John Gwynne and son Will.
Hello Readers!
I managed to go see and meet John Gwynne at last! He was due to be the guest of honour at Edge-Lit in 2020 when it was cancelled due to COVID.
When the opportunity arose and he was to be in Leeds I jumped at the chance. I loved his Faith and the Fallen series which I reviewed last year and for me he was the natural successor to David Gemmell.
Joining John, was his son Will, who I follow on YouTube on his Booktube channel and the channel he shares with his brother Ed. The Brothers Gywnne.
Will was there as a host to ask his Papa Gwynne questions.
Will was also there to ask another author, RJ Barker questions on his new book too.
I've seen RJ before when he brought his first book out, Age of Assassins. I've now got his first two series he's written but yet to read them.
RJ Barker and John Gwynne.
RJ was there to promote the sequel in his Forsaken trilogy. Warlords of Wyrdwood.
Will asked some great questions to the authors and we learned how they write their novels. John does a lot of research about history including Norse legends, which he used on his Bloodsworn trilogy.
RJ does a mix of things including writing his most bizarre ideas down so has to plan what happens or he would lose track on the plots.
Sadly I didn't video any of the event like I used to when I started going to author events. I didn't make any notes either like I used to. They used to distract me from living the experience. So this blog is mainly from memory.
Will asked about their inspirations. Sadly can't remember the authors RJ mentioned but he did mention he reads a lot of folklore and weird stories and legends. He also mentioned he reads outside the fantasy genre he writes and likes crime novels.
He is also writing a crime series under the name RJ Dark.
John mentioned a few authors but said my favourite author, David Gemmell, was a big inspiration and said he stayed up reading Legend all night as a teenager.
The event got emotional when John spoke about writing Fury of the Gods as his daughter Harriett passed away before he started writing it. He had a break from writing and social media after that. With support from family and friends and the arrival of his Granddaughter, it got him back onto the writing saddle.
Will opened questions up to the audience.
One question was how the authors got into writing.
John said he was late to writing and only started to write in his thirties, when he took time of work to look after Harriett.
His wife suggested he write a book and using his historical knowledge he wrote Malice. His family encouraged him to send it off to agents and the rest is history.
RJ said an agent saw his killer zombie sheepdog short story on his blog and took him on.
Unfortunately the ideas he sent the agent didn't stick and they got no buyers. His agent suggested other agents to him which he contacted with Age of Assassins and the rest is again history.
RJ also mentioned he was hoping to be a rock musician but couldn't play an instrument and his other hobby was reading so that's how he started to write.
There were many more questions and we got a great insight into the authors.
It was both a fun and emotional evening and RJ as always was hilarious.
They are both working on new series. They couldn't say anything on pain of death.
It was then time to queue up and get our books signed. The line was long and luckily I wasn't too far from the front.
I was nervous when I met John and babbled on about almost seeing him at the cancelled Edge-lit which might have confused him.
I managed to get a photo with him, took by the guy stood behind me and I'm peed off I didn't smile more!
Me and John Gywnne.
I have a few "why didn't I do that" moments.
As I was wanting to get off for train home I didn't get chance to say hello to RJ and was too skint to buy his new book.
I'm also gutted I didn't say hello to Will and say how much I like his Booktube channel.
Also, as I queued up to sit down at the beginning of the event a woman and her boyfriend was stood behind me and I recognised her. Later I realised it was the Booktuber Becca from Becca and the Books. I'm gutted I didn't say hello to her too and say how much I liked her channel.
I rushed for my train after the event not realising Leeds had a light show on and trains were cancelled, replaced by buses. It took ages getting home, but worth it to see two great authors.
Hopefully they will be at Leeds Waterstones again soon.
Neil x
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