Cargo of Bones
by Z. Lindsey
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GENRE: Fantasy
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BOOK BLURB:
Devil bureaucrat Essie Darkenchyl and her friends barely survived the jungle, but now they're going straight to Hell--AKA her hometown!
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EXCERPT ONE:
“What’s happening now?” Two Rabbit shouted.
“Looks like some kind of sheep,” Merritt said.
Essie’s eyes shot open.
“Sheep?” Two Rabbit asked.
She still couldn’t move. She was staring at the sky again. Purple storm clouds.
“Essie?” the doctor asked. “Are you awake? You hear me? You’re bleeding to death! For Aro’s sake, let down that shield or aura or whatever you’re projecting.”
He was just out of sight. They were all out of sight. Essie desperately tried to sit, but it only made the storm clouds choke in on her faster.
“Whoa!” Connie said. “Those are some mean sheep.”
“Sand sheep?” Boon asked.
Their voices made her head throb. She tried to follow, but couldn’t. It sounded like nonsense.
“By Aro—the sheep stepped on that guy’s crotch!” Merritt shouted. “Please don’t say we’re being rescued by sheep.”
“That’s if they don’t attack us, too,” Boon said.
“Holy Mother,” Two Rabbit said. “I’ve never seen a sheep spit like that.”
“Ohhhh.” Essie smiled as much as she could. “Llamas.”
Then she passed out.
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GUEST POST:
When it comes to worldbuilding in fantasy novels, I often hear folks say they don’t know where to start. They’re not sure how to connect the neat ideas they have in their mind into a tangible world. As an anthropologist and a lover of the complexities of human cultures, I’ve thought a lot about how to create fictional cultures, and my answer may be surprising: Don’t start with the culture.
Instead, start with the characters. Understanding the story, you want to tell will help build the world. Understanding your character will help you understand your world better. If your character is a cynical young warrior who has seen too much bloodshed in her short life, what were the power structures like that allowed her to be so hurt? If your character is an immigrant gnome trying to start a shop in a bustling elf city, how do folks in the city view immigrants, and not just how do they view them, but what events led to them viewing immigrants that way?
If you build your world in relation to your characters, you’ll be less likely to fall into the trap of info-dumping. Character-focused worldbuilding means you understand the world close to your character better than the world far away. In turn, when you explore your world for your readers, you’ll reveal details that are relevant for the story and the character.
I always focus on my characters’ opinions about places they’re visiting. Answering these questions helps to build an organic world that doesn’t seem like a copy-pasted version of Middle-Earth or that sort of thing.
I also tend to shy away from too much research for my book. Organic knowledge is better. If you happen to be reading a neat book about, say, the ancient Egyptians, feel free to drop aspects of it into your fantasy novel. But researching ancient Egypt for your novel doesn’t always work out. That’s because the depth of information out there about subjects like ancient Egypt is far bigger than what you’ll ever need for a fantasy book. You won’t be an expert but a novice, and that will show up in your worldbuilding.
Rather, pluck from things you already know. Today, some folks critique the adage “write what you know” because fantasy is outlandish and unreal by its very nature. But don’t just write what you’ve experienced, but use all the knowledge you already have while writing. If you’ve read original Middle Ages Robin Hood stories, you haven’t met Robin Hood, but you sure know him, so he’d be a great candidate for your fiction.
My current novel, Cargo of Bones, takes place in an age of exploration-style world, with big sailing ships and shady quasi-governmental mercantile organizations. I picked that because that’s an era I’m familiar with. I wrote about the colonization of Yucatan for school, and while I do live in the area, a lot of what I know of that era is what I’ve read about. There aren’t a lot of pirates in Mexico today, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know a thing or two about pirates--enough to put them in my book, for sure.
Cargo of Bones finds the heroes in the desert. They have to go to the hometown of the main character, who’s based on my wife. So naturally, there are some elements of Laredo, Texas in there. I’ll spoil a big joke: Many people think Laredo is dangerous, thanks to false media narratives. But if you’ve lived there, especially before the recent arts explosion, you’d probably be more likely to call it boring. The city of devils in this book is similar. Despite their magical tasks, their daily life is fairly mundane.
But it is a fantasy book, right? I can do whatever I want, so there are also llamas. There are no llamas in Laredo, or at least not naturally. I’m sure one weird rancher has some llamas. But I was studying childhood in ancient Andean cultures while working on the book, and looking at cute llama sculptures. I wasn’t living in the Andes or anything, but I was already familiar enough with those cultures to imbue my fictional culture with some traits like chicha beer and pillowed stones without having to do outside research.
This doesn’t mean I never do research for my books. My Google search history is the typical author search history: “What do you call the bottom of a ship? What causes bioluminescence? How big is a Brigantine? Is an arrow in the lung fatal? What cute animals live in the desert?” But I don’t do comprehensive research for my books.
While writing, you might think, as I did, “Hey, the mountains these people live by feel pretty similar to the Andes; why don’t I stick some llamas here?” And once you’ve thought that, you might have to Google, “How far can a llama spit?” And I’m fine with that.
But if you decide to have an Incan-style fantasy world, so you watch a Nat Geo documentary about Andean people for reference, you may end up inserting harmful stereotypes or foolish-sounding misunderstandings into your work. I know the rallying cry of a certain type of fantasy writer is, “I can write what I want!” What they don’t realize is that stereotypes aren’t just offensive--they’re eye-rollingly dumb to the folks who recognize the stereotypes. Dumb is something writers typically don’t want to be called.
If you’re thinking, but I haven’t studied ancient cultures! What can I do? I’d say if you want to be a fantasy author, study some ancient cultures! Not because you need to, but because if you like reading fantasy, you’ll probably find info about ancient people interesting.
Even if you haven’t studied ancient cultures or visited ancient ruins, you’ve probably got some similar knowledge you can use. If you like to cook, make up the food culture you want to see. If you row, drop your characters in a city of canals. If you like to do makeup, describe how your main character’s makeup fits in with or defies cultural expectations. These are all examples of “writing what you know” in worldbuilding.
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AUTHOR BIO:
Zac Lindsey is an anthropologist and a linguist who focuses on the Maya people of Quintana Roo. Since childhood, he's had a not-so-secret love of weird, silly, and well-structured fantasy. When other people's parents were reading them picture books, his mom was reading him Terry Brooks. He typically writes hopeful and character-driven fantasy.
Today, he lives in Quintana Roo, Mexico with his wife, daughter, and various stray cats.
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Z. Lindsey will award a randomly drawn winner a $25 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble (Winner's Choice!!!) Gift Card AND a Digital Copy of the Featured Book, "Cargo of Bones," via Rafflecopter during the book tour.
