Paksworld

Writing in the same universe years later forces the writer to accept that things aren’t the same–can’t be the same–as they were when last working there. The writer’s not the same, the world into which the book comes isn’t the same, and the work may have continued to develop in the writer’s hindbrain even when the writer wasn’t technically “there.”

So returning to the familiar landscapes and characters of The Deed of Paksenarrion meant seeing the places, people, and story from a new (twenty-plus years older) viewpoint. Satisfying–because I’d been wanting to write in this world again for some years–and also scary, because I understood the challenges involved.

The first book is basically done, as is part of the second. Once more, this story-world grabbed my brain and held it captive while Story poured into it (and out my aching fingers!) That’s a great feeling, and this is the only fictional universe I’ve written in that provides it steadily, all the way through. My alpha-readers for this project, all familiar with the Paks books, said they found it true to the world, even though they’re now seeing characters and situations from new viewpoints.

So if you’re a fan of Paks and her world, this will feel like the same place–but seen from different angles than that of the young recruit, the mercenary soldier, the solitary adventurer and finally the paladin of Gird. Now the viewpoint characters are captains and kings, peers and courtiers, people whose lives were disrupted by the intrusion (however welcome) of a paladin. And yet the same deep logic underlies it all, as the bedrock the river flows over lasts longer than any individual drop of water that rushes over it.