Otherwood

A novel by Dan Layman-Kennedy for NaNoWriMo 2005

25 October, 2005

Introduction

If you're here, somehow, by accident, and lost: this is the site of Otherwood, currently a work-in-progress for National Novel Writing Month 2005. If you're allergic to fantasy, more specifically urban or modern fantasy in the vein of Sandman, Clive Barker, or Charles de Lint, you're not going to have any fun here. Likewise, if you're easily offended by things like non-mainstream sexuality, cross-dressing, feminism, "alternative" religion, or the occult being portrayed in a positive light, reading this is probably not going to be the best use of your time. That's all the warning you're going to get about that, so consider wisely now.

The rest of you, I hope, are going to have a pretty good time here, though you get a couple of caveats of your own. First off, it may become quickly apparent that Otherwood is part of a longer and larger cycle of tales, and a late one at that; and much of the rest is not yet complete. It's my hope that the world I've created holds up to a headfirst plunge like this, but I admit to lacking perspective. If something is terribly confusing, feel free to inquire about it in the comments, and if it doesn't involve spoilers (and isn't something inane like "Why do they have to be lesbians?"), I'll do my best to answer.

Second, this is very much a first draft, and will show up here more or less as it's being done, with little or no time for revision. Incoherence, dreadful pacing, adjectivitis and logorhea are all par for the course, and the inevitable results of the mad dash towards 50,000 words by November 30. Rest assured there will probably be a rewrite, when some of those things might even be fixed.

If you're not new to the Eldritch universe - especially if you followed along with any of 2002's still-alas-unfinished A Thousand Thrones - a few notes may be in order to bring you up to speed. Otherwood is set ten years after A Thousand Thrones and presents a number of things that have changed since that work saw the light; some of these are the result of the interim, and some are because of things I've simply changed my mind about regarding the setting. Again, I'm more than happy to answer questions in the comments - though that answer, of course, may well be "I'm not saying yet," just so you know.

Finally, credit where it's due: The god-city Nisroch, and the angels Malachi and Masbeth (all of which are scheduled to appear or be mentioned in the work to come), are the creations of Spyder, who has graciously allowed me to play with her toys and bend them to my own questionable purposes. The rest is, in the main, entirely my invention, with the exception of the Comte de Saint-Germain, who is of course his own.

See you on the other side of the tale.

dlk