"I think we do have imperial overlords today, but these are the mega rich. They might be American, but they might equally be British or Polish. They have a wonderful time on their mega yachts and in helicopters while the rest of us work most of the waking hours of the best years of our lives to make them richer"
Arkady Saulski: You are an author writing about the ancient, Roman times. How do you perceive the modern world - do we have some kind of new Roman Empire? Maybe the United States fit this description?
Angus Watson: Interesting question. I think we do have imperial overlords today, but these are the mega rich. They might be American, but they might equally be British or Polish. They have a wonderful time on their mega yachts and in helicopters while the rest of us work most of the waking hours of the best years of our lives to make them richer. The whole basis of capitalism is that you employ someone for less that they are worth, which isn’t that far from the slavery which supported the Roman Empire.
In your novels we have a huge empire and minor tribes fighting against it - but does history repeat itself?
History does repeat itself. We saw minor tribes fighting back against the British empire, for example. However today’s corporate empire is more insidious because it does not take land, it just takes money and lives. The only people fighting against it that I can think of are groups like Al Quaeda and ISIS, and it’s hard to think of them in a positive light.
What about Jules Ceaser? He is probably one of the most known historical figure around the world but we know that his legend grew over time. Was he truly such a great politician and leader?
Caesar was arguably the greatest military leader of all time. He conquered France in two years, for example, with a relatively tiny force. What makes it more remarkable is that he was not commanded to conquer France. In fact the Roman rulers told him not to. He did it entirely off his own bat, after illegally enlarging his army.
Will we see novels set in different time periods written by Angus Watson? The Napoleonic Age? Or maybe something medieval? How about Science Fiction - are you a fan?
I am currently writing a trilogy set in a fantastical North America one thousand years ago, in which a group of Vikings must cross the continent to fulfill a prophesy. I do like science fiction and it is possible that I will write some one day.
