The Short Fiction of "Under the Burning Tower"

So what's going on with these short stories? Simply put, Aios is a massive place. One with dozens of unique cultures and hundreds of characters, many of whom did not get as much of a chance to shine in the main volumes as I would have liked. Now, I'm not the first fantasy author to have the bright idea of using short fiction to explore the storylines of characters who weren't quite relevant enough for the main arc. In fact, I am quite indebted to Steven Erikson's “Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach”, which takes two relatively minor characters from his Malazan series and puts them in a Victorian Horror setting that is at once completely distinct from the genre and tone of the Malazan books and yet perfectly at place in his literary universe. R. Scott Bakkar's “The False Sun” is another excellent example of a piece of short fiction that expands the lore of the main series, in this case by focusing on some key events from Earwa's past that play a decisive role in the future events of his main story.

However, while the short stories featured here are indebted to my influences, there are also some key differences between what Erikson or Bakkar did and what I am doing, so I figured it would be worth taking a moment to touch on what I'm trying to achieve here. In both of the above cases, the stories were written by established authors looking to give devoted fans a bit of extra content between their main releases. I, by contrast, am an up and coming writer seeking to use these free stories as a means of attracting viewers to his work.

Now, this may or may not seem important to you., but it has a number of ramifications that affect my approach. The most important is that I am writing for an audience that is largely unfamiliar with my work. Thus, in addition to acting as a lure to get people interested in the “Under the Burning Tower” series, these short stories also introduce readers to the cultures, magic systems, and political events of the main book.

For the moment, I am releasing two sets of novella-length story arcs: one introducing readers to the land of Naviras through the character of Sarkiades, a Lystian officer and diplomat who makes a brief appearance in the book but whose actions play a decisive role on the events; and another giving readers a peek at Nezhuan society from the perspective of Rizawa, a spy who appears at the end of Volume 1. There are a few other sets of stories that I'm thinking about doing as well, but they will likely be more akin to traditional short stories rather than full novellas.

I have put a great deal of thought into these stories, and I have taken care to ensure that they have a harmonious relationship with the main volume. While there are some key elements of Volume 1's narrative that are touched on here, 95% of this information presented in the first few chapters of Volume 1, while the rest has been carefully curated to whet the readers appetite for, rather than spoil, the surprises of the main narrative. I hope that readers will enjoy Sarkiades' and Rizawa's exploits as they struggle against the Dark God's grand invasion from opposite corners of Aios.