Melodie Muses On Too Much Darned Sun
The four Shadeward books, Emanation, Exoneration, Enervation, and Expiation by Drew Wagar are set in a world where the sun never sets. The other side of that coin, of course, is the other side of that same world where the sun never rises. You can imagine, it’s pretty darned hot and pretty darned cold, and there are only certain zones where it’s possible to live.
When the sun never sets, you lose some of the things we take for granted — like day and night; not just actual day and night, but the concepts of them. It’s fascinating stuff.
Drew Wagar didn’t just lose day and night when he made up this world. He lost all the words that go with it, the day/night vocabulary that we take for granted — and he always includes a section at the start or end that goes into some of this.
Those special bonds between animals and people
Fascinating though the day/night conundrums are, in this piece I’m turning my attention to the animals. On the Shadeward world, you’ll find some animals you recognise and some you don’t. You’ll also find something that most of us will have experienced — those special bonds between animals and people.
It was towards those special bonds that my question headed, and this is what I asked Drew:
There are special relationships between people and carns e.g. Zoella and Raga, and dachs and riders. Are these relationships comparable to the bonds between Anne McCaffrey’s dragons and riders?
Here’s Drew Wagar’s answer:
I was definitely influenced by Anne McCaffrey’s take on the bond between dragons and riders, what she called the “Impression” — who wouldn’t love the idea of being able to talk to a dragon in your mind?
The links between Kiri and her dach ‘Shansa’ (a flying reptile) and Zoella and her carn ‘Raga’ (a sort of wolf-like creature) aren’t quite the same though.
The creatures in Shadeward aren’t sapient (though they definitely are sentient) and don’t speak like in Anne McCaffrey’s work, but they communicate their emotions and intentions through the mental bond they have with their human. Essentially the language the animals and humans share is emotions, not words — and the women in the Shadeward stories uniquely have the ability to communicate in this fashion with the creatures of the Shadeward world. As a result the creatures are immensely loyal and close to their respective humans and their loss has a profound impact, much as in Anne McCaffrey’s books.
I like that distinction — sharing a language of emotions not words — and maybe emotions on their own allow clearer understanding and deeper bonds than just words on their own.
To sum up this series, I shall quote from something that Drew said, because I couldn’t have put it any better myself:
Shadeward is one of those stories which takes the established rules of genre and ignores them entirely. It’s written in a fantasy style, with hard science fiction underpinnings, has leanings towards romance, focusses on memorable characters and adventure. It’s escapism, pure and simple, without allegory or preachy messages. If you want to travel to another world and leave this one behind for a bit, these stories are for you.
Melodie Trudeaux Is All About The Animals
That’s why Melodie has homed in on the animal angles of every one of the books she muses on. Melodie Trudeaux is the alter-ego of crime writer, Penny Grubb.
Melodie’s latest, Horse of the Same Colour…
… is a MABLE 2022 spotlight book along with the four Shadeward books, Emanation, Exoneration, Enervation, and Expiation. Please come and join Melodie and all the other authors at Fantastic Books Publishing’s
It’s free and it’s fun!
