GE: The Dragoncharm series has its roots in Watership Down, which I read at a young age. I thought it might be fun to try something similar using mythological creatures. Somehow it didn't seem a tremendous leap from rabbits to dragons. I think I was probably influenced by the 80's movie "Dragonslayer" too. It was the first time I'd seen a dragon that looked like a real animal rather than a gold-hoarding flight of fancy - okay, she ate the odd princess but she was REAL. I loved the way she lurched around like a grounded bat.
DL: The second trilogy is different. What is it about and where did you get the idea for it?
GE: In the dragon books I touch on some of the differences between history and myth. I wanted a way to explore these ideas more fully; the Stone books are the result. Stone is a world-sized wall in which all the memories of our world are stored - memories of past and future, history and myth. Travelling along the wall of Stone is a little like travelling through time.
The Stone books are an assemblage of many influences - all those SF Big Dumb Object books I read as a kid (Rendezvous with Rama, Ringworld etc); a fascination with time travel and the paradoxes it generates; the fluidity of history. I also began to wonder if altering Stone's database of memories meant you were actually changing history ... And, once I'd thought of it, the world-sized wall seemed like the best adventure playground ever for getting my characters into all sorts of scrapes. Interestingly, Adam Roberts has just used the giant wall concept in his novel On, though in an entirely different way - I'm obviously not the only one fascinated by the idea.
DL: I'm always fascinated with Fantasy that has mythic themes. Do you use themes from mythology in your books?
GE: Actually I plunder mythology in a pretty shameless way. I tend to cherry-pick the things I like and ignore the things I don't. So in the dragon books I have faeries and giants and basilisks (which kill by a glance but bear no physical resemblance to the mythological cockatrice). And in the Stone books I have everything from Russian tree spirits to part-evolved Viking gods.
Myths speak to us in such powerful ways. These are the oldest stories of all. They inform us about human evolution in a way 'real history' can't - in truth the two can't be separated. I once worked on a heritage project where I was trying to weave together Scottish history and myth. One of the trustees was adamant we should dispense with the mythology altogether and include only what she called 'the real stories'. I nearly resorted to physical violence.
