Spartacus the Gladiator is currently on tour and receiving excellent reviews. Here's your chance to not only win a copy for yourself, but find out about the research that Ben Kane did to write it. Please welcome Ben Kane to So Many Precious Books.
Research for writing historical fiction
Research is an intimate part of writing historical fiction. It’s the foundation upon which each good story rests, and as such, it needs to be robust and well-laid. In my opinion, without a good basis in reality or fact, historical fiction becomes either historical fantasy or alternate history. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with those genres ― I’m fond of them myself, especially the latter ― but they fall into a different classification to the books I write.
Research can take many forms, but the methods that I find most useful are reading textbooks, studying the information on relevant websites, visiting museums and/or historical sites, and attending re-enactment events, where I can soak up the atmosphere and talk to the men and women who work so hard at helping us to understand how life was thousands of years ago. I like to buy small items that have been made as they were long ago. The bookshelf over my desk has a whistle, a bone hairpin, a little oil lamp, a brass whistle, a blue glass and other Roman trinkets on it.
Some textbooks can be very dry, full of details that tell us much about the structure, politics and customs of ancient society but which reveal precious little about the real people who lived so long ago. Nonetheless, there’s great enjoyment to be had ― for me at least! ― in soaking up some of the huge quantity of information to be found inside the covers of textbooks. At times, the knowledge doesn’t always seem relevant, but it often becomes useful at a later time. There is also a guilty pleasure in spending a few days in a café, reading texts and making notes. Somehow, it doesn’t seem like real work, although of course it is!
I’ve learned to be careful about which historical websites I trust enough to use information from. There are literally just a handful, which are generally run by academics, universities or re-enactors. Sadly, an awful lot of other sites just cut and paste articles that have been posted elsewhere, which means that inaccurate information is perpetuated. As a rule of thumb, if the historical information isn’t referenced, don’t believe it!
Museums have been places of great interest to me since I was a child. Back then, I could easily spend an entire day in places such as the Imperial War Museum. I can still do the same now, but I am usually searching for a specific item or exhibition. It can also be tremendously useful to spend time in the historical sites where men such as Julius Caesar may have stood. I’ve been to Rome three times, and on each occasion, I have never failed to find large number of facts/details to use in my books. In October 2011, I was lucky enough to make a one week trip to Italy, during which I retraced the route taken by Spartacus in his epic struggle against Rome.
One of the highlights of this trip was the large arena in Capua. It was built about 50-100 years after Spartacus’ rebellion, but it stands in the same spot as the previous building, in which he would have fought. Tiger bones and other dramatic finds were discovered there in an archaeological dig during the 1930s. I couldn’t help but feel moved as I stood in the circle of sand, with the angled seating all around me. I felt the same way when I went to the narrow ridge that lies high above the narrowest part of the ‘toe’ of Italy, where Spartacus and his men smashed through the Roman defences that had penned them in. Most of all, I felt it in a valley not far from Naples, the probable site of Spartacus’ final battle against the general Crassus, and on the extant section of the old Via Appia, which lies in the southern suburbs of Rome. That is where some of the 6,000 crucifixes that were erected all the way from Capua would have stood. Being in the exact place where some of Spartacus’ captured men suffered their savage fate was a strange and slightly unnerving experience.
And so despite the fact that nothing physical ― buildings, writings, clothes or weapons ― remains of men such as Spartacus, their memory lives on in certain places. I think it will do so forever.
Thanks so much for being my guest Ben! Thanks to Ben Kane and St. Martin's Press, I am giving away one print copy or eBook copy of Spartacus the Gladiator.
Book Description:
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Category: Historical Fiction
Tour Dates: June 2012
Available in Print and eBook, 480 pages
Long the stuff of legends, Spartacus is known to most modern readers through the classic Kubrick film version of Howard Fast’s novel. Now bestselling historical novelist Ben Kane returns to the source material and presents a lively and compelling new vision of the man who was Spartacus—Roman army auxiliary, slave, gladiator and ultimately the leader of an army of slaves who nearly brought Rome to its knees.
Ben Kane’s brilliant novel begins in the Thracian village to which Spartacus has returned after escaping from life as an auxiliary in the Roman army. Jealous of his attachment to Ariadne, a Dionysian priestess, the Thracian king betrays Spartacus to the Romans who take him, along with Ariadne, into captivity and to the school of gladiators at Capua.
Against the background of the unbelievable brutality of gladiatorial life, Spartacus and Crixus the Gaul plan the audacious overthrow of their Roman masters. They escape and flee to Vesuvius, where they recruit and train an army of escaped slaves that will have to face the conquerors of the known world, the most successful deadly army in all of history in a battle that will set in motion the legend that is Spartacus.
About Ben Kane:
Ben Kane was born in Kenya and raised there and in Ireland. He qualified as a veterinary surgeon from University College Dublin, and worked in Ireland and the UK for several years. After that he travelled the world extensively, indulging his passion for seeing the world and learning more about ancient history. He drove around the USA in a camper van, trekked the Inca trail and took a ship to Antarctica. Seven continents and more than 65 countries later, he decided to settle down, for a while at least.
While working in Northumberland in 2001/2, his love of ancient history was fuelled by visits to Hadrian’s Wall. He naïvely decided to write bestselling Roman novels, a plan which came to fruition after several years of working full time at two jobs – being a vet and writing. Retrospectively, this was an unsurprising development, because since his childhood, Ben has been fascinated by Rome, and particularly, its armies. He now lives in North Somerset with his wife and family, where he has sensibly given up veterinary medicine to write full time.
This giveaway is for the U.S. and Canada and ends on July 5, 2012. Please use Rafflecopter to enter.
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