Photography: Daniel Fernandez de Lis, Facebook profile.
Daniel Fernandez deLis He is from Madrid and a lawyer by profession who also writes historical non-fiction and medieval books. Among his works are The Plantagenets, From Covadonga to Tamaron o What Shakespeare didn't tell you about the Wars of the Roses. I thank you very much for this interview that he has granted me where he tells us about this passion for the Middle Ages and his books.
Daniel Fernandez deLis. Interview
- ACTUALIDAD LITERATURA: You write non-fiction books about medieval history. Where does this fascination with history in general and medieval history in particular come from?
DANIEL FERNÁNDEZ DE LIS: From a very young age in my parents' house there were many illustrated books that narrated medieval knight stories (Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, The Black Arrow, El Cid, Richard the Lionheart, the Crusades...) and also I loved movies about the Middle Ages. As I grew up that hobby became a passion and he devoured every historical novel set in the Middle Ages, especially if it was in the Iberian Peninsula or in England.
- AL: Can you go back to that first book you read or were inspired to write?
DFdL: Well, it's curious, because of the three books that have marked me the most, one fiction and two non-fiction, none is set in medieval times. The fictional one is I, Claudio, by Robert Graves, and nonfiction are Gods, graves and sages, from CW Ceram, and Rome history, by Indro Montanelli.
- AL: A writer or leading author? You can choose more than one and from all periods.
DFdL: Focusing on the historical novel, on the one hand there are the classics (Walter ScottRobert Louis Stevenson) and more modern times I love them Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden and, most especially, Sharon Kay Penman, who has written a series of historical novels that cover the entire period of the Plantagenet dynasty and who is the main culprit for my passion for this dynasty and for the fact that I have written a book about it. And we currently have a wonderful plethora of Spanish authors of historical novels, of which I especially love, to highlight two of the many that I like, Sebastian Roa y Jose Zoilo Hernandez.
- AL: What historical figure would you have liked to meet?
DFdL: It is a question that comes up many times on social networks and I always answer that Richard III of England. He was the last Plantagenet, the last king of England to die on the battlefield and, although he only reigned for two years, he is still a character who arouses great passions in the Anglo-Saxon world. For centuries he was the official evil in the history of England, largely as a consequence of Shakespeare's work, but in recent decades there has been a strong movement that tries to vindicate his figure. There are several enigmas in the history of his reign, especially regarding his nephews the princes of the Tower of London, so I would love to meet him and find out what really happened during his reign.
- AL: Any special hobby or habit when it comes to writing or reading?
DFdL: I like it keep a close eye on the writing process. I am advancing chronologically as I document the period I am writing about and I try to organize each chapter schematically, dividing it into sections to make reading easier. In general, I like to write the books that I would like to come across as a reader. If a chapter or a section seems too thick or does not explain the subject clearly enough, I give it all the necessary turns to make it more easily understandable.
- AL: And your preferred place and time to do it?
DFdL: Although during the lockdown I had no choice but to write at home, I concentrate much more and I am much more productive writing away from home. My favorite places are the library of the town where I live, Manzanares el Real, or cafes that are quiet and have a pleasant atmosphere and decoration. If it is in one of my favorite cities (Oviedo, León and Burgos), all the better.
As for the moment, I spend more time and I perform better in the morning, but I also like to take a couple of hours out in the middle of the afternoon.
- AL: Are there other genres that you like as a reader?
DFdL: Yes, i'm pretty eclectic in that matter and I read any book that catches my attention regardless of the genre. I love crime novels, spy novels, fantastic novels and political fiction. In this last genre I have to highlight the author I have read and reread the most, Irving Wallace. His best known novel is The Nobel Prize (on which the famous film starring Paul Newman is based), although for me his best novel (my favorite book) is El complot.
- AL: What are you reading now? And writing?
DFdL: I am reading the impossible kingdom, Yeyo Balbas. I really want to read your last book, Cova Donnica, recent winner of the City of Úbeda Historical Novel Contest, which takes up the plot of the impossible kingdom, so I am setting myself in the history of the fall of the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo.
And I'm typing a book about the history of Britannia from the Roman invasions to the Norman conquest. It is a very ambitious project, because it covers a period of more than a thousand years that is full of well-known historical events and characters, much treated in literature and cinema (Claudius, Boudicca, Agricola, the Ninth Legion, King Arthur, the Saxons, the Vikings and the Normans), but it is a subject that It captivates me and I am really enjoying the process of documentation and research.
- AL: How do you think the publishing scene is in general? And for nonfiction?
DFdL: My perception is that it is a complicated moment with a market saturated with supply (which is not bad in itself) as a consequence of the appearance of new ways of publishing works that were previously inaccessible to authors who did not enjoy editorial support. This means that publishers have to assess the works they publish very carefully so that they do not get lost in the maelstrom of publications available in different formats and platforms.
Even so, I know that there are publishers that make a enormous effort for giving out quality publications, both in fiction and non-fiction. To give the examples that I am most familiar with, I find the work of publishers such as Pamies, Edhasa, Desperta Ferro and Ático de los Libros to be admirable. I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones I know best.
- AL: Can you apply or find similarities between the moment of crisis we are experiencing and another in history?
DFdL: I am not not at all in favor of drawing historical parallels. In fact, I have long questioned the well-known saying "the people who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it." I believe that each season is different, with its own and differentiated political, economic, social, environmental or technological circumstances that are not comparable with other historical periods.