Assaph Mehr

What is your book about?

I’m currently writing a series titled “Stories of Togas, Daggers, and Magic”, which lies at the intersection of ancient Rome, detective fiction, and fantasy. The first novel is titled Murder In Absentia, and is about a murder that couldn’t have happened. The latest release is In Numina, a story of haunted houses and court houses.

These are a paranormal detective (a bit like Harry Dresden) on a background of an Ancient-Rome-like culture (a bit like Lindsey Davis or Steven Saylor’s works). I’d say if you like any two out of those three genres, you should give them a try.

Who is your most unusual/most likeable character?

My protagonist (Felix) is the hard-boiled detective, through whose eye we see the story. He’s the smart one (to solve the cases), but in order for him not to be a superman he’s got plenty of flaws – and friends he can call up on, for expert advice and complementary skills. One such friend, Araxus, is far more proficient with magic than my protagonist, but also a bit insane. I mean it in the literal sense, as his grasp of reality is rather loose.

I wouldn’t say Araxus is necessarily likeable (he can range from being a dick to a homicidal maniac), but whenever I write a scene with him I have lots of fun and it ends up memorable. He’s someone to whom place and time don’t mean quite the same as to normal people (not his fault, he was cursed). As a result his train of thought and conversations end up with the most unusual twists. Like congratulating the protagonist on solving a case with the sage advice of “The gladiatrix shouldn’t fight the dwarf – he’s only got one arm!” (An advice my protagonist sadly dismissed, but comes into play in the next book…)

How long did it take you to write your book?

I wrote the first draft of Murder In Absentia in four months, but that’s not something I ever repeated. I usually plan the next novel while still drafting the current one – collecting bits of research, thinking about characters and motivations, about plot twists and cool things to integrate.

From the point I start writing, it usually takes me six to nine months to complete the first draft. I wrote MIA at nights, when everyone was asleep. Now I’m writing on the train ride to and from work. It’s not a lot of hours in a week, so I make sure they’re extremely productive. The muse works for me and not the other way around, as it were.

But, as anyone who ever published a book knows, the first draft is only one stage of writing. It takes me about 2 years to complete a book, from the first opening line to when it’s fully and professionally edited, proofed, and published.

Did you do any research for the book? If so, how did you do it? (searching Internet, magazines, other books, etc.)

The stories take place in a secondary-world fantasy, the imaginary city of Egretia, based mostly on Rome but with some Alexandrian and other influences from antiquity. Most of my research therefore goes into the Ancient Roman aspects that provide the all-important cultural background of the world. I do this via internet searches, by reading non-fiction, and by reading original sources (I had a lot of fun subverting some of Cicero’s speeches, for example, from embezzlement to forbidden magics).

I’d leave you with this piece of trivia that came up in my research and ended up in my books, just to show that “research” doesn’t have to be boring 😊

How do you develop and differentiate your characters?

They are their own people, and they speak up. For example, just this morning I wrote a scene where our crew, having been beaten around, are considering a temporary off-site vacation (read: flee the scene). My protagonist’s employer for this case is a rather hard-nosed woman, rigid in her belief and acceptance of Roman values. I set the scene for them to convince her to go somewhere till the troubles died down, but by the end she convinced them all to take another course of action.

Me, I just have to rejig the plot now for this new direction…

One of the tools I use to uncover character motivations and voice is to let them speak up for themselves. I run a blog dedicated to interviewing characters out of books. I either use the same format for my own characters, or I let them ramble on and tell me their side of the story in their own words. For example, at the end of In Numina you’ll find a bonus section with the antagonist telling his version of events that led up to the clash in the book.

Do you have any rituals that you follow before sitting down to write?

Yeah, I open up my laptop. It’s a crucial first step, without which I can’t type…

In all seriousness, I make the muse work for me. I have limited time in which to write (I do it on the train ride to and from work, as the only uninterrupted time I have with some peace and quiet). I have the main plot and major sub-plots more or less planned for the book (though they often twist in other directions, as the first draft takes shape), and I have an idea of what I want to cover in a particular writing session.

If I get “stuck” I brainstorm by writing longhand what question I try to resolve and what my protagonist and other characters might do to get around it. I do this until I find the combination that works, usually accompanied by evil-genius cackling at the new plot twists (something that gets my weird looks on the train).

If worst comes to worst, I let my protagonist have free reign on what he’s going to do next. That usually involves some tricky con game and a brothel, but dubious as his methods are the man gets results.

What are you working on right now?

The third full-length Story of Togas, Daggers, and Magic. It’s titled In Victrix, and is a story of gladiators and other womanly mysteries. Though the series is comprised of individual detective cases and each novel can be read stand-alone, there is some overarching arc and continuity in the characters’ lives. This one brings me some catharsis, as I’ve had the emotional payoff building up for a while.

As I mentioned above, each book is comprised of three elements:

A Roman aspect: here it’s the games, from chariot races to gladiatorial combat (and the former always eclipsed the latter in history!)
A mystery: what starts as suspected cheating in chariot racing, turns to kidnap and political drama
And Fantasy: from curses to secret societies, in my fantasy world the dark magic the Romans dreamt of is real

What do you like to read? What is your favorite genre?

The genre of good books!

No, seriously. I’ll read anything I enjoy, and that can get pretty eclectic. The list of books I have I want to read is longer than my life expectancy, so I read whatever catches my fancy at the time, with no apologies and no guilt. This covers anything from fantasy to literary fiction, from old mysteries to cutting edge sci-fi. I do like speculative fiction (fantasy in particular) and historical mysteries (set in Roman times, naturally) – but those aren’t the only thing I’d read.

Where do you get the names for your characters?

Since the novels are set in a culture based on a specific period of our history, I match names to that. I’ve knew Roman naming conventions, but I looked up databases of names and their meaning. I usually consciously the important characters’ names, but for the minor ones I built up my own little script for generating names that conform to the conventions.

Fun facts: Romans had only about 30 personal names, of which half were hardly ever used (e.g. too archaic). The names Lucius, Gaius, and Marcus accounted for 59% of male people! No wonder they started abbreviating them and concentrating on the nick-names.

And, since they used a format of first-family-nick three names, I have a big list of historically accurate nick names. The Romans had a pretty sharp wit too, so when I use my script and it suggest someone named Postumus Bestia – i.e. a beast, born after his father’s death – it immediately gives him a distinct identity and personality.

What genre are your books?

Not to brag or anything, but I am the #1 Best-Selling author in the Amazon sub-category of “Historically-themed Urban High Fantasy Detective Mysteries (with a splash of Horror)”…

More seriously, my writing falls under the general heading of Historical-Fantasy (where they still rank fairly well). I love history, I love fantasy, and I find the combination of the two alluring. I research into history and try to make that aspect realistic. It then becomes the basis of the “what if” speculative aspect of fantasy. What if the Romans had working magic? How would their attitudes and morals affect it and vice versa? As an example, when an official of the city holds venationes – gladiatorial beast hunts – it can get a lot more interesting than giraffes when the world has gryphons too.

This is one of the most enjoyable things for me, both as a reader and as a writer.

What do you wear when you write?

Ah, that is the secret only professional authors know. It’s the ONE THING that will dramatically change your life. Are you ready for this? Are you ready for the wisdom of the ages?

When you write, you should wear… comfortable pants! Because, really, writing involves parking your ass in a chair and putting words on the page. This is how the magic happens, so you might as well be comfortable when doing it.

Where can people learn more about your books?

Lots of places! Just google and you’ll find me. But I would suggest starting at my website. It has free short stories (including a free novella) to introduce potential readers to Felix’s brand of paranormal investigations, as well as links, bonus material, and my blog which covers my Three-R’s: Reading, Writing, and Romans. So if I’ve piqued your curiosity, pop over and try a short story or two.

You can find all this goodness on Egretia.com

ASSAPH MEHR