Ask the Author: Sean McLachlan
Answered Questions (3)
Sean McLachlan
I'll be back in Tangier for three weeks next month. That's the setting for The Last Hotel Room. This time I'll be working on a completely different project that's unrelated to Morocco, the next in my Toxic World series in fact. I find it a great place to write. I don't have Internet in my house and while I have friends in town, I get enough solitude to get a lot of work done. I'll also be traveling around the country a bit, although I'm not sure where yet.
I'm considering going back to Iran early next year. I was there back in 1994 and loved the archaeological and architectural wonders. Plus the food is awesome. My family loved Morocco, so I think Iran will blow their minds!
I'm considering going back to Iran early next year. I was there back in 1994 and loved the archaeological and architectural wonders. Plus the food is awesome. My family loved Morocco, so I think Iran will blow their minds!
Sean McLachlan
I've spent much of my life exploring the world, often in purportedly no-go areas where all the people are supposed to hate me. I'm still alive. I haven't used real places too much in my fiction, but the attitudes and insights I've gained from traveling do affect my novels. I've found that people are pretty much concerned with the same things--work, love, lust, family, growing old, what that annoying neighbor is up to this time, etc.
Plus I've found that most people are decent wherever you go. Of course lots of folks say that, but I've had it proven to me time and again in places like Iraq, Syria, and Somaliland. The only place I've ever been mugged was Connecticut. Watch out for Connecticut.
This sort of experience helps steer you away from stereotypes and lazy characterizations. Or as the character Tom says in my upcoming novel The Last Hotel Room, "People in Tangier are like everywhere else--some good, some bad, and a lot of lumps in between." He's a bit of a bastard.
This novel (due out in 2016) is the first that's set in a place that I've spent time. It's a bit odd that I don't use real-world places more often. I'm not sure why I don't. I do use bits and pieces of things I've seen, though. For example, in northern Spain there are these deep, steep-sided valleys. Many of them are spanned by concrete bridges that soar 100 meters or more above the valley floor. As I was writing the post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope I thought, "What if my characters had to cross one of these things after it hadn't been maintained for fifty years? What if they had to do it under fire?" I'm acrophobic so my characters often find themselves in trouble in high places!
Other little bits and pieces have made their way into my fiction--artifacts I've seen in museums, foreign expressions, odd people I've met, etc. I also try to have as diverse a cast as possible, not to score points in some liberal contest, but simply because it makes the work more interesting. Racism and mistrust are recurrent themes in my work, and my characters do not always overcome it. A few of my readers haven't either. I've gotten hate mail for having sympathetic black and Muslim characters. Oh well.
Plus I've found that most people are decent wherever you go. Of course lots of folks say that, but I've had it proven to me time and again in places like Iraq, Syria, and Somaliland. The only place I've ever been mugged was Connecticut. Watch out for Connecticut.
This sort of experience helps steer you away from stereotypes and lazy characterizations. Or as the character Tom says in my upcoming novel The Last Hotel Room, "People in Tangier are like everywhere else--some good, some bad, and a lot of lumps in between." He's a bit of a bastard.
This novel (due out in 2016) is the first that's set in a place that I've spent time. It's a bit odd that I don't use real-world places more often. I'm not sure why I don't. I do use bits and pieces of things I've seen, though. For example, in northern Spain there are these deep, steep-sided valleys. Many of them are spanned by concrete bridges that soar 100 meters or more above the valley floor. As I was writing the post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope I thought, "What if my characters had to cross one of these things after it hadn't been maintained for fifty years? What if they had to do it under fire?" I'm acrophobic so my characters often find themselves in trouble in high places!
Other little bits and pieces have made their way into my fiction--artifacts I've seen in museums, foreign expressions, odd people I've met, etc. I also try to have as diverse a cast as possible, not to score points in some liberal contest, but simply because it makes the work more interesting. Racism and mistrust are recurrent themes in my work, and my characters do not always overcome it. A few of my readers haven't either. I've gotten hate mail for having sympathetic black and Muslim characters. Oh well.
Sean McLachlan
This year is going to be a busy one! In 2016, I plan to come out with several books. Right now I'm finishing up The Last Hotel Room, a novel set in contemporary Tangier that deals with the refugee crisis. There's a reason I've been doing all those writing retreats in Morocco!
I'll also be coming out with the fourth installment of my Toxic World post-apocalyptic series, Emergency Transmission. The residents of New City have to deal with an environmental disaster that could wipe out their settlement, and discover that the Righteous Horde might be coming back.
Fans of my Trench Raiders WWI action series will get Under the Front. The men of Company E join the tunnelers in an attempt to dig under the German lines. As usual, the mission does not go as planned!
In addition, there will be a horror novella set in Viking Greenland, another about the Apaches raiding Mexico to get revenge on some scalp hunters, and a couple of other projects still bubbling away in my brain pan. Stay tuned!
I'll also be coming out with the fourth installment of my Toxic World post-apocalyptic series, Emergency Transmission. The residents of New City have to deal with an environmental disaster that could wipe out their settlement, and discover that the Righteous Horde might be coming back.
Fans of my Trench Raiders WWI action series will get Under the Front. The men of Company E join the tunnelers in an attempt to dig under the German lines. As usual, the mission does not go as planned!
In addition, there will be a horror novella set in Viking Greenland, another about the Apaches raiding Mexico to get revenge on some scalp hunters, and a couple of other projects still bubbling away in my brain pan. Stay tuned!
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