𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑵𝒐𝒘! 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑱𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 $50 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝑭𝑵𝑺’𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝑹. 𝑺𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 2025, 𝒘𝒆’𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 12 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.
Charles started out writing short stories in the 1970s and the challenge of turning Imaro’s adventures into his first novel in the 1980s was daunting. At one point he half-joked he hoped Imaro would learn to type to help him out.
Charles updated friends when he passed 20,000 words, and then 30,000 words, as if he were ice-picking his way up Mount Everest. He announced he’d reached the summit in a letter to his writing buddy Charles de Lint dated Aug. 25, 1980.
“Are you ready for the news? I HAVE FINISHED THE IMARO NOVEL!!!! Whooaahh… Don’t go out and celebrate yet. This is just the first draft, written in long hand. I’ve got to write (I mean type) the submission draft. But I don’t have to tell you that the most difficult thing is getting it all down on paper the first time. I actually look forward to doing the next draft. So far, I’m satisfied with the cobbling job I’ve done, but that could be just relief. No – I think I’ve got something here. Now, if only Don Wollheim at DAW agrees….”
DAW did agree – at least, at first. The result was Imaro, a classic coming-of-age novel about the legendary warrior from Nyumbani.
Source: 𝐼 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝐵𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑅. 𝑆𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠.