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Author Revealed

James Fleming
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James Fleming

James Fleming was born in London in 1944, the fourth in a family of nine children. He read history at Oxford and has been variously an accountant, farmer, forester and bookseller. The author of two previous novels, The Temple of Optimism and Thomas... Read full bio

Author Revealed:
Q. What is your motto or maxim?
A. Look behind the screen
Learn more about James Fleming
James Fleming Revealed
About James Fleming
  • What is your birthdate?:
    2/26
  • Previous occupations:
    Accountant, farmer, forester, publisher, bookseller, bookdealer etc
  • Favorite job:
    Farmer
  • Name of your favorite composer or music artist?:
    Shostakovich
  • Favorite movie:
    Dirty Tadpoles
  • Favorite television show:
    No TV in house
Revealing Questions
Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
A. Lucky
Q. What is your motto or maxim?
A. Look behind the screen
Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
A. Impossible to answer.
Q. What’s your greatest fear?
A. Idleness
Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
A. Where I am
Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
A. Stephen Sondheim
Q. Which living person do you most admire?
A. As above
Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
A. But
Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
A. Singing
Q. What is your greatest achievement?
A. Writing "Thomas Gage".
Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
A. Being antisocial
Q. What’s your best quality?
A. Amiability
Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
A. Gully Jimson
Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
A. Charlie Doig
Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
A. Horace Walpole, to whom I'd say, Write me a nice letter once a week. Tell me the news from the ladies, the gossip from the court, somehistorical anecdotes - anything you like, actually.
Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
A. Progress
Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
A. CEO of something HUGE.
Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
A. Porridge
Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
A. Any five from Figaro.
On Books and Writing
Q. Who are your favorite authors?
A. Jane Austen, Joyce Carey, Tolstoy, the Swedish couple, also Marxist, who wrote the tec stories of Martin Beck and have impossible names, Bulgakov, Camus, Bellow, Nabokov - and so on.
Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
A. Wynd/ The Ginger Tree

Dostoievsky/ Karamazov

Bulgakov/ Master and Margarita

Nabokov/ Lolita

Austen/ Pride & Prejudice
Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
A. No
Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
A. Have stamina: read poetry.
Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
A. James, you sure make us concentrate.
Q. How did you come to write White Blood?
A. I got bored with writing novels about Britain. I'd always fancied working up a character as incorrect and masculine as Henderson the Rain King. The resulting combination turned out to be Charlie Doig battling through the Russian Revolution.