If I were to write Web now, it would be a much, much darker book.

We're not lost. We're locationally challenged

Every book is three books, after all; the one the writer intended, the one the reader expected, and the one that casts its shadow when the first two meet by moonlight.

Well, it's an adventure story, and a Bildungsroman, of course, but there was also the intention to describe a culture that had been seen in rather narrow terms.

Creating the fictional background for a game world isn't significantly different from creating a background for fiction.

I don't think anyone wants a reader to be completely lost - certainly not to the point of giving up - but there's something to be said for a book that isn't instantly disposable, that rewards a second reading.

If I were to write Web now, it would be a much, much darker book.