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 spent 1981 to 1983 working on Imaro’s second novel. As with the first, Charles combined existing short stories into what would become Imaro II: The Quest for Cush. We really start to explore Nyumbani with the tales, “In Mwenni,” “In Bana-Gui,” “On the Bahari Mashiriki,” and “In Cush.”
One reviewer called it “a whole new flavour of heroic fantasy.” Charles was satisfied with his second novel when it was published in 1984. “I loved the covers of the second two books, which were done by Jim Gurney,” he later said.
Imaro stands before a rocky mountain range and a distant waterfall, towering over Pomphis and Tanisha. Imaro’s dark brown skin bulges with muscles.
The second novel follows the trio on their journey to Cush, a powerful and ancient northern Nyumbani kingdom modelled on our world’s Cush, which comprises parts of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. Every step is met with increasing resistance as Imaro fights through a sea of monsters to get answers in Cush. Who is he? Who is his father? What became of his mother? What is his destiny? It’s a great read, but sold even fewer copies than the first. Bookstores didn’t stock it, and the first Imaro had vanished from shelves, leaving readers with the unappealing prospect of starting the series on book two.
Charles was still under contract to write a third in the series, and that challenge would lead him to throw out his former novel-writing approach, and find a new way to deepen Imaro’s world.
Source: 𝐻𝑒 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝐵𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑅. 𝑆𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑏𝑦 𝐽𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒