The Strange Affair Of Spring-Heeled Jack AND SEQUEL(S) by Mark Hodder
Mr Peter Harrow, Esq:
And don't forget the giant mutants Swans created by the Eugenicists!, although the messenger parakeets are the most fun!
Mark Hodder:
Hi chaps and chapesses
My sincere thanks for your words of praise! THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK was a blast to write and I'm delighted that it's being received so well. The US edition by PYR is due out in September. Also in September, the sequel will be published by SNOWBOOKS in the UK. I believe it'll appear in the US in Sept 2011. It's entitled THE CLOCKWORK MAN OF TRAFALGAR SQUARE and looks at the alt. history version of the famous Tichborne case (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tichborne_Claimant). I'm currently working on the final couple of chapters. The third volume of the initial trilogy will be EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON. (The fabled mountains of central Africa, rather than anything on the actual moon!).
If the B&S books prove popular, I'll definitely write more ... but I hope to work on a different project, too. My lips are sealed, except to say there will definitely be steampunkery involved.
In terms of me visiting the Asylum, yes, you're right -- I live in Spain, so the cost would be prohibitive for a fledgling author. I'm happy to engage in discussions/interviews via forums or email though.
Again, my thanks for your warm response to my debut.
Keep your flywheels oiled and your furnace burning!
Mark Hodder
Mr Peter Harrow, Esq:
Thank you Sir, both for the book and on contributing to this forum.
The news of sequels and other projects is gratefully received, and whilst you are ensconced in Spain, please keep an eye on the Geographical Section of the forum for The Child Boards for both the UK and Europe, you would be welcome to any events which conveniently match up with your itinery.
Are you aware Sir of the work of Dr David Clarke of the Sheffield Hallam University? He co-authored an excellent treatise on Jack (as Sheffield has its own version with the Cholera monument.), and gave an excellent lecture on the subject at the National Science Fiction Convention (Eastercon) in Bradford last year at my behest. He is currently researching the recorded history of encounters between the Royal Navy and Sea Monsters, right up you street! Dr Clarke, like myself is an expert on the Freedom of Information Act.
As I am a lawyer I am somewhat familiar with part of the Tichbourne Claimant story, so I await a sequel with bated breath. I did like the fact that at the end you untangled your history from the accepted version of history. It mean't after finishing the book it had not only been a good read, but felt also that it it had been an 'improving' book.
darkshines:
Mr C is reading this at the moment, he adored it but told me not to read it. I get upset over things like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that take existing texts I know and love and TWIST them (possibly why I dislike Burton's Wonderland so much). I am very, VERY familiar with Spring Heeled Jack from a fortean stance, perhaps he sees the use of something I am familar with as a red rag to a bull? I would love to read the text and give my own opinion!
PS I have no problem with people using existing characters if they are used with ACCURACY, but changing the original authors work REALLY upsets me. Like when people make Mr Hyde huge and human, um no, when Jeckyll turned into Hyde he gradually got smaller and ape-like (a possible observation on the theories of degeneration in the fin de siecle). If they kept the characters as they were written just added MORE narrative (the horrendous acts Hyde got up to, what the tincture was made from, etc) instead of changing huge swathes as if they had never read the source text, then I find that tolerable.
All that aside, I look forward to reading this book!
Mr Peter Harrow, Esq:
I will try to refrain from spoilers, but a considerable amount of research has gone into the story so it does not play fast and loose with the established historical narrative, except where this is deliberate and part of the plot. I too deplore lazy adaption you always compare to the original source material and the comparison is often not conplimentary. What Mr Hodder has done is deliberately create his own narrative based upon historical fact and extrapolation. His characters are historical personages, set in an alternate World, not literary creations, which is different to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which is a metafiction.
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