The Maps of Cassaforte

Back in November, I had to spend a couple of painful days coming up with a map of the invented city that is the setting of my April book, The Glass Maker's Daughter. It was painful because although I knew in my head the basic shape of the city, and how it was supposed to look, the process of having to draw it out, with proportions and distances, just sounded like torture.

I also had an editor whose sharp eyes could spot every inconsistency possible. There's a gondola chase late in the book, for example, that had our heroes paddling to freedom in directions that were inconsistent with the preliminary map I'd drawn, so the text had to be fixed. And then there was some weirdness about bridges and their directions that had to be adjusted. A scene early in the book that had taken place on a side street, suddenly got moved to a main thoroughfare. Eventually, however, my abysmal-looking map and the book were in sync, and I pitied whatever artist had been handed the job of trying to translate my utter lack of artistic ability into something decent looking.

Here's my terrible attempt.

And here's the artist's final, glorious rendering.

I actually got teary when I saw it. It's so beautiful. Look at my little flags for the seven cazas of Cassaforte, all with their little logos, just like I'd suggested! Look at the river gates, done so well! It's just so perfect. I want to live there. Plus I want to take the artist out for dinner.

And no, Cassaforte doesn't have a giant white gulf running down its middle. The map is split so it can fit on two pages.