by C A Oliver
Much to my surprise, the first readers of An Act of Faith were very enthusiastic in their responses, and eager to discover what would follow. Some were fascinated by Roquen or Curwë, others resonated naturally with the more reckless Irawenti, while the more aesthetically minded readers were attracted to the Llewenti. My mind was made up. I embarked on a quest to complete the Songs of the Lost Islands series. When I started, I had no idea how complex it would be to forge Songs of the Lost Islands from all the material I had before me. I now look in utter fascination at the copies of An Act of Faith, The Lonely Seeker and The Valley of Nargrond sitting on my desk and feel relatively confident that the remaining tomes will follow. The debts of gratitude that I owe are therefore very significant.
Firstly, I must thank my beloved family: Mathilde, Marion and Agatha, who probably think me mad, but who nevertheless continue to provide their unwavering support.
I am enormously grateful to the scholars who have helped me negotiate the pitfalls of writing fantasy: Eric Train and Laurent Chasseau read the first drafts of the Songs and provided me with their insightful responses and suggestions. Their feedback was invaluable, not least because their passion for the Lost Islands dates all the way back to 1989.
The series could not have been written without Thomas Bailey, a gifted poet who studied at Oxford University, whose expertise and enthusiasm turned a manuscript into the finished article.
I am also extremely grateful to Virginie Carquin and Sylvain Sauvage for wonderfully designing and illustrating the Lost Islands, that last refuge of the Elves. Their prodigious efforts gave me the strength to push ahead, at a time when I was finally waking up to the full scale of the challenge before me. Virginie is illustrating all the books of Songs of the Lost Islands. She has produced a series of twenty-three portraits of characters in the novels. Her work also features on the covers of the collectors’ editions. Sylvain has served as chief concept designer for the Lost Islands’ world. His achievements include creating the maps of Oron, the genealogy of the clans and houses, and all their emblems and insignia. His overall contribution to the project is even more far-reaching; it includes, among many other things, designing the series’ website. Lastly, I must thank the readers of Songs of the Lost Islands, for already making it through more than a thousand pages of stories and legends about the Elves. As Feïwal dyn puts it:
“The quest for the Lost Islands is a journey that cannot offer any hope of return. It is a leap in the unknown. It is an act of faith.”
