Introduction

 

 

Where do you get your ideas?

This is by far the question most asked of writers, and I'm the first in line when I come upon a story that rocks me back on my heels. "Come on, China Mieville, I don't for a minute believe some crazed spirit didn't drop Perdido Street Station in your lap!"

Which, by the way, is exactly how I got the idea for Aldair in Albion and the three books that followed. Really, most ideas just suddenly POW! hit you in the head. I saw Men become vile and hateful beings as the centuries raced by. I saw him loose creatures that were warped images of himself---And, on the heels of that thought came the premise of the story itself: The creatures he produced were neither animals nor men, but something else besides...

There, waiting for me to set them on the harrowing voyages that would lead them to the truth was Aldair and the lovely Corysia, Rhalgorn and Rheif, wild Stygianns ever in search of fat hares, Thareesh the Niciean, and beer-loving Signar, the giant Vikonen.

As the stories marched on, all of these creatures became as real to me as friends I had known all my life. If you, the reader, come to share this feeling, I will have more than accomplished what I set out to do in these tales...

-Neal Barrett, Jr.