Jesse Bullington : Blog

May. 9

1:20 PM

Historical Lovecraft Guest Blog: Martha Hubbard

To help promote Innsmouth Free Press' new Historical Lovecraft anthology myself and a number of other contributors have volunteered to guest blog on each other's sites. Today I'm hosting Martha Hubbard, and tomorrow she'll publish my essay on her website and LJ. Many thanks to Martha for taking the time to write the following essay, to say nothing of hosting my own scratchings anon!

COVERCOLORADO

A semi-illiterate Byzantine bishop takes on the Great Cthulhu.

On 20 April, Innsmouth Free Press, an Indie Publisher based in Canada, released an anthology ‘Historical Lovecraft’ that includes my story, ‘The Good Bishop Pays the Price’.

For several years I have been writing and posting stories about Bishop Aaron Probus of Celestia and his companion, slave and scribe, Timos. Friends in my writing group had been very supportive of the Good Bishop’s adventures, but magazine editors and competition judges had been more lukewarm. One even accused me of making up silly names. I hadn’t; Marcus Aurelius Probus had been a Roman general elevated to emperor in the field by his troops. He ruled from 276 to 282. See!!! I do my homework. However, Innsmouth believed in me and my Bishop and you can meet him in our anthology.

In common with a number of my writing colleagues I believe that if you are going to write historical fiction – even fantasy historical fiction – the details should be correct. In this case it wasn’t at all hard to do. My passion for history, in particular the early Byzantine period and the ructions surrounding the establishment of Christianity has been a powerful motor for my actions over the last 30 years. In 1982 I left New York City for the island of Crete, intending to study archaeology – Byzantine archaeology. That a detour into the restaurant business took the place of formal studies, did not prevent me from passing countless hours in the Athens American Archaeology Society Library, attending seminars and symposia in Athens and London and spending an awesome part of my disposable income on relevant books.

In AD 330 the Emperor Constantine after legitimizing Christianity as official religion of the Roman Empire had founded his city spanning the strategic gateway to the Pontus Euxinus. One hundred years later, attacked by Goths and governed by inept and incompetent emperors, ancient Rome was a shambles, both physically and politically. New Rome, the city of Constantine, in contrast, strode over the known world like a modern colossus. And Christianity from its beginnings as a religion practiced mainly by women and slaves had risen to become a major political player – the source of its power, the hearts and minds of its believers and the armies of the Emperor who was seen as the Embodiment of God on Earth.

The middle period of the fifth century AD was a major watershed in the rise of Christian power throughout the Western world. Christianity had triumphed over the dark forces. Of this there could be no doubt. But which Christianity? So much had been written, disputed, discussed, ignored and practiced that in AD 429 the Emperor Theodosius II ordered the compilation of a Codex to define the rules and practices for Christians. This is where our story begins, for as the Good Bishop says, ‘When you make rules, somebody has to enforce them’.

Ordered by the Emperor’s sister Pulcheria to collect and destroy all pagan writings, Timos is given the unwelcome task of carrying out this edict. In the course of supervising what is effect a book-burning, Timos comes in contact with a copy of the Necronomicon with terrifying consequences. What price would you pay to save the life of your best friend?

How do I work? As may be obvious, I’m a teacher and a bit of a pedant. Once I decided to write a Lovecraftian story, I began by studying the man himself. As well as the wonderful stories, I encountered an essay in which Lovecraft discuses his way of working. He recommends writing out a timeline for the story, regardless of the order in which you plan to present your events. This works for me. When I was a kid my grandfather taught me to read road maps and I have loved them ever since. The twists and turns, byways and side roads are what make a journey interesting but I want to know where’ll be when the darkness starts to close around me.

What next? I will be at EUROCON in Stockholm 16 – 19 June where I get to participate in a panel discussion which includes guest of honour, Elizabeth Bear. If any of you are there, come and see me. I will have Future Lovecraft bookmarks to give out.

I’m delighted to report that Innsmouth has now bought another story of mine, ‘I Tarocchi dei d’Este’ for its Gothic anthology, Candle in the Attic Window. Loosely based on the true story of Parisina Malatesta who lost her head for falling love with her husband’s bastard and heir, the progenitor of evil here is a beautiful but dangerous deck of Tarot cards.

I enjoyed the experience of writing Gothic fiction so much I have begun preparing an outline for a novella inspired by a ruined manor house near my home on the island of Saaremaa. This will feature a cyclopean cave entrance, a beautiful young ward and a wicked uncle.

Another project, set in the future, features twin librarians with extraordinary powers who challenge the dark forces to save their precious books from an attack of ‘nekrobees’.

Finally, why do I write such dark fiction? As H. P. Lovecraft himself would tell you, ‘Evil exists’.

Martha Hubbard left New York City in the early 80s and spent nearly twenty years roaming around Europe. In 1997, she washed up on an island off the north coast of Estonia, where she has been teaching English to Culinary and Service students ever since. She has written a first novel, which was rubbish. The Good Bishop stories will be the second novel.

Hey Jesse, I'm a big fan of your work and an aspiring novelist myself, having written two novels and working on a third, though I am yet to be published. I recently finished The Enterprise of Death and was impressed with your committment to research. I look forward to your future works. I suppose History being your forte of expertise, research is something you've grown very comfortable with. I, being a Psychology major, though having conducted my fair share of research can't say I've done nearly as much as you have.

Which brings me to my reason for posting on your blog. Though my current works aren't of the Historical Fiction/Fantasy genre, I have often indulged myself, ideas of the sort flittering through my mind on more than one occasion. What advice would you give a budding novelist and fan on the intricacies of conducting research?

Peter on Jun. 15, 2011 at 10:46 PM

Hi Peter,

Thanks so much for stopping by, and apologies for the lag in replying--busy week! First off, good luck with the writing--putting in the hours (and days and weeks and years) is obviously crucial, but so is patience. Also, patience, and, yeah, patience. Again, best of luck with it, and I'd offer the unsolicited advice that trying one's hand at short fiction is rarely a bad thing i terms of improving one's writing--the website duotrope is a great resource for finding markets for publication, if that's the road you're interested in going down, and the turnaround is obviously a lot quicker than for longer stuff.

As to your actual question, how you choose to apply research to your own writing will depend quite a bit on personal preference. For me, I tend to start off with an idea informed by a great many influences, and then as I develop the idea I get an idea of what sort of information I'd like to include, and therefore what I need to research--I tend to hit the library and web for matters I'm already familiar with as well as those that I'm largely clueless about--it never hurts to brush up on things you already have some level of familiarity with as well as the alien.

Hmmm, not sure if I'm making much sense, so I'll go with a specific example. For Enterprise I had an idea of a character I wanted to explore (a Fon slave transported to late Medieval/early Renaissance Europe), a plot I had in mind (said slave being forced to learn necromancy, pitting her ideas re: death and magic against her tutor's), and a setting (Europe sometime between the late 14 and 17th centuries). These ideas were all informed from my pre-existing interests, and as I was mulling them over I began researching specific things that I suspected might help me develop these ideas into a single concrete narrative--so I started looking up texts on European beliefs in magic and the Fon people of Dahomey (now Benin).

Around this time I stumbled over the piece of art by Niklaus Manuel Deutsch that ended up being used as the cover art, and on a lark, researched the artist, not previously being familiar with him--the reason I looked deeper was twofold. First, I was curious what else he'd done, as I simply liked the piece on a general level, but second, that particular piece of art pretty much captured the mood I was trying to strike with this project, and I wondered if I might dig up anything that could be relevant to the project. Writing it all down like this, it occurs to me that quite a bit of the research I do hinges on random chance--stumbling over something interesting, and going off down a related rabbit hole in search of relevant information. In this case, I hit the jackpot, as Manuel's life perfectly lent itself to use in fiction, being both varied and interesting in its own right but also being under-studied enough that I felt free making up quite a bit, as the historical record is comparatively blurry where his life is concerned.

This in turn led to my settling on a solid series of dates for the novel, which in turn led to quite a bit of other decisions--fixing the setting in early 16th century southern Europse meant I could use Dr. Paracelsus, who I already had a vague, disconnected interest in due to his work in alchemy, and also tie the reformation, the Inquisition, and plenty of other elements into the overall novel...and it all grew out of a random piece of art that I took an interest in.

So for me, when conducting research I think it's important to let your mind go where it wants, to follow leads that spark something in you rather than only looking at works that fit with some pre-existing idea...that said, you also need to research specifics, if you're trying to make something mesh with our notion of history--I consulted books on the history of firearms when developing Monique's character, for example. So there's the go-where-it-takes you element of finding specific inspiration via research (be it specific or general) but there's also the important fact-checking and world-building sort of research--if you're writing about an average joe working on an assembly line, for example, you'll need to research what that looks like these days, though you might find some unexpected inspiration along the way, or by researching the history of industrial labor.

If all that makes any sense at all! The bottom line is that everything is research--simply being alive and aware of the world around you is research. If you have a specific idea to explore, I'd suggest researching to whatever degree you find comfortable, before, during, and after the writing of the initial draft. Just try to avoid the trap of letting a lack of concrete info stall your writing--we're writers, and so we should write, but too often I can't get over the mental block of just letting go and making something up when I can't find solid data on it--and a refusal to make something up is a very bad habit for a fiction writer to fall into!

Right, hope some of that made some kind of sense, and again, best of luck--and always feel free to ask me anything at all. Thanks again for stopping in, and of course, thanks for reading--cheers!

Jesse Bullington on Jun. 17, 2011 at 1:40 PM

Thank you very much for replying, Jesse. No worries. Your are actually quite prompt considering I posted only about a day or two ago. I'm glad to hear you're busy. I wish you all the more success. Keep up the great work.

Wow. I knew you'd done your fair share of research but I certainly didn't realize it was this much. I didn't realize Niklaus was in fact a factual character. Like I said before I admire your committment to research.

As a matter of fact I am familiar with the Republic of Benin, being of African descent myself and having spent most of my childhood in Africa. I've always felt that with the arrival of the missionaries, the old gods were sort of flushed out and with them most African culture pre-colonization. I've been curious to know just what life was like before Christianity in Africa so as to include some fantastical elements from the past as well as the during (the during being while the great 'flush' was taking place). I suppose as far as research goes this would be a great place to start. Of course I don't intend to research the continent in its entirety. But I'm assuming as I dive deeper into my idea I will begin narrowing down the content.

Thank you for showing some interest in my current project. It is keeping me quite occupied, I should say. Being a student as well, I don't think I'll ever get enough sleep. But that's quite alright. I am equally as happy as I am terrified which is a very exhilirating combination. I'm nearly finished with my current project, the book I'm working on at the moment being the 3rd and final in the series. I'm at that stage of querying agents where I can practically feel a hound of rejections frothing at their muzzles. Like I said, it is equally as satisfying as it is deprecating. And yes, patience, patience, patience. I don't think one could be a writer without the stuff!

As for trying my hand at short fiction, I believe that's a great idea. I've actually written several shorts that just aren't quite long enough to be what one would classify as short fiction or even a novella. It isn't that I'm not capable of producing a sufficient word count; majority of my fanbase--menial as they are--just so happen to be my friends on facebook. So I usually post what I've written under the notes section which in itself, doesn't allow for that much info to be posted. I intend to be the best I can possibly be and more at writing. There is always room for my improvement, and being as young as I am, I certainly look forward to the skill and wisdom that age brings.

I read an earlier post of yours explaining why it is you write dark fantasy. You quoted Lovecraft, I believe: "Evil exists." You have no idea how much I relate to this very statement. Simply put, I am a dark science-fictionist. But I hesitate to call myself this because in my writing are elements of numerous genres, fantasy of course being one of them as well as some surrealist literature (a bit of Haruki Murakami here and there never hurt), and some Literary Fiction. I know you take pride in not being able to be placed in one single genre. I actually don't see how it could be possible to be plaed in a single genre with as many varied influences us writers often have.

But to round this up. I know you're a very busy man and I certainly don't want to take any more of your time, fan or not. I know you're interested in History and historical works and so I have a couple suggestions for you. Maybe you've heard of a few. Even writers have to read too. Whoa, that all rhymed.

Right, the first is a work of Historical Fiction chronicling the life of a Viking by the name of Orm. The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson. It's quite an old piece of literature but I found it very informative as I knew little to nothing about Vikings and this book made me curious enough to research them. The second is pure Fantasy. You may be familiar with Joe Abercrombie's work. The First Law trilogy as well as his other novels. I believe he too conducts quite the amount of research, though not so much geographical as it has to do with warfare and weaponry. That's about all I can give you, really. The rest are just, well, weird.

Oh quick note. I know you spent some of your childhood in New Zealand. (Please don't think it's strange that I know so much about you). I recently read The Bone People by Keri Hulme which is set in New Zealand and I thought maybe you might wanna check it out if ever you get the time.

Alright, that's it. I wish you all the more success. Take care of yourself and thank you so very much for stopping to reply. Keep writing and I'll keep reading! Never forget to make things up; it's all the fun we get as writers without breaking the law!

PPS. Bronson was a great movie. Tom Hardy was superb and I look forward to seeing him as Bane in the upcoming Batman movie.

Peter on Jun. 18, 2011 at 1:30 AM

Thanks for all the food for thought, Peter, and apologies in advance for my brevity--leaving for the airport to pick up some friends in a few hours, and dashing about town trying to get everything in order. In reverse, order, then!

Bronson, yeah, is great stuff, and I'm likewise psyched to see him as Bane. That character got such a bum hand in the Shumacher flick he was in that I'm glad to see him back with anyone behind the mask, but man, Hardy is a dream come true. I think Nolan is getting better with each movie, and have high hopes for this newest...

I've actually never been to New Zealand, but it's an easy mistake to make--I spent a lot of time in the Netherlands growing up, and yeah, at a glance Nandastringofletters looks like Nandastringofotherletters. Would love to visit, though, and have read a bit up on it...but haven't checked out the Hulme. Is it about Maoris? Also must admit I haven't read the Bengtsson, but I'm a big fan of Norse history and the Icelandic Sagas, so I'll have to give that one a look one of these days. Abercrombie I absolutely love, though I've only read the trilogy--heard grand things about BSC and Heroes, though--saving them for when I need a serious fix of the good shite

I'm a big Murakami fan as well, and as you say, labels are pretty meaningless when you get right down to it--good fiction can be full of x elements and be great, or lack them entirely, and yeah, be great. In terms of modern Japanese lit, ven more than Murakami, I think, I've learned a lot from Kobo Abe--some of his stuff is a wee bit more surreal than I prefer, but some of it, like The Ark Sakura and the Woman in the Dunes, is just phenomenal.

As for the Lovecraft quote, I must admit that was a guest blogger who invoked ODL and not me. For me, the question of evil is, like the presence or absence of any abstract concept, entirely beyond my understanding. Trying to make sense of it, define it, see if it's even there, well, that's not just the point of writing, that's the point of life, isn't it? At least, it is for me! The first piece of hatemail I ever got, as it happens, was the result of an essay I posted at Powell's before the Brothers Grossbart was even published, lemme see...there we are: http://www.powells.com/blog/10338/abashd-the-devil-stood/

As for Africa, both pre-and-post-colonialization/christianity, it's a particularly tough nut to crack since so much of the written record we have of the wildly disparate cultures and histories all come to us from christian missionaries. Or at least, that was my experience with researching the Fon and Dahomey--while more recently there's been a vested interest by scholars of African descent to research the regions and peoples, most of the early histories I found we by European and American missionaries, and as well-intentioned as the best among them may have been there's still the fact that the subject matter is approached as an Other, which is a pretty big lens to peer through right off the bat. To just mix my metaphors behind comprehension.

Some of the Icelandic texts fall into a similar problem, with what we have being filtered through a matrix of Christian conversion inspiring the re-tellers of ancient tales to alter the stories to include Christian beliefs. Really, though, it's nowhere near so bad with the Scandanavian stuff as it is with African histories...as you pointed out, so much has been lost, flushed out, that getting a clear picture is difficult...but not impossible, since the peoples of Africa, like all humans, love a good story, and so the oral histories remain, and more and more are being transcribed to print everyday, so hope springs eternal and all.

And with that I ought to punch out, but again, good luck with the writing and publishing--it sounds like you have a realistic view of the process, which is vital since even with the most grounded of expectations it can be brutally, miserably frustrating at times. Hope in your case it's quick and easy, and the best thing you can do is keep throwing yourself into it and hope for the best--bit like learning to fly. Take care, and thanks again for the conversation!

Jesse Bullington on Jun. 22, 2011 at 3:51 PM

Oh jesus, my site does that thing that turns symbol combinations into cutesy cartoon faces? I had no idea...also, this is apparently what passes for brevity with me? Madness.

Jesse Bullington on Jun. 22, 2011 at 3:56 PM

Hi Jesse. Just want to start off by saying, thanks for the reply. I've been busy myself actually. Writing mostly. Just hit 30,000 words on the manuscript.

I agree that Nolan is getting better with the batman movies. I can watch them now without thinking someone has played a cruel and unfunny joke on me. His execution of the Joker made the Joker and his incredible psychosis very realistic. Yes, Bane had been dealt a rubbish hand in the past. He never really was one with a lot of personality but he wasn't quite a brick wall, either. I look forward to seeing Hardy perform.

I figured you'd be familiar with Abercrombie. The Bloody Nine is a hell of a character. I'm glad you're familiar with Murakami as well. I've read most of his works. In fact they're stacked high in front of me right now. Right next to The Brother's Grossbart and The Enterprise of Death. I will have to check out Kobe Abe. Sorry about the mistake, coulda sworn I read New Zealand somewhere. Yes, Hulme's work does have to do with the Maori, however it focuses on specific characters more so than it does the people. The language is spoken in abundance through out the text. There's a glossary at the back so it's all good.

Let's talk evil. A lot of points you made in your essay hit home for me. One, that human beings are animals. Not surprisingly when I make this statement I get a lot of surly looks. It's incredible to me how a people can so easily deny what they are--what their baser foundations are comprised of. I personally am one to sympathize or find some sort of resonance with the villain because to me (and this is gonna sound a tad bit misanthropic) we are the villains. I do not believe that there is a simply good or bad person in our universe. Life is not that dual faceted. Humanistic answers are not black and white. There is always the why.

I think the confusion is derived from the belief that when a person does something terribly wrong he or she has in some weird, unfortunate way, defected from the group. But I don't see it like that. That dark intangible something lurks inside every single one of us and when the surface of our humanity, the coating that has been grown through years and years of ethical pruning, is peeled away, that darkness leaps out, and it consumes everything. Calling evil evil is like weighing sin, like we do crimes in the justice system (ten years for this particular crime and twenty for another). How do you even define evil? Everyone performs some sort of evil on a daily basis. We just don't call it evil and we can't call it evil because it would come off as a tad bit exagerrated.

Whenever I watch a movie or read a novel and I come across a villain, I ask myself how I can relate to this person. Because I know I'm not so far off from this person. I know something happened to this person to fully expose the evil inside of them.

When developing characters I try not to put them in the protagonist/antagonist box. I want to challenge the audience. I want them to ask each other whether or not it's okay to like a particular character because of the decisions they've made and are going to have to make. Of course I'm also aware that there is a need for a villain.

I think anything that blurs the lines between good and bad is very compelling. So I'll place one who would usually be recognized as a protagonist in a situation that challenges their morals and those of the audience, and if or when they go the route of the antagonist in order to overcome the barrier in their way, it will have to be the audience's choice whether or not they are going to disown this character as their hero or retain him or her as such and by doing so, recognize his flawed humanity as similar to theirs. I refuse to make that decision for them. I think varying emotional ties between the audience and the characters creates a much more personal relationship. If one person thinks, "oh I thought that dude was a dick," and another says "no he wasn't. he was just doing what he had to," that's perfect. Because it creates a situation where there is no clear demarcation between good and bad and so compells the reader/viewer even more so.

Characters NEED to be human. They have to be unless they aren't. And being human isn't flipping a card one way and then the other. Being human is a rubix cube of complexities. It's a challenge both mental and emotional. I want to be immersed in a character that can make me nod my head several times and say "YES! YES! YES!" not just because I can relate but because I want to understand. This is what character development is to me. There are no flat human beings so there should be no flat characters. Not unless these characters suffer from some psychological disorder that renders them a blank slate of pure villainy. In which case I think I'd be watching a kid's movie because only children believe in such void rubbish.

Maybe it's just the psych major in me but once I learned of the complexities of the human mind, I realized that the way storybooks define heroism is completely unrealistic. It might seem obvious because it is. Being human means constantly battling that other part of ourselves, the shadow versions of ourselves, so as to walk within the lines of morality. And if you (not you, just generally speaking here) as a writer or a creator of art of some sort are not showing that then you aren't producing an accurate representation of what it means to be human. Now if what you're going for is an inaccurate representation of what it means to be human, then that's just peachy. Otherwise don't insult your work and your audience by treating them like toddlers (unless they are toddlers, in which case go crazy).

And that's my little spiel about evil. Passionate, I am about the subject because passionate I am about characters and character development.

It really is a shame about the written records of Africa pre/post christianity. However I do agree with you when you say there really are vestiges of the true, unfiltered history left thanks to the word of mouth. For example, as a boy growing up in Nigeria, my family had a gate man, sort of a guard who manned the gates (obviously). It was very common as crime was incredibly virulent. This man carried a pot, a small cauldron if you will, with him. He had it one day when he came in for his shift. When my father ventured to ask him just what it was, he was surprised by the man's response. In this pot, for lack of better words, were all the charms and ingredients necessary to perfom magic. Juju, as it is called in the west, is simply black magic. This man believed his charms could protect our compound from thieves and armed robbers. So he buried the pot in our front yard and only he knows what became of it.

My father sold the house many years ago. Maybe the pot is still buried in our front yard. I have no idea. What I do know is that many people still pray to the old gods. There is information out there and I do believe some of the practices have been dilluted and have somehow become entangled in and adhered to christianic behavior. It's only left to uncover and unravel.

Alright Jesse. It's 3am over here and I'm starting to feel the tug of sleep in all its resiliency. I hope you get a chance to read my reply and I look forward to conversing with you another time. Thanks for the advice and vote of confidence. I'll keep trying. It's only a matter of time.

Cheers.

Peter on Jun. 27, 2011 at 3:06 AM

Hi Peter,

Many apologies for the lag in replying--the last month brought us almost a dozen visitors from out-of-town at various times, and in the result I've been almost entirely offline. I did enjoy reading your thoughts a great deal (and not just because we're mostly in agreement!), and hopefully one day we'll be able to sit down over a beverage and talk at length--presently I'm digging myself out of five week's of backlog, and have a massive editing project looming, so I'm going to have to cut out directly. Really do appreciate your sharing of ideas, though, despite note having the time at present to give them the response they deserve, and your story from your childhood--absolutely fascinating--for all the brutality and darkness, it's a wonderful, bewildering world we live in, eh?

All the best, and thanks again!

Jesse