Recent Comments
Shadow of the King: Building a World (Ingredients)
In no particular order, here are the building blocks from which my story world is constructed.
1. Paraclesus. Published posthumously in 1566, Paracelsus’s De nymphis, sylvanis, pygmaeis, salamandris et gigantibus, etc. (“On Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, Salamanders, and Giants, etc.”) explained mythological creatures in terms of the latest scientific and philosophical speculations.
Yes, I know that Paracelsus made a lot of stuff up, and a lot of the rest he imported from Classical mythology whether it fit or not. I know that he tried to shoehorn a lot of folklore into an airtight system where it really didn’t fit. But from 30,000 feet, I simply note that he tried to link these otherworldly beings to the four classical elements: nymphs with water, sylphs with air, etc. And since I was already building a magic system around the classical elements, offering a nod to Paracelcus was a no-brainer.
One other thing thing: Paracelsus apparently coined the word sagani to describe these beings collectively, though I have not yet found a convincing etymology. I suspect it is related to “sage” in the sense of “wise” or “skillful.” At any rate, this curious word gave me Saynim as the name of my protagonist’s magical homeland, analogous to how pagani (“pagans”) and paganismus (“paganism”) gave us the archaic English word Paynim (“pagandom”).
2. Renaissance magic. Paracelsus led me to other philosophers, alchemists, and arcanists of the same approximate era: Johannes Trithemius, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, John Dee, etc. These thinkers straddled the line between “science” and “magic” as we usually understand those terms. This was, after all, the time when “chemistry” and “alchemy” had only begun to diverge. Trithemius and the rest drew from arcane traditions that can be traced through the Middle Ages and all the way to ancient Egypt.
While most magic in my story world is an innate property of creatures attuned to one of the classical elements, humans in the mundane world might tap into these arcane magical traditions.
3. Elizabethan fairy lore. In the British Isles, the last decades of the sixteenth century represent a high point in theorizing about the fairy folk. This was the era of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and King James VI of Scotland’s Daemonologie, where he argued that elves and fairies were in fact evil spirits. In general, the Fair Folk were still a real and terrifying figures in the imaginations of the country folk, though more so-called enlightened Londoners were increasingly skeptical.
4. Hominin evolution. Fifty thousand to 100,000 years ago, planet earth was a Tolkienesque landscape populated by several related human species interacting with each other in friendly or not so friendly ways. Just as Tolkien and most epic fantasy that followed him describes interactions among elves, dwarves, orcs, and the rest, Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, Denisovans, Homo floresiensis, and probably others once coexisted in our own world.
To me, this fact is the perfect setup for explaining the various fantasy “races” (as much as I despise that term) in a quasi-scientific way.
The shadow falls on October 1
Sunday Inspiration: Empathy
Whenever I see someone with an abundance of empathy I want to ask what heartbreak they have endured, for compassion is often birthed in the valley of despair.
—Zoe Clark-Coates
Shadow of the King: Q&A
What is Shadow of the King about?
A defector from Faeryland is building a new life for himself until his past catches up with him.
Is Shadow of the King a book with kissing?
Not really.
In early English folklore, elves were understood to be sexually transgressive beings. The stereotype of elves as effeminate pretty boys goes back at least 1,000 years! So if you look closely, you might see indications of activities that may or may not comport to traditional sexual mores.
But that’s not what Shadow of the King is about. Those are not my stories to tell.
My protagonist, Rune, is more or less comfortable somewhere on the asexual spectrum. We’ll see what develops for him in the next two books.
Is Shadow of the King a book with cussing?
A little bit. Maybe about the same level as a PG-13 movie. The one character who is truly a potty mouth tends to use insults and swear words more at home in a fantasy setting than the real world. And let me tell you, doing the research for that was quite educational! I almost want to include a glossary in the back so people can be authentically offended.
If you’re put off by strong language of any kind, you might wince a little bit every now and then, but what the hell? You only live once.
Is Shadow of the King isekai?
How much of a purist are you?
Shadow of the King definitely involves a protagonist from a fantastical realm being dropped in the mundane world, so by the most generous of definitions, you might think of it as “reverse isekai.”
But as I understand it, the story doesn’t play (much) with other expected tropes of the genre. Rune wasn’t involuntarily dropped in his new world, and in theory he can go home whenever he wants. It’s just that going home would be…unadvisable due to a strained relationship with certain factions of unearthly power who live there.
Nor is Rune the recipient of a “harem” of potential love interests. The very idea would terrify him! And though he has *accidentally* become a pivotal person in the history of the world he has left behind, he certainly doesn’t see himself as a “chosen one”—and neither do I.
Some isekai transition the hero to the other world by means of death and reincarnation, often after being run over by a truck. In the first chapter of Shadow of the King, Rune’s first major experience in his new world is getting hit by a car. If you want to think of that as a subtle nod to the genre, I’m not going to stop you.
Is Shadow of the King flintlock fantasy?
No, but you can see it from there.
Flintlock fantasy is a relatively new subgenre. I understand it, it doesn’t simply mean that flintlock firearms exist in a setting that also includes magic; it also nods to the kinds of social and technological upheavals that took place on earth around the year 1800. It also involves large military actions: massive armies and brilliant generals. It gives vibes of Europe in the age of Napoleon.
Rune comes from a world where the overall technological level is AD 1700, give or take. Bayonets have only recently replaced pikes in infantry formations. Flintlock pistols and muskets are fairly common, but industrialization and social foment are not. Saynim is less Napoleon and more Natty Bumppo or Daniel Boone in that regard.
Still, it is a world that has found ways to blend magic and black powder, where devastating spells and curses can be delivered on balls of lead.
It’s an interesting world, but a dangerous one.
Do you have any other questions? Ask them in the comments, and I’ll answer them in a second installment.
The shadow falls on October 1.
Sunday Inspiration: On Purpose
Find out who you are and do it on purpose.
—Dolly Parton
Shadow of the King: Telling a Story (Setting)
Here are two random ideas that have been bouncing around in my mind for a while.
First, a handful of years ago, dungeon master and game designer Matthew Colville made a video where he asked, in effect, “If your D&D world is not at war, why not?” (No, I haven’t been working on Shadow of the King for quite seven years; it only feels like it!) The video drove home for me the fact that war is basically the default state in world history. Whatever I might think about it as a human being (spoiler: I hate it!), as a storyteller, this is a gold mine of plot ideas.
Second, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series begins with a world where the Big Bad Evil Guy (BBEG) won, and now the characters are living with the aftermath. The Lord Ruler has only gotten more powerful, but a plucky band of misfits have a plan…
These factors, marinating over several years, shape the backdrop to Rune’s story in Shadow of the King. The takeaways for me are (1) everything has a consequence and (2) maintaining the peace take hard work.
In Mistborn, the BBEG won, and now everyone has to deal with that. But what if the good guys had won? What if they had been able to take down the BBEG? A rebel victory would upset the status quo, but then what? Especially if some of the victorious good guys aren’t all that good.
In Shadow of the King, the protagonist, Rune, was born into a world where the BBEG had been defeated…but now the petty kings who carved up his kingdom had been jockeying for position in a decades-long cold war that just needed the right spark to turn hot.
So what’s a writer to do but light a match and see what happens?
The shadow falls on October 1.
Sunday Inspiration: Character
People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sunday Inspiration: Strength
You don’t know how strong you are until strong is the only choice you have.
—Bob Marley
Shadow of the King: Building a World (Magic)
For about fifteen seconds, I considered setting Shadow of the King in the same story world as the Into the Wonder series. Thankfully, I managed to talk myself out of it.
First, I already knew Shadow of the King was going to skew more “adult” in themes and presentation, so some of the rule-of-funny handwavery in my previous novels just wasn’t going to fly. This story was going to be serious, dammit!
Second, the story that was hatching in my mind needed a different set of political circumstances in the magical realm. There’s a story here involving Brandon Sanderson and a popular D&D YouTuber that I’ll get to eventually.
But third and most important, I wanted a magic system with teeth. Taylor Smart, the protagonist in Into the Wonder, was just beginning her magical journey, so she had one—by the end, two—big magical stunts she could pull off. But Rune is a somewhat seasoned practitioner. I needed to enforce some hard limits on what he could do, or he’d curb stomp all the terrible beasties I was planning on throwing at him!
So here’s what I came up with:
1. Magic is tied to the classical elements—with a bit of wiggle room. Beyond the four elements of Western alchemy (air, earth, water, and fire), I wanted to include the Chinese five-element system where wood replaces air and metal is considered distinct from earth. I also wanted to at least leave the door open for a few other basic forces or energies as the story might require.
This means that Rune can perform magic related air, period. That is his one and only one talent. It doesn’t matter if he can ride the wind or summon a whirlwind, he couldn’t shake the earth or lob a fireball save his life.
2. There is a tradeoff between magic use and free will. Classical alchemy, both East and West, associates the elements with certain traits of temperament and, if you lean too heavily into one or the other of them, certain character flaws.
I thought it would be interesting if, the more magic you used, the deeper into these patterns of behavior you fell, to the point that eventually you literally had no choice but to be the stereotypical temperament associated with your element. In conversations with my neurodivergent daughter, I came to realize after the fact that a lot of these tendencies might even approximate things she and her ND friends experience. For example, when air-weavers overdo it, they become detached and flighty. In other words, they demonstrate an ADD/ADHD-like tendency to have trouble with focus, either becoming hyper-focused on something or unable to focus at all.
I think these parameters let me develop not just my protagonist but a diverse cast of sidekicks and villains. It also led me down interesting yet labyrinthine rabbit holes related to medieval humorism, neo-Pagan witchcraft, and the Hermetic magic systems of the Renaissance, but that’s another story.
The shadow falls on October 1.
Shadow of the King: What If…?
In her teen years, my dear daughter was a great fan of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and a lot of other heroes who learn they have a supernatural heritage and are whisked into a magical world of adventure. I must confess, I became a fan, too! I especially came to appreciate the smart and entertaining take on Greek (and later, Norse) mythology in Rick Riordan’s mid-grade novels about Percy Jackson and Magnus Chase. I was a mythology geek from way back, and I loved the way “Uncle Rick” wove the source material into a modern story.
A while back, I tried my own hand at middle-grade fiction with my Into the Wonder series. I had a lot of fun with it, and dear daughter was a great fan.
As much as I loved the trope of the seemingly ordinary kid who discovers their magical heritage, I always wondered why it couldn’t go the other direction.
And that brings me to Shadow of the King. Among other factors, it began with a simple question: What if the hero was already magical, but he’s whisked into the mundane world?
What if the hero were snatched out of somebody’s D&D campaign and forced to fight monsters on Main Street USA? What if things as ordinary as riding the bus or ordering at McDonald’s were something wondrous? What if elves and trolls and sorcerers were commonplace, but the hero was mystified by refrigerators…and family dinners?
My musings eventually resulted in Shadow of the King, which launches on October 1. It’s geared to an older audience than Into the Wonder, but it still represents my interested in fun, smart, and uplifting fantasy fiction.
If you think it’s something you would like, watch this space for further updates.
The shadow falls on October 1.
Darrell J. Pursiful 