Swords Against Boredom

Some sword-and-sorcery protagonists aspire to adventure, and others have adventure thrust up their …

Spider John Quail is the latter sort. No hulking he-man, no conniving thief, no political intriguer. Spider’s a simple sailing man, or so he wishes.

In the Spider John stories, I assume magic is a talent available to people born with the knack and trained to make use of it. Spider has the inborn capability for magic on an exceedingly large scale, but he has no training in its use and the very idea of becoming a mage terrifies him. Spider assumes the universe is out to get him — and it certainly seems to be true.

Spider’s inborn magical capability, combined with an almost total lack of training, makes him a magnet for magic. Is there a curse in the vicinity? Spider will wander into it. Is some fantastical beast lurking nearby? It’ll find Spider. Is this ship haunted? Spider John will find out the hard way.

Had Spider lived in Middle Earth, the One Ring surely would have wound up on his finger.

As a result of these characteristics, Spider finds himself thrust into one adventure after another. Fortunately, he has some skills to help him survive. He’s rather agile, for one thing. He’s handy with a blade, although certainly no master. He learned to read spider omens, a talent that sometimes helps him avoid trouble. He’s a ship’s carpenter, so he’s good with tools and wood and ropes. And he’s got his paranoia — many, many close calls have taught him to be wary, always. Although he’s prone to forget when he’s been drinking.

I like writing about a sailing man. It’s an occupation that lets me drop Spider into pretty much any kind of culture — Romanesque civilization, Amazonian-style jungle, Nordic highlands. I also like the weird magic usually involved in Spider John tales; it’s a stranger, more direct magic than that encountered by my other serial characters. And it is a challenge to write about a character who’d rather run away from trouble than slice its head off.

1. The Hungry Bottle (in The Goblin Market, from Eggplant Productions, 1998, and now reprinted online in Sword’s Edge, Issue 23, Summer 2006.)

2. The Bloated Curse (In the Flashing Swords Annual e-anthology.) Unfortunately, no longer available thanks to the demise of parent firm Pitch-Black Books. However, a move is afoot to reprint the story in Flashing Swords ezine.