10/25/2013 Nathaniel Ferris III

Who is Nathaniel Ferris III?

Nathaniel (don't call him Nate -- trust me on this) was a 18th century writer of fairy tales. He famously wrote three aweful books detailing the life and history of a fantastical world called "Terra".

I found these writings a few years ago while living in California. They informed the writing of The Never-Born and the world of Terah. In Ferris's words, he describes the ancient history of Terra and its magical beginnings. He tells of the Dragon War and the hero Nimrandir. He tells of the Wizard War and the true origins of the Lord and Lady, who have since ruled in Terra, even though Ferris told of meeting them seven hundred years after they defeated the Wizard-Kings.

I've been thinking about scanning the books and releasing them as ebooks. They were written long before copyright law and, as far as I know, I own the only surviving copies. However, the paper is fragile and I don't want to subject them to the handling it would take to scan the pages. Also, the man's handwriting is horrible and 18th century British English is a bit harder to understand than modern American.

So what I'm going to do is re-write the stories within the books in modern English. I won't change the stories as they were presented, only clarify the language. This may take some time to do as I decipher the handwriting (the first book is a journal Ferris wrote just before and during his first "trip" to Terra) and translate the archaic phrases -- I hate research.

I'm going to initially present them as blog posts on the Wordpress blog I'm working on right now. I'll attach that blog to this site. Just keep your eyes open and I'll announce the release of these stories in the near future.