On Climate in Life, Science, and Fantasy

I must admit, I've discovered over the last few years that January is a difficult month for me. The joy and companionship of the holidays seems to crash too quickly into unremarkable routine. The cold days of a northern winter demand isolation from the world outside with heavy coats and thick sweaters; the nights are long, and altogether too quiet.

My dislike of January is exacerbated by the absence of my husband, who, like many migratory creatures, heads south for the winter to spend the coldest weeks of the year with his family in the much more amenable climate of the tropics. I would gladly go with him if I could, but the academic calendar demands I stay in a place where trees lose their leaves and all the truly smart animals hibernate.

Still, we are three days into the new semester, and it is looking to be a good one.  Today, I ran my first ever environmental science lab at Avila University.  We simulated aspects of global climate mechanisms, and got to play with all kinds of fun toys like inflatable globes (I was very impressed that the class did not immediately disintegrate into a game of beach ball) and vials filled with convection fluids (which inspired multiple comparisons to lava lamps, and one request to search for "lava lamp" on YouTube so that students who had never seen one would know what that is).

Climate mechanisms have been on my mind for other reasons as well. 

A few days ago, for example, I sat down to sketch out my first map of Selenia's world (from Creatures of Light).  I've always had a vague idea of the location of her home city Talagna relative to other places of interest, such as the coastal city of Al'Panura and the jungle river of Ornoco.  Recently, I've decided to insert a high mountain range (something on the order of the Andes), with accompanying paramos and deserts.  Someday I'd like to take Selenia to all these places (although as you may know, it's going to be tough to get her across the sea alive, since women in her world are routinely thrown overboard to appease the sea god Mikrotus, but I'll cross that bridge -- or plunge into those depths -- when I get there). 

Part of building my dream of Selenia's voyage was manifested by drawing the map, and in drawing the map I had to think, once again, about latitudes, wind currents, land and water masses, and everything else that goes into climate.  It's a really fun puzzle to play with. 

One of my most popular posts of all time -- indeed, THE most popular post until this past fall, when my short piece on Hypatia went viral -- was Biogeography and Fantasy, published in July of 2011.  This post was inspired as I was trying to figure out the logic of the climate of Westeros, the stage upon which George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones plays out.  I extended the discussion to take into account various factors fantasy authors should keep in mind when building their worlds.  If you'd like to read more, you can visit the post here.

And just out of curiosity, here are a few questions you might like to comment on:

When you think about what you've read, what worlds come to mind that are particularly well articulated in terms of climate, geography, and distribution of resources?  Is it clear when some authors have put a lot of thought into this, and others have not?  Is it even necessary to get as geeky-obsessive as I do when laying out mountain ranges and major bodies of water?  All perspectives are welcome.  I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

In other news, this week on Heroines of Fantasy, Mark Nelson has written a wonderful post on the power of play.  Read his thoughts and share yours, as we venture into the New Year remembering the importance of the lighter side of life. 

A World of Wonder in 5000 Words

The cover art for Creatures of Light is taken
from Claude Lorrain's 17th century painting,
"Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba."

Hadley Rille Books has released a Kindle edition of my short story Creatures of Light, and has made it available for free download today and tomorrow.

Creatures of Light provides a glimpse into the life of Selenia, a brilliant and ruthless woman scientist, and her lover Nicolas, intrepid explorer of the high seas.  They live in a fantasy age of exploration, an imaginary world that mixes the art and politics of Renaissance Italy with the wonder inspired by  17th and 18th century European explorers.  Theirs is an unapologetically imperialistic and misogynistic society, and Selenia has learned to do whatever it takes to establish and maintain a place of power in the context of this brutal world. 

I've had many sources of inspiration for Creatures over the years.  The first seed was probably planted when I read A Naturalist in La Plata by WH Hudson, which chronicles the 19th century biologist's journey through the Pampas of Argentina. 

Since then, many more books have crossed my path.  Biographies of powerful women of the 16th and 17th century, such as Lucrezia Borgia, Isabella de Medici, and Catherine de Medici.  Stories of 17th and 18th century women scientists such as Maria Gaetana Agnesi and Maria Sybilla Merian. 

Additional chronicles of exploration have also fed into the mix, such as the extraordinary adventures of Alexander von Humboldt in South America.  Most recently, I started The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes, which documents the discoveries of 18th century scientists such as Joseph Banks and Caroline Herschel, as well as the colorful, romantic, and disturbing times in which they lived. 

Holmes historical account had little influence on the short story Creatures of Light (since I picked it up long after the short story was written), but it is providing a lot of fodder for the imagination as I prepare to write a full-length novel by the same name.

Creatures of Light emerged as a short story about three years ago, when my local writer's group did a holiday story exchange.  It first appeared for the world at large in the Fall 2010 issue of Adventures for the Average Woman.  Now Hadley Rille Books has picked it up and made it a stand-alone short story available on Kindle, complete with its own beautiful cover.  And for FREE, no less!  At least for the first couple of days of its release. 

I hope you enjoy reading Selenia's story as much as I enjoyed writing it.  I am certain you will.

~*~

Enter Eolyn's Winter Book Blast Giveaway for your chance to win a FREE signed copy of the beautiful hardcover edition of the nove Eolyn.

Visit authoer DelSheree Gladden's Blog to enter the Winter Book Blast Grand Prize Giveaway, including 18 novels across various genres.

A Season of Loss

Anni Kircher with her daughters Uschi and Helga

Well, it’s been a rather difficult semester this fall. About a month ago, my childhood home burned down. Last week, my maternal grandmother passed away. The first event was quite unexpected; the second, while expected, brought on a much deeper sadness.

When we went to visit the remains of my childhood home, it was eerie in many ways, seeing what had once been the ‘safe place’ of my youth charred and gutted by flames. I couldn’t help but remember Chapter One of EOLYN, where my protagonist's village and home are consumed by fire. I thought that a curious coincidence.

Now, the death of my grandmother has me thinking about Eolyn on deeper levels. Last week on my livejournal blog I wrote a brief reflection about Oma Anni’s life, the courage and determination that helped her survive two great wars, and the stories from that time that have most resonated with me over the years. The trials faced by my grandmother in World War II – as a mother of two young girls, alone amid chaos – had a strong influence on me growing up, and colored my view of war and warfare in ways that I think are irrevocable.

I’d like to write a longer post on this at some point, but for the moment I’m too emotionally tired to think through it all coherently. Suffice it to say that I suspect Ghemena’s intense loathing of war, an attitude inherited by her ward Eolyn, somehow has its roots in these stories told by my family.

There’s another element here: Growing up among a family that knew the reality of war -- not so much as soldiers, but as civilians, as women and children – can have a tremendous impact on one’s world view. This was a situation that set me apart, I think, from many of the children I grew up with in the United States; and having had that experience, I now believe, helped me understand Eolyn in ways I might not have otherwise when the time came to write her story.

Well, that almost suffices for a full post right there. Unfinished thoughts, I suppose, are better than no thoughts at all.

Just a few announcements for this week:

On Heroines of Fantasy, we are discussing Villainesses and Anti-Heroines. Also, I have a special treat there: an audio-recording of scenes from my short story ‘Creatures of Light’. Please stop by to have a listen and join in our discussion.

Author Eliabeth Hawthorne has posted a new review of EOLYN for Adopt-an-Indie Month. You can read and comment on her review of EOLYN either on her blog Ermilia, or at the Adopt-an-Indie website.  Also on the Adopt-an-Indie website, Eliabeth has posted an author interview with me, in which I talk about the challenges and rewards of writing EOLYN, and the advantages of publishing with a small press.

Signed copies of EOLYN, both hardcover and paperback, are now available at the Avila University Bookstore, 11901 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO. 
If you're curious to learn more about my grandmother’s life, you can read my dedication to her at my livejournal blog.

Wishing everyone a good week.