South Australian author Fiona McIntosh has written 9 fantasy novels under her own name, as well as a crime novel under the pseudonym Lauren Crow, and is interviewed this week in "The Courier-Mail" by Jason Nahrung.
McIntosh, who moved from her native England to Australia in 1980, mined the medieval-style fantasy setting for her first two trilogies, Trinity and The Quickening, both of which earned her overseas sales and an avid following. "I was a little unnerved when The Quickening went well."I didn't want to trade off it, I wanted to do something different and go to a different place." She chose the Mediterranean and Middle East.
"I love the exotic feel of Percheron [her new fantasy trilogy], the minarets and slippers that curl up at the toes and all that Ali Baba-type stuff.
"The new book is set in a European-style world similar to The Quickening, but more English. I've got that in my soul. Growing up in England, you're surrounded by castles, so it's easy to put myself there.
"But for Percheron, I had to go there -- Rhodes, Istanbul -- so I understood it. It was the best thing I ever did for the story -- to do it justice, I had to do it. In Istanbul, once you scratch the surface, medieval Constantinople is there, staring you in the face.
"You can only do so much out of your imagination. My fantasies are based on historical cultures and landscapes; there's only so much you can get through reading and research. When I walked in the Grand Bazaar, the book fell into place for me. Looking at the patterned tiles, tasting the apple tea and smelling the spices, watching the carpet sellers; the story just bounces into life from there.
"I kept the story fantastical, I didn't want it to appear to be a guide to the Middle East, or having someone there read it and say that's not how it is."
