What do you think of those ‘special features’ sections of DVDs – the director’s commentaries, deleted scenes etc?
I’ve always rather enjoyed them, and they generally give a greater appreciation of a movie… why the writers chose not to follow the book here, what the stuntmen had to go through there, and so forth. It’s easy to sit back and enjoy a story without thinking of what’s behind it, though of course there’s a good argument that that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do, and that seeing backstage destroys the illusion they’ve so carefully woven for you. I’m not sure…
As some of you will know, my wife Rose Melikan is a novelist, and her books are set in the late eighteenth century. What few of her readers will appreciate, though, is the level of research that’s behind them: many of the characters are real people, for example, who were in the places described on that day in history. Often, the weather described in the books has been cross-checked against that day’s Times. And so forth.
In general, Rose says, she does this just to feel comfortable that she’s not making any glaring mistakes, but we thought that some of the factual background might be of interest to readers, so her website now has a section for each of the books with a little more background information on some of the topics.
Click on the page for The Blackstone Key, The Counterfeit Guest or The Mistaken Wife and follow the links in the box on the left. There’ll be more coming when time permits…
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