Across the Burnt Lands
Earlier this year I became interested (obsessed) with writing a post-apocalyptic sword & sorcery project. Novel? Novels? A series? Perhaps, but if it is to be a series, then the books will not be giant, mighty tomes. I'm currently outlining the first story, which is at the beginning of the post-apocalyptic setting while firmly in the world of sword and sorcery.
These two flavors have been put together before, though in much different ways. Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun series is a fantasy set long after an earth-ending event. There are others, but for the most part, these stories tackle the world-building long after our contemporary society has crumbled away, so much so that there's very little of it for characters to react to.
My project is more along the lines of Conan the Barbarian meets The Rover (2014). But it's also like Clive Barker meets Heavy Metal Magazine. It's Frank Frazetta painting a burnt landscape. It's a Chevy Nova with a long sword mounted in the rear window.
It's Psychedelic Doom, baby!
So how do you get sword and sorcery in a blasted to hell and back world? Why, you channel the occult, and—more specifically—cults. It makes sense that survivors will drift into groups, and some of these groups will be cults, or cultish. A return to working the land, or what's left of it, harkens to the days of yore, which is prime fodder for some of that good old folk horror.
Doomsday + Folk Horror = Post Apocalyptic/Sword & Sorcery.
It also helps to have a little science-fiction in the mix as well. The specific event that causes the world to suddenly begin using swords and daggers and melee weapons and poisons again is the lack of usable firearms. Something happens that makes guns, grenades, explosives, bombs, even fireworks, no longer work. The catalyst to this world-changing event is magick, but there's a strange science associated with that magick.
As much as we would love for weapons of war to not exist in the modern world, firearms do serve a purpose. The sad reality is people tend to suck and will turn to whatever means necessary to bludgeon each other to death. As this happens over a short amount of time, the world descends into despair and chaos.
I've got most of the first three parts down for this project, and once I have parts four and five sketched out, I'll begin drafting. As mentioned earlier, I don't expect this book to be of an epic size ... probably 60,000 words at the most.
I'm still working on my mummy project as well. So far, it is not set in this post-apocalyptic world I'm playing with, but I also haven't ruled out setting it there. Time will tell, though I'm not too concerned about it at the moment.
Until next time ...
peace&love
