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THE BORDER MAN
Now appearing in Gateway Monthly (www.gatewaymonthly.com)
Every eye, in every person, has a blind spot...an area that
sees nothing. Not light. Not motion. Not life. Nothing.
This does not mean there is nothing to see in the blind spot. What it could mean---what it does mean---is that there is something there we are not supposed to see.
From time to time, for whatever reason, some people get a glimpse into the blind spot. A few get even more than a glimpse. They fall in.
Existing in the blind spot is a limbo...THE REALM PERILOUS, a territory with its own gods, monsters, and people. The Realm Perilous intersects the third and fourth dimensions, usually but not always preventing dwellers of one dimension from straying into the other...and vice verse.
In Realm Perilous, there are a few chosen people called Bordermen. They are masters of warfare and wizardry, who patrol its borders for these strays.
This is the story
of one such Border Man, the greatest of their league, the champion named Coney.
INTERVIEW WITH CREATOR STEVE JONES ON HIS NEW FANTASY SERIES, THE BORDER MAN.
Cal:
What can you tell us about the new upcoming series, The Border Man?
SJ: The Border Man is a fantasy series. It’s primarily set in a limbo between
the third and fourth dimensions called Realm Perilous. As the name implies Realm Perilous
is a medieval kind of place, although its people do have access to and occasionally take
advantage of more advanced technology like electricity. There is also magic, but only a
few folks know how to wield it, the Bordermen being the largest bloc who do.
Cal:
Who are the Bordermen?
SJ: Men and women who belong to an elite corp of marital and magic experts. Kind of like
the Marine Corps with fairy godmother wands.
Cal:
Magic wands?
SJ: Well…no wands, but hopefully you get the idea. Anyway, it’s the
Bordermen’s duty to patrol the borders of Realm Perilous, rounding up people who
stray into the limbo from the third dimension and—very, very rarely—the fourth.
They also try to prevent people and creatures indigenous to Realm Perilous from leaving
the limbo. If one of the locals do manage to slip through their patrol, then a Borderman
or two will be dispatched to retrieve him, her, or it.
Cal:
By "creature" you mean monster?
SJ: Yes.
Cal:
What kind of monsters are you talking about?
SJ: Really too many to list now. One example, from issue one, is a nasty fellow called a
hybrid. This is a human who, when enraged, will change into a crossbreed human-animal and
stay that way until either its rage subside or, what usually happens, it slays a victim
and drinks the poor soul’s blood.
Cal:
Basically a werewolf.
SJ: Werewolves are hybrids, but not all hybrids change into wolves. The hybrid in issue
one is half cobra. Actually many of the monsters from earth’s myths are in reality
Ragged Realm creatures who managed to escape to earth, just like many of our grand or
mythic heroes were the Bordermen sent to retrieve them. St. George and the Dragon could be
an example of this, or Siegfried and Fafnir. The world may never know for sure.
Cal:
Do third dimensional inhabitants ever slip through Realm Perilous into the fourth
dimension, or vice versa?
SJ: It’s extremely rare and the results are usually disastrous. In the former the man
form the third dimension is never heard from again, and in the latter something like the
1908 Tunguska Event can occur. It’s horrible either way. I don’t like to think
about it.
Cal:
Who lives in the fourth dimension?
SJ: Elder gods for the most part. Fortunately these gods don’t seem much interested
in third dimensional going-ons, at least so long as we leave them alone. They will make an
occasional appearance in Realm Perilous. For instance, two supporting characters, Urim and
Thummim, are the twin sons of a human mother and fourth-dimensional being. Urim takes
after his mother and Thummin his father. Thummin is humanoid, but we never see his face,
and we don’t want to. It ain’t a pretty sight.
Cal:
Who are the main characters?
SJ: The main character is Coney. Coney was found wandering alone in Realm
Perilous when he was twelve by a famous Borderman named Nisroch. The boy couldn’t
remember anything about his past, though it seemed likely his family was dead. Nisroch
adopted the boy and named him Coney because the kid runs and jumps and fights like a
rabbit. Nisroch’s family at the time consisted of a wife, Ramah, soon, Abriam, and
daughter, Sarah. This all happened about ten years ago and Ramah has died in the interim.
Nisroch is now governor of Caphar Salama, the capital of Realm Perilous. Abriam and Coney
are both Bordermen, and while Abriam is no slouch, Coney just might be the best Borderman
ever, superior even to Nisroch.
Cal:
So the series concentrates mainly on Coney and his family?
SJ: That and Coney’s Borderman adventures. But there are conflicts in the family.
Nisroch and Coney have a sort of David and Saul relationship. They love each other. They
would die for one another. But Coney has become extremely popular with the people of
Caphar Salama, who do not hide the fact that they are anxious to see Coney succeed Nisroch
as governor. Coney wants to be the next governor, too. No doubt about it. This creates
some tension between them, big surprise there. Abriam, meanwhile, is jealous of Nisroch
and Coney’s relationship. And Sarah loves Coney, and Coney loves Sarah. They want to
marry, which in some way pleases Nisroch and in others does not.
Cal:
I can imagine.
SJ: Sarah and Coney’s relationship is not incestuous. They are not
blood relations. He was adopted. But Nisroch, like any father in his position, is going to
frown on what’s happened, although, if he weren’t jealous of Coney, I don’t
think he would stand in their way. As it is, he just might.
Cal:
It sounds like things could get as bloody as a Greek tragedy.
SJ: Biblical, anyway. I think the story of David and Saul is fascinating,
and The Border Man is my chance to play around with some of its concepts. At the
same time, I love writing a fantasy with monsters and magic. It’s also exciting that The
Border Man’s premise allows me to carry its story to earth or any place in the
third dimension. Maybe even the fourth. And as far as the people straying into Realm
Perilous, they can be fictional as well as historical, and can come from any time period.
A Revolutionary minuteman, or Ming Dynasty Chinese prince, or Australian aborigine, or
Sherlock Holmes, or Paul Bunyon, or Gilgamesh. The possibilities, and the fun, are
limitless.