a compendium of awesome fantasy maps
As you know – because I gush about it constantly, and here you are, cruising my map tab – I love fantasy maps. You won’t be shocked to learn that JRRT started the obsession; Anne McCaffery did her bit. I talk to a lot of nerds and can say with authority that I’m not alone in this.
One of the best things about the experience is that sense of adventure. Poring over the map and finding new spots of interest completely independent of the plot. Hey! Maybe the heroes aren’t the only ones who get to have a thrill!
Anyway, it doesn’t make much sense to yammer on at length about my fascination with new invented places and then only show you mine. So, FINALLY, I’m assembling a reference where fellow map-enthusiasts can find the work of other amazing indie writers.
*Everything here is linked with the permission of the author and is fully protected by copyright. If you are one of my contributors and no longer wish to participate, please contact me at once so I can take your stuff down. If you yourself are an indie author and would like to take part, ditto. Twitter is generally the fastest means to get a hold of me; my social media handles are all linked on the main page.
And now, without further boring jabbering…
*MAPS*
The Backwards Knight
The Backwards Knight by Matthew Siadak
A few words from the author:
This is a map I created, with the help of my wife. I put it together for a series of novels I’ve been working on for six years or more now. We started with a rough sketch with some haphazardly placed locations. I had characters, I had their voices, I had the start of a plot. What was missing?
I did not have a world to flesh out the bones of the plot that I had. From the bits and pieces, I started to string everything together. Haven, a name for The Paladin’s castle. What it might have been, once upon a time. A sanctuary for those who needed succor. Perhaps once, but no more.
To tie it all together, another shard of what was no more: The Tower of Fragments. A place where a great magic was once started, at a cost too much to bear.
With all of these on a map, it finally helped me better conceptualize the world. For once, I could see the rest of my story.
-MS, 2022
The Pentagonal Dominion
The Pentagonal Dominion by Erika McCorkle
You’ll want to scroll way back with this one. Not with your mouse, with your brain! This author really pushes the bounds with worldbuilding, never playing it safe with tired, well-traveled assumptions about what a fantastical world ought to look like or how it has to work.
two dramatically different settings
Lao Yukging, by Samuel Yaw. The author describes Lao Yukging as “a Cantonese-like farming town of sports junkies.” Sounds wonderful anyway, and extra yay for an urban landscape!
The Kingdom of Bujan by Samuel Yaw
The Anidril System
Areaer by Raina Nightingale
Areaer is a world of fire and wind and Earthfire (lava). A world of dragons & dryads & sheer mountains, where magic is most often subtle, & where magic & the mundane are forever intertwined. Areaer is the second planet of the star Anidril.
-RN, 2022
Alaer by Raina Nightingale
Alaer is a world of oceans and tides, of the light of the moon and the song of the Polar lights. Alaer is inhabited by magical dolphins and two native aquatic species, and is Areaer’s sister world, the third planet of the star Anidril.
-RN, 2022
Cathaidra
Cathaidra. A country ran by a theocracy where any magic users outside of the church are considered an atrocity. Lia Wicker was born one of these magic users, and she has to figure out how to survive in her world while also hiding her magic.
The Bountiful Bards are married couple Kahner C. Calloway and Miranda Hale-Phillips performing a two-player game of Dungeons and Dragons together.
-KC, 2022
Find The Bountiful Bards (and their awesome podcast) at https://twitter.com/BountifulBards
Wen
Wen by R. Ramie Guerrero
Find all the author’s contact info and more about the series, The Age of Fire, here: https://linktr.ee/rrameyguerrero
The Outlands Pentalogy
Kingdom of Cutta by Rebecca Crunden
This beautiful specimen took my breath away. It has a sea monster!
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