INTERVIEWS and COMMENT... talking with authors, commenting on
new books, news, observations etc...updated 1st April 2003
Before turning her undoubted talents to writing, Debi Gliori was
primarily known as a gifted illustrator of children's books. PURE
DEAD MAGIC changed all of that. Currently changing hands for sums
in excess of £100 the purple, velvet boarded novel has been
swooped on by children, collectors and Hollywood! PDM was the beginning
of an exciting and rewarding new direction for the creative and very
attractive Ms Gliori. I wondered if this new string to her bow was
acceptable to her given the fact that her already extensive body of
work as an illustrator had not garnered her quite the attention the
Borgias had…Best ask her I suppose, so I did!
Q: A quick glance at Debi Gliori illustrated titles listed for
sale on the internet reveals a whole back catalogue of good work including
the probably best known Mr Bear series - yet most book collectors
only seem to know you for PDM. Does this irritate you?
A:…Not at all. Irritated, moi? I had no knowledge of internet
bookselling before PDM, so the lack of awareness cuts both ways. In
my ignorance I thought that picture books wouldn't be collectable
until the author/illustrator popped his or her clogs, whereupon they
would be acknowledged for the unsung genius that they actually were,
and prices would go through the roof. However, I do find it rather
bizarre that one's books become a commodity, rather than a thing to
read, and have derived many hours of amusement listening to various
amounts of horse-trading going on in my signing queues at book festivals
- copies I've just signed changing hands for a profit before the ink
is even dry on the title page...But to be irritated would be highly
disingenuous - anything that gets a buzz going about a book has to
be good, right? Viral marketing rules ok.
Q:PDM was an instant success and became collectable almost overnight
- what do you put this down to (apart from the fact that it is a magical,
wickedly brilliant piece of writing.) ?
A:…Oh you flatterer. I think I would ascribe PDM's success to
its totally exquisite purple velvet cover, which is what made people
pick up an unknown hardback and buy it. After that, I hope that the
story became more important than the cover, and that readers were
so intrigued that they recommended the book to their friends. Also,
one must give credit to my excellent publicist, Kate Giles at Random
House, whose initial review copies were mailed out as the culmination
of a serial postage campaign, in which several excerpts were printed
on bookmarks and mailed alongside lots of glittery stars, sparkly
spiders and other things that annoyed the hell out of librarians the
country over, as they opened envelopes and sprayed glitter over several
square miles of publicly funded carpeting. Also the reviewers who
across the length of the quality press had the kindness to give my
first foray into older fiction a unanimous thumbs-up.
Q:Where did the Strega Borgias spring from and had they been lurking
in the shadows for some time?
A:…Signor Luciano Strega-Borgia is modelled on every feckless
Italian male I've ever known. Drop dead gorgeous, fairly hopeless
on the nappy-changing front, the antithesis of a 'New Man', Luciano
represents my gentle sideswipe at men who have driven me nuts throughout
my life. I have never never never dated one, by the way, preferring
to remain sane, but I have listened and taken notes. Thanks Alfredo,
Ivan, Dante, Lionello et al - don't expect any mercy whatsoever. Although
I claim more than a passing resemblance to Tarantella, spider-extraordinaire,
I would like to be Baci Strega-Borgia, ineffectual witch, languid
beauty, chatelaine of the 96 rooms of Stregaschloss, wearer of Schiaparelli
gowns.....oh sigh. Damp was initially modelled on our youngest daughter,
but has now developed out of that initial mould and has become her
own person. Pandora and Titus are loosely based on certain children
I have had the joy to share my life with and Mrs Flora McLachlan is
pure wish fulfilment - f I ever found a nanny as brilliant, I would
have proposed marriage instantly. The beasts are the biggest surprise
of all, to me as a writer. Where the hell they came from I cannot
imagine, but I'm profoundly grateful to be able to document their
rich and Byzantine lives.... Multitudina the rat is entirely stolen
from a friend's pet free-range rat which introduced itself to me by
running up my sleeve, down my jumper and lodged immovably in the middle
of my back just out of reach. I used to be afraid of spiders and rats,
but after documenting their lives for the past four years, I'm growing
very fond of them - not to the extent, however, of buying a pet rat.
I think in the writing process, I've learned a lot, and it allowed
me to play to an extent I hadn't played since childhood. The Strega-Borgias
are a family that I would love to know, which is what fires me with
enthusiasm for writing the books - with each one, I become more involved,
more drawn into their decidedly weird but oddly comforting values,
household and lives.
Q. The design and presentation of the book is quite unique, do
you like it? Did you have any say in its production?
A:…I love it/them to bits. Each colour of velvet is better than
the next, the typography on the front is exquisite, the whole thing
is simply better than my wildest dreams. Tracey Hearst is the genius
who came up with the velvet idea and steered it past the production
budget-dragons, designed the typography and generally fought in my
corner to make sure that the books were totally unique. I drew the
silhouettes on the covers and the pencil chapter heads, in which I
was determined not to draw the characters or give away anything of
the plot.
Q.There is suddenly a phenomenal interest in children's books -
mostly by adults it seems - what do you put this down to?
A:…Variously: JK Rowling/Phillip Pullman/a discovery that children's
books are actually great reads/ sheer greed at the money that can
change hands when you flog your first edition Harry/ the abundance
of film interest in children's books/ and lastly, sadly, a mistaken
arrogance that makes people think that 'It's only a kids book, I'm
sure I could write one of those.'
Q.Rumours abound of a forthcoming Borgia movie, can you tell me
about that?
A:…Rights have been optioned for all three titles ( Pure Dead
Magic/Wicked/Brilliant) by Universal Studios, Screenplay written by
Julian Fellowes ( Gosford Park Oscar winner) Producer/Director team
Brian Grazer and Ron Howard who together form a company called Imagine
( recent hit; Eight Mile) writers Mark Burton and Billy Frollick (recent
credits include Madagascar) and other glittery dudes who I'm delighted
to say are beavering away on the film even as I write.
When I signed the contract, I filled the dining room in our version
of StregaSchloss with over 100 candles, lit the wax bedripped chandelier,
got our home-spun video camera running, and, dressed in deepest black
and draped in furry spiders and bats ( I kid you not) filmed the whole
gothic extravagance of the Night I Signed My Books Over To The Machinations
Of Hollywood. Watch this space…
Q.The Strega Borgia books started life a trilogy I understand,
has that now altered?
A:…They started life as one book, actually. One book that admittedly
left a few questions unanswered, but not so much so that the reader
would hurl the book across the room yelling - jeez, what a cop-out....
A year later my agent Rosemary Sandberg sold the completed book to
Transworld as part of a three book deal. Initially terrified at the
prospect of writing another two to make up a trilogy, I found myself
falling in love with the family and their beasts and staff, to the
extent that when I finished book 3, I was utterly devastated. Four
years of living, breathing, sleeping and eating with the Borgias firmly
planted in my mind left me wanting to extend my relationship with
them to another three books. I've started Book 4 which begins three
months after Pure Dead Brilliant finished. Although I answered all
the questions I'd raised in Magic and Wicked, I left several doors
open within Brilliant, several doors that lead on to the essence of
the next three books. She said, mysteriously...
Q.The new book PURE DEAD BRILLIANT appears to be longer than the
other two - is there any particular reason for this?
A:…I think I gained a measure of confidence after writing the
first two books. A confidence that allowed me to negotiate with my
editors as regards the length of the third book. Brilliant needed
the extra oomph to finish the story and tie up the many narrative
strands. Also, the children who are really enjoying the books did
demand more, bigger, longer and, rather alarmingly, sooner. Hurry
it up, willya, Gliori?
Q:Would you prefer to be known as an illustrator or as a writer?
A:…I'd prefer to be known as beautiful and intelligent, but,
sigh, in the absence of such accolades, I'm happy to be referred to
as either illustrator or writer. I trained to be an illustrator, but
I sold my soul to become a writer.
Q.Does it worry you that book dealers are selling hard to find
copies of PDM at such a high price?
A:…Um. No, not in the least. Keep it up guys. There weren't
that many first edition PDMs printed. 3,000 was what I was told. I
find it immensely flattering that they have such a high value, but
I am also reassured by the fact that it's not so inflated that it
has priced itself into the stratosphere currently inhabited by JK
and Tolkein firsts.
Q.Do you have a box of them in the cupboard under the stairs?
A:…I do, actually. In an archive with a 24hr dehumidifier running,
which is how I have to store artwork for 52 picture books in these
damp Northern latitudes. Not a ridiculous quantity, but one for each
of my 5 children and a few spares. I have stopped giving them away,
after we went through a carton of twenty to friends and relatives
and assorted good people.
Q.What do you read for pleasure?
A:…If I'm travelling, detective fiction ( Rankin, LeHane, James
Lee Burke, John Sandford, Robert Crais, Harlan Coben etc) at night
after the kids have finally stopped fridge-raiding/showering/demanding
laundry facilities/maid service/homework support/stories read/hair
brushed/loans arranged/chauffeur services etcetera groan...I've recently
developed a passion for anything by Phil Rickman, who I know falls
into the utter horror genre, but the man is just so damn funny and
tells such a good tale that I know he is going to be just as huge
as Stephen King and may well be his natural successor, since Mr K
appears to have hung up his Mont Blanc. I also do read and reread
John Updike, Robertson Davies, C.S. Lewis, Joan Aitken, Gerald Durrell,
Garrison Keillor and at present we do not have a single room in our
house ( except for the family bathroom) that doesn't have several
hundred books lining its walls. Moving house three years ago was a
complete logistical nightmare, until my better half took several weeks
off work and lined one entire room with bookshelves floor to ceiling.
Q.What do you watch for pleasure?
A:…Oh God, I'm now about to show my complete ignorance of current
trends and fascinations. I was at the glitzy star-studded Nibbies
( British Book Awards - 'The Oscars of the book trade' - PDW was short
listed) and tv celebrity by tv celebrity was passing our table, and
idiot here didn't recognize a single one. The only thing I watch on
TV is News at 10, and frankly, that's not exactly pleasurable, is
it? Although I love waiting for Andrew Marr to come out with his 'bon
mot', and I absolutely crease up at the beeb's clunky links ( government
going off the rails/shot of speeding trains and trouble brewing with
certain unions/shot of steaming cup of tea) Apart from that, I can
be found of an evening with my head in either the fridge or a book.
Sad, isn't it?
Q.Are you now, as some other children's writer's seem to be, VERY
RICH?
A:…ABSOLUTELY. Although, I must qualify this by saying that all
things are relative, and I did spend my first decade of writing and
illustrating picture books in serious poo with the bank and eating
lentils and spag with monotonous regularity. Eee, times were 'ard.
I think because of that decade, plus the student years beforehand,
I can never really trust that the money will continue to come in,
and consequently I am utterly bowled over when it does. I still work
long days and occasional long nights, too. It's bliss to be able to
afford to pay the bills, run the car and at my somewhat late age,
go out clothes shopping - a pleasure that I missed when I was a single
teenage mother, which is totally ironic, since way back then I was
rail-thin, wrinkle-free and would have looked so much nicer in decent
clothes rather than my then eclectic assortment from charity shops
and jumble sales. Now I'm 44, motherly ( sighhhh) wrinkly and older,
but, hey, my clothes have not been pre-cherished and I do actually
possess a little black number. Could a girl ask for more…?
Well, I can't answer that one but I am sure, had I talked to her
much longer, Ms Gliori would have answered it herself! I expressed
my appreciation for her taking the time out to sign my stock of Pure
Dead Brilliants - this one published in lovely green velvet boards
- with that added little snapshot of her skill as an illustrator and
hoped that, following this interview, she would not be deluged by
hairy book dealer types wanting to read the meter in the cupboard
under her stairs while really seeking out that box of Pure Dead Magics…
Copyright Chris Adam Smith 2003
He was a successful London based magazine publisher and editor. A wanderer, he worked as a gamekeeper, local government officer and served in both the merchant navy and the military police before turning to publishing. He has lived and worked in both South Africa and the United States. He has a special interest in American law enforcement and was a member of the Western Writers of America with ten western novels to his credit – five under the pseudonym of Harry Jay Thorn. In 1996 he won the prestigious Ian St James Countryside Short Story Award and in the same year the title of Littlehampton’s Pub Poet. He has three times been a finalist in the David Gemmell short story competition. Still a freelance journalist, he now resides and operates an internet bookselling operation on the south coast of England where he lives with his wife and two children. He has now hung up his Stetson and is currently working on a series of mystery novels.