Q1. Isn't this an awfully odd novel?
A1. Yes.
Q2. Why is it so odd?
A2. I think because I wrote almost all of it before seven o'clock in the morning. I can't think of anything else that accounts for it.
Q3. Why does it have all those different first person POVs? And all those bits in Greece that are almost but not quite like self-contained stories?
A3. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I hope it isn't too confusing. The thing is, that I knew how to write beginnings but I wasn't so sure about middle, so this book is one beginning after another. It does eventually have an end, which is a good thing, but even the end is another beginning. After that, I had a much better idea about how middles and ends work, though middles are still the thing that gives me the most trouble.
Q4. Where do the chapter titles come from?
A4. They're almost all quotations. If you can identify all of them, you get a cookie.
Q5. How about the chapter start quotes?
A5. I'm afraid I wrote those myself. They were the plan for the thing actually. On the "slaughter your darlings" front, I ought to cut them, but I decided not to do any actual editing of the text so I didn't.
Q6. The gods have the same titles as in the Sulien books! Why?
A6. Having made up the titles for this, I re-used them.
Q7. Do you believe in the gods in this story?
A7. I'm more eclectic than that.
Q8. Isn't the plot is kind of hard to catch hold of?
A8. Yes, and I'm sorry about that. I didn't really know how to do plot when I wrote this. It's nothing like as bad as it was before my first readers made me put in more explanation.
Q9. When is this book supposed to be set?
A9. The first chapter is imagined as taking place in 1992. The rest is imagined as taking place in 2000. I had the phases of the moon and the times of sunset right for the end to take place on August 15th 2000.
Q10. Were you feeling very optimistic and positive when you wrote this?
A10. Yes, actually, despite all the awful things that happen in it, I think this is one of the most positive things I've ever written.
Q11. Was the end hard to get right?
A11. The end was almost impossible to get right.
Q12. The end struck me as a set-up for a sequel, any plans?
A12. Absolutely not, and there never have been any plans for one.
Q13. I've never heard of the Battle of Lepanto. Did it really happen?
A13. Yes, in 1571, and it really did mark the beginning of the end of the use of galley slaves, because it demonstrated that wind-power was more effective, and also the end of Islamic expansion into Europe. Oh, and it really did happen near Ithaca and in the same place as the Battle of Actium.
Q14. Conversely, I am a Battle of Lepanto obsessionist. What sources did you use for your version of the battle?
A14. Veronese's painting, Jan Morris's description in The Venetian Empire, a terrific detailed military account in a book of naval battles that has long since gone back to a library I don't even belong to now, and Chesterton's poem.
Q15. Do you have a bibliography for this?
A15. No.
Q16. Is there anything else set in this world?
A16. There is one unpublished short story, featuring the Lady who gives Panayoti the knife, called "The Mirror of the Moon".
Q17. What a great cover! Where did that come from?
A17. Thank you! Yes, isn't it great? The cover was designed by Sasha Walton, from an original artwork by Paolo Veronese.
Q18. Wow. How did you get Paolo Veronese to illustrate a scene from your novel?
A18. It was more the other way around.
Q19. Did you always want that picture on the cover?
A19. Absolutely. And with Pan there as well.
Q20. What is the relevance of The Rebirth of Pan to today's multicultural society?
A20. I'm glad you asked that question.