About Dale Geraldson
Author Dale Geraldson earned a master’s degree in philosophy from Ohio University, and currently resides in Oregon, being among the few to actually teach within his unusual specialty. The Arthur legends have always been his passion, and he has researched their influence upon his own academic specialty, which eventually led to his reworking of the quest for the Holy Grail. Dale has always wondered about the events leading to the downfall of Camelot, and focuses on the political as well as magical background of Arthur’s kingdom in his breakout novel. Dale even likes to describe himself as a Connecticut Yankee revisiting Arthur’s Court, since he hails from the Constitution State, and has lived in six other states before finding his home in the Pacific Northwest. His novel Dreamers of the Grail marks Stone Ring’s initial foray into the huge and exciting realm of fantasy fiction.
What’s Dale reading right now?
“Most recently I've rediscovered Parzival, by Wolfram von Eschenbach. The translation by Helen Mustard is probably the most readable for current English speakers. This medieval "romance" was part of the inspiration for my own novel, partly since it's multi-cultural. I'm also having fun with the latest novels by C. J. Sansom, a British novelist who has characters in Tudor England.”
What are Dale’s favorite books?
“Wow, I have to think about this. I think they’re all fiction, though some are the really old
classics. Let’s see…
- well, since I’m obviously into the Arthurian legends, I have to include ‘Firelord’ and
‘Beloved Exile,’ both by Parke Godwin, since I think they’re the best renditions ever;
- I’ve always thought time-travel was nifty, and since I’ve studied a little about the
Middle Ages, I’ll have to include ‘Timeline,’ by Michael Crichton, though I’ve only
read it in Spanish;
- the best medieval romance is surely ‘Parsifal,’ by Wolfram von Eschenbach, which I
mention in the after words of my own novel;
- ‘Daughter of Tintagel,’ by Fay Sampson, is probably the other best 20th-century
rendition of the Arthurian materials, though it’s about Morgan le Fay, and is told in
first-person by several other characters;
- who could forget ‘The Mists of Avalon,’ by Marion Zimmer Bradley, with its modern
feminist take on the legends, with plenty of religious tension as well;
- and I think I’ll have to leave off the Arthur stuff with ‘The Chalice,’ by Phil Rickman,
about a modern retelling of some of the naughtier goings on in Glastonbury;
- for older things, I have to include ‘Gilgamesh’ and ‘The Odyssey,’ since those are the
original great heroic epics;
- finally, for non-fiction, I recently read ‘The Book of Dead Philosophers,’ by Simon
Critchley; hilarious, but still informative.
That should do for a top-ten list for now, I think.”
