Mark Keating – The Interview

by Melanie Gow on March 17, 2010

What made you realise you are a writer?

I’m a very undisciplined, self-destructive, lazy person so the fact that I’ve written two books which means tapping a keyboard about one million times and editing and editing and editing must mean something.

Getting paid for it means something else entirely.

Which book are you currently reading?

I’m reading five books at the moment. Two for research so I won’t bore you with those (no honestly one of them is ‘The Art of Rigging.’) King Of Kings Warrior of Rome 2 by Harry Sidebottom, The Forever War by Joe Halderman because a friend wants me to read more SF and Victory of the West by Niccolo Capponi which is a book about the battle of Lepanto.

What achievement in your life are you most proud of?

Diabetes. It took a long time but I got there in the end.

What phrase do you find is the most played in your head?

One resource is plagiarism. Fifty is research.

I read somewhere you were a historian before novelist, where did you pick up your love of the 18th century?

I’m not a historian, I don’t know where that came from. I’m tempted to run with it though, maybe add a doctorate or two and make stuff up about Francis Bacon inventing balloons or something. Anyways, I’m not particularly fascinated by the 18^th century but I feel that the world changed immensely in that period. It’s an incredible trove of events that for fiction is a godsend. You just have to stick your thumb in and you can pluck out a fat plum. The stories almost write themselves you just have to fill in the gaps although perhaps with not so many adverbs as me.

Why piracy in the 18th Century and not another period, given that piracy has been around as long as the oceans have been plied for commerce?

From about 1650 – 1720 was the period classically referred to as the ‘Golden Age.’ This is where we get our most famous pirates and the image that most people have in their heads when you yell ‘pirate!‘ at them. You almost don’t have to describe the characters. It’s like writing ‘A Roman centurion walked into the room.’ And now you have an image of a man in armour and helm with a red skirt in your head.

I also liked the idea of setting the stories right at the end of the era. I liked the concept that these guys would be a dying breed. Like The Wild Bunch with cutlasses.

What is the difference between a pirate and a privateer?

A ‘v’ mostly but a quick explanation is that a privateer would be someone with their own ship who had a letter of Mart or Marque from a country to attack their enemies ONLY and give one third (at least) of their plunder to the crown that issued the Mart.

Do you wish that you could operate outside the bounds of bureaucracy, what do you admire most about Pirate life or is it life on the sea and the 1700s that you like most?

Definitely. I think in this century we have less and less personal liberty as the years roll on. The romantic heart of piracy is liberty. Freedom. Escape. The reality is probably a disappointment. It’s definitely not a love of the sea: I get seasick in the bath.

John Gow, a real pirate or pushed into it like your character, do you have a favourite real-life pirate?

I like the fact that you mentioned your namesake. If most people found out that one of their ancestors was a thief or multiple murderer they’d sweep it under the carpet, but tell them he was a pirate and they practically put it on a T-shirt.

I think most pirate fans would name Bartholomew Roberts or ‘The Great Pirate Roberts’ as he is fondly known. He captured over 400 ships, was teetotal, and the man who killed him is the only person in history to be knighted primarily for killing pirates.

Do you like the comparison to “Sharpe of the High seas”?

I love Sharpe. I think ‘Sharpe’s Eagle’, the first novel, is one of the best historical adventures ever written. I read that when Cornwell set out to create Sharpe the main thrust was to do a Hornblower type character but as a soldier. In one of the books there’s a line from an engineer yelling at Sharpe something like, ‘Just because you’ve been allowed to swan around like a pirate all these years!’

So I went with that and wondered what Sharpe would be like as a pirate. I even nicked a name or two to the sharp-eyed reader as a homage.

What DVD do you watch on a Saturday night with the family?

I have a projector so when we do watch a film it’s not a casual thing. Darkness, popcorn,nachos the lot. My son still objects to having to buy a ticket though. At the moment as a family we’re working our way through the original Twilight Zone series, however, if I am left unsupervised for a few hours JAWS will appear. Technically I don’t even have to put it on any more, I can just close my eyes.

I read that all your novels will be pirate based, is that your plan, and what is the next story?

Not all pirate based. I know that there’s at least five in this series just because I have the stories. I’m writing the third now. The second is out next Feb and is about the theft of the secret of porcelain from China; an early act of intellectual property theft. Naturally a pirate is involved. I’m also working on a novel set in ancient China but I have to sneak work on that as at the moment they want more Devlin.

What about Pirate Devlin so grabbed you to write it that it will make me put it in my Waterstones shopping cart?

I find most naval fiction (some people will hate me for saying this) a bit geeky. It seems to be more about the ships and the detail than any action or adventure and that’s fine but my inspiration was people like Sabatini and Dumas when romantic fiction didn’t mean love stories but stood for adventure. I tried to emulate that. It’s different from any other book that has a ship on the cover, so put that cat book down. Also pirates are cool. How many other 18^th century characters come as Halloween costumes?

How did you get involved in the Book Swap night?

I think it was my publicist(I like saying that) who got in touch with Scott.

What do you hope to achieve with the evening?

Trying to stay awake beyond ten o’clock, and this will be my first public event so I’m looking forward to that. Although I’m naturally a reserved person so I might send someone else instead.