📚 A Bookish Chat with 'Tales of the Ocean City' Christopher Kaufman #AuthorInterview

Today we welcome Christopher Kaufman to The Writer's Life e-Magazine! Christopher is the author of the new series, Tales of the Ocean City. This interview is part of his Blog Tour by Pump Up Your Book. Enjoy!

Christopher Kaufman is an author, composer, presenter, illustrative artist and performer. He started imaginative fantasy books with illustrative art at the age of nine. During high school years he found music and attended The New Orleans Center for The Creative Arts and went on to major in music composition in college. He finished his schooling – earning his DMA in music composition at Cornell University where he studied with Pulitzer Prize Winning composers who prize his abilities as a composer.

Christopher is the type of person who needs imaginative fantasy scenarios to get to sleep. Therefore, he emerged from Cornell, not only with his degrees in music, but with the full event structure for his classic epic fantasy series Tales Of The Ocean City in his mind.

He began writing the story down in the early 2000’s, but it did not really come to life until he developed his home music ‘laboratory’ and started creating the music and text at the same time. Thus books one and two of TOC came about simultaneously as both graphically illustrated pages and effulgent audio albums filled with cinematic epic symphonic music.

They exist now as physical books and audio albums (that go together) and the new Video Book version. He performs live tours with the music pouring through speakers, live narration and the colorful pages streaming on screen – a true immersive multi-media experience.

He also maintains his career as a composer for the concert stage with a full body of work, from solo works thru orchestral. He specializes as well in ‘environmental works’ which feature soundscapes crafted from hundreds of natural sounds, live musicians (from soloists, chamber groups and to full orchestra), videos filled with both natural and artistic images and readings from the works of John Muir and others.

His home page is – soundartus.com.

His author page is talesoftheoceancity.com.

His you-tube channel is SOUNDARTUS.

Visit him at Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/talesoftheoceancity.

Christopher believes in the transformative power of imagination.

“Live with imagination!”

Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

I started writing fantasy books with illustrations when I was nine years old. Later, I discovered music and lived the life of a composer for many years. But my stories never left me. In fact, I am the type of person who needs some kind of active imaginative scenario to get myself to sleep. I emerged from my schooling phase with a Doctorate in music composition (Cornell) and the complete event structure for Tales Of The Ocean City in my head.

I first began writing down the Tales Of The Ocean City stories in the early 2000’s, but it was only when I initiated my home music ‘lab’ and began creating the text, music and narration at the same time that I found my voice as a storyteller. After two Audio Albums (TOC books 1-2), and then adding the element of the graphically illustrated pages filled with art and color, the style for these works was established.

Tales Of The Ocean City tells the tale of a young civilization turning the corner into the future. The city as a whole must do this by facing a terrible enemy from the deepest past, The Vorm - with whom they co-evolved in ages past on their ancestral isle. The main characters are young Harl’ut and his lifelong companion, Vispushin - who is a perianth (a kind of telepathic pegasus). They are very close, like family. They speak to each other mind-to-mind.

Harl’ut too must face the past. At the end of book two he undergoes an initiation adventure where he descends into the volcanic mountain, Pla’than’taa - from the belly of which The Ocean City was delved. There, he interacts with personifications of past god-like figures and battles a terrific monster. Later, he leads a cadre of young warriors into the Vorm Hive on a vital mission.

Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

I began self-publishing from the outset. It is part of process - to see and hold the book, see how the illustrations have come out and then make adjustments.

Do you believe a book cover plays an important role in the selling process?

Yes, very important. There are so many books out there, people need to get vital information at a glance. I originally created my own covers, but later found a brilliant young artist who hails from Australia to do my covers for me. My early ones were intriguing and well wrought, but they didn’t scream ‘Fantasy Stories’ at first sight. Now they do.

How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

For me it is different than most, since I create books with full page colorful illustrative art and go-with audio albums filled with cinematic symphonic music, narration and sound design. It took me many years to make a composer out of myself, and then I described above how my process evolved.

Certainly it was a major plus to have the complete event structure in my head before beginning to put it into words. It is a terrific challenge to get into words what is going on in my imagination. I feel I get better with every phrase.

What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

Well, I am finishing up series two of TOS, The Green World - where , in book six, Harl’ut and Vispushin explore the underworld, meet all kinds of fantastical creatures and discover ancient civilizations. In book seven they travel to planet Orshellia and battle The Stranger and in book eight, which I am completing now, engage a danger which threatens all life in their entire solar system. In the next series, the citizens of The Ocean City will explore The Star Kingdom. The series will continue to grow and expand in the coming months and years. I have plans for additional related series’ - and back stories from the times before Harl’ut and Vispushin’s lifetimes.

What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

The perianth race is based on my animal friends - thus the close-knit relationship between Harl’ut and Vispushin. When one completes book one it is clear that Vispushin was the major heroine!

Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

All of my works celebrate the transformative power of imagination. I believe in that power as demonstrated in the fine arts and, especially, great fantasy stories. Much of my work is about feeding and growing imagination in one way or another. I hope people experience my work and then feel differently about how they experience the world around them. Imagination is the highest function of the human mind - it gives us art, music and scientific theories…and helps us envision a better future for ourselves and our civilization. It has been damaged in many ways in our modern lives. Fantasy can help cure this.

Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

I would like to thank and acknowledge the writers that have informed my work and imaginative life and to whom I am eternally grateful; Tolkien, Lovecraft, McCaffrey, Moorcock, Burroughs, Le Guin, Dunsany, Lewis and Lloyd Alexander - who spoke about writing for adults for many years and enjoying it, yet, when he started writing for young people, the emotions became deeper and more powerful, not less so.

I’d also like to talk a bit more about the music in the audio albums. My work as a composer has informed my writing style. In musical harmony you have chords with great tension that resolve (cadence) into more consonant ones. In TOC there are situations of conflict that resolve, such as the visceral battle scene of book one that ends with a heightened and inspiring resolution. Music has given me a strong sense of pacing. I know when to write short, direct sentences to move the action at a terrific pace, and when to take time and paint a glorious picture. Let me know what you think.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this interview. I would love to get you know you better as well. Hopefully, we can converse in the comments here and onward into the future. At kaufmantales.com these works, and my others, are available as physical books, audio albums, Epubs, kindle books and the new Video Book.

I look forward to hearing how my stories may have helped you live with imagination!

All best,

Christopher Kaufman

A young civilization is turning the corner into the future, but first they must face a terrible enemy from their deepest past – THE VORM.

The main characters are a young man named Harl’ut and his lifelong companion Vispushin – who is a perIanth, a kind of telepathic pegasus. Join them on this epic adventure as they lead a group of young warriors into the heart of the Vorm Hive.

Book One: Battle In The Sky is the first of five books which comprise the opening series of this epic tale. Here, Harl’ut and Vispushin and The Princess Bryn’lynn, engage in desperate battle over the southern plain with savage Vorm warriors. You will be uplifted by the passionate and thrilling conclusion of the first installment of this fantasy adventure.

In Book Two: Descent Into The Abyss, Harl’ut recovers from his harrowing adventure from Book One: Battle In The Sky. He walks through the streets of The Ocean City, visits the Sculpture Garden and his friend, Elá, the bard, and engages in exciting training games with warrior/mentor, Calanctus. Then the story takes you down the throat of the vast volcano, Pla’than’taa, once worshipped as a god, where Harl’ut enacts a deadly initiation ritual, confronts the barbaric past of his people and battles a terrifying monster.

Pick up your copies at https://kaufmantales.com/.