A true mastermind, tech-mage, and writer! Mike Jansen joins me today to talk about his books. Mike, tell us about your current works.
Hi Dale, first of all thanks for
interviewing me. I find I like this format better than being in front
of a camera with six dozen people standing around.
My current works.
OK, that’s a broad field. I tend to write very fast once a story is in my mind, even very convoluted and complex stories. Because of that I managed to write nearly 400.000 words in 2012, of which 275.000 words were for my novels, ‘The Failing God’ and ‘In Shadows of Times Past’, parts one and two of something called the Cranborn Chronicles, a five book dark fantasy epic. In addition I have written a few dozen stories for various magazines and anthologies both in the Netherlands (in Dutch) and in the UK/US (in English), most of which have also been published, some are awaiting answers and some I entered into Dutch story competitions of which I will know the results beginning of 2013.
Let me start with the Epic Fantasy stuff. The Cranborn Chronicles are an idea I developed in the early nineties of the last century. It’s of course my own, unique brand of fantasy, but if you’re looking for my inspiration I would say Glen Cook and a smattering of George R.R. Martin. People tell me it reminds them a lot of Steven Erikson, but I haven’t read his work yet, so I couldn’t say.
Once I knew the story lines, I started
work on ‘The Failing God’ in September of 2011 and finished it in
two months time, 125.000 words in all. I used most of 2012 to write
the sequel, ‘In Shadows of Times Past.’ In the books I relate the
stories of a number of protagonists, resulting in a number of
alternating story lines. The protagonists each have their own
motivations and ideas, but they operate within the same theater and
sometimes even interact. It’s fantasy, so there’s bound to be
some magic, but it’s scarce and its use comes at a very high price.
Of course there’s also a prophecy. I like prophecies. So I decided
to just put three of them in the books and let them battle it out.
Did I mention there are dragons? I kill off the last of the race in
chapter three. Turns out humans can be as bad, or worse, than many of
the fantasy creatures in fantasy by other authors. The good news is
that the first two books are finished. The bad news, they’re only
available in Dutch. But fear not, my worthy translator is working
very hard to finish a proper English translation.
One of the unique things that I attempt in this series is to create a history of the world that reaches back thousands of years. So I added a piece to the first novel which detailed specific 4500 year old history from a certain perspective in such a way that it matched up with the various hints and clues that I placed in the novel. Reading the extra piece gives you a completely different view on what’s going on and it was my intention to completely change a reader’s look on the world up to the point that they would want to read the book again to see what is actually going on. Feedback from readers on that has been quite positive. They think it gives the books an amazing depth and it made the world really come alive for them.
Obviously the fantasy novels take a lot of my time. I can write it easy and fast, but it’s not a real challenge. I find I need to write other stuff to really be able to use the dark recesses of my mind. For that I write Science Fiction, with the emphasis on ‘science.’ I’m currently trying to find the proper format for a hardcore scifi Space Opera novel, which I may end up producing as a series of short books of 30.000 words each. I’ve already written most of part 1 and 2, but that is in Dutch and I need to decide if I will rewrite and continue in English. I’ll probably end up doing both…
Then there is a dystopian world in which I write. I have a book layout ready for it and several episodes. I just need to find the time to write it properly. The only reason I’m procrastinating on that one is that it’s an extremely complex story that spans many thousands of years of Earth’s history (at least, my take on it.) I may end up writing episodes for it until I reach the point of no return and then I will finalize it. ‘View of Diluvipolis’ is one of the English episodes of that book. You can find it on my Smashwords link.
Yet another world I write about is a world in which the Dutch East India Company (VOC) continued its existence, Holland fought off Napoleon’s armies and kept its independence and England never rose to power. Most technology is steam- and tesla-powered and I’ve created a highly detailed world as a backdrop for the stories I’m developing around an interesting period. Some stories in that alternate history steampunk universe I finished in Dutch and I will translate those in 2013.
And yes, Horror, I do that too. I participated in a few of James Ward Kirk’s Static Movement Horrors, which was fun. Read ‘My New Best Friend’ in the ‘Serial Killers’ anthology if you want to see an experiment in using first, third and second person perspectives in a single story.
I also produced a Cthulhu mythos
novella called ‘Assigned to Amlwch’ (I’ve always been convinced
Cthulhu’s from Wales), which was a story that required a tremendous
amount of research to get just right, with all the historical detail
that I thought it needed. I have lots more ideas in my mind that I
need to think through, but once a story is clear in my mind, I’ll
write it in a few hours.
What is it that draws you to your
genre?
I’ve been a ‘genre’ reader since
I was a kid. I used to go to the library every day and take out as
many books as allowed and return them, finished, the next day. The
reason I’m so drawn to genre actually was made clear to me by Dan
Simmons (Hyperion, Carrion Comfort and others.) I met him at a
science-fiction convention in the Netherlands in the early nineties.
He used to work for an agency that tried to identify gifted children
in schools. In the end, he found, the best way, and nearly one
hundred percent accurate, was to ask the children if they read
science-fiction. Almost invariably the kids that did turned out to
have higher than average intellectual capacities.
That, to me, explained why I was such a
voracious reader of anything genre-related. A few decades later I not
only read genre, I also write it. Oh, I can write literary stuff
alright, but I find it tedious and unimaginative. Funny enough most
of our celebrated Dutch literary authors have made use of some kind
of genre elements in their most renowned books. But since they were
already established literary writers, they were –obviously- not
writing genre.
The reason I write all the stuff I
mentioned above is because my mind hardly ever shuts down. A few
hours of sleep and then it’s off to the races again. I figured I
might as well just write and get some of the weirdness on paper –at
least that gives me some peace of mind- and who knows, maybe I’ll
find some readers who can enjoy it.
You've mentioned that you are
looking to introduce better quality in the Netherlands, mind sharing
about your experience as an author in your homeland?
It’s an interesting situation in the
Netherlands. The level of education here is very high and interest in
literature and books in general is enormous. And yes, that goes for
genre too. However, it’s all translated work by English speaking
authors and there are very few viable publishers here due to the fact
that the Dutch language is spoken by maybe twenty million people
worldwide. That means Dutch original work gets very little attention.
Add to that the lack of any type of publications that will allow you
to hone your skills and you get to a situation where the only way to
actually achieve something is through participating in story contests
in order to get some professional feedback. The question is, who will
help you improve if most people have never had the opportunity to
reach a high level in writing.
A friend of mine called it the
‘stepping stone gap’ that Dutch authors face. (see here:
https://peterkaptein.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/writing-the-different-stepping-stones/ )
So, that’s one part of the problem.
The second is that the Dutch seem to have an issue with celebrating
their greatness in the world. In my mind it’s ok to be proud of
what you achieve, but I seem to be somewhat unique in that. In the
Netherlands it’s not considered ‘done’ to be ambitious or to
think outside the box.
Fortunately I seem to have a problem
with my vocabulary where it comes to words like ‘quit’ or ‘too
difficult’ or ‘unheard of’ or ‘acting normal’. Otherwise
life just might get boring quickly.
It’s an uphill battle, but I’m not
afraid. I’ve reached a certain level and I’m currently helping
other authors reaching their next level. Not because I like them so
much or because I need a few more sycophants. I need competition,
people to write and experiment with, to see what literary flavors we
can achieve. And achieve them we will.
Do you have some stories coming up
in the near future you would like to discuss?
At this moment I’m in an exuberant mood where writing is concerned. I’m trying very hard to find the edge of my art, but the border seems stretchy. So my stories may from time to time seem ‘wild’ or ‘chaotic’ or just plain weird. Don’t worry, it’s just me, trying to find my next level…
I already mentioned ‘My New Best
Friend’, which is an interesting story. Another interesting story
is in Indiana Science Fiction. It’s called ‘The Agent of Change’
and it contains some of the exuberance I mentioned, but also some of
the actual work I do. As CTO of a cutting edge technology company I
think up and design future technologies and actually get to build
them. How cool is that? It’s like building your own Star Trek
communicator, years before the cell phones are introduced. And we all
wanted one of those communicators when we were young…
Thank you for joining me here, Mike!
You’re most welcome, Dale. Let’s do
it again sometime.
Mike's Bio:
Mike has published flash fiction, short
stories and longer work in various anthologies and magazines in the
Netherlands, including Holland-SF, Cerberus, Wonderwaan, Ator Mondis
and Babel-SF and Verschijnsel anthologies such as Ragnarok and Zwarte
Zielen (Black Souls).Since 1991 Mike has written several short stories and has started work on about seven books, of which the first two are now finishes. Besides that he sat on the Jury of King Kong Awards and Millennium Prize and ran Babel Publications for almost ten years.
Obviously he lives in the Netherlands, in Hilversum which is close to Amsterdam. He has won awards for best new author and best author in the King Kong Award in 1991 and 1992 respectively as well as an honorable mention for a submission to the Australian Altair Magazine launch competition in 1998. In 2012 he added a few more awards to the list.
For various personal reasons Mike
hasn’t written much in the past ten years, but in 2011 he decided
he was ready to write the novels he had been contemplating in his
mind. The first two of those novels are now finished and selling well
in the Netherlands. In addition he has written over thirty stories in
Dutch and English in 2012 and has published those in English and
Dutch magazines.
The first English novel, ‘The Failing
God’, will hopefully appear end of 2012.
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