An Interview with William Dietrich

Interviewed by Gina

An interview with William Dietrich

Hello and welcome to Love Romances and More. Thank you for taking the time to talk with several of us and our readers. I have thoroughly enjoyed several of your books and hope our readers will enjoy them as well.One of the first things we at Love Romances and More and our readers want to know about your writing is how long have you been writing?

I wrote my first short story in the second grade and have been at it ever since. Professionally, I began as a journalist, published my first non-fiction book in 1992, and my first novel, “Ice Reich,” in 1998. Going from newspaper journalism to fiction has been a challenging and enjoyable transition for me.You came to my attention when I received a copy of Napoleon’s Pyramids. With a life long fascination with both Napoleon and the Pyramids you more than caught my attention with that book and that sent me off on to your back list. How ever did I miss you?

After writing a book, getting attention to it is the biggest challenge any author faces. And getting publicity is like the old joke about getting a bank loan – you can only get it when you can prove you don’t need it. The best-known authors, with the least need for exposure, tend to get the lion’s share of critical attention. What has made a difference for many of us is the Internet and the creation of sites such as Love Romances and More, which provide a way to learn about less-well-known authors.

ICE REICH is the first of your adventure fictions, but you wrote before that. What drew you to writing ICE REICH?

I went to Antarctica as a Seattle Times reporter under a fellowship provided by the National Science Foundation. After my initial reporting I was excited about doing a book. When I couldn’t generate interest in a non-fiction proposal, I decided to write a novel based on a real-life pre-war Nazi expedition to claim a slice of Antarctica. As usual, the history was almost more bizarre than the fiction! I had an opportunity to return to the continent and actually finished the first draft of “Ice Reich” on an icebreaker. There’s nothing like being able to look at icebergs outside your porthole to inspire the next page.

I found both Owen Hart and Jurgen Drexler intriguing characters. Jurgen is pretty much in the mold of the rescued bad boy of many romances. I like how you brought him to life on the pages. Both men are well developed with totally different ideologies. Did they just come to you in a pantser fashion or were they plotted out?

Characters grow on the page. Owen came from my own experiences as a reporter of being thrust into a new society – in his case, a German Antarctic expedition – and trying to adapt to that. Jurgen is the initially more sophisticated character whose fatal flaw is his wayward moral compass. A compelling villain is as important in a good story as the hero: see Goliath, Grendel, Lady MacBeth, etc. But I wanted to make Drexler likeable on some level, so that the moral tension was more acute.

You have traveled to Antarctica. What is your most intense memory of your trips here?

I went to Antarctica less than three months after surgery and radiation for cancer, since cured. I was still a little weak physically, caught a bad cold flying down, and the airline lost my luggage – I was headed to the coldest place on earth with no clothes, except what the government loaned me. (My gear eventually caught up.) That brush with mortality made the weird combination of beauty and hostility in Antarctica even more powerful to me than it would otherwise have been. I have many vivid memories – 60 degrees below zero F at the South Pole, or descending a tube into the Antarctic ocean to observe penguins diving underwater – heart-breaking beautiful – or sleeping in a ten next to a glacier, or building an igloo – but particularly memorable was a set of ice caves that struck me as an ethereal tomb. There was this dazzling array of blues and greens in the ice. It made me appreciate the fragility of existence: both our own, and the narrow envelope of atmosphere and water we depend on.

GETTING BACK, who is most like William Dietrich – Elliott, Daniel, Ethan or…Raven?

It is interesting for you to suggest the woman, Raven, who was inspired by women I’ve known but who inevitably reflects a little bit of me. Fiction characters all have a part of their creator, I suppose. Without quite meaning to, I’ve realized in retrospect that all my primary heroes usually have a little bit of journalist in them: curious outsiders in a strange new place on a challenging quest – but with stakes considerably higher, or course, than a mere news story! So I drew on my own journalism career for my fiction. At the same time, I can give my cast characteristics and freedoms I might wish I had. I call my latest protagonist, Ethan Gage, a kind of alter ego – a glib gambler and sharpshooter with an eye for the ladies as imagined by a family guy chained to a computer. Thank goodness we can invent people more interesting than ourselves!

GETTING BACK is, like ICE REICH, a unique story line. Where did the idea come from?

I like to joke that I came up with the idea for the television show ‘Survivor’ and am owed zillions of dollars, a claim no one else seems ready to treat seriously. I did come up with the idea of recreationists seeking a deliberate survivor-like experience in a depopulated Australia before that show aired, but the notion probably percolated out of my reading of any number of disaster romances: most ideas evolve, rather than being entirely original. I was covering science and environment at the time, and wanted a book exploring both the rewards and the oppressions of modern civilization. What better way than to drop a bunch of near-future Yuppies into an adventure bigger than they were ready to handle?

If given the opportunity, would you embark on Daniel’s journey?

No. I like the outdoors but don’t romanticize it, and know the injuries and privations the wilderness can force are quite real. It’s like asking a horror writer if they’d really like to meet a real vampire – if they do, then that’s one insipid vampire!

DARK WINTER is a foray into a very sick mind. We see a glimpse of this person through his/her writings interspersed throughout the book. Did you include them as you wrote the main text or did you write them as a separate journal and then include them throughout the chapters?

That book is a heavily fictionalized elaboration of real stories I heard at the South Pole, and most of the characters are inspired at least in part by real people. The exception is Robert Norse, the smooth psycho who was my excuse to explore someone very dark. His writings were written to alternate with the main chapters as I went along, so that he could reveal – to me! – his motivation. You learn about your story by writing it. I actually was disturbed by my own creation. Attila the Hun I can take, but Robert Norse – some of his writings inspired by a mountain climb I went on – gives me the creeps. I was in a dark mood.

When the killer is revealed I was feeling a bit more blood thirsty and wanted a different outcome. Without giving away the surprise, have other readers told you they wanted that outcome to be different?

No, but I’ve had very different reactions to that book. Some have told me it’s their favorite of my works, while others don’t like it at all. I think the National Science Foundation was less than enthused: when I explained my basic plot and asked to return to the South Pole to research the story further, they politely turned me down. Can’t blame them.

HADRIAN’S WALL takes us back to 122 A.D. and the wall built by the Roman Hadrian in Britain meant to separate the Barbarian from the civilized Romans. This was a fabulous story with something for everyone. There is adventure, intrigue and an incredibly romantic love story. Did you set out to write a love story?

Yes, and my publisher at the time was so opposed to my writing a romance – I guess manly thriller writers don’t do that sort of thing – that they dropped me. Hadrian’s Wall was actually the first idea for a novel I had, during a trip I made to Britain, and when I told me wife she said, ‘Well, you’d better put a woman in it.’ So I did, as the primary character, which was a real challenge for me. And despite the blood and thunder at the end of the Roman Empire (most of the book takes place in 367 A.D.) I think it’s a much more hopeful book than ‘Dark Winter.’ I’m not a romance writer by any means, but there’s no stronger emotion than love – not even fear.

You have a marvelous sense of what goes on in a woman’s heart and mind when she is falling in love. Was it hard for you to understand Valeria and the changes she goes through?

I asked women for help, and how she might react in particular situations. My assumption is that men and women are much more alike in their emotions than they are different.

Valeria is a strong woman who comes into her own through the story. Is she based on anyone you know?

Yes and no. What inspired her was the archeological discovery of a Roman garbage dump in northern England and the recovery of correspondence by the women living on Hadrian’s Wall. I hadn’t realized Roman women sometimes went to the frontier with their husbands or even to be married, like Valeria. She has the same sense of curiosity and wonder I can imagine in myself, while taking on characteristics of young women I’ve met. Believe me, I’m flattered and relieved you think she works: I admire writers who seem to be able to change genders effortlessly, but I don’t count myself among them.

Who was the most interesting to write? Galba, Marcus or Adren?

Galba, the villain, was the most fun, with testosterone coming out of his ears. He was inspired by an editor that I had (though the editor was someone I liked!). I did want Galba to express the unfairness of class barriers, the frustration of a person with great ability that he could only rise so far in an aristocratic society because he’d been born in the wrong place.

SCOURGE OF GOD takes us back to the time of Attila the Hun. What drew you to this particular figure in history?

Hadrians’ Wall shows the empire entering a period of decline but still clinging to its ancient boundaries, and The Scourge of God took the story further to near the final collapse of the western Roman empire. I’d read as a child about the titanic Battle of Chalons that narrowly stopped Attila, and thought that would make a terrific climax for a novel. I did decide, however, that Attila was more effective as a strange, over-shadowing character viewed as a force of nature, and that the central characters would be a Roman man and woman reacting to his threat. I portray him, but he has some of the implacable mystery of Hitler.

What the best part of researching this story?

I try to travel to the settings of my books. In this case we drove from Hungary to the battlefield area in France (its precise location remains unknown) and worked to imagine 5th Century Europe at the turn of the millennium. That meant ruins, museums, landscapes – and some pretty nice meals. It was a detective job, however, because relatively little is known about Attila and his Huns.

If you suddenly found yourself back in time, which side would you want to land on?

The winning side! But I think the lesson of history is that however necessary upheaval has been to advance human civilization, be wary of signing your life away to a crusade, revolution, or philosophy. What seems imperative when human emotions are at the boiling point can seem catastrophic with the perspective of a few decades. My theory is that the world would be a saner place is people just took regular naps.

You shift to a series with your Ethan Gage books, starting with NAPOLEON’S PYRAMIDS. What prompted your decision to write a series rather than continue with your stand alone stories? For instance, was it how interesting Ethan is as a character or were there just so many possible adventures during his time period or something else?

I liked Ethan and I find the Napoleonic period absorbing – I’ve said it was life lived as grand opera. Glory, battles, intrigues, love affairs, scandal, greed, idealism: if you go into an estate of the period, like Napoleon’s Malmaison, even the furnishings seem fevered and over the top. But I also realized I had more story to tell after ‘Napoleon’s Pyramids’ and so I gave it a balloon-hanger ending and set out to find what happened to Ethan and Astiza. Readers liked it, HarperCollins asked for another couple books, and here I am, working on Number Four with Number Three ‘The Dakota Cipher, scheduled to come out at the end of March.

Because of my own fascination with Egypt and the pyramids, NAPOLEON’S PYRAMIDS was the reason I started reading your back list. What drew you to write this story?

For sheer exotic color and drama, I think Napoleon’s invasion of what was then an utterly mysterious Egypt is rivaled only by Cortez’ invasion of Mexico. It was a clash of cultures, played out against ruins so old that even the Egyptians had no idea who built them: Egyptology began with Bonaparte’s invasion. Then I was surprised to learn there are many mysteries still surrounding the pyramids and that culture. Faster than you can say ‘Da Vinci Code,’ I thought I had a way to weave fascinating history with real archeological puzzles.

Which came first, your visit to Egypt or the idea for Ethan’s series?

I’d started Ethan’s character is a different setting, interacting with Horatio Nelson and Lady Hamilton. When I realized switching him to Paris and mixing him up with Bonaparte offered far more possibilities, the story switched to the invasion. I wrote a draft of the book before visiting Egypt, relying entirely on research, and then toured Egypt to modify it and fill out its description.

You laid in the sarcophagus? I’ve heard that it is a very personal and moving experience. Is there anything about that experience you are comfortable sharing with us?

I was on an ‘archeologists tour’ led by a remarkable woman named Ruth Shilling of All One World Egypt Tours and her contacts got our small group a couple hours in the Great Pyramid alone. Ruth is a New Age musician, and so as I lay in the sarcophagus in the heart of the pyramid, she started a chanting song. Now remember that I’m a former science reporter, used to bringing skepticism to any such situation, but I had a sensation of levitation, eternity and peace that was truly moving. It became entirely plausible to me that Napoleon might have had visions while doing the same thing.

What was the best part about researching this book?

Egypt was amazing. I was prepared to be disappointed, because we’ve all heard so much about it, but I found the ruins continuously moving. It’s not an easy place to travel – I recommend some kind of tour group – but it’s one of those ‘life list’ places everyone should visit. I think they should try an Arab-Israeli peace conference inside the Great Pyramid, or the ruins of Luxor. Talk about gaining perspective!

Ethan is back in the ROSETTA KEY continuing his adventures begun in NAPOLEON’S PYRAMIDS. When you began NAPOLEON’S PYRAMIDS, did you know that Ethan’s adventures would continue?

Answered above.

What do you like best about Ethan?

His imperfection. He often misjudges people just as they misjudge him, but this creates opportunities for him to influence world history. He’s at once brash and self-deprecating, earnest and yet wry. He’s a great romantic. He pursues women to bed them, but underneath is his desire to find a real soul-mate. He likes women, a quality not all male characters in fiction share.

Are you a math guy or was it something you had to learn for the books?

Oh, I’m hopeless, so I researched. I braced for complaint by people who know a lot more math than I do, but I seem to have come close enough to satisfy them. I wouldn’t read a book myself with too much math in it, so I keep it to a minimum.

If you had a choice between wealth or wisdom, which would you take?

I like money as much as anyone, but wisdom, of course – one part of which is being able to separate wants (which are insatiable) from needs (which are really quite modest.) But it’s hard to be wise, especially in our frenetic society where we run after goods that are more trouble than they’re worth and security that is unobtainable. Life is too unpredictable. Here’s a great quote from Benjamin Franklin: “Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.”

If you were given a choice of one book to be made into a movie, which one would it be and why?

Napoleon’s Pyramids. I can see the epic scale, and I’m a fan of ‘Lawrence of Arabia.’ After that, ‘Hadrian’s Wall,’ a personal favorite. I love the wall’s border landscape between England and Scotland.

Who would you cast as the lead?

I can see very different actors channeling Ethan Gage, from Johnny Depp to hunks like Clive Owen to smoothies like Matt Damon, and even gambles like Colin Farrell, an uneven actor who I liked in “In Bruges.’ I know it sounds odd to suggest your hero could be played by such different personalities, but Ethan is someone who ideally must be interpreted, like the variations on James Bond. For Napoleon, I imagine Tom Cruise: he has the intensity required. And Astiza? Isn’t this where I get to interview a hundred beautiful starlets?

Can you tell us a bit about the DAKOTA CIPHER?

It is a sequel to Rosetta Key, beginning in Paris but climaxing in frontier America. Ethan gets embroiled in Napoleon’s Marengo campaign, unwisely couples with Pauline, Bonaparte’s randy married sister, and is sent to the infant United States on a quest for ancient Norse artifacts. There, newly-inaugurated Thomas Jefferson sends him on a mission west, and he begins to meet characters – including one titled temptress – who get him into more and more trouble. It’s wild, but has a lot of humor as well as action.

Do you have anything you’d like to add?

Whew!

Thank you for some fabulous reading and your time today.