Alright, so this may be a little unusual, but today I bring you a unique and rather special guest: one Seth MacGregor, a Sithe, the main character of a remarkable novel, and a right handful.
Seth’s "boss" is Gillian Philip, author of the amazing and epic Firebrand. Actually, I’m not sure if it’s fair to call Gillian Seth’s boss, as I get the distinct sense he does far more bossing about than she does. It can get like this when your characters take control… Seth, for goodness sake, even Tweets. I’ve yet to see him on Facebook, but I’ve no doubt he’ll make his presence felt there in due course.
I met Seth a few weeks ago, having heard so many people enthusiastically talking about him. He appeared from between the pages of his book and grabbed my attention. His story, as told in Firebrand, is one of the best stories I’ve read for a long time. You watch this space; Seth, Gillian Philip and Firebrand will be going on to great things yet, because Firebrand is the sort of novel that’s up there with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series. Yes, it’s that good. It has been said by Amanda Craig in her review for the Times, that Firebrand is the best children’s fantasy novel for 2010. I can’t disagree. It might even be the best fantasy novel of the decade.
But let’s not muck about, the Sithe hate to be kept waiting, especially this one, who’s a right hot-head…
So, Seth MacGregor, tell us about yourself, what it’s like to be a Sithe, and what the Sithe are like as a people. And how are you different from us, the full-mortals?
What’s it like to be a Sithe? Um… I dunno, what’s it like to be a full-mortal? Tell you what, though, we are allegedly not very nice. That’s full-mortals’ opinion, anyway. We’re supposed to be baby-stealers, for a start. As if we’d volunteer for all that squalling and shi… I mean, nappy changing. You’ve given us a very bad reputation over the years, you know.
Deep down we’re a lot like you. Except we live a lot longer. And we’re faster (in all sorts of ways). And for some weird evolutionary reason you can’t do the telepathy thing.
Seth MacGregor(he's a dead ringer for one Billy Crudup, you'll notice, which means, of course, that Billy is probably a Sithe too...)
Now, you’ve said that you don’t have much of an opinion of full-mortals (for my readers – that’s you and me…) – why’s that?
Well… you know, I’ve mellowed a bit in my old age. (Not that I’m old old, you understand; I’m still looking pretty hot, if I do say so myself.) I used to hate full-mortals, but you know I had good reason, Nicky. There was all that witch-persecution business… but let’s call that water under the bridge. I’ve got to know a lot of you much better since then. Some of you are fine. One or two of you may have saved my life over the years. Actually, one of my best friends is a full-mortal (but that’s another story). And by the way, some of you are pretty hot yourselves. What are you doing Saturday night?
Have you found since you’ve been hanging out with the boss and her friends, that there’s any chance of hope for full-mortals or are we utterly doomed?
You’re probably less doomed than we are, but that’s not saying much. There are a lot more of you, for a start – is that why you’re inclined to try and wipe each other out? The Sithe do like a fight – nothing we like better (well, not much) – but we’re not trying to achieve mass extinction. (Except for one of us, but let’s not discuss her.)
I think you need to work on the telepathy, you know? Getting inside other people’s heads. It’s like, even if I want to kill another Sithe and she wants to kill me, we at least understand the way each other thinks, what it’s like to be the other person. Oh, and I think you need to look at the stars more. Good gods*, the chances of us and the planet existing at all are so infinitesimal, you’d think a bit of self-preservation would be in order.
*not that there are any
I notice, by the way, and not to put too fine a point on it, that despite your dim opinion of us, it didn’t stop you from falling in love with a full-mortal girl. Why Catriona, what made her so different from the rest?
You’re being tough on me, aren’t you? OK, so I wasn’t very nice to Catriona to start with, but you have to consider the circumstances. And believe me, I did not intend to fall in love with her. It was Catriona who made me realize I did like full-mortals.
Actually, can we not talk about this any more? It’s kind of a sore point.
So, given, that you’re not entirely averse to full-mortals, who, looking around you in the modern world, might take your fancy? (I do notice that from time to time you bat your eyelashes at Lucy Coats…) What characteristics make up your ideal lover, Seth? (Girls, will you please stop panting, you’re steaming up your screens.)
‘Not entirely averse’ – heh, that’s one way of putting it. There are some fabulous ladies on Twitter, and you’re right, that Lucy Coats is hot stuff. She knows her faeries, too.
I don’t really have an ‘ideal’ lover… I like somebody who can stand up to me, I guess, somebody with a sense of humour. I like smart women who can shoot and are good with horses. The ‘ideal’ person is one I’d want to bind to, I suppose, and I’ve never met anyone like that. I’m not keen on the idea, to be honest.
So anyway, you never answered my question about Saturday night…
We'll get to Saturday night, patience, boy!
Now, as I mentioned, you have your own Twitter account. How do you enjoy engaging with the full mortal world through it? And how did you persuade the boss to let you have a Twitter account?
I didn’t persuade her, I snuck onto her laptop when her back was turned. She’s kind of possessive and she was as mad as a demented kelpie when she found out. I’m really enjoying it, though. The Boss doesn’t actually interact with me as much as she should, so I used to get bored – it was seeing her on Twitter so much that gave me the idea. It’s fun. There are some great conversations going on; it’s almost like being in a bar with a bunch of Sithe pals. There’s an awful lot about Spooks and Doctor Who and Merlin, too, but that keeps the Boss happy.
By the way, when I call her ‘the Boss’ I want you to imagine a really sarcastic tone of voice.
The "Boss"...Your world, behind the Veil, is like ours in many ways, and yet quite different. Do you think you could paint a picture of just what your world is like?
It’s incredibly like your world, but – how can I put this? – less spoiled. That’s not very fair of me, because the thing we do steal (not babies, I emphasise again) is bits and pieces of technology. You’re clever that way, and I’ll grant you’re a lot more advanced than us. So we take things through when we go home. I had to take some CDs for Eili last time (we can’t download tracks, for obvious reasons). Not just small things, though – I like your wind power technology, your plumbing gadgets. Yeah, you’re smart. But if we take those things from you, we don’t need the whole industrial-production thing ourselves.
You have a water horse, I don’t think many full-mortals know what a water horse is, can you tell us, and tell us what’s so special about having a water horse and how you come to “own” one another?
Our other word for them is kelpies. I think full-mortals call them that, too. Opinion’s divided among the Sithe, to be honest – I know people who think they shouldn’t be tamed (not that they ever really are) because they have essentially wicked natures. In the wild they’re famous for hanging around near water and enticing travellers to ride them – they’re very beautiful and they can be charming. Once a stranger’s on a kelpie’s back, though, he can’t get off, and the horse takes him underwater, drowns him and eats him. Pretty good hunting trick, when you think about it.
I wouldn’t be without mine, though, and neither would Conal or Sionnach. There’s nothing like riding a water horse because you have to get inside their mind, and let them get inside yours. And it’s strictly a one-on-one thing. There’s no way I could ride Conal’s horse, for instance, and no way Eili could ride mine.
Water horses in action...
In the course of your adventures, you have more than one encounter with a Lammyr. Without terrifying my readers too much, could you tell us what the Lammyr are, and why the Sithe hate them so?
Supposedly, we’re related. The Lammyr and the Sithe, that is. It’s hard to describe them: cadaverous creatures with papery skin and colourless blood. Translucent, in certain light. You could mistake one for a seriously underfed human, I suppose, but their aura of evil is so strong, just the word makes you feel sick if you’re not used to it. Having one around, that’s even worse. It’s not that they don’t have emotions, because they do – just not especially nice ones. They’re truly loathsome. The only thing they love is death, and they love it more even than their own life.
They do, however, have a pretty funny sense of humour.
I have to tell you, funny's not exactly what I'd call it... but still.
Your real name is Murlainn – a small, deadly falcon. That would seem pretty accurate… Do you feel the essence of the falcon in your veins – and especially when you take your sword or your dirk to your enemies?
Oh, my true name. It doesn’t half upset my brother, who got stuck with being ‘sheepdog’. It could have been better – I’m not especially keen on the ‘small’ part – but it could have been worse. I overheard somebody in the dun once, saying he’d no idea there was no Gaelic word for ‘snake’. Unkind, don’t you think? Anyway, his name is now ‘Nosebleed’.
As for feeling like a merlin-hawk? More like a wolf, but that’s because when I’m fighting I’m in Branndair’s head half the time, and he’s in mine. You can probably relate to that, Nicky. Nice fangs, by the way.
Ssh, not everyone knows I'm a werewolf, Seth. They think I'm a sweet, chocolate-drinking writer. Help me keep up the pretence, here, please.
You and your brother Conal were forced into exile, and it seems this is not entirely uncommon for Sithe who’ve peeved their queen. Are there others of your people in the full-mortal realm and how is that we seldom know you walk among us? On the flip side, how many full-mortals cross into the world of the Sithe and how do we get on once there?
Oh, all the time, all the time. There are Sithe who like being here, as well as the ones who have been sent over against their will. And there’s been a certain amount of – how can I put this? – inter-tribal breeding. The offspring tend to be sickly, though. That’s – look, that’s kind of a sore point too.
Full-mortals tend to get through to our world too, it’s true, but it’s never a good idea. There are lots of legends about this stuff, because it’s hard for full-mortals to get out unharmed. Our queen is a bit of a bitch about this: falls for a full-mortal, tires of them, and then… well. Your man Keats even wrote a poem about her.
Your world and mine are divided by the Veil. What is it, and why does it seem to me that it grows thinner during the hours of 2 and 4 in the morning? And what would happen if the Veil were to tear or dissolve?
Hah. That’s the big question, isn’t it? Our world is more fragile, and ours is the one that was made separate, so it wouldn’t survive the collision. And the Veil is what keeps our world in existence, so if it ever vanished, so would our world. We wouldn’t; we’d just be stuck with living in yours. Without the Veil’s protection, I might add, because it also acts as a filter, a kind of distorter of your perceptions. It’s why we’re not so noticeable in your world. The witch-queen has a beef with that, because she wants power in your world, and she can’t have it with the Veil there. So she’s got this mad idea of destroying it. Not that she has to, because it’s thinning anyway, and one day it’ll die of its own accord.
My stepmother has some mad idea about strengthening it, but she’s a witch too. Superstitious old bat. Talks to soothsayers too much. I’d rather just fight it out.
It’s perceptive of you to notice the Veil’s thinner in the small hours. That’s what I’ve always thought, too. If you see things in the corner of your eye at that time of the night, you’re probably seeing through the Veil.
You’ve given us, very kindly, the first years of your very long life in Firebrand, will we be seeing more of you – and when?
Ah, I’m working on it. There have been quite a few years since my Firebrand days, but things are starting to happen around here. Conal and I are still sneaking over the Veil, naturally – as if he could stay away from Eili – and we’ve got a feeling something bad’s going to happen quite soon. Kate the witch-queen seems to be making moves. At least we’ll see some action again. It’s time somebody put a stop to her.
On which note… Bloodstone is due out next August 2011 - if she gets her act together…
A huge thanks to both Seth and Gillian Philip for this interview – I look forward to meeting both of you, in person, really soon, when there will, I hope be wild tales, dancing, singing and whisky.
And thank you, Nicky. I’m sure there will be all those things, and as you know I get along great with wolves. In the meantime… about Saturday…?
Well, I do have a date with Dr Who to go time-travelling in the Tardis on Saturday, but I tell you what… whisper whisper whisper…
Follow Seth MacGregor on Twitter
Follow Gillian (and Seth) on Facebook
To read more about Gillian Philip, see her website
Follow Gillian Philip on Twitter
To order a copy of Firebrand go to Amazon.co.uk
Gillian Philip at a book signingImages either courtesy of Gillian Philip, or nicked from the internet.
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