"Personal" question(s) to John Jarrold

[John Jarrold]

P G Wodehouse meets Robert Jordan, perhaps?!

 

[Mark Robson]

"Too British?" Surely my epic fantasy "Algernon Arbuthnot and the High Tea Mages" is sufficiently pan-galactic to overcome such minor trans-Atlantic quibbles.

Cheers John, great advice as usual.

I came across an author not that long ago trying to sell a YA book with a similar title ... no, I'm not kidding. The title was 'Norton Rucksack and the Last Teabag.' It was an adventure story about a teenage investigative reporter for a local newspaper in the West Country who ended up taking part in an epic race across India on a hybrid motorbike/helicopter. He had already planned/written(?) the sequel - 'Norton Rucksack and the Plastic Stonehenge'. I have to say his writing wasn't bad and his ideas were great, but he did need a good editor. He had even built a full size hybrid machine to take along to booksignings! You've got to admire him for the novelty value of his approach.

 

[Urien]

Yes I'm thinking of a mighty conflict involving Jeeves and Rand Al Thor. My money's on Jeeves.

Hmm Bertie Wooster as a dark lord.
"Well boil my frogs Jeeves, the bally Drones have stolen all the elves' hats and were arrested, to a man."

"If I might suggest a more circumspect approach to the reduction of the elven position sir..."

"You're not suggesting..."

"Yes sir, the aunts."


Meanwhile in the real universe you mentioned a recent revival of interest in supernatural fiction/horror, could you expand a little? What sort of supernatural fiction.

Thanks

A

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Yes I'm thinking of a mighty conflict involving Jeeves and Rand Al Thor. My money's on Jeeves.

Hmm Bertie Wooster as a dark lord.
"Well boil my frogs Jeeves, the bally Drones have stolen all the elves' hats and were arrested, to a man."

"If I might suggest a more circumspect approach to the reduction of the elven position sir..."

"You're not suggesting..."

"Yes sir, the aunts."

Bertie and Jeeves to the life! (Or perhaps, in the case of a Dark Lord and his Chief Minion, to the undeath.)

John, I'd be interested to hear what sort of books have been rejected as "too British."

 

[Urien]

Thanks Teresa, always been a fan of old Jeeves. If only all valets could be so efficient, mine constantly brews Darjeeling, when it should be obvious that afternoon tea absolutely requires Earl Grey.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I hope the two of you at least agree on the matter of waistcoats.

 

[John Jarrold]

John, I'd be interested to hear what sort of books have been rejected as "too British."

It used to be a standard rejection (certainly through the 80s and 90s) for almost every British SF author. Too British, too Euro-centric. It basically meant that the action didn't take place in the US or, if it was space opera, that the main character wan't obviously American. And of course sometimes it was just used as an excuse for turning a book down.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

But not for Fantasy, surely? So far as Fantasy was concerned, practically every reader I knew in the 80's and 90's had an advanced case of Anglophilia.

 

[John Jarrold]

Fantasy has been less difficult - when I published first novels by Maggie Furey and Ken MacLeod with Random House UK in the mid-90s, Maggie's fantasies got a US deal straight away, but Ken's SF novels took a couple of years ("too British, too Euro-centric"). But there have still been times when US editors have said that UK fantasy series were too gloomy and dark. That was before George R R Martin and others helped the genre grow up.

 

[Flemcodogmusic]

So does their definition of "Too British" have to do more with dialogue, or characters that are stereotypically British?

And could that be why Terry Pratchett isn't as popular in the states?

 

[Doctor Sax]

I think even many UK-based publishers insist on novels that have "trans-Atlantic appeal" as well.

 

[John Jarrold]

I never insisted on any 'trans-atlantic' appeal, and no UK publisher has mentioned such a phrase to me since I became an agent. The book should be what it is. And many of the best, and best-selling British authors, such as Iain M Banks, have no such thing!

Many UK authors have no particular interest in selling in the US, as long as they sell well in the UK. I certainly don't know any SF or Fantasy writer over here who would 'tailor' their writing for the US market.

The accepted wisdom about Terry P is that subtle wit and irony doesn't work as well in the US fantasy market as obvious humour and pratfalls. I once asked a salesperson at a major bookstore in New York if they'd heard of a humorous fantasy writer called Terry Pratchett. 'Oh yes,' they said. 'He's sorta like Craig Shaw Gardner but not so funny.'

I rest my case.

 

[Troo]

'Oh yes,' they said. 'He's sorta like Craig Shaw Gardner but not so funny.'

Words fail me.

 

[Flemcodogmusic]

Shocking ...

Mind you, one of my favourite short stories is "Chivalry" by Neil Gaiman - A woman finds the holy grail, under a fur coat, in Oxfam - which is probably about as British, regarding the style of humour, as you're likely to get. A bit Peter-Cook-esque, really ...

And doesn't he do quite well in the US? Or is he more known for his comic work over there?

 

[Doctor Sax]

I never insisted on any 'trans-atlantic' appeal, and no UK publisher has mentioned such a phrase to me since I became an agent. The book should be what it is.

I stand corrected! Bring on the tea and scones.

 

[John Jarrold]

Shocking ...

Mind you, one of my favourite short stories is "Chivalry" by Neil Gaiman - A woman finds the holy grail, under a fur coat, in Oxfam - which is probably about as British, regarding the style of humour, as you're likely to get. A bit Peter-Cook-esque, really ...

And doesn't he do quite well in the US? Or is he more known for his comic work over there?

Novels now, as well as comics, but it was Sandman that really got him well known. You can ignore short fiction, in terms of the mass market and authors being well known. They're really for a specialist audience.

 

[John Jarrold]

I stand corrected! Bring on the tea and scones.

But of course many British SF authors aren't specifically 'British' either. Banks again, Al Reynolds, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Neal Asher... Extremely varied writers, but no tea or scones!!!

 

[Doctor Sax]

Doesn't Gaiman live out in the States, now?

 

[lin robinson]

Apropos of the "Steampunk" discussion a few posts back.... there's THIS

 

[John Jarrold]

Doesn't Gaiman live out in the States, now?

He's lived there for more than a decade.