The Wayfarer of Baile
“Isaac lingered for a moment on the question. His eyes squinted together. He appeared to be trying to think. The fellow could no longer hold back his laughter. Still, he tried his best to reassure Isaac that all was alright. His hand fell onto the fellow’s shoulder. He leaned in. With a calm breath, he asked politely, “Do you need to take a seat or something?”
“Why?”
“Well, I’ve seen you and your wife drinking all day—”
“We’re celebrating.”
“Celebrating what, exactly?”
“Not dying, I think.”
For the first time, and certainly not the last, they shared a good laugh. Isaac was being serious, though, which the fellow had not expected. Then again, few travelers were quick to spend the night along the road. It was a dangerous thing to do. Perhaps Isaac was not as he appeared. ”
The Wayfarer of Baile, an 86k word novel set in a modern fantasy world, tells the tale of Isaac Hughes, nephew of the long-demented explorer, James Hughes. Rather than being much like his uncle, who raised him since his parents died at a young age, Isaac has become quite a layabout. His life is one of study, of tedium, of the banality of existence without a fulfilling purpose. It is as he comes home from a day trip to the city that he bumps into Abigail Brennan and his life is forever changed.
The Wayfarer of Baile is a novel focused on questions of identity, of self-realization. It is a novel that seeks to ask if the legends of those mighty adventurers of old are clever lies, reframed moments of savagery reborn into heroic deeds worthy of song. This, however, is a colonialist world. The right to rule and all the blessings which come from it is found in strength.
While the novel is set in a fantasy-based world, it is, as well, a modern world. A world where one can find all the luxuries of technology and human advancement, a world of pleasure, of freedom to move about. And yet, it is, as well, a story of those who do not get to enjoy such things. A world where groups identified by ethnicity, affluence, and sexuality simply do not have access to the leisure of such modernity.