Author Interview: Jackson Ford

Get the inside scoop on ‘The Bone Raiders’!

Jackson Ford is the author of our August Epic ‘Beasts, Bones & Bad Ideas’ featured book: The Bone Raiders. Read on to get the inside scoop from inspiration to favourite scenes and more!

The Bone Raiders has such a vivid and dangerous world, what was the first image or idea that sparked the story for you?

I am South African, I grew up in South Africa in the late 80s/early 90s and we got reject Saturday morning cartoons from the US. If it was cancelled in the US, six months later it would show up in South Africa, and the kind of cartoons we got always had, you know, a giant skeleton. A giant skeleton sentient villain living in a drafty castle, with his cackling mad scientist buddy planning to take over the world and kill all the good guys. Even when I was a kid I remember thinking, if you’re a giant skeleton, this super powerful evil dude, why do you live in such a dump? As I got older and had slightly more sophisticated adult thoughts, I was walking my dogs one day and I was thinking about a post-apocalyptic world, and I was like, “Ok, you’re these dangerous raiders. Why do you live in this broken down place, you have all these spikes on your armour, why do you present yourself to the world like that?”. And I thought, I’d really like to answer that question, I thought it sounds like something that would be cool in a fantasy setting. So I started with that question, and before I knew it I had the Rakada, the Bone Raiders who are wearing human bones and I was like, I gotta find out what that’s about.

Out of all the mythical creatures, why giant fire breathing lizards?

One of those early morning cartoons that came to South Africa was called “Dino Riders”, and it was exactly what it sounds like. A bunch of dudes on an alien planet who tame and ride dinosaurs. In the first chapter where the fire breathing lizard introduces itself, I saw it very clearly in my mind, I was like “this is a dinosaur, that breathes fire” and I’m not going to call it a dragon, ’cause this is my world and I can call it what I want, and my guys are going to try and ride them. It clicked into place when we made them a lot bigger, and a lot scarier.

If you could describe The Bone Raiders in five words or less to someone who hasn’t had a chance to pick it up yet, what would they be?

This is a bad idea.

If you could choose, would you be one of the Rakada, or an araatan?

My instinct is to say I want to be one of the araatan. Running around, eating whatever I like, barbequing whatever I don’t, but you’re still a wild animal and you don’t really enjoy your life, you just kind of live it and exist. Whereas if you’re one of the Rakada, I feel like you have the capacity to have a bit of fun. I’m probably going to say the giant lizards just because it’d be fun to be a giant lizard.

How did you go about developing the world’s mythology, did it come fully formed, or evolve as you wrote?

From the very first line that I wrote, I knew it was taking place in an alternate universe Mongolia. Everything about it said Mongolian setting to me. The second thought was I want this to be a relatively accurate representation of historical Mongolia. That really helped me flesh out the world.

If one of your protagonists could give FairyLoot readers one piece of advice, what would it be?

If Sayana, our lead character, if she were to give FairyLoot readers any one piece of advice, it would be never settle for the status quo, don’t just sit back and let everyone else make the decisions and let people steer your life when you feel so strongly that things are not right, or that you’re heading for a catastrophe. Speak up, say something, do something. Take yourself in a different direction. That is something that Sayana believes very strongly.

What kind of relationships – friendship, rivalry, love – did you most enjoy exploring in this book?

Probably the relationship between Hogelun and Ehri, who is the clans healer and master archer. In many ways it’s a toxic relationship, it’s a relationship where Ehri has all the power and it was interesting to see what she did with that power and how she used it, both for good and evil.

How do you approach pacing in a story that blends action, emotion, and mystery?

A lot of trial and error. It really is a gut feel thing, I don’t have a spreadsheet. I just go “ok, we’ve just had this incredible action sequence, what can I do next to make my character’s lives miserable that isn’t incredibly fast”. It’s all about the peaks and the valleys!

What can you tell us (if anything) about the sequel?

It’s coming out May next year. I can reveal the title, it’s called Sisters of the Lizard. I can say that it involves a journey, and I can say that it’s going to break you in half. If I ever run into you in person after Sisters of the Lizard is released and you have a copy of the book, actually you don’t even need to have a copy og the book, you’re going to throw something at me.