Rock solid

Kristina Chetcuti met James Jackson, author of The Blood Rock, during his visit to launch the book in Malta this week. Set in a period of unparalleled brutality, and told with drama, sweep and passion, his book is fiction on an epic scale.

James Jackson is a typical pre-Blair Briton. He does not relate to the touchy feely Britain of the People's Princess, of sheer emotionality and cries of rights to everlasting happiness. Yet you can tell from his hearty laugh that he is passionate about life. He comes from an ever diminishing English tradition of public figures who are liked because they are real, humble and down to earth. He is not a man with catchy sound bites. He is decidedly slightly shy to be under the spotlight but eager to engage in gentle effortless friendly banter: a bit Hugh Grant meets Ewan McGregor. Not exactly how you would imagine a writer of a blood-filled historical thriller.

But that's what he is. Mr Jackson is here to promote his latest book Blood Rock, an epic historical drama based on the 1565 Great Siege of Malta. We are at the Phoenicia Hotel in Floriana. He sits there laughing, exuding an infectious contentment. "I am so happy to be here. I've been coming to the Phoenicia since I was three years old. We used to spend our childhood Easter and summer holidays in Malta. This was before the days of package tourism," says Mr Jackson.

He looks wistful and smiles as he talks about the good old days: of him and his twin brother going down the pool of the Phoenicia. "The steps to the pool seemed to be going on forever back then," and their long stays in a residence at Qawra Point "the only tourists then were military people and ex pats". He claims to be a Malta junkie. "Because here despite development, nothing changes. It's a happy place."

He has been enthralled by the Great Siege story since he was five and always knew he would one day write about it. He didn't for one minute suffer from writer's block when typing the book. "The Siege is compressed in time and it's a classic tale of if you believe in something you've got to fight for it," he says. He has been all over the main historical places in his research for the book. "I have to be on the ground before I can write about a place. And standing on Fort St Angelo after having read Ernle Bradford's The Mediterranean was surreal. He tells this with such relish that it obviously gives him immense satisfaction. Nonetheless he is very concerned about the local reaction. "I hope the book has done justice to Malta. I've been touched by the reaction of people so far. But really don't want them to feel that I'm imposing my view of history on the Maltese."

His ultimate goal, he says as he rakes his fingers through his hair for inspiration (told you, Hugh Grant), is to keep on writing. He wants to make history come alive. He wants to sparkle interest through vivid fictitious characters. "I want my readers to learn about real fascinating history. History is were we come from." He is grateful that he is able to pick his own subjects and that this offers him the opportunity to travel around for his research. "It's a privilege to write about something you love. Mine is a paid hobby. I am very privileged," he says.

He has been very much inspired by Frederick Forsyth, the blockbuster thriller author and political commentator, whose writing he admires immensely. Incidentally Mr Forsyth has read Blood Rock and commends it approvingly. "I am very honoured to have his opinion on the book jacket. His are comments which I value a lot," and then grins conspiratorly: "You never really believe your family or friends' opinion - they're either going to be very nice or very rude."

Mr Jackson came into writing the round about way - for a long time he was a military man. He has a post-graduate degree in military studies and up to 12 years ago used to work as a military consultant in the political risk and investment sphere (in case you've just glazed over: it's about giving advice to business people who want to invest in dicey zones such as Iraq and such like). He used to be a regular contributor to intelligence and defence magazines. And he also wrote the bestselling Counter Terrorist Handbook ‒ a practical guide on how to cope in a hijack situation and covers the A-Z of likely threat scenarios: how to conduct yourself in a hostage situation; how to reduce profile and personal risk during a terrorist attack; what to do after an explosion, and similar nerve racking god-forbid-this-ever-happens-to-me situations.

So, does he think we are living in an age of fear and pessimism? "Yes!" And his book assuaged this fear? "That's why I wrote the book because I felt there was a big gap between the fear instilled by the government and the physical tools made available. It's a book of basic advice," he says. He is hopeful that the more informed people are, the tinier their fears.

And what does he think of the Iraq war? "Phrrr. I wasn't against the war. I approved of getting rid of Saddam. Even the whole thing about the never-found weapons of mass destruction - they found the scientists and that's enough for me because they would have been very capable of creating them. It was the aftermath which was grossly incompetent and badly handled." There was no plan for after victory, he says. He berates what he calls the messianic attitude of Tony Blair. "He almost gave the impression he was a healer for the Iraqi people." He claims that the US army is not good at these sort of war aftermath expeditions, that they are not good at getting down on the ground and understanding the man on the street. "One hopes for the future - it's taken a long time to recognise the mistakes and in the meantime there have been a lot of casualties."

The military man in him has no time for statements such as "make love not war": "Yes, the statement is great but it's bull****. People are cruel. War happens." What about the blurb on the Blood Rock jacket: An age of brutality a time for heroes? It could very well refer to the present day could it not? "You know, every age is like that. We always have this idea that the past was either golden or philistian. Well it was not. But the time of the Siege was certainly not a touchy feely time - there was no psychotherapy around, no popping of pills."

He believes that as time goes by we are becoming more self-regarding, forgetting what the important things really are. We are suffering from the grass is greener syndrome, he says and thinks that people are becoming more and more spoilt. "No one has a right to be happy. Everybody has to live through disappointment. I love people who cope and get on with their daily life." His tone is far from being condescending or patronising. He is speaking gently as if it was just his deepest soulful wish that people would simply learn to be more content.

It probably stems from the fact that he has had to learn to cope early in life. He is blind. Blind, except for a two per cent tunnel vision which allows him to write on paper and "to enjoy love for the shape of words". He is aided by gadgets and "a gang" of researchers who are his eyes and ears "when walking the ground". Although he is perfectly at ease about his blindness, he is wary of talking about it to journalists as in the past several interviews have ended with his blindness rather than his books, making the headlines. "My eyesight is totally incidental. If I wasn't blind I could have been dyslexic or whatever," he says softly, smiling.

In his khaki suit, and solid, open demeanor Mr Jackson seems to rise from the era of Kipling, you can just imagine him walking the ground in India, with his gang, stopping for tea, fanning and talking about the plot of the next book. What is certain is that if he were a character in his own book his ready honest laugh would be enough to brighten the face of adversity.

• Mr Jackson, was in Malta courtesy of Miller Distributors Ltd. Blood Rock is available for sale at €11.37 in all leading bookshops. Mr Jackson is currently working on its sequel.