Or at least part of it – the part of the world called Paradise where all the action in The Dinosaur Lords takes place: the Empire of Nuevaropa, which occupies the body of land called the Tyrant’s Head.
Visit scenic Nuevaropa!
I told you I was working on the map! See how wrong you were to doubt me?
It is, as promised, a glimpse and no more.
In fact the map is actually much larger and, hence, clearer. But since I haven’t yet labeled anything, there doesn’t seem much point. That said, this version does show the major features, plus several minor sites which figure prominently in the text. If you’ve read the swell free online sample chapters (and if you haven’t, why not?) or have read the Whole Damn Thing (if so, thanks!), you may well be able to pick them out. They’re Mirkgrad in the Misty March, where our protagonist Karyl hails from; Terraroja (called Tierra Roja in the online draft); and Providence Town, seat of County Providence, where coincidentally the book opens.
So a few quick hints on your Big Stuff: everything left of the mountains over there on the far right is Nuevaropa. The land mass is called Tyrant’s Head because of a fancied resemblance to the head of a Tyrannosaurus rex. (I don’t have to link that, right? You know what a T. rex is, and what one looks like, yes? Thought so. Moving on.)
The stuff east of the mountains is the Ovda Plateau, where Nuevaropa’s rival Turano empire is. They’re currently friendly to Nuevaropa. Mostly.
The big island just the other side of the channel from the mainland is Anglaterra. The smaller island way the Hell off west of that is Irlanda, where our (somewhat) faithful narrator Rob Korrigan comes from.
Also, the big opening battle takes place on the River Hassling, which runs to the east of the Tyrant’s Eye, the big bay or sea toward the top of the Tyrant’s Head. If you read the first chapters, and have a really exceptional memory: yep, in the online draft (and also the full draft I’ve shown to people) the Battle of Gunters Moll takes place west of the Eye. Yes, I’ve flip-flopped it, for good and sufficient reasons. No, it’s not the only geographical change that, ahem, having a map at last is either facilitating or necessitating, depending on how you take it.
Okay, if all that comes off a little loopy, I’m a little loopy. I’m still puzzling out my Campaign Cartographer 3 (CC3) program. Which I do know is swell. Makes purty pictures, don’t she? Anyway, I’ve been at the damn map since this morning, and have done little else today. In short, I’m beat.
But pleased. It’s coming together.
It damned well needs to.
More soon!
Wow! That’s surprisingly close to what I pictured based on your descriptions in Dino Lords. And that’s a hell of an accomplishment– I’m terrible at picturing things.
Well done, sir.
Thanks, dude! I really appreciate it.
I’m really really really happy with it.
Figuring out how to label things legibly is going to be a bit of a trick.
I want (and probably need) to do at least one more map, showing Providence and its environs, since the key action of the book takes place there. All things in their time. Gotta get this one squared-away first.
I had it flipped about 90 degrees counter-clockwise in my head. My brain put the mountains in the North (assuming conventional map orientation.) But that’s part of the reason I like maps in books where geography is important in the story. Even when the author is clear about cardinal directions, my brain will often rearrange things slightly. Which is why I need directions with landmarks/left/right more than cardinal points. I think the alien implant in my head is screwing with my natural internal compass. (At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)
It’s a great looking map though.
You could be absolutely mean and screw around with the conventional map orientation…
Thanks, Randi! Great to see you here. (Indeed, anywhere.)
It turns out readers aren’t the only ones who need a map to orient themselves, as mentioned above. For a lot of when I was writing The Dinosaur Lords my canonical sketch map – which the above is a scan, tracing, and improvement upon – was missing. Which will lead to some really annoying nit-picky rewriting, especially in the Providence scenes. Which are, naturally, like over half the book.
Ah, well. Such is the life of an occasionally map-challenged fantasy author.
As for screwing with map orientation, I feel it’s mean enough that on Paradise, the sun rises in the West….
[...] (Later update: Squeak did eat a little of her dry food. Plus she gobbled down her Treat. So she’s off the Immediate Danger list. Although Squeak being reluctant to eat is akin to the sun rising in the West.) (Except on Paradise.) [...]