Interview with the Steamboat Today

Local author finds mystery in history
By Margaret Hair Saturday, December 12, 2009


Steamboat Springs — Kathi Guler jumped into a 27-year writing project after what she calls “a moment of great egotism.”

“Originally, it was going to be one book, just to see if I could do it,” the Steamboat Springs author, who writes under the name Kathleen Cunningham Guler, said about her four-part Macsen’s Treasure Series.

“I had read this other historical novel that I didn’t find very good. I thought, ‘Gosh, I could do better than that,’” she said.

That was in February 1982. Sixteen years, a library of books worth of reading and a research trip to the United Kingdom later, Guler had “Into the Path of the Gods,” the first book in her series.

With almost 10 years behind her since that first release, Guler is promoting the fourth and final Macsen’s Treasure novel, a historical spy thriller called “A Land Beyond Ravens.” She will sign copies of the book and answer questions at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Epilogue Book Co.

“A Land Beyond Ravens” closes the evolution of Guler’s main character, a fifth century British spy named Marcus ap Iorwerth. Marcus and his wife, Claerwen, work through the series to unite factions to defend against a Saxon invasion.

“I’ve always been interested in history, and when I read Mary Stewart’s ‘Merlin Trilogy,’ that got my interest going,” Guler said about the series. She flipped to the further reading section of Stewart’s books and started plowing through the listed titles. Guler has built her own library of about 1,000 books on related topics, she said.

“The history behind this time is very interesting. I probably would have been an archaeologist if I hadn’t done everything else in my life,” she said.

Guler’s series takes place in the last third of the fifth century, around the time King Arthur is supposed to have lived. The mystery and lack of documentation from that time inspired Guler — who also credits some of her interest to her Scottish and Welsh ancestry — to frame her story as a spy novel with Marcus as the leading role, she said.

“He’s kind of one of these James Bond meets MacGyver meets Braveheart kind of characters,” she said. Guler hopes fans come away from the series with more than a good read.

“One thing I like for people to take away from the series is how resilient people are. Even in times of war and great stress and disaster, we’re resilient, and we try to find a way out of it. I think that’s the appeal people find in the Arthurian legend,” she said.

The Steamboat Springs Writers Group offered workshop tips for the second, third and fourth Macsen’s Treasure books. Guler moved to Steam­boat Springs in 1990 and has been a member of the writers group since 1998. At weekly meetings, Guler’s peers pointed out any gaps in plot or character development or dialogue in a way that was honest but not critical, she said.

There are ideas for a new project, possibly a series of interconnected short stories set in different historical periods, she said.

Books from the Macsen’s Treasure Series are available locally at Epilogue and online at www.amazon.com and other online booksellers, as well as at Guler’s publisher’s Web site, www.bardsongpress.com.

Photo credit: John F. Russell from Steamboat Today

On Writing Historical Fiction

Daydreaming is a good thing. Some will disagree, like one of my grade school teachers who asked the question: “what’s first person singular of the verb ‘to be’?” She followed with, “You look like you’re daydreaming,” and called my name. I answered flippantly, “I am,” meaning I was, in truth, daydreaming and had not heard the question. By coincidence, it was the right answer. Miffed that she hadn’t embarrassed me, she scowled and moved on to the next daydreamer.

Indeed, I don’t remember what I was daydreaming about then, but it very well could have been of knights in shining armor, the Three Musketeers, or that clever fellow Zorro of early California. To escape the present world and seek the adventure of another time and place always felt comfortable back then. The truth? Still does! Inexplicably, being transported to another time has a certain appeal. Is it ladies in long dresses? Big hunky men in kilts? Exotic languages no longer spoken? Great sword fights? Sea battles? Who knows?

The daydreaming eventually led to an insatiable interest in history after watching the BBC’s “The Six Wives of Henry VIII.” Visualizing the Tudors’ lives made me understand that history examines the dynamics of people’s actions and is not the dull, dry business it’s been made out to be by countless school systems. By the time I attended university, I found my favorite studies of art, music, literature and drama were all closely interconnected by their histories. So much to discover!

Throughout the decades that followed, the fascination remains strong. The desire to communicate that interest manifested in the form of historical fiction. This took a lot of learning, patience and persistence. Writing historical fiction goes far beyond simply telling a story set in another time. It’s many disciplines: the historian’s craft of performing thorough, solid research to recreate the world of another era; the art of the written word; and the intuition—the creative daydreaming—that takes the spark of an idea for a story and gives it the fire to unfold in all its power.

After writing four books, I still wonder why certain eras intrigue me, some quite strongly. Is it my Welsh and Scottish ancestry? Dark Age Britain’s Celtic culture draws my attention the most and began doing so long before I discovered my heritage. Is it something as ethereal and unprovable as reincarnation? Sometimes dreams and images come to me so fiercely while I’m writing that they seem more like memories than imagination. Or is it the challenge to puzzle together what happened long ago and find the story within that context?

I wonder what that grade school teacher would say if she knew where my daydreams have taken me. With apologies to Descartes: I write, therefore “I am”?

USA Book News: Best Books Awards 2009

Great news! A LAND BEYOND RAVENS is a finalist in The National Best Books 2009 Awards in the Fiction & Literature: Historical Fiction category! Woo-hoo!

http://www.usabooknews.com/2009bestbooksawards.html

Literary Sojourn - 2009

I love this event! Literary Sojourn is a fabulous annual gathering held each fall in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, that brings together a handful of critically acclaimed authors to speak to about 500 attendees. This was the tenth I’ve attended. This year we had John Darnton, Jayne Anne Phillips, Linda Hogan, Amitav Ghosh and Richard Bausch speaking, plus Erin McKean as Master of Ceremonies. The authors speak on topics that can range anywhere from the writing process, to career paths, to the background of one or more of their books, to where an idea or observance created the spark that turned into a story.

I always come away with something of value. It can be a new idea of how to approach a story, a sense of validation that these highly acclaimed authors go through similar experiences that I have as a writer, or simply some inspiration. Even after many years of experience in writing, and having written and published four novels of my own, there’s always more to learn, to hone, to explore, to raise to a higher level. Being in this position, I actually find this kind of event more valuable than going to many of the writer’s conferences or workshops out there—so many of those are geared towards beginners. (Unfortunately, money and time don’t allow me to attend the better conferences.)

These are what I felt were the highlights:

Amitav Ghosh, from Calcutta, India, spoke of how so many books tell of the arrival of immigrants in new countries. He writes instead of the difficulty of leaving the old country, especially one like India that has roots in an incredibly old civilization and the land is even part of the religion. This got me to thinking about some of the things I’ve written on Celtic culture that also reveres the land. As people from Asia’s many cultures have been far flung across the world, so have Celtic people been spread in a diaspora. My own Welsh and Scottish ancestors were part of that vast migration.

Jayne Anne Phillips spoke of kismet. What an interesting surprise when she revealed that while finalizing her book, “Lark and Termite,” without foreknowledge, the name of one of the characters turned out to be nearly identical to that of a survivor of a historical incident on which the book is based. I had a similar spine-tickling experience which I’ve blogged about here before. When I needed to name a character in A Land Beyond Ravens who would eventually become one of King Arthur’s warriors, I searched through many long compilations of names associated with Arthur’s armies. The character was the son of a long dead man called Taran. In the form of Welsh patronymics, the new character would be ‘so-and-so’ ap (son of) Taran. The search paid off unexpectedly: I found a name, Glinyeu ap Taran. Yes, kismet!
(See my earlier entry:http://kathleenguler.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-was-that-fellows-name.html)

Linda Hogan, a Chickasaw poet and novelist, also hit a chord that resonated with me. She spoke of the language crows and ravens have and how they communicate with not only each other, but us as well. My husband and I experience that every day. We have somewhere between fifty to a hundred crows that live in our neighborhood. They interact with us, talking in their varied and intricate language. They leave no doubt as to what they mean, and it is not just that they want food. They enjoy companionship as well. They are intelligent, playful birds and have adopted us into their family and territory. The best highlight of my day was the gift of sitting for a few minutes with Linda and talking with her about these wonderful creatures while she signed my copy of her book, Mean Spirit.

In all, a very enjoyable, satisfying day. If all goes well, I’ll be back for number eleven!

See http://www.literarysojourn.org/ for additional information.