Researching a Novel with Help from My Favorite Renaissance Artists ~guest post by fantasy author Tracy Falbe

Today, I'm happy to share a guest post by fantasy author Tracy Falbe about Renaissance art that inspired her new novel, Werelord Thal. 

Researching a Novel with Help from My Favorite Renaissance Artists

by Tracy Falbe

The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words, and a masterpiece by a Renaissance artist equals at least ten thousand words in my opinion.

When I chose a historical setting for my newest fantasy novel, I knew I would need to do a lot of research. Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale is set in 1561 Bohemia in the heart of the Holy Roman Empire.

In addition to reading many books, I poured over art books. The great Renaissance masters let me see their world in marvelous emotive detail.

Because I’m a very visual writer and craft my settings carefully, I gained many important details about Renaissance Europe from art studies.

- Clothing styles

- Hair styles

- Social classes

- Mythological beliefs

- Images of landscapes

- Economic activity

Who were the artists that contributed the most to my research?

Albrecht Durer

Caravaggio

Titian

Pieter Bruegel

I’ve admired Albrecht Durer my whole life. He has many famous works instantly recognizable to millions of people to this day. His iconic Four Riders of the Apocalypse captured the fears and violence of the time. He gained fame during his life because of his woodcuts that were widely distributed through new printing technology.

He has an immense portfolio of works ranging from sublime religious scenes to landscapes to common folk to portraits of wealthy people and many self portraits. I’ve always been captivated by the details he packs into every picture. His Madonna and Child is my favorite vision of the Virgin Mary because she is beautiful and vital and the baby is cute. She looks like the happy mother all mothers want to be. Then he filled the drawing with a complex landscape filled with baffling details like a fox on a chain and an old man with a cane.

As for Caravaggio, I must mention him because I love his work so much. His portrait of the Roman God of Wine Bacchus thrills me every time I look at it. The painting also exemplifies the Renaissance revival of classical mythologies as European society recovered its lost history after a long dark age.

In the Musicians by Caravaggio I see people outside the mainstream. They live for pleasure. The painting has a very homoerotic feel as the group of young men lounge with their musical instruments. I must admit this painting inspired the trio of musicians I put in my novel.

Titian is another enormous talent from the Renaissance. I especially admire his nude portrait of Venus. In a time when women were increasingly oppressed and faced the terror of witch hunters, Titian was a man painting a woman free of spirit and comfortable with her body. Her sexuality is playfully inviting. The sassy beauty Titian gave her told me it would be fine to write female characters in this era that were ready to break rules whenever a chance arose.

Finally I come to Pieter Bruegel the Elder. His subjects frequently depict scenes of the common people working and playing in their villages. His paintings were invaluable for picturing clothing, home interiors, and village life. His Hunters in the Snow is especially vivid because of its depiction of people playing on a frozen river. The hunters with their dogs in the foreground are marvelously detailed. His work revealed the joy of the folk. By and large people wanted to enjoy their lives despite the constant threat of war, disease, and famine.

Bruegel’s talent took on harsh themes as well. His Seven Deadly Sins shows the severe mythos of the time. Sinners were to be judged and punished harshly. He shows a world ruled by violence and fear. 

Art is a crucial tool for historical research. It is the expression of the hearts and minds from the time. Art reveals everything from propaganda to truth and from horror to delight. All of which are vital to developing the setting for a historical novel.  

Please look at the accompanying Slide Share presentation to see the artworks that inspired me while writing Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale. 

Book Description:

Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale by Tracy Falbe

 

Thal is wanted for Devil worship and shape shifting but still boldly walks the streets of 16th century Prague. Jesuits hunt him. Mercenaries fear him. Musicians sing his praise, and women are captivated by his alpha swagger.

Born of a witch and a sorcerer, he is summoned when his desperate mother casts the werewolf spell before facing torture and execution. Burdened with her magical call for vengeance Thal seeks the men that killed her. His hunt is complicated when the Magistrate’s stepdaughter Altea Kardas crosses his path. Horrified that her community is burning women to death, she can confide her doubt and fear only to Thal.

He desires her greatly but knows he will bring ruin upon her. Across Bohemia and beyond people who are different are labeled heretics in a restless world hobbled by tyrannical ignorance. The Renaissance has thrown the Holy Roman Empire into turmoil. Printed books are spreading radical ideas. Firearms are triggering a new age of warfare. And the human spirit is shaking off obedience.

Thal embodies the ancient magic of the pagan past. He challenges a world conquered by a spiritual system that denies the flesh and forgets the Earth. And he awakens within Altea recognition of these truths. She believes any risk is worth loving him until she becomes the bait in a trap set by Thal’s enemies. 

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Read the first 4 chapters of the novel:

Use this Slideshare to preview or click on the link below:

4-Chapter Preview of Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale from Tracy Falbe

*~*~*

Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous, epic fantasy romance. For a FREE ebook sample of her writing, read her historic fantasy short story, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Meet the Rys - A Fantasy Race to be Loved and Feared ~ guest post by author Tracy Falbe

 

 

 

I'm very excited to have fantasy author Tracy Falbe return to tell us about the intriguing Rys beings in the world of her Rys Chronicles.

Meet the Rys - A Fantasy Race to be Loved and Feared

By Tracy Falbe

Have you ever wanted a magic friend? Or how about a magical master who you must obey with all your heart? The heroes of my fantasy novels get some of both from their relationships with the rys.

I developed the rys race for my fantasy novels because I wanted to explore ideas beyond the tried-and-true fantasy races of elves, dwarves, dragons, and so on. Although I love these fantasy elements, I wanted my imagination to be free of literary conventions. My stories are based on the premise of human societies being manipulated by a superior race whose powers cannot be matched by humans. Ambitious humans must have a rys on their side if they are going to succeed.

What are the powers of the rys?

They can live for thousands of years but they are not immortal.

Most rys are known as “common” meaning they have basic powers like limited range landscanning, heat spells, close range battle magic and self healing. In battle these common rys fighters rely on enchanted weapons and protective crystals made by higher level rys.

A tiny elite minority of rys have very advanced powers. They can see across vast stretches of land, read minds, levitate, enchant objects, hibernate, perform great feats of healing, influence the thoughts of others, and cast destructive spells on a large scale. Most terrifying is the power to seize the souls of the dying and enslave the ghosts. On rare occasions they can even alter living flesh into monstrous servants.

Although the elite rys might sound invincible, they are vulnerable to physical attack while in spellmaking trances. To protect themselves they often train warriors, both rys and human, to protect them during battle.

A rys protected by humans will derive extra power from their devotion. And dominion over whole human societies adds to the power of a rys ruler. The more a rys controls, then the more he or she is able to achieve magically. Power begets more power.

Rys are generally tall with trim fit bodies. They have black hair that turns white with age or after intense magic battles. They have blue skin of a hue that matches the great mountains that surround their secluded alpine homeland.

Sometimes a rys becomes very fond or his or her human servants, and intense friendships form. When this happens, the rys is mindful of outliving a human friend by centuries and values their limited time together. Aside from these compassionate anomalies, rys generally regard humans as potentially useful but definitely inferior.

I’ve received some compliments from readers about how I incorporate the rys and human roles in the saga. I wanted the humans to be able to contribute meaningfully to the schemes of the powerful rys, and I also wanted the rys to have a real need for the humans. The foundational premise driving my novels is the concept of humans navigating life and adventure while existing in a world ruled by superior beings that don’t necessarily take human interests into account.

So far I’ve written eight novels in my rys world. I filled my fantasy epics with lots of intrigue, kings, spies, warriors, and women. My characters experience everything from winning the greatest of treasures to the bleak sorrow of total defeat. I strive to offer excitement and maybe deep thought. If you try my novels and enjoy them, perhaps you’ll wonder if it’s rys magic making you like them or if you truly feel that way.

Enjoy this short excerpt from Rys Rising: Book I when Amar learns that the rys Onja wants his help:

He asked her why she was leaving. The subject seemed to trouble her. She looked at the jagged blue mountains that were her homeland.

“A rys cannot stay always away from the Rysamand,” she said. “The snows of winter are coming and I would go home.”

Amar envied her because she still had a home to go back to. He opened his hand that held the warding crystal.

“You will contact me again?” he said, seeking reassurance.

“Someday, Amar,” Onja said.

Saddened at the prospect of her absence, he dared to ask if he could go with her. Onja pondered the possibility. At last she said, “Not now, but I think that someday you will see Jingten.”

“I would like that,” he said, accepting the rejection that she had softened with hope.

Onja stopped gazing wistfully toward her home and regarded him seriously. “Amar, I would have you seek power. Be the prince you were born to be. I will have need of your strength, and I know I have your loyalty,” Onja said.

Her statement was both ominous and exciting to Amar. He thought he knew what she wanted him to do. His own thoughts had begun to flirt with ambition, and her command gave him the courage to be more than a lousy bandit or assassin.

“Why do you help me, Onja?” he asked. “If you seek powerful allies, why don’t you go to a king or warlord who already has power? You are great. No one would deny you their loyalty.”

She replied, “Chance brought you to me, Amar. Sometimes that suffices to make a decision. I think that in time, these kings you speak of will lend me their strength, but they will never be my friends. Not like you.”

Amar gripped his warding crystal tightly, profoundly touched by her kind words. “I will do my best,” he vowed.

Rys Rising: Book I could be your gateway to a new reading addiction. See all my fantasy novels at:

Brave Luck Books

http://www.braveluck.com

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~ ~ ~ Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous epic fantasy romance: Book One, SEEKING A SCRIBE, Book Two, HERITAGE AVENGED, Book Three, LOST VOLUMES, and Book Four, STAUROLITE. For a FREE ebook download, read her historic fantasy, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Watcha Reading? Blog Hop

Through the end of May  I’ll be participating in the Whatcha Reading? Blog Hop organized by Tracy Falbe http://www.herladyshipsquest.com. This is a fun way to share and begin some good discussions about books we're interested in. Please use the linky list below to check out the posts of others participating in the hop, or feel free to sign up and add a post of your own.

I'm currently reading two books.

The first is Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. I've enjoyed reading magical realism for at least a decade. I'm intrigued by the style of the genre and have been surveying more authors in that category. This is not only for pleasure but for research to notice the similarities and differences within the genre. For my own writing, I'm beginning to plot my next series and intend it to be magical realism. I've wanted to write magical realism for many years. With my present high fantasy series ending after one more book, I'm eagerly looking at a new adventure around the corner.

In Practical Magic, I'm nearing the mid-point, and it's definitely holding my attention. Like all magical realism, the line between real and magical is wonderfully blurred in the adventures of three generations of Owens' women: the two spinster aunts; their two nieces who, as children, became their charges; and, later, the two daughters of one of the grown nieces.

Additionally, I'm reading The Wisdom of Yoga by Stephen Cope. This is an assigned reading which is part of the yoga teacher training program I'm currently enrolled in. Although the title sounded a bit dry when I first picked it up, the book is actually alive with practical application. The author used a terrific technique, following the lives of five yoga students over a few years during their studies at the Kripalu Center for Yoga in Cambridge. Delving into those students' personal challenges and triumphs clearly illustrates the meanings of the historical text of the yoga sutras written by Patanjali in the 2nd century BC. The reading takes difficult concepts and makes them real and interesting through practical application.

Use these links to enjoy the rest of the hop!

~ ~ ~ Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous epic fantasy romance: Book One, SEEKING A SCRIBE, Book Two, HERITAGE AVENGED, and Book Three, LOST VOLUMES. She has also authored the Ciel's Legacy series, with fast action mermaid/pirate storylines: TEARS ON A TRANQUIL LAKE and TORTUGA TREASURE.  For a FREE ebook download, read her historic fantasy, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Loxane, Shamaness of the Kelsurs ~guest post by fantasy author Tracy Falbe

I'm pleased to be have a wonderful guest today. As part of the Magic Appreciation Tour, fantasy author Tracy Falbe is here to give a glimpse into one of her characters--Loxane. 

Be sure to check out Tracy's Rys Rising series and also her great giveaway at the bottom of this post!

 

Today’s stop on the Feel Real Fantasy blog tour celebrating the completion of the Rys Rising series by Tracy Falbe introduces readers to Loxane, Shamaness of the Kelsurs.

Age: Mid to late 20s

Physical appearance: Light skin, red hair, blue eyes, curvy athletic dancer’s body, numerous tattoos of an elk, eagles, snakes, etc.

Special skills: Leading shamanic rituals, trancing, dancing, authoritative, and in tune with the universe

Magical items: warding crystal and enchanted sword

Loxane belongs to the Kelsur Tribe, a vast nation of northern nomads that look down on agricultural civilization. She is descended from the special “blood of the sun” that denotes a small group of people that immigrated to the Kelsur region from the east. They are racially different than the original Kelsurs, but this adds to her distinctiveness. Loxane is a powerful Shamaness and possesses a very high status, equal but separate from the tribal elders.

Once a year, Loxane attends the Thievesmeet where her people interact with criminal elements from the fringe of the civilized world. After performing her very popular dance rituals, she takes the Overlord of the Kez, a notorious outlaw brotherhood, as a lover until the festival ends.

When Amar becomes the Overlord, he certainly enjoys his role in the Thievesmeet ritual, but he seeks a larger relationship with Loxane. He wants to use her influence with her tribe to entice the Kelsurs into joining his holy war in the service of his rys mistress Onja. Loxane is ultimately seduced by the magic of Onja and becomes her High Priestess. She leads men in battle and kills unbelievers without remorse.

Authors feelings about the character

Loxane springs from my contemplations of the primitive. She is not a civilized person. She looks down on civilized people because she thinks they are mostly ignorant slaves lacking in spiritual awareness. Her dispassionate attitude about life and death spring from her primal acceptance of the facts of life. We are born. We live. We die. Joy and grief weave the same cloth.

The talents of Loxane are mysterious. It’s hard to know if she is using some aromatic potion to influence people or the sheer psychological force of her personality. Perhaps it’s a combination. She is a woman that no man will even think of defying. All women feel inferior in her presence. She dominates because of her sexual potency and imposing physical presence. And Loxane loves power. She devotes herself to Onja even though she believes in her bones that the magical rys is truly perilous. But Loxane serves this power to enhance her own. The temptation cannot be resisted.

Although I’ve given much thought to Loxane as I wrote her, she remains remote to me. As a Kelsur would say I am “born under a roof” and part of civilization. I can never truly understand the Shamaness.

From Savage Storm: Rys Rising Book II

Amar then asked her why she visited the Kez Overlord and what did she want from him.

“To give you pleasure,” she answered promptly, and Kopok squirmed a little as he translated. It did not seem to be the right thing to say to his Lord but he supposed such awkwardness was part of being an interpreter.

Amar allowed himself a light chuckle. She had certainly succeeded in her mission, and he considered dismissing Kopok and returning to their bedding. Why struggle through conversation when their bodies could communicate with such ease?

But Amar pushed away that notion. He had to start asserting himself with her or he would be lost. He pressed her for an answer. His insistence that she set a price upon her company amused her somewhat. She teased him that he was tempting her to demand a gratuity, but finally she explained that taking a lover among her people caused difficulties. If she favored one chieftain with her company then jealousies were aroused among other chieftains. And if her attentions drifted from one man to another, then rivalries and conflicts could erupt. She often traveled among her people and committing to one man was not feasible for her. She had learned at a young age to restrict her affairs to casual dalliances with low ranking males. Then at her first Thievesmeet she had gotten the idea to offer herself to the Kez Overlord every year. Such a man would always be strong and powerful – truly worthy of her – yet such a relationship would still leave her free to travel among her people because the Kez must not commit to women.

“I think you would agree that our relationship enhances both our prestige,” she concluded.

Upon hearing the translation, Amar did not dispute her. She made sense. Although he still found it hard to believe that this supreme seductress wanted nothing specific from him, Amar decided he had pressed the issue enough. He proceeded with his plan to convince her to deepen her relationship with him. She might only want physical pleasure and a manly counterpart, but he had not exposed himself to her wanton witchy wiles for no return.

“I would like to learn more about your people, Loxane. Could you take me to these chiefs who crave your affections but cannot have them?” he asked and started to rub her feet and pet her ankles.

After the question was translated, Loxane grew thoughtful. She studied the hard young man sitting across from her. His shirt hung loose over his bulging shoulders and his brown bare chest was hard and clean. A simple leather pouch hung around his neck, and her experienced perceptions had guessed what it contained.

Instead of teasing open the subject with volleys of words, she said, “What do you want, Amar?”

He enjoyed the forthrightness. Her intellect was proving keen, and Amar’s natural disrespect for her lessened. He reciprocated her forthrightness and said that he sought an alliance with the Kelsur people so as to obtain warriors, as many as possible.

His answer surprised Loxane. Her two male attendants who waited behind the stalagmites stirred and leaned closer.

“I come to the Thievesmeet for pleasure. Not to barter with the spears of my hunters,” she stated stiffly.

As Amar listened to the translation, he plotted how best to tempt her. Loxane’s body and skills were her weapons, but Amar knew what tempted those who were already powerful: more power.

He said, “Would you like to see the rys? To go to their city in the mountains?”

She pulled back her feet and sat up. The hard look of a powerful Shamaness replaced her playful vixen-like demeanor and she began to speak with authority.

Kopok listened closely and gave his translation in quick bursts. On her behalf he said, “I have warned you about the rys. Stay away from them. Their magic will consume you. My ancestors fled the magic lands of the east to seek a place where people could know their spirits in peace and not be distracted by creatures that demand devotion but give no guidance or salvation.”

Amar shook his head. “I do not believe you. You knew that I was touched by a rys and still you came to me. To even know that I was touched by a rys in the first place, you must have some token of their power or been near one once. I believe that you want to see the rys. I believe that you want to be in the service of their true power instead of putting on your ritual performances.”

Kopok glanced nervously at Amar but still conveyed the words faithfully.

Loxane narrowed her eyes and suspicion sharpened her lovely face into a cruel and calculating pose. “You know nothing of my rituals,” she said.

Amar responded, “I understand that they are meant to awe people and make them worship your supposed powers.”

Kopok could barely utter such words to the Shamaness, but he was a Kez and he did as his Overlord bade him.

Amar slipped his warding crystal from its pouch. The blue glow startled the Shamaness, and she whispered a word of protection in her own language.

Amar held the enchanted sphere out toward her. “You have techniques that effect people and make them revere you, but my power is real. This is real,” he said forcefully.

Loxane turned her head a little but her eyes remained transfixed on his amazing charm. She had suspected that he had a rys-made enchantment but actually seeing it effected her more profoundly that she had expected.

Tracy Falbe invites you to give her characters a chance to feel real to you. The Rys Rising fantasy series is driven by magic, passion, bravery, ambition, conquest, and defeat. Rys Rising: Book I is a free ebook and hopefully your gateway to an epic reading experience.

Start reading Rys Rising for free and enter the prize drawing. http://falbepublishing.com/braveluck/feel-real-fantasy-blog-tour.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~ ~ ~ Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous epic fantasy romance: Book One, SEEKING A SCRIBE, Book Two, HERITAGE AVENGED, and Book Three, LOST VOLUMES. She has also authored the Ciel's Legacy series, with fast action mermaid/pirate storylines: TEARS ON A TRANQUIL LAKE and TORTUGA TREASURE.  For a FREE ebook download, read her historic fantasy, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.