It's a map! Playing J.R.R. Tolkien and G.R.R. Martin

The Mother of all fantasy maps: J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth

I love maps.

Ever since I was a kid and got the book, The Map that Grew (at least I think that's what it was called), I've loved maps. Maybe even before that.

G.R.R. Martin's world from Game of Thrones

I've made some of my own, including the ridiculously ambitious Map of Humanity.

It's a reordering of the human experience (actual and imagined) according to a moral compass. The execution has always fallen short of the vision, but that's inevitable with something so ambitious.

C.S. Lewis' Narnia

When I was in grade six, a friend of mine and I made a map of Middle Earth using pencil crayons. It was massive! Well. It fit on a table top, but back then, it felt pretty big. And I was much smaller, too, so there's that.

Tolkien's maps are magnificent and really add to the reading experience. They are so fully realized, it feels like his world really exists. That you could visit it. And you can follow the characters on the map, along their journey, every step of the way. It helps orient the reader.

Same goes for G.R.R. Martin, and C.S. Lewis, and even Frank Baum.  I'd say this is especially true for Martin, as he has a massive cast of characters, and having a map would be enormously helpful in determining where everyone is.

Have you seen the map for Oz? It's great, but nowhere near as famous as the ones for Tolkien (and now Martin). The first book doesn't reach much of it; it's only on return visits that you begin to see the rest of the world.

There's even a Google Maps version of Middle Earth. At least mocked up to look like it. If only Frodo had a cell phone with GPS for his journey, it may have saved him time. It'd have to track orcs rather than traffic though, recommending the route with the fewest.

Middle Earth Google Maps. Frodo would have loved having that.

The Wizard of Earthsea has a great map as well. I loved that book; it's probably my favourite Ursula K. Le Guin novel. Long before Harry Potter, there was Ged, the aspiring wizard. It gets into Taoist ideas of balance of the universe, which the wizards are supposed to maintain. I don't remember a lot of the details anymore, but the world she imagined was very immersive. And unsettling!

The world of the Wizard of Earthsea

So when I wrote a fantasy novel, I just had to do a map for the world it was set in. And so... voila!

Here it is.

I've been working on the sequel to Theo Paxstone and the Dragon of Adyron, and part of that has included fleshing out the world more. I've been playing G.R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien and having a blast with an imaginary world.

So much fun.

The map style is more contemporary looking, that was a deliberate choice. I'm not sure I can entirely justify it, but that's how I wanted to do it. Some things come from the gut.

I think most of the locations from the first book are on there, even if some of them are too small to really be noted at such a large scale.

And the map is still a work in progress. I'll likely shift things around a bit as the story evolves.

I tried to make sure that there was some logic to the placement of rivers and mountains and forests. Swamps obviously sit in lowlands, near rivers, or between them, or extend off of lakes. Mountains devolve into hills. The rain primarily comes from the south, so that side of the Wornspine Mountains would have wetter weather. On the other hand, deforestation would be extensive for building ships and homes, so there's that.

You can get really in depth with something like this, and you have to decide where you want to draw the line.

All part of the journey.

More of my maps here. 

Steam mech sketch for Theo Paxstone

There are lots of different models of steam mechs, built for various tasks. Some are for fighting big monsters, some dealing with small swift ones, and others are built just for show.

Theo Paxstone and the Dragon of Adyron

Second trailer, with theme music.

Interview at Book Goodies

I did an interview with the fine folks over at Book Goodies. Check it out here.

I talk about the inspiration behind the book, and the characters.

And another up at Awesomegang.

The Royal Adyron

A Royal Adyron steam mech designed by the Conray Brother Studio.

It is a lighter-weight line, with heavy forward visor and tasset guard to make up for the lighter hull. The cockpit is smaller than in the more spacious Hildebrand mechs, but with controls laid out in the characteristically intuitive Conray manner.

It can be comfortable to run at top performance for hours, thanks to eight heat vents and four air intakes with pumps. The pumps, designed by elite machinists from the engineering guild, are compact, but frequently break down in battle.

The hull was forged in The Crucible, the hottest and oldest blast furnace of Adyron. The Conrays guarantee the construction of each custom mech is presided over, and blessed, by engineer-druids.

The Royal was used as a scouting steam mech by the army of King Haress, and was popular with barons and dukes of Westin until the Hildebrands introduced the Dragoon.

Theo Paxstone book trailer

I've been working on a book trailer for Theo Paxstone. Haven't done a book trailer before, so this is an experiment. It's meant for social media (Facebook, Instagram) and that means it has to be short. Very, very short. As in, 10 seconds or less short.

That's not much time to sum up a book in.

It's like an animated elevator pitch, only with fewer words and more pictures.

A cool challenge.

The first one, sans sound (that's coming) is above.

Take a gander, and leave your feedback in the comments.

Because the next one, as Ed Wood might say, will be better!

Theo Paxstone and the Dragon of Adyron now available on Kindle

Announcing Theo Paxstone and the Dragon of Adyron, my first young adult novel, four years in the making:

“Dragons and worse lurk in the forests of Adyron, and only steam knights in their gleaming battle machines can keep the kingdom safe. 

Theo Paxstone dreams of being such a knight. Instead, he finds himself slaving away at a repair shop for the pitiless Master Grimes.

When a dragon abducts Princess Jena from the royal tournament, Theo sees his chance and escapes. He joins forces with Sir Bentham, a crippled knight, and his pugnacious squire, Riley. Together, they pursue the dread beast, determined to rescue the princess from its clutches.

Along the way they discover that not all enemies are what, or who, they seem…” 

Theo Paxstone's a fun filled, rollicking adventure story,with great twists and turns. 

Trust me, I’m known for my objectivity and good taste. 

It’s 411 pages, complete with illustrations, and available on Kindle for just $3.99. 

Please share and spread the word (Writing the book was easy compared to promotion!).

And if you have a spare evening, give it a read, a review, and a plug or two. 

Website, animations, and even more breathless, obligatory hype to come… 

Thank you so very, very much!

Theo Paxstone desktop background

A deep, lush red-orange desktop pattern.

Faces the other direction, compared to the earlier image.

Totally different.

Theo Paxstone and the Alternate Cover

Been fiddling with the art I did for the blog background, and came up with what feels a little like a faux cinematic cover:

Now with a darkened dragon.

The flame might need work, but otherwise I'm happy with it.

Sketch of Theo and a steam mech under repair

Theo Paxstone and his wondrous steam mech. Okay, it actually belongs to Sir Bentham, but Theo pilots it. From time to time. When he wins Rock Paper Scissors with Riley... it's complicated.

And another version with scribbly shading (Where is my tablet when I need it?):

Theo Paxstone and the Dragon of Adyron

Theo Paxstone dreams of becoming a Steam Knight, and piloting a marvellous mechanical fighting machine in defence of the Kingdom of Adyron. He wants to be just like his idol, Sir Drake, who is showered with praise and admiration from sea to sea.

But Theo is just a boy mechanic, a virtual slave, in an orphan workshop run by a callous and exploitive owner.

Only Theo's dreams keep him going.

Everything changes when an enormous dragon sweeps out of the night and lays waste to the King's tournament. It wreaks destruction and then makes off with a young princess in it's clutches.

Outraged, Theo teams up with an elderly steam knight and his squire, and together the trio sets out to rescue the princess from the greatest and most dread beast to have ever lived.

Before long, Theo's view of the world is cast upside-down, as he discovers that heroes and villains are not always what, or who, they seem...

Coming soon.