Why Spatiality

So what's with the title?

So the most obvious explanation is that some of the books are set in space, although much more so in the later books, particularly books three and four. Book one is almost exclusively terrestrial.

More critically as far as the narrative goes, Spatiality refers to the powers of the Heliod, the main protagonists of the novels. The first Heliod you meet are those who shape space into matter. They form structures, objects from the fabric of space itself. 

Being an architect, the whole genesis of the books was an exploration of the effects of architectonic space on our perceptions, memory and emotions. I think of this effect as “spatial resonance”—the sense of space—the scale, light, materiality is very powerful, and lingers with us far longer than the details of the place itself. I think fondly of a trip to Paris with my wife a few years ago. I distinctly recall the scale and shape of the galleries of the Louvre, the sense of the volume of space, and I am convinced that upon returning, my memory of that space would match up exactly, more so than say the paintings, or the materials of the floor or walls, or location of the galleries.  Same goes for the street we stayed, a narrow street lined with vendors, cafes and stores with a few stories above. I can’t recall exactly the buildings themselves or the hotel where we stayed but I distinctly recall the scale of the buildings, the distance between them, the nature of the light on the structures, the very tangible quality of everything that made up the space of that street.

And while there isn't an overt focus on a type of architecture, there is certainly a medieval bent to the world of the Heliod, and I draw on ancient Roman and Greek, gothic, renaissance, baroque and modern architecture throughout  as well. I attempt to evoke as much sense of place as I could and the impact on those who inhabit or traverse it without getting too bogged down in the detail. 

Living in the Pacific Northwest and having lived and traveled in Italy, Germany, France, Japan and other beautiful lands, I wanted to also explore the space of landscape as well. Even the most magnificent cathedral pales in comparison to the experience of hiking beneath a shimmering canopy of rain-soaked trees in the North Cascades. Also, I find it interesting that many of our fears are spatial in nature: fear of enclosed spaces, fear of heights, fear of open spaces, etc, so examining that, Hannah, one of the main characters is overcome with agoraphobia when she and her companion, Ethien make their way through a vast plain, having lived most of her life aboard starships. I wanted to explore how an absence of structure would affect someone accustomed to always being contained by it.

The last spatial idea that impacts the books is the space of body/psyche as it relates both to architecture and the sense of the self in space. I was somewhat influenced by a colleague from school who based his architectural thesis on his research on schizophrenia. I was intrigued by the idea that someone suffering from schizophrenia can lose the sense of themselves in space—cannot locate themselves in space or perceive themselves separate from it. The main antagonist embodies this idea most fully as when you meet him he has all but lost all sense of who he is and shapes and disturbs space around him as a coping mechanism.

 Lastly the title is also a sort of a riff on specialty. As the novels progress the protagonists learn there are several kinds of Heliod and each has their own special powers related to manipulating space, one can enter the very fabric of space, another can traverse space across great distances, yet another can “destroy” space, tearing open rifts between space.