Geffrey Von Gerlach is a fine artist, a novelist and practitioner of Oriental medicine living in Arizona. He has been practicing the art of acupuncture since 1999 and, because of this, well understands the marriage of the mystical and the mundane that is necessary to create change. In a recent interview he states: “It’s as if there were a landing strip in each of us that awaits expectantly for creativity to touch down… that, in reality, every painting you paint or story you write already exists and is up there floating around somewhere waiting for you to draw it in. You’re merely the air traffic controller bringing that brilliant idea into the physical dense world. Every idea exists somewhere and the true creative process is more like an act of meditation than one might think… sitting in contemplation allowing that great idea to “come to you”. THAT’S THE ADVENTURE.
When you write or paint you have to SEE in your mind’s eye what the painting looks like or the place where your characters are interacting. That is why, as a writer, one really has to understand the history of the time you write about in order to get the details correct as to how your characters speak, move and function within their given stratum of society.”
Geffrey Von Gerlach believes It is important to use the “location” of the story to set the perfect scene for your characters to show their true colors. For instance, in his mystery novel “BEEHIVE ARIZONA” the protagonists find themselves in a small mining town very much like the real Bisbee, Arizona. Once a major city West of the Mississippi, the desert town and its citizens have had the life drained out of them by the leader of an ancient French cult, whose sole intention is to maintain the secret of a rich undiscovered vein of silver and to keep the town free from the contamination of outside sources and the modern world.
A dozen trips to Bisbee, sleeping in a house from the turn of the century and hearing noises as the wind whistled through abandoned tunnels under the house, helped conjure the images that allowed the novel to come to life.
In his novel HEXE: Witches, Warriors, Magic & Murder, the attention to historical detail is of prime importance to capture a period that spans nearly seventy years. Set against the backdrop of the silent movie industry of Hollywood in 1922, this 700 page saga follows the careers of dazzling young women with unseen magical powers and unscrupulous ambitions. Painstaking research is behind every detail described in this adventurous and romantic story. From the courtly language of the German court to the impeccable fashions of the 1930’s elite or the intricacies of the casting of romantic and evil spells, every nuance must feel authentic and true to the period.
In GHOSTPOINTS, a novel that draws heavily from the author’s personal experiences as an Art Director in the world of New York fashion, a famous but aging photographer is allowed, through the use of the more mystical aspects of acupuncture, to relive the events of his life as he lies forgotten in a suicide induced comma. The story brings to life the adventures and loves of one man’s singularly glamourous and romantic life and reminds us all that each of us has a life shaped with passion and filled with memories that evoke the ghosts of our own remarkable past.