Featured Interview With Theo Faurez
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Theo Faurez is the pseudonym of Paul-Dominique Masiclat, o.p., a friar of the Dominican Order (aka Order of Preachers, aka Blackfriars) in France. Currently based in Sweden, he has lived in several countries in Asia, Europe and North America, and still travels extensively.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Books became my passion at a young age, not just reading but writing. I can recall making up new adventures for the characters of my favourite books, for example Babar the Elephant and Tommy Turtle. I began writing short stories at 13 or 14 using characters from television series – what would be called fan fiction. I joined a book club and would read just about anything. The book club helped me to branch out into history, books on nature, dinosaurs of course, and biographies.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
The first Agatha Christie I ever read hooked me for life on the murder mystery genre. My interest in ancient history, especially that of the Roman Empire, also grew at this time, and I taught myself Latin. Then I discovered the authors who married ancient Rome with murder: J. Maddox Roberts, Steven Saylor, Lindsey Davis, R. Magrì, Danila Comastri Montanaro and others. Their work has been a beacon. Other writers who’ve taught me about the crime genre are John LeCarré, P.D. James, Ian Ranklin, Robert Galbraith, Anthony Horowitz.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Rome already had its detectives, I wanted to diversify. I chose the Greek-speaking sphere, namely the city of Antioch, the proud, prosperous, decadent capital of the eastern Roman Empire. The sleuth (ancient Rome had no police force, much less the notion of a detective) is Captain Antonius Sabas, a Syrian Greek with Roman citizenship who patrols the city for fires and, by extension, criminals. In this first novel, he is called to the scene of an attack in broad daylight. Is it banditry or premeditated murder? Faithful to the classic “rules” of the whodunit, the reader is given all the clues. Captain Sabas uses physical clues and rational deduction to find the murderer – no internet or forensics doing the thinking for him! I also wanted to plunge the reader into another time and culture, guided as much as possible by verisimilitude to bring the Roman Empire to life. Thus the characters are somewhat alien in their mindset, share our common humanity, but without the ideologies or neuroses of 21st-century society! All my writing was done in my spare time, some of it in English, some of it in French. What with other jobs and responsibilities, it took me nearly a decade to complete this one. The next one won’t take as long, rest assured!
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Theo Faurez Facebook Page