Cover art for future DISHONORED stories
There will be many more tales in the world of DISHONORED, and I’ve got the cover art to prove it…
This is the cover for THE CURSE OF THE DEMON PRINCE, the first book in the Dishonored anthology. The art is, in the story, a painting being done in the opening of the tale, and the sakura (cherry blossom) tree in the foreground carries emotional weight for one character in particular. This story is inspired by the classic fantasy “quest” tales, like Lord of the Rings, where a band of disparate people join together to embark on a daring quest to save the world. It’s the basis for many (many!) JRPG games that I grew up playing, like various Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, and more, and I’ve enjoyed drawing from my memories of playing those games while crafting this story.
This second book is really is a pair of stories in one: The first half is full of adventure, hijinks, romance, and heroism, as a would-be “hero of the people” leads a minor revolt against a power-mad Governor. When the Governor decides to make an example out of him, he does so in the most brutal of ways, leaving his new wife a widow and their expectant child to be born without a father. Thus begins the second half of the book, as the indignant and ferocious wife goes on a rampage, turning her dead-husband’s minor revolt into a full-blown war to drive out the Governor and his minions. The title—THE DAUGHTER OF HACHIMAN—is taken from the Japanese god of war, whom the protagonist entreats when undertaking her quest for vengeance. There’s a little bit of Robin Hood, a little bit of Braveheart, and a little bit of the story of Judah Maccabee in this one, and I can’t wait to write it.
The third story is entitled THE WAR OF THE SAKURA, and concerns a civil war that breaks out when the ruler of a large and prosperous Kingdom becomes dishonored and finds his throne promised to a promising young warrior. Sides are soon taken, testing allegiance and fortitude among those loyal to the King and those who wish to see the young warrior assume the throne. This book will be epic; I’m thinking of breaking it into its own trilogy of stories. In the end it will consider the rise, fall, and final end of one of Shoto’s most renowned rulers.
The idea behind THE SONG OF REDEMPTION goes back several years ago, when I wrote the Kingdom of Arthur stories. Early in that series, the young Arthur is forced to run away from home and, for a chapter, ends up on a boat commanded by a notorious pirate. At the end of the chapter Arthur is given the choice between remaining on the pirate ship and having a life of adventure, or exiting into a life of exile in France. Feeling guilty over mistakes he committed, he chooses exile. I always wondered what kind of adventures Arthur would have gotten into had he stayed on the pirate ship. Ideas that were swimming around my head came to the forefront here, as I mapped out the outline for this story. I think it’s a pretty fun outline too, filled not only with adventure and fun, but a villain that has plenty of pathos and tragedy, too.
This story, THE LAST SON OF YUMEA, was the first in the anthology that I ever conceived. I put it off because other ideas became more fully-formed in my mind and I wanted to write them down as soon as possible, but rest assured this one is still on the docket. This is a coming of age tale, crossed with a hero’s origin story. There’s tragedy, hard lessons, failure, and ultimate triumph (with a cost) to be experienced. It reminds me of the first two Arthur books I wrote, but the change in setting and some different characters and circumstances that I have planned will make this a very different sort of story. I’m looking forward to sitting down (eventually) and writing it.
Characters haunted by their past always make for good drama, and in THE MAN NAMED SATO, the title character fits the mold. In the tense days after a bloody, kingdom-changing revolution, a mysterious Ronin (a samurai without a master), wearing a name that may or may not be fabricated, rides into a small village looking to settle down. He finds work with a humble family and bonds with their elderly grandfather. A life of peace and rest seems possible, before trouble finds him in the form of an ex-General, retiring to the village he once called home. At first, the General—celebrated initially as a war hero and local legend—takes a liking to the mysterious stranger, but soon jealousy and suspicion take hold, leading to a showdown with the fate of the Ronin, the family that has adopted him, and the whole village hanging in the balance. I hope this will be a smaller, more character-driven story, and I’m excited to write it.
A beloved Emperor is dead, and his ghost now haunts his former castle. When his son and heir learns that his father’s death was the result of a murder, he vows revenge, though the trauma of the truth he uncovers drives him to madness. With an Empire at stake, the followers of the Emperor and those of his would-be usurper prepare for a war for the throne, but neither side is prepared for what the ghost of Emperor Bakshi has to say… This story, THE DEATH OF EMPEROR BAKSHI, is loosely based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It certainly retains the original play’s abundance of tragic death, mistrust, and intrigue, though the story will ultimately go its own way, with an ending that is fitting to its source but also to the anthology to which it belongs.
In fiction, I have three favorite stories: At the top is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, following that is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and standing next to those is Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. This story, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF TADAMI, is an adaptation of my favorite Shakespearian play. That makes two of his works that I’m adapting to the Dishonored setting, but I’m hardly the first storyteller to translate Shakespeare’s tales to a Japanese world: Two of my favorite Kurosawa movies are Throne of Blood (Macbeth) and Ran (King Lear). This story, like the source material, concerns a conspiracy to murder a ruler popular with the people but not with the aristocracy, and the war that breaks out. And, like the original, the focus is not on sweeping battles but on the personal toll that the death of the ruler takes on the two living men most-directly affected by the conspiracy and murder. As with the previous story, this one will go its own way, retaining the spirit of the original, but telling an original tale that hopefully does my third-favorite story justice.
The Isle of the Dishonored is not intended to be a prison island; those who are dishonored are usually victims. Occasionally, however, those who are exiled there are of the more nefarious sort. When a band of criminals reach Humao, they quickly attempt to take over the island. The gang attacks and murders those in command in an incident forever known as THE MASSACRE AT HUMAO-CHI. A period of turmoil and danger follows. A lone Samurai, initially mistrusted by his fellow residents, rises to stop them, and is forced to contend with his own dark and shameful past to do it.
The final story in the Dishonored anthology is actually a series of short stories. There’s a narrative through-line that links everything together and provides some final closure to the world of Shoto, but mostly the book, entitled THE TALES OF BAKSHI, will feature a half-dozen smaller, self-contained stories. Mostly these are tales I had in mind as I thought about ideas to develop in the anthology, but which never came together or which worked better in the short story format. I love writing shorts so I’m looking forward to working those creative muscles to write this final book in the whole series.
Writing all of these will take years, but I am confident I can get it done, not only because the outlines are coming to me very easily, but also because each story is different enough to prevent me from getting burned out (*cough* Century of Wind *cough*).
~ Matthew