Mark Charan Newton Answers Questions Five

Mark Charan Newton has worked with the SFF imprint, Solaris, where he coined the name of the imprint after a woman approached him in a bar and wrote it on his arm, claiming Solaris to be her name. Nights of Villjamur is his first novel for a major publisher and is getting lots of attention (US, UK, Canada, IndieBound, my review). It was just released in the UK and Del Rey will be publishing it in the US soon and is the first book in the Legends of the Red Sun series of four planned books. In the very least, he’s an up and coming author to keep an eye on.

Thanks to Mark for taking the time to answer Questions Five (and in retrospect, I so should have asked him to finish the story about Solaris).


The inclusion of ‘Charan’ in your professional name – a simple distinction from all the other Mark Newtons of the world, or more?

MCN: There are too many other Mark Newtons, some leading a far better lifestyle than me. One, I believe, is a photographer, another a roots acoustic singer. They're both more well-known than me, the bastards, so if I can't beat them in popularity, I should have a bigger name at least. Then again, I wanted to detract from the fact that no one can pronounce Villjamur - I'll throw them a curve ball and let my middle name confuse instead. (For those of you who are interested, it's Indian - and I'm half Indian). People mostly mispronounce it as Sharon, which conveniently is my Friday night name, where I can be seen in high-heels and lipstick as I sashay across a stage... Have I said too much? Next question, please!

If Nights of Villjamur were a fortune cookie, what would its fortune be?

MCN: It would have a Woody Allen quote: "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve it through not dying."

How would you interpret this fortune if it were your own?

MCN: There's irony there - I became morose at the fact of my dying - which is reflected in the novel to some extent. I often see writing as a way of continuing to linger around the planet once I'm gone - I mean, there would be books out there, still communicating my thoughts with people. I can cheat Death! So, I would interpret this fortunate as 'Yeah, right. Nice try.'

Nights of Villjamur already has a playlist, but what would its soundtrack be?

MCN: I'd let Death Cab For Cutie have free reign over this one. Or Radiohead. Or City and Colour... What about something more movie-like, by Hans Zimmer? The Dark Knight soundtrack was awesome. Look, I'm clearly never going to be able to settle on anything for this. Tell you what, you get someone to buy the film rights, and I'll let them decide as I recline in the luxury of some Greek Villa.

Why should Nights of Villjamur be the next thing that everyone reads?

MCN: Two words: Dying Earth. I mean, come on - how cool is that?

Failing that, because it's an epic fantasy with elements of SF, crime, horror. Failing that, because of its ability to cause a delightful, free-publicity shit-storm online. Failing that, because someone needs to take the fight to Joe Abercrombie, right? You can't let him have all the fun. See how he broods in Black and White? Exactly, I'm the right man for the job, buy it.

Review: Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton

Every year, a few new releases receive what is simply an insane amount of buzz in the on-line SFF blogging community of which I am a part. Nights of Villjamur is the big-press debut for Mark Charan Newton and a strong contender for what may be the most buzz this year (US, UK, Canada, IndieBound). The blogs and other review sites are ablaze with seemingly overwhelmingly positive reaction. This is both deserved and troubling with Nights of Villjamur being a strong debut in the world of epic fantasy, but ultimately not the outstanding work the blogger buzz proclaims.

The Jamur Empire faces a threat it cannot fight, but only endure. A pending ice age that will cover the land, destabilize the empire and threaten the survival of its people. Long anticipated, the ice age is now arriving at time when the emperor suffers from paranoid insanity and an outlawed religion has taken over the ruling Council with one Chancellor’s ambitions threatening. The story itself follows a few individuals – an inspector and his assistant as they investigate a string of murders, a prostitute with possible ties to the murders, a womanizing young man instructing the emperor’s daughter in dance and swordplay, an ambitious Chancellor, an immortal cultist and his rival, and the commander of the elite Night Guard. The focus is the great and ancient city of Villjamur, home to hundreds of thousands of people, other sentient creatures, and magical relics of antiquity.

Nights of Villjamur is cerebral fantasy. This isn’t a story of great magic (though there is some), this isn’t a story of battles (though there are a few), this isn’t a traditional epic adventure (though it could be argued) – it is the story a few individuals living in tumultuous times and their key roles in how events unfold. The story of develops at a metered pace, without the action that prevails in traditional fantasy writing. Newton concentrates on a few characters and creates a framework to work within. In this respect, Nights of Villjamur reads like an extended prologue at times, with much of the book devoted to setting up setting up the dominos, with the inevitable push creating the chain reaction of domino falling into domino not occurring until near the end. With the falling only just begun, Nights of Villjamur is the clear beginning of The Legends of the Red Sun series, with four planned books, and Newton’s hints of a greater mulitverse with endless potential for more.

Newton’s character driven narrative is both the greatest strength and greatest weakness of Nights of Villjamur. Characters created feel real, with actual flaws rather than a forced ‘grayness’ of character. Inspector Jeryd, being a non-human rumel, often reveals keen observations of humanity while the marital troubles of his personal life interfere with his investigation of murders within the ruling Council. Commander Brynd commands the military forces of the Jamur Empire, and specifically the elite Night Guard. With undeniable competence and a position of power and importance, Brynd remains an outsider due in part to his being an albino, but in even greater part due to the secrets of his private life – his homosexuality which could result in a death sentence if discovered. These two characters drive the narrative and the interest of the reader – it’s through their eyes that city and peoples of Villjamur and lands of the Empire come alive.

With the success of Jeryd and Brynd, it’s unfortunate that the other supporting characters whose points of view the reader follows don’t work. The greatest offender is the clichéd Randur, a womanizing thief and expert swordsman from an exotic conquered land who weasels his way into the imperial palace. The greater offense is not the cliché but the unconvincing motivation that drives him – the need to save his dying mother through the magical intervention of a cultist and his ancient technology. Newton obviously has important plans for Randur’s future in the books, but failed to find a way to properly introduce him and his motivations. Regrettably other inconsistencies and unconvincing motivations interfered with my enjoyment and the credibility of the story.

Nights of Villjamur falls squarely into the dying-earth subgenre, one that I’m sadly under-read in. The Jamur Empire is threatened by a coming ice-age, one that has long been known about, but unsurprisingly not well prepared for. The Jamur Empire itself is the lesser evolution of a long history of more advanced civilizations while the world’s red sun slowly fades overhead. In our world where global warming is an unaddressed reality, I was anxious to see what Newton would do with his world of impending doom from climate change – albeit an ice age rather than global warming. As someone who follows Newton’s blog, I was expecting something more – I was expecting more parallels and at least something of a condemnation of our world’s lack of action. The result felt like a missed opportunity where the impending ice age is little more than background information and a convenient way for people to walk across frozen water ways…unless I’m missing an allegory of an army of cross-dimensional, deadly bug-man creatures and global climate change.

Nights of Villjamur is a story of a fading empire, impending war, political intrigue, a coming ice age, a magical quest, wrapped in the inevitability of life and death. It’s a story told from the point of view of characters that live their lives as best they can in hard times. The writing, while intelligent, suffers at times from the inability to live up to its aspirations and remain consistent. Mark Charan Newton is a new voice to the world of fantasy literature and in spite of the unevenness of Nights of Villjamur, The Legends of the Red Sun series shows a potential that I intend to follow-up on. 7/10