Tuesday, September 26, 2006

In the beginning…

September 25th 2006

This is my first ever Blog entry. Be kind to me, those few who visit.

I am an author. Chris Humphreys, the name. You may have found me through my web site:
www.cchumphreys.com.
And the site is one of the reasons I wanted to start a blog. It’s just so hard to update a site, unless you have computer skills beyond the basic. I don’t. So a blog seemed to be a way to keep in touch with my readers, find new ones, find out what you are thinking about my stuff, any stuff, life…

I began writing, like so many, in journals. Confessions, observations, some things you didn’t want anyone else to read…but phrased elegantly enough because secretly you hoped someone might!

Be careful what you wish for. Some people did read. Didn’t like what I’d said about them - nor find out what I’d done.

So I’ll try and be more discreet here. ‘Try’ being the emphasised word. No promises.

But I think this blog will be less about gossip, and my skewed view of the world. More about my writing, I hope. The process, the struggles, the triumphs, the disasters – there have been a few. Perhaps, also, all that stuff that doesn’t make it into the books. The great ideas you have to chuck away, or save for a different kind of book, for a different readership.

This is my first ever Blog entry. I’ll keep it brief. But I should probably give a little background. Just about the writing for now. Those other stories, the personal ones, are for the dead of night. Maybe.

I have six novels published – some or all of them in English, German, Russian, Italian, Czech and Greek. One in proofs, one that I am a third of the way through. The list, and extracts, are at my site. More bio there too. Five of the six are historical fiction. The latest is my first…do we call it YA? Teen Lit?

It’s called The Fetch. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a Fetch as, “The Double, Wraithe, or Apparition of a living person.” Others might call it a doppelganger.

The Fetch is the first book in The Runestone Saga. The cover’s on this page and those are runes on it.

I’m going to write about runes. In fact, I think I might do a ‘Rune of the Month’ and talk about each one. For those who haven’t heard of them, runes are an Old Norse or Germanic alphabet. They are also sometimes called the Norse Tarot. So they are letters, but they are also symbols representing some object, or even force, in nature. Fehu, is “cattle”. Thurisaz is “thorn.” Cattle means wealth, because a man’s richness could be measured in his herd. So, in a runecast, cattle could mean hard work, steady progress. A thorn could protect something. Or prick you till you bleed.

Why me and runes? I’m half Norwegian. Plus my grandfather had a Fetch who walked. And when I was born, my mother said she felt she knew me straight away. That in my first cry, she heard her father’s laugh.

As the REM song says: “Oh no, I’ve said too much/I haven’t said enough.”

Which? I’ll stop now till some other blogger lets me know. (Heh, I’ve just called myself a Blogger. That’s a start!)

For those who might have found me because of my other writing – The French Executioner perhaps, or Jack Absolute – dubbed by some my ‘fantasy alter ego’ - fear not. Or fear much - I will be talking about them soon enough. As I will about my love of history, my acting career, my obsession with Hamlet, my ludicrous support for Leicester City Football Club, my…

Enough indeed. So for now:

“Good night, Sweet Prince. And flights of Angels
Sing thee to thy rest.”

(Goes for Princesses too)

2 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Hey CC,

Welcome to the world of blogging! Glad to hear your YA is finally out there.

Cheers,
Art

2:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Chris

I found your Blog via your comment on Sheila Ruth's "Wands and Worlds" Blog... I'm looking forward to reading The Fetch for the Cybils Book Awards (if it ever gets here !)

7:28 AM  

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