Faculty meetings yesterday. That makes for an official first day of school for us teachers. Today and tomorrow mark registration and classes start next week. I had a busy morning with registration but the afternoon has been slower so I have a few moments to blog.
I'm waiting on final word about a big project I will need to get started on, but in the meantime I'm working on "Gods of Talera" and having fun. I managed 1000 words yesterday, and wrote most of them while in a faculty meeting. Good to kill two birds with one stone.
Blogging will be more hit and miss now that we are back in school. Just depends on how much work I have piled up in the mornings. I've got to carve out more writing time from my schedule too so that may slow down blog production.
I'll be teaching the Writing in Psychology class again this semester. I have 17 enrolled so far. I'll be posting some blog posts related to that class and how it is going. Last time I taught it I did not end up happy. I was working very hard but several students complained at the end of the semester and I felt like I was doing more work than they were for their grades. It's been about half a hear since I taught it, though, so maybe this time around will be better.
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Showing posts with label Talera Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Talera Books. Show all posts
Thursday, January 09, 2014
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Writing and Sensuality
Sensuous writing, to me, has little to do with sexuality. It has to do, in large part, with engaging the senses, of enmeshing the reader in a world of lush experience. Ray Bradbury is a sensuous writer. Robert E. Howard was, despite the fact that he is often considered a hyper-masculine author. When you read Bradbury or Howard you feel the chill wind, taste bitter drink, hear the crack of ice, and pant from the heat. But the details are put together in such a way as to create a sense of exotic beauty. And there is more. Sensuous writing not only excites the senses, it creates a mood, most often a melancholy one.
Poul Anderson was a master of sensuous writing. His book The Broken Sword, or his long story “The Queen of Air and Darkness” illustrate Anderson’s love of language and command over mood. They sing with poetry. Even the darkest imagery is combined with a sense of sad beauty.
For me, and feel free to say if you disagree, I find the most sensuous writing in the fantasy genre, followed by science fiction. Mainstream literature seems to be suspicious of sensuous writing, and hard bitten genres like noir and crime fiction try to immerse the reader in gritty detail. These stories also create a mood, but not one that is infused with beauty. There are times when I want just that kind of mood, but more often than not I seek out the beautiful, even if that beauty is tinged with darkness.
I strive for sensuality when I write, and I think I’ve gotten closest to it in my fantasy work, such as in the Talera Trilogy, and in some of the stories that appeared in Midnight in Rosary. While many of the stories in “Midnight” feature vampires, most of these are not ‘horror’ vampires but ‘fantasy’ vampires. And there is a clear difference. Sensuality is important to fantasy vampires, while gritty savagery is the drape that clothes horror vampires. Some time back, I put up a link to a free story from Midnight in Rosary. I’ll post it again here since it indicates the kind of sensuality I’m talking about (and in this case has some sexuality as well.) The story is called “The Poetry of Blood” and the link is here.
I’ll end with a couple of quick passages from the Talera series, these two from Wings Over Talera. Here, for the first time, Ruenn MacLang meets Vohanna. With Vohanna, I hoped to create a villain who would combine both beauty and evil, attraction and threat. These are important elements of sensuality in the language of fantasy literature. At least, I think so.
1). There were no adornments anywhere upon Vohanna—-no web of black pearls in her silken flag of hair, no bright jewels at her finely sculpted ears, no copper brassards clasping her upper arms. She wore no kohl to darken her sable lashes, no paint upon lips that were already riper than the rising sun.
In her form, she looked guileless and fragile. In her face, she looked...innocent. But her gaze was ancient and black upon mine, with firefly runes twining and beating in the depths of her glance. I felt that glance like a bruise.
2). Vohanna took another step toward me. And a third. Down the skull steps from her throne she came, and it seemed her sandals spurned the dusky wine that cascaded beneath her feet. Her eyes teemed with scarlet embers and with...other things.
“Kneel to me, Ruenn,” she said.
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Poul Anderson was a master of sensuous writing. His book The Broken Sword, or his long story “The Queen of Air and Darkness” illustrate Anderson’s love of language and command over mood. They sing with poetry. Even the darkest imagery is combined with a sense of sad beauty.
For me, and feel free to say if you disagree, I find the most sensuous writing in the fantasy genre, followed by science fiction. Mainstream literature seems to be suspicious of sensuous writing, and hard bitten genres like noir and crime fiction try to immerse the reader in gritty detail. These stories also create a mood, but not one that is infused with beauty. There are times when I want just that kind of mood, but more often than not I seek out the beautiful, even if that beauty is tinged with darkness.
I strive for sensuality when I write, and I think I’ve gotten closest to it in my fantasy work, such as in the Talera Trilogy, and in some of the stories that appeared in Midnight in Rosary. While many of the stories in “Midnight” feature vampires, most of these are not ‘horror’ vampires but ‘fantasy’ vampires. And there is a clear difference. Sensuality is important to fantasy vampires, while gritty savagery is the drape that clothes horror vampires. Some time back, I put up a link to a free story from Midnight in Rosary. I’ll post it again here since it indicates the kind of sensuality I’m talking about (and in this case has some sexuality as well.) The story is called “The Poetry of Blood” and the link is here.
I’ll end with a couple of quick passages from the Talera series, these two from Wings Over Talera. Here, for the first time, Ruenn MacLang meets Vohanna. With Vohanna, I hoped to create a villain who would combine both beauty and evil, attraction and threat. These are important elements of sensuality in the language of fantasy literature. At least, I think so.
1). There were no adornments anywhere upon Vohanna—-no web of black pearls in her silken flag of hair, no bright jewels at her finely sculpted ears, no copper brassards clasping her upper arms. She wore no kohl to darken her sable lashes, no paint upon lips that were already riper than the rising sun.
In her form, she looked guileless and fragile. In her face, she looked...innocent. But her gaze was ancient and black upon mine, with firefly runes twining and beating in the depths of her glance. I felt that glance like a bruise.
2). Vohanna took another step toward me. And a third. Down the skull steps from her throne she came, and it seemed her sandals spurned the dusky wine that cascaded beneath her feet. Her eyes teemed with scarlet embers and with...other things.
“Kneel to me, Ruenn,” she said.
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Saturday, June 26, 2010
Maps
I’ve been having a lot of fun yesterday and today. Over the years I’ve hand drawn a variety of maps for my fantasy stories set on Talera and Thanos. Many were drawn on the backs of pages torn out of an old biology class workbook from college. Later ones were put down on a sketch pad and I thought I was really moving up in the world. I’ve used those maps a lot over the years, and have added or edited them at times so that they now have various scratch outs and additions on them. They also suffer from my complete lack of artistic talent.
But yesterday a revolution in Gramlich map-making occurred. I asked the Lovely Lana to scan the originals I had and to send them to me as graphic files. I then began using my paint program to clean them up, to redraw faded lines, and to begin to introduce some color and some typed headings instead of the almost impossible to read scrawls that I’d filled them with before. And I’ve loved every minute of it.
Every once in a while I forget why I’m in the writing biz. Sometimes I get too focused on deadlines and trying to make sure I meet certain audience expectations. Sometimes I worry too much about whether something is likely to be published or not. Of course those are important things, and I don’t deny that, but none of those were in my head when I first started writing. I started for the sheer love of creating. And fiddling with these maps is bringing it back home to me. I see those areas of my maps that are yet unfilled and my mind starts churning with possibilities. I see a line I marked as “Trader’s Road” and I want to know where it goes. I see a place I called “Quall Valley” and I wonder what secrets abide there.
One map that has certainly seen its share of use in my stories is the map of the Island Kingdom of Nyshphal, which features prominently in both Wings Over Talera and Witch of Talera. It is mentioned in Swords of Talera but is never seen in that book. I’ve posted two images of one section of this map below for you to see how it looked “before” and “after.” You may have to click on them to enlarge them.
Man, the memories this brought back. Makes me want to go back to those heady days when I was first writing Swords of Talera, when all I cared about was finding out what happened next to Ruenn Maclang and his band of friends. Great days. Great days. As they always are when you are doing something for love.
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But yesterday a revolution in Gramlich map-making occurred. I asked the Lovely Lana to scan the originals I had and to send them to me as graphic files. I then began using my paint program to clean them up, to redraw faded lines, and to begin to introduce some color and some typed headings instead of the almost impossible to read scrawls that I’d filled them with before. And I’ve loved every minute of it.
Every once in a while I forget why I’m in the writing biz. Sometimes I get too focused on deadlines and trying to make sure I meet certain audience expectations. Sometimes I worry too much about whether something is likely to be published or not. Of course those are important things, and I don’t deny that, but none of those were in my head when I first started writing. I started for the sheer love of creating. And fiddling with these maps is bringing it back home to me. I see those areas of my maps that are yet unfilled and my mind starts churning with possibilities. I see a line I marked as “Trader’s Road” and I want to know where it goes. I see a place I called “Quall Valley” and I wonder what secrets abide there.
One map that has certainly seen its share of use in my stories is the map of the Island Kingdom of Nyshphal, which features prominently in both Wings Over Talera and Witch of Talera. It is mentioned in Swords of Talera but is never seen in that book. I’ve posted two images of one section of this map below for you to see how it looked “before” and “after.” You may have to click on them to enlarge them.
Man, the memories this brought back. Makes me want to go back to those heady days when I was first writing Swords of Talera, when all I cared about was finding out what happened next to Ruenn Maclang and his band of friends. Great days. Great days. As they always are when you are doing something for love.
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Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Kinda Weird being the Subject of a News Release
Being lazy and very busy, I steal my post today from the: ST. TAMMANY PARISH LIBRARY NEWS RELEASE. Below is quoted from their promotional flyer for my talk next Monday Night (January 14).
"The Slidell branch of the St. Tammany Parish Library is pleased to present Dr. Charles Gramlich and his newly published fiction thriller: Witch of Talera, the third book of the Talera cycle.
Talera is a world in turmoil, a world where warfare is constant, where violent death is a part of life. Ruenn Maclang, an Earthman who now claims Talera as home, has learned to walk the sword's edge as he fights to preserve those he loves and the world in which they live. But the source of Talera's violence is more mysterious than Ruenn suspects, and the puppeteers who guide it are about to take a hand in the game. What can a single swordsman do when he fights not only beasts and men, but the architects of a planet? What can he do when the gods themselves take the field against him?
Dr. Gramlich is a professor of psychology at Xavier University of Louisiana of over 20 years. During that time he has published over 70 stories, over 100 articles and essays and more than 50 poems. He has also written over 60 reference articles for encyclopedia type works, including on authors such as Peter Straub and Candice Proctor, on genres of writing such as “Sword & Sorcery,” and even on rock bands like Mötley Crüe. Witch of Talera is his fourth novel and he is currently working on several long-term projects.
The lecture begins at 6:30 p.m. on Monday January 14th at the Slidell Branch of the St. Tammany Parish Library located at 555 Robert Blvd. in Slidell. The event is free and open to the public, and registration is requested. Books will be available for purchase before and after the program. Please stop by the Slidell Branch or call 985-646-6470 to register. ###"
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"The Slidell branch of the St. Tammany Parish Library is pleased to present Dr. Charles Gramlich and his newly published fiction thriller: Witch of Talera, the third book of the Talera cycle.
Talera is a world in turmoil, a world where warfare is constant, where violent death is a part of life. Ruenn Maclang, an Earthman who now claims Talera as home, has learned to walk the sword's edge as he fights to preserve those he loves and the world in which they live. But the source of Talera's violence is more mysterious than Ruenn suspects, and the puppeteers who guide it are about to take a hand in the game. What can a single swordsman do when he fights not only beasts and men, but the architects of a planet? What can he do when the gods themselves take the field against him?
Dr. Gramlich is a professor of psychology at Xavier University of Louisiana of over 20 years. During that time he has published over 70 stories, over 100 articles and essays and more than 50 poems. He has also written over 60 reference articles for encyclopedia type works, including on authors such as Peter Straub and Candice Proctor, on genres of writing such as “Sword & Sorcery,” and even on rock bands like Mötley Crüe. Witch of Talera is his fourth novel and he is currently working on several long-term projects.
The lecture begins at 6:30 p.m. on Monday January 14th at the Slidell Branch of the St. Tammany Parish Library located at 555 Robert Blvd. in Slidell. The event is free and open to the public, and registration is requested. Books will be available for purchase before and after the program. Please stop by the Slidell Branch or call 985-646-6470 to register. ###"
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Sunday, May 20, 2007
Wings Over Talera
Well, faster than I thought it would, Wings Over Talera has been released on Amazon from Borgo Press. In keeping with the trilogy aspect, they used the same basic cover but with a darker color (Shown Above). I assume the third cover will follow the pattern. The link is here for Wings.
I might have liked them to publish the three books at about one a month, but I really had no say in the matter. It’s nice to have the book out, though. I’m very happy.
Although Swords of Talera was the transition book and needed to be published first, I honestly do believe that Wings Over Talera is superior. It’s got more action for one thing, and the stakes are higher for Ruenn, the main character. It was written when I was several years older and much more experienced, as well. The publisher used part of the back cover blurb that I wrote for the book, but the whole thing is below:
SWORDS OF SORCERY AND FATE
Talera is a world of warriors and heroes, not all of whom are human. It is a world where sailing ships ply the skies as well as the waters, and where beasts are as likely to hunt men as be hunted by them. On Talera, beauty and steel are equally dangerous weapons, and sorcery is the deadliest talent of all.
For Ruenn Maclang, an Earthman who has won a place on this mysterious planet, his sword is a constant companion, and battle a daily promise that is seldom broken. But what will Ruenn do when the battle is against the woman he loves, and against the brother he has lost? And what will he do when he’s faced with a deadly choice: kill his brother...or die?
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