Ken Catran

Ken You’ve all probably heard of Ken Catran and the chances are you’ve all probably read one of his books. He’s one of New Zealand’s most successful and prolific writers - he’s been a scriptwriter for Shortland Street and his works of fiction range from murder mysteries to science fiction to the reality of life in the trenches during World War 1.

Interview - 2005

Ken's book Sea of Mutiny - was published in 2005 and we met to talk to him about this … and a few other things as well.

You’ve written a variety of teen fiction novels but what is your favourite genre and why?: I prefer writing history. When I’m researching, I’m very aware that the real story is quite often underneath and involves more digging around. One thing I’ve learned is that so far as history goes, it never pays to take anything on face value. It’s fascinating stuff though because you always come across a lot more than you can possibly use.
Why did you write a novel about Mutiny on the Bounty?: I’ve always been fascinated by the legend of Captain Bligh - was he truly a tyrant of a captain or not? My interest deepened when I discovered he’d been a lieutenant on Captain Cook’s ship. This was an exceptional achievement back then - the equivalent of getting onto the space shuttle in this day and age - as his social status wasn’t high which meant he’d had to have been an excellent seaman to have been appointed such a position. He then went on to Captain his own ship and proved himself to be a fair and just captain when so many others were incredibly sadistic. Bligh’s philosophy was that "Flogging makes a good man bad" and even though he had a volatile and ferocious temper it passed quickly. He wasn’t a cruel man - despite what many of the history books say. As to the Hollywood movies - well, each one got further and further away from the truth with the worst being the latest with Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson.
Where did the idea for the Moran Quartet come from?: I wanted to write something that would totally deglamourise war and show what it’s really like. The reality is like a slap in the face and I felt I really needed to play a part in showing what war and violence is really like.
Jacko Moran: Sniper is a superb read. It depicts the total horror of WW1 without overt sentimentality. Where did you source your material from?: Oh, Jacko probably took anything from 3-4 months to 20 years to write! I was working in TV in the 80s when a few Gallipoli soldiers were interviewed and I was lucky enough to talk to them and sourced a lot of material there … but many of them simply didn’t want to talk about it. Not at all. It was the only way they could deal with the horror of their experiences by closing it off totally. The soldiers from World War 2 were the same. I wanted to go into a veterans’ home and interview them when I was writing Robert Moran: Private but the matron wouldn’t let me. She told me that these men have been holding their experiences in all their lives and that she didn’t want them upset now. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder hadn’t even been heard of back then but when I think about it so many of our returning soldiers showed all the symptoms as they tended to be strong and silent with violent outbursts. This could quite possibly have been the start of the era of the supposedly ‘good ol’ Kiwi male.’
You’ve dedicated Jacko Moran to the memory of Siegfried Sassoon 'whose poems brought alive the horror of the war.' Do you have one that made a particular impression on you?: "Good morning, good morning!" the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ‘em dead,
And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
“He’s a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arra with rifle and pack.
…
But he did for them both by his plan of attack
&
You smug faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go
(The War Poems by Siegfried Sassoon); (A low estimate of the First World War death toll suggests 8.6 million men were killed. This works out to an average of over five and a half thousand men killed every day of the war.; Source: Out In The Dark / Poetry of the First World War edited by David Roberts)
When are the other books in the Quartet due?: Jimmy Moran / Regular is out now. This is about the Vietnam war and it’s very different to the others because Jimmy is a professional soldier who copes well in the forces and ends up as a major general. And lastly, there’s Teresa Moran which is set in Iraq and Timor - I’m in the process of writing this now. It’s a very controversial subject as I wanted to show both sides of the story - Muslim v Christian, Iraq v USA. So much of what really happens never makes it into the newspapers and I want to offer informed choices for young people to make their own minds up. Again, soldiers involved in this war don’t want to talk about their experiences but I’ve sourced some excellent information from journalists and war artists.
Is it difficult for you to write from a female perspective?: No, not at all, as it’s very much from a professional soldier’s point of view although I’m also covering modern day issues such as harassment from male colleagues, for example.
Do you ever get depressed immersing yourself in all the horrors of war?: Well, maybe … but I always have something else on the go which helps. Some lightweight fiction as opposed to the heavy war stuff. Hmmm … there’s the one about the pilot who crashes … and I want to tell the story of two boys who … (big pause for thought) … actually, now you happen to mention it there are about ten or twelve different novels I’m working on at the moment …

Interviewed September 2005

Tags:

Read topics

Read articles

Ken Catran

Interview - 2005

Further Info

More Stuff