The Hidden Lands of Nod

A series of genre-crossing fantasy novels, The Hidden Lands of Nod plunges into exploration of the manifold, multiform nature of reality with all the wit and spirit I can muster. Through the devices of two fictional species, the Dvarsh and Thrm, and the humans with whom they interact, the constituent fictions range across universes, through alternate realities and into the cobwebby recesses of self. More a cluster of related books than a traditionally sequential series, I trust The Hidden Lands of Nod to synthesize without too much reflection all my many influences, and to express my hopes, my dreams, my visions—the dark as well as the light.

In plan, the series is loosely chronological, although decades pass between one tale and the next, temporal discontinuities between one book and another are ignored, and—although there is a cast of evolving characters active across the series—no warrant is made that the same version of any given character appears in all volumes. The novels are probably not even set in the same space-time continuum, consensus reality or consistent thread through bifurcating being. This is the nature of the world evoked in these stories. In fact, the inconsistencies are meant to be telling.

The “hidden lands” of the series title refers to Habdvarsha, the exile realm to which the Dvarsh long ago removed themselves from our familiar Earth. It also refers to the undiscovered potential of this realm, the Earth of which we humans have made such a mess, to sustain us if we but respect it. Originally, this globular cluster of novels had no collective name. In response to urging by publisher Deltina Hay that I pick one, I proposed The Lands of Nod. It was a choice without distinction; fortunately, it is also unavailable. Another fantasy series has already copped this moniker and all good wishes to that author and her work. Deltina proposed The Hidden Lands of Nod as an alternative, which is snappier all the way round, a title that manages to comment significantly about the collection. The Hidden Lands of Nod it is.