Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where today I’m joined by David Wragg to chat about his new novel The Righteous, the sequel to The Black Hawks and the second part of his Articles of Faith series. I’ve just read The Black Hawks and had a lot of fun with it (keep an eye out for a review coming soon), so I’m really looking forward to reading the sequel, which is out on the 10th June from Harper Voyager. If you like your fantasy novels full of the usual action and adventure but erring on the more humorous side rather than all-out dark fantasy, this series should definitely be on your radar!
I asked David to give a (spoiler-free) overview of the series as a whole before we got into talking about the second book, so you should be able to read and enjoy this interview whether you’ve read The Black Hawks or not (and if not, you definitely should)! Without further ado then, let’s get on with the interview.
Track of Words: To start things off, let’s talk a bit about your Articles of Faith series for the benefit of anyone who hasn’t made a start on it yet. Firstly, how would you pitch the series as a whole, in order to convince someone to give it a go?
David Wragg: Hi! I’ve always described the series as a low fantasy adventure story, told in two parts, laced with action, humour and surprises. And swearing. Loads of swearing.
ToW: What sort of fantasy stories would you say these are, in terms of style, tone, influences and so on?
DW: The Black Hawks especially is a direct homage to the kind of adventure stories I read growing up – proper old-fashioned Quest Fantasy, where a protagonist finds themselves thrown in with a rough and ready group and embarks upon a great journey to save the world – stuff like The Hobbit (of course), Shannara, Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, even things like The Black Cauldron (the film of which terrified me as a kid) and Willow.
Of course, being a contrary sod, I’ve done my best to invert, subvert or overplay all the tropes involved, so you have a fantasy world with no magic, a main character with no particular martial prowess, and a group of deadly mercenaries who can’t hold down a steady job. In terms of style and tone, the books have been compared to Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch (presumably only for the swearing), but I’d say they’re definitely their own thing. I would stress they’re not out-and-out comedies by a long stretch; serious things happen to serious people, but quite often they joke about it afterwards.
ToW: Could you give us an overview of the world in which these stories are set?
DW: The bulk of the action takes place in the kingdom of Vistirlar, which is a rough analogue of a southern hemisphere Transcaucasia – a joining place of continents, bogged down in its own sad little wars and rebellions for decades while its neighbours prosper and grow. All those years of looking (and fighting) inwards has left the kingdom rotten and fragmented, the bulk of its political machinery captured by a thoroughly corrupt church, and things are about to get shaken up in a big way.
ToW: Who are the key characters in the series, and what do we need to know about them?
DW: The sole point-of-view character is a young man called Vedren Chel, who is about 19 at the start of the first book. He’s from a relatively untrusted ethnic minority called the Andriz, which means that despite being a minor noble in strictly political terms, he’s shunned by the bulk of the establishment. He’s been sent away by his step-father in service of his step-uncle, which largely means carrying clothes around and looking smart for inspection. When we meet him, Chel is surly and defiant and intent on making life hard for himself. That life, however, is about to change forever, when he crosses paths with…
Prince Tarfel is about the only character at the start of the book who is more pitiful than Chel. He’s the king’s youngest son, 17 years old, similarly sent away to be ward of a powerful noble family and treated with absolute contempt by everyone around him, despite his supposed station. He’s delicate and oblivious and a complete disaster. But both Chel and Tarfel will soon be making the acquaintance of…
The Black Hawk Company, a fearsome and deadly group of mercenaries, who seem to be a little understaffed for a proper company and rarely in agreement on anything. As the first book’s title suggests, they’re at the heart of Chel’s adventure, for better and worse; there’s certainly never a dull moment with them around.
ToW: For anyone who has read The Black Hawks, but is maybe a bit hazy on the details, could you give a quick recap on the key points of the story so far?
DW: Well, the good news there is twofold: there’s a swift recap of the events of the first book at the beginning of The Righteous as a refresher, but if you’re after something a little more in-depth there’s a fairly detailed summary on my website. If you wanted a top-level summary, it would be: Chel meets Tarfel, Chel and Tarfel meet Black Hawks, hijinks ensue, plans are made, plans go awry, wolves! Further hijinks, further plans, great revelations and a chance for studious reflection. Crystal clear.
ToW: With all that in mind, what can you tell us about book 2 in the series, The Righteous?
DW: It picks up right where The Black Hawks left off, maybe a couple of weeks later, but in exactly the same location. There are some lingering situations to be overcome, and then it’s off and out into the world with a familiar crew (and maybe a new addition or two) facing the biggest threat of their lives, and trying to work out what to do about it.
ToW: Are you exploring anything different this time around, in terms of locations, aspects of the setting, wider themes etc.?
DW: The Righteous is very much a ‘Bigger, More, More!’ kind of sequel – we’re seeing more of the world, more of the characters and their personal histories, visiting strange and exotic new locations (and some horrifyingly humdrum ones, too) and confronting some bigger and more meaningful questions. The first book was centred around the notion of Duty and Obligations – specifically, Chel’s – and The Righteous takes that further. It’s all very well going around saying how important it is to do the right thing, but in a confusing and ever-shifting world of intrigue and suffering, how do you determine what the right thing actually is?
ToW: I gather the Articles of Faith is a two-part story, rather than the usual fantasy trilogy, so The Righteous draws the series to an end. What made you choose this structure in particular?
DW: As I mentioned before, I am a contrary sod. The standard unit of fantasy is the trilogy, and I wanted to do something different, if only for the sake of it. The story I wanted to tell was too big for one book, but not big enough for three, so two seemed like a good compromise…
ToW: The second book (or film) in a trilogy is often a bit darker than the first one, but in this case there isn’t a ‘middle’ book. Would you say The Righteous maintains the same sort of tone as The Black Hawks, or are things getting darker (or even lighter) for the characters this time around?
DW: Ah yes, book 2 is always The Empire Strikes Back, innit? In this case, the tone is very similar, but the stakes are a lot higher – this time around, the crew know what they’re up against, and what failure would mean. Because it’s the concluding part, things go right down to the wire, and as a result the book may seem darker than the first one, if only because there is so much at stake.
ToW: Writing about foul-mouthed mercenaries sounds like a lot of fun, but what have you found the challenges to be while writing this series?
DW: I blame the terrible language on previous colleagues – if there’s been one constant in 20-odd years of my day job, it’s that things go wrong and people swear. I wanted to bring a sense of that jobbing semi-professionalism into the mercenaries of my world, a sort of weary oh-god-here-we-go-again-but-maybe-this-time-it-will-be-different-ism. The hardest part of book 1 remains the opening. I didn’t want to hang around, explaining political systems, hierarchies and even geography before kicking off the storyline, so the early part of book 1 is pretty dense. It’ll all make sense in the end though, fear not.
The toughest part of book 2 was the editing – there were so many more places to see, so many more character histories to dig through, and we just couldn’t keep it all. I’ll see if I can sneak some extra scenes onto my website after the book’s out, though, for those who are curious.
ToW: Fantasy seems to often lean in a very dark direction these days, but while there’s plenty of violence and horrible things happening in this series, you’ve taken a more humorous approach to the genre. How have you found the reception for The Black Hawks since it was published?
DW: It’s been great, I have to say. It seems to have really hit a chord with a lot of readers who want something marginally less dark or cynical, or who just want a bit of a laugh with their fantasy disasters. Occasionally, I think people have gone into the first book with the wrong expectations (as I said before, it’s not a comedy! There are multiple stabbings!) which is a shame, but the good by far outweighs the bad. As long as you’re ok with the opening line of dialogue being “thrice-damned pig-fucker”, you should be fine.
Don’t they look great, side by side? Cover art by Richard Anderson (The Black Hawks) and Gavin Reece (The Righteous)
ToW: What do you hope readers and fantasy fans will get out of The Righteous – and the Articles of Faith overall – by the time they’ve finished it?
DW: I hope that they’ll have been entertained, above all – I want the books to be fun, and funny, and thrilling. To do that, we occasionally need to make some nasty things happen, but honestly I’m far too squeamish to produce any proper Grimdark. Fundamentally, the series is about trying to be Good, and understanding that it’s far easier to say than it is to do, but you’ve got to at least try.
ToW: What’s next, now that the Articles of Faith series is done and dusted? Are you planning more stories set in this world, or something totally different?
DW: There’s lots more in the pipeline, but nothing I can actually confirm at this point, I’m afraid. There are about six different books I could be writing next, so you’ll have to keep an eye on my Twitter to see what happens next!
ToW: Lastly, if you had to choose one of your characters to hang out with in real life, which one would it be and why?
DW: That’s a very tough one, mostly because my tomfoolery would no doubt get me stabbed by most of them. I think, from a crowded field, I’d pick Chel. We’re a lot alike, but how I wish I had his resilience and tenacity. And his head for hangovers.
Thanks for having me!
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© LSJ Roberts
David Wragg really got into writing stories just as he finished his English GCSE, then took about twenty years to get back to it. In the meantime, he studied software engineering, worked in global shipping and technical consultancy, and once spent a year in the Foreign Office ‘hiding in the basement’.
David lives in Hertfordshire with his wife, two small daughters and two smaller cats. He has a dog now, too.
Check out David’s website for more information.
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Thanks so much to David for chatting to me for this interview, and for the lowdown on both the new novel and the series as a whole! The Righteous is published by Harper Voyager on the 10th June, in paperback, ebook and audiobook editions.
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