Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview, in which I welcome Sebastien de Castell onto the site to tell us all about his latest fantasy novel – The Malevolent Seven, which is out now from Jo Fletcher Books! A fun slab of foul-mouthed magical mayhem, The Malevolent Seven takes loads of the usual magical tropes and turns them on their heads, offering something a little different to a lot of fantasy novels. In this interview Sebastien gives us the lowdown on what to expect from the book, what inspired the world and the magic system, what he learned from writing something purely for himself, and loads more!
Without further ado, on with the interview.
Track of Words: To start things off, could you tell us a bit about The Malevolent Seven and what readers can expect from it?
Sebastien de Castell: The Malevolent Seven is a fast-paced, antiheroic fantasy full of irreverent humour in which seven mercenary mages find themselves forced to protect the world from a mystical threat even worse than themselves. My literary agent, Jon Wood, refers to the book as “Deadpool meets Game of Thrones”, which is probably a better description than mine.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
SdC: As the book’s title suggests, it’s an ensemble cast, but our protagonist and narrator is a wonderist by the name of Cade Ombra. He claims to be a “chancer”: a mage attuned to the Fortunal realm which enables him to cast spells that alter probabilities. He’s lying, of course. Everybody lies at one point or another in this book. Alas for Cade, his spells come from a much, much worse plane of reality, and his past is not at all what either his comrades or the reader expect. Cade’s companions on this ill-fated mission include a completely amoral Tempestoral mage who also happens to be Cade’s only friend, a young woman whose Sanguinal magic is as likely to drain the blood of her allies as her enemies, and a dashing, swashbuckling Totemic mage who thinks rats are the noblest creatures of all. And those are the sanest of Cade’s companions except for Mister Bones, a feisty little jackal. But he’s not a wizard. Really.
ToW: What can you tell us about the world in which this story is set?
SdC: This is a world that’s contending with the magical equivalent of every country possessing nuclear, biological and chemical weapons without any sort of United Nations to keep them from blowing each other up. Mercenary wonderists sell their spells to the highest bidder, and the highest bidder is almost always an arsehole intent on taking over the world. No one knows how to stop the cycles of tyranny and bloodshed, so no one tries. Well, some folks do, on occasion, but then guys like Cade and Corrigan are hired to go blast them to bits. Even the traditional forces of “good” and “evil” are more concerned with finally fighting their long-awaited crusade against one another. But such political and social conditions can’t hold forever; either someone finds a way to stop the chaos or else the entire society collapses. Into this rather terrible era comes Cade and his fellow magical degenerates: not the heroes we need, but maybe the heroes we deserve.
ToW: Fantasy fans generally love a good magic system, and the various attunements of the wonderists in this book play a pretty big part in the story. Could you talk a bit about what you wanted to achieve with the magic here, how you chose the various attunements and what you wanted them to mean to the characters?
SdC: Magic in the world of The Malevolent Seven works in much the same way that I think it would in ours: the only way to violate the laws of physics is to momentarily breach the barrier between our universe and another where those natural laws operate differently. Corrigan is a Tempestoral mage, which means his mind is attuned to a plane of reality dominated by ceaseless storms where lightning, fire and other forms of energy respond to thought. So when Corrigan momentarily breaches the veil between the Mortal and Tempestoral realms, the physical laws of that universe temporarily “leak” through, allowing him to shape and direct those destructive energies into what we’d call a spell.
When Aradeus taps into the Totemic realm, he’s connecting with a universe where animal forms have a parallel conceptual manifestation. By momentarily breaching the barrier to the Totemic realm, he’s able to draw on certain attributes of the creatures in our world to which he’s most closely attuned. Each realm operates differently. In some, there are conscious beings willing to sell the magical effects of their realms to a wonderist in ours. In others, beings of absolute moral virtue will grant blessings to those who adhere to their rules. In all, there are twelve such magic systems referenced in the book. It was tremendous fun to come up with each and every one of them.
Spellslinger, the first novel in Sebastien’s series of the same name
ToW: You’ve gone for a really irreverent tone with this, knowingly poking fun at fantasy tropes, and showing magic and magic-users in a different light to what fantasy novels often portray. Was there anything in particular that inspired you to take this approach, other than (I’m assuming) it just being a lot of fun to write?
SdC: I’ve always been a bit confounded as to why in our world we have such a detailed understanding of the different ways that political, military, economic and even social power can corrupt an individual. In fantasy, however, the corruption that comes with magical power often seems limited to a generalized, “Oh, look, Saruman’s becoming evil” sort of phenomenon. With The Malevolent Seven, I wanted to consider how each kind of magic might hamper a person’s emotional and psychological wellbeing.
Imagine going through life knowing that every grand piece of architecture you ever see could be blown apart in an instant by bolts of lightning hurled from your hands, or forming a loving relationship with another person when you have the power to obliterate or manipulate anyone who angers you. How does someone contend with that kind of loneliness, and how do they forget the bonds with other human beings so vital to making life worthwhile?
That’s why I wanted so many different kinds of magic in The Malevolent Seven: to explore both the joys and the tribulations of the defining fantasy element that draws so many of us to the genre.
ToW: There’s a lot of sweary, magic-infused fun here, but it’s also really quite dark in places. Did you have to work hard to find the right balance between those different elements?
SdC: Finding the balance between dark undercurrents and light-hearted moments is never difficult for me because I’m entirely incapable of controlling them. All of my novels employ humour, but the jokes aren’t there just to get a laugh from the reader; they’re the means by which the characters endure the dark moments of life. This was as true for Traitor’s Blade and the banter between Falcio, Kest and Brasti, as it is for The Malevolent Seven. Gallows humour and entirely inappropriate jokes are the language that Cade and Corrigan rely on to say the things to each other that their backgrounds would otherwise make impossible. It’s an expression of friendship and camaraderie without which neither of them would be able to survive the struggles they face together.
Approaching humour that way – as a means by which human beings both contend with strife and tell each other how they feel without having to use the words – makes finding the balance between the light and dark moments much more natural for me.
ToW: While Cade provides the point of view, you’re still working with quite a large cast of characters here. What do you find are the challenges of writing an ensemble novel like this?
SdC: The advantage of a first person narrative (i.e. with Cade narrating the story to us) is that large ensemble casts become more manageable. We’re always seeing Corrigan, Galass, Aradeus and all the others through the lens of Cade’s ethical and emotional quandaries. I think it’s far more challenging to write an ensemble story where you’re constantly shifting point of view – especially when those characters spend much of the story together.
The Way of the Argosi, the first novel in The Argosi, which spins off from the Spellslinger series
ToW: From a writing craft perspective, is there anything in particular that you learned during the process of working on this novel?
SdC: The strange thing about writing The Malevolent Seven was that I never actually intended it for publication. It was February of 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. I’d recently wrapped up the sixth book in the Spellslinger contract and was already under contract for a new set of Ferius Parfax books and a new Greatcoats series which comes out next year. It’s lovely to have all those book deals in place, but it can also be overwhelming (especially since you have to keep chasing new book deals all the time).
I set out to write a book just for me: a brand new novel that never considered the ever-growing list of constraints being placed on authors by publishers and the wider literary community that range from no swearing in YA novels (boy, did I ever get over that with The Malevolent Seven) to never writing anything that might annoy the far right or the far left on Twitter. I don’t bridle at those constraints usually, but once in a while an artist in any field needs to cut loose and let out whatever dark, twisted thoughts are percolating in their subconscious.
This isn’t to say that I set out to write something provocative or transgressive. I’m not in the business of trying to enrage my fellow human beings just for the hell of it – especially since doing so would be another act of submitting to the expectations of others. I just wanted to see what came out when I wasn’t considering anything other than the next sentence and the next scene. And in a better, saner world, that’s where it would’ve ended.
Literary agents, alas, are innately perverse individuals. Mine instantly wanted to read the manuscript, and when she did, she loved it. I nonetheless demurred on the subject of publication, but after Heather retired from the business, she mentioned it to my new agent, Jon. Afflicted by the same disease, he also asked to read it and then insisted we send it to my publisher. With the Covid epidemic in full swing, the minds of many were addled by the virus. This, I believe, is the soundest explanation for why they immediately bought The Malevolent Seven.
Wow, I’m doing a hell of a job of promoting this book right now . . .
Okay, so here’s the lesson. As the great screenwriter and novelist William Goldman (who gave us The Princess Bride, All the President’s Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) was fond of saying: nobody knows anything. Self-appointed influencers will happily declare which trends are dead and which ones need to die and why it’s your sacred duty to read these books, but that never seems to work. I’ve had more than a dozen books published, translated into fifteen languages and had an extremely fortunate career thus far, and yet, not only do I have no idea what’s marketable and what’s not, it also turns out that I don’t write any differently when it’s “just for me” as when I’d writing for publication.
The good news is that maybe, just maybe, all that terribly toxic self-censorship and cancel culture out there isn’t ruining art at all. Maybe it’s just a lot of people talking about things that are very important to them and which sometimes scare the hell out of me, but don’t inhibit my writing one bit.
Hmm…these words will age terribly if I somehow get cancelled as a result of The Malevolent Seven, so, umm, next question?
ToW: If someone (like me, for example) were to pick this up as the first book of yours that they’d read, where would you recommend they look next within your catalogue?
SdC: I’d definitely suggest Traitor’s Blade as a starting point for adult readers. Spellslinger has more magic, but it’s also a young adult series so if your favourite part of The Malevolent Seven is the incessant swearing and dark humour, you’ll be more at home with the Greatcoats. Read the first page and a half of Traitor’s Blade. If you dig it, you’ll already have a sense of me as a writer and whether you want to read the rest of the book.
Traitor’s Blade, book one in Sebastien’s Greatcoats series
ToW: Are you planning more stories set in this world, or is this a standalone?
SdC: I wrote The Malevolent Seven as a standalone, but I unexpectedly fell in love with the characters and so now I’m envisioning all the ruckus they can create in a sequel. I suspect I’m not done with Cade, Corrigan, Galass and the rest of those deranged misfits.
Unless The Malevolent Seven tanks my career. If that happens, I’ll definitely blame it on my agent (you’re welcome, Jon).
ToW: What can you tell us about what’s next for you, now that this is out?
SdC: So many projects! When you’re fortunate enough to reach a certain amount of success in this business, the demands on your time start multiplying. Writing, publicity, travelling to various events, negotiating contracts that range from new series to translations in other countries to film & TV options…it all adds up. Thankfully, the work that occupies the lion’s share of my day remains writing new novels including:
FATE OF THE ARGOSI, the third Ferius Parfax book that spins off from my young adult series, Spellslinger, comes out in August, 2023 worldwide. Don’t tell my publisher, but I accidentally wrote a fourth book in the series as well.
CRUCIBLE OF CHAOS, a standalone Greatcoats novel featuring my new favourite swashbuckling detective, will come out later this year.
PLAY OF SHADOWS, first of the new Greatcoats quartet, is scheduled to hit shelves in March, 2024.
During the past couple of years, I wrote two quirky mystery novels that I adore: THE TROUBLE WITH TUPPENCE and COLD STEEL FOR CROOKED HEARTS. Some of the world’s top publishers have excitedly informed my agent that neither of these could ever be a hit with readers. I’m inclined to see if I can prove them wrong.
Finally, with both the Greatcoats and Spellslinger series having been optioned for television, I get to have the pleasure of periodically meeting with vastly more famous and talented people than myself about how they might be brought to the screen. No promises, of course, as Hollywood is as strange and fickle a land as any fantasy realm one can imagine, but still, tremendous fun!
ToW: To finish off, if you could choose to practise one magical attunement from this book, which would you pick and why?
SdC: Portalism for sure. The Portalist realm has no third dimension of space, so a wonderist attuned to that realm can fashion keys which open two-dimensional doorways connecting wherever they are with the destination imbued into the key. Walking around with a set of keys that would let me travel to London, Paris, Cairo, Hong Kong, Cape Town or even the tiny town in Quebec where I grew up without ever going through an airport check-in process would surely be the greatest magic of all.
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Sebastien de Castell’s acclaimed swashbuckling fantasy series, The Greatcoats was shortlisted for both the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy and the Gemmell Morningstar Award. His YA fantasy series, Spellslinger, is published in more than a dozen languages. He spends his time writing, travelling, and going on strange adventures.
Find out more at Sebastien’s website.
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Thanks so much to Sebastien for talking to me for this review, and for giving us the lowdown on The Malevolent Seven! This was my first de Castell novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so I may well pick up another one soon. You can read my review of it here!
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