J.F.Penn

Thrillers, Dark Fantasy, Crime, Horror

Book Research

5 Reasons Writers Love The London Library

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london libraryIn the last month I have been working at the London Library a couple of days a week and it has made all the difference to my new life as an author-entrepreneur. Founded in 1841, it has been the writing home of many great English creatives. Here's why I love writing there these days.

(1) Books, research and serendipity in the stacks

I read 99% ebooks these days. I am a Kindle addict although I often buy the ebook after seeing it in print in a physical bookstore. Being in a print library has meant I am rediscovering the joys of book browsing and the labyrinthine stacks of the London Library are quite the adventure. I had a lovely moment of serendipity the other day when researching apocalyptic art for my next novel Prophecy and came across the book from an exhibition of the apocalypse I had attended in the year 2000 at the British Library. The images of that event have remained with me over the years and in finding the book, I was able to renew my knowledge and weave stories out of the result. I do actually have the book myself but it's in storage in Brisbane, Australia so marvelous to find it here! Research is one of the joys of writing a book and the London Library is a rich resource for it.

(2) Location, St James' Square

I exit the Tube at Green Park and walk through some of the most expensive real estate in London. It's populated by royalty, the Ritz, art dealers and auctioneers like Sothebys, expensive boutique shops with armed guards, hidden member's clubs and embassies. The library sits in one corner of the elegant St James' Square which boasts a beautiful park to sit for coffee and lunch in the sun. It isn't far from Bond Street, Regent Street and some lovely (window) shopping and my treat is to go to Waterstones bookshop for more browsing before I head home. The Library itself may look small but it's a tardis inside, stretching across multiple buildings behind the slim facade.

(3) History and inspirational writers

London is steeped in tradition and history. You trip over famous (often dead) people everywhere you go. But it is still incredibly inspirational to think I am writing in a place where Agatha Christie was a member, where Virginia Woolf and EM Forster wrote, where Darwin and Dickens scribbled and where Tom Stoppard is currently president. This is a literary legacy of greatness. Is it too much to think that the walls have absorbed some of this creative spirit over the years and by being there, I too can imbibe?

(4) Positive atmosphere and peer pressure to write

iPad with keyboard and stand. My writing setup at the London Library

At my home office I have many distractions, blogging and twitter being two major ones. Yes, the London Library does have internet but I go there to write. I settle in and prepare myself for a day's work. Soon I am surrounded by other industrious writers, on laptops, iPads or taking notes from books. There is a general atmosphere of hard creative work. Sometimes a member will nod off in one of the comfy reading chairs, a deserved break from the labour of intense study. This is how I worked at University when I spent my days in the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford. It feels like a correct place of work for a writer. There is a room where laptops are forbidden so not even the tapping of keys distracts you, just the rustle of pages and the innumerably interesting journals on arcane topics that draw the eye.

(5) The normality of a writer's life

I have spent the last 13 years as an international business consultant with all the routine of an office worker. These daily rituals have become ingrained into me, the daily commute, coffee before starting, meeting for lunch in between spurts of intense working, perhaps a drink later in the day before coming home. Going from that life to working entirely from home as an author-entrepreneur hasn't been easy but going into a place of work like the London Library makes the writing life a more normal one and gives me a semblance of routine to base my creative life around. Getting out of the house and into a different space is critical for the solo-entrepreneur. Being in central London also gives me the benefits of being able to network at break-times and after the Library closes.

I have only been a member for a few weeks and already the benefits of the London Library are immeasurable for me. I'm sure other advantages will be realized over time and I hope that I will also be able to give back.

The London Library is a private, paid membership library. If you are interested in joining, all the details are here.

 

Top image: Flickr Creative Commons Gruenemann, Other images my own (also on Flickr CC)
Sharing image bookplate photo: Wikipedia Creative Commons

The London Library from Jeremy Riggall on Vimeo.

 

Ancient Book: Carl Jung’s Red Book

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As part of my Masters in Theology at the University of Oxford (1994-1997), I specialized in the psychology of religion. I was always particularly drawn to Carl Jung, because of his extensive investigation in the subject but also because of his personal struggle with the big questions of life.

Painting from Carl Jung's Red Book

The main character in my ARKANE thrillers, Morgan Sierra, also specializes in psychology of religion, mainly so I can explore my own interest in the subject!

I was keen to bring Jung into the Pentecost story. It so happened that while I was researching the book, it was announced that the Red Book would finally be published and made available to the public after years of being kept secret by his family. To my astonishment, one of the paintings in the Red Book has what looks like a pillar of fire coming out of a stone which I wove into the story of the Pentecost stones.

Jung writes a great deal on synchronicity, the experience of coincidence or chance that occurs in a meaningful way. There were many experiences of synchronicity as I wrote the book but this one was stunning. I also use the painting to describe the room at the Wadi in Nefta where Jung actually visited when he was in North Africa.

Here's part of a scene where the ARKANE team learn more about the Red Book. At the bottom is a video if you'd like to learn more about it.

Morgan listened to Ben talk, fascinated by the journey of the stone of Simon
the Zealot. They had Ben on speakerphone with Martin Klein also connected from
the ARKANE headquarters, hoping that between them they could locate the final
Pentecost stone. Ben continued his story from what the Grand Master had told him.
“Carl Jung travelled to the oasis of Nefta while he was in Tunisia, North Africa in
1920. He felt the land was soaked with the blood of Carthage, Rome and later the
Christians. It was a powerful experience for him. His memoirs say he felt an alien
sense of being a European in a Moorish, desert land. He recounted a powerful
dream of being within a mandala of a citadel in the desert, where he fought with
and then taught a royal Arab his secrets. Morgan, you’ve studied Jung’s writings in
depth. Did he ever mention this Pentecost stone?”
Morgan frowned and said, “I don’t remember Pentecost mentioned specifically, but
Jung was fascinated with stones as well as being obsessed with religious mythology.
At his Tower in Bollingen on Lake Zurich, he engraved stones with words and
images that meant a great deal to him. He created from his unconscious all the
time. He would have written about this if it meant something.”
Ben spoke again.
“I was told he was in North Africa in 1920. Isn’t that when he was still working on
the Red Book?”
“Of course, you’re right.” Morgan replied. “We should look there. It’s such an
outpouring of his mind at that time.”
Jake asked, “What’s this Red Book and why’s it so important?”
All three of the others started talking at once, and then quietened to let Morgan
continue.

Philemon. Jung's spirit guide

“The Red Book was Carl Jung’s personal inner journey written during a breakdown
he had. It’s an oversized red leather bound book with cream artist’s paper inside
that he filled with calligraphy of his thoughts and paintings of his inner life, visions
and dreams.”
“Why haven’t I heard of it before? It sounds amazing,” Jake said.
“It’s only recently been published for the first time. He wrote it between 1913 and
1929 and it’s truly a work of art. His family have protected it until now,” Morganreplied.
Jake asked, “So how could the book help us?”
“Jung painted what he saw in his unconscious mind and also what affected him,”
Morgan continued. “There should be signs in the Red Book if he had found
something spiritually significant. Jung was a mystic, struggling to reconnect ancient
myths with the modern world. He even dreamt about the coming rivers of blood in
Europe which turned out to be the Second World War. He felt broken in his mind,
and that left him open to divine inspiration, ideas and thoughts that the rest of us
discard in the night.”
Martin jumped in then, keen to add his opinion. His voice crackled over the line.
“Many of the paintings in the Red Book are representations of mandala, the circle in
the square which represents the inward journey of the soul. Jung’s spirit guide,
Philemon, is a central character in the Book shown as an old man with the wings of
a kingfisher. There are images of Egyptian myth and particularly of snakes, a
spiritual image of renewal and creation as well as the Christian idea of it
representing the devil. The snake is a powerful symbol in many…”
Jake jumped in, cutting off his flow. “Thanks Martin, that’s enough for now. Could
we get images of it please?”
“Of course, I’ll send them now. I’ve seen the real thing Morgan. It’s amazing! I was
assigned to be one of the few physically present when it came out of the Swiss vault
and photographed. The colors are so fresh because they have kept it pristine for
years, with hardly a soul looking at it. You’re going to be amazed when you see it.”
As they waited for the emailed images to arrive, Morgan thought about
Martin seeing the actual Red Book. She had an oversize full color reproduction, but
her professional jealousy was piqued by his unique experience. Working for
ARKANE certainly had its benefits. The images arrived and they opened the first file.
Morgan gasped and Jake leaned in closer.
“Is that what I think it is?”
They were looking at one of the images from Jung’s Red Book. It showed a square
room with turquoise patterned walls and a red and black checkered floor. In the
centre of the room, a man knelt in worship, his head on the ground with arms
reaching towards a small grey object in front of him. From that stone a pillar of fire
and flames rose up, filling the room with sparks and smoke, billowing above the
man as if about to consume him.

Ancient Cities: Oxford, England.

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We all have special places that mean the world to us.

Mansfield College Library, Oxford

Oxford is my spiritual home and the place I return to again and again. I went to University there, studying Theology at Mansfield College 1994-1997. My father lives near there so I still visit it regularly and I have my heart set on living there again one day. Ever since I read Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure, it has been my Jerusalem.

It also features in STONE OF FIRE (previously Pentecost) as the home of my heroine, psychologist Morgan Sierra and one of the satellite bases for ARKANE, which is underneath the Museum of Natural History. In this video, I show you round some of my personal Oxford and also some places that feature in STONE OF FIRE (previously Pentecost).

The video features:

  • The Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera, which contains the Theology reading room so I spent a lot of time there. The doors are featured.
  • I take you down New College Lane by the replica Bridge of Sighs, down the passage to the Turf Tavern and round the back of Bath Place where Morgan's office is – scene of the first fire-fight in the book.
  • Mansfield College where I studied and lived for 2 years of my degree. The Chapel has a window with Sir William Penn, Quaker and one of my ancestors
  • Oxford Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum, the latter containing some awesome shrunken heads
  • My old house in the graveyard of St Thomas', perhaps an influence on my writing but certainly a very cool place to live!

Here's an excerpt from Pentecost where Morgan is led through the Pitt Rivers Museum at night.

The overall sense was of a museum crowded and alive in some way. The gods of such different cultures stuffed into tiny rooms, separated only by the glass of the cabinets. Morgan could almost imagine them stepping down from their cases in the dark of night, to wage war upon each other. The many handed Nataraja from India, skulls dripping from her neck and blue skin gleaming, wielded a sword at the head of a tribal god from Benin as Incan priest icons menaced the Native American totems.

A flash of torchlight illuminated a case of giant wooden birds of paradise, their spiraling feathers like huge tongues. They crouched next to crocodiles and the jet black head of a bull, horns sharply tipped and glistening. Here was the agonized face of a Christian martyr, neck twisted towards his God, desperate for release next to a case of ceremonial knives for stripping the flesh from sacrificial animals.  There a macabre toy cabinet, full of stuffed creatures with beady eyes that seemed to follow them past. The ghosts of dead children hung in their wake, puppets on tall sticks with limbs like dead trees, broken and dangling. As they walked through the main hallway a huge Native American totem pole loomed over them, a squatting amphibian over the eyes of a huddled figure.

Morgan felt the power of these objects in the semi-darkness. What was mere curiosity in the day had turned to mystic awe in the dark. She loved to come here to wonder at the collections, but this was experiencing the museum in a different visceral way. She followed close to the man in front as he led her to the back of the main exhibition hall and then down some stairs into the crypt. What did it all have to do with the stone her father had given her?

Do you like the scenes in Oxford? Should thrillers contain real places?