The Origins of The Wold
The Author's Preface I have been writing for the release of the "Fragments from Ar'rin" companion book.
I grew up in a wooded area. When people talk about how much they love the stories about Christopher Robin in the 'Hundred Acre Wood,' I often think "That was me, my childhood."
With a long-haired dog in tow, I would trek through the woods that connected my grandparents' house to my great-grandmother's house, awhichwas adjacent to my own home. It was a glorious childhood, and the trees were always friends. The way they would creak and groan, the whispers of the winds upon their leaves. It was mysterious, magical, but comforting.
I also was born with a speech impediment, and so at an early age, I learned to read and write. And books about forests, magical kingdoms, and myths about gods, monsters, and heroes dominated a lot of my time. As I grew older I found other tales: fantasy fiction, and comic books. Somehow forested tales seemed to always speak to me, and in high school, I began writing myths. These myths evolved into the early stores of a place called Ar'rin.
But that was not the name of the world, the planet. I searched for something else and in my sojourn, I found words of Old and Middle English that had fallen from favor. One of those words was "wold." I won't bore you with the etymology, but 'wooded lands of hills' became its distinct definition.
This lingered for a decade or so, until I discovered two books: Mythago Wood (Holdstock) and The Overstory (Powers). If you are not familiar, you should seek them out. They speak to people who like mythic trees, in many ways. And it was from there I gathered the courage to name my mythical realm The Wold. Which, to be honest, may have not been that bright. For it is endlessly being corrected as a "world" but alas it is not The World of Ar'rin you are about to step into, no these Fragments (minor tales) of myth and legend belong to a place called "The Wold of Ar'rin."