17 Responses so far

1. 1. Marie Brennan on Feb 22nd, 2007 at 9:12 am

   I’m always somewhat puzzled by the people who say they detest maps in books. Sure, in fantasy it can be indicative of a certain kind of plot, but I’m not a fan of stories that take place in some yawning void in my head.

2. 2. Shara on Feb 22nd, 2007 at 9:35 am

   Very cool indeed…I don’t think I’ve seen a map like that in a book before.

3. 3. Elizabeth S. on Feb 22nd, 2007 at 9:43 am

   That is such a neat idea.

4. 4. Philip Proefrock on Feb 22nd, 2007 at 10:34 am

   Shara — Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere has a London Underground map on the endpapers, I believe.

   I love maps in books, too (being a very visually-oriented person). When they are a collaboration with the author that fleshes out the world a little bit more, it’s an added bonus. When it’s nothing more than a diagram of the story though (and I’ve seen a few of those), they can be rather lame.

   I never made the analogy with DVD extras, but that’s exactly what things like maps, chronologies, dramatis personae lists and the like are.

5. 5. Steve Buchheit on Feb 22nd, 2007 at 10:52 am

   Wormholes as subway train maps. Neat idea there Tobias.

   And maps are always great. I just with the publisher of “The Name of the Rose” would include a map of the labyrinth library so those of us more impressionable people could stop mapping it out in our fevered dreams at 3 in the morning only to wake up in a sweat.

6. 6. Tobias Buckell on Feb 22nd, 2007 at 11:15 am

   I thought it was super-fantastic

7. 7. Paul Raven on Feb 22nd, 2007 at 8:43 pm

   I’ve always been a fan of maps, and never seen the argument against – just adds to the text, after all. As long as there’s a text worthy of a map, of course. I like it – it appeals to the tiny grain of English pride in me, don’tcha know.

   What I’d like you to tell us, though, is more about this mind-mapping software of which you speak. Can a demo be downloaded from somewhere? Have you used it outside of fiction writing?

8. 8. Chris Roberson on Feb 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 pm

   Man, that is *made* of awesome!

9. 9. Paul on Feb 23rd, 2007 at 7:55 am

   A map like this will make me more likely, not less, to pick up a book. I am a cartographile by inclination and a wormhole network as a subway map is a brilliant idea!

10. 10. Fred Kiesche on Feb 26th, 2007 at 12:58 pm

    Oddly enough, some friends of mine and I were discussing a similar project for an old SF-RPG called 2300 AD. The FTL drive had a limit put on it (technobabble, but neat technobabble) so travel routes tended to grow in a simple fashion. It was suggested that instead of laying the routes onto a real map of the stars, you’d use a “subway map” instead.

    I’m going to hunt down your books just based on finding this posting and the other stuff on your site!

11. 11. Winchell Chung on Feb 26th, 2007 at 1:57 pm

    There is a free software tool called yEd that is well suited for drawing such “subway” maps. After you’ve connected the stars, it can automatically clean up the map by moving stars so the pathways do not cross each other. It is available at
    http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yed_about.htm

    An explaination of how to use it is on my 3D starmap website
    http://www.projectrho.com/starmap.html
    on this page
    http://www.projectrho.com/smap13.html
    sample maps here:
    http://www.projectrho.com/smap12.html#winch

12. 12. tobias s buckell on Feb 27th, 2007 at 2:36 am

    Thanks, and tahnks again, Fred, that sounds cool, and thanks for hunting down a book of mine

    Winchell, good to see you here. Winchell has the best starmap resource on the internet, period. Maps, software, everything.

    I used a free open source mind map software called My Mind.

13. 13. Fred Kiesche on Feb 27th, 2007 at 10:22 am

    Heh. I should mention that Winchell and I go back and it was a e-mail conversation with a third partner in crime (Chris Weuve) that led me to your site…

14. 14. Tobias Buckell on Feb 27th, 2007 at 5:18 pm

    Oh, cool. It’s always amazing how the degrees of connection end up working!

15. 15. Chris Weuve on Feb 28th, 2007 at 12:31 am

    Third partner in crime here.

    BTW, here’s another example of this sort of thing, from the wonderfully eclectic Strange Maps blog: http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/02/13/75-a-diagram-of-the-eisenhower-interstate-system/

16. 16. Fred Kiesche on Apr 12th, 2007 at 12:34 pm

    So when is the “Moleskin Edition” coming out?

    http://www.moleskineus.com/moleskine-city-books.html

    http://www.moleskineus.com/moleskine-boston-citybook.html

    See the “features” in the Boston edition, for example. Subway maps of subways, why not subway maps for the star systems!

17. 17. tobias s buckell on Apr 16th, 2007 at 3:22 pm

    Chris, cool

    Fred, how cool would that be? Special Easton limitied Moleskine version of Ragamuffin.

    One can dream