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Exclusives

• The Paris Vendetta - exclusive preview chapter
• Steve Berry on The Charlemagne Pursuit
• Steve Berry on Steve Berry

The Paris Vendetta - exclusive preview chapter

• Paris Vendetta - exclusive preview chapter [pages_from_the_charlemagne_pursuit_asda_ed_final.pdf] (0.04 MB)

Steve Berry on The Charlemagne Pursuit

The Charlemagne Pursuit is Cotton Malone’s fourth adventure. It’s a great series and Malone is not your typical thriller hero. Where did he come from?

He was born one afternoon in Copenhagen. I was sitting in the Café Norden in Højbro Plads, a popular Danish square and he came to me. I decided he would own a bookshop right there, just across the square. I wanted him to have government ties and a background that would make him, if threatened, a formidable opponent. Since I personally love rare books, it was natural that Cotton would too, so he became a Justice Department operative turned bookseller. I also gave him an eidetic memory, since, well, who wouldn’t like one of those? At the same time, Cotton is a man in conflict. His marriage has failed; he maintains a difficult relationship with his teenage son; he’s lousy with women; he’s tired of the risks that he was taking. But he’s loyal. Friendships and his word mean something to him. That’s why he finds himself immersed in a pile of trouble all the time. There’s a lot of me in Cotton. It couldn’t be helped.

There is a multitude of strange writings used in the story, along with some interesting illustrations from an ancient manuscript. Are those real?

Sure are. It’s called the Voynich Manuscript and is preserved in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. Supposedly created sometime in the 15th or 16th centuries, its folios are penned in a language that no one has ever been able to decipher. In addition, there are these strange, colorful drawings on just about every page. The Voynich Manuscript is probably an elaborate medieval hoax, designed to fleece a royal patron. But no one knows for sure. It’s never been deciphered, which made it perfect for me since I can now have it say whatever I want. I like that. I did this in The Templar Legacy, using some undeciphered texts from France and will do it again in The Paris Vendetta, using some parchments that no one has ever been able to interpret.

All of your books have great locales. The Templar Legacy was the mystical Languedoc region of southern France. The Alexandria Link took us to Portugal, Austria, and the Sinai Peninsula . The Venetian Betrayal, Venice and Central Asia. The same is true with The Charlemagne Pursuit. How do you make these choices?

When I visited the Zugspitze in Bavaria, I rode the cable car 10,000 feet up to the summit. The whole time I was thinking, this would make a great scene in a book. The cathedral in Aachen has always been one of my favorite places in the world, so I re-visited and spent four days there, conjuring up the actual Charlemagne pursuit. Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina is terrific. I’ve visited several times, especially at Christmas, when it’s extra special. When I was plotting The Charlemagne Pursuit, the idea came to me to send Stephanie Nelle there, and it worked. As for Antarctica, unfortunately I’ve never made it there (thank goodness the good Lord created National Geographic). My goal is to walk upon all seven continents. I have two to go, one being Antarctica. After studying that place for several months and reading about fifty books, I definitely want to visit one day. I’ve always found that actually being at a spot can be most beneficial. The best plot twists have come from being on site and paying attention to what’s around me. That’s one of the fun perks of this job.

Charlemagne is not an historical character you see in a lot of thrillers. What drew you to include him?

The fact that he hasn’t appeared in many thrillers was the main draw. He is a fascinating figure. He ruled for 47 years and lived to be 74 at a time when kings rarely reigned more than 5 years and people died long before age 40. He unified a continent and laid the groundwork for the formation, centuries later, of a modern Europe. Many of his policies and practices became models for western law and government. He was a visionary who surrounded himself with smart people and, for the first time, placed the needs of his subjects before royal ambition. He was so progressive that it begs the question – did he have help? Was he privy to special knowledge?

Which opens up the question of a ‘first civilization’, something you explore in The Charlemagne Pursuit. Is this a concept that 21st century mainstream science has embraced?

Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time. The idea that we may not have been the first humans to achieve a level of intellectual sophistication makes sense. Cultures, like plants and animals and the earth itself, develop, evolve, flourish, then fade into extinction. Our current civilization may only be a minor link in a long and complicated chain of cultural evolution. Evidence of heretofore unknown Neolithic sites are being discovered around the world with startling regularity. Most are underwater, in areas that were dry land before the last Ice Age. Science has no idea who built and lived in these sites. This is reminiscent of continental drift. Fifty years ago science laughed at the notion that the continents were once joined and then slowly drifted apart. That was thought of as pseudo-nonsense. Now we know that to be a proven scientific fact. The idea of a ‘first civilization’ may one day also be similarly considered.

We first met Cotton Malone in The Templar Legacy. With each book he’s grown and developed. The Charlemagne Pursuit is our fourth visit with Malone and it’s an intensely personal journey. Was that intentional?

All through The Templar Legacy, The Alexandria Link, and The Venetian Betrayal there are references to Cotton’s father. I knew that him ultimately confronting what happened to his father would be an intensely emotional experience. For 38 years he’s pondered that situation. During my research for The Charlemagne Pursuit, I came across Ice, by Marianna Gosnell, which described amazing affects of the Antarctic cold. Once I realized what was possible, I decided to increase the intensity. As a writer, I struggle with character development. It’s something I work hard to get right. This story is more character-driven than my others. I wanted Malone’s emotions to drive the suspense as much, or more, than the plot dilemmas themselves. Whether I succeeded or not is up to the reader.

Speaking of Antarctica, tell us about the great secrecy that surrounds the Nazi expedition there in 1938, and the two American missions in the 1940s.

The Germans went there to scout strategic locations and search for untapped mineral wealth, but they found a continent tough to tame. Great mineral deposits do exist there, but they would have been difficult to extract, especially with the state of technology at that time. World War II eventually interfered with the Nazis returning, though conspiratorialists believe that they established some sort of secret base there. America’s Operations Highjump and Windmill, which came a decade after, were purely military jaunts. We went to explore, test men and equipment, and learn more about the region. More mapping of Antarctica was performed on those two expeditions than in the previous two centuries. Some say we went to find that secret Nazi base. There are reports of American forces encountering strange flying craft, but nothing is confirmed. Much about both of those operations remain classified to this day which, of course, only encourages more speculation and fuels the imagination of novelists, like me.

What’s next for Cotton Malone?

At least three more adventures are coming. The next one is called The Paris Vendetta and starts exactly where The Charlemagne Pursuit stops.

Steve Berry on Steve Berry

I didn’t write my first word until I was 35 years old. I thought about it for about ten years then, finally, in the summer of 1990, I started writing. That first attempt was long and awful. The second and third tries weren’t much better. It wasn’t until the fourth that I realized writing novels is downright hard. So I found myself a writers’ group and kept writing for 12 years, producing 8 manuscripts, each one a learning experience. I also attended a writing workshop once a week for 6 of those years, where the participants would, without mercy, tear apart everything I wrote. Then I’d go home and rewrite, hopefully a little better than before. Between the workshop, the writers’ group, reading my genre, and writing everyday I gradually taught myself the craft. Six years into the process I was fortunate to land an agent and she kept me as a client for another seven years, enduring every one of those 85 rejections, until May 2002, when Ballantine Books finally bought The Amber Room. I may not know anything about writing, but I’m a world class expert on rejection.

I’ve always been a thriller junkie. To me, David Morrell is the best thriller writer alive today. I learned much about novel writing from reading David’s work. I was also a Dan Brown fan long before The Da Vinci Code. Nobody paces a book better than Dan. Clive Cussler is another of my favorites – the undisputed master of ‘high concept’. Other writers I’ve enjoyed include Robert Ludlum, James Rollins, Frederick Forsyth, Steve Martini, Ken Follett, Sharon Kay Penman, David Hewson, Lee Child, and David Baldacci. Each one of these masters, through their writing, taught me about the craft – lessons I try to implement everyday.

I’m asked all the time about ‘how I write’. I’m pretty much a creature of habit. For 29 years I practiced law, so I wrote in the mornings from 6:30 a.m. to around 9, at my desk, in the office, before anyone arrived. Then I’d work all day, seeing clients, going to court, writing when I could. Evenings were for research and getting ready for the next morning’s work. Those three hours each day were precious, so I made sure that every second of that time was utilized for writing. That was my routine 5 days a week. Now, even though I no longer practice law, I still maintain the same schedule, only I write till around 11 each morning, then a little more after lunch. The actual business of writing, as opposed to the crafting of a novel, consumes 2-3 hours of each day. But it’s a necessary evil and has to be done. Discipline is without question a large part of writing. Obsession is not. So I’ve always tempered my dedication with reasonableness. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about the book nearly all the time.

I’m also asked ‘where do your ideas come from?’. Actually, they come in the strangest places and at the oddest of times. The Amber Room was born while listening to the Discovery channel. The Romanov Prophecy formed during a tour of the Kremlin. The Alexandria Link was suggested by the host at a book event. Finding interesting things from the past, odd obscure things, and linking them with relevant events in the present is a challenge – but luckily I have solid ideas ready to go for the next few books.

Research is another topic that my fans love to discuss. I utilize a lot of second-hand volumes, visiting old book shops around the world, around 100-200 sources for each novel. When I’m done, I trade them back in for credit at Chamblin’s Bookmine, in Jacksonville, Florida (near where I live), then start all over again for the next novel. Sometimes on site research is necessary. I flew to Russia for The Amber Room and The Romanov Prophecy and to Rome for The Third Secret. Time in France was necessary for The Templar Legacy. A visit to the abbey at Belem, in Portugal, helped complete The Alexandria Link. Trips to Venice for The Venetian Betrayal and Germany for The Charlemagne Pursuit were also productive. For The Paris Vendetta, I spent four days in the city of lights.

I’ve been quite fortunate. My books have caught on and made the bestseller lists around the world. There are nearly 10,000,000 copies in print. Rights have been sold in 50 countries and 37 languages. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure that it’s all not a dream. When I’m asked to speak to writers and readers I try to always make a point that though becoming a published writer is difficult, it can be done. I’m living proof. So if you have that little voice in your head (which all writers possess) that’s telling you to write, listen to it. If part of that desire is to also to have your stories published and sold in the marketplace, then do it. Somebody’s name is going on the cover of a book; it might as well be yours.

I wish you well,

Steve Berry

P.S. – You can learn more about me and my books at www.steveberry.org.

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