Interview With Author Martin Kyrle

1. What inspired you to write this book? A fortnight after my wife's funeral the local council put on a celebration of her life as she'd been a councillor for 30 years, a magistrate for the same and had an OBE.  My best friend who was also best man at our wedding came down for the occasion and then back to my place for some dinner.  After that he leant back in his chair and said 'I've been thinking about next year.'  I grunted.  'The Trans-Siberian Railway.'  'What!'  Well, I've always wanted to go to Russia but I can't understand the language but you can.  Now Margaret's died you're free to go.'  He was also a widower.   'How long do you have in mind?  You can get on in Moscow and get off the other end and it takes ten days.  But there's nothing to see so what's the point?'  We ought to break the journey up and spend a few days in some of the places en route.'  'O:K. You're the expert.  You choose.'  I picked Tobolsk, which has the only stone kremlin in Siberia (dating from the end of the 17th century).  Novosibirsk which is the capital (pop 1,500,000) and an island in Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake. Then Ulan Ude where the line to Beijing starts so we could spend a week in Mongolia.   2.  What exactly is it about - and who is it written for? Few of the Russians I know have ever been to Siberia - they go on holiday to the Mediterranean just like us.  So the book's about a long journey in a place everyone's heard of but very few have ever visited, and most people think of it as ice and snow and labour camps (in Tsarist times as well as communist ones).  The northern part is pretty much empty and barren, but the south is quite different, along the line of the railway and the cities are just like anywhere else except that they have low temperatures in the winter (my guide in Novosibirsk explained that when it gets to -25¨C they shut the primary schools, and at -35°C they shut the secondary schools).  But they get hardly any snow, just low temperatures and everyone wears appropriate clothing and goes about their business.  The book is for people interested in travel stories and about somewhere they have certainly heard of but haven't visited and they may have some of their misconceptions put right.   3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book? Because my companion was an accomplished photographer (even back in 2012 his camera was worth about £1,500) people will get a wonderful visual image of the country and its people alongside my descriptions written as a specialist in Russia who knows its history (often better than the guide!).  The style is light-hearted rather than didactic, so amusing at times or even downright funny especially when things went wrong and I had to talk our way out of what could have been a disaster. And we met numerous interesting people along the way, quite apart from our guides.   4. How did you decide on your book's title and cover design? The cover design was put together by the professional illustrator attached to Winchester University who takes on private work for a fee.   5.What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers - other than run!? Get a professional editor. Mine was a lecturer in creative writing at Winchester University, who offered her services just having read the original draft.   I'd written it as a narrative, and the first thing she made me do was re-write the whole text as a dialogue.   6.  Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book? I've done a lot of travelling and written two other collections of travel stories already, so have developed my own style.  I try to mix the serious bits, e.g. info about a famous person or building or event, alongside photos of food and descriptions of what it tasted like or how we got messed about with by hotel management or a guide got it wrong, e.g. telling us our excursion train didn't have a restaurant car so we spent the previous day searching for food for a picnic and then on the day finding that it did so we needn't have bothered.  My friend and I hitchhiked the length of Norway into Lapland and Finland back in 1959 and I hitched across most of Central Europe on my own in my student days, so we're both pretty self-reliant.  Just as well when things went wrong!  Plus, of course, the benefit of being able to speak the language when necessary.   7. How would you describe your writing style?  Which writers or books is your writing similar to? I write, I hope, in a light-hearted manner and hope to keep the reader interested, amused or even laughing at what at the time perhaps wasn't actually a laughing matter.  When you're familiar with languages other than your own (I have paper qualifications in five; when I was mayor I had to make speeches of welcome in French, German and Russian as well as, of course, in my own) you develop a fluency in style.  Having been a secondary school teacher I know how to explain things using clear and straightforward language but without sounding condescending, and I have a near perfect command of spelling, grammar and syntax plus the ability to touch-type.  (Not boasting, but if you've taught Russian grammar to A level you won't find English grammar much of a challenge!)  Everyone who's ever read any of my books has said how much they enjoyed them.  I'm happy with that.   8.  What challenges did you overcome in writing of this book? Trying to keep a daily diary when more or less constantly on the move, and trying to keep track of which time zone you're in and trying to reconcile that with your own watch.   9. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should be yours? Siberia is a huge country and totally different from its common reputation.  Read all about it, and be prepared to be amazed!  And enjoy the wonderful pictures and explanations of what they show.  For a start, not a snowflake in sight.  In September the temperature is in the twenties Celcius and it never seems to rain.  Some of the local food is delicious, some of it, well, er. not.  Read my account and share my delight - or disgust.  And join me in being blessed by a shaman.   About the Author: I have an honors degree in history (Southampton Univ), but also learned Russian during my national service in the Royal Navy and ten years after graduating took an MA in Russian Studies (Sussex Univ).  I taught Russian off and on as well as being a pastoral head in a large comprehensive school, and took early retirement. Outside of school I was a local council member for twenty years, and Mayor of Eastleigh in 1993. Please see: martinkyrle.com.

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About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over four million pageviews. With 5,000+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2025.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

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