I took this picture in Mozambique in 1987 when my mother took Zetta, Joyce, and myself there to try and find out what had happened to Zetta’s family.  No trace of them was found, and Zetta never recovered from the loss, which is probably what contributed to her untimely death a few months later.  This was not the village that Zetta was actually from, but it was similar.

In this photograph, I find all the elements that make up the complexity of life.  On the one hand, you see the exquisite beauty of the surroundings and of the African bush, as well as the idyllic innocence of rural life.  On the other hand, there’s a certain bleakness about it, and a sense of grinding poverty and despair.  The people who live in villages like this one have to live with that tension every single day.  Their lives are difficult, but they find comfort in family, community, and tradition.

Though my books may be fantasy, in them I try to portray a world very much like this one.  It is a world of primeval forests, pastoral farmland, and colourful people, but on the other hand, it is also full of threats.  Orren, Haxel, and Marett simultaneously experience both sides of their world as they travel through it.  The combination of good and bad, of beauty and suffering, also influences their relationships, as each one tries to make sense of his or her place in the world, and why he or she is on their quest.