Home	Tom Holt
The Tom Holt Page	The USS Beagle Interview
	In May, 1998, Tom Holt gave an interview, via e-mail, to the Editor of the USS Beagle Fanzine; it appeared in the June issue that year (to coincide with a review of his then current Hardback, "Open Sesame!"). Here is the interview, slightly edited from the published version. USS Beagle would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Holt for his co-operation!
	...just in case you missed the profile we ran in issue 8 (all those years ago!), here's a brief look at who he is and what he does. Holt was born in 1961, and studied at Westminster School and Wadham College, Oxford.  Whilst at Oxford, he started to write comic fiction, beginning with two sequels to the 'Lucia' novels of E.F.Benson, 'Lucia in Wartime' and 'Lucia Triumphant'.  which were great fun, but he has found greater success with his comic fantasy novels, which started off with "Expecting someone Taller" which managed to involve all of the mythical characters from Wagner's Ring Cycle. He has also written two more serious historical novels, "The Walled Garden" and "Goatsong", (which have recently been reissued as a single volume in paperback) His most recent paperback is "Open Sesame", (which is reviewed this issue) and his latest hardback is "Wish You Were Here". Tom very kindly consented to answer a few questions for USS Beagle, via the internet.
USS Beagle (USSB)		I thought I'd avoid the usual "How do you think up your stories/characters" and "Name your favourite book written by you" questions,
Tom Holt (TH)		Hooray!
USSB:		"Wish You Were Here" seems to be a bit of a departure into new territory, with a different style of cover and a move into Native American legend and away from the more Eurasian myths and fictions. Why the shift?
TH:		It's not a genuine American legend. I made it up (or at least modified a story that's absolutely universal; the supernatural being who offers you your heart's desire as a way of luring you to your doom) as a hook to hang a story on. In WYWH I wanted to explore a central theme (greatly oversimplified; "be careful what you wish for") by running it past 5 different characters, each one chosen to allow me to examine a different aspect of the issue. The experiences of the characters (dreamer, cynic, self-deceiver, anti-dreamer) taken together make up a sort of "report" on the issue. Well, *I* thought it was pretty darn cool, and it makes a change from all those chase sequences... If people don't like the format, tough; I've used it in "Only Human", the next completed novel; I'm using it in "Snow White & The Seven Samurai" (in progress) and I intend to use it in "Valhalla" (in the R&D stages right now), so I suggest you learn to love it.  Seriously; I think the genre of comic fantasy has now come a long way from its origins (basic parody of straight fantasy) to a point where comic fantasies can now have genuine depth as well as being bits of fun. The fun is, of course, as important as always, but I believe that it's time we started writing books that are *about* something, rather than just having comic characters chasing each other about and making ghastly puns. Without a bit of substance, I think the fun will start to wear thin soon
USSB:		How much input do you have to the cover designs of your books?
TH:		Ahem. They always ask my opinion. They listen politely. They don't seem to get offended when I say "This picture has the suction capacity of a million Hoovers working in series". Having canvassed my opinion, they then consult the art department, the marketing department, the sales reps and all the other people who earn their living by knowing how to package and sell books, and they (quite rightly) go with what the professionals say. When they ignore my suggestions/requests/impassioned pleas I console myself with the thought that, since I have the commercial and aesthetic sense of a small dead toad, they're probably right.
USSB:		Is there any chance you might write more in the style of 'The Walled Orchard'?
TH:		I'm writing Part 3, dealing with Alexander the Great (working title; either "Alexander At The World's End" or "Alexander's Rag-Time Band") right now. I'm about halfway through
USSB:		You're known to be a bit of a 'Trekker'! What do you think of the standard of writing generally in Trek books?
TH:		Going downhill rather, I fear. When they were printing stuff like John Ford's "Final Reflection," Diane Duane's "My Enemy, My Ally" and "Doctor's Orders", and masses of other stuff by the likes of Dillard, Julia Ecklar (writing as L A Graf), Hambly, early Diane Carey ("Best Destiny" - superb!), early Peter David - there's a hell of a lot of first class novels there that can stand comparison with the majority of "mainstream" SF There were lemons too, of course; ghastly efforts like Sonni Cooper's "Black Fire", Laurence Yep's "Shadow Lord", other monstrosities by Weinstein and others...
USSB:		I was going to ask you for your favourite Trek books, but I thought that was a little too 'trivial'; I have to admit my least favourite are "Mutiny on the Enterprise"
TH:		Yes, it's pretty awful; but not as bad, surely, as "Black Fire", "Shadowlord" or "From The Depths"; or the one where Kirk gets turned into a giant crab, or...
USSB:		...and that DS9 book by Robert Sheckley, "The Laertian Gamble"
TH:		Oh yes, that one; my memory had cauterised it, I guess... But at least I finished it, whereas I've never got further than 20 pages into Friedman's "Kahless" without giving up By and large, the standard was very high.  Now, though... Maybe it's just my taste, or lack thereof. Personally, though I think Peter David is still a talented enough writer to make me want to read anything he writes, I don't much care for the New Frontier concept, and David's writing in that series is enjoyable in spite of, rather than because of, the general premise. The recent stand-alones have also been lack-lustre, in my opinion; not *bad*, still readable, but not as good as they used to be when Duane, Dillard, Ecklar, Ford etc were writing them. Very few of the DS9 novels have, in my opinion, got under the skin of the series (and sales reflect this, I gather; John Ordover, the editor at Pocket, has confirmed that DS9 titles sell least of all the 5 series) In general, my favourite Trek novels recently have been the Voyager titles (Guilty secret time - I like Voyager; after DS9 it's my favourite Trek. My preferences are; 1. DS9  2. Voyager  3. TOS  4. TNG)
USSB:		Do you read any other 'franchise' books,  (such as Babylon 5, The X Files)
TH:		No. I don't watch B5 or X-Files, either. My loss. I take enough flak from my wife and family as it is for watching Trek...
USSB:		What do you think about the state of SF/Fantasy at the moment?  Is the increase in coverage in magazines and on television and cinema screens a good thing?
TH:		So long as the standard's maintained, I don't think you can have too much SF in any medium. I thought "Men In Black" was disappointing and "Space Truckers" was dreadful; otherwise, I've enjoyed all the big-screen SF I've seen in the last few years. On the small screen, the standard appears to be better than ever before; season 6 of DS9 and season 4 of Voyager are the best Trek ever, for my money; people whose opinion I trust tell me that the writing on B5 is superb; I'd love to be able to see "Buffy", which I gather is a seriously good show, and "Earth; Final Conflict" (likewise); at the other end of the spectrum, I thoroughly enjoy "Hercules" for what it is (basically "The Water Margin" for the 90's - I loved TWM, by the way) "Xena" I don't like quite so much, though I adore Renee O'Connor and I admire them for the way they're taking the Xena/Gabrielle thing; I'm not wild about Lawless' rather wooden acting (on the rare occasions when she's *not* being Xena, she's extremely good - remember that episode where she had to protect a princess who looked exactly like her? She was wonderful as the double; a highly talented comic actress) and the black leather's a bit too much for me, but on balance it's a good show with a very strong, positive view of women, which makes a refreshing change
USSB:		Do you read SF/Fantasy other than Trek?  If so, who are your favourite authors?
TH:		Heinlein, for all his faults, dwarfs the rest. The first SF I read was John Wyndham; I think he's seriously underrated and due for a re-evaluation. Asimov I find hard to get into, but worth the effort - I struggle through the first 50 pages until I've built up a tolerance to the style, and usually enjoy the rest of the book. Early Iain M Banks ("Use of Weapons" and "Player of Games") is superb, the definitive British SF; but I didn't manage to finish "Excession", despite several valiant attempts. Pratchett's two SF novels (Strata and Dark Side of the Sun) - magnificent stuff and easily the best thing he's ever done;  for assurance, verve and imagination they're hard to beat. I loved the Discworld books up to and including Reaper Man, and Mort's an all-time classic. On the edges of the genre, I wholeheartedly recommend Haydn Middleton's Mordred cycle, and Jonathan Wylie's "Magister", which is a credit to the genre.
USSB:		You mentioned John Wyndham there and Iain M. Banks, what do you think of the standard of recent TV/Film/Radio adaptations of novels?  (I'm thinking of things such as the Wyndham 'season' that recently ran on Radio 4, and Banks' "The Crow Road" amongst others)
TH:		Missed both of them, I'm afraid. My viewing/listening time's a bit limited. Again, my loss.
USSB:		Would you want one of your books to be adapted in some way?
TH:		You bet
USSB:		Which format would you prefer?
TH:		Whatever. The only stipulation being, that somebody else does the adaptation. Oh yes, and I'd like them to pay me lots of money...  I don't see any of my stuff ever reaching the screen, simply because it'd need double the budget of 'Titanic' to cover the SFX.
USSB:		Is the current tendency to adapt old TV series to the big screen a good thing or should there be more films based on original material?  (I'm thinking here more of 'Lost In Space' and 'The Avengers' rather than Trek, but your thoughts on Trek would be interesting as well)
TH:		Well... I've always preferred the TOS movies to TOS itself. Kilmer's recent "Saint" remake was a superb film, but "Mission Impossible" put me to sleep. The Batman films weren't my cup of tea, but that's personal taste. I can understand the urge to go back and loot 60s and 70s TV for material, because there's so much good stuff there. Now if only they made a Blakes 7 movie...
USSB:		In similar vein, have you read much in the 'book of the film/TV series' line (other, of course, than Trek!)
TH:		I tried to read Terry Brooks' "Hook", but failed. I liked Timothy Zahn's Stars trilogy; the more recent SW stuff lost me, though
USSB:		What did you think of the Audio books adaptation of your books,  read by Simon Callow?
TH:		Absolutely marvellous; far funnier than the books themselves...
USSB:		Finally, you started off by writing sequels to the "Mapp & Lucia" novels of E.F.Benson, which I particularly enjoyed!  Do you still enjoy reading the original stories?
TH:		Very much so; I read them once a year, on average.
		Thanks for that Tom!
		If you are interested, USS Beagle now has a website of it's own, at http://www.uss-beagle.iwarp.com
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