Today, we sit down with Susan Shwartz, fantasy and historical fiction author of Shards of Empire and Grail of Hearts:

IFP: How did you first get into writing? What has been your favourite project?

SS: I got into writing because I’ve always been good with words and, as an English medievalist, I have a propensity for fantasy and historical fiction.

IFP: How did you become interested in the Templars?

SS: I was researching the First Crusade. In addition, any time something got really strange in the Middle Ages, the Templars were usually in on it, so they intrigued me.

IFP: You’ve written a sequel to Ivanhoe, “In the Presence of Mine Enemies”, for Katherine Kurtz’s Knights Templar anthology series, Crusade of Fire: Mystical Tales of the Knights Templar. What was that like? Why Ivanhoe and Brian de Bois-Guilbert?

SS: It was a lot of fun. Katherine is an extremely smooth writer and functions superbly as an editor. Why Ivanhoe? Because I’m Jewish, and I saw Elizabeth Taylor in the film as Rebecca. Here she is: she’s gorgeous, she’s rich, she’s Elizabeth Taylor, she’s even a DOCTOR, for cryingoutloud, and she’s deferring to this blonde in a cantilevered and out-of-period bra? Only a man named “Wilfred” would be stupid enough to turn her down.

It annoyed me. I also think that Rebecca was a character who, despite Scott’s intentions, took over the book. Brian de Bois-Guilbert, coming from Outremer, was better able to appreciate her. He had some sense. While that doesn’t compensate for his being a murderous, treacherous apostate wannabe, it was still fun to write about them.

In Shards of Empire, it was only after I finished that I realized I’d created a book in which the girl got the Byzantine Prince. That still amuses me in retrospect.

IFP: How did you get into writing Star Trek tie-in novels?

SS: The then-editor, John Ordover, was asking established SF novelists. I never thought I’d get to play in that universe, and I was thrilled.

IFP: You’ve written various stories that continue older tales and legends, such as the Arabian Nights. What do you like most about writing sequels to classic stories?

SS: I like working in great traditions. I like researching the time periods and the culture. I feel as if I become a part of the tradition.

IFP: You have cowritten some novels with various people. What are the advantages and disadvantages of cowriting? What was your favourite cowriting experience?

SS: The advantage is that you have someone to brainstorm with. The disadvantage? Writers develop fierce feelings of ownership. They clash. My favourite cowriting experience was working with Andre Norton on two novels.

IFP: You’ve written several historical and alternate-history novels. What are the difficulties and rewards of writing historical fiction? Alternate history?

SS: The difficulties? The research is extremely demanding, and you invariably run into people who’ll argue. If they know what they’re about, it’s fun, and you learn something. But you can run into someone who’s read one popularization and decides to go mano a mano. That’s no fun at all. The rewards? The research is tremendously satisfying; getting into the characters’ mindsets is extremely interesting and very dramatic. For alternative history, it’s like science fiction, but instead of rubber science, you have rubber history. It is NOT going to be accurate, but you have to make it convincing in terms of the strength of the premise and the strength of the writing.

IFP: Why do you think people are still fascinated by the Knights Templar after nearly 700 years?

SS: Because they’re fascinated by the Crusades, by the way the Templars were part of almost every important political move for centuries, and because of how they ended. Some groups are simply a nexus for strange things happening, and the Templars are one such nexus.

IFP: There are a lot of negative myths and images out there about the Templars and Freemasonry. If you could pick one, which of these do you think is the most pernicious and why?

SS: I don’t know all that much. I suspect the myth that they were and are kingmakers is the most ominous. It certainly backfired on them.

IFP: What do you think of the guilt or innocence of the medieval Templar order?

SS: Again, it’s not my field of specialization. I imagine that some of them were no better than they had to be, while others honestly and sincerely believed. It’s like Venetians. I imagine everyone was in it up to their necks by the time you got to the highest levels, and they got caught.

In working with fiction, it’s not their guilt or innocence that matter as much as what you can do with either in a story. That is counter to the historical approach, I know.

IFP: What do you think of all the controversy over The Da Vinci Code?

SS: I wish I had his royalties. I’m glad to see so many people reading. I thought the writing was bad, however, and the premises unconvincing. Great suspense, however, and some astonishing characters.

IFP: What is your favourite book about the Templars?

SS: I really do like Ivanhoe, even if it annoys me.

IFP: What artistic accomplishment are you the most proud of in your career so far?

SS: Grail of Hearts, my adaptation of Wagner’s Parsifal. It’s a Satanic Verses of Grail Questing.

IFP: Please tell us about your upcoming projects.

SS: I’m on hiatus from fiction right now and working on Wall Street.

IFP: What is your dream project?

SS: I would like to use as a Grail the steel crucible in a mill, and do a Grail story set in the Rust Belt, which is where I was born.

As long as the crucible produced steel, everyone had what he or she wanted – meaningful work, comfortable lives, a viable community. When the mills died, the land became a wasteland. I am told it isn’t marketable, but I still like the idea.

Bio: You can find Susan Shwartz at: http://www.sff.net/people/susanshwartz/

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