To write the story the author needed maps.
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Below are the maps and diagrams that make up the story. There are sixty in total. The maps to the left here is the first he made. He first imagines where he is, sees the image of it, draws it, and then the story starts to unveil itself to him, and then he starts writing it down. Jilta is where the story starts for the series. In the published books, the maps are often too small to show the scope of what is happening. They were reduced in size for the books for
many reasons, but basically, the e-book formatting does not permit such large diagrams. Here we have the original large maps from which the others were then taken. The point here is to allow readers an opportunity to find their way through the story with the original legible larger maps to help them.
The author needed these maps so he could write the stories. He could then refer back to the maps, so he did not get lost in the myriad of threads of imagination. So, he drew them.
The way they are organized is two fold: First are the maps of the Galaxy. These are simply chronological. That way you can see the changes to map boundaries as they occur in relation to each story, one after the other.
Second was to have the rest of the diagrams as they happen in the story, in the last book at the end. For example, you can see the thirteen diagrams for the Battle of Sequetus 3, with all their legible text, which is not available in the e-book publications. You can also see the Local Group of galaxies as the last map at the end.
While the author did these diagrams personally, he acknowledges that others could do them better. Originally they were done so that the author could keep track of the story, but then he realized readers would likely enjoy them too. The below are produced, not to show artistic flair, but to help the reader get a better reading experience.
Please click on the maps below as needed and expand them. For example, this is how to use them. You are reading the third book, and you want to see how exactly that battle worked. The battle is there in these sketches. It is in the asteroids. Remember it is 1989. There were real explosions going on out there that we did not understand on Earth. They were however, being recorded and noted on Earth then, even though we did not know the source. The author used that unusual mystery to write this into the books. In the book these images are not high imaging. But they are here on the website. If you have a desk top computer with a 23 inch screen you can see them in exacting detail. Enjoy them.
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