Laying Flesh Onto the World

The world in which I have set most of my recent work is the product of a decades-long thought experiment in which I tried to root my imagination in the world's history.

If you've read much of my work, you're probably familiar with a few of its key differences and similarities. Atlantis was tangibly real and had a profound impact on the geography of North America. A nation called the Attakondai Dominion occupies the area we would recognize as California, Oregon, and Washington. A giant, supernatural (oddly circular) desert has sterilized the territories of the west beyond the Mississippi River, which flows with oily black tar-like substance rather than water. In the territory between the Balding Mountains (Appalachia) and the river of tar, only the most desperate or most determined settlers choose to live, mainly because things get... weird there.

When writing Last Song of the Leviathan, one of my primary struggles was maintaining the balance of exposition and inference. How much should I feed to the reader? How much should I let them gather on their own?

One of Last Song's protagonists, a samurai called Yabusawa Yoshimune, is a samurai, hailing from a land called Hyakazanjima, the islands of one-hundred volcanoes. I remember, as I was trying to weave hints into the narrative, pointing out that the motifs on one kimono or another were pineapples and hibiscus flowers. It felt like I was nudging the reader in the ribs, and going "*Cough cough* Hawaii! *Cough cough!*"

One of my deeper insecurities is that a lot of this will simply be missed by the reader. Some of my beta readers caught onto some of it. Others only realized it in hindsight. So what's best? For the world-building to hit on first read, or for the easter-eggs to be discoverable on subsequent re-reads?

I haven't the foggiest.

I've written several short stories recently, hoping that small-time publication may lead to more authorial credibility down the road. Maybe the world-building from these short stories could add another layer? I hope so.

Some of these are modified chapters from a previous, failed novel. I've also written a few wholesale from scratch. Now, I'm looking for beta readers for these stories before I submit them. HIt me up if you'd like a look.

• "A Quickening of Revenant Bones" At approximately 4700 words, this story explores teenage rebellion through the eyes of Babitha, an apprentice bounty hunter, who gets more than she bargained for when she decides to test the truth of her mentor's word.

• "The Essence of Game" A recently graduated Engineer of the Attakondai Dominion experiences his first Genius-level courses at the Shadowbranch School of the Academy of Science and Technology, weeding ally from enemy with sly schemes. 2400 words.

• "Milk From the Lion's Mouth" A tribe of tundra-dwelling natives capture a strange white man who may or may not be magic in this 4000-word story.

• "To Tame a Steel Ghost" Providing backstory for one of the protagonists of Last Song of the Leviathan, this 2600-word short story examines the training of the warrior class beneath empress Himiko's rule, and the terrible power they must wield if they wish to rise to the highest ranks of Samurai.