With the first Terra Incognita novel, The Edge of the World, we added an innovative dimension by developing a companion rock CD, with story and lyrics written by me and my wife, Rebecca Moesta. Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon was performed by the supergroup Roswell Six and released by ProgRock Records. The tracks featured music written by keyboardist/producer Erik Norlander (Rocket Scientists, Asia featuring John Payne) and performances by some of the legends of rock music: Michael Sadler (ex-Saga), James LaBrie (Dream Theater), John Payne (ex-Asia), Lana Lane, Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery, Amaran's Plight), David Ragsdale (Kansas), Chris Brown (Ghost Circus), Chris Quirarte (Prymary), Martin Orford (IQ, Jadis), Kurt Barabas (Amaran's Plight, Under the Sun), and Mike Alvarez. I wrote the connective story between the songs, and multiple award–winning artist Bob Eggleton supplied the paintings for the CD booklet.
Beyond the Horizon tells the story of young Criston Vora sailing off to sea and leaving his young wife Adrea behind; he places letters in bottles for her and throws them overboard, longing to come home—but Adrea is captured by Soldan-Shah Omra and taken off to a distant land forever.
Because the first CD was such a satisfying experience, listed among the Best Progressive Rock Albums on numerous sites, we decided to create a second CD for the next novel in the series, The Map of All Things. Again working with Shawn Gordon at ProgRock Records, Rebecca and I wrote the lyrics for the new CD, Terra Incognita: A Line in the Sand. This time, the companion album tells the story of Queen Anjine and Mateo and the ever-darkening, never-ceasing war against Soldan-Shah Omra.
Red was the flush of a young maiden's lips
Now it's the color of blood.
White was a blanket of pure mountain snow,
Now it makes shrouds for our dead.
A darker and grittier CD required a harder sound and a different mood from the songwriting and performances. To differentiate the two albums, we turned to Henning Pauly (Frameshift, Chain), whose music I have enjoyed for years. Henning—already a friend and a fan of my work—took on the project with great enthusiasm. He developed music that conveys the distinctive cultures and personalities of the two lands at war and the three main characters in the story. Rebecca and I crafted a set of lyrics focused on the war, targeting religious intolerance and the perpetual spiral of hatred.
You killed our fathers, so we kill your sons.
How can you say you're the innocent ones?
Because our guest performers have extremely busy careers of their own, and because A Line in the Sand tells a different part of the story with different characters, the second CD has some returning musicians and some new names. Grammy Award–winning rock, folk, and country star Janis Ian—whose song “At Seventeen” struck straight to my heart when I was in high school—cowrote the lyrics on two of the songs.
Among the new participants in A Line in the Sand, we are proud to have Steve Walsh from the group Kansas (whose powerful voice on songs such as “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind” influenced a whole generation, including me)—as Soldan-Shah Omra. Sass Jordan (Album Rock's Female Vocalist of the Year) belts out the vocals for Queen Anjine.
Lee Gibbons created another fabulous iconic cover painting for both the book and the CD, and Bob Eggleton again provided interior art.
Smoke, like their souls, rises faint to the sky.
If you listen to the two CDs you'll see and hear a whole new dimension to the Terra Incognita universe. For samples and more information, go to www.wordfire.com.
A last note, the story of the map in The Map of All Things: Richard Ware is an aspiring writer who attended one of my writing workshops in Los Angeles. He is also a skilled tattoo artist by trade. He contacted me via Facebook after reading The Edge of the World and offered to draw the expanded map for the second novel, which is included here. Rich also graciously provided some excellent interior paintings for the A Line in the Sand CD booklet.
Thanks for joining me on these voyages to uncharted lands. I hope you enjoy the conclusion of the trilogy in The Key to Creation.