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Since 1978 Stuart Balcomb has worked for film and TV in Los Angeles. Before moving to LA he studied vibes with Gary Burton and taught composition and arranging at Berklee College of Music in Boston. For 23 years he was the head of the Music Library at Universal Studios, supervising a team of music copyists transcribing instrumental parts for film and television scoring sessions. He has written arrangements for Woody Herman, Cher, Donald O’Connor, Andy Williams, Magician David Avadon, Gary Burton and the Buffalo Philharmonic; orchestrated many films; and composed for Batman: The Animated Series, 1000 Journals, The Moses Code, Brian O'Brian (Disney), and Mythic Journeys. His "American Trilogy" for woodwind quintet was performed and recorded by the New York Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet in Spring 2010.
In 2001 he founded and served as Editor-in-Chief of TheScreamOnline, an internet magazine for Art, Photography, Literature, Music, and Film, featuring the works of over 400 creatives. Stuart also contributed editorials, essays, poetry, and short stories, such as "Goodnight, My Love," written under the pen name, Edward King.
"Through the Lion's Gate" is his first novel.
PRAISE FOR THROUGH THE LION'S GATE
A 700-year return to the Medieval realm of conspiracy, where characters seek tremendous wealth, both tangible and of the spirit. A Master alchemist uses "Dragon's Blood," dried toads, rare chemicals, and a mating of the Sun and Moon in his quest to make gold. Balcomb brings Medieval history to life as he unspools a riveting celestial tale from an unforgettable era. The essence of his epic story urges us to look inward to discover timeless treasures that precious metal can only symbolize. Earth, air, fire, and water: a quadrant of unending possibilities that may lead us to a living temple of divinity.
—Stephen Pouliot, award-winning writer for television (Academy Awards, AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards, 9/11 Concert, presidential specials)
Gorgeous writing, lapidary ideas, tender delivery. This book will have a long life. Logan Pearsall Smith wrote, "What I like in a good author isn't what he says, but what he whispers." Balcomb's prose delivers, then promises more by what is left out. Many lines hide as much as they reveal, which is devilishly hard to do. Balcomb has the alchemical goods.
—Phil Cousineau, author of over 40 books, including The Book of Roads, The Art of Pilgrimage, The Lost Notebooks of Sisyphus, Once and Future Myths
Just finished Through the Lion's Gate. Fascinating. The thing that most impressed me was the amount of historical detail. That must have required some serious research work. I can only imagine the sources you had to search out to provide so much detail of medieval history and all that arcane stuff about alchemy. Best wishes for your success as an author!
—Gary Burton, multi-Grammy Award-winning jazz musician
Modern folks think of alchemy as either a pure con or an almost childishly fallacious attempt to attain a preconceived technical result. In Through the Lion's Gate, alchemy emerges as something quite different: a mainly spiritual quest to which the acquisition of riches is hardly a footnote. The real goal is not simply to make gold, but to track God's will through all the endless complexities of the physical world, discovering there a detailed guidebook to the good life. Balcomb has immersed himself in the lived minutiae of the time, as a historical novelist must. Above all, he has re-created the intellectual atmosphere that made alchemy a plausible project, and finally even a fruitful one. He recaptures the spirit and best aspects of a time when science and faith were one, when metaphor was the single great law of physics, when the world for all its frequent horror still whispered its happy secrets to those of good faith. Quick: Read this heart-warming and thoroughly strange novel.
—John Kilgore, Professor Emeritus, Eastern Illinois University
Balcomb has created a wonderfully vivid, emotional, and incredibly cinematic world with compelling and rich characters and beautifully crafted backstories and relationships. An intriguing adventure with action and heartbreak, taking us on an authentically detailed, thoughtful, physical, and metaphysical journey. Thanks for the ride.
—Danny Kaplan, Director/Producer and artist (As the Bell Rings, The Science of Disney Imagineering, Cristiano Ronaldo In Disguise, Brian O'Brian)
This book is more than a novel of historical fiction, it's a magical map into ideas of true transformation and the beautiful nature of the Soul and the Self. Balcomb not only presented a can't-put-it-down intriguing narrative that reads like a blockbuster movie, he set the story during a time in history that required tremendous research to feel so authentic. Balcomb dives into humanity's ever-evolving quest for riches, power, knowledge, and God through characters involved in the art and science of alchemy—transmuting lead to gold (which evolved into chemistry as we know it today). He also uses this story to tap into the perennial wisdom and knowledge that is available to us all as an expansive alternative to religious and theological percepts—so needed in the 21st Century. This "real gold" is our own connection to oneness and all that is. This is an important work of fiction and one that can be added to one's "must read" list!
—Kate McCallum, MA Consciousness Studies, Award-Winning XR Producer, Author and Transmedia Consultant (Mesmerica 360, Beautifica, NBC's What Kind of Mother Are You? Co-Author of Handbook of Research on the Global Impact and Roles of Immersive Media)
This is a real page-turner! I'm completely engrossed. I think I'll read it again!
—Rob Skinnell, award-winning composer, president of Reprise Music Services, former head of Universal Studios Music Library.
I devoured your book in a couple of sleepless nights! Difficult to put down! Wonderfully crafted. Your research into alchemy of course was essential. Others might have been less demanding of themselves than you. All the characters really come to life which is why it's so difficult to put the book down. So often, even with the best novelists, the form often suffers from certain longueurs. Not so in your case. The culmination is rapid, concise, leaving us wanting more. Bravo mon ami! A quand le prochain?
—Dana Chivers, American virtuoso guitarist living in Aix-en-Provence, France. Studied with Segovia, José Tomás, Nadia Boulanger, Jean Catoire, and Miriam Solovieff.
This is currently an unpublished work. Please stay tuned for further updates. Thank you.