When someone thinks of maps in speculative fiction books, the mind always goes first to the fantasy genre, and the city/country/continent/world maps that go along with it. I love those maps, and my recently released epic fantasy novel, The Dragon Hand, featured one such map.
However, science fiction stories can make good use of maps as well, especially when, like Star Wars, Star Trek, and the Galaxy Ascendant the story spans a significant portion of a galaxy, if not an entire galaxy.
In the first two books of the series, I did have a map as well, but, as the story there took place only in one region of the galaxy, I had a very simple map made (there were monetary reasons as well, of course). With book 3, A Shifting Alliance, however, the story expands greatly, to encompass most of the galaxy. So, a new, more elaborate map was in order. So, without further ado, let me present to you, in full color, the Galaxy Ascendant!
As you can see, each faction/power is notated here, along with each star system that is mentioned in the series so far (and even a couple that have yet to be so), along with several other key locations. And, of course, there is a significant “unexplored” area–whether this area will get opened up in the current series, or in later Galaxy Ascendant stories, I’ll leave for you to think on. 😉
Going forward, this will appear in all new books in the series (for printing cost reasons, the print copies will have a black and white version, while the ebooks will have the full color map), though, as one might expect in a series where there is a galactic-scale war going on, boundaries, at the very least, may change…
All credit for the creation of this map goes to Cornelia Yoder, and you can visit her website here. She did the map for The Dragon Hand as well, and was a pleasure to work with on both projects. Highly recommended for all you authors out there who need maps for your own projects!
The indiegogo campaign for Galaxy Ascendant 3: A Shifting Alliance, is still ongoing, and with over a week still left, there is still plenty of time to hit the goal of covering all the production costs for the book, costs that produce, among other things, this awesome map. Every reward tier includes the first 2 books in the series, in ebook format, free! And, at higher tiers, you can have a character in the series created with a name based on you, or, really, anyone you choose (and we will work together on determining what species, and with what faction/group said character is a part of!)
Keep an eye on this space for some more, fun Galaxy Ascendant related posts here throughout the week, and I hope to see you soon, somewhere in the galaxy!
Writing, Ascendant 