Two nations at war, fighting for dominion over the known, and undiscovered, world, pin their last hopes at ultimate victory on finding a land out of legend.

Each will send their ships to brave the untamed seas, wild storms, sea serpents, and darker dangers unknown to any man. It is a perilous undertaking, but there will always be the impetuous, the brave and the mad who are willing to leave their homes to explore the unknown.

Even unto the edge of the world…

Kevin J. Anderson’s spectacular fantasy debut is a sweeping tale of adventure on the high seas, as two warring kingdoms vie for the greatest treasure of them all.”

At the same time, Anderson is involved in Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon, a progressive rock CD companion effort to the trilogy by Roswell Six. Here’s the official description on the CD (Now available from ProgRock Records):

“Kevin and [his wife] Rebecca [Moesta] have written the lyrics for all songs on a new CD with music by accomplished keyboardist/composer Erik Norlander (Rocket Scientists). Vocals by rock legends James LaBrie (DREAM THEATER), Michael Sadler (ex-SAGA), John Payne (ASIA Featuring John Payne), and Lana Lane (the Queen of Symphonic Rock). Performers include David Ragsdale (KANSAS), Gary Wehrkamp (SHADOW GALLERY), Kurt Barabas (AMARAN’S PLIGHT), Chris Brown (GHOST CIRCUS), Chris Quirarte (PRYMARY), and Mike Alvarez.”

Last month I was able to talk to Anderson about Enemies and Allies (a “prose novel is set in the 1950s and tells of the first meeting between Batman and Superman. “) over at my comics blog home, Robot 6. And he piqued my curiosity so much about the multimedia efforts behind  Terra Incognita that I asked to interview him here about it. My thanks to Anderson for his time.

Tim O’Shea: In a YouTube clip discussing Terra Incognita, you describe this as having the most emotions packed into a book-more than any of your past books. How emotionally draining is it for you when you set out to escalate the level of emotion in your writing?

Kevin J. Anderson: The nature of this story — a clash of religions, the breathtaking sense of discovery, the escalating cycle of hatred and revenge between two societies — both requires and inspires an intensity of emotion that a straightforward adventure story, no matter how exciting, will. Terrible tragedies happen to some of the characters, and I was very worked up and upset while writing them, because the characters were so real to me…and the events themselves so much like what truly happens in our world.

O’Shea: In the fast-paced/short-attention span world that we live in (and consumers grow accustomed to), how important is it to convey a level of urgency and intensity to the pacing of your novel, when your story is set on sea-faring ships?

Anderson: Parts of the story take place on long sea voyages, but I have a great many storylines and characters going concurrently, so that I can keep the prose focused on the most interesting thing happening. There are numerous points of view, numerous locations, all moving along like a marching army.

O’Shea: In addition to the novel, under the band name Roswell Six, you and several musicians have created a CD of music (distributed by ProgRock Records) called Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon. Given that music influences your writing and vice versa, I wonder do you think on some level this is an example of intertextuality in your work?

Anderson: Creativity can be expressed in many ways, in writing and music and artwork (and when you add all the paintings in the CD booklet, then we hit all those points). With the CD and the novel working synergistically, the layers build together to an experience greater than the individual parts. I think the music truly enhances the power of the characters and the drama…and developing the music while I polished the novel manuscript helped to add intensity to the book, too.

O’Shea: Muscially, out of the 13 cuts, which piece (or pieces) went under the greatest evolution from where you initially envisioned it to where you and the fellow musicians ultimately took the concept

Anderson: “Call of the Sea” was probably the biggest challenge for us — the song is about the eager young sailor jazzed about going off to sea to find the unknown, but knowing he will miss his wife…and his wife being happy for him, but also desperately sad. Erik Norlander also struggled with getting the balance of the music just right. (We must have succeeded, since that is one of the tracks that most often gets airplay internationally.)

O’Shea: Which song has grown on you the most in your repeated listenings to the project?

Anderson: “Letters in a Bottle” floored me from the very start, and it still does with Michael Sadler’s jaw-dropping vocals and David Ragsdale’s heart-wrenching violin. But the one that got better and better with each iteration was “Swept Away” and I think it’s a very compelling song.

O’Shea: How did you and Rebecca Moesta divvy up songwriting duties on the CD?

Anderson: First, note that Erik Norlander wrote all the music. When Rebecca and I planned out the CD (on a vacation trip to Roswell, New Mexico, which was one of the reasons for the name of the band), we plotted the tracks out like chapters in a novel, knowing which song had to tell which part and from what character/singer. In some cases, I knew very clearly what I wanted for the lyrics and I wrote the first draft. “Letters in a Bottle,” “Anchored,” “Here Be Monsters,” and “Ishalem” are examples — “Here Be Monsters,” in fact, I wrote in the hospital emergency room while waiting for Rebecca to be treated for acute pancreatitis. Other songs, Rebecca had in her head from the start — Swept Away, Call of the Sea, Halfway. Rebecca has a much better musical sense than I do, a better ear for rhythm in words, and she would revise my lyrics…and I would go over hers. And then the vocalists sometimes had to make a few minor changes when it actually came time to sing.

O’Shea: If response is strong enough to the CD, is there any interest in doing follow-up CDs to coincide with future novel releases in the series?

Anderson: Short answer, Definitely. And so far everyone we’ve asked has said they want to come back, if it fits with their schedule.

O’Shea: Is there any chance of the band playing parts of the album live in the near to long term?

Anderson: Probably unlikely, not because the band members didn’t get along, but because they are all part of very successful major bands. Trying to get them all together at the same time and place when they aren’t already touring seems like an impossible task.

O’Shea: It’s really quite a marketing feat you pulled off here, having three products from three different companies (the Terra Incognita CD and book, as well as your new Enemies & Allies novel) and having their releases so closely together. How challenging was it for you to work with the various parties to pull this off–was it great planning on your part or a mixture of planning and sheer coincidence?

Anderson: The Terra Incognita novel and CD were of course carefully orchestrated (no pun intended) to come out simultaneously. I had turned in the book to Orbit more than a year in advance, so their publication schedule was on the calendar. We had a lot of communication between the publisher, the publisher’s publicity team, and the record label. Knowing the release date of the novel, that was the target for “Roswell Six” to get the CD finished on time. Erik Norlander worked like crazy to finish the mixing, and Chris Brown was mastering the CD practically round the clock; Tim Jones, our graphic designer, scrambled to get the CD booklet finished and turned in to press at the same time.

ENEMIES & ALLIES coming out a month earlier was just a coincidence, but it did give us some interesting crossover publicity opportunities — in both directions. ENEMIES & ALLIES is about the first meeting of Batman and Superman in the 1950s during the Cold War…a completely different book from the sailing ships and sea-monsters adventure of “Terra Incognita.” However, a lot of interviewers wanted to talk about all the projects.

And let’s not forget, THE WINDS OF DUNE comes out in August, and I’m already doing publicity for that. It’ll be a busy summer.

O’Shea: Have you been pleasantly surprised by the international response to the CD–for example you were interviewed on by a Copenhagen radio station on the eve of their annual music festival–for a half hour?

Anderson: And I’ve got my first review ever from Uzbekistan. The publisher of Orbit wrote me today and said he thought that was the first for the whole publishing house. Progressive Rock is very popular internationally, and we hope that this helps get translations of the novel. Our female vocalist, Lana Lane, is extremely popular in Japan — so much so that she has her own record label. Michael Sadler (from Saga) is huge in Germany, James LaBrie (Dream Theater) is a superstar in all of Europe and Japan. Because of the innovative novel and CD crossover, I’m getting interviewed on a lot of rock programs…and I’m discovering that many of the listeners are also fans of the new Dune novels.

O’Shea: What new marketing opportunities are you employing on this round of projects–for example, when did you come up with idea of a Kevin Anderson Facebook group–and how many members have you attracted in the short time you’ve had it formed?

Anderson: We’ve had a lot of spontaneous support from fans — Bebo, Facebook, YouTube music videos, discussion groups, fan pages…On Facebook, we’ve got about five hundred members; on MySpace we’ve got 15,000 friends. This whole project has really energized the community in ways I haven’t seen before for my other novels.

O’Shea: How many novels will it take to tell the construct the whole Terra Incognita universe and narrative?

Anderson: It’s a trilogy. Three books, honest.

O’Shea: What were the most challenging aspects in the first Terra Incognita novel to research?

Anderson: I’ve spent most of my career in science fiction, and my degree is in astronomy and physics. Shifting to a historical milieu and fantasy details was quite a shift…and living in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado doesn’t give me very many opportunities to go aboard sailing ships for research. Fortunately, I’ve got friends who know a lot more about nautical items and sailing (in particular, the husband of fantasy author Robin Hobb).

But the story and the characters really swept me away and I really loved writing the novel. I have already finished the second book, THE MAP OF ALL THINGS, and I’m polishing the fourth draft right now.