Aqui, com a permissão de RTP, está a entrevista viva que eu fiz da Feira do Livro em Lisboa… Os limites do meu português são bem demonstrados *sorriso*
Here is an interview I did live for Portuguese TV (shown here with the kind permission of RTP) from the Lisbon Book Fair. It is in Portuguese – so it may not be of much use to those of you who are non-Portuguese speakers, however it does show me in motion – and proves, if proof be needed, that I am in fact a real, live person and not a puppet as has been rumoured… *grin*
Quando eu vim a Portugal, já não tinha estado lá à 18 anos… Eu não viajo muito, e quando eu saio da Escosia eu prefiro ir a sítios exóticos: Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Camboja etc – eu raciocino que quando estiver jovem suficiente para aguintar as condicões e climas destes pais vou visitar-lhos – e depois, quando estiver velhino, acho o tempo para viajar aos sítios mais próximos. Mas, quando eu cheguei a Portugal sabia logo mesmo que não é só um ‘sítio próximo’… Se querem entender o que Portugal é para mim só é preciso ler o capítulo O Fruto Proibido nos Os Escolhidos – o Jardim do Yden (pronunciado idén com uma ressonância pretendida com o Jardim de Éden) é a minha experiência de Portugal quando era uma criança… Mas, também, vocês, que sabem o que acontece no Yden, têm alguma compreensão de como, para mim, isso não é só uma associação com a luz.
entrevista com/ interview with João Seixas
fila para a assinatura dos livros
eu (e a Inês) assinar um livro
actualmente a assinar um livro
Com um a certa ressonância poética eu, que vim a Portugal para lançar um livro extremamente escuro, pareça trazer comigo o frio e a escuridão do inverno *sorriso* Mas esse frio foi compensado pelo calor da recepção que recebi da minha família portuguêsa e o pessoal dos meus editors, Editorial Presença. Com amizade e profissionalismo, esse pessoal (Raquel Dutra, Inês Mourão, Ricardo Sabino e Raul Martins) organizaram o eventos na Feira do Livro. O João Seixas entrevisto-me com habilidade e a audiência ajudou-me – ainda assim, a dificuldade de falar em português sobre as matérias subtis e emocionais da Dança de Pedra canso-me muito. Não que estou queixando – foi uma experiência maravilhosa.
Depois hove a sessão de autógrafos em que eu tive o grande prazer em encontrar-me com alguns de vocês, meus leitores – alguns que já conheci de email ou facebook… é só uma pena que não tivemos mais tempo para falar… Talvez na próxima vez… :O)
Eu gostaria de agradecer todos que fizeram a minha visita tal um prazer.
When I went to Portugal I had not been there for 18 years… I don’t travel that much and, when I do, I tend to prefer to go to exotic place: Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Cambodia – with the justification that while I am young enough to be able to cope with the difficulties, discomforts and climate of these places that’s the best time to go an visit them – there will be enough time when I am old to travel to the nearby places. But when I arrived in Portugal I quickly became aware that it was not just one of those ‘nearby places’… If you want to understand what Portugal means to me all you need do is read the chapter entitled Forbidden Fruit in The Chosen – the Yden (as an intended reference to the Garden of Eden) is a representation of my experience of Portugal when I was a child. Though, those of you who know what happens in the Yden will have some comprehension how, for me, this is not merely an association with the light.
With a certain poetic resonance, it was I who, coming to Portugal to release an extremely dark book, seemed to have brought with me the darkness and cold of winter (the weather during my stay was unseasonably cold and wet – so much so that it probably stopped a lot of people attending the launch events). But that cold was more than compensated for by the warmth of my reception by my family in Portugal and the representatives of my publishers, Editorial Presença, (Raquel Dutra, Inês Mourão, Ricardo Sabino e Raul Martins) who organized the events at the Lisbon Book Fair with friendliness and professionalism. João Seixas skilfully interviewed me and I was helped out by the audience being able, with their knowledge of English, to span the infelicities in my Portuguese. Even then, with the difficulty of talking about the subtle and emotional issues in the Stone Dance, I was left drained. I’m not complaining – it was a wonderful experience.
Afterwards there was a book signing when I had the great pleasure of meeting some of my Portuguese readers – some of whom I already knew from contacts through email and facebook… it’s only a shame that I did not have more time to talk to them.
Ten years ago, at a conference in Maastricht, I ran into an American fan of my work who asked me if I would put some examples of Quyan speech on my site. I told her that I would…. soon…. Well, this isn’t really ‘soon’, but here it is (at the bottom of the page) nonetheless.
Forming part of the ritual of the Apotheosis, I have – rather melodramatically – added reverb to indicate something of the acoustics of the Pyramid Hollow. I’m afraid that it’s not very well ‘acted’ – but it was hard enough for me to speak it at all!
The Song to the Earth actually predated the writing of the Stone Dance. I didn’t fully understand what it meant at the time, though I did feel that it needed to go at the beginning of the trilogy. Later, I came to realize that it was the key that unlocks the puzzle that is the Stone Dance…
It occurs to me that the recent eruption of (the delightfully difficult to pronounce) Eyjafjallajökul volcano was one of those rare events where the virtual reality that is human culture – and in which most of us live almost all of the time – was punctured. For a moment we broke the surface of virtuality and, coming up into ‘reality’, we all looked at each other puzzled, and confused – not really believing that this far away – almost mythical – event, could possibly be causing ‘real’ effects on our lives… Of course, almost immediately we sank back under, the surface closing over our heads, as we focused on close ups of people stranded, queueing, being cheated by hotels, turning ‘disaster’ into triumph by suddenly finding we could get joy out of helping each other out – or in taking the opportunity of unexpectedly extending our holidays… You’ve got to love us, human beings – at least, we can love ourselves – I’m not sure that the other inhabitants of this planet are likely to love us much…
Everything is back to business as usual. No lessons learned. Let’s hope that the next time our virtuality is punctured, it’s by something that we can as easily forget…
As a child I was utterly obsessed with Thunderbirds. I particularly loved Thunderbird 2… Like other little boys, I imagined being part of International Rescue. How ironic, then, is it that I should grow up to look like the Hood…?!?! *wide grin*
Responding to Rem’s request, here is an image of one of the heads of Ife currently in a show at the British Museum. For anyone who’s read the Stone Dance, it will be obvious why these would appeal to me. Exquisite works of art, these could easily be the pattern for the masks of the Masters. What is rather darkly amusing is that, when they were discovered, it was decided that these sculptures, as well as the more famous ones from Benin, could not possibly have been made by Africans – the heads were, after all, not only made of metal, but artistically at least as accomplished as anything made by the Greeks or Romans. The usual litany of fanciful attributions were made to explain their origins: a lost tribe of Israel, some wandering Roman army, some Greeks merchants who had gone astray, alien visitation yada yada yada.
an African mask
All of this because it didn’t conform with the cosy, racist ideology of the West about what African art was – something more like the second image. Of course, ironically, it was examples of African art like the latter image that inspired people like Picasso to overthrow classicism. A similar hysterical analysis was applied to the ruins of Great Zimbabwe – even though they CLEARLY resembled in form the houses of the local people – which form was entirely determined by their culture and way of life. Though I am reasonably well read when it comes to world history, I was in my 30s before I discovered that Africa had had any urban culture at all. This could be down to some failing on my part. But I suspect it had more to do with a conspiracy of silence that has insisted on portraying Africans as savages in straw skirts, living in mud huts and dining on missionaries. Pah!!!
Finalmente, ou ultimo livro da Dança de Pedra do Camaleão, O Terceiro Deus, vai estár nas lojas no 4 de Maio! Tomou lá um tempo – mas espéro que não vai desapontar…
Para celebrar este lançamento, Editorial Presença, pediu-me para vir ai. Por isso, vou estár em Lisboa 7 e 8 de Maio para a 80a Feira do Livro. Vai haver uma sessão de autógrafos no sábado á tarde… Vai ser um grande prazer encontrar-me com alguns de vocês…
(The Third God is going to be launched in Portugal on the 4th of May. To celebrate this, my Portuguese publishers, Editorial Presença, are flying me to Lisbon to attend the 80th Lisbon Book Fair. I will be doing a signing on Saturday afternoon, the 8th May)
These sci-fi conventions are a strange experience. Imagine, if you will, the life of an author (this author, certainly): locked away in a remote, country retreat working away quietly, patiently – who is suddenly transported to a hotel consisting of a labyrinth of rooms occupied by at least 1400 extremely diverse people, many luminaries (not only authors and artists and critics, but professors of various kinds, editors of prestigious magazines and newspapers etc etc), and endlessly flowing beer (and some rather lethal cider!).
This year I decided to go to the convention too late to be included on any panels. This had the positive effect of giving me much more time to wander about talking to people. I caught up with some old friends and made some new ones. Conversations were continuous and diverse. Of the events, I particularly enjoyed talks given by Iain Banks and Alastair Reynolds.
These experiences were coupled with a few days in London (where, amongst other things, I went to see an exhibition of sublime bronze heads from Ife in West Africa), a meeting with my agent Victoria and catching up with friends and family. All in all, it was quite a trip, and one whose experiences I am still consolidating.
The first review that I’m aware of that covers the Stone Dance as a whole can be found here. I’m rather pleased with it… however, a warning: it does substantially reveal the plots of the first two books and, perhaps, has some spoilers for the third.
