Spook’s: I Am Grimalkin (27 page)

SPOOK’S: I AM GRIMALKIN
AN RHCB DIGITAL EBOOK 978 0 370 33212 3

Published in Great Britain by RHCB Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
A Random House Group Company

This ebook edition published 2011

Copyright © Joseph Delaney, 2011

First Published in Great Britain by The Bodley Head, 2011

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

You’ve announced that the Wardstone Chronicles will soon be drawing to a conclusion. Are you sad to be leaving them behind?

Yes, I will be sad when the series comes to an end because it has been so much a part of my life for the last ten years. However, I always look towards the future and it would be great to have a completely different new series (perhaps in another genre, such as science fantasy).

I do find it hard to accept that there will never be another book set in the world of the Wardstone Chronicles because much still remains to be explored.

You first came up with the idea for
The Spook’s Apprentice
in 1983, although the first book wasn’t written until 2001. Looking back on the series all these years later, how close to your original vision do you think the books are? Are there any ideas you wanted to explore but haven’t had a chance to?

The idea was something I jotted in my notebook on realizing that the village where I lived had its own boggart! The story was very vague and I didn’t guess for a moment that the stories would feature witches and the Fiend. I
discover
my plots rather than carry out detailed planning in advance so the series develops as I write. Who knows what still remains to be explored? I look forward to finding out more myself!

The books are often terrifying to read! Do you ever scare yourself while writing them?

I don’t get scared whilst writing. I think it’s a bit like being the pilot of an aircraft who encounters turbulence but has years of experience and the knowledge of having safely survived it before. The poor passengers, however, may be terrified because they don’t know what might happen next! So my readers are my passengers! I am doing my best to give them an interesting flight!

I Am Grimalkin
is the first full-length book in the Wardstone Chronicles to be narrated by someone other than Tom, and he actually hardly appears in the story. What made you want to write a book from Grimalkin’s perspective? Is she a character that particularly appeals to you?

Yes, Grimalkin slowly grew in my imagination and she really does appeal to me – it was interesting to write with a different narrative voice. Grimalkin is dangerous and almost out of control. I have to work hard to stop her killing too many people!

A witch assassin who cuts off her enemies thumbs is a very dark character to narrate a book! Did you find it challenging to make her empathetic to the reader?

Yes it was a challenge. I had to be careful and try to make her more human so that readers would be able to relate to her. I think I faced the same problems as the creator of
Superman
! How do you create dangerous conflicts when your protagonist is so very powerful indeed? You do something that will make her temporarily more vulnerable and you devise an opponent capable of winning.

Your books are well-researched, with many of the threats Tom faces being based on local legends. Do fans ever expect you to be able to help them deal with the real boggarts or ghosts?

So far no, although some of them tell me interesting stories! I am not thinking of going into business as an exorcist. I just write books!

With the Fiend’s head removed and the threat from the dark rising ever higher, it feels as if the climax of the Wardstone Chronicles is already well underway. Can you give us any hints about what is to come in the last few books of the series?

It is difficult to do this without spoiling the final books for readers of the series. As I said, I still do not know how it will end (although I have ideas about a few plot threads). To a certain degree, a story tells itself and a writer tries to find the best possible road to its conclusion. One part of me would like a totally happy ending but I think there will be at least one death of a major character.