Guy Gavriel Kay is surrounded by books, but he鈥檚 not necessarily inspired by them. 鈥淚nspiration is much more about what you鈥檝e experienced,鈥 the bestselling novelist says, 鈥渕arriage, children, deaths. All these things are much more important than a book I loved when I was 16 or 26 or 46.鈥 Still, the author of the new work of historical fiction 鈥淲ritten on the Dark鈥 (Ace Books) gave us a tour of his shelves at his home near Casa Loma.
鈥淧oison: A History鈥 鈥淚 love killing people! That鈥檚 one of the great things about being a writer. You can do it safely. I wrote a book called 鈥楢 Brightness Long Ago鈥 involving the poisoning of one of the more atrocious of the Renaissance princes who had no checks or balances on him. That interests me: immensely powerful people who cannot be brought to justice because they鈥檙e too powerful.鈥
Nick Lachance/海角社区官网Star
Dorothy Dunnett novels: 鈥淚 go back as a reader with Dorothy Dunnett to my preteen years. I read my first of her books聽鈥 stumbled across it as a mass-market paperback聽鈥 and didn鈥檛 understand a damned thing. But I was engrossed. I couldn鈥檛 stop reading. She was an entertaining writer of smart, sophisticated, historical fiction, and I was lucky enough later in life to meet her.鈥
Nick Lachance/海角社区官网Star
鈥淎utumntide of the Middle Ages鈥: 鈥淛ohan Huizinga was a medievalist who wrote one of the early distinguished studies of the period of the Hundred Years鈥 War mostly in Northern Europe. That edition from Leiden University Press is gorgeous. It was an immediate trigger to 鈥榃ritten on the Dark鈥 because it’s about the period and place I wanted to explore.鈥
Nick Lachance/海角社区官网Star
The great poets: 鈥淢y talismanic poets remain Yeats and the great Greek poet George Seferis. I discovered him as an undergrad and later wrote two books on the island of Crete. My two books based on Constantinople, on the reign of Justinian and Theodora (鈥楽ailing to Sarantium鈥 and 鈥楲ord of Emperors鈥), are almost an homage to Yeats鈥檚 poetry.鈥
Nick Lachance 海角社区官网Star
鈥淭he Mabinogion,鈥 signed by J.R.R. Tolkien: 鈥淚t鈥檚 the principal gathering of Welsh legends and myths. I assisted in the editorial construction of 鈥楾he Silmarillion鈥 with Christopher Tolkien. I read these two volumes and we talked about them. At the end of our labours, he asked if I wanted them. It鈥檚 extremely dear to me as a book in my library.鈥
Nick Lachance/海角社区官网Star
Doug Brod is a Toronto-based author and team editor for the
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