and character, and the story comes later,. Sometimes the world itself creates the story, and is above all a way for the writer to travel around in his universe. Bright Islands was one of those stories. The vision of an inundated continent, with intricate coastlines, bays and inlets, with complex weather patterns--all of which made it a joy and a challenge to sail among, came first, and beckoned to me. The story had to be written.I once posted a rude copy of this map on an earlier web page, with unsatisfactory results. Now I know a bit more about putting graphics on a web site, so here it is again. This is the eastern North America of Yan Bando's journeyings, circa A.D. 3851. It presumes a 600 foot rise in sea level, and a degree of tectonic upheaval and subsidence caused by the alien Ferosin.
The "Cathedral" in Innis--Indianapolis, in our time, but a major seaport on the Inland sea in Bright Islands' future. This drawing, and most of the others here, weren't intended to be great art, just concept sketches, something I could look back on, when the daydreaming and outlining were done, and the writing of the scenes begun.
At left is a sketch of the excavation of the A.D. 2884 starship wreck, the "Great Bolide" on the shore of Lake Nipigon. This is a scene from the sequel to Bright Islands. The working title of the novel is Shards of a Jealous Sky.
The town of Jossity, where two crucial scenes in Bright Islands take place. This map was very helpful in keeping the action happening in its proper places while Yan and Omer were busy battling Church Militant warriors, and when Yan and his companions flew in and landed on top of the 7-story tower of Jossity Keep...
True to my original concept, topography, vegetation, and climate continued to play a strong part in Bright Islands. This sketch map was useful in several scenes: Yan fleeing the city when his battle was lost and Omer was captured; his flight across the ridges to safety among the Mountain Freeholds; and finally, the flight back from Ararat to rescue Omer and Illyssa from the tower.
Sometimes a plot requires something unexpected, like an oceangoing vessel scratch-built on the spot. This one, in Shards of a Jealous Sky, was to be literally built around the reaction engine scavenged from a wrecked starship, which was shaped much like any rocket-type engine with a combustion chamber, venturi, and funnel. The backs of restaurant placemats are one of my favorite planning media. That's what this sketch was done on.
