The inspiration for this writing journey began in sunny, southern British Columbia almost 45 years ago. As a classical, pencil-and-paper Dungeon Master forever in demand, my D&D game continues in Japan with new player characters eager to improvise and develop their own stories. New players are millennials who add a real freshness to D&D with their inclination towards modern society themes and the use of contemporary language. Together with our 1980s-era, old-school, Canadian players championing this effort, all kinds of amazing adventures playing out over the years have found their way into these books.
I hope you'll have as much fun with Genoivieve and Ulmaetor as I have had, developing characters and writing about the world through their experiences. It happens in a setting where women are generally suppressed but blatant misogyny, racism and homophobia are not widespread prejudices. In particular, as I applaud women for generally reading more, Genoivieve makes a case for an increased female readership in a genre that has historically been male-oriented.
The content of these contemporary high fantasies is influenced by JRR Tolkien, Gary Gygax, RA Salvatore, Robert E Howard and a tiny dollop of Charles Dickens, so if you're familiar with the celebrated masterpieces from any of these ground-breaking authors, we already have something in common. Eternal gratitude goes to all my veteran players for their suggestions and support, and to my darling soulmate Yoko, without whom the endless nights spent proofreading might have been overwhelming!
Apart from writing and conducting my ongoing RPG, my day job is operating an English school in Japan. I'm an avid vintage record collecter of various genres and play music every day, often quite loud! Yoko and I love traveling to the Mediterranean region to inspect classical historical monuments. A deeper insight into the ancient Hellenistic and Roman world has proven useful. Other major hobby passions include visual astronomy, freediving and photography. I can really get mired into anything involving optics. Although age and the Pandemic have naturally caused some skills to decline, the silver lining is that I did find more time to write! Therefore stay tuned for more in the future!
With My Very Best Wishes and Sincere Thanks,
MARTIN WERNER ZANDER
