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Catnip For A Novelist. Traveling For Book Research With Thriller Author Layton Green

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There are certain places in the world that are so full of stories, they become ‘catnip for a novelist,‘ as Layton Green talks about in this interview. We delve into the lure of far-off cities, why the occult draws us both, and how to turn a trip to a new place into a book.

In the introduction, I talk about my own experience of traveling for book research and how I find story ideas in new places including Amsterdam, New Orleans, and Bath, plus how synchronicity often happens when I delve deeper into history, culture, and religion.

Layton Green is the award-nominated, international bestselling author of the Dominic Grey thrillers, as well as the Blackwood Saga fantasy series and loads of other books.

Researching The Summoner in Zimbabwe
Why occult and religion continue to inspire stories
Planning travel around book ideas
Tracking ideas while traveling
Writing about a place as an outsider
Some of our favorite graveyards, cemeteries, and museums
Why New Orleans inspires so many stories
Recommended books with a sense of place

You can find Layton at LaytonGreen.com

The Taste Of Place. French Vineyard Life With Caro Feely

Unusual Places

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“Wine is sunlight, held together by water.” Galileo Galilei

So much of the joy of travel is eating and drinking and I certainly love to try local wines when I visit new places!

In this interview, Caro Feely talks about why she and her husband gave up successful careers to take on a rundown vineyard in a new country, the struggles they went through to build up the business — even down to their blood shed on the land itself. There are a surprising number of ways to die in a vineyard! We also talk about the importance of terroir — the unique taste of a place due to environmental factors — and the different wines they produce at Chateau Feely.

Caro Feely is a certified wine educator writing part-time from the organic biodynamic vineyard and wine school in Saussignac, France that she owns and runs with her husband, Sean. Part Irish, part South African, and now part French, she is passionate about wine and life. Her books include memoir About the Vineyard Life, and a nonfiction book, Wine: The Essential Guide to Tasting History, Culture, and More.

Show notes

Giving up the corporate life for a tumbledown French vineyard
The challenges of starting a vineyard
The surprising ways to die amongst the vines
Terroir and the importance of the land
The different wines of Chateau Feely
Recommended books about vineyards

You can find Caro Feely at ChateauFeely.com

Desert Nights, The Skeleton Coast And The Cry Of The Fish Eagle. Namibia With Angelina Kalahari

Unusual Places

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Hello travelers, I’m Jo Frances Penn and in today’s episode, I talk to Angelina Kalahari about Namibia in southwest Africa. We recorded the interview a few months back as I tend to batch my interviews and so it was well before the coronavirus changed our perspective on world travel.

But perhaps in difficult times, it’s good to hear about interesting places and people and travel in our imaginations. Those of us with wanderlust are staying indoors under lockdown right now and I must admit to sitting down with my photo albums the other night, looking at past travels and wondering at how much I have taken for granted.

Angelina is wonderfully enthusiastic about her beloved Namibia, a country that I have dreamed of ever since I heard about the Skeleton Coast, I think from Clive Cussler in the book of the same name. We talk about the landscape and how the deserts and ocean shore shape the country, as well as its history with Germany and how that impacted the people who live there.

Angelina Kalahari is the author of Under A Namibian Sky, as well as other novels and nonfiction books about voice. A former operatic soprano, professional actress, and stage director, Angelina was born in Namibia and now lives in London.

Show notes

Language origins in Namibia
The different ecological regions of the country including the Kalahari desert
Why the Namib desert sunsets are the best in the world
The Skeleton Coast where the sand roars
German influence on culture, language, and architecture as well as the darker times of colonialism
Food and drink including Namibian beer
Africa as a ‘possessive mistress’

You can find Angelina Kalahari at AngelinaKalahari.com and on Twitter @angelinakalhari

Sanctuary, Retreat, Belonging. The Importance Of Home In Difficult Times

Travel Memoir

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As I write this in the middle of March 2020, the world is gripped by the spread of coronavirus COVID19. Countries are shutting their borders, people are asked to stay indoors, shelter in place and self-quarantine inside. Restaurants, bars, gyms, schools, and other public places are closing. Airlines are on the verge of going bust or re-nationalized, the economy is struggling, and citizens are being asked to travel home.

And that’s what I want to talk about today. The concept of home and what it means, especially in difficult times. Because this is the Books and Travel Podcast, but travel may be gone from our lives for a time — and home has become the most important thing.

View from my home over the valley, Bath, Somerset, England

The dictionary definition of home is ‘the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household,’ but in this article, I ponder the aspects of an emotional home, a physical dwelling, and the country we belong to.

The Roman Empire And Alternate History With Alison Morton

Unusual Places

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Travel can be about place, but it can also be about time, and in this interview, I talk to Alison Morton about how the ancient Roman empire continues to inspire her alternate-history Roma Nova thrillers.

Alison Morton is the author of the Roma Nova series, Roman-themed alternate history thrillers with tough heroines.

Show notes

The early genesis of an idea for books about an alternative history based on Ancient Rome
How the past and the present are connected by landscape
Places that have inspired aspects of the Roma Nova books
Bringing Alison’s personal military experience into fiction
Language and how it can impact appreciation of a place and culture
Recommended books about ancient Rome and some alt-history novels

You can find Alison Morton at Alison-Morton.com.

Bhel Puri On The Beach, The Gateway To India, And Bollywood. Mumbai With Vikram Chandra

Unusual Places

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Mumbai is a fascinating city with diversity in religion and architecture, and in this interview, Vikram Chandra talks about the colonial impact of the Portuguese and British, as well as the Zoroastrian, Muslim, Hindu and Christian holy places in the city.

It’s also a feast for the senses, as Vikram evokes the taste of seafood from the harbor and the chaat street food on the beaches, the clang of ships in the dock, as well as the action spectacle of Bollywood films, and the multi-lingual speech of Hindi, Punjabi, English and Bombay slang.

We discuss how Vikram feels at home both in Mumbai where he grew up and in the Bay area, California, where he now lives and teaches, and he gives some book recommendations if you want to read more about the city.

Vikram Chandra is the multi-award-winning author of Red Earth and Pouring Rain, which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first book as well as Love and Longing in Bombay and Sacred Games, adapted into a successful Netflix series set in Mumbai, which has just been listed on ‘The New York Times’ list of the 30 best international TV shows of the decade.

Show notes

On the cultural history of the name Mumbai — and why some still call the city, Bombay.
Impact of colonial history — Portuguese and British — on the architecture of Mumbai
Religious diversity
Bollywood and modern Indian films
Influence of the coastal environment
Food and restaurant recommendations
Tips for getting around the city
The challenge of representing the multilingual nature of India in fiction
Recommended books set in Mumbai

You can find Vikram Chandra at VikramChandra.com.

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