The cover of the first (1991) edition. Artwork by Brom.
The 1991 back cover.
The cover of the 2004 Wizards of the Coast reprint,
keeping the stylish Brom cover.
Notice it's now 'Tonya C. Cook.'
The Elven Nations trilogy, divided between Toni and me on one hand and Douglas Niles on the other, was remarkably well received. After the operatic style of the first novel, and the military sweep of Niles' THE KINSLAYER WARS, it was hard to come up with a plot for the third book that lived up to the epic scale established by the first two novels. The only specification we had from TSR was that the third book should cover the founding of the new elven nation, Qualinesti.
Douglas Niles' part of the trilogy:
Sithas (l), Kith-Kanan (r)
THE QUALINESTI represented our fifth novel in three years. Leaving aside not inconsequential matters like re-writes and early drafts, the five novels still totaled around 470,000 words (each Dragonlance novel ran about 100,000 words; RED SANDS weighed in at 70,000). In addition, I edited an anthology of speculative fiction written mostly by college students (FORBIDDEN LINES, 1989), and had become editor/publisher of a bimonthly magazine of the same title in 1990.
The Forbidden Lines anthology, 1989.
The last copies in existence
are available on eBay . . .
Toni and I decided THE QUALINESTI would be about succession, slavery, and ethnicity. Kith-Kanan has a half-human son, Ulvian, who seems to be in line to succeed to the throne of the new and improved elven kingdom. The foundation of Qualinesti was intended to remedy the defects of the original elven realm, Silvanesti, which is absolutist, elitist, and frankly, racist. Silvanesti elves believe themselves to be superior to all other peoples. Kith-Kanan, enlightened by his experiences in the greenwood and during the Kinslayer Wars, wants to lead his new kingdom on a different, more tolerant path.
So far, so good. Unfortunately Ulvian is a corrupt weakling and falls under the baleful influence of a malign sorcerer with an evil amulet. He gets caught up in slave trading. His sister, the warrior maiden Verhanna, is the Strong Female Character of the story. While Ulvian profits from slavery, Verhanna leads Qualinesti forces on raids against the vile practice. Ulvian's part in this villainy goes unrecognized for a while.
Meanwhile, in the forest, the tree that once was Anaya is split open by lightning. A green-skinned, fully grown young elf is found inside. His name is Silveran, also known as Greenhands. His magical gestation and lineage (he's the offspring of Kith-Kanan and Anaya) make him an obvious candidate to succeed his father Kith-Kanan as Speaker of the Sun. The monarch of Qualinesti is called the Speaker of the Sun, on the analogy that the ruler of Silvanesti is the Speaker of the Stars. The name is symbolically significant, too. The elder elven kingdom is as cold and austere as the stars in a winter sky, while Qualinesti is meant to become a warm and life-giving place.
This book sees the advent of our eternal kender character, Rufus Wrinklecap. Throughout the balance of our Dragonlance writing career, Toni and I made reference to Rufus, usually in the form of a kender claiming to be Rufus Wrinklecap, but not the Rufus Wrinklecap. This conceit was based on an actual person my wife and I once met. This fellow, an ardent AD&D gamer, had a game persona known as Roscuro, "the Roscuro!" His gaming anecdotes about our mutual friends were hilarious, so we adopted his catch phrase for our footloose kender, Rufus Wrinklecap. Because kender invariably wander the world getting into trouble, it stands to reason they would resort to pseudonyms to confuse outsiders. "Rufus Wrinklecap" could therefore be seen to be the kender equivalent of "John Doe." But the 'real' Rufus would be found in the later written, but much earlier set novel, THE FOREST KING.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
While his mind is clouded by evil magic (arranged by Ulvian), Silveran strikes his father, Kith-Kanan with a great dwarf hammer. Before dying, Kith exonerates Silveran for the deed. He orders Verhanna not to kill Ulvian for his part in the plot, and the dishonored son flees, never to return. Kith sees Anaya one last time in a nether world between life and death (nice scene). He dies, and Silveran becomes the king of Qualinesti.
Two of the Ambrodel clan figure in the tale, with the younger Kemian Ambrodel falling in love with the formidable Lady Verhanna.
Overall, THE QUALINESTI has a melancholy air, largely from the apparent doom hanging over Kith-Kanan and his errant son Ulvian. It's an earthier story than FIRSTBORN; with no operatic climaxes and less grandeur. For this reason some readers felt let down by the novel, but it's a good story, more tightly plotted than FIRSTBORN. I recall this one being a favorite of Toni's. Online reviews run at about 4 Stars for THE QUALINESTI and 4.5 for FIRSTBORN.
I suppose the dark plot and intrigue clashes with the common image of lofty, ethereal elves. Dragonlance cognitive dissonance, as it were. We would return to court intrigue and political plots in a big way in the Ergoth Trilogy.
THE QUALINESTI is dedicated to a friend of mine and my wife's, Mickey Spencer.
Toni and I were rather burned out by the time the Elven Nations were done. We'd written a lot in a short period of time. Other changes added layers of difficulty to our collaboration; Toni and her husband Greg moved from North Carolina to New York state in 1989. This was still the pre-Internet era, so we had to ship manuscripts back and forth via the US Mail. During the writing of THE QUALINESTI we also had to get manuscript pages from TSR of Douglas Niles' middle book, just to keep up with his plot developments. By the time THE QUALINESTI hit the stores in November 1991, Toni and I needed a break.
So what did I do? Put out another novel, of course, the strange book called THORN AND NEEDLE (TSR, 1992).
1992 would be a momentous year for me. Not only did I get married that year, I also published my seventh novel (second solo effort) and spent a month wandering Europe with my wife. Through the pages of LOCUS magazine I got in touch with a Romanian SF writer/editor Petru Iamandi, and arranged for him to translate SUNDIPPER into Romanian. The book eventually appeared in 1994.
The Romanian SUNDIPPER (Porto-Franco, 1994):
The translated title is "In the Sun's Cold Heart."
The back cover. Note the inset
with St. Martin's cover art.
We didn't know it, but great changes were afoot. After five books for TSR in three years, we would only do one more Dragonlance novel before the company was sold to Wizards of the Coast in 1997. That sale turned out to be a great change in our favor, as Toni and I would do more (and better) books for Wizards than we did for TSR. Dragonlance would live--for another twelve years after the sale.
Next: Chapter 1, THE QUALINESTI
No comments:
Post a Comment