Please welcome Lou Kemp author of Music Shall Untune the Sky
Lou Kemp will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Music Shall Untune the Sky
by Lou Kemp
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GENRE: magical realism
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INTERVIEW:
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
My imagination took over when I was about eight, and by ten I was writing short stories. Mostly about animals. It wasn’t until my early twenties that I tried to sell a story.
2. What elements are necessary components for this genre?
This is partially the author’s responsibility, but the book early on must gain the support of the reader to suspend their disbelief if they’ve never read magical realism or fantasy before.
The reader also must be open to the question, “what if?” because it takes the reader to a place they’ve never been, but is filled with fascinating adventures. Some of the components are about the attributes of the automat, Professor Xiau Kang, or about the immortal magician Jonas Celwyn. Another component is the historical scenery and times: it is just as much a character as the expected characters, and actually drives the plot at times.
3. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
For the Celwyn series, there are currently six books, plus two companion books that will be published by 4 Horsemen Publications within the next two years. Probably books 4-6 will come out in 2024. I’m writing book 7 now, which sends the series in a new direction with Swango, a character who will take Celwyn into the future, to 1942 Nazi Germany.
4. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?
I like all of them for various reasons, but Celwyn fits my personality completely, warts, childishness and all.
5. Can you give us a sneak peek into this book?
Music Shall Untune the Sky
By Lou Kemp
Cast of Characters
Jonas Celwyn: Immortal magician and provocateur
Professor Xiau Kang: Automat, medical man, scientist
Bartholomew: widower from Juba, friend to Kang and Celwyn
Annabelle Pearse Edmunds: heiress and ward of Uncle Celwyn
Captain Patrick Swayne: Friend to Celwyn, loves Annabelle
Mrs. Elizabeth Kang: tolerant and beautiful wife of Kang
Zander: an orphan rescued on the way to Prague
Telly: an orphan rescued on the way to Prague
Ricardo: Chef Ricardo of Tellyhouse
Mrs. Thomas: formidable Housekeeper of Tellyhouse
Jackson, Selkirk, and Stephen: porters on the train and in Prague
Edward Murphy: their driver and head of security
Sully: footman of Tellyhouse and a legendary bad chef
Francesca: head of Prague’s notorious coven
Delgado: Vampire who killed Suzanne and Telly
Mrs. Karras: disciple of Delgado and enemy of Celwyn
Prince Leo: thief and old friend of Celwyn
Mary Giovanna Fioria: Prince Leo’s crazy daughter
Prologue
Without touching it, Jonas Celwyn yanked the knife out of Annabelle’s hand, away from Zander’s neck, and turned it on her, plunging the blade into her stomach and causing the crowd around them to erupt in screams. As Patrick rushed to her side, a thin stream of blue mist escaped Annabelle’s lips and disappeared into the throng. Celwyn elevated himself, trying to see where the entity Jax had gone and failed.
The ethereal music quieted while the audience’s clamor grew.
Shaking with horror and sorrow, Patrick cradled Annabelle’s head in his lap while Professor Xiau Kang pushed everyone back.
Beside them, Bartholomew’s anger exploded, and he shouted at Celwyn. “You killed her!”
“No — he did not!” Kang grabbed his arm and swung him around. “Think, man! Block the view of her while Jonas brings her back.” He lowered his voice, “The wound was not intended to be fatal, only to scare Jax out of her.”
Bartholomew’s face contorted in relief.
As Kang spoke, Celwyn knelt and covered Annabelle with his cape. He removed the bloody knife and held a hand over the wound as he looked at the tall and distraught black man beside him.
“My friend, I would never kill her. The Professor showed me where I could stab someone to cause the most blood flow, yet the wound be one that I could easily repair.” He watched Bartholomew’s face relax and turned back to study Annabelle a moment more. “There. Good as new. Patrick, if you could help her stand?”
Captain Patrick Swayne licked his lips and, with a trembling hand, brought Annabelle to her feet. As Patrick bent her over his arm and kissed her thoroughly, the audience applauded. The crowd may have cheered because a beautiful woman hadn’t died or because she was embraced in the arms of a gallant military man.
“Much better than a performance of King Lear,” Kang said, with a pointed look and smile at Celwyn. “I need to put a stop to all of this attention.” He turned to the audience sitting on the ice stage and raised his voice, “This performance has been brought to you as just that, a performance, an illusion that tells a story. We hope you enjoyed the show.” He bowed. “Good night.”
Beside him, Annabelle clung to Patrick and said in a thick drawl, “I do declare, I am so grateful that disgusting thing is gone.” She watched Celwyn lift the boy into his arms. Her voice broke, “How is Zander?”
“He isn’t aware of anything that happened.” The situation reminded Celwyn of how, once before, they had rescued the orphan. With a raised brow at Bartholomew, he asked, “Are we good again, my friend?”
“Yes, Jonas. But please never scare me like that again!” The big man paced back and forth. “Good grief.”
Their driver, Edward, stepped up. “If you’ll excuse me, I second that request.” He lowered his rifle to his side. “I’ll get the carriage. I’ve had enough society, and drama, for the night.”
Kang lowered his voice. “Jonas, you might want to wipe the blood off your face. And what about him?” he pointed to their feet. Through the water of the Vltava River, the vampire Delgado’s red eyes still glowed from the bottom of the illuminated cage. In the clear water, it looked like they could have reached out and touched him.
The killing of Telly and Suzanne came back to him, bringing the magician’s sadness too. With it came the unseen and spectral violins whose music surrounded them and the illusions on the edges of the stage began to fade. Celwyn said, “He is ready for the culmination of the evening.”
“Are you sure?” Kang studied him as worry filled his eyes. “You are tiring now, correct?”
“Yes.”
Bartholomew rejoined them and said, “As much as I want to see Delgado’s demise, I’d best take everyone home. It is very late.”
He removed Zander from the magician’s arms and herded the others off the frozen stage and toward the street. The automat pointed at the dome of the Opera House. “Will the net up there hold the rest of the vampires until dawn?”
“It is made of metal, and I’ll be here to be sure it does.” Celwyn smiled a hard smile of revenge. “It will be a very bright dawn, wouldn’t you say?”
Kang patted him on the back. “I’ll stay with you.”
Moments went by as the crowd dispersed. They chattered in excited voices, entertained and unaware of the truth of what they’d witnessed. As soon as they left the ice, heavy clouds rolled in overhead, obscuring the moon. An astute observer might wonder why the clouds waited until that moment.
“It doesn’t appear that you brought your umbrella,” Celwyn remarked as they gazed upward. He produced a large one and handed it to Kang. “Join me for a moment, please.” They walked away from the melting ice stage and onto the footpath paralleling the river.
The thunder began to the east, low and far away. Just a rumble, barely enough to notice. But, within a minute, it covered Prague, boom after boom, shaking the buildings to their foundations. The noise became deafening as the wind arose, competing with a joyous chorus of French horns announcing the storm’s arrival. The pedestrians in the street scattered as the heavens opened and the rain poured down.
The electricity in the air sizzled, raising the hair on their scalps and arms. Even the automat, Kang, shivered in anticipation.
All of the emotion from Suzanne and Telly’s deaths arrived, strengthening the magic, and Celwyn once more lifted his hands, sweeping them from side to side. Lightning illuminated the sky, turning night to day, seeming to crack the sky open. Directly overhead, one bolt separated from the rest, arcing high and coming down.
The smell of the electricity was overwhelming as the bolt went into the river, straight and sure into the cage holding Delgado. When it exploded, it sent waves of water flying upward. The lightning blossomed, unfolding like an enormous rose as it spread across the sky.
The music rejoiced as Celwyn opened his cape, letting Qing fly free into the night sky. The bird soared high and then dipped low over what remained of the ice on the river. He landed on the crystal pipe organ, pecking at the silver keys as they began to fade away.
Across the city, the spectral violins played forlornly, echoing triumphantly, in celebration of love, revenge, and ultimately music.
6. Do you belong to a critique group? If so, how does this help or hinder your writing?
For many years I belonged to several writers groups and found them highly useful. When picking a group, it is like picking out a new pair of shoes. Some look great, but do not really fit. Try to choose one who’s members aim to help you by telling you the truth, but not if they criticize only to make themselves feel like better writers.
7. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?
No one helped me or encouraged me because I did not show it to anyone I knew. Even in my twenties, I realized friends and family will pat you on the head and say your writing is wonderful because they love you. Reality from someone in the industry, like an editor of a small press, will push your work forward.
8. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
Either electronically, or DYI, or enlist a third party to read your work out loud to you. Doing it yourself is the least advisable. Word has a feature to read the text aloud as does other software. When you do this, you’ll hear lots of things you didn’t because a writer memorizes their text and glosses over things that do not sound right. Waiting a few weeks before doing this will really help you forget what is in your head, too.
9. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I just start writing with a list of character names and a general idea of what I want to do initially.
10. How do you maintain your creativity?
I put myself in the heads of the characters, and because I do not outline my imagination takes over.
11. Who is your favorite character in the book? Can you tell us why?
I will always love Celwyn, but in the later books, I’m really liking Valentine because of his moods and grudging sense of humor.
12. Anything else you want to say?
I appreciate the blog appearance, and am open to any questions about the Celwyn series.
The two Celwyn companion books will be a great read, too. Farm Hall will be reissued spring 2023. It has Celwyn’s immortal, nasty brother as an atomic scientist in 1945 post WWII England where he plays games with MI6 and the other scientists. Sea of the Vanities will appear spring 2023. It is a sea adventure that asks the question: is death to be feared?
BLURB:
It’s 1865 and three close friends; the immortal magician Celwyn, the automat Professor Xiau Kang, and Bartholomew, a scientist and widower from Sudan, set out on another adventure as they travel to Singapore to fetch the professor’s wife. Prepare to explore a world reminiscent of our own yet filled with magic and steampunk!
Their private, magically enhanced train, the Elizabeth, is carrying them through the countryside when they witness the purposeful crash of a hot air balloon next to them. Jules Verne emerges from it and joins their party. As they continue east, the danger following the author shadows their train, and the murders begin. When they arrive in Singapore, Captain Nemo uses a unique method to trick Professor Kang into climbing aboard the Nautilus.
Music Shall Untune the Sky is a steampunk fantasy filled with murder, magic, and adventure.
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EXCERPT:
The sun rose, glinting off the ornate cornices and brass crossbeams of the Prague Opera House. A murder of crows hovered over the top of the dome; their plaintive cawing as articulate as words.
“Francesca is most angry. Somehow, she knew Christina had died.” Kang shielded his eyes against the glare. “I believe she is the loudest one with the long neck.”
Celwyn sat beside him on the rim of the fountain, shivering under the shadow of the dome and too shocked over Christina’s death to even cry. He’d only begun to know her and her inner beauty. Later he would ask himself if he was the reason she had been killed or because the witches of Prague had a longstanding feud with vampires., The way Christina was murdered would make it worse. Too exhausted to stand, he watched the crows for a moment.
“Agreed. She has every right to be angry at Delgado and the rest of them.”
The magician couldn’t help glancing across the street to the Vltava River running swift and dark through the city. In the last few hours, he had made sure Delgado would never hurt someone he loved again; but in the end, he had been too late to save Christina.
The sun rose higher, spreading light over the city. The aroma of cooking fires reached them as the residents prepared to greet the day, and a forlorn siren wailed in the distance, competing with the cawing of the crows who circled, pecking at the magically enhanced net dangling from the spire.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Early work was horror and suspense, later work morphed into a combination of magical realism, mystery and adventure painted with a horrific element as needed.
I’m one of those writers who doesn’t plan ahead, no outlines, no clue, and I sometimes write myself into a corner. Atmospheric music in the background helps. Black by Pearl Jam especially.
More information is available at LouKemp.com. I'd love to hear from you and what you think of Celwyn, Bartholomew, and Professor Xiau Kang.
Milestones:
2009 The anthology story Sherlock’s Opera appeared in Seattle Noir, edited by Curt Colbert, Akashic Books. Available through Amazon or Barnes and Noble online. Booklist published a favorable review of my contribution to the anthology.
2010 My story, In Memory of the Sibylline, was accepted into the best-selling MWA anthology Crimes by Moonlight, edited by Charlaine Harris. The immortal magician Celwyn makes his first appearance in print.
2018 The story, The Violins Played before Junstan is published in the MWA anthology Odd Partners, edited by Anne Perry. The Celwyn series begins.
Present day My new publisher, 4 Horsemen has reissued book 1 of the Celwyn series: The Violins Played before Junstan. The remaining books in the series; Music Shall Untune the Sky, The Raven and the Pig, The Pirate Danced and the Automat Died, The Wyvern, the Pirate and the Madman will debut, beginning in 2023 -2024. The companion book, Farm Hall, will be reissued in 2023 where readers will see more of Pelaez, another immortal magician and Celwyn's brother. Another companion book, The Sea of the Vanities is due out in 2023.
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
Lou Kemp will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f4482
