Paul Kearney is most famous for his two epic fantasy series: The Monarchies of God and The Sea Beggars. He has also written the first two entries in the historically-inspired The Macht, and now a Primeval tie-in novel – The Lost Island. He talks to Total Sci-Fi about dinosaurs, the sea and history.

Can you briefly tell us what The Lost Island is about and how it fits into the Primeval timeline?

The Lost Island is a bit of a departure for the team. It takes them out of their normal environment, far away from urban centres or the Home Counties, and splashes them down in the middle of the unforgiving North Atlantic. They find during the book that the environment they are operating in can be every bit as deadly as the creatures which come through the anomalies.

The book is set after Cutter has come to know of Stephen’s affair with his wife, and that adds a frisson of tension to the operation.

Do you think the sea-based action of the opening chapters bears any similarities to your The Sea Beggars series?

Not really. There are no sea-monsters in the Beggars series, and certainly no automatic weapons! The only thing it has in common is the sea itself, and the way I try to describe it. Out at sea, with the swell chopping up and the boat moving under you, the sea is a living presence – that’s what I try to get across when I’m writing about it.

Did writing the book require undertaking any special research?

I did a fair bit of research on dinosaurs, as Tim [Haines] and Adrian [Hodges] were very keen to get the facts straight. Even then, Tim ended up correcting some of my prehistoric mistakes! I also looked into the geography of Cork and the north Atlantic fishing areas.

How easy was it to nail the voices of the characters?

Easier for some than others. I found Connor and Abby very easy to do, because they spark off each other and are very clearly defined – Connor, in particular, is great fun to write.

Cutter was the usual voice of sanity. Stephen I found harder to get a handle on. He’s not a geek, and he’s not a clear-cut hero type either. But the character I had most fun with was Lester. I loved the sneering put-downs I could fit into his mouth.

Did writing this Primeval novel provide a welcome break from your epic fantasy writing, and do you have a similar approach to both?

It was a lighter experience, and a novel one, for me. It’s the first time I’ve ever tackled someone else’s world and tried to work within it. It takes time to adjust to the fact that you are not as omnipotent as when writing your own stuff – no killing off the main characters! As far as the work schedule goes, it’s pretty much the same.

We enjoyed your recent novel Corvus. How tricky is it to balance real history with fantasy?

I felt with The Ten Thousand that the original facts were so splendid that I didn’t really want to change them, but having said that, keeping to them did feel a little constrictive at times, so I loosened up somewhat for Corvus and decided to step back a bit from the nitty gritty of the history.

I think it’s best to take inspiration from history, as I did with the Monarchies series, rather than try to stay close to the plotline of a historical episode – I need to have that flexibility.

When you’re writing a fantasy series like The Monarchies of God, do you always know how many volumes it’s going to run for and exactly how the story will develop?

I knew I wanted the Monarchies series to be five books long, and I knew from the first page of book one how exactly – spoiler alert! – Corfe would meet with his lost wife again. The big themes were all in place in my head – you might say I was able to see the destination, but not the journey itself.

I don’t like mapping out the plot too rigidly – it takes some of the fun out of it for me. It’s a marvellous feeling to reach a point in a book where any one of several things can happen, and it’s up to you to choose. At that point it feels as though the narrative really has a life of its own.

Who or what would you say have been the biggest influences on your writing?

A whole slew of authors made a profound mark on me from an early age. Tolkien, Sutcliff, Renault, Donaldson to name just a few.

I find that it’s hard to be influenced (or impressed) the older you get, so to some extent the stuff I read as a teenager left the greatest legacy for the way I write. Susan Cooper, Alan Garner, Rob Holdstock – these authors were inspirational. There are dozens more. More recently, Patrick O’Brian and Cormac McCarthy.

As far as influences outside books, I would say that growing up in the Northern Ireland countryside in the 1970s is up there too, and growing up with horses, deep woods, unspoilt streams, sectarianism and violence. A chequered, but fascinating, childhood that really fed the imagination, most of it out of doors under trees or on a horse. A lot of boy’s-own stuff, and no such things as Playstations!

What’s next for you?

I’m writing the third Macht book at the moment, and after that I’m not sure. I want to finish the Sea Beggars at some point, and I’m also thinking of doing something entirely different – perhaps even in a different genre. Watch this space!

Primeval: The Lost Island is out now (Titan Books). Click here to read the review.

Visit www.paulkearneyonline.com