Fantastyka i Gorzów Wielkopolski – interview with Mariusz Sobkowiak

Have you ever wondered what duties are on the shoulders of the editor-in-chief? How to combine such work with creating a novel? You will find answers to these and more questions in an interview with Mariusz Sobkowiak, the editor-in-chief of the fantastic magazine LandsbergON.

Kasia Opara: When did you come up with the idea of ​​choosing the profession of a journalist?

Mariusz Sobkowiak:I am an accountant by profession and this is my way of earning bread with a little butter (due to galloping inflation, this little bit turns more and more into a little bit, so let me make this commentary on the current economic reality). I have never felt like a journalist and I would avoid such a word, but an editor, publicist, writer, publisher are terms much closer to me and more compatible with what I do as a hobby. It also brings me some money, but it is definitely not my primary source of income or profession in the strict sense. This whole writing, editing and publishing of local fantasy magazines is probably just a springboard from the accounting profession. People at author’s meetings are usually amused by the contrast between my work as an accounting specialist and writing and publishing fantasy books. In accounting, everything has to be brought down to earth, the numbers have to match, the imagination is not the best advisor here. I have a lot of imagination, which is probably why I write and spend fantasy books to give it a discount after completing tax returns and financial statements. Can you imagine a fantastic story about the work of an accountant? This is a challenge! I think I have an idea for another text.

KO: At the beginning of your professional career, what fascinated you more? Journalism or writing books?

M.S.:It started with writing fantasy stories. They were published by niche sites and fantastic magazines, such as the recently reactivated “Gate”. As I have always devoured a lot of books and polished my own writing workshop, it caused a great internal need to create texts that I could share with the world. However, this need was greater than the possibilities of the local fantasy community and the entire fandom blogosphere, and one day, rather for a joke, I suggested in a circle of friends that we create our own fantasy magazine. Fully local, with stories and graphic works written by artists from our city. This thought germinated until it bore fruit in the form of a competition application to the city of Gorzów Wielkopolski for co-financing the publication of a fantasy magazine. Crazy idea in which we had absolutely no experience. Something that shouldn’t have happened. To my surprise, the city decided to grant us funds. Yes, five years ago, the adventure with Fantastic Magazine in Gorzów began“LandsbergON” ( www.landsbergon.pl ). Before the next ones, because the idea caught on in other cities, and before I knew what was actually going on, I became the editor-in-chief of fantastic magazines published in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Opole and the entire Greater Poland Voivodeship (i.e. “Imaginarium Opolskie”and “Imaginarium Wielkopolskie”). This year, two more cities could join, but the funds they offered us would not allow us to publish high-quality magazines. In our editorial office there is a rule that we either do something the best we can or not at all, so we had to thank these two cities. We hope that our fantastic empire will grow with new cities and new titles. For the record, let us also mention that apart from publishing local fantasy, I am also the editor of a socio-cultural semi-annual, entitled “Young Citizen”. It is the first magazine in our country created exclusively by young people and dealing with matters important to them. All our science-fiction magazines that have been published so far were very popular and received great reviews on fantasy portals. Fulfilling my dream, in 2021 I wrote and published my first fantastic novel, “Tales from the Plague”, which is warmly received by both readers and reviewers, and was nominated for the most important regional literary award. So it started with writing and I never quit, but most of my time is now being editor-in-chief and researching, promoting and publishing young local fantasy writers. In each issue of our magazines, we publish a debutant who has not shown his works in public so far, and that always gives me great joy. I honestly admit that I am a bit disappointed with the current mainstream fantasy that is being written and published in our country (this also applies to published stories). I have found that real pearls are hidden in the drawers of local authors with (as yet) unknown names, and I am ready to defend the thesis that our magazines are much better than many commercial publications.

KO: Is it easy to be an editor in chief? What are your responsibilities? Could this be called a full-time job?

M.S.:As editor in chief, you are responsible for the end result. When you receive corrected texts, you can also ask for corrections to the proofreader, if you see graphic shortcomings, you can talk to a graphic designer, but when you accept the journal for printing, the responsibility for the whole rests with you. I have always taken responsibility for any mistakes or mistakes. It is stressful, but you have to control each stage of the publication. I trust my people because they are great specialists, but mistakes happen to everyone and you have to be able to take them on your chest, which is also the duty of the editor in chief. I need to know a bit about every stage of publishing the magazine, from fundraising, through team recruitment, recruitment and editing, proofreading, graphic issues, negotiations with companies, to distribution. It’s something you have to live even more so if you have strict deadlines imposed by the journal’s founders, you cannot postpone something when there are problems with printing, typesetting or an unruly author who decides to change something at the last minute. It is hard work that I would have given up a long time ago if it were not for the satisfaction that comes with the end result, releasing something as brilliant as another issue of a local fantasy magazine. Created with heart, by enthusiasts.

KO: As editor-in-chief, do you have to make many difficult decisions? Do you need a “vein” for business in your work?

M.S.:The word “business” is absolutely appropriate here, but not in the traditional sense of the word. We do not make money from publishing our fantastic magazines (and this is the goal of every business in the strict sense), because we distribute magazines completely free of charge, but we have to take care of the “business” part of our activity as an editorial office. This means, first of all, that we need to find a source of funding for our activities. As the president of the dynamically operating NOVUM Society for Social Innovation, having experience in writing competition applications and obtaining grants, I proposed that we take part in bid competitions in local governments and try to obtain funds for the publication of fantasy magazines in this way. This is one of the reasons why the “local” nature of our releases is so important to us. Writing a project proposal is not much different than creating a business plan. We have to create a convincing application that will charm the jury and contain a realistic cost estimate for the project. It is not easy, because another “business” element of our activity is negotiations with companies. If the local government decides that our idea to create a local magazine is good enough to decide to grant funds, it does not mean full triumph. Most often, the awarded amount is significantly smaller than the one presented in the calculation. For this reason, we spend a lot of money from our own pockets, because, well, we love what we do and we get it in the form of donations from our supporters. The final effect is far from our needs and here we go to the negotiation stage. During the five years of publishing three local fantasy magazines, we changed the printing house that prepared our magazine four times. Unfortunately, the funds at our disposal are far from the rates proposed on the commercial market. Printing costs money. My role as editor-in-chief is to keep in touch with printing companies and convince them to drop some of the price. Fortunately, we finally found a printing house that negotiates individual rates with us, knowing that thanks to this they have a long-lasting customer in us. We do not hide, however, that costs, that is all these “business” matters, are our greatest enemy. We do what we can, sometimes reducing the number of copies or the type of paper, to stay within the budget. People who are not in the industry do not know that we import most of the paper for newspapers and books in our country, because local paper mills have long since switched to the packaging market. So the crisis in China causes a shortage of paper, deadlines are postponed and costs are skyrocketing. Of course, we could end up publishing the magazine exclusively on the Internet, but we don’t want that. Lots, if not most, of the famous fantasy zines come out exclusively in digital form. We, however, love paper, physical, even intimate contact with the magazine. Therefore, we try to make each edition also a beautiful item that is nice to have on the shelf. No e-book will give us that. As long as we can spend on paper. And this generates costs, so as the chief editor I must have the spirit of a “businessman”. Of course, we could end up publishing the magazine exclusively on the Internet, but we don’t want that. Lots, if not most, of the famous fantasy zines come out exclusively in digital form. We, however, love paper, physical, even intimate contact with the magazine. Therefore, we try to make each edition also a beautiful item that is nice to have on the shelf. No e-book will give us that. As long as we can spend on paper. And this generates costs, so as the chief editor I must have the spirit of a “businessman”. Of course, we could end up publishing the magazine exclusively on the Internet, but we don’t want that. Lots, if not most, of the famous fantasy zines come out exclusively in digital form. We, however, love paper, physical, even intimate contact with the magazine. Therefore, we try to make each edition also a beautiful item that is nice to have on the shelf. No e-book will give us that. As long as we can spend on paper. And this generates costs, so as the chief editor I must have the spirit of a “businessman”. that each edition is also a beautiful item that is nice to have on the shelf. No e-book will give us that. As long as we can spend on paper. And this generates costs, so as the chief editor I must have the spirit of a “businessman”. that each edition is also a beautiful item that is nice to have on the shelf. No e-book will give us that. As long as we can spend on paper. And this generates costs, so as the chief editor I must have the spirit of a “businessman”.

KO: Publishing stories in “LandsbergON” is a brilliant idea that allows young authors and amateurs to show their works to the world. How many works are taken into account for one issue of the biannual? On what basis do the stories get to him? What are the selection criteria?

M.S.:We conduct open recruitment for each issue of our fantasy magazines. Anyone can send us their text or graphics and this is how we get authors. Due to the fact that we are financed by local authorities, which are interested in our magazine having local artists, we had to introduce the criterion of the author’s relationship with a given town. At the moment, we publish local authors from Gorzów, Opole and Wielkopolska, which is where we have our magazines. The number of works that will ultimately be included in the issue depends on many factors, but the availability of space, i.e. the length of the texts and the number of pages, is always critical. This often causes disputes in the editorial office, when we cannot fit everything we would like. Each of the editors has different tastes. Ultimately, we decide everything democratically, that is, by voting. In the case of the “LandsbergON” Fantastic Magazine from Gorzów, each issue is thematic. From horror, through works devoted to a specific artist, such as Stanisław Lem, to Slavic mythology. The first criterion in this case is therefore the compatibility of the work we receive with the theme of the issue. The next step is the linguistic layer of the work. If there are errors there, we can fix them during proofreading, but if something is linguistically impossible to save, it is eliminated in the run-up. Ultimately, the idea of ​​what the text is about. If it tells you about nothing, nothing important to convey will fall away even if it is beautifully written. All this is pre-checked by the rating editors. As editor-in-chief, I only sit down to those texts that will pass through their sieve. And finally these texts are often completely independently or with the help of my great deputy Kamil Kwiatkowski I work, edit and shorten. About 6-7 stories and a few pages of color graphics are included in the issue. We publish many good texts that do not fit in the issue in subsequent editions, so you do not have to worry if the text does not appear immediately.

KO: How many people do you need for such a project to run smoothly? In your opinion, is it possible to run the journal alone?

M.S.:Publishing a magazine, if we want to take it seriously, is a multidisciplinary task. After all, in order to create each issue, you need a proofreader who will check all texts in terms of language, a graphic designer, to prepare a graphic design and submit a magazine, a person with IT skills, if we want to publish a magazine on the Internet, and a whole team of editors who know something about fantastics (if this is the journal’s profile), who will check the submitted stories, make changes to them and decide on publication. If you want to publish a paper version of the magazine, there will be financial costs, so we also need someone who will be responsible for raising funds. Let’s not forget about distribution, because we publish the magazine so that it reaches the audience, so someone has to pack the copies and deliver them to the addressees (further financial costs). A lot of work if one man were to do it. I do not rule out that there are such multi-talented supermen among us, but I can’t imagine doing it all alone. Therefore, when publishing our fantastic magazines, such as the Gorzów Fantastic Magazine “LandsbergON”, the Opole Fantastic Magazine “Imaginarium Opolskie”, or the Wielkopolska Fantastic Magazine “Imaginarium Wielkopolskie”, a whole team of wonderful people work. Enthusiasts, geniuses, and well, maybe a little crazy, but if someone doesn’t have a bit of madness, they wouldn’t do something like that. Without them, it would not be possible to achieve the goal of publishing high-quality local fantasy magazines.

KO: This topic is very close to me, because I would like to be a journalist myself in the future and write fantasy novels at the same time. How do you manage to combine these professions in terms of time and organization?

M.S.:Due to the fact that as an editor of magazines I deal with fantasy and I also write fantasy, these worlds interpenetrate. Of course, there is also the publishing of the socio-cultural newspaper “Young Citizen”, where this fantasy is no longer available, but when writing fantasy, you must have a lot of knowledge about social phenomena. How can we create a credible world from scratch if we are not interested in the world as such? Especially in my case, when my writing focuses largely on sociological fantasy, this interest in the world around us allows me to supplement my writing workshop. In addition to fantasy and text editing, in my magazines I also publish articles in magazines on domestic violence or social assistance (I am a social work educator by education), and this year I have received funds from the Lubuskie voivodeship for the creation of an internet youth radio, in which we are to discuss matters concerning young people from our region. For me, these worlds of fantasy and interest and describing social reality have always intertwined. One never excludes the other. Of course, another issue is the amount of time it takes. I used to write a lot more. Today, most of my time is supporting other authors, finding debutants, publishing works by others. Both give me a lot of satisfaction, fun and a sense of fulfillment, both as a writer and a social activist. For me, these worlds of fantasy and interest and describing social reality have always intertwined. One never excludes the other. Of course, another issue is the amount of time it takes. I used to write a lot more. Today, most of my time is supporting other authors, finding debutants, publishing works by others. Both give me a lot of satisfaction, fun and a sense of fulfillment, both as a writer and a social activist. For me, these worlds of fantasy and interest and describing social reality have always intertwined. One never excludes the other. Of course, another issue is the amount of time it takes. I used to write a lot more. Today, most of my time is supporting other authors, finding debutants, publishing works by others. Both give me a lot of satisfaction, fun and a sense of fulfillment, both as a writer and a social activist.

KO: What do you think plays the most important role when working on a novel?

M.S.:First, the idea is the most important. Second, the idea. And third, an idea. A good writing workshop does not hurt either, which, however, depends on our hard work, the experience we have gained while writing various smaller pieces and exercises, and only when we have one can we even think about sitting down to write a novel. There is a reason why I put so much emphasis on a good idea. This is due to my experience as the editor-in-chief of fantasy magazines. I must point out that most of the texts that come to us are devoid of any broader intention. Reading such stories, I wonder why the authors wrote them, did they have something to convey to the reader. Many, even great in terms of workshop, linguistically beautiful stories, with a perfectly illustrated world, suffer from a lack of an idea. Although they are written beautifully, they are about nothing in terms of content, giving the impression of effective blown eggs. After reading them, I have the impression that the authors had nothing to say, but seeing the approaching deadline for accepting applications, they wrote a text about nothing, even if there are no linguistic objections to such a work. There are tons of books in the world and even more stories. We won’t be able to read it all. So it would be great to limit the quantity to the quality. I advise novice writers, whether it is a novel or a story from the heart, to sit down to write only when they feel they have something to say. Force-typing when there is nothing we’d like to tell you doesn’t make sense. Of course, it is possible to create a coherent and perhaps even linguistically beautiful story, but without an idea it will be empty and meaningless. A writer should sit down to write only when he feels the compulsion to write. When an idea arose in his head and he is bursting with the necessity to share this idea with the world. The best lyrics popped out of my head fully formed almost immediately. An idea came up and I felt I needed to share it with the world. This idea does not have to be about the content itself, but it can also be a concept of an innovative form. In Primary Error, the whole idea of ​​the story started with the idea to write a time travel story, but it happens from the end backwards in the timeline. With each successive stage, we went back to the beginning of the story. The idea seemed so interesting to me that I felt compelled to implement it. How to create an interesting story, when we already know its ending? Admittedly, some stories show us the end, or at least they are soaking our eyes that we have known the end and want to know what led to it, but then the story goes linearly along the arrow of time. In this story, I wanted to go back more and more into the past with each fragment of it. The end shown at the very beginning was a real end, and a final one, because it was suicidal, I had no intention of deceiving the reader (although I like it sometimes, because why not use the element of surprise). I was curious if it was possible to tell a captivating story that would make sense. After all, we live in a cause-effect world, and in this story, let’s first get to know the effects and all our curiosity is focused on finding their cause. In this way, I combined the content of the story (time travel) with its form that breaks the linear time pattern. Only with this idea in my head did I sit down to write. Sometimes the impulse to write may be completely different than we initially think. When we agreed the subject of the ninth issue of “LandsbergON” (Slavic mythology) together in the editorial office, I sat down to write, because the story immediately came to my mind about the ancient ritual of our ancestors, about which no mention has survived, apart from enigmatic legends and folk games. In the scientific literature these were just a few mentions in Gieysztor’s “Mythology of the Slavs”. The human sacrifice ritual that our children are repeating today for fun, what could be more amazing? We will probably never know if such a custom took place at all and that’s just my idea. I have something to say to the world. It was only when I finished writing “The Messengers” that I realized that I was completely unknowingly writing a text about saying goodbye to my father. A few months after my father, whom I had no chance to say goodbye to, died. This was not my goal when writing, and I was amazed at the obviousness of this discovery. It turned out to be a text about Something Important that I would like to convey to the world, but at the same time about something completely different than I thought. If we already have a well-developed workshop (and without a workshop, there is no point in writing anything that we would like to show in public), then the idea is everything. There is nothing worse than writing a great story about nothing, or a good book that repeats for the hundredth time the same pattern that has long been present in literature. It was only when I finished writing “The Messengers” that I realized that I was completely unknowingly writing a text about saying goodbye to my father. A few months after my father, whom I had no chance to say goodbye to, died. This was not my goal when writing, and I was amazed at the obviousness of this discovery. It turned out to be a text about Something Important that I would like to convey to the world, but at the same time about something completely different than I thought. If we already have a well-developed workshop (and without a workshop, there is no point in writing anything that we would like to show in public), then the idea is everything. There is nothing worse than writing a great story about nothing, or a good book that repeats for the hundredth time the same pattern that has long been present in literature. It was only when I finished writing “The Messengers” that I realized that I was completely unknowingly writing a text about saying goodbye to my father. A few months after my father, whom I had no chance to say goodbye to, died. This was not my goal when writing, and I was amazed at the obviousness of this discovery. It turned out to be a text about Something Important that I would like to convey to the world, but at the same time about something completely different than I thought. If we already have a well-developed workshop (and without a workshop, there is no point in writing anything that we would like to show in public), then the idea is everything. There is nothing worse than writing a great story about nothing, or a good book that repeats for the hundredth time the same pattern that has long been present in literature. that completely unknowingly I wrote a text about saying goodbye to my father. A few months after my father, whom I had no chance to say goodbye to, died. This was not my goal when writing, and I was amazed at the obviousness of this discovery. It turned out to be a text about Something Important that I would like to convey to the world, but at the same time about something completely different than I thought. If we already have a well-developed workshop (and without a workshop, there is no point in writing anything that we would like to show in public), then the idea is everything. There is nothing worse than writing a great story about nothing, or a good book that repeats for the hundredth time the same pattern that has long been present in literature. that completely unknowingly I wrote a text about saying goodbye to my father. A few months after my father, whom I had no chance to say goodbye to, died. This was not my goal when writing, and I was amazed at the obviousness of this discovery. It turned out to be a text about Something Important that I would like to convey to the world, but at the same time about something completely different than I thought. If we already have a well-developed workshop (and without a workshop, there is no point in writing anything that we would like to show in public), then the idea is everything. There is nothing worse than writing a great story about nothing, or a good book that repeats for the hundredth time the same pattern that has long been present in literature. that it is a text about Something Important that I would like to convey to the world, but at the same time about something completely different than I thought. If we already have a well-developed workshop (and without a workshop, there is no point in writing anything that we would like to show in public), then the idea is everything. There is nothing worse than writing a great story about nothing, or a good book that repeats for the hundredth time the same pattern that has long been present in literature. that it is a text about Something Important that I would like to convey to the world, but at the same time about something completely different than I thought. If we already have a well-developed workshop (and without a workshop, there is no point in writing anything that we would like to show in public), then the idea is everything. There is nothing worse than writing a great story about nothing, or a good book that repeats for the hundredth time the same pattern that has long been present in literature.

KO: How does it feel when a novel is released? Relief, stress or maybe pride? Would you like to show it to the whole world?

M.S.:Writing is hard work, especially when we are chased by deadlines and funders who have provided funds for the publication of a novel. After I finished it, I didn’t write a sentence for a long time. I felt pumped out and relieved that it worked. If someone, after writing, feels that they are not mentally and physically exhausted, they have either written an epic or simply a bad text. A writer should finish writing as tired as the farmer coming off the field. Only then can I believe that someone contributed to writing. Work is work and you have to take that into account. Therefore, the first relief was when I finally finished the novel. Remember that after it was written, there were still a lot of corrections reported by beta-readers and, above all, by the historical consultant of the novel. Mr. Jan Zalewski sent me the last remarks on All Saints’ Day, which proves his enormous commitment and hard work that we put into the novel. At some point, we had to stop correcting, because we wouldn’t have had time with the typesetting and printing, but the effect is more than satisfactory. Relief and joy appear after the final shape of the novel is approved. We have our baby in front of us and we can see (I hope) that it is beautiful. The stress comes later when it comes to showing this child to the world. Writing can play a self-therapeutic role and I understand people who write in a drawer, but for me, writing is always inextricably linked with communicating something to other people, so I show the world everything that was written with such intent (if, of course, I decide that it is ready, but I never write in a drawer with no intention of finally showing it). There has always been a writer and a reader in literature. The act of writing and reading are inextricably linked. Assuming that I am writing to tell something to the world, of course, I wanted the novel to reach as many people as possible. And let’s not forget that the founders of the novel, in this case my city of Gorzów Wielkopolski, also expected me. This is where stress comes in. How will reviewers perceive the novel? Will readers like it? Will people be interested in it at all? In short and just a bit of a joke, what’s the point of all this? If someone does not feel stress when showing their work to the world, it means that they are not particularly related to this work. We want people to recognize our “child” as beautiful, and at the least valuable.“Stories from the time of the plague” all fears turned out to be in vain. The readers were so eager to receive the book (which I was distributing through local libraries, the museum and the city hall) that, unfortunately, not everyone got it. Fortunately, the novel is available digitally on www.opowiesci.fam.org.pland whoever has not acquired the paper version can learn the story this way. The copies of the book available in the Provincial and Municipal Public Library in Gorzów are, well, constantly unavailable, because the interest in borrowing them is greater than their number. The reviews published on the Internet turned out to be extremely favorable. What’s more, the reviewers showed in their texts that they understood the message of my book, which is what I really wanted to tell with it, and this was very important to me. The crowning achievement was the nomination of my novel for the most important literary award in the region – the Lubuskie Literary Laurel. Only three novels out of several dozen written by authors from all over the Lubuskie Province were nominated. People looked at my “baby” and found it quite beautiful. It was probably the first time that I felt pride. Okay, maybe when one of this year’s high school graduates wrote to me that he referred to my novel in his graduation dissertation. I have never felt the focus of the local cultural elite, but Tales from the Plague was promoted quite heavily in the local media, and I even had an author’s meeting at which readers surprised me with an innovative reading of my book.

KO: Can you please share your writing methods when there is a lack of inspiration? Is it worth forcing yourself to write at such moments?

M.S.:As I mentioned, first of all, we should not start writing at all if we do not have an idea, i.e. something new, valuable, that we would like to share with the world. Of course, when it comes to literary exercises, we can practice the style even without an idea, but it will not be something worth publishing. There is nothing worse than wondering after reading a text why it was even written. However, when we have an idea, something to convey, then putting this idea into a fast-paced action, or even a tolerable literary convention, may involve the necessity of forcing ourselves to write. Writing is work, and work doesn’t have to be only about pleasure, and frankly speaking, it’s rarely associated with it. When deadlines are chasing us, there is nothing to think about. A feeling of light-headedness occurs in every writer. If we are motivated, and this motivation gives us a sense of a certain “mission”, that is, that we have something to tell the world, then we will overcome the crisis. If this motivation does not exist, if we write but only to write, creating art for art, having nothing to convey, then we often let go of these moments. This once again shows how important a good idea is, the purpose of writing. When I have no idea how to move on with the story, I take a break. I start a purely conceptual work, namely I imagine the whole action in my head. My way of writing is almost like creating film scripts. When reading I imagine what I am reading and before I start writing myself I imagine the whole scene in my head. To what extent is what I am going to write credible, could it really look like what the reader sees in his head? I try different variants I put them on paper, re-imagine the whole scene, remove and edit unbelievable things. Immersion and the feeling of being immersed in the described world are very important. One unbelievable scene that will knock the reader out and hard to get his attention back. Polish writers sin with clunky, artificial dialogues and the accumulation of completely impossible action scenes. For me, the way to a creative crisis is imagination, when we create the whole scene in our head, it is much easier to manipulate the whole story, until we find the rest, and thanks to this, we can also be sure that the reader, while recreating this scene in his inner theater, will be able to feel it. “Dry Tekst” is also a problem for many stories that we receive for our fantasy magazines. More pauses and more conceptual work in the imagination instead of tapping keys would make a great typist. And sometimes, a much shorter text can be better than a nonsense word that must fill hundreds of pages. Some stories beat many novels. Neil Gaiman’s “It’s the Others” fantasy story is just three pages of a5 format, and has more content to it than many a multi-volume fantasy saga of tapeworms. And a great concept, which shows that the author had something to share. and it has more content than many a tapeworm, multi-volume fantasy saga. And a great concept, which shows that the author had something to share. and it has more content than many a tapeworm, multi-volume fantasy saga. And a great concept, which shows that the author had something to share.

KO: Did you write the novel chronologically, from beginning to end, or did you create several parts which then combined into one?

M.S.:My book, Plague Tales, tells a compact story, side by side, revealing its secrets to us. Each chapter brings us closer and closer to solving the puzzle, until the epic finale. For this to happen, it was necessary to narrate chronologically. In addition, each chapter shows us the forgotten history of the city of Gorzów Wielkopolski based on real historical events, so before starting to write, I had to choose each of these moments in our history and a specific story that I want to tell. As this is the first novel in my career, I focused on what I already know, which is short stories. We can read each of the chapters as a separate story and they will not lose their value. But only when combined, they show us a bigger picture, a new amazing story. “Opowieści z czasazy” is a historical-fantasy novel, the action of which takes place over seven hundred years in Gorzów / Landsberg. In each chapter of the book, we stop at a different point in our local history. The historical periods that will appear in the book have not been selected by me at random. We learn about the history of an extraordinary family stopping at times when various epidemics broke out in Gorzów. So we are witnessing an epidemic of plague, hell, English sweats. This is obviously not accidental, but it is related to the current COVID-19 pandemic we are struggling with. We start our adventure in the 14th century, during the Black Death epidemic. Gustav, a town trader from Landsberg, learns that he has a gift that could save everyone from the plague. In the 16th century, the descendants of Gustav grapple with an epidemic of “English sweats” and the mysterious legacy of their family. Forty years later, the plague ravages a city where witches are burning at stake. Hundreds of years later, the mystery of the Gustav family haunts Napoleonic soldiers dying of nervous fever and doctors fighting an epidemic of cholera. There will also be present times and one of the greatest contemporary tragedies in our city, i.e. the cathedral fire. Against the background of such events, a desperate father is looking for his daughter, who may be the key to solving the mystery and stopping the coronavirus pandemic. Is the answer hidden in the events that took place hundreds of thousands of years ago in the area of ​​today’s Gorzów? This is the question that we are looking for answers to together with the readers. The story of the novel guides us through the events of seven hundred years, allowing us to learn about the forgotten history of the city and take part in a fantastic adventure. The book’s final message is comforting. Despite all the tragedies that take place in the novel, the final conclusion is this – Love will always prevail.

KO: In your novel it is clear that you know the history of Gorzów very well. How long did it take you to search for information on this topic? Could you give some advice on how to do good research? Better before writing or during?

M.S.:Although “Tales from the Plague” is a work of fiction, each chapter refers to the actual events in the history of Gorzów Wielkopolski. All the described epidemics really took place, and this is only a small part of what our ancestors had to deal with (just have a look at the “Calendar of the plague times” attached to the book). I tried not to change the facts, but I used them to the fullest, trying my best to recreate the historical background. The very selection of pre-writing historical periods and specific events from our past had to be preceded by deep historical research. It took three years to gather the information, and I was still writing it while writing, but it wouldn’t make sense to start writing a novel without first preparation. because I would have to change a given scene every now and then, adjusting it to the historical realities. As with an idea, we do not sit down to write a history book without historical knowledge. Fortunately, I love my city and its history, so the data collection stage is a pleasant intellectual journey. What’s more, I could count on the help of specialists. If I managed to revive the spirit of the old Gorzów, it is thanks to Mr. Jan Zalewski, the curator of the Lubuski Museum in Gorzów Wielkopolski, who lent me his considerable knowledge by consulting the book for which I am very grateful. Historical consultations involved a lot of work. I wrote the entire book in a short time, actually six months, but I spent three years on conceptual work and collecting historical materials, publications, articles, books from the period. Thanks to this, each chapter has a broad historical moral background and reflects actual historical events. The heroes of the book are fictional characters, but for one person I made an exception. The chapter on the plague epidemic in the 16th century is the first and only chapter in which the main role is played by a historical figure, Walpurgia (Wella) Trepp, a witch from Gorzów. Wella Trepp was real, and the chapter is based on the actual course of her witchcraft trial. Her life in Gorzów was destroyed due to an absurd accusation of witchcraft. With this chapter I would like to bring back the memory of her and other Gorzów witches. Wella was not the only Gorzow-Landsberg witch, and the witches got a kind of commemoration in Gorzów. In the Woolen Market there was a well with a statue of a witch on a roof. The entire description of the witch trial from Gorzów is based on the book by Jerzy Zysnarski, “Well of witches, or a new story about mysterious monks, witches from Kobyla Góra, trials and pyres”, in which the author comprehensively documented the witch trials in Gorzów. Suffice it to say, everything I have described in this chapter really happened, and only the details are the result of licentia poetica. Even such events as the lynching in Mironice on the “witch” family really took place, although the perpetration of city councilors is my theory. In Mironice, witches were lost with great pleasure, which I did not fail to mention in the book (paradoxical as the medieval name of the town, Himmelstäd, means “heavenly town”). Also, the belief that that the entire process was a conspiracy against Młynarzowa, I based it on the claims of Zysnarski. Boggischow and Schumann, also accused of witchcraft, also existed for real, and each of them met the fate described in this chapter. The birth of the child of the “witch” Treppowa in the dungeon of April 10, one thousand five hundred and sixty-five, was also not invented. Due to the fact that I relied heavily on the story and described the experiences of a real character, it was one of the most difficult chapters. Moreover, this book, based on real historical events, acts as a mirror of our present reality. The stories in this book show that in many places we have learned nothing, and many of the problems we face today echo events in the past. For example, during the cholera epidemic in 19th-century Prussia, public places such as schools, theaters, restaurants had to be closed, while churches could be open, which made them seedbeds of the epidemic. As you can see, history repeats itself, right? The conspiratorial beliefs of the heroine of this chapter of the book were also not invented. People, like today (history repeats itself again), how they could have circumvented the epidemic ordinances. The insulated houses were often guarded only from the street side, and the rear entrances were used normally. Often, communication was also maintained through the roofs. People generally did not believe cholera was contagious. Only severe cases of the disease and deaths were reported, hiding minor cases to avoid the aftermath of isolation. The apparently high percentage of mortality argued for this; until September 15, 1831 out of 1,183 civilian patients, as many as 932 died, while out of the 243 sick soldiers, among whom all cases were certainly recorded, only 109 died, which I carefully noted in the chapter. In the countryside, houses were not completely insulated, at most they were marked with straw sheaves. This condition was certainly influenced by the harvesting period. The rural population often prevented doctors from seeing the sick, believing that they had an order to exterminate in order to suppress an epidemic or simply destroy the poor. As you can see, ideas about conspiring doctors who want to take advantage of an epidemic are nothing new. Although it is a historical novel, it tells about contemporary problems. which I noted meticulously in the chapter. In the countryside, houses were not completely insulated, at most they were marked with straw sheaves. This condition was certainly influenced by the harvesting period. The rural population often prevented doctors from seeing the sick, believing that they had an order to exterminate in order to suppress an epidemic or simply destroy the poor. As you can see, ideas about conspiring doctors who want to take advantage of an epidemic are nothing new. Although it is a historical novel, it tells about contemporary problems. which I noted meticulously in the chapter. In the countryside, houses were not completely insulated, at most they were marked with straw sheaves. This condition was certainly influenced by the harvesting period. The rural population often prevented doctors from seeing the sick, believing that they had an order to exterminate in order to suppress an epidemic or simply destroy the poor. As you can see, ideas about conspiring doctors who want to take advantage of an epidemic are nothing new. Although it is a historical novel, it tells about contemporary problems. As you can see, ideas about conspiring doctors who want to take advantage of an epidemic are nothing new. Although it is a historical novel, it tells about contemporary problems. As you can see, ideas about conspiring doctors who want to take advantage of an epidemic are nothing new. Although it is a historical novel, it tells about contemporary problems.

KO: How is it with the plan of the novel? Is it true that you need to make at least a basic plot sketch before you start writing? What were your notes while creating the novel? Is it worth doing such?

M.S.:If we want to tell a coherent story that will not be just a patchwork of random scenes, sketching the plot before starting writing is a priority. Of course, history can change, evolve as you write, but if there was no original idea, we have nothing to achieve. Instead of a neat, coherent story, we have a boat drifting nowhere, flowing moved by the winds of our chaotic workshop. I based my notes on the historical calendar attached to the book. This add-on was what I started with, selecting certain historical stages from it and adding ideas to the dates for what could have happened then, selecting specific events that really happened, adding names and characters. Also in the margins, I sketched the character and details of the characters’ appearance. It decided to visually reflect either the behavior and views of Gustav, or the appearance of his beloved. These characters were extremely successful, so that many readers contacted me expressed regret and sometimes anger at their quick death. By the end of writing, my notes were reminiscent of the work of a mad historian. I think that has given me a lot of interest in genealogy. For years, I have been creating my family tree, which currently includes over 120 people. I dug into the history of my family from the 18th century, and more precisely, I got to my ancestors from 1792. It allowed me to recreate many fascinating stories. By the end of writing, my notes were reminiscent of the work of a mad historian. I think that has given me a lot of interest in genealogy. For years, I have been creating my family tree, which currently includes over 120 people. I dug into the history of my family from the 18th century, and more precisely, I got to my ancestors from 1792. It allowed me to recreate many fascinating stories. By the end of writing, my notes were reminiscent of the work of a mad historian. I think that has given me a lot of interest in genealogy. For years, I have been creating my family tree, which currently includes over 120 people. I dug into the history of my family from the 18th century, and more precisely, I got to my ancestors from 1792. It allowed me to recreate many fascinating stories.Petronella Mądra is my great-great-great-grandmother, wife of Józef Kaczałek, a farmer and a peasant who owns land. I found Petronella in the death book kept in Latin in the entry about the death of her daughter, and my great-great-great-grandmother Jadwiga Dukarska in 1842. Jadwiga was probably defeated by an infectious disease, but we will not find out any more, because the vicar wrote in the book simply an enigmatic “febris” – fever. The fact that it was an epidemic may be evidenced by the fact that a day later a woman of the Dukarski family, probably a relative of her husband, died. In this way, my family history is tied to the epidemic stories I wrote a novel about. Perhaps my ancestor was defeated by cholera, which was taking its toll in Prussia at that time, what did I write about in “Tales from the Plague”? Fortunately, before her death, Jadwiga gave birth to a daughter, Julianna Dukarska, from whose line Anna, the wife of my great-grandfather Piotr Sobkowiak, was born two generations later. Searching for the ancestors makes us realize how many circumstances had to take place in order for us to appear in the world and how easily it could happen that we would never be born. Somehow it makes our existence wonderful. On another branch of my tree, we go back 187 years, when in 1835 in the Miss Parish, my great-great-great-grandfather Stanislaus (Stanisław) Sobkowiak, being a 22-year-old young man, married Antonina Maciorowska. After my ancestor’s surname, the vicar wrote in Latin his profession, social status – “famulus”, that is, “farmhand, servant, helper”, peasant, who, without having his own land, was an employee of someone else’s farm. The wooden church in the Virgin, in which my great-great-great-grandfather probably got married, consecrated in 1787, dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus, stands and is used to this day. As stated in the church book, the young people paid for the announcements three times, for three Sundays, so that everyone would know about their happiness and could participate in it. Two years later their son Nikolaus (Mikołaj) was born, my great-great-grandfather, who started the path to me. An interesting fact is how I was able to find out about the existence of this document. Well, all this is possible thanks to the faith of an exotic religion from overseas. Microfilms, on which this page was found, books from a small parish in the Prussian partition were made by the Genealogical Society of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. You are probably wondering now what did they care about such files from a tiny village on the other side of the world? Well, the Utah Genealogy Society is a non-profit organization formed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as Mormons. Mormons practice the so-called baptism for the dead. It is a religious practice that involves performing the rite of baptism on a deceased person through a living person. Since you can save people from hellfire by baptizing them after their death in the right faith, the followers of this Church spend a lot of energy and funds by conducting extensive genealogical research, to reach out to deceased ancestors and baptize them after death. Hence the creation of the Genealogical Society, which collects microfilms with records of births, weddings and deaths from all years and places around the world. Thanks to this exotic faith, I was able to reach my ancestor and learn about his life. Such historical and social tastes fascinate me immensely and find their way into my stories and novels.Due to the fact that my novel spans seven hundred years, it could not tell the story of one family, but had to take the form of a family saga. My experience with creating a family tree was very useful here.

KO: Thank you for the interview!

Mariusz Sobkowiak (born 1989) – Editor-in-chief of the Gorzów Fantastic Magazine “LandsbergON”, the Wielkopolska Fantastic Magazine “Imaginarium Wielkopolskie” and the Opole Fantastic Magazine “Imaginarium Opolskie”, as well as the Lubuskie socio-cultural magazine “Młod Obywatel”. He writes fantasy books, winner of literary competitions, local social activist, President of the NOVUM Association for Social Innovation. In love with Gorzów Wielkopolski and its history.