Good afternoon, everyone.
Today, I have an exciting interview to share with you all. Recently, I got the opportunity to chat with author John H. Hilton about his new book release, Cloth and Dagger.
In this book, murder, passion, and intrigue follow the Reverend Michael Brandon as he attempts to redeem his life with a new career in the Church. This story is about how the most gifted of us fall prey to the contradictions in our own characters. As he excels in his vocation, Brandon is both rewarded and haunted by demons that tend to particularly torment this man of passion.
To read John's book for yourself, you can purchase it here from JCP's website, and you can also find it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble's websites.
Be sure to listen to our podcast this Friday, because I also got the opportunity to interview John there. We had a fantastic chat that you won't want to miss!
Now, please enjoy the following Q&A with John.
BOOKMARKED: Congratulations on the release of Cloth and Dagger. What do you want potential readers to know about your book? What can they expect?
JOHN HILTON: Cloth and Dagger is essentially a thriller, with a major suspenseful plot and subplots beneath. I have used a particular word in previously describing the book: a compound novel. For the lack of a better word or phrase, it means simply that there are many subjects intermixing throughout the story. There are history, philosophy and religion, psychology, and political theory woven into a novel that is at its core a series of character and circumstantial mysteries to be unveiled.
What inspired you to write Cloth and Dagger?
One of the original inspirations behind the book was myself. I was a seminary student in my early 40s contemplating a career change. Much like the main character, I was less than satisfied with my vocational life up to that point and personally experienced similar spiritual struggles and contradictions faced by characters in the story. Much of my worldview on questions of religion, politics, and nearly everything which comprises the world of ideas is pronounced somewhere within the narrative.
Was it difficult to write morally complex and corrupt characters, or did you have fun stepping into this world of intrigue and affluence?
Intrigue and affluence are indispensable topics of thought and communication for me. I can hardly imagine producing a novel like this without them. In this story, the main character and his family must necessarily be affluent. As Henry James reminded us, a life of intrigue and adventure in the modern world require one to be wealthy. If you add sexual conquest, power games, and high crimes to the equation, the wealthy are the only ones who have the time and the resources to pull them off with great effect.
Who are some of your favorite authors to read? Favorite novels?
I mentioned Henry James earlier. My favorite 20th Century poet, T.S. Eliot, called James the most intelligent man of his generation. Though American, he possessed a great knowledge of British and Continental European life and history (based on reading, traveling, and living abroad for long periods of time), which made him both a European and an American author; one who skillfully distinguished between the cultures and demonstrated their fascinating interplay.
Anton Chekhov is another favorite. Though he only wrote one novel, his short stories and plays are as good as storytelling gets, and he is very instructive for anyone wishing to write fiction. By my estimation, Chekhov is so good that it is almost impossible to say why he is. I love Jane Austen as well. English Literature for me is the 8th wonder of the world. So many great texts, so many incredible writers. Although rankings are as much a matter of taste as anything else, I cannot imagine anyone ever surpassing Jane Austen in character dialogue and cleverness and enjoyment of plot. And, of course, Charles Dickens defies classification of any sort.
If I had to list my ten favorite novels of all time, they would be as follows: Vanity Fair, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Old Man and the Sea, The Day of the Jackal, Tom Jones, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, The Hamlet, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Ambassadors.
Is there anything you'd like to say to the people who have supported your journey thus far, and to the people who will be reading your book?
My fiancée, Claudia, more than anyone else, has served as my reading public and is responsible for many things in the book, and for things that were removed. Since publication, I have had some very pleasant surprises, both from friends with who I regularly interact and those from whom I have not heard in quite some time. Poetry and literature, when they are very good, tend both to “delight" and "instruct” the reader, according to the Roman poet Horace.
My hope is that I am able to do a little bit of each with everyone who reads Cloth and Dagger. But mainly, I want everyone to enjoy it!
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Thank you again to John for this wonderful Q&A! Don't forget to listen to Bookmarked's podcast episode this Friday for a more in depth conversation with John.
I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your week! Thanks for reading!
Allison Chudina
Editorial Assistant
Jan-Carol Publishing, Inc.
Bookmarked
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