David Gunn talks about war, sex and alcohol in ‘Death’s Head’ : UK SF Book News

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May

20

David Gunn talks about war, sex and alcohol in ‘Death’s Head’

Posted in: UKSFBN Talks To on 20th May 2007 by Sandy Auden

With the Summer holidays approaching fast, it's time to have a gander at the book shelves for a good book (or two) to accompany the lazy days. David Gunn's debut novel, Death's Head, might not strike you as a fun read from the title alone, but hidden between its pages is a scurrilous tale of one man's journey to self enlightenment via war, blood, sex and sarcasm.

The star of Death's Head is Sven. For a soldier, he's dangerously irreverent to his superiors but his ability to heal quickly keeps him fighting despite the beatings. Currently deployed on a desert planet fighting the ferocious ferox, Sven is the first person to discover how to communicate with the beasts when his fort is wiped out by a ferox attack and Sven is held prisoner in their lair. After he's rescued, his information about the ferox culture catapults him into a job with the elite Death's Head corps – and some missions with a very short life expectancy…

The character of Sven permeates and colours the entire story in Death's Head but how much of the author's personality has gone into creating Sven? "The sex, the alcohol, the violence, and the weapons," said Gunn. "Everyone said write about what you know so I did. There's still enough stuff left over for the next book and the one after that. Obviously, Sven's the watered-down version."

Death's Head is fundamentally an adventure story and events come thick and fast. What did Gunn think was the most important ingredient in the story to keep the readers turning the pages? "Action, movement, liking the characters, maybe even wanting to be the characters," he said. "Of course, if you've got bloody great guns and fanged warriors and a bunch of elite shits swanning round in black uniforms it probably helps."

Another aspect that helps to keep the action moving is the absence of any kind of large info-dump. "There are three books, maybe more - time enough to spell things out at a later date. Also, when you're inside a battle all you know is the battle, the other stuff means nothing. We're seeing this through Sven's eyes. He's a pig-ignorant ex-grunt with a talent for killing things. How much of what's going on around him is he going to take in?"

And how did Gunn find the writing experience with Death's Head? "Writing it was quick and dirty, like the book. Sven turned up in my head fully armed and insanely dangerous. So I thought lets get this down and went out, bought a laptop to write it on and holed up in a bar in Central America. I had a fever at the time and that probably helped."

For more information, visit the author's MySpace site.

Source: David Gunn

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