Brandenbrass, or: there was a time once when I blogged often...

Still here, still battling on: if there was an award for World's Suckiest At Self-Discipline (and blogging), I would surely be a contender.

Where I am at creatively, atm? What does a soul do with creativity and inspiration? With the flow and the necessary ebb of productive humours? Do you put them in a box, a routine that allows them daily expression? Do you wait until they burst in fiery generating glory then suffer the long slow down-swing before the next up-swing? Is it something in-between? Is this in-between even possible? As an author of three books, should I have not already figured this out?

While you chew on that cud, please be entertained by a glimpse of a current WIP: a map of Brandenbrass.

Brandenbrass: Work-in-progress.

Brandenbrass: a detail.

Of course, is doing a map of Brandenbrass useful? Perhaps leaving it uncharted and open to interpretation would serve better?* I do love a good map tho, and figuring out how in Photoshop I can achieve an antiquated look has been a grand adventure.

Also, for those not connected to the Book-of-Face, I have an anthology of two stories (if a pair of tales can be called an anthology) before my publisher atm: the first being The Corsers' Hinge, the second a story of a country girl come to the city to make coin for her family back in the parish of Broad Trim with a working title I will not divulge because i think it gives away what happens. These are awaiting acceptance, and if by God and my publisher's grace they go ahead, it will clock in at about 50,000 words - so not as long as Foundling, but still with some substance. Here's to praying/hoping this might be available next year.

As to your observation about far-seeing Idaho, Mr Alyosha, this is indeed an insight for Idaho was indeed extraordinary woman carrying much of the vigour and clarity and inspiration of the mighty, self-destroyed Phelgms. She alone of all the survivors of her original nation's fall managed to establish a new empire, and only the hard hearts and selfish ambition of her ministers finally brought that empire low by the betrayal of her equally dynamic grand-daughter, Dido, the reputed founder of the Sceptic/Haacobin dynasty. Thus, this is why the aristocracy are so keen to align themselves with such a vaunted bloodline.

How do I speak about the Derelands, Simon? I want to spout on and on, but also want to save it all for actual stories. Can I ask you what ideas you might have about it?

Time to log, cheers to you all.

*My word, I am full of questions today...

Well, how are the dice making projects coming along?

Well, how are the dice making projects coming along? Better than my blogging frequency, I hope :)

Once again it is well overdue for me to post.

Exciting news (I hope) is that I am working on two books at the moment: one an edit/rewrite of The Corsers' Hinge to (again, I hope) be released as a stand alone novella, complete with maps, illustrations, a brief explicarium and other appendical (not a real word) matter. Do people want to see this? If it happens it is more likely to come out first.

The second is a proper novel that the more I work on it, the more I feel might stretch out into the usual fat, multi-volume "epic" (for want of a better word) I found myself stumbling into with MBT. It will not (as I might have said before... or was that just in a dream...?) be about Rossamünd and Europe this time around, but I hope you are going to really like the new fellow in the spot light (as it were) - he really takes up where dear little Rosey left off.

This is all what I would like but it is yet to be accepted/approved/green lit/let come into exiatence so prayers/good wishes/positive quantum flow all appreciated.

This does not mean I have abandoned the Branden Rose or her little man, just that I am trying out the Half-Continent from a different point of view. This is actually a significant element of the overall thesis of the Half-Continent: that it came well before I had any concept of specific characters and contains stories from many different points of view yet they are all interconnected - not so much sequel spin-offs but distinct folk who overlap in what I hope are conceivably realistic ways. For example, the protagonist for this new tale plays a very tiny role in Factotum, just as a teaser.

As for Duchess-in-Waiting of Naimes and Rosey-me-lad, well, Lord willing we shall see where they are at again in the future.

And in answer to you request, Master Come Lately, here be a map showing the rough political boundaries of the Sundergird. Such things are necessarily vague in a land without satellite imaging/modern political wrangling and all such modern/our-world stuff that makes out own maps so punctiliously delineated. I hope you like, and more importantly it helps you-all over there at the Forum.

The tabs, Madam Blackwood, are those Post-It [TM] tabs you buy at your local stationer, and I have used different colours depending which book I writing (yellow-green = Foundling, pink = Lamplighter, sky blue = Factotum, dark blue = navy/newest stories... its getting vague, be good to clarify to myself once more) marking a large number of my notebooks in this way at all the pertinent entries for each story as I find them: I sit on my couch and trawl a notebook for anything I might need to know for that current tale, typically scribbling on the tab what the entry it flags is about.

Ahh, Master Alyosha, as always you make my day(s): Pococo is actually Italian for "freckles" - I use Italian/Spanish for localised colloquialism of Tutin which one can especially encounter in such areas like western Seat, Tuscanin and across to Catalain.

Hello, hello Troubadour! Wonderful to hear about you project - apologies for the lack of a more full depiction of troubardiers. Perhaps Appendix 2 of Factotum gives some idea, just add the sash as shown in Appendix 3 Factotum around the back. And now I am going to be a drag/punctilious pain-in-the-rear and offer that the proper spelling is troubardier - the concept being that they are soldiers (the "~ier" bit) who wear proofing/armour (the "~bard~" bit) that is fully protecting (the "trou~" or "true" bit) *please don't punch me* Will you be showing us you wondrous work when it is done? Can it be seen in its incomplete state at all? If need more keep asking.

An art book, huh, Emily Odenwald? Well, I reckon this will be worth doing once I have a bit more "art" under me belt. MBT is just one story and I hope I have a few more in me to tell on the Half-Continent yet, a body of work from which a selection of "art" (appendices, illustrations, maps etc) would be selected. As for manga/graphic novel - sweet! If I was to do such a thing, to stave off boredom I think I would tell an entirely new story.

And yes, dear dear Portals old blog-friend, until the conquest by the Tutelarchs and then re-conquest by their descendants/heirs the Tutins, the Soutlands were a collection of independent city-states warring and combining as political need moved. The Germanic names shows the influence of crossing cultures, of Gottish people coming over the Pontus Canis to dwell in the Soutlands.

Well, a long blog makes up for a long pause.

I hope you are all well.

Who lives where in the Harthe Alle

In an as usually belated response to a continuing question about the inhabitants of the Half-Continent and beyond I have put this map up again but now with all new NUMBERS![TM] by which I intend to answer said query. So here 'tis:

1/ Southeastern tip of Nenin, in the continent known as the Occident = Oriental derived cultures;

2/ Western coast of Heil, called Tung and home to a peoples derived from Mongol/ central asian cultures;

3/ Heilgoland proper, an empire based somewhat on Russian/ central European cultures;

4/ I cannot remember what this area is called specifically but it is home to a wide group of wild folk;

5/ The somewhat mythic lands of Fiele, little is known of here but that perhaps its is a land of sedorners and many monsters;

6/ The (Greater) Derelands, original home of the Skylds (for those who recall the history of Ingebiarge), origin of greater derehunds (most excellent tykehouds) and home of the Hagenards and various other peoples based on Nordic cultures;

7/ Parthia, wide lands, home of wild Hun-like folks;

8/ The Brigandine States, home of the pirate kings;

9/ The very southern edge of the Principalitine States, based on Indian/ Moghul cultures;

10/ The N'go, spread with vaguely African-based cultures of various attitudes to monsterkind;

11/ Turkmantine Empire, the Haacobin empire's most constant foe, based on Ottoman culture;

12/ The Half-Continent, home of the Haacobin and Gott Empires plus minor free peoples, based on western European cultures;

13/ Lausid elector kings and Ing, the former based on Polish culture moving through Hungarian culture and ending in north central Asian cultures;

14/ Dhaghestahn = basically Persian in source.

I surely hope this does not ruin it for people, knowing my sources, my intent; the hope is to show my thinking and give you a sense that there is more to come (Lord willing) beyond Monster-Blood Tattoo.

Also, Magos Kasen asked...
I am not sure if this has been answered before, but are nickers and bogles hunted as sport sometimes? And are they edible?
Why yes, yes they are, especially by the wealthy sporting sets (and the wild kings of Parthis and eastern Derelands, the brave white-skinned souls of Heilgoland amongst others), and as to their edibility, that would depend entirely on the taste buds and squeamishness of each person, but in a general sense, yes, they are edible. That being said, to the goodly, civilised folk of the Half-Continent such an idea is abhorrent. Great question.

...and sorry that I have once again taken so long to post - too much bookface and getting lost in the writing...

Beyond the Half-Continent.

Here is a (very!) rough prototype scribble of the possible formation of landmasses about the Half-Continent, a fair part of the southern lands of the Harthe Alle (snazzed up a bit with fancy computer trickery). This is still an ongoing exploration for me, which keeps things fun.



The pallid areas are landmasses, the orange to glaucous the oceans (the colour shift representing climactic/temperature change = north hotter as you approach the 'equator', cooler the further south you wend). The solid red mass is the Half-Continent as revealed to you in the Monster-Blood Tattoo books and on the map site. The names in parenthesis are largely old even forgotten appellations for the regions at the time of the Phlegms.

Given the size of the Half-Continent already, I think this would make the whole 'planet' rather large indeed. I believe that though our earth is the optimal calibration for life, a much larger globe is theoretically possible, and even if it weren't, it is now.

And welcome to our 100th follower!... and our 99th, 98th, 97th oh, dang it! Welcome to you all!

Evolution of a map

Now not so long ago (last post in fact) a Nonny Mouse asked me: "... could you maybe talk a bit about the HC map in a future entry, how you went about creating it...?" Well, of course I would - a very helpful idea for a post, to boot.

A map of the Half-Continent and beyond has existed for some time in early, much-rubbed-out and re-worked versions. Below would be version 2.-something (ie: second attempt but with marks added removed added removed and so...) drawn around the years 1999-2000.

(The Half-Continent is the bottom centre area with "Castor" and "Pollux" written on it - this is the region that is the map published in MBT. As you can see I conceive of much more about it - my hope and prayer is I get to explore it with you all one day.)

It is an incomplete mess, having abandoned it as not being quite right - I was not fully decided on just what names where more important than others, on what words actually belonged on the map and just how parts of it should actually look. This all takes time andif I find I am not content/convinced of something putting it down until some new notion - some happenstance of life - brings a fresh approach.

I have always sought to get the shape of landforms and location of places just right, hence all the re-working. The map is in many ways just one long list of favourite words gathered together in one context and given a spacial/visual relationship to each other.

In 2003 I began to feel a clearer connection with one part of the H-c at least - the region known as Gottland or the GottSkylds. On the way aboard the bus to my job connecting residential phone-lines and home again I fashion this proto-type in notebook 23, shifting and rearranging with liquid-paper and smudgy pen.

Not long after completing this, the opportunity to begin MBT was sent my way (halelujah!) and in the process of grappling actually writing a full-blown story in the H-c I knew the time had come to make a map, if not of the greater world about, well of the Half-Continent itself at least. I felt I could not get into it with out have a clear idea where one place was to the next - where could Rossamünd go if I did not know where he started from actually was. I certainly had an idea but the moment had arrived to make it "official" as it were.

Now I have - and still do - hesitate to nail ideas complely down, knowing that so many of them have matured so sweetly if given time to develop. Yet there comes a moment when bullets must be bitten and some part of all these years of ideas be fixed, enough at least to allow further development. Consequently, feling very good about the arrangement of places and land, I scanned above notebook scetch map (plus a couple more less ones) into Photoshop and used it as a foundation to build the rest of the map from. Then I gathered all the place names I had collected scattered about all my notebooks and beyond and began to position then and reposition them, drawing out the coast digitally as I went, making large exploratory marks and refining them as the sense of the whole place clarified and solidified.

The Half-Continent map is a Photoshop file (not the correct program to use at all, but the one I am by far the most proficient with) made of more layers than is practicable. Yet being in said format allowed me to really cut and paste and reform coastlines and riverine systems until it all felt just right. I have to confess that my first go at it was more Tolkeinesque (I wonder how he'd feel about his name being used in such a way?) with those lumpy hill things and tiny little trees. It did not quite sit right and Dyan, my publisher, was completely correct when she harangued me over its "not-workingness".

I my heart I was really in love with the maps of real history, those gorgeous items made the 17th and 18th centuries. Given this and that I want to make the H-c as plausible as possible, I researched up a bit more on the form of these old maps and adopted a more realistic approach. One of my favourite discoveries was the wind-roses and their associated rhumb-lines.

Posistioned at junctions of latitude and longitude they are an aid to dead-reckoning, where a master or captain or navigator with arrive at such a juction and be fairly confident from an study of the map that proceeding from that point on a certain heading will take them, over time, to a particualr places. I like the idea of the Half-Continent map actually being a map a seafarer on the vinegar waves would be able to use to get about the littora.

Having done all this to my satisfaction (one month solid later) I added the textured back ground, which is made up of all sorts of layers of bad-scan smudges, dirty painted paper, even bits of that early v2.-something map. I would tell myself a story as to why some of the marks were there: the large red smear in the top left corner being spilt soup, the greenish stains in the bottom left being potive marks, some of the off blues in the middle being mold, the red mark in the bottom right maybe even a dried blood stain. All a whole lot of fun.

Now I just have to pull my finger out and get the online map happening. It is turning out to be more complicated then I first conceived, so please be patient - writing books keeps getting in my way ;P

Anyway, I hope this goes some way to answering the question.

Answers to Questions.

And now to answer the back-log of questions and get on track - for the moment any way. I have answered these in no especial order, just as they came out. Before we go on might I let you know that there is a fairly comprehensive interview over at the BookClub - so head on over or read on: it is wall to wall MBT! Either way, let us get cracking.

Steve said “Hi, I was wondering when the halfcontinent.com site would be online? I just reviewed Foundling and in the comments it's come up that a click and zoom function for that map would be great :-)”
Thank you for the review Steve (!!!) This “world-building geek” greatly greatly appreciated your insights and positive words (and for getting the length / proportion of the back matter correct). I shall now have to read Vance. In the past I have made the rather obvious mistake of getting too much into reviews for MBT – it is a rather rarified atmosphere with all the highs and lows – so I these days I tend to be a little less egocentric and just let those that come my way be enough. A bad review can be crushing (though probably it should not) and a good review (as with Steve’s) so very encouraging, emboldening even. And thank you too, sir, for the heads up regarding a zoomable map (aka http://www.halfcontinent.com/ ) – as stated somewhere in a previous post the project is on the way and is “in the pipe 5 by 5” (10 points for anyone who can tell what movie that quote came from…)

madbomber asks: “I'd like to try and stump you with a word, but it seems impossible. So I'm interested in the gods of the half continent. Who or what do people believe in? It seems that science plays a large part in many of the professions.”
Hmmm, that hoary old chestnut. Mate, Mr. Bomber, you have a knack for the tough questions! I have to frank and say that religion is probably the least developed area of the HC and the lands beyond; it is probably the most complex and perhaps touchy subject. Certainly as you have astutely deduced science or habilistics is a most prevalent point of belief – that man’s knowledge and learning and application of the same will conquer, will fix all ills. This is equivalent of “humanism” I suppose, sometimes referred to as “universalism” or coingnosis (said "CO-in-no-sis") or prosaics (coming from prosagologia – the idea that reason conquers all) Then there are those who seek to raise the false-gods (those anciently man-made abominations) – who might be thought of as worshipers of the same, the fichtärs, cultists eagerly seeking the return of their chosen “lord”. With these there are those are in thrall to the less friendly kind of monster and those who do not hate monsters quite so much and think there might be “good” monsters too – enter those accused as sedorner. Some folk trust to Providence – the idea that there is a God and He will provide – others trust their track to the paths of the Signal Stars – all fairly common stuff. Other ideas not ready for publishing bubble away too, just as they have always done ever since I started notebook 1. The Half-Continent and the world it is in still continues to form and grow – it is no fixed thing and it will take a goodly long time to get my notes into a solid coherent form (of which the Explicariums only tell a part) As for a black and red “football” team, Mr. Madbomber – how about the Bombazines? The Artillerists? The Sappers?

Jimmy Trinket said some encouraging things (!!!) and then asked: “… what advice would you give to a budding illustrator??? I recently gave up a rather stressful job to follow my dream of drawing doodles all day, heh heh. I'm at that point where I have a portfolio and no idea... I'm just not sure where to go or what to do.”
Advice is such a tricky thing and my journey has been so long and meandering its hard to know what to say: certainly persistence is essential. I went through a period of about 4 years doing part time work I hated whilst waiting for illustration work to build up, and it was only the Providential intervention of a television show requiring an illustrator that rescued me from more years of toil. Being an illustrator is very rewarding, but until MBT came along (a decade later! – I might add), not very fiscally rewarding. I don’t think the obstacles to a creative life are “put” there deliberately, but it does sort out those who really want to do it from those who "kinda" want to do it. Get your folio – your “book” – looking slick, get a business card or some such of same quality, get an online folio, get yourself about: advertising, publishing, editorial (by which I mean magazines and newspapers), find an agent (though be choosey who you go with – if at all possible, get advice from those who have worked with them), pray if you dare. Be determined but also have some patience: I finished Unit in 1993 and its only been 14 years later that things have reached this stage. I am not sure this helps much, email me if you need more advice.

John asks: “Speaking of detail, even in the blow-ups in the back of the book, many of the words on the map of the Half-Continent were too small to make out. Any chance of a fold-out map in the next book? Or a separate poster?” and Mr. Missfitt agrees “I also think the separate map is a great idea go talk to the publishers about it!”
A great request – yet my publishers are sitting on a printed map for now. We’ve argued about releasing a map sooner rather than later, but they want to wait for a bit. Distributing such a map is not as straightforward as I thought it might be. Ah well, on with the online map I say which I hope will be coming sooner rather than later… and thank you John for your enthusiasm for the non-standard setting of the Hc, I am glad to have “hit the nail on the head” for you, as it were.

random missfitt enquires: “Is the hardcover edition coming out as well or do we have to wait? – because I hate it when your favorite book falls apart on your 15th read of it (so do I! – DM). The Explicarium better be long as well, I’ve read that more times than the book.”
That warms the cockles of me heart, Mr. Missfitt – I have to say the Explicariums are my favourite part of the books too. So chuffed you like ‘em too. As to your questions: hard cover will be coming out first then paperback and I am afraid the Explicarium for Lamplighter may well be shorter – I am told it is a cost thing, that the story of Lamplighter itself being longer impacts on the length of the end matter. But you never know: with the drastic re-write required of Lamplighter as it stands currently, more room for the Explicarium may only be a few deletions of a chapter away.

Daisy Girl says: “I recently did a few days work experience at Omnibus Books and Dyan eagerly showed me your book and told me to read it (which I'm still doing)... it's interesting the changes that different countries made to the cover art and title. Do you have a favourite?”
How can I choose between them all? Each time the publisher has done their utmost to make a beautiful book. I like them all yet as it happens I do have a “favourite” (and I hope this does not ruffle too many feathers) It is quite naturally the ANZ edition – the one made first, right here in Oz-land: it is actually just how I wanted it to look. Being a trained designer has its advantages when you’re an author, and I was graciously allowed to have a major contribution to the whole look and feel of the book – even down to the cloth-like feel of the cover and the two ribbons – one to mark your place in the story and one to mark your place in the Explicarium (non-Australian readers – other than those wonder folk from Germany - will not know what I am talking about, but if you get a chance to obtain an ANZ edition I highly recommend it, it is the closet to my “vision” of how the book should be – see image)

For me writing a book is not just about the text, it is also the process of illustrating and designing the cover, of the character studies and the density of information at the back, of painstakingly constructing maps from a blank page. Speaking of which I can say that there will be (the Lord and publishers willing) a layout of Winstermill in Book 2.

An a nonny mouse viewer asked for a preview of Book 2 – I shall see what can be done. That’s the kind of things publishers get first and last say in I am afraid. Stay tuned …and thanks to another a nonny mouse for the rework of the white stripes number, that's rather snazzy.

... and when you have a chance get along to Inside A Dog for more from me of the blogging kind.

As for breakfast today: I am as yet to have it - yes I am foregoing breakfast to get this out, you heard it first here!

And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #008
Keep them challenges coming - it actually helps me make the Hc better.

positive exclamations = esteemed and wondrous come to mind, also blithe or blithely though this is more used for good things received from an urchin or nuglung, from the better kind of monster – though don’t tell them I said that else I be carried of to hang as a sedorner.

negative exclamations = blighted is probably the most common, often pre-fixed with such things as “twice” or “thrice”, blasted is another or filthy.
(Thank you, Winter, for both of these: I feel i have not done it full justice so i might revisit the problem some time soon...)

NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent

Sorry for the wait...

Well I must firstly apologise to any and all who are wanting more of Rossamünd and his confrontations with the wider world sooner than the offered release time of mid next year. All I can add to that apology is that the next book will be longer - quite a bit longer. I hope this makes up for the wait in some way... possibly... I hope...

Thank you to all those who have left yet more encouraging remarks. It so very much helps.

As to a larger version of the map - I'll see what I can do about putting up a .pdf of it perhaps, either here or at www.halfcontinent.com - my STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION web page for all things MBT and beyond - or at the official website. I will speak with my publishers about this. The idea has already occurred to me; indeed I am dead keen for people to see it in its right size, being 1 metre x 780 mm. Even at those dimensions it still has 4 & 5 point type on it. So yes, a lot of detail lost in the reduction of it, but we shall see. What do people think?

It has been offered to have MBT put on a uni reading list. There is a use for it I had never considered. It would be interesting to know how it would stand up to such scrutiny.

Oh almost forgot, for breakfast today I had Allbran[TM] and Milo[TM].

And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #003

telephone / telegraph = astrapenunticon or transpositional.

Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.