*** Interview with Stephen Davies (author of Outlaw)

Yesterday I posted my review of Outlaw, the latest book from author Stephen Davies, and today I am really chuffed to be hosting a Q and A session with Stephen on The Book Zone for the second time (click here to read the first one he did back in 2009).

What gave you the idea for Outlaw?

Kidnapping and terrorism have always been good thriller material, with lots of potential for character development and plot twists. I knew I wanted to write a kidnapping story and the Sahara Desert provided a great setting – it is a raw, hostile environment, very much the Wild West of Africa.

There are two main characters in this book – one African, the other English. Can you tell us any more about them?

The Chameleon is an eighteen year-old Fulani cattle herder. He is a very low-tech hero who relies on cunning, quick-thinking, clever disguises and local knowledge. Jake on the other hand is an English teenager, obsessed with Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. He is totally out of his depth in the Sahara desert but even there he does find uses for his smart phone.

And he has one interesting physical skill, doesn't he?

Oh yes, he can run up walls! Wall-running is a parkour (freerunning) skill. This was a nod to my last book HACKING TIMBUKTU, which had lots of parkour action.

Tell me about Jake's sister.

Kas is a thirteen year-old emo and she was a beautiful character to write. Her emoness is more than just a fashion statement – it's a heartfelt response to the suffering she sees all around her. Kas is the one with the social conscience, the one who questions the gap between rich and poor – it's she who sees the beggar by the side of the road when the rest of her family walk on by. At one point Jake accuses her of being attention-seeking and melodramatic, but he couldn't be more wrong. If either of them is self-obsessed, it's him.

Why did you make Jake and Kas the children of a British ambassador?

There are a limited number of reasons someone might be living in a place like Burkina Faso. Aid-worker or missionary felt a bit too close to home. Archaelogist has been done to death. Ambassador felt right. The diplomatic setting meant that I could structure Outlaw as a 'voyage and return' story, with the embassy as the safe haven. I wanted to create that feeling of being in a hostile environment and trying desperately to get back to the safe place. This choice also provided some interesting plot devices. Embassy premises are a little slice of home in a foreign country, and there are strict international rules to protect them. But what if a wanted terrorist were to enter an embassy compound and be granted diplomatic refuge? What kind of tensions would that produce with the local police? What kind of showdown might it lead to?

You've described Outlaw as 'a thriller with a social conscience'.

Yes. Both Kas and the Chameleon are deeply aware of the injustice and corruption all around them. Kas's tendency is to respond with helpless anger and withering sarcasm, but the Chameleon demonstrates a different response – he and his gang go about righting wrongs, outing villains and fighting injustice. The Chameleon loves nothing more than to rob from the rich and give to the poor. He is swashbuckling, optimistic and endearingly naïve, and all the authorities despise him!

He sounds like an African Robin Hood.

Exactly. The comparison is never explicit, but it was definitely in my mind. Outlaw has a very distinct Robin Hood flavour: the feasting and friendship, the simple camp well-hidden in the bush, the low-tech weapons training, the use of disguise to infiltrate the enemy, the hosting of 'villains' at the camp (with a view to teaching them a lesson), the humour, and of course the anti-rich pro-poor politics. There is a Sheriff of Nottingham character, too, as it happens – a powerful individual hellbent on the Chameleon's destruction.

Apart from the Robin Hood legend, what else influenced you during the writing of Outlaw?

I wonder if any of your readers are old enough to remember the American TV series MacGyver? Angus MacGyver was a secret agent who regularly found himself in life-or-death situations – he usually got out of them by using his knowledge of physics, chemistry, technology and outdoorsmanship. There's quite a lot of this sort of 'modern survivalism' in Outlaw, including a scene where Jake charges his phone using AA batteries and butter! Incidentally, something else I liked about MacGyver was that he hated guns and didn't use one himself. In Outlaw, too, it's the bad guys who carry guns. The good guys ride horses and carry slingshots (catapults)!

Were you in Africa when you wrote Outlaw?

As it happens, no, I was back in England. We took a year out of Africa in 2009/10 because my wife was expecting our first child. I wrote the book in Chichester public library – sitting at a desk on the second floor by a huge window overlooking the cathedral. I wrote from 9 to 5 every day with a half-hour sandwich break. It felt nice to have a normal life for a year and to be so completely inconspicuous. The kidnapping plotline felt very close to the bone, though, because I knew that my family and I would shortly be heading back to our home in the Sahel, an area of Africa where kidnapping for ransom is increasingly rife. Some scenes were deeply discomforting to write, especially the 'hostage video' chapter. No one wants to be that person in the orange jumpsuit.

What are you writing at the moment? Anything in the pipeline?

I'm in the process of writing a big action trilogy. The first book will be called Tracker. I can't say much more about it at this stage!

~~~

Huge thanks to Stephen for taking the time to answer these questions. Outlaw was released last week and is well worth giving to adventure loving boys of 10/11+.

Review: Outlaw by Stephen Davies

Fifteen-year-old Jake Knight is an explorer and adventurer at heart but this often gets him into trouble. When a stuffy English boarding school suspends him for rule-breaking, Jake flies out to Burkina Faso where his parents are living. He is expecting a long, adventure-filled vacation under a smiling African sun. But what awaits him there is kidnapping, terrorism and Yakuuba Sor – the most wanted outlaw in the Sahara desert.


Back in the early days of The Book Zone I reviewed a book called Hacking Timbuktu by Stephen Davies. This was a time when only a couple of publishers had noticed me and I was still doing as I had originally planned to do with the blog - reviewing books from my own collection or from the school library. Hacking Timbuktu was one of the latter, and with so many to choose from I am not sure what made me pick it up. Perhaps it was its Africa setting (before we had a glut of Africa-set books)? Perhaps it was the mention of parkour/freerunning in the blurb? Whatever the reason, I really, really enjoyed it, and I have been looking forward to reading whatever Stephen wrote next ever since.

Outlaw is that next book. It is not a sequel to Hacking Timbuktu - both are standalone novels, although they do have a lot in common: breathtaking action, tight plotting, realistic use of modern technology, a degree of social comment without being in-your-face moralistic, likeable protagonists and the fantastic African setting, in this case Burkina Faso. For me it is this final aspect that is the icing on the cake for this book, as well as the other books by Stephen Davies that I have read. Stephen lhas lived in Burkina Faso for the past ten years, and so you know that pretty much all his descriptions of the people, their culture and the environment in which they live are spot on. This is not the work of an author who has taken a jolly little jaunt to Africa in order to research the location for their novel - this is the work of a man who lives, breathes and loves the country he has written about, and the setting in this book feels all the more real because of this.

The hero of Outlaw is Jake Knight, son of the British Ambassador to Burkina Faso, wannabe adventurer but currently stuck in a boarding school in England. As any parent or teacher will know, when active kids are bored this often leads to mischief, and for Jake a late night challenge by his fellow boarders as part of an ongoing game ends with him being suspended by his Headmaster, and sent to stay with his family for the rest of term, although Jake sees this as a release from his boredom more than a punishment. Once in Africa though it isn't long before he and his sister are kidnapped by someone they believe to be Yakuuba Sor - a bandit whose name is at the top of the country's most-wanted list. But is all as it first appears?

This is one of those books that 11+ boys who love action and adventure will love. The plot twists and turns, with Jake and his sister, and us as readers, never knowing who we should trust, and just who really are the good guys and who are the bad guys. Stephen Davies certainly deserves to become more widely known than he currently is, and I will definitely be pushing Outlaw in the school library this term. My thanks go to Andersen Press for sending me a copy of Outlaw to review. Please come back later this week when I will be posting a Q&A session that Stephen very kkndly did for The Book Zone.

** Interview with Stephen Davies (author of Hacking Timbuktu)

A the beginning of December I wrote a review of Stephen Davies' Hacking Timbuktu, an exciting modern adventure story for boys, set in London and Africa. Shortly after I published the review I was really flattered to receive an email from Stephen praising my blog, and offering to do an interview by email. Needless  to say, I jumped at the chance!




How did you get the idea for Hacking Timbuktu?
 
Back in 2003 I watched a Channel 4 documentary called Jump London and I was instantly hooked by parkour: the cinematic and anarchic 'art of escape'! Throughout the decade, parkour featured a lot in films and advertising, and provided the inspiration for Hacking Timbuktu – I wanted to try and capture the dynamism and poetry of parkour within the action sequences of a thriller.

Your writing of the parkour scenes in Hacking Timbuktu must have involved a lot of time researching the sport. How did you go about this?
 
Most of my research was online. I watched hundreds of parkour clips on YouTube (my favourite was Extreme Tag), browsed dozens of parkour blogs (my favourite was Blane's Blog) and eavesdropped on the technical forums at Urban Freeflow.

And the hacking scenes?
 
A computer expert called Kybernetikos helped me with the hacking scenes. First I asked him how someone would go about hacking an airline computer system. He wrote back the following day with six possible methods! I chose the most exciting one, which involved our hero going to an airport, climbing into the ceiling beams and splicing an intranet cable to launch a devastating 'Man in the Middle' hack attack.

How have you used your own experiences and adventures in Africa in your writing?
 
'Write what you know' is reliable advice. I have lived in West Africa for the last eight years, and Hacking Timbuktu relies heavily on first-hand experience. The sheep on the roof of the bus, the mosquito-ridden youth hostel, the rasta tourist guide singing Premiership terrace chants, the women pounding onions on the Dogon cliffs – these settings and characters feel authentic because they are.

In my spy thriller The Yellowcake Conspiracy, the main character is a Fulani cattle herder called Haroun. He adores cows and his conversation is peppered with genuine Fulani proverbs. Nevertheless, I found it hard to get inside Haroun's head in a totally believable way. That is why I chose Westerners as the main characters of Hacking Timbuktu.

What do you see as being the other main influences on your writing?
 
When I write for boys I always bear in mind the best action films I have seen. I ruminate on the tension and trickery of heist films (Ocean's Eleven, The Italian Job), the urgency of chase films (The Fugitive, The Bourne Identity) and the gadgetry of spy films (Mission Impossible, Casino Royale).

Poetry is another big influence. In Hacking Timbuktu, the chase through the British Museum was inspired by Robert Minhinnick's wonderful poem The Fox in the National Museum of Wales. I believe the sound and rhythm of words plays an important part in action scenes.

Your Sophie and the Albino Camel books, whilst being full of action and adventure, are obviously written for a younger audience than Hacking Timbuktu. Which did you enjoy writing more?
 
The Sophie books are like cartoons – bold, joyful, fast-flowing and inane. Hacking Timbuktu and The Yellowcake Conspiracy have more depth and complexity. I honestly cannot say which I prefer. Whether the target audience is younger or older, the ingredients of a Good Writing Day are the same: dialogue that makes me laugh and action 'set pieces' that make my heart beat a little bit faster. I always write the most enjoyable bits first and then go back and fill in the gaps as briefly as possible. Sections that are fun to write are generally fun to read.

You have described Hacking Timbuktu as "a King Solomon's Mines for the twenty-first century". Is this a book that has influenced your storytelling?
 
King Solomon's Mines was a great African adventure story with intrepid explorers and lost gold. It was written in 1885 by Rider Haggard, as the result of a bet. His brother had bet him five shillings that he couldn't write a novel half as good as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island! Pre-launch publicity declared King Solomon's Mines 'The Most Amazing Book Ever Written', but if you read it today you might disagree. The story seems slow if you compare it to modern adventures by the likes of Anthony Horowitz or Charlie Higson, and the way Haggard writes about African people does reflect the colonial attitudes of his time. So when I wrote Hacking Timbuktu I wanted to preserve the adventure quality of King Solomon's Mines but ramp up the pace and add a sprinkling of modern gadgets.
 
Are there any books or authors that you would recommend fans of your books to read?
 
If you like African thrillers, try The Door of No Return and Last of the Warrior Kings by Sarah Mussi. They are intelligently written and hugely exciting. The Devil's Breath by David Gilman is another rollicking read set in Africa. If you want the same genre in a different continent, read The Joshua Files by MG Harris.

What were your favourite books when you were younger?
 
When I was young I would read books over and over again. From the humour and cunning of Brer Rabbit, I progressed to Just William (by Richmal Crompton) and Molesworth (by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle – just look at these rave reviews on Amazon!). After that I started enjoying books by Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilbur Smith and John Buchan.

Can you recommend one book that you think every boy should read at some point?
 
The Bible. In my teens, this book gripped me like nothing else and completely transformed my life. This is Story with a capital S, endlessly inspiring and thought-provoking. It's got poetry, adventure, heroic self-sacrifice, the lot. If in doubt, don't start with Genesis, start with Mark.

Do you have any more plans for Danny and Omar in the future or any other writing projects in the pipeline?
 
Danny and Omar are fun characters to write, so I would love to do a sequel to Hacking Timbuktu. Before I do that, I must finish my current book: another thriller set in the Sahara Desert. It is about an outlaw who robs from the rich and gives to the poor – a sort of African Robin Hood.

Is there anything else you would like to say to your readers?
 
Now is a really good time to be a reader. Never before has there been such a wide choice of books for every age and taste. Read everything and anything. If you don't like a book, abandon it and try another. When you find an author you like, read everything they have ever written. Keep an eye on Book Zone 4 Boys and Achuka. If you are on Facebook, add the 'Visual Bookshelf' app to your profile, so that you can review the books you read and get recommendations from others. Use your local library. Read on buses and on park benches and in bed. And if all that reading inspires you to write something yourself, go for it!


Many thanks for taking the time to answer my questions Stephen, especially at this busy time of year. I want to reiterate what Stephen said about the Jump London parkour documentary (and its Jump Britain companion DVD) - if you are even remotely interested in parkour then these are incredible, must-see films. If you want to find out more about Stephen Davies, his books and his life in Africa then you should visit his Voice In The Desert website. Thanks again Stephen, and on behalf of all of my blog readers I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.   

Review: Hacking Timbuktu by Stephen Davies

Long ago in the ancient city of Timbuktu a student pulled off the most daring heist in African history, the theft of 100 million pounds worth of gold. The stolen treasure has remained hidden until now, when teenage hacker Danny Temple discovers a cryptic Arabic manuscript. It's a good job that Danny is a keen traceur (free runner) because he has to run across rooftops and leap from buildings to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. His nightmarish and adrenalin-charged quest leads him all the way to sub-Saharan Africa, and the mysterious cliffs of Bandiagara.

Wow! I have just finished this book and it has left me feeling a little out-of-breath. This story really is non-stop action from beginning to end. Writing good action scenes is not easy, yet Mr Davies does it incredibly well. Danny, the main character of the book, and his close friend Omar are traceurs - they are experts at the sport of parkour (or freerunning). If you have ever seen freerunners you will know how fast and energetic their sport is; how Stephen Davies manages to translate this sport so fluently onto paper is amazing - I really felt that I was running through the streets with Danny and Omar. The author has also put a lot of time into researching parkour and the technical language for the boys' moves is used throughout the story.

There are a lot of scenes featuring parkour throughout the story, yet at no point did I feel it was being overused as part of the plot. In fact, I spent each non-parkour scene page reading as quickly as possible so I could get to the next adrenalin fuelled freerunning scene. Interspersed between these scenes are detailed descriptions of Danny's computer hacking; yet again, this all sounds authentic and well-researched, although not being a hacker myself (honest!) this is only my own feeling about these scenes.

The attention Stephen Davies pays to detail and his thorough research continues as the two boys reach Africa, although this comes as no surprise as Mr Davies has first-hand experience of this place, its people and their culture as he is a missionary in West Africa and lives in a small town on the edge of the Sahara desert. Again, the quality of his descriptive writing made me feel like I was travelling the dusty African roads with the boys. There are obviously less parkour scenes once the boys reach Africa as the narrative focuses more on their journey, but Mr Davies uses these quieter moments to show us more about his characters and the details of friendship. 

And there's more..... as well as a fast paced story, with thrilling action scenes and moments of nailbiting tension, there is also a lot of humour running through the story. In fact, many of the scenes featuring Danny and Omar had me chuckling out loud. The banter and bickering that they display when with each other is reminiscent of a good Hollywood buddy movie like Lethal Weapon or Bad Boys.

I really enjoyed this book and I doubt there are many action movie loving boys out there who would disagree with me.