Interviewing Stark Holborn

Helloooo

I’ve already talked about how great a read Advanced Triggernometry by Stark Holborn is. Smart, funny and action paced this is a sequel that is just as good as it’s predecessor. Stark very kindly agreed to answer some questions on the story and a few other things to look forward to!

So how would you booktempt Advanced Triggernometry?

Look, if “gun-slinging mathematicians” doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will… No, but in seriousness – and like all my books – it’s not quite as silly as the name suggests. There are a few wider, weightier themes bubbling beneath the surface. If you like complex characters, blurred genres, female protagonists and ancient Greek mathematicians drinking whiskey and hurling insults at people, then this might be the book for you.

Did you always know you would return to this world?

I knew I wanted to write more instalments, yes. I just wasn’t sure whether I was going to. I ended up self-publishing the first Triggernometry for a few reasons, but partly because I was told there wasn’t a market for gun-slinging mathematicians… a fact that all the readers and reviewers out there have defiantly proved to be wrong! So, that definitely gave me a nudge in the right direction. Then, I had the idea for the second book, and I remembered how fun it was to write, and it all just felt like the right time.

You’ve cast the net of who could appear in the tale much bigger than time or space – anyone you were very keen to highlight?

I mean the historical mathematicians in the story are very much re-imaginings, but part of the fun of writing this series is learning and research. I knew immediately I wanted to bring in suave Charles Lewis Reason: a child maths prodigy, who went on to be one of the first African-American college professors in the US. He taught belles-lettres, Latin, Greek and French, and was also a poet and reformer.

Wang Zhenyi was another mathematician I wanted to feature as a character as soon as I read about her. She lived during the Qing dynasty, and contrary to what was expected from women at the time, educated herself in astronomy, geography, medicine, maths and poetry, as well as learning riding, archery and martial arts from the wife of a Mongolian general. She wrote books that focused on making mathematics more accessible, as well as wonderful poetry.

A lot of people see mathematics as a dull subject, but its history is filled with individuals who fought against bigotry and repression to pursue their studies with passion and defiance.

There seems to be room for more adventures? Will there be more tales to come? PLEASE STARK PLEASE

I can safely say that the mathmos will ride again.

You also have a science fiction book out later this year. What can you tell us about Ten Low?

Ten Low is my first (published) leap into SF, though there are definite elements – often subverted – of the western genre throughout. It’s set on a desert moon at the end of the known system, and features an ex-convict medic with secrets to hide, bandits, road gangs, fighting beetles, augury and mysterious inter-dimensional beings. Think Mad Max: Fury Road meets Dune by way of The Ballad of Halo Jones. I can’t wait to share it with people.

Read any good books while in lockdown?

Says the book tempter! I recently got a kindle for the first time, and have been working through my backlog of novellas, including Daniel Polansky’s excellent The Seventh Perfection, Nghi Vo’s mini-epic The Empress of Salt and Fortune and Premee Mohamed’s new novella, These Lifeless Things. At the moment I’ve got two books on the go; Tlotlo Tsamaase’s The Silence of the Wilting Skin, which I’ve heard so many good things about, and Monday Begins on Saturday by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. I loved Roadside Picnic and Hard to be a God so I have high hopes. So far, it’s bonkers.