Guest post - Paul Fraser Collard

Today we're welcoming Paul Fraser Collard, author of the Jack Lark series, to the blog, talking about how he fits writing in, and around, his 'day job' ... 



Fitting it all in

If you had asked me a few years ago, my image of a writer at work would include an expansive, leather-topped desk near a window with a view over acres of rolling countryside. Or I may have pictured a serious author working in a café, their table liberally scattered with scrunched up notes and a number of empty coffee cups. I would not have imagined a tired office worker hunched over a tiny laptop on a packed commuter train. Yet that is my reality. For me, being an author means cramming my writing into every spare minute and using my daily commute to work as my dedicated writing time.

Fitting writing in is not easy. There are days when I just don’t feel like it. You see, I love a good box set and I will admit there are times when I am on the train and any thought of writing is forgotten as I sit back (or cram into a corner) and devour another episode of Sons of Anarchy, or last week’s episode of Westworld. I try to persuade myself that these somehow form a part of my research. It is my duty after all to remain current and to make sure that my writing reflects something of these wonderful dramas. Yet, I think we all know that is only so much fudge. There is no escaping a novel in progress.

I try my best to maintain a level of daily discipline. I find the morning commute easier, as I travel before the horde and I can pretty much bank on 500 to 1000 words on my way to work. The evening commute is harder. I travel at a busier time and finding my writing nook is often a challenge. But when I do get a seat, I try hard to ignore the lure of that latest downloaded episode and I summon the energy to battle out a decent number of words on my way home. In that way, I can keep that word count ticking over. I will never, ever, have that magic 5000 word day and I cannot foresee a time when I will have the luxury of a whole week or longer to devote to pouring out a great chunk of a novel. But, bit-by-bit, chapter-by-chapter, I can get that crucial first draft done and, with a few weeks worth of commuting time, I can polish that up into something that I can present my editor.

Writing like this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it works for me. It has advantages. It allows me to change things on the fly and, as I don’t produce a great swathe of a book in one go, I can keep reviewing and changing the plot as I go. On the minus side, I find it harder to hang onto every thread in a story especially when there have been many weeks between a character’s appearance in the narrative. There can also be horrible great chunks of repetition, where I forget what I wrote the previous week or month (or day!).

Make no mistake. I love being an author and the creation of a story is one that I enjoy immensely. I am now halfway through the seventh Jack Lark adventure and that proves that this method of writing really does work for me. I don’t see a time when I will move away from this slightly odd life and, if I am honest, I really quite like it this way. I have a feeling that I would find it harder to write if I had the luxury of time and space. It may be, that if the day comes when I become a full-time writer, then you will find me travelling the train network of southeast England, still working on my tiny laptop and still fighting for enough space to type.

Thank you Paul for stopping by. That's certainly NOT how I imagined an author's life to be!

The latest Jack Lark novel, The Last Legionnaire, is out in paperback today, and you can read Maryom's review here

The Last Legionnaire by Paul Fraser Collard

review by Maryom

Jack Lark has, after many years' absence overseas, found himself back home - at his mother's gin palace in the East End of London. His time in the army, under a variety of aliases, has changed him but he thinks he's now ready to settle down and pick up life where he left it. Things aren't as straight-forward as that though - his mother is having to pay off local 'heavies' for protection, and Mary, the girl he thought he loved, is now a grown woman with a son to look after. Jack soon finds himself mixed up in trouble, and again indebted to army intelligence officer Major Ballard who has a new task for him overseas - this time in Italy, where French and Austrian troops are massing for war.

I've always rather liked Jack Lark and his adventures, and I'm pleased to see that the author is allowing him to grow and change with time, not to remain the impetuous young man he was in the Crimea (The Scarlet Thief) but become more mature, self-aware and able to see the down-side of his chosen career; even the victorious side leaves dead and mutilated soldiers on the field, and Jack now acknowledges than some day he could easily be one of them. This doesn't mean though that he's going to stand back well out of the way of danger; he's supposed to be on more of a mercy mission than actually engaged in the fighting, but Jack is Jack, and if there's a pitched battle or low-level skirmish around then somehow or other he'll find his way to it!


As I've come to expect from Paul Fraser Collard, The Last Legionnaire is a fast-moving action adventure which brings to life an odd bit of history that most of us are probably not aware of. (Although 'the Battle of Solferino' had a vague familiarity to it, I couldn't have said where or when it took place, and certainly had no idea about the involvement of the French Foreign Legion or the origins of the Red Cross). Collard isn't afraid to present the horrors of battle, so be prepared for violence, gore and lopped off body parts. None of this is gratuitous wallowing in blood and guts, but presenting war as it is (or was) and an important part of Jack's development.



Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Headline
Genre - adult historical adventure

The Lone Warrior by Paul Fraser Collard

review by Maryom

Jack Lark has earned his army discharge papers and is now free to live his life as he chooses - but India still has adventures and danger left in store for him. While he's waiting for a boat back to England, Jack gets involved with the rescue of a young woman, Aamira, from an exclusive gaming club, and escorting her half way across India to her home in Delhi lands him smack in the middle of trouble, as their arrival coincides with the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny. Despite his army discharge, despite the danger, Jack can't help but join in the fight to restore British rule....
This fourth Jack Lark story finds our hero still in India just as the Mutiny of 1857 breaks erupts. As a fighting man, one who's extremely good at his 'job', Jack isn't going to run away and hide, but feels he must join in with the defence of the British colony. Increasingly though, he finds it difficult to take the attitudes of many Army officers - towards the men under their command, their defeated enemies and the actual fighting itself. Although as capable a "killing machine" as ever, Jack's beginning to be sickened by the aftermath of battle, the personal tragedies he sees and ultimately by what he himself does. As always, Collard writes in a style that captures that allows the reader to feel there in the action, to share the tedium of laying siege for months under the burning Indian sun, the fear and daring of battle, the automated response that shuts down Jack's emotions but, increasingly, his disgust at his actions and those of the officers around him. By the end of this adventure he's definitely a sadder, wiser man, more mature in his outlook on life and, in my opinion, a better man for it. 

There's more than a touch of James Bond about Jack as this story opens - with him stalking into a gaming club, looking every inch the sort of man who belongs there, but having a very different purpose in mind to the other customers. Even his exit, fighting his way past guards and servants with a beautiful young woman to protect, has that same dangerous, glamorous vibe to it ...and I wonder if this is the way Jack's story will now unfold....

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Headline
Genre - adult historical adventure

The Devil's Assassin by Paul Fraser Collard

review by Maryom
Following his adventures, and misadventures, in The Maharajah's General, Jack Lark is living in Bombay, passing himself off as Lieutenant Arthur Fenris, really down on his luck and running desperately short of cash. Then his deception is uncovered by army intelligence officer Major Ballard, known to many as the Devil, who feels he could use a man like Jack to track down and assassinate a spy believed to be giving British intelligence to the enemy. In Persia the Shah is massing troops, getting ready to strike against British forces, and as the army is sent out to take them on, Jack's task really begins...

So, here's Jack Lark back for another adventure - and an excellent one it is too. The story moves from India, west to Persia as Jack joins the campaign against the Shah; a bit of history that I knew nothing about  but which, with the British and the Russians struggling to gain influence in the region, all seemed rather more recent than 150 years ago!
This time, Jack is supposed to be keeping his head down, out of the actual fighting, trying to recover documents and sift through them for evidence of someone passing information about troop movements to the Persians. Jack of course has his own opinion about this - and orders are something he's never keen on following - so will he stay out of the battle? Not likely, is it? at the first opportunity he's throwing himself into the thick of it, leading by example and all too often being the man who saves the day! Well, it wouldn't be Jack if he didn't!
As you'd expect there's a lot of action, but it isn't all blind heroics. There are gruelling marches under the desert heat or torrential rain, the grip of fear as the troops await their orders to advance, the inevitable bloody aftermath of battle; the author isn't out to show merely the glory of warfare but the unpleasant realities of it too. Jack isn't a senseless killer but believes that his role in life is to serve his country in the best way he knows how - through fighting. As prone to fear as the next man, he cares deeply for the men under his command and tries to inspire them through example - a contrast to many of the other officers!
There's a little romance on the side for Jack in the breaks between the fighting - an affair with the curiously independent Sarah Draper, who, leaving her husband back in Bombay, has joined the expeditionary forces with the intent of writing a memoir of the campaign.
I think the Jack Lark series is improving all the time. It's lots of fun, while capturing the feel of the time and shedding light on some obscure passages from history. Jack is getting that little bit older, and hopefully wiser, and I'm really curious to see what he will do next!

Maryom's review -  4.5 stars

Publisher - Headline 
Genre - Historical fiction, action adventure,

The Maharajah's General by Paul Fraser Collard

review by Maryom

After fighting in the Crimea - under one alias - Jack Lark is heading to India under another. In the filthy army hospital after the Battle of the Alma, Jack recovered from his battlefield wounds but James Danbury didn't. Never one to let an opportunity slip past him, Jack takes on Danbury's identity and rank, and sets out for Bhundapur to take up his new posting as a captain in the 24th Foot regiment - where Jack soon finds himself at the heart of a different sort of conflict.
 In keeping with the policies of the British East India Company, the commanding officer in Bhundapur, Major Proudfoot, has his eyes very firmly set on taking control of the local Maharajah's kingdom, and both sides are threatened by bandits lead by the fiercesome fighter The Tiger. Jack, of course, is also under the threat of having his deception exposed, and his loyalties are further torn by an independent young Englishwoman and  an exotic Indian princess. When the trouble really kicks off, which side will Jack support?

As might be expected from the first Jack Lark novel The Scarlet Thief, The Maharajah's General's is an action-packed swashbuckling sort of adventure - filled with the clash of cold steel in skirmishes and hand to hand fighting.
Jack is a charismatic hero, striving to better himself through unorthodox means - and one for whom the stifled society of the British enclave has no time. Jack has come to acknowledge that his talent lies in warfare - to a certain extent in planning and strategy but primarily in killing. Unfortunately he can't wait for the normal route to advancement but 'helps' himself along the way by adopting others' identities - with the threat of discovery always hanging over him. This time there's a more caring side of him is on show; he's less self-serving and concerned only with his own advancement but torn between loyalties - the Maharajah who befriended him, and his countrymen who are out for his blood - and, although influenced by the attraction of the Maharajah's daughter, also showing an appreciation for the arts and culture of the society his superiors seek to crush.
Unlike The Scarlet Thief which was set against the real events and battles of the Crimea, The Maharajah's General is a fictionalised amalgam of the sort of events which happened all over India in the mid-Victorian era, so while not factually true it gives a good feel of the period, of British policies and Indian opposition, within the framework of a compelling, page-turner story.

For an introduction to Jack Lark and his world read this special blog post from the author, Paul Fraser Collard

Maryom's review -  4 stars

Publisher - Headline 
Genre - Historical fiction, action adventure, 

 Buy The Maharajah's General (Jack Lark 2) from Amazon

The Maharajah’s General - Blog Tour

Introducing the Maharajah’s General
(Author Contribution by Paul Fraser Collard)

The Maharajah’s General is the second instalment in the Jack Lark series and sees Jack journey to the wilds of India as he seeks to find a new life for himself on the vibrant and colourful fringes of the Empire.

I knew from the very start that I wanted my series to feature a new setting in every novel. By doing this I could take my readers on a wonderful journey across the British Empire that was at the height of its powers in the middle of the nineteenth century. Jack had survived the slaughter that was the Battle of the Alma, the opening battle of the Crimean War, and so I cast my eye around to find a suitable home for a young rogue with ideas far above his station. It was tempting to leave him in the Crimea and let him find his way into the events that surrounded the siege of Sevastopol which could include the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade and the raw courage of the Thin Red Line. But I had to stay true to my concept and so I decided that, like many a young and ambitious Victorian officer, Jack would seek his fortune in India, the most charismatic and colourful jewel in the British Empire’s crown.

At this time the British government had handed the control of the entire country to East India Company, a mercantile company whose driving motivation was the creation of profit. Backed by politicians eager to see the boundaries of Empire pushed back as far as was possible, the EIC was able to adopt an aggressive series of policies to satiate their need for the acquisition of power. Prime amongst these policies was the Doctrine of Lapse introduced by Governor-General Lord Dalhousie in 1848 that allowed the EIC to annex any independent kingdom where the ruler died without an heir.

When I first read of this policy I knew it would make for a dramatic and fascinating backdrop for a historical novel and so the central plot for the Maharajah’s General was put in pla
ce. Adding a ruthless British political officer to the mix along with a charismatic Maharajah, a beautiful Indian princess and a beguiling English rose and I had all the ingredients that I needed for Jack’s second story. When British ambition clashes with Indian pride, Jack faces some difficult choices that will test his loyalty to its very limits and, when political posturing turns to war, Jack will have to choose on which side he will fight. For there is no place to hide and when the two forces clash Jack has to take his place on the front line, his ambition to prove himself propelling him to the very heart of the action no matter where his personal feelings might take him.

Many thanks for that Paul  - and keep watching the blog for the review of the book.

The Scarlet Thief by Paul Fraser Collard

review by Maryom

1854: The banks of the Alma River, Crimean Peninsular. The Redcoats stagger to a bloody halt. The men of the King's Royal Fusiliers are in terrible trouble, ducking and twisting as the storm of shot, shell and bullet tear through their ranks.
Officer Jack Lark has to act immediately and decisively. His life and the success of the campaign depend on it. But does he have the mettle, the officer qualities that are the life blood of the British Army? From a poor background Lark has risen through the ranks by stealth and guile and now he faces the ultimate test...
THE SCARLET THIEF introduces us to a formidable and compelling hero - brutally courageous, roguish, ambitious - in a historical novel as robust as it is thrillingly authentic by an author who brings history and battle vividly alive. 

The Scarlet Thief is an action-packed historical adventure that introduces a charismatic new hero - Jack Lark.  There are obvious similarities to the Sharp and Flashman novels but Jack is very much his own man. Having risen through the ranks in a sometimes rather dubious manner, he is now a captain facing battle for the time time in the Crimean War - peace-time training in Aldershot barracks is one thing but putting that training into practice under canon fire quite another. Can he face down his own fear and inspire his men?
I grew up in the sort of area that had streets named after the Crimean battles - Alma, Inkermann, etc - but it's a conflict I know little about beyond The Charge of the Light Brigade and the dreadful conditions that Florence Nightingale encountered in the military hospitals there. Collard brings the Battle of the Alma vividly to life - both from overall troop displacement and the viewpoint of the individuals caught up in those manoeuvres. To me, this is what good historical fiction should do - take the dry dusty facts from history books and tell the story of the men and women who lived through them - and Collard does this admirably.

Maryom's review -  4 stars

Publisher - Headline 
Genre - Historical fiction, action adventure, Crimean War


Buy The Scarlet Thief (Jack Lark 1) from Amazon