Interview with José Zoilo Hernández, author of the trilogy Las ashes de Hispania

Photo: Profile of José Zoilo Hernández on Twitter.

The Tenerife Jose Zoilo Hernandez He studied to be a biologist, but with time and his passion for history, he decided to write his own. And he achieve it. His successful trilogy The ashes of Hispania, which started with The alano, continued with Fog and steel and has finished off with The doge of the end of the world, has placed him at the top of the most popular authors of the genre. Today I thank you for granting me this interview.

Literature News: Do you remember the first book you read? And the first story what did you write

Jose Zoilo Hernandez: I remember fondly some classics from when I was very little, with whom I discovered how pleasant it could be to read. "Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame; "The Little Vampire", by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, and "The Thirty-fifth of May", by Erich Kästner. Much later I read my first historical novel: "Aquila, the last Roman", by Rosemary Sutcliff.

As a child I liked to write short stories, kid things; But since then I hadn't considered trying to put a story on paper again until I started to create “Las ashes de Hispania”. So we could say that my first novel was "El alano", the beginning of my trilogy.

AL: Which was the first book that impacted you and because?

MR: I would say that the first historical novel that was made available to me: "Aquila, the last Roman." It opened before me a tremendously attractive world. He was able to show me that two of my passions could be united, on the one hand literature and on the other, history.

AL: Who is your favorite writer? You can choose more than one and from all eras.

MR: Although it is true that the range of my favorites is wide, if I had to stay with one I would do it with Bernard Cornwell. From my point of view, nobody narrates a battle like him, nor does he give depth to his characters like he does. Very close, they would be Colleen McCullough, Gisbert Haefs, Lindsey Davis or Santiago Posteguillo.

AL: What book character would you have liked to know and create?

MR: I think if I could I would choose two. The character of Hannibal from the novel of the same name Gisbert haefs; and that of Derfel cadarn, from the trilogy of "Chronicles of the Lord of War", by Bernard Cornwell. From my conception they are two insurmountable characters.

AL: Some mania when writing or reading?

MR: When I'm in a “very productive” moment of writing, I tend to deliberately forget the novels that rest on my bedside table. I focus so much on the story that I am creating that I avoid becoming engrossed in others.

AL: And you place and time preferred to do it?

MR: Although it is something that I cannot do as often as I would like to, I love to write early on the weekends. Get up at 7, make a coffee, sit in my office next to my library, turn on the laptop ... and return to the world around 10 ready to start the day.

AL: What writer or book has influenced you in your work as an author?

MR: Although it is something that I have never stopped to think about, I imagine that Rosemary sutcliffBecause she was responsible for my love affair with the historical novel as a reader; Alexandre Dumas, since shortly after that first I read "The Three Musketeers" and it confirmed that the historical novel was my thing, and finally Bernard Cornwell.

AL: Your favorite genres?

MR: I have no way of hiding it: without a doubt, the historical novel. Almost everything I read has to do with this genre. I also read some fantasy, but very sporadically.

AL: What you're reading now? And writing?

MR: Right now i'm reading "The Captain's Ear", by Gisbert Haefs. It is a new subject for an expert in the ancient Mediterranean, and it catches my attention. Regarding what I am up to right now, I am correcting a novel (historical, of course) that I started a while ago and that will be released next year, although we still have to specify the date. Some time ago I said that I was really liking the XNUMXth century and I still maintain it.

AL: How do you think it is the publishing scene for as many authors as there are or do you want to publish?

MR: I think we are facing a very nice stage, open and with multiple possibilities. Self Publishing, Traditional Publishing, Hybrid Writers; I think that right now there is the possibility of choosing between different options, which undoubtedly multiplies the possibilities that good novels can reach their audience.

I think the best example is myself: I started self-publishing, but from then on, a publishing house as important as Ediciones B decided to bet on me, a new author, for its collection of historical novels. I think that there have never been so many opportunities for good novels, and I have the enormous fortune to have reached a publishing house where several of my references also publish.


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