Orph the Inimitable

Tales of the Waste

by Gene Lancour, Valerie Hagenback (Illustrator)

This fantasy tale is the first in an interlocked collection unified by the five-thousand year history and culture of a barren region called the Waste. The whole collection spans belief in magic to practical science, myth to recorded history and the rise of successive empire from the ruins of countless others. All these rose and fell in the same region, which may or may not have been preceded by races called forerunners who left still evident remnants. This particular novel is focused on magic, which later becomes myth for the folk who live after.
This is also a tale of the impact of the physical environment on human culture. The central fact in this world is the Waste—an arid region floored by rock, sand and salt flats roughly corresponding to the present day Mediterranean basin. To the north there are still massive receding glaciers, to the east mountains and an immense melt water lake. To the south a river has carved a deep gorge, in whose cliffs lie mystery and eons of history. And, to the west lies the most interesting ancient artifact of all: There stands the Wall. A massive construction of stone that wards off the encroaching ocean, which at any moment threatens to overtop it and then flood the entire known world. Men now maintain it, but the forerunners began it. It is a central focus of their lives, for if the Wall fails, everything dies.
Traditionally with such a sweeping series it can be difficult to keep track of characters, location and history. This was usually handled in a back matter section of a book. Technology now allows access to this information on the web. With a planned million or more words in the whole collection, ease of access for every reader is important, and you will find it on the web at www.talesofthewaste.com. Here you will find interactive maps, timelines, glossaries of characters and locations, and pictorial descriptions and samples of the glyph writing system. You will also find expanded records and personal accounts culled from the archives of five eons, many of which are only alluded to in the various tales. This is designed to be fully searchable and interactive. The website will also offer previews of forthcoming books in the series that be published on Amazon.

194 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 6, 2015

About the author

Gene Louis Lancour Fisher
aka Gene Fisher & Jeanne Lancour

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning deceives. Orph approaches the subject of Catyle the Cursed with a few anecdotes that gives a few expectations, and then those expectations are smashed as Orph runs headlong into Catyle and the rest of the book can start, eventually turning into a fetch quest in three parts, followed by a confrontation at Catyle's residence.

The fetch quests turn something that had vaguely Jack Vance stylings into something more traditionally Robert E Howard (or L Sprague de Camp without the veneer). It's very serviceable but the initial anecdotes roped me in, as they reinforced the way that the wizards of this world walk through long expanses of time and interaction with peers may be very sporadic indeed.

Lancour presents Tales of the Waste as a sweeping series taking place over thousands of years. I'm on board to find out what is next and how it could possibly develop.

I appreciate that the author was able to self-publish, but in this case it came with certain costs: the cover art is classy but the color scheme and title arrangement are hard to read, and there were editing problems, including the fact that chapter 12 repeats itself from the beginning.