Interviews John & Carole Barrowman Exodus Code by DJ Forrest

Torchwood: Exodus Code recently hit the bookshops in paperback form, with Captain Jack Harkness on the front cover.  My hardback copy has the Celtic symbol on the front cover.  A book I’d read in a few days after buying it at the signing at Waterstones, Glasgow.  I also got to shake John’s hand and lost all power of speech thereafter!

This is the second time I’ve had the opportunity of interviewing Carole and John Barrowman with regards to their novels Exodus Code and the Hollow Earth trilogy, and having read and fully enjoyed their novels, I had a fistful of questions to put to them.

The Cuari – I was shocked when I came to the end of the book to realise that this tribe didn’t actually exist, when I was convinced as I read their bio that I’d read about them in National Geographic.  Were they based upon a tribe in Peru or was this entirely built on fiction?

CB: They are indeed based on a tribe in Peru.

The taste sensation that Jack and the women on Earth experienced in the book, why did it affect Jack?

JB: Jack is more evolved… (not sure about John).

    (photo courtesy of John Barrowman.com)

I read in an article Carole that you also experience this taste sensation Synaesthesia  have you always had it and what triggers it off, is it as strong as those within the book?

CB: I’ve a mild form of synesthesia (nothing like the characters in the book). I see bright colors and bold shapes whenever anyone says days of the week or months. I was in college when I discovered that’s what I had and I’ve been researching it since. I always thought everyone’s brain saw things that way.

JB: I never knew she was a synesthetic until we started this project… it explains so much!!

With Exodus Code received well by the fans, will you guys write another Torchwood story?

JB: We’d love too. It’s just a matter of each of us finding the time.

I loved Chapter 51 with the ‘chartered fishing cruiser’, I could picture that scene.  When you were putting the story together was it written with the purpose of making it cinema worthy, as it reads very much like a film than a storybook, whereas Hollow Earth series reads like a story that you’d want to see made into a film?

CB: I think we both are very visual storytellers so in all our novels we’ve tried to make the story cinematic.

JB: This kind of cinematic pacing is planned. We’d love to see “Exodus Code” as the next chapter for Torchwood on film.

The parts where Jack was scared, and ran away I felt his pain and how it always seems to be Jack’s fault.  When you wrote Exodus Code had it been a joint decision to lay so much pressure at Jack’s door, to see how he was going to solve this threat to mankind far greater than even Miracle Day? 

JB: Jack’s the hero and hero’s have to be flawed and Jack’s flaws are sometimes the things people love about him so we were conscious of the fact that in Miracle Day Jack had experienced being mortal again and that would have changed him… but not so much that he shirks responsibility or pressure. 

What does the symbol on the front cover of the book signify as I’ve also seen it used in another programme?

CB: A Triquetra is an ancient mythological symbol, usually for the elements of wind, earth and fire. It’s also an iconic Celtic symbol (a Celtic knot) and it represents a trinity of spirits or deities.

Do you have a dream cast for your stories, especially Exodus Code?  Aside from the regular cast, who would in your minds play Renso and the crew of the Ice Maiden?

JB: Not sure who we would cast. All I know is I’m playing Captain Jack! We’d love to read what fans think. Who would you cast in the other roles?

I loved Bone Quill.  In this 2^nd novel there was more involvement, it was a nice move from the first and I raced through the story.  I was never really interested in History, but the Middle Ages just got interesting.  We got to learn a lot more about the monks guarding the Bone Quill and the life of Solon and his quest.  The treachery of the monks and the mysterious hooded character, I most especially enjoyed the twist at the end of the book, disappointed only by the fact I have to wait until the third instalment to find out what happened to Matt and the hideous figure in the hood.  When will the 3^rd instalment be out?

JB: Carole is writing the third book right now. We outlined it last year after we’d finished editing Bone Quill… Originally when we first came up with the idea we plotted the big events through to the final book.

CB: We’ve always known how it is going to end.

When you’re writing, and putting aside collaboration for a moment, but when you’re writing about a certain character such as Malcolm sealed away in a painting, had you always known what his purpose was in the story, or did his character present itself to you after you planned out the first book and were starting on the second, did you know the series of events that would take Matt and Em and Zach on their journey?  Do you sometimes let the story unfold and see where it will take you, or do you always work to a plan?

CB: We work from an outline, but we let tangents happen when they come up and they work. But we knew Malcolm was in a painting from the beginning. It was one of the first ideas we had when we were brainstorming the arc of the trilogy.

JB: I trust Carole and I know that when a character chooses to do something that we didn’t plan she has to see what happens.

With all that goes on in your own life Carole, how do you find the time to write? Do you have a routine plan, as in how much you type in a day, giving yourself deadlines to meet x amount word score?

CB: During a semester when I’m teaching, I write every day (even if it’s only a few hundred words in the evening before or after dinner), and I always work to a deadline (either my own or our editor’s). In the summer when I’m not teaching I try to write 1,000 day.

You guys ROCK you really do, and I’d love the opportunity of meeting you both again, hoping I don’t forget how to speak after you shake my hand John!

Diolch yn fawr!

JB: And thank you!

Photo source:

Thank you to www.johnbarrowman.com

http://3.bp.blogspot.com

http://farm8.staticflickr.com

http://comicrelated.com

https://dyn0.media.forbiddenplanet.com

Reviews Torchwood: Exodus Code by DJ Forrest

Reviewed by D.J. Forrest

Written by John & Carole Barrowman

Hardback novel published in 2012 by BBC Books

ISBN 978-1-846-07907-8

     Jack’s head weighed a ton on his neck, his eyes wouldn’t stop watering, and every nerve in his skin was on fire.  Was he dreaming?  Even his hair seemed to hurt.  ‘I’ll do...some...some investigating, Renso.  I’ll return when I know more.’

   ‘I don’t know, amigo,’ said Renso, glancing at Jack, holding his stare for a beat. ‘Perhaps this isn’t a place you should ever return to.’

   ‘Why not?’

   ‘You look like shit.’

     Jack forced a smile. ‘Ah thanks.  It’s the altitude or something I ate.’

   ‘Ha, very funny, my friend.  When has flying ever bothered you? I’m taking us back to Castenado.’

   ‘Good, but then I want a closer look, Renso.  I need to get into that mountain.  I need to examine those rings.’

   ‘Not on my watch, Jack.’

   ‘Why not?’

   ‘Cause, my friend, your eyes are bleeding.’

     Having read other Torchwood novels, not necessarily in order, Exodus Code was different, not just in the fact it had a different cover to the many others on my shelf, it was also larger and thicker and the cover had a sleeve, whereas others did not.

     But whereas the other books read like novels, Exodus Code didn’t.  It read like a movie.

     But when you get past that, when you read it like a movie and not like a book it is absolutely bloody brilliant. 

     Captain Jack Harkness and the regular characters in the story, read and sound just like they do on the screen, but also the other people in the story, the flat and round characters are as believable and you do build up faces for them of the actors who would play them or should play them in your dream cast.

     There are memorable moments within the novel, quite a few I singled out during the interview with the Barrowman’s.  The boat cruiser for example, that just read like a scene in a film, so precise, so beautifully crafted, I couldn’t help but smile. 

     Jack’s moment of madness in the Hawker Hornet that cost him a life, the sensations he went through, the shortness of breath, when you read the book you suffer them too!  I also had a hankering for peaches!

     I read the book in 2012 which at that time had been forecast as being the ‘end of days’ so it was more poignant, and those of us who are nervous about such things, the scare factor was high throughout the story.   

     I loved every part of this story till I hit Chapter 73 then I doubled back because I felt I’d missed something, like a page or two.  But checking it through, I hadn’t.  As this is when I realised I hadn’t read a novel, I’d read a movie.  Each chapter reads like a scene from a film and when you get past that, when you accept that this novel is made with a movie in mind, it makes the transition through the story to Chapter 73 much easier to accept, no checking in the binding for torn sheets.

     I’ve not mentioned everything in the book, I’ve not mentioned the Ice Maiden crew, the crazy woman in the supermarket, Gwen having more than the odd moment because you have to read that, you have to find out what happens and how the world is put right. 

     I love Torchwood novels and I hope this isn’t the last novel we see, especially not by Carole and John Barrowman. 

The Coffee Shop Exodus Code Dream Cast by Kate Mora

During a recent interview with the writers of Exodus Code, John & Carole Barrowman, a question was put to them about who they considered their dream cast for the Ice Maiden Crew and Renso.  As John threw the question back at us, and as we hadn't really considered who we’d have, we thought we’d ask you guys who you thought would fit the bill. 

Kate Mora suggested:

Demian Bichir as Renso.

He currently stars in the American series The Bridge, and is a charismatic actor. When I remembered Renso from the book, I thought of him.

Gerard Butler as Cash.

He's rough-and-tumble enough to be a sailor, and would have great chemistry with Barrowman.

Michael Fassbender as Vlad.

I pictured Skarsgard when I read the book, but I also think Fassbender would be a good choice. They both may be too hunky, but either could be made to look like more of a computer geek.

Norman Reedus as Hollis

I'm sure Barrowman would love to cast a Walking Dead star in an Exodus Code adaptation (he's a big fan), and think of the fangasm that would occur at a sex scene between those two!

This is Kate’s Dream Cast – but who is yours?

Contact us over on our Facebook Page with your ideas including photos and we’ll feature these in next month’s issue.

The Coffee Shop Favourite Exodus Code Moments: Ask the Fans

There are many who have read the Torchwood novel written by John and Carole Barrowman, and while there are those who have still to turn the pages hopefully later they will write their comments below as to their favourite moments from the book.

For me there are many, but I’m covering mine in the review.  So what are your favourite moments?

Kate Mora:  My favorite moment from Exodus Code was Jack finding the SUV, remembering when all his team were still alive, and quietly sobbing when he thought of Ianto. Even though he was being affected by the same force that made Gwen (and much of the female population) go mad, that show of emotion indicates how deeply Jack still loves Ianto. He'll always love and miss his fallen team mates and friends, but Ianto clearly holds a special place in Jack's heart.

Brigitte Gorez Santos: The one where Jack finds the old TW SUV that Gwen kept in the garage and he goes inside and starts remembering the old team! Personally I think they could have done more with the Peruvian shape shifting girl though!

Caroline Stolze: My two favourite scenes: The one at the shop - Gwen smashes up the shop assistant or was it the owner? While Anwen is just a grouching funny toddler.  My other fave scene is that one with Rhys fighting for his life against Gwen in their house. And Jack of all people appears to rescue him.