The Steel Remains

[Sheyd]

I just had to say, this is a wonderful map. I tend to be in awe of most of the maps done by the folks here. I sucketh mightily when it comes to maps, however I am slowly trying to learn how to become better but seeing this map, It's almost demoralizing. Learning a new program (Gimp) is a slow process especially when the only layers I've ever been familiar with are those in cake, sandwiches and snow. The desire to produce a map keeps me winnowing away at tutorials and my lackluster results. Seeing your map tonight however is seeing the end goal (WAY WAY down the road for me). Once again A great map.

(Egads this is my first post... and I joined in May of 08! I am ashamed and hang my head in lamentations.)

[Gandwarf]

Welcome Sheyd... we don't bite, so be sure to post up a work in progress once you feel comfortable enough with your work. It's the best way to improve yourself I think. Ravells has done many maps and this map is a culmination of his efforts.

[ravells]

Thanks Sheyd. It was fun to draw. As Gandwarf said, post up your WIPs and we'll help you !

[Vambo]

Just want to say I think your map is fantastic, I have been a Richard Morgan fan for years and when I read his praise for you and your map in the Blessed are the Mapmakers post on his page, I just had to come and take a look. Well done

[ravells]

Thank you!

He's a really nice guy in person.

[Locution]

Very nice Ravs, great work!

[maledei]

I too just registered to see this map after reading about it on Richard Morgans blog. Great work, ravells. Congratulations to getting it published.

Although it is customary to have only registered users see the maps, I find it a bit of a hassle. One way to work around that would be to embed the picture via an imagehost like imageshack.us or tinypic, safes traffic for the forum too.

And as a quite late answer to vgunn's question: A good review can be found on Strange Horizons.
(Skip the review on the SF Site, it's ridiculously homophobic.)

[ravells]

Thanks for the praise guys, I'm glad you like the map!

maledei: hosting images locally is a deliberate decision of the guild. It makes it easier to refer to them, we can thumbnail them and we don't suffer from 'broken link' syndrome which can be very frustrating.

best

Ravs

[Diamond]

I just started reading The Steel Remains today, and what do I see but a familiar-looking map. I was wracking my brains trying to figure out where I'd seen it before, and then I noticed the 'By Ravi Shankar' and the CG link. That is damn awesome that your map is actually in what is (so far) the best fantasy book I've read in years. Kudos to you! (Although I'm probably the last person on the site to discover all this... )

[ravells]

Lol, thanks Diamond! Here's to more guild members getting published!