In 1838 while Fredrick Chopin (composer) and George Sands (author) were having a romantic interlude on the island of Mallorca, the Count of Montenegro showed them a famous map of the Atlantic Ocean done by Vallesca in 1439 and they managed to knock over an inkwell and put a big stain in the corner. Rather an oops moment I imagine! But when hand drawing a map, like I did with the first one of Fraith that you can see at the bottom of the 'Fraith' page, spilling things on it is not the only concern. If a splatter, or even worse a blob, of sepia ink escapes the pen then hours of work can be ruined in a moment.
Now that I am well into the second book of 'The Sorrow of Isparag' it was clear that a new, larger, more detailed map of Fraith was required, and it wasn't long before I decided that a digital version would be much better - but my old computer wasn't up to it. Then I realised with a shock that my old computer had been sitting under my desk for the best part of 15 years! It was very flash when my computer savvy friend Phil built it for me, but its time had come. Phil was equally shocked when I reminded him how long it had been and we both had a bit of a 'OMG where did all that time go?' moment. In my case it was single parenting an unwell child and holding down a succession of jobs in education and admin, ending with several years as a senior teacher at the local high-school... but also in the last six years every spare moment has been spent writing all about the wonderful land of Fraith. Anyway... I now have a wonderful new computer who I have called Athena. She is fast and silent and has helped me create this beautiful map. The huge benefit of a digital map is that I can now add to it over time as the story moves to new places. It is available as a free A3 PDF file from the Treasure page. Enjoy!
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