Pilgrimage (36 page)

Up the road from The Dreamer's Gate, back towards the highway, is a pub called the Bushranger Hotel. It has a reputation for being haunted by a former owner. It's a nice little place with cream colour columns out the front and maroon window frames along the top. It looks like it's been renovated a few times, having extra pieces added to the original design.

Australia, with the exception of a few capitals, is made of small towns like Collector or Salem. Even the places we call “cities” wouldn't register on a global scale. I spent much of my formative years living in and around a town not unlike Armidale.

On innumerable drives across Australia's countryside I saw many small towns and rural communities. I have come to believe that it's in these little places, sprawled across the country, that mythology still lives and breathes.

In what you could say is the reverse of Roland's travels, I moved out of the country into the city. A real city. Sydney, to be specific. Here in the city - amongst the skyscrapers, high rise apartments, sprawling factory complexes and two story suburban homes - it's easy to pretend that the world is a tame and well controlled place. But beyond the borders of our urban havens there is a wild place full of deep forests, endless fields, impassable deserts and mountain ranges that touch the sky. These are the places where Perseus fought Medusa and Frodo fled from the Nazgul. These places have existed, still exist and will always exist. They form the ancient, mythical reflection of our planet.

Many of the places Roland and Griffith visit are real towns in rural New South Wales. But at the same time, they're not those places. The Red Lion Tavern exists in our world too, but there are no flyers for the Blair Hill Beast Nature Walk. There is no Master Yasu in the town of Salem on the New South Wales and Queensland border. There is no town of Salem in New South Wales at all (although I am led to believe there is a Salem in South Australia). All of this exists only in the fictional, mythical Australia.

And here there be monsters! Or at least we like to think so. Like every country, Australia has a great array of mythical creatures said to hide in our deepest, darkest forests and just below the surface of the streams and lakes. Many of them come from the Aboriginal mythical cycle and have become engrained into the wider Australian psyche. Stories range from the Bunyip that hides in Billabongs to the elusive Lithgow Panther and that most dangerous of all Australian creatures: The drop bear.

So you see, for me, this made Australia an obvious choice for the setting of a fantasy novel. When I set out writing “Pilgrimage” and my first novel “Sorceress' Blood” I set out with a mind to re-imagine the classic tales. Long journeys, tyrannical feudal lords, ancient evils lying in wait and blood-thirsty cults are not new to fantasy but so often they get stuck in an ancient world. And there's usually elves involved, too. Lots of elves. But for me, the modern world is just as fantastic and inspiring. We live in a marvellous and exciting time.

Last I heard, The Dreamer's Gate was being demolished and the property sold. By the time you read this, it might be gone. But that's okay. You can tear down the gate but you can't destroy the dreamers or their dreams. It's imagination as much as the geography that fuels the mythical Australia and provides people like Roland and Griffith with their adventures. They're adventures that can only happen when you leave the city and get off the beaten path. Try it sometime. Who knows what you'll find?

About The Author

Carl Purcell was born in and still lives in Australia. He started writing at an early age and has aspired his whole life to be either an author or Jackie Chan. Because the job of Jackie Chan is already taken, Carl eventually decided to become an author.

Carl's first publication was as the co-writer of the comic series Winter City, which began in early 2012 and has been met with critical acclaim. Following Winter City came the novel Sorceress' Blood and now Pilgrimage.

Carl loves to hear from people who have been reading his work. The best place to contact Carl is by his blog, found at:

http://carlpurcell.blogspot.com.au/