A New Edition of The Shipwright and Other Stories

Friday, September 4, 2020 at 2:46am

Shortly after publishing Schrödinger’s City in 2015, I one day sat down at my weekly writing group and instead of writing, found myself thinking about maps. I pulled out some loose sheets of paper instead of my laptop, and I began drawing out land forms. I remember having the thought, “Le Guin has a cool archipelago fantasy world. I want a cool archipelago fantasy world.”

I drew out an archipelago, a mainland with a smattering of islands, but next came the much harder question. I did not want to merely mimic Le Guin. What would be interesting about my archipelago?

By this time, Schrödinger’s City had clinched a trend that had been developing in my writing. My long form works were depending on fewer and fewer fantastic elements and using them in ever more creative ways to drive narrative effects. My new archipelago, I decided, would have three moons. That was it. No systems of magic. No fantastic creatures. Just three moons. Palípoli was born.

I found that I could play with the myths, legends, and beliefs of the people of Palípoli to drive all the fantastic effects I needed, everything from the stories around the campfire in The Shipwright, to the mysterious book of the Dark Archive in The Measure, to the hidden manuscript discovered by Kháll in Something Novel.

Shipwright is just over a year old, and I am proud to announce that it now has the cover treatment it deserves. The new paperback and ebook cover update have been submitted to Amazon, and should both be live within the next few business days.