Last month I was in California and met with a men’s book club, who had just finished Pelagia. It was a great discussion, and I was grateful and encouraged by the feedback they gave me.
Afterwards one wrote me and asked if there were maps that showed the different places and scenes in the book. It turns out I have a whole set of electronic maps I used as reference as I wrote Pelagia. Let me take you on a tour!
First, here is a screenshot of the western South Pacific from Google earth, with different events from the book labelled.
Here is map of Marcelli Township with the Ring, Rise and Deep drawn on an actual NOAA bathymetric chart of a section of the Louisville Ridge.
There is no Grit, Arizona (though there is one in Texas); but here is where the imaginary town would be, not far from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the towns of Why and Ajo.
Here is a map of Raoul Island, 500 km north by northeast of New Zealand. The island does indeed have two active volcanic caldera beneath it.
And finally, here is a map of Socotra Island, about 400 km south by southeast of the coast of Yemen, and about 300 km east by northeast of the tip of the horn of Africa. It has a range of unique flora; check out the Dragon Tree, found only on this island.
Needless to say, I love maps.