"Katya Reimann is a very talented writer with a bright future." |
"Though there are plenty of women writing fantasy novels these days, almost none are working in as classic a mold as is Reimann, and her evocations of a spirited female protagonist and a triad of powerful goddesses has a resonance none of her male colleagues can match." |
This page has been up in various iterations since 1995, when Liz Manicatide of Earthsign Studios put together the first draft and the site was parked on a Johns Hopkins University server, thanks to a friend then on faculty. So much has changed about the way the Internet & the Web are used since that time.
It's been fun working on this iteration.
It's been fun working on this iteration.
Katya is the author of the Tielmaran Chronicles, a high fantasy trilogy set in a world dominated by squabbling deities and complex, often-troubled characters, set at odds by conflicting loyalties to their gods and to each other. She was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 1997. Her novels are Wind from a Foreign Sky (1996), A Tremor in the Bitter Earth (1998), and Prince of Fire and Ashes (2002).
The Wanderer, a posthumous collaboration with author Cherry Wilder, came out in 2004, with a softcover edition in November of 2005. Katya is currently at work on a contemporary fantasy set in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Katya spent six years in England, writing, teaching, and earning her doctorate degree in 18th Century Literature (D.Phil, Oxon 1995). While at Oxford, she was a three time recipient of A.C. Irvine Travel grants, established in the memory of Oxford graduate A.C. Irvine, who died, with George Mallory, attempting the first ascent of Mount Everest. Katya loves the high mountains, especially Spain's Picos de Europa, where she first experienced expedition conditions while exploring deep mountain caves with the Oxford University Cave Club. Mountains, caves, and compelling natural environments figure often in her writing.
Katya admits to many literary influences, including T.H. White, numerous obscure writers of the 18th century and Rene de Goscinny (author of Asterix the Gaul). She reads a great deal of pre-20th century literature, which, in combination with her vigorous outdoor pursuits, she considers all good fodder for her story ideas.
Katya currently makes her home in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The Wanderer, a posthumous collaboration with author Cherry Wilder, came out in 2004, with a softcover edition in November of 2005. Katya is currently at work on a contemporary fantasy set in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Katya spent six years in England, writing, teaching, and earning her doctorate degree in 18th Century Literature (D.Phil, Oxon 1995). While at Oxford, she was a three time recipient of A.C. Irvine Travel grants, established in the memory of Oxford graduate A.C. Irvine, who died, with George Mallory, attempting the first ascent of Mount Everest. Katya loves the high mountains, especially Spain's Picos de Europa, where she first experienced expedition conditions while exploring deep mountain caves with the Oxford University Cave Club. Mountains, caves, and compelling natural environments figure often in her writing.
Katya admits to many literary influences, including T.H. White, numerous obscure writers of the 18th century and Rene de Goscinny (author of Asterix the Gaul). She reads a great deal of pre-20th century literature, which, in combination with her vigorous outdoor pursuits, she considers all good fodder for her story ideas.
Katya currently makes her home in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Biographical Notes, chatty version
Well, that's the sober biographical story, in which I gamely resisted mixing in the eclectic mix of odd-jobs that writers adore interjecting into such things because they sound so quirky and neat and perhaps convince a reader that a writer's life experiences are, at least in some small way, beyond the mundane.
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This isn't to say that I haven't taken on the 'usual' series of eclectic and interesting jobs. The most interesting was the two summers I spent as a tombstone carver, cutting stencil and the occasional stone or other odd commission with the sandblaster. These later were to deliver important 'real world' returns in my life as an artist. One seldom knows where the true kernel of meaning lies in one's experiences until long after!
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I also worked as a fundraiser for The Handel & Haydn Society (America's Boston-based, oldest-continually-run classical music society, founded 1815). That almost became a serious job, or might have done, if I had chosen a different route.
I was a great fundraiser. It's always been easy for me to talk up and praise someone else's hard and virtuous work!
I have done a lot of artwork in my life, paid, and unpaid. With a sculptor father and a painter mother, it 'came with the territory.' In my twenties, I worked as my father's assistant, helping him with his large-scale sculptural installations.
I was a great fundraiser. It's always been easy for me to talk up and praise someone else's hard and virtuous work!
I have done a lot of artwork in my life, paid, and unpaid. With a sculptor father and a painter mother, it 'came with the territory.' In my twenties, I worked as my father's assistant, helping him with his large-scale sculptural installations.
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One of my biggest jobs with him was working on the Radnor Township project, in Radnor, Pennsylvania. Among other things this involved installing a 100' by 80' stone griffin that was installed in the road cut on Radnor's exit off the Blue Route in Pennsylvania.
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This piece's installation was done in two days, the first of which fell on the 4th of July back in 1992. Four of us (including Dad) started work at 5:30 am, and continued our work until 10:30 pm (we had to get the armature fully built because the heavy vehicle that was bringing in the stones from which it was constructed had been hired for a single day, the 5th, and we had to be ready for it). Lucky for us, the site was located near the Public High School, which was hosting a 4th of July fireworks display. We completed work, as it were, 'by the rockets' red glare'. Running up and down the grassy hill in ninety plus weather was pretty grueling. And, yes, I loved it.
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My Mom is a painter, who has also influenced a lot of my work. She is Helen Sadowy Reimann, and I have included some of her works here, simply because--they're beautiful.
This website has been up since 1995, when I was still a graduate student at Oxford, "ABD." So much has changed in my life, and so much of my intent in putting this site up has evolved since that first, mind-numbing session at my friend Liz Manicatide's side, stumbling through the HTML. It's still about my writing, but it's also now more about my words, my art, and my life perspective. I hope my visitors will find here, if not something to enjoy, something to pique their minds. All best for the future! --Katya Reimann, February 14, 2012 |
