Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: New Pompeii
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.daniel-godfrey.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: British
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2016058071
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2016058071
HEADING: Godfrey, Daniel (Novelist)
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100 1_ |a Godfrey, Daniel |c (Novelist)
370 __ |e Derbyshire (England)
373 __ |a Emmanuel College (Cambridge University)
670 __ |a New Pompeii, 2016: |b t.p. (Daniel Godfrey)
670 __ |a Amazon.com website, viewed Oct. 24, 2016: |b (Daniel Godfrey has had several short stories published, including in My Weekly and Writers’ Forum, and is a dedicated reader of SF and historical fiction. He studied geography at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and gained an MSc from Leeds in transport planning. He lives in Derbyshire)
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge; Leeds University, M.Sc.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author.
AWARDS:“Summer Read” citation and “Books of 2016” citation, both from Financial Times, both for New Pompeii.
WRITINGS
Also author of a children’s e-book. Contributor of short stories to periodicals, including My Weekly and Writers’ Forum.
SIDELIGHTS
Daniel Godfrey’s debut novel is a thriller that draws on the science fiction trope of time travel. In New Pompeii, he depicts an attempt by a modern corporation to resuscitate an ancient city in the modern era. The reconstruction of Pompeii, stated David Pitt in Booklist, “operates as a sort of historical experiment, allowing scholars and scientists the opportunity to see … Roman life” as it was lived in the first century. “The ethics of time travel are also explored,” declared a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “with intriguing results.”
The plot of New Pompeii evolved out of the author’s fascination with ancient history. “I was reading a lot about ancient Rome and at the same time re-working a short story about time travel,” Godfrey said in a Qwillery interview. “The two things snapped together in my head, and I had the basis of what would become New Pompeii.” “I’m very interested in history—most historians I guess would like to travel back in time—and I wanted to do something involving time travel that was different to other stories about Pompeii,” Godfrey stated in his Qwillery interview. “So I took the eruption of Vesuvius as the starting point and asked ‘so what happens next?’” “I’ve always been fascinated by Pompeii,” Godfrey told Shellie Horst in an SFF World interview. “It’s not just a town that was destroyed; it’s somewhere that was effectively put to sleep. Decorator’s equipment has been found where it was abandoned, shop takings discovered left waiting to be counted, bread baking in its ovens etc.” “One of the most deeply unsettling things about Pompeii,” the author continued in another interview, this one in Rinn Reads, “are the plaster casts of its victims. In the best (or worst!) of these, you can see the expression of terror on the person’s face at the moment of their death. And yet there aren’t many of these casts: most of the remains simply haven’t been found—even though we know there were few, if any, survivors.” “When I was thinking about a location from which I could move a large number of people through time without creating a paradox,” Godfrey told Horst, “it was a perfect fit.”
Readers see the story of New Pompeii through the eyes of Nick Houghton, “a history scholar,” explained a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who “takes a position with the mysterious Novus Particles corporation.” “NovusPart want a historical advisor for their latest project,” declared Liz Bourke in a review posted on the Tor.com Web site—“a reconstruction of the ancient town-city of Pompeii, complete with all the original inhabitants who could be rescued from the eruption of 79 CE. (NovusPart is not big on informed consent: None of the Romans have been informed that they’ve been moved in time, and NovusPart’s excuses for keeping the townspeople confined to the town and its immediate surroundings are beginning to grow thin.” Nick’s job, he is told, is to keep the Pompeiians believing that their city has been spared from destruction by the Divine Augustus and that they are still living in the first century. “Caught up in events,” Shellie Horst said in SFF World, “Nick needs to think on his feet to stay ahead of the ambitions of others.”
Critics appreciated Godfrey’s debut novel. “New Pompeii’s vertiginously high-concept idea,” observed Financial Times reviewer James Lovegrove, “is bolstered by strong characterisation and excellently knotty plotting.” The novel “is part sci-fi, part historical thriller,” stated a Geek Mundo reviewer. “I’ve yet to read a novel that balances both genres so well. Godfrey manages to educate the reader about the real Pompeii, ancient Roman customs, and everyday life, while … painting a vivid picture of time travel and what could (and does) happen when corporations use the technology at their disposal to influence the world regardless of the outcome.” “This is a thriller that works through layers of revelation, each blowing our mind a little more than the last,” declared Ani Johnson in the Bookbag. “I’m not going to spoil the discovery for you, but shall we say that the author plays with our perceptions and wins resoundingly.”
“In my opinion,” commented a Rising Shadow reviewer, “Daniel Godfrey is one of the few debut authors who have managed to blend time travel and thriller elements in an enjoyable and intriguing way. I consider him to be an heir to Michael Crichton, because his writing style is similar to Crichton’s style. He has an eye for all details and he pays attention to entertainment values, which means a lot in this kind of fiction. The author’s love for history and fascination with the ancient way of life can clearly be seen in the story. He writes … well about historical details and facts.” “New Pompeii is an enjoyable and well-told sci-fi thriller that provides plenty of entertainment,” the Rising Shadow reviewer concluded. “It’s light and intriguing sci-fi entertainment at its best and most fluent.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, June 1, 2016, David Pitt, review of New Pompeii, p. 68.
Financial Times, June 24, 2016, James Lovegrove, review of New Pompeii.
Publishers Weekly, April 18, 2016, review of New Pompeii.
ONLINE
Bookbag, http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/ (June 24, 2016), Ani Johnson, review of New Pompeii.
Fresh Fiction, http://freshfiction.com/ (March 5, 2017), author profile.
Geek Mundo, http://www.geekmundo.net/ (June 18, 2016), review of New Pompeii.
Qwillery, http://qwillery.blogspot.com/ (June 20, 2016), “Interview with Daniel Godfrey, author of New Pompeii.”
Rinn Reads, https://rinnreads.co.uk/ (November 20, 2016), author interview.
Rising Shadow, https://www.risingshadow.net/ (June 18, 2016), review of New Pompeii.
SFF World, http://www.sffworld.com/ (June, 2016), Shellie Horst, “Interview with New Pompeii Author Daniel Godfrey.”
Titan Books, http://titanbooks.com/ (March 5, 2017), author profile.
Tor.com, http://www.tor.com/ (June 30, 2016), Liz Bourke, review of New Pompeii.
Writing East Midlands, http://www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk/ (March 5, 2017), author profile.
Interview with New Pompeii Author Daniel Godfrey
Shellie Horst June 24, 2016 0 Comment
New Pompeii CoverDaniel is a nice chap, not unlike most authors I’ve met. Don’t let that fool you, though! This scheming, plotting individual is responsible for the much anticipated New Pompeii, published by Titan in the UK. In his novel a company discovers it has developed the ability to transport objects to the present from the past. Daniel’s been hailed as the UK’s version of Michael Crichton, so there’s no pressure for his first venture into the speculative fiction world!
Daniel, welcome to the bright light that is SFFWorld. Let’s start with the obvious question, how does it feel to be compared to Michael Crichton?
Well, it’s very flattering to have received several cover quotes from established authors along those lines… but first and foremost I just wanted to write a fun book! As an un-signed writer (as I was, before New Pompeii sold to Titan), you have to be writing something you really believe in to knuckle down every night rather than just watch TV – knowing the chances of anyone reading your work are slim. So I guess comparisons are less important to me than people getting to read (and hopefully enjoy!) my novel.
All right, so that question might not have been the obvious one, I’ll try again! Out of all of the historical towns and cities in the globe, why did you choose Pompeii to focus the novel around?
I’ve always been fascinated by Pompeii. It’s not just a town that was destroyed; it’s somewhere that was effectively put to sleep. Decorator’s equipment has been found where it was abandoned, shop takings discovered left waiting to be counted, bread baking in its ovens etc. When I was thinking about a location from which I could move a large number of people through time without creating a paradox, it was a perfect fit.
Nick Houghton, the main character in New Pompeii, is thrown in at the deep end. Caught up in events Nick needs to think on his feet to stay ahead of the ambitions of others. With the character’s knowledge and understanding of Pompeii’s history, was he a difficult point of view to write and keep track of?
I enjoyed writing Nick; he’s the funnel through which we get to know New Pompeii. He likes to explore and to pick things apart. The key thing though is that although historians know a lot about Pompeii, we don’t know everything. It was fun to fill in these gaps and have Nick ‘discover’ the town.
New Pompeii has been highlighted as one of *the* books to read this year by review sites. It’s your Daniel Godfreyfirst speculative fiction novel, but you have several stories out there in various publications. How does the experience compare?
Titan has been fantastic, and it’s been a real eye opener to see the process of taking a manuscript and turning it into a book: from the initial line edit through to the copy edit, cover design and promotion. Getting hold of a copy of *your* book is also an incredible feeling.
A wizard of incomparable power has escaped a parallel universe. In the midst of your usual daily chaos, you ‘notice’ that a rather large volcano* has been summoned outside your house. It’s clear this is going to be the wizard’s impenetrable fortress of evil. The ash cloud is doing a fantastic job at blocking all phone signals, not to mention those pesky timey-whimey machines. Forget worrying about the lava, the ash will bury the whole area within the next hour. What piece of SFF technology would you demand to save the day and how would you return the wizard back to his own universe?
The Death Star! That would probably provide an efficient solution to both the volcano and the wizard! Of course, some minor modifications would be required around the exhaust ports in case of a dragon-led counter attack…
I’m ‘mildly’ worried about the appearance of the Death Star in our system! Remind me not to annoy you.
When it comes to writing historical based fiction there’s a split between those authors who stick close to fact, and those who stretch things to suit the plot. Which is most important to you as a reader?
It depends; if it’s a book that’s following well known events (such as Henry VIII, battles from WWII etc.) then I think the facts are very important and it can bump you out of the narrative if the author wobbles around with well-known truth. For something like New Pompeii, I’m not following historic events as the book occurs after the eruption of Vesuvius, but there is a lot of historical detail included. The key thing with any book though is surely that it’s enjoyable enough to pass a few hours, so… sorry, I’m still thinking about the wizard and the Death Star! (Can I change my mind and send in the T-800?) 🙂
The T-800 now? The poor wizard! After the release of New Pompeii in June, what is next for you as an author?
I’m well on with a sequel: New Pompeii was written as a standalone novel, but there’s a few aspects of the idea I’m pleased to be getting the chance to further explore.
I dread to think what could happen in a sequel to New Pompeii. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions Daniel, good luck with the new book!
Thank you for inviting me!
You can read an extract of New Pompeii here. Daniel’s novel is available direct from Titan Books, and of course all good bookstores. If you want to discover more about the author you can follow Daniel over on Twitter.
Writer Biography
Daniel Godfrey’s first novel, New Pompeii, was published in 2016 by Titan Books. It was chosen by the Financial Times as both a ‘Summer Read’, and one of its ‘Books of 2016’. Daniel has also self-published a children’s e-book and had several short stories published.
Monday, June 20, 2016
Interview with Daniel Godfrey, author of New Pompeii
Please welcome Daniel Godfrey to The Qwillery as part of the 2016 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. New Pompeii will be published on June 21st by Titan Books.
TQ: Welcome to The Qwillery. When and why did you start writing?
Daniel: Thank you for having me. I’ve been writing off and on for a long time: at the moment it’s a hobby that’s got somewhat out of control! Anyway, I find it satisfying to create something from scratch: the plot of any story is basically a large logic puzzle, and the rest is sheer escapism.
TQ: Are you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?
Daniel: A bit of both. I tend to know the general direction of travel: where I want the characters to end up by the end of the book, and one or two of the ‘set pieces’. But after you’ve started other things come to mind, characters get fleshed-out and interact, and that’s where you can’t be too constrained by the overall plan. After all, some of the knock-on impacts of your plot can provide the most interesting elements.
TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?
Daniel: Time! Things keep happening! A lot of my SF writing is set in the ‘near future’ - New Pompeii starts in the near future - and so for an un-signed author to get something finished, submitted, accepted and published before your ideas are overtaken is the main difficulty. I’m not saying that time travel is close to being invented but…who knows?!
TQ: What has influenced / influences your writing?
Daniel: I enjoy reading science, science fiction and history – both fiction and non-fiction. I like ‘big idea’ films and books: things that take an idea and think about the knock-on impacts and how people may change or relate to that idea. But most of all I think things are at their best when they’re fun!
TQ: Describe New Pompeii in 140 characters or less.
Daniel: Ancient Romans are transported into a present day replica of Pompeii. And they’re not exactly happy about it!
TQ: Tell us something about New Pompeii that is not found in the book description.
Daniel: Time travel doesn’t just jump-start the narrative of New Pompeii; there are a lot of implications relating to the ability to move objects and people forwards through time and these come out throughout the novel. The science fiction and historical elements of New Pompeii play off each other.
TQ: What inspired you to write New Pompeii? What appeals to you about writing Science Fiction (with Time Travel) and Alternative History? Why Pompeii and not some other ancient city?
Daniel: I was reading a lot about ancient Rome and at the same time re-working a short story about time travel. The two things snapped together in my head, and I had the basis of what would become New Pompeii.
Pompeii has always fascinated me: a town (along with Herculaneum, further along the coast) which has been preserved so well that you can get a real picture of what life may have been like before the eruption. I’m very interested in history – most historians I guess would like to travel back in time – and I wanted to do something involving time travel that was different to other stories about Pompeii: so I took the eruption of Vesuvius at the starting point and asked ‘so what happens next?’
TQ: What sort of research did you do for New Pompeii?
Daniel: I knew quite a bit about ancient Rome before I started, but I have worked my way through any number of specific books on the site, and Roman society. I wanted to get as much of the detail right as possible – without slowing down the action or forgetting what I was writing was essentially a thriller.
(It’s a great place to visit too! But if any of your readers are thinking of going, they should also try to get to Herculaneum, which is a smaller but better preserved site further along the coast).
TQ: In New Pompeii who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?
Daniel: The easiest was Nick Houghton – the historian through whom we get to know New Pompeii and the Romans. He’s the main POV character, so by the second or so draft I knew him pretty well. The hardest were each of the Roman characters: Roman society is very alien – very familiar, but very alien – and the balance had to be taken to make the book work.
TQ: Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from New Pompeii.
Daniel:
“Through the archway the narrow street spilled out into the large, open space of the forum. Nick exhaled deeply and stood frozen, ignoring the people flowing past him. Although not as grand as the reconstructions he’d seen of Rome’s civic centre, the forum still reflected the essence of something that had continued long after the fall of the Caesars. Like St Mark’s Square, the Grand Place of Brussels, or the long, grassy strip of Washington’s National Mall, this was a place where citizens could come and know the power of their city.”
TQ: What's next?
Daniel: I’m working on a sequel. New Pompeii was written as a standalone novel, but I had a few other ideas I wanted to explore in terms of Roman society, and other aspects of time travel, which I’ve fortunately been given the opportunity to pursue. Then it will be onto something new …
TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.
Daniel: Thanks!
New Pompeii
Titan Books, June 21, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 352 pages
In the race to control renewable power, an energy giant stumbles on a controversial technology: the ability to transport matter from the deep past. Their biggest secret is New Pompeii, a replica city filled with Romans, pulled through time just before the volcanic eruption.
Nick Houghton doesn’t know why he’s been chosen to be the company’s historical advisor. He’s just excited to be there. Until he starts to wonder what happened to his predecessor. Until he realizes that the company has more secrets than even the conspiracy theorists suspect.
Until he realizes that they have underestimated their captives…
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
iBooks : Kobo
About Daniel
Daniel Godfrey has had several short stories published, including in My Weekly and Writers’ Forum, and is a dedicated reader of SF and historical fiction. He studied geography at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and gained an MSc from Leeds in transport planning. He lives in Derbyshire.
Daniel Godfrey has had several short stories published, including in My Weekly and Writers’ Forum, and is a dedicated reader of SF and historical fiction. He studied geography at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and gained an MSc from Leeds in transport planning. He lives in Derbyshire.
Sci-Fi Month 2016: Author Interview with Daniel Godfrey + Giveaway
POSTED 20 NOVEMBER, 2016 BY RINN IN AUTHOR INTERVIEW, GIVEAWAY, SCI-FI MONTH / 10 COMMENTS
SFM16_7
This post is part of Sci-Fi Month 2016, a month long event to celebrate science fiction hosted by myself and Over the Effing Rainbow. You can view the schedule here, follow the event on Twitter via the official @SciFiMonth Twitter account, or with the hashtag #RRSciFiMonth.
At the beginning of 2015, you may have seen me obsessing over a book called New Pompeii, by Daniel Godfrey, which sounded like a Jurassic Park-inspired novel focused around Pompeii – basically my dream novel. With career ambitions focused around archaeology, I cannot get enough of anything set around the ancient world – especially if there’s a clever sci-fi spin to it.
Cut to one year later, and New Pompeii turned up on my doorstep, thanks to the excellent Titan Books. And then when I announced that Sci-Fi Month was returning for 2016, I soon noticed that a certain Daniel Godfrey had signed up for the event. It must be fate, right? Daniel was kind enough to let me interview him, so without further ado…
What gave you the inspiration for New Pompeii?
Daniel: New Pompeii came out of basically trying to do too many things at once: I was playing around with a few short stories that I’d written some years before – all relating to paradox and multiple timelines – whilst at the same time reading about ancient Rome. I’ve always been interested in Rome – it crops up in a lot of science fiction – and the two things came together because…
Why did you choose Pompeii in particular to bring through time?
Daniel: … of an interesting anomaly. One of the most deeply unsettling things about Pompeii are the plaster casts of its victims. In the best (or worst!) of these, you can see the expression of terror on the person’s face at the moment of their death. And yet there aren’t many of these casts: most of the remains simply haven’t been found – even though we know there were few, if any, survivors. Of course, they could have run but we know a lot of Pompeii was still very much active right up to the point of its destruction. Commercial ovens were found full of baking bread, for example. Painters and decorators were also out fixing things. So it just sort of worked: the plaster casts, the volcano, the missing people…
New Pompeii
If you had the chance to visit any place in history, where would you go and why?
Daniel: I’d have loved to have witnessed some of the space race in the 1960s. For all the excitement of the last couple of years in terms of visiting Pluto and Rosetta/Philae, I don’t think it comes close to the competition between the USSR and USA which culminated in Apollo.
Do you see any similarities between yourself and any of your characters?
Daniel: A-ha! No, bu I’ve heard a few writers at conventions say every character harbours a part of them. And when I had lunch with my editor in the summer, I made a comment which she said sounded just like [CHARACTER]. But I’m not going to say who!
What are your top science fiction novels and films?
Daniel: I’m a child of the 1980s, so in terms of films it would be The Empire Strikes Back, and Back to the Future. A lot of people say that Luke staring at the twin suns of Tatooine is the key shot of Star Wars – for me though it’s the arrival in the carbon freezing chamber aboard Cloud City: Vader already waiting and silhouetted in orange light. “You are not a Jedi yet…”
vader
More recently, I’ve enjoyed things like Minority Report and Edge of Tomorrow. In terms of novels, I really like Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy. Now completely superseded by the prequels and Episode VII of course, but still a lot of fun, and I think it’s interesting Disney are bringing Thrawn back to the TV shows but in a different era. Whether he’ll work in another context…? I hope so!
Who would be your dream dinner party guests, dead, alive or fictional (!), related to science fiction?
Daniel: Given what I’ve just put above… can I have Grand Admiral Thrawn?
If so, then the party would be Thrawn, Dana Sculley, Captain Picard, The Doctor and Amy Pond, and Ellen Ripley!
Thank you so much to Daniel for letting me interview him! He has also kindly provided a signed copy of New Pompeii for one lucky reader.
Please note that this giveaway is limited to the UK only. Apologies to my readers outside the UK!
Daniel Godfrey has had several short stories published, including in My Weekly and Writers’ Forum, and is a dedicated reader of SF and historical fiction. He studied geography at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and gained an MSc from Leeds in transport planning. He lives in Derbyshire.
New Pompeii
David Pitt
Booklist.
112.19-20 (June 1, 2016): p68.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
New Pompeii. By Daniel Godfrey. June 2016. 432p. Titan, paper, $14.95 (9781783298112); e-book (9781783298129).
A global corporation comes up with a way to pull people out of the past and plunk them down in the now. The company builds a replica of
Pompeii, reaches back to CE 79, and transports most of the citizenry to the present before they're killed in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. New
Pompeii operates as a sort of historical experiment, allowing scholars and scientists the opportunity to see how ancient Roman life really
operated, but as historian Nick Houghton discovers soon after he's recruited to be New Pompeii's historical advisor (the previous advisor left
under curious circumstances), the corporation running the place seems to have a hidden agenda. Sure, some of this has been done before--think
Jurassic Park or Westworld--but the story is so intriguing, the pacing so smooth, the environment so interesting, and the characters so appealing
that the novel feels fresh. The author creates a compelling mystery (What is the real purpose of New Pompeii?) and keeps us guessing at its
solution until the very end. A smart, well-thought-out book. --David Pitt
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Pitt, David. "New Pompeii." Booklist, 1 June 2016, p. 68. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA456094219&it=r&asid=ecac9357cda377ce77537a8462b36d37. Accessed 5 Feb.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A456094219
---
2/5/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1486345106940 2/2
New Pompeii
Publishers Weekly.
263.16 (Apr. 18, 2016): p101.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
New Pompeii
Daniel Godfrey. Titan, $14.95 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-78329-811-2
In this paradox-inflicted techno-thriller, all roads lead to Pompeii, or at least a modern recreation populated by original residents stolen from the
historical city. Nick Houghton, a history scholar, takes a position with the mysterious Novus Particles corporation, which has the ability to snatch
items and people out of the past. Its founders want Nick to join their latest project, New Pompeii, to infiltrate the populace and help maintain the
fiction that it is still 79 C.E. Nick, already leery of Novus Particles, is further worried when he sees how the Roman "subjects" are learning to
subvert the experiment. Debut novelist Godfrey puts in a lot of historical detail, comparing and contrasting the modern and ancient political
schemers looking to turn situations to their own advantage. The ethics of time travel are also explored with intriguing results. Godfrey's nuanced
affection for all things Roman shines through, but readers will have to wait for the sequel to get the answers they seek. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"New Pompeii." Publishers Weekly, 18 Apr. 2016, p. 101+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA450361308&it=r&asid=3c98f1562b4389a9ea3ece283eb37381. Accessed 5 Feb.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A450361308
A review of Daniel Godfrey's New Pompeii
Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
Published: 18 June 2016
Daniel Godfrey's New Pompeii will be published by Titan Books in June 2016.
Information about Daniel Godfrey:
Daniel Godfrey has had several short stories published, including in My Weekly and Writers' Forum, and is a dedicated reader of SF and historical fiction. He studied geography at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and gained an MSc from Leeds in transport planning. He lives in Derbyshire.
Click here to visit his official website.
Information New Pompeii:
Some time in the near future, energy giant NovusPart develops technology with an unexpected side-effect: it can transport objects and people from deep in the past to the present day.
For post-grad historian Nick Houghton, the controversy surrounding the programme matters less than the opportunity the company offers him. NovusPart's executives reveal their biggest secret: they have saved most of the people from Pompeii, minutes before the volcanic eruption. Somewhere in central Asia, far from prying eyes, the company has built a replica of the city. In it are thousands of real Romans. And Nick has been chosen to study them.
But Nick soon realises that NovusPart are underestimating their captives. The Romans may be ignorant of modern technology - for now - but city boss Manius Barbatus wasn't appointed by the emperor because he was soft. The stage is set for the ultimate clash of cultures in which time itself is a weapon...
A REVIEW OF DANIEL GODFREY'S NEW POMPEII
Daniel Godfrey's New Pompeii is one of the most intriguing reading experiences of the year, because it's an enjoyable and original blend of various elements. What makes this debut novel especially intriguing is that the author gives a whole new twist to the fate of Pompeii by writing about how a company has saved most of the people from Pompeii and placed them into a replica city by means of new technology.
I was impressed by New Pompeii and its entertainment values, because it turned to be a clever novel. Before I began to read it, I had a few reservations about its quality, because I've often been more than a bit disappointed by this kind of sci-fi thrillers due to their lack of originality. Fortunately, all my fears concerning the quality evaporated quickly as the fast-paced and action-filled story began to unfold, because the various twists and turns, action scenes and historical details appealed to my imagination and sense of style.
New Pompeii has an entertaining and intrigue-filled story. The story begins in a fascinating way:
In the prologue, Manius Calpurnus Barbatus witnesses the destruction of Pompeii with her daughter Calpurnia... Kirsten Chapman wakes up and realises that something has happened to her and everything is not as it should be. Something strange has happened to her, because she sees people, but they can't see her... Nick Houghton has problems securing funding for his research proposal. He fears that he may be made redundant and won't get his doctorate. He is contacted by a company called NovusPart, which uses technology to transport things - items and people - from the past to the present, and is offered a job as a historical advisor with a six-week trial period. Nick finds out that NovusPart has created an almost exact replica of Pompeii and saved many people from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. When Nick accepts the job, he begins to wonder what happened to his predecessor...
The characterisation is fluent. The author writes especially well about Nick Houghton, because he's a well-created protagonist with realistic problems.
Nick has a bit complicated life, because his career prospects look dim and seem to have been hindered by his father's deeds. He's interested in research, but his future as a researcher is threatened by lack of funding. He has a lot to think about, because he must decide what he will do with his life.
The author's way of writing about Nick's career problems feels believable and realistic, because many researchers face problems due to lack of funds and other people's interest in their research fields. I think that many readers (especially those who have personally experienced what it feels like to prepare applications to secure funding) will sympathise with Nick's problems.
The replica city, New Pompeii, which has been built and created by NovusPart, is quite a sight to behold, because it has been designed to house the people who have been rescued before the ominous eruption of the volcano. This marvellous city is one of the highlights of this novel, because it has been built to resemble the real Pompeii (A.D. 79) as closely as possible.
NovusPart controls Roman people in an interesting way. People who live in the New Pompeii believe that they're still in Pompeii, because NovusPart has done their best to create a realistic vision of a city that has survived a major cataclysm. People have to stay in the city and are forbidden to travel elsewhere, because the Italian penisula is in chaos. People believe that the tremors and the eruption permanently changed the landscape beyond the walls. The NovusPart men are believed to be their saviours, sent by the god-emperor Augustus Caesar.
Reading about how Nick reacts to what he sees and witnesses in the replica city was fascinating for me. I enjoyed finding out things about the city and how it was controlled, because NovusPart had thought of various things when they had built the city and tried to contain the Romans within the city.
The chapters about Kirsten Chapman add a nice touch of mystery and strangeness to the overall storyline. In order to avoid writing spoilers, I won't go into details about these chapters, but I'll mention that they're intriguingly connected to the story.
Daniel Godfrey builds up tension and atmosphere in an excellent way. The gradually deepening atmosphere is enhanced by revelations about the happenings in the replica city. The author writes well about what Romans think about their situation and how the NovusPart staff members deal with arising problems, because NovusPart seems to have underestimated the rescued people.
One of the main reasons why New Pompeii is such a good and entertaining novel is the author's way of exploring the ethics of time travel in an interesting way. His approach to these issues feels intriguing.
It was entertaining for me to read about the cultural differences between the Romans and modern-day people, because the clash between people from different eras brings depth to the story. As an example of a major cultural clash I can mention that the ancient people were more openminded concerning nudity and sexuality.
In my opinion, Daniel Godfrey is one of the few debut authors who have managed to blend time travel and thriller elements in an enjoyable and intriguing way. I consider him to be an heir to Michael Crichton, because his writing style is similar to Crichton's style. He has an eye for all details and he pays attention to entertainment values, which means a lot in this kind of fiction.
The author's love for history and fascination with the ancient way of life can clearly be seen in the story. He writes so well about historical details and facts that there's no doubt about his enthusiasm and commitment to write this kind of science fiction.
I look forward to reading the sequel, Empire of Time, which will be published in June 2017. I have a feeling that we can expect a lot from it in terms of cleverness, entertainment and originality, because this novel is a promising start to the series.
Daniel Godfrey's New Pompeii is not to be missed by readers who love fast-paced sci-fi thrillers with fresh ideas. It's an absorbingly told story with an emphasis on intrigue, action and entertainment. It will appeal to a wide range of readers (and it will be of special interest to fans of Michael Crichton and Dan Brown). If you're tired of reading bland sci-fi thrillers and think that most of them are boring and not worth reading, this novel will restore your faith to the genre, because it's a genuinely thrilling reading experience.
My final words are:
New Pompeii is an enjoyable and well-told sci-fi thriller that provides plenty of entertainment to those who are looking for something new and exciting to read! It's light and intriguing sci-fi entertainment at its best and most fluent.
New Pompeii by Daniel Godfrey
New Pompeii by Daniel Godfrey
Category: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewer: Ani Johnson
Reviewed by Ani Johnson
Summary: If you pull a city of Ancient Romans through to the 21st century, there's going to be trouble, but if you get Daniel Godfrey to write about it, it'll be well worth it! Exciting, original and very clever SFF..
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 352 Date: June 2016
Publisher: Titan Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1783298112
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Classicist Nick Houghton is employed by Novus Particles to assist them with a reconstruction of Pompeii – a reconstruction that includes the original, living first century inhabitants. NovusPart have discovered a way to pull historical artefacts (and indeed people) through time; an amazing innovation. The conspiracy theorists mumble about there being sinister reasons and the disappearance of key personnel helps to feed these rumours, but Nick needs a job and this is too good an opportunity to turn down. Anyway, that's what he tells himself to combat the repercussions of saying no.
Yorkshire born, Derbyshire adopted author Daniel Godfrey's debut novel is literary superglue. I speak from experience, getting back to work late from lunch today because I couldn't put it down till I'd finished it.
The cover blurb compares Daniel to Michael Crichton so I was half expecting Jurassic Park with Romans replacing dinosaurs, but not a bit of it. It's more original than that.
This is a thriller that works through layers of revelation, each blowing our mind a little more than the last. I'm not going to spoil the discovery for you, but shall we say that the author plays with our perceptions and wins resoundingly.
The basic idea is simple. Nick is our innocent who, with little choice, has been thrust into a historical experiment. At least that's how it's sold to him but gradually he realises that there's more to it as we would expect there to be where the corporate world is concerned. Yet it's not the sinister we guessed at the beginning.
It may be another novel in which global corporates – in the form of Whelan and MacMahon - are bad but we don’t have much time to look out for stereotypes since we're soon absorbed by the action and those revelations… yes, the ones I mustn't talk about. (When buying the book, get a copy for your friend at the same time; not being able to discuss the twists is frustrating… she says speaking from personal experience!)
Meanwhile back with the Romans… we feel sorry for them, effectively caged within the confines of a mock-up Pompeii. Barbatus, the duumvir (a sort of city leader) wants his people to return to normal life – fishing, making fish paste and trading with surrounding towns and villages to name but some pastimes they've had to forfeit. How long will they believe the cover story? It may be that the only qualification one needs to be an ancient Roman is to have come from ancient Rome rather than to be stupid, but we get the feeling that MacMahon and Whelan may not have realised that bit.
Nick's chapters are intertwined with a story of the ghost of a room maid roaming a Cambridge University college. Gradually as the two storylines come together we receive another jolt or two.
Daniel's surprises go even beyond the last page. Just as we're still reeling from an ending that looks as though everything has been almost tied up nicely, there comes an announcement of a sequel in progress. That to me that's the best surprise of all; looking forward to it Mr G!
(Thank you to the folk at Titan Books for providing us with a copy for review.)
Further Reading: If you like your thrillers to be surprise-ridden, we heartily recommend Orphan X (Evan Smoak) by Gregg Hurwitz. If you'd like to retain that hint of science fiction, then we just as heartily suggest Ace of Spiders by Stefan Mohamed.
BOOK REVIEWS
The Trouble with Paradoxes: New Pompeii by Daniel Godfrey
Liz Bourke
Thu Jun 30, 2016 11:00am 2 comments Favorite This
“Like Crichton at his best,” proclaims the pull-quote on the front cover of Daniel Godfrey’s New Pompeii. I suppose I should have taken that as a warning…
The problem with novels involving time travel is paradox. The problem with paradox in novels is that novels, generally, rely on the existence of cause-and-effect. This happens, so that happens, so the climax and denouement makes sense and offers some sense of narrative satisfaction. Paradox puts a spanner in the whole works. Paradox makes the wheels come off. Paradox screws everything up.
I hate paradox. And New Pompeii relies on it.
Which is not to say I would have found New Pompeii particularly entertaining even absent its love affair with paradox. It’s competently written, after the fashion of a thriller: short sentences, short chapters, minimal characterisation. In its favour, it is relatively well-informed about Roman society and culture—much more so, at least, than several other time-travel novels that involved Romans. In its disfavour… well.
Nick Houghton is the son of a disgraced academic. He’s been working on his own academic career, but hasn’t quite got his act together to get his actual PhD—he’s apparently spent several years employed in some unofficial capacity in a London university without one, which in a field like Classics seems to strain plausibility, and he also doesn’t seem too worried about his student loans. When his deadbeat friend Ronnie ropes him into a piece of dangerous activism, disrupting a presentation by speakers from the giant energy company NovusPart—an energy company that controls the practical applications of time travel technology—Nick finds himself offered a job instead of being arrested or disappeared.
NovusPart want a historical advisor for their latest project: a reconstruction of the ancient town-city of Pompeii, complete with all the original inhabitants who could be rescued from the eruption of 79 CE. (NovusPart is not big on informed consent: None of the Romans have been informed that they’ve been moved in time, and NovusPart’s excuses for keeping the townspeople confined to the town and its immediate surroundings are beginning to grow thin. The leaders of the town aren’t stupid, but NovusPart are treating them as if they were.)
While Nick makes friends with a Roman magistrate and his daughter, Calpurnia—a clever woman who wants to know why all the town’s carrots are now orange, and why the chickens are so much bigger than usual—and enemies among the NovusPart staff, in a bathtub in Cambridge, a young woman believes she’s a ghost. Kirsten Chapman keeps waking up in the bath. She discovers she can pass through walls. And time passes—a lot of it—between each of her awakenings.
Of course, Kirsten’s chapters aren’t timestamped, any more than Nick’s are, so quite a bit of the book passes before we realise how far the two main narrative strands (although it’s a bit of a stretch to call Kirsten’s narrative strand a “main” one) lie apart in time. That’s a bit frustrating. And all the more frustrating, since there are hints of conspiracies and plots going on in the background, left unexplained—or even retconned, if I may use that word, into non-existence—by the paradoxes unveiled at the conclusion.
It’s a competent book. I expect I’d be rather less irritated by New Pompeii if the vast majority of its characters weren’t white (presumably straight) Englishmen. There are three women in this book, and none of them have high-status occupations like “professor,” or “translator,” or “inventor,” or “head of multinational corporation”—or even interesting ones. Kirsten changes people’s bedlinens and empties their bins. Calpurnia is portrayed as clever but has barely any time on the page, and the third—I cannot remember what the third does for a living, since every time she appears, she’s mentioned in reference to her young son, and her cluelessness about Roman culture is highlighted.
It’s my own fault for having higher standards. I’ve been reading by preference pretty much nothing but books by women and books by men who include women—like Max Gladstone and Charlie Stross and Django Wexler—for a few years now. It comes as a shock to read a book that’s not good at women, these days—I mean, not cringingly eye-searingly bad, but just not good. I notice it, where before I wouldn’t.
In conclusion: New Pompeii. It’s the first book in a series. It’s not bad, and it even has its good points. If you’re looking for a Michael Crichton-esque thriller, I guess it might work for you. My overall response, though?
Let’s just say I’m not about to erupt with enthusiasm.
Review: ‘New Pompeii’ by Daniel Godfrey
By Stef G. - June 18, 20160206
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New Pompeii via Titan Books
via Titan Books
Time travel is very much a reality in New Pompeii. Unfortunately, a shadowy organization created the tech for sinister purposes.
If time travel were invented today we would like to think that we would all have access to it. We’d like to think that it could be free or attainable like the latest gadget. In Daniel Godfrey’s novel New Pompeii, however, we get a more realistic idea of what would happen. A company named NovusPart (short for Novus Particles) has created time travel tech, but they should be kept the furthest away from it.
New Pompeii has quite the cast of characters but focuses on two characters, in particular. Nick Houghton is a historian looking to break into the world of academia and research, and Kirsten Chapman is a woman stuck in a kind of time travel limbo. Kirsten is neither here nor there. She’s something of a ghost but her fate is complicated. There’s more to her story than meets the eye. James Harris is another shadowy character determined to bring down NovusPart, but whether or not he’s a good guy or a bad guy remains to be seen. What is for certain is that he’s playing the long game.
The bad guys are almost Dickensian in their wickedness. Chief Operating Officer Mark Whelan and Chief Executive Officer Harold McMahon run NovusPart and their evil nature is barely veiled. Whelan’s polite coldness is even more disconcerting than McMahon’s churlishness. The Pompeiians aren’t stupid and they are not so easily swayed. They most certainly don’t like being tricked or treated like children. Their resentment becomes a tinderbox for NovusPart and all involved.
The Real Pompeii under Mt. Vesuvius
The Real Pompeii via LonelyPlanet.com
Nick’s friend Ronnie is convinced that NovusPart is transporting people from various time periods for sinister reasons. Ronnie is particularly concerned about the children who’ve disappeared in droves. There are real repercussions to this because a lot can happen in that time. What would you do if you were transported many years into the future? Imagine the difference between 1985 and 2015. Would you be able to handle the changes upon being dropped into the future? Would your family be the same? Would they even be alive? These are all questions that come up at one point or another in New Pompeii and the reader is also forced to put themselves in the characters’ shoes.
New Pompeii is part sci-fi, part historical thriller. I’ve yet to read a novel that balances both genres so well. Godfrey manages to educate the reader about the real Pompeii, ancient Roman customs, and everyday life, while–mainly through Kirsten–painting a vivid picture of time travel and what could (and does) happen when corporations use the technology at their disposal to influence the world regardless of the outcome.
If you’ve ever read Michael Marshall’s The Intruders and loved it, you would enjoy New Pompeii because as with the former, Godfrey makes you think out loud about the way we understand the misunderstood; the unexplained. What would we do if we had time travel technology today? What would we demand from whoever holds such power as a society? Would we demand that someone go back and kill Adolph Hitler or save Abraham Lincoln? Would it change the timeline for better or worse?
There are parts of New Pompeii that lagged a bit, particularly when Godfrey really delves into comparing the real Pompeii with the Pompeii experiment Nick is lending his expertise to. However, Godfrey picks up the pace after the first couple of chapters, right about when Nick makes his decision to work for NovusPart, and just keeps building and building. Nick is something of an anti-hero in that he doesn’t rage against the NovusPart machine and its evil, Machiavellian emissaries as quickly as we would imagine ourselves doing, but when he finally gets fed up, he goes full bore and it is incredibly satisfying to read Nick’s progression from laying low to taking matters into his own hands.
I really enjoyed New Pompeii and I say this as someone who wasn’t that attracted to ancient Roman history. In the end, I learned quite a bit and realized that I wanted to know more. What I really can’t wait to find out is what happens next. Unfortunately, we won’t find out until June 2017 when Godfrey’s Empire of Time, the sequel to New Pompeii, debuts.
Note: This book was sent to GeekMundo in exchange for an honest review. We were not compensated in any way. Trust me, if it sucked, I would have told ya.
Books
‘New Pompeii’, by Daniel Godfrey
June 24, 2016
by: Review by James Lovegrove
A perfect replica of Pompeii has been built in a formerly Soviet central Asian republic. But this isn’t some grand-scale historical re-enactment venue. The town has been populated with the residents of the real Pompeii, snatched from their homes just before Vesuvius erupted and dragged forward in time using cutting-edge technology. The corporation responsible intends to exploit their creation for all it’s worth, but things, of course, do not go to plan. The Pompeiians have no wish to be museum exhibits or reality-TV fodder.
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New Pompeii’s vertiginously high-concept idea is bolstered by strong characterisation and excellently knotty plotting that balances temporal paradoxes and moral conundrums with the science-run-amok thrills of Westworld and Jurassic Park.
New Pompeii, by Daniel Godfrey, Titan Books, RRP£7.99, 424 pages