Mark Chadbourn Answers Qustions Five

Mark Chadbourn is a well-known SFF author in Britain who is being introduced (or perhaps re-introduced) to an American audience by Pyr. Over the years he’s been both a journalist and writer, leading to incredibly varied experiences in life, though he has settled down to an active writer’s living in the heart of a forest, indulging his passions for environmental campaigning and magic. World’s End (US, UK, Canada, IndieBound) is the first book in the Age of Misrule Trilogy with Darkest Hour (US, UK, Canada, IndieBound) and Always Forever (US, UK, Canada, IndieBound) completing the trilogy. Two related trilogies have followed – The Dark Age and The Kingdom of the Serpent in a style that Chadbourn refers to as mytho-fantasy. I really enjoyed World’s End and look forward to reading much more of Chadbourn’s writing in the future.

Thanks to Mark for taking the time to answers Questions Five.


If I were going on holiday through the Midlands and I could only visit once pub, which pub do you recommend and why?

MC: I would certainly recommend going to The Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham - you not only get good beer and food and good company, you also get great atmosphere and an unforgettable history lesson. The Trip is the oldest pub in Britain. You can tell that the moment you stoop through the tiny medieval doors into a maze of small rooms where you could lose yourself for quite a while. The rear part of the pub is actually carved out of the rock and there is a tunnel leading to an underground labyrinth that links vast sandstone caves running beneath Nottingham. Right overhead, Nottingham Castle towers. The Trip was founded in 1189, when King Richard the Lionheart announced the crusade against the Saracens in the Holy Land - hence the pub name. If you're looking for ghosts, there are supposed to be several here. But watch out for the locals - they may try to entice you into one of the medieval pub games, particularly swinging a small hoop on a rope on to a horn fixed to the wall. It looks simple, but is fiendishly hard - and the locals ensure a constant supply of free beer betting against unwitting visitors. It's also one of the favourite watering holes of Britain's fantasy authors, and when the annual Fantasycon is in town (usually September) you can find many of them propping up the bar. You can find out more here: http://www.triptojerusalem.com/

If World’s End were a fortune cookie, what would its fortune be?

MC: 'Do not trust what you see. Nothing is as it seems'.

If this were your own fortune, how would you interpret it?

MC: That the world appears to be one way, but it's only an illusion, a collection of rules established by other people for their own benefit. If you spend your life conforming to other people's rules, you will never find good fortune. You make your own rules. Then you build a base in an extinct volcano, hire a private army and plot to impose those rules on everyone else.

Please describe one reason World’s End would inspire a reader to strip naked and run screaming into the forest?

MC: Looking at John Picacio's amazing cover alone can instill such a heightened sense of erotic delight it would have that effect on the viewer. However, as this is all about me-me-me I'll concentrate my mind on the words: World's End is all about the power of ancient days. It's about prehistoric stone circles, old gods and archetypes that still affect the modern mind, old beliefs, old mysteries, and the power at the heart of nature. It's about finding something meaningful away from the illusory attractions of the modern world. It actually really is all about stripping naked and running screaming into the forest.

Why should World’s End be the next book that everyone reads?

MC: Because if you don't read it, the powers that secretly rule our world will win. It might seem to be a fantasy story about the ancient Celtic gods returning, but it's really about the here and now and what's going on around us. Or if 'they' are listening, it's a fast-paced, high adventure with sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll...or Frank Sinatra, at least. It's a quest for meaning in a secular world. It's a tour around the mystical and prehistoric sites of Britain. It's a codebook of magic. It's a quest for meaning in a secular world. It's a commentary on the abiding influence of the ancient Celts. It's not for jaded people - it's a celebration of that time in life when emotion is acutely felt: love, friendship, betrayal, fear, yearning. It's fun. Really. (But if you do read it, you'll know who really controls the world, and why, and you'll be able to beat them. Even without a secret base and a private army.)

Review: World's End by Mark Chadbourn

It turns out that I’m that sort of American who holds a fascination with the old Pagan religions of Europe where the majority of my ancestors came from, and particularly for the Celtic traditions of Britain and Ireland. This has resulted in an affinity for Celtic music (especially from Scotland and Ireland) and a wonderful trip through England, Wales and Scotland that included stops at places like Stonehenge and Avebury. Over time I’ve come to realize that this goes beyond fascination to some sort of deeper connection that the rational, scientific part of my brain cannot explain. I feel an honest emotional connection the ancient land and lore of Britain.

I’m not the sort of guy to go out of my way to explore such a connection, but I do naturally gravitate toward SFF fiction that utilizes Celtic traditions as inspiration. While I’ve found that Arthurian fiction typically does nothing for me, some books such as Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock (review) bring this connection to life. The Age of Misrule book 1, World’s End, by Mark Chadbourn (US, UK, Canada, IndieBound) almost perfectly resonates – actually it may be the book that has had the strongest impact to my Celtic longings of any that I’ve read to date.

Jack, ‘Church’ Churchill aimlessly tolerates life as he mourns the years earlier loss of a special relationship. On an early morning walk through the streets of London he witnesses something that his mind simply can’t handle, leading him and another witness on a quest to figure out exactly what happened while opening them up to the truth that reality as they know it is ending. The old Celtic legends seem to be coming alive – the magic and wonder as well as horrifying beasts from the Otherworld. Church finds himself the leader of a motley band of survivors tied the ancient magic of the land who inherit a quest to find lost talismans of great power in an attempt to save the world as they know it.

The US is generally rootless. The ground we walk on simply doesn’t have the long-time habitation of places like Europe. If I dig down in my yard, I’ll only find dirt and rock – maybe some sign of Native Americans, but those generally have limited longevity and it isn’t something of ‘my’ people (though I do have a splash Native American ancestry). In places like Britain, the works of ancestors are under every foot and all around to see in every day life. A 13th century abbey next to a modern building, old Roman walls visible in central London, the castle on the hill, standing stones, or even the simple rock wall that has divided a field for countless generations. These things are a novelty to me, yet presumably are largely taken for granted by those who see them every day. In World’s End, Chadbourn uses this largely dormant connection to prehistory and lore and literally brings it to life. Rather than and idealized land of plenty, the world that Chadbourn brings back is one of nightmares acting as a mirror turned on our modern sensibilities while questioning the human condition.

Chadbourn takes the reader on a wild ride through lands where modern Britain connects with the ancient past. While it’s both a tour and nightmare come to life, the quest engaged becomes equally internal. The five modern saviors under Church’s reluctant leadership with a mysterious hippie guide are a far cry from an expected group of champions. Each person is haunted by their past and fundamentally flawed. The quest becomes internalized for each as they face their past and wrestle with the present. This powerful struggle for each adds an extra dimension to Chadbourn’s story, however, this aspect in inconsistently addressed with the six people at the center of the book. Some are well presented while others lack adequate screen time and development.

Originally published in 1999 in the UK, World’s End by Mark Chadbourn begins the Age of Misrule trilogy and a series of books that follow. Simply put: it completely blew me away. I was sucked into the fascinating tale of Celtic magic in conflict the modern world, where evil seeks the end of the world, where ‘good’ may be little better, and those charged with saving us all have their own problems to deal with. Highly recommended. 8.5/10

Related Post: Interview with Mark Chadbourn