The Beauty in the Darkness Blog

Like many of you, I’m drawn to dystopias. Perhaps it’s the echo of our own world symbolized in these plots that conciliates some inner sadness? Perhaps it’s the hope we’re given when the protagonists somehow overcome their shadowy oppressors?

For me, I’m sure it’s a combination of these things but I also think there’s some beauty that comes from the juxtaposition of good versus evil in dystopian worlds. In a city of sinners, the small light that shines is that much brighter.

My writing spirit has been strong since the turn of the year. I’ve been writing every day; working on The Inner Lands: The Endless Night (book 3); a novelette prequel about a blacksmith named Luthur, and a new Sci Fi series, with a placeholder title Space Seekers: New Horizons.

I’m also trying to commission more of the artwork that adorns my website, and this is what led me to this month’s topic. The Inner Lands is certainly a dark story but I’m always trying to create beauty in that world too. Something that makes the reader enjoy being there, other than a simple desire to see if my characters can prevail against such overwhelming odds.

For the art briefs, sent to my artist, I picked out some of my favourite scenes from The Inner Lands: Dark Tidings (Book 2) and I wanted to share these with you. The natural environment has always been a big inspiration for me, and one of the fun things about writing fantasy fiction and Sci-Fi are the worlds you can build for yourself and others.

I hope the following provides some respite, as the scenery does for Sill and Kallem.

Under the new sun’s brilliance, the land had brightened and if Sill could have torn her thoughts away from her woes, she might have noticed that some splendour had returned to the Inner Lands. In the absence of the Grinth, grass had regrown and flowers now bloomed, restoring life and colour to a previously drab, trampled landscape. Swaths of yellow flowed leisurely in the breeze as did the rich, ankle-high grasses. The few trees scattered about were ancient, withered and modest but their frailty was accompanied by an enchanting beauty. They owned slim, crooked branches, coated in white bark, that forked out into thinner twigs; each one lined with stiff, bright blue leaves that contrasted starkly with the white. The leaves jutted out at odd angles, unmoving in the breeze, like captured fragments of sky. Tiny yellow-hoppers jumped from one handsome branch to the next, searching for buds or insects. As the horses cantered by, the birds panicked and took off together in a flurry of small, yellow wings that disappeared somewhere in the matching flowers. 

Kallem sat alone on the mountainside, watching Tamarellin’s awkward flight. The sky before him was an empty blue, with no clouds daring to spoil the illusion of a perfect day.
 Below him, to the left, Kallem could see the edge of Rydan Fort, where the wall merged seamlessly into the mountain and the small figures of The Guard walked the ramparts, forever vigilant of the now-vacant land.
 Up here, the air was fresh and still, filled with the sweet scent of wildflowers. Rocks lay scattered around but there was no telling where they came from. It was as though the top of the mountain had, at one time, crumbled and broken apart for reasons unknown or long forgotten.
 The surrounding wildflowers stood on tall, slim stems, some stretching their pale petals to knee height and concealing many of the rocks as though they sought to mask the past’s indiscretions. On a windier day, the more fragile of the flowers would shed some of their blossom, treating Kallem to a dancing display of orange, white and pink blades that swirled around him before settling on the ground or drifting out beyond the cliff edge. The rest of the mountain was entombed beneath grass and other light vegetation. 

Hope you enjoyed them (perhaps you can try writing some scenes of your own?) and if I manage to get the artwork done for these, I’ll be sure to share it with you.

A.J Austin