thought about anything else you’d like to write about that doesn’t include Mr Lark? If so what era or genre would it be?

Funny you should ask that! I have written the first novel in what could be new series. It is set in WW2 and features a new lead character. My agent has seen it and wants me to re-write it. So as soon as I get time I will get that done and who knows, perhaps I can have two series running at the same. It is still very much historical fiction but the character could not be more different. Let’s see where this one goes!

Well, many thanks to you, Paul, and good luck with your writing, and I look forward to reading Jack’s adventures in America, but first I might just have to go to book one and read about his story from the beginning.

You can read my review of The Last Legionnaire here

Learn more about Paul and his upcoming projects at his Website 

Purchase his books here

Watch this video of Paul

PAULA READS: THE LAST LEGIONNAIRE by PAUL FRASER COLLARD

Please note that the author has graciously agreed to a signed copy for one lucky winner.
All you have to do is leave a comment here on the blog or on our Facebook Page.
The draw will take place 1st of August

He was going back to what he had always been.

He had returned to the one place he had thought of as home in

an attempt to build a new life on the foundations of the past.

He had been wrong.

He was no longer a boy who had worked at his mother's 

beck and call. He was a soldier, a redcoat. He did not 

belong in a gin palace. He belonged on the battlefield,

where his talents had a rightful place.

He had tried to deny who he was.

He would not do so again.

This is the fifth book in the Jack Lark series, and I must confess to not having ever read any of the others before I accepted a review copy. I'm not well-read on the European wars of the mid 1800's, although I have some knowledge of the earlier wars of the 19thc covered in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series. To be honest, it would not be fair to compare the two series, because, although there are some similarities, there are a lot of differences too. Collard's character, Lark, is a very different kettle of fish to Cornwell's Sharpe. Lark is as dark and as morose as a 'dark' character can be. He rarely laughs, or shares a joke, and he has extreme difficulty in containing his anger. He also keeps his cards close to his chest. He is the archetypal soldier suffering from combat stress, the horror of war is etched deeply into his psyche, and he struggles with his own sense of self. He doesn't seem to have quite worked out whether he is a good person or not.

Gin Palace in Shoreditch London

The tale of The Last Legionnaire begins in 1859 and Jack Lark returns home to his mother's gin palace after years of fighting in the Queen's army. He is a mysterious character, and as he tries to rebuild his life, he soon realises that people have changed whilst he's been away, and he no longer feels an affinity with the old place. In the meantime, we learn that Jack once had a girl, her name is Mary and she works in the gin palace alongside his mother. At first we think she might still hold a candle for him, and she probably does, she blows hot and cold, but it seems that Jack can't do anything right in Mary's eyes and it soon the heat is turned permanently to off.

It soon becomes apparent that God is laughing at all of Jack's plans for a new life and he realises that not everybody wants to go along with his ideas. When he tries to fight off the protection gang, who come demanding money from his poor old ma, it is evident his knight in shining armour act is not appreciated especially when it worsens the situation, rather than solves it. When Jack refuses to give in to the gang, a tragic event forces him to accept an offer from his old intelligence officer, Major John Ballard, known to Jack as 'The Devil'  who has a mission for him.

After the tragic event, Jack realises that he has no choice but to go on Ballard's mission, taking Mary and her son Billy with them, seeing as she has no where else to go. Ballard, seeing Mary's predicament, who that the girl and her boy go with them, she to cook and clean for them, and the boy to act as a lookout and general helping hand. Throughout the book, we see two sides to Ballard. With Mary, he is kind and a gentleman, with Jack, we sometimes get a glimmer of concern, and at others, it is quite clear, that Ballard views him as a mere pawn in his game. Ballard is a shadowy character and we only get to the bottom of his intentions at the end of the book. One thing for sure, is that he holds the key to Jack's future, and without him, Jack will never regain his identity.

Ballard's party includes another character, a man called Palmer who is also in the pay of Ballard. Palmer is an old war veteran, down to earth and not the sort that stands for any belligerence. He and Jack don't hit it off straightaway, but later, they are thrown together in circumstances that will leave them relying on each other for their lives. Palmer's character adds another dimension to the dynamics of Ballard's party and offers Jack a kind of ally of sorts.

Jack tries to make things better with Mary, he knows he has ruined her's and Billy's life and is desperate to try and do the right thing. He takes an interest in Billy, but Mary is not happy with the influence he has over her boy and rages against him. Poor Jack, this left me feeling sorry for the poor bloke every time he goes near her, and I was struggling to understand how he managed to keep his explosive temper at bay during her constant berating. I wanted to shout, "just give the poor bloke a chance, why don't you?" But, you have to have empathy for Mary, because she has lost everything, because of Jack. She had all that she needed working at the gin palace, but now, here she was, some where in France, on her way to Italy, forced to march alongside a great French army. Not the kind of life she'd had in mind.

The heart of Ballard's mission lies in a battle, the Battle of Solferino. This was the decisive engagement in the Second Italian War of Independence, a crucial step in the Italian Risorgimento. The nationalists struggle to unite Italy, divided amongst France, Austria, Spain and a variety of independent Italian states. The battle took place near the villages of Solferino and San Martino, Italy, south of Lake Garda between Milan and Verona. Until this book, I had no idea about this bloody, devastating battle which took place on the 23rd of June 1859 in the Italian summer heat.

The confrontation was between the Austrians, on one side, and the French and North West Italian Piedmontese forces, who opposed their advance. In the morning of 23 June, after the arrival of emperor Franz Joseph, the Austrian army changed direction to counterattack along the river Chiese. At the same time, Napoleon III ordered his troops to advance, causing the battle to occur in an unpredicted location. While the Piedmontese fought the Austrian right wing near San Martino, the French battled to the south of them near Solferino against the main Austrian corps.

It is into this chaos that Jack, Palmer and poor little Billy is thrust. Jack and Palmer are given their assignment and the guises of French Foreign Legion soldiers, in which lies their quarry. Their task is to find a nameless soldier with blonde hair, aged about 22 amongst thousands of men. It seems like an impossible task. This nameless soldier is the key to all their lives, and Palmer and Jack must succeed, or die. It is here that the talent for battle writing shines from the author's pen. As Jack and Palmer, and a variety of other characters fight their way through a blood-soaked field, laden with gore and dead humanity, we see what they see, feel what they feel, and hear what they hear. If you ever want to know what 19thc soldiers went through, read this book. Its all there.

As the story reaches its climax and its penultimate scenes, the reader is left wondering how things are going to turn out for Jack. The balance of everyone's lives and plans are left hanging in the air, but resolution comes in the end, and not the way everyone might have planned it, but the way is left for the next book. 

For me, this was a step outside my usual comfort zone and I enjoyed the trip immensely. I particularly enjoyed the first few chapters in Victorian London, and wading through the bloody battle grounds and having the French Foreign Legion involved was also an interesting dimension. Paul Collard is a fabulous writer and I wish him luck with the next in the series and highly recommend this book to those who enjoy this era and anyone who loves reading historical fiction.

About the Author

Paul's love of military history started at an early age. A childhood spent watching films like Waterloo and Zulu whilst reading Sharpe, Flashman and the occasional Commando comic, gave him a desire to know more of the men who fought in the great wars of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. 

At school, Paul was determined to become an officer in the British army and he succeeded in winning an Army Scholarship. However, Paul chose to give up his boyhood ambition and instead went into the finance industry. Paul stills works in the City, and lives with his wife and three children in Kent.

You can read more about Paul on his
Website
and
Amazon Author Page

Paula Lofting is the author of Sons of the Wolf  set in the 11thc. She is currently working on the soon to be published sequel, The Wolf Banner 
Sons of the Wolf can be purchased at this amazon link below
myBook.to/Sonslive