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.
Kaufman’s books feature full-page graphic illustration and go-with audio albums filled with epic cinematic music, narration and sound design. All available, with generous discount packages, at kaufmantales.com (epubs and the new Video Book version available there!).
His author page is talesoftheoceancity.com.
His you-tube channel is SOUNDARTUS.
Visit him at Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/talesoftheoceancity.
Interview:
Tell us about your series! What inspired you to write it?
I am a creative artist and a storyteller. I create books with vivid audio albums filled with cinematic/symphonic music, narration and sound design and which are also live theatrical shows. I compose music
for the classical concert stage and film. I present multiple concert series’ and perform as reader, conductor and player.
Looking back…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. My stories never left me. In fact, I am the type of person who needs some kind of active imaginative world 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 through book eight, which I am completing now. Of course, when I get to each new area of the story it burgeons out, grows new branches and new things happen from the early conceptions.
There is much autobiography in my stories.
In Tales Of The Ocean City is chronicled a young civilization turning the corner into the future. The main characters are young Harl’ut and his lifelong companion, Vispushin - she is a perianth (a kind of telepathic pegasus). They are close, like family, and speak to each other mind-to-mind.
Before moving into the future, the citizens of The Ocean City must face their brutal and primitive past. This happens in multiple ways. For Harl’ut, he undergoes an initiation ritual adventure at the end of Book Two where he faces images and personifications from the past, resolves them and battles a terrible monster. The Ocean City itself, in the over-all five book opening series, must face an enemy from ancient times, The Vorm, with whom they co-evolved on the ancestral isle and who are now threatening their very existence. In books four and five, the heroes of The Ocean City engage in epic war with the Vorm and Harl’ut and Vispushin lead a cadre of young warriors into the Vorm Hive on a vital mission.
Much of this can be interpreted as a metaphor for my personal journey. I emerged from much conflict in my youth to a very positive place filled with career and personal success and am moving forward as a storyteller. When writing TOC, I realized that there were specific things that relate to my childhood experiences and that certain characters relate to people of my past and present. I will save going into those specifics for another time - but am happy to report that the perianth race is based on my animal family - we call them pets…but they are so much more.
How did you choose the title for your series? Did it come to you right away, before you started writing it, or did it come later?
Huh. I’ve been working on Tales Of The Ocean City on and off for many years…and I can’t remember when the title first occurred to me.
Tell us about the cover design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book covers would be like?
The cover design process has been a long one. At first, I created them myself - I really love those covers, but later I learned that they did not give an immediate impression of what the stories inside them were like. In the vast world of books, covers need to simplify the process of understanding the genre the stories are in. So I searched around, and found a very talented young woman who hails from Australia - and she makes my covers now. They are very good and scream ‘Classic Fantasy’ at first glance… :)
Who is your cover designer and how did you find him/her?
Her name is Brittany Wilson - I highly recommend her - just google.
What has been the readers’ response to your covers?
They work. Especially those who have seen the older ones and the new ones have told me they work beautifully.
What tips would you give to authors who are looking for a cover designer?
Join facebook groups…search around…go link to link to link…write to artists…and you will find the look and price point you need.
Anything else you’d like to say about your books?
I believe in the transformative power of imagination, especially as demonstrated in the fine arts. That’s why I like to use the word classical in defining TOC, i.e. Classical Epic Fantasy. 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.
For example,
…A flower working its way through the cement beside you as you walk is an epic saga…The shadows on the ceiling or behind your chair are places for imagination to burgeon…The clouds outside your window are flying horses and fantastical creatures and, ultimately, the direction and experience of your daily life is transformed by seeing, hearing and feeling it with imagination.
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.
We have to start with creating a peaceful situation inside ourselves in order for it to grow outwards. Book One of Tales Of The Ocean City begins in terrific conflict and ends with heightened and inspiring resolution. This is how musical harmony functions, where a more complex and tense chord resolves (cadences) to a more consonant one. You can see this happening continually throughout my works in many different ways.
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