Giambastiani, Kurt R. A. 1958-

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GIAMBASTIANI, Kurt R. A. 1958-

PERSONAL: Name pronounced Jeeahm-bahs-tee-AH-nee; born December 4, 1958; son of Ronald Achilles Giambastiani (a lithographer) and Dellores Dymond; married Ilene Fay Schoenfeld, July 30, 1983. Education: San Francisco State University, 1976-78; Rubin Academy of Music, 1978-79. Politics: "Reluctant Democrat." Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES: Home—16034 Burke Ave. N., Shoreline, WA 98133. Agent—Eleanor Wood, Spectrum Literary Agency, 320 Central Park West, Ste. 1-D, New York, NY 10025. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Author. Teller and head teller in banks in Greenbrae, Mill Valley, and San Luis Obispo, CA, 1980-85; analyst and programmer for information technology and insurance companies in Seattle and Bellevue, WA, 1985—.

WRITINGS:

short stories

Bio-Dome, Alexandria Digital Entertainment, 1998.

Veiled Glimpses, Alexandria Digital Entertainment, 1998.

Supplanter, Alexandria Digital Entertainment, 1998.

Sum of the Angles, Alexandria Digital Entertainment, 1998.

Still Falling, Alexandria Digital Entertainment, 1998.

Spencer's Peace, Alexandria Digital Entertainment, 1998.

"fallen cloud" saga

The Year the Cloud Fell: An Alternate History, Onyx (New York, NY), 2001.

The Spirit of Thunder: An Alternate History, ROC (New York, NY), 2002.

Shadow of the Storm: An Alternate History, ROC (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to Oceans of the Mind, MZB's Fantasy Magazine, Talebones, Tomorrow, Year 2000, Dragon, Air Fish, Midnight Zoo, Science Fiction Review, and Vision.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Cry of the Wind: An Alternate History, book four in the "Fallen Cloud" saga, due 2004; Khamsin, a Modern Fantasy of the Middle East (suspense); Rootbound (mainstream); and The Ploughman Chronicles (fantasy). Research on cathedral building in the tenth century, the necropoli of Alexandria, and the conscious mind.

SIDELIGHTS: Kurt R. A. Giambastiani once commented: "My first artistic endeavors were musical, playing viola and violin in symphonies and quartets, and in them I experienced firsthand the reciprocal and interactive joy of creative performance. I tend, therefore, to bring that same view to my writing. For me, writing is not a solitary activity that I achieve alone in a room with pen and paper; writing is a performance, albeit a greatly extended one. Thus, my relationship with my readers is very important to me. I listen to what they say, through letters and e-mails. I'm not talking about critics and reviewers here; they're not talking to me and, in general, there's no pleasing them. I'm talking about everyday readers, the people who buy my books. Many of them take the time to write me a note to tell me what their favorite parts were and what they hope to see in the future. And I listen to them. I'm writing, after all, for their enjoyment.

"I want to create a story that grips my readers and carries them forward through the plot. The best way to do that is with good characterizations. I strive to create characters that my readers care about, and in order to care about someone, you first must understand them. That's why I work so hard to make my characters comprehensible, especially the antagonists. My editors will tell you that I always argue strongest to keep those sections that explain a character's background or motivation. Stories, after all, are about people. Stories tell us about ourselves, about what we're good at, and what we still need to work on. Stories tell us about being human. Whether they're set in Iron Age Egypt or on a twenty-fourth-century colony on Mars, stories are about us, or they're about nothing at all."