Today we are interviewing Christopher Kaufman, author of the classic epic fantasy series, Tales of the Ocean City.
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!”
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.
Can you share the most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your career?
I first started writing out the story of Tales Of The Ocean City in the early 2000’s, but it was only when I developed my home studio for music and began creating the music, text and narration together that I found my voice for this work. After two complete hours-long Audio Albums (for TOC books one and two), things were getting close. Then, I developed the graphic illustrations, where each page is unique, and the style for my Tales Of The Ocean City series was established.
In my life as a composer and presenter there are many interesting stories; presenting concerts in schools, concert halls and museums, the many artists I have worked with from all disciplines of art, my environmental works featuring soundscapes crafted from hundreds of natural sounds, the world famous musicians who have performed my music…hard to pick just one!
Now I am focusing fully on my stories. I am writing book eight of Tales Of The Ocean City right now.
Feel free to visit my home site - soundartus.com - to peruse the breadth of my creative career thus far.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in your journey to becoming an author?
I am a creator type. Story, music and art flow freely and consistently. I also present concerts and have created a concert series I titled The Phantastic Theater - for which I’ve created theatrical works (books, audio albums, live shows and performance films are conceived simultaneously). This all happens naturally, but the challenge has been the business side of things, getting the word out and sharing my unique stories so that people may benefit from them. Often, I have gone creative project to project to project…and not taken time to promote…or have done some promoting and then, of-a-sudden, I find myself in a new project and it is now six months later. I am trying to improve on that now.
What is the main empowering lesson you want your readers to take away after finishing your book?
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.
What is the one habit you believe contributed the most to you becoming a great writer?
Non-stop going for it, having no choice but to try to communicate what is going on in my imagination and also my years as a composer of music; string quartets, symphonic tone poems, environmental works featuring soundscapes crafted from hundreds of natural sounds and on. Music has given me a powerful sense of pacing, of knowing when to write short direct sentences during action scenes, and when and how to take time to paint a gorgeous picture!
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a
movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of
people, what would that be?
Reconnecting people with their imaginations. Much of it is lost in today’s world. Reinvigorating the imagination is the function of fantasy art. In my work I use everything I can - Story, Music, Illustrative Art, Live Performance, and even Puppetry sometimes, to deliver the most powerful storytelling experience I can. I have worked with young people for many years as well…my concert series, ‘The Phantastic Theater - new music and art for people of all ages all at once’ is, in fact, the arts education branch of my efforts as an artist. In these concerts, I find fun and creative ways to introduce young people to the arts and to re-invigorate the imaginations of their parents. It is a mission that will never end.
About the Series
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/.
Here’s what reviewers are saying about Tales of the Ocean City series!
“A collage of vibrant images adorns the pages of Tales Of The Ocean City, treating readers to more than a simple fantasy narrative. Well-chosen colors and designs add emotive elements and offer thoughtful reflections of the unfolding battle sequence, creating an intensely immersive experience. Matching the feel of the imagery, the text includes abundant use of descriptive, almost poetic prose, which adds vigor to the exciting storyline. I found the overall experience to be hypnotic, both in the book’s vivid presentation and its innovation. Mixing qualities from graphic novels, abstract art, classic fantasy, and creative fiction, Christopher Kaufman’s book is an imaginative adventure that is sure to engage your senses.”
— David Korson for Readers’ Favorite
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