idnight Realm started out as a bunch of handwritten notes that Iıd compiled over 6-8 months, just sort of fooling around in my spare time. When this random collection of notes somehow grew to sixty pages, I thought it might be nice to find someone to help me organize this material, so we could post it to the Talislanta email-list.

This was strictly a "labor of love" type of thing ­ no money involved, nothing fancy, no plans to publish, or anything like that. I figured the whole thing would take a month or so, tops. Little did I know what I was getting into.

The fun started soon after Tipop volunteered to help. He typed up the original notes, and added some intriguing ideas of his own. Tipıs ideas gave me more ideas, which gave him even more ideas, which led to a whole slew of revisions, re-writes, and additions. The text doubled, then tripled, in size.

Somewhere along the line, Adam Black jumped in and volunteered to create original artwork for Midnight Realm - an extremely pleasant, and most unexpected, surprise. Then Richard Wallace also volunteered help with the art. Tipop created a color map of the Midnight Realms and started painting Adamıs art. Then Doug Bramlett volunteered to help write-up some of the city entries. Tipopıs girlfriend, Natasha, added even more ideas. And lastly, Colin Chapman offered to help with the editing and shaping of the final manuscript, which we should be handing over to him in just a few weeks.

Somehow, over two years since its inception, with no budget and no desire to make a buck off of our efforts, Midnight Realm has grown into a full-fledged Talislanta supplement. It might even get published by SI, too ­ but even if it doesnıt, an illustrated Midnight Realm supplement will be made available online, which is not bad considering the humble origins of this little project.

Having pretty much been out of the game biz for the last 9-10 years, Iıd forgotten how much fun ­ and how much work ­ it is to put something like this together. It wouldnıt have happened without the generous contributions of Mark, Adam, Rich, Doug, Natasha, and Colin (whose fun is just about to begin). So thanks to everyone who contributed to MR, and thanks to Jon and John of SI for leting us post this on the Talislanta.com website. And to Tal-fans everywhere, thanks again for your continuing support, and hope you enjoy this preview of Midnight Realm.

Steve says to me one day, "Hey, you wanna draw for the Midnight Realm? You can make 'em look any way you want...."

I said, "Really? I can draw all that creepy stuff that I wanted to do for Tal4, but found out Ron Spencer did every damn one of them first?"

"Sure," he said. "Draw stuff that'll make Ron wet his pants."

That's a true story. I'm not lying!* Ask him yourself.

So I'm drawing all these pictures while banging my head and making the "devil sign" with my useless (can't draw) hand. And I'm butt-naked, too.

You have been warned.

(*In case you're reading this, Ron, I believe it was actually Adam who made that comment about making you wet your pants. However, I do confess that I admired the young lad's "go-getter" attitude, which I thought showed a lot of spunk. -- SMS)

The thing that sold me on Talislanta back in '89 was the art. After threatening to steal the Chronicles of Talislanta from a friend of mine in '89, I ended up trading him a RuneQuest supplement for the Chronicles and boy did I come away the winner! (Sorry Lee, if you're reading this. *chuckle*) Since that day I dreamt of doing artwork for Tal supplements and in one of life's little sweet moments I'm have my chance! The Midnight Realms projects is incredibly fun because I can draw very creapy things, which is up my ally! Working with Steve, Mark and Adam has been a hoot and a true experience! Thanks guys for the chance!

Oh, I'm not butt-naked. I think there's a law in my city preventing me from being such.

I've been adding tiny bits to the Nine Princedoms. While I personally feel that Steve and Mark did most of the 'hard part,' i.e. coming up with everything, I did the grunt work, i.e. typing for hours on end. I think that the Nine Princedoms are each pretty exciting. Its been difficult to find the proper prospective from which to write about them. I think that each needs its own slant, because each Princedom is doing what is best in its own view, but that view is different not only from each of the other Princedoms, but also from a general Talislantan and real world point of view.

"I daydream a lot. I find it hard to actually write if I haven't had a chance to daydream recently, in fact. Usually my best ideas come just before I go to bed, when I'm entertaining myself with ideas for characters or details about the setting on which I am working. That's how I put myself to sleep, just laying there with my eyes half-open, thinking 'Wouldn't it be cool if...'

"Working with Steve has been really great. He comes up with these really amazing "Wouldn't it be cool if..." ideas that I can toy with. Sometimes we disagree on details, but more often than not we bounce off of one another like a couple of hyper ferrets in a children's novel, and I think the result is better than either would have had alone."

To be honest, I envy you. The Midnight Realm is all new to you, a virgin path, an unread book. I envy the discovery that lies ahead for you, the quickening of imagination that will come again and again as you explore this new realm. Enjoy the "Wouldn't it be cool if..." moments. That's where the magic lies.