Why did I decide to write a Pre-Hispanic fantasy book? I explain this in the preface of my book El Sonido de la Noche, which I am about to publish next September 30! But I have decided to also share it here:
PREFACE
Within my love for books there is a special corner in the fantasy genre, firstly because it was this genre that induced me into the world of reading and secondly because whenever I have a book of this style in my hands, I cannot stop reading it and being amazed at the imagination its authors have. I am fascinated by the worlds they create and how the entities included in them interact, and I refer not only to their characters but also to how politics, geography, the laws that govern the world, fictional beings… and magic work. It is incredible to read stories about knights and assassins fighting dragons, armies fighting in the service of ambitious kings, druids and sorcerers using their magic to stop monsters you wouldn’t imagine even in your dreams, but which are presented to you so clearly that now you see them clearly, or political intrigues where betrayal and the plans of each of the characters have you on the edge of the precipice. The idea of writing a book like this arose from the question: what would happen if these types of stories occurred in a Pre-Hispanic world?, based on characters, mythological beings, legends, and cultures unknown to almost everyone except the few peoples where these beliefs still prevail, and which are so cool that they blow your mind. Of course, with a totally invented story, and with the main objective I look for in a fantasy book: that it be fun to read and makes your imagination fly. So I got down to work and began investigating these cultures, each and every one fascinating. From the beginning I had the main idea of the story, but the million-dollar question arrived: with which of those cultures do I relate it? And like a glutton lover of mythologies, the answer came to me: why not all of them? So this story contains a mixture of different cultures, mainly Maya and Aztec, but also smaller and less internationally known ones, such as the Rarámuri or the Tlaxcalteca. I tried my best to portray the way people of these cultures lived, aspects such as their customs, clothing, currency, hierarchies, etc. Of course taking into account that this is a fantasy story and therefore contains elements that might not be real or historically accurate, an example is the coacallis, or “Aztec inns”, of which there are no records until the year 1525 A.D., after the arrival of the Spaniards, but well, as I said before the intention is to entertain. Finally, I want to point out that everything I mention I do with the greatest respect and admiration for the cultures to which this story alludes. It is an honor for me to have learned even a little of everything these cultures have to offer. So without further ado, I leave you with The Legend of Calaktum I: The Sound of the Night. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Jesus V. Almaral.