Today’s installment of Monday Maps and Diagrams returns to a recent acquisition of mine—a signed copy of Greg Bear’s first published novel Hegira (1979), which seems to be a Riverworld and Ringworld inspired read involving the discovery of the nature of an unusual world…
I’m impressed with the simple effectiveness of Greg Bear’s map—created by his own hand (citation bottom right corner). The ocean is nicely indicated as are the rivers and regions (and of course, the unusual wall in the far north–one of the story’s many mysteries).
Enjoy! And, as always, comments are welcome and appreciated!
For my recent acquisition post which included novel’s plot blurb and discussion in comment section about the Greg Bear’s early works, click here.
Citation: Greg Bear’s own map for the Dell 1st edition of Hegira (1979), Greg Bear.
(James Fox’s cover for the 1979 1st edition)
Series blurb: In my informal Monday Maps and Diagrams series, I showcase scans of SF maps and diagrams from my personal collection. As a kid I was primarily a fantasy reader and I judged books on the quality of their maps. When my reading interests shifted to science fiction, for years I still excitedly peeked at the first few pages… there could be a map!
Related Links:
Monday Maps and Diagrams 2/22/21: Cordwainer Smith’s Instrumentality of Mankind Timeline
Monday Maps and Diagrams 7/25/19: Greg Bear’s Hegira (1979)
Monday Maps and Diagrams 2/18/19: David Brin’s Sundiver (1980)
Monday Maps and Diagrams 1/21/19: Larry Niven’s The Integral Trees (1984)
Monday Maps and Diagrams 1/14/19: Alan Dean Foster’s Voyage to the City of the Dead (1984)
Monday Maps and Diagrams 12/24/18: C. J. Cherryh’s Forty Thousand in Gehenna (1983)
Monday Maps and Diagrams 12/17/18: Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker (1980)
Monday Maps and Diagrams 12/10/18: Suzy McKee Charnas’ Walk to the End of the World (1974)
Monday Maps and Diagrams 11/26/18: Mark S. Geston’s The Lords of the Starship (1967)
Monday Maps and Diagrams 12/3/18: Jack Vance’s Trullion: Alastor 2262 (1973)
For a more detailed article on the visual and graphic elements of SF consult Charts, Diagrams, and Tables in Science Fiction.
For book reviews consult the INDEX
For cover art posts consult the INDEX
For additional articles consult the INDEX
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
I’ve recently been reading Greg Bear’s Thistledown series. I really wish they would have put a map in the third novel, Legacy.
Ah, I’ve not heard of the Thistledown series. What is it about? Enjoying it so far? (other than the lack of a map)
That’s what the ISFDB calls it. Wikipedia calls it the Way series. In publication order it’s “The Wind From a Burning Woman”, Eon, Eternity, Legacy, and “The Way of All Ghosts”.
The whole point of reading it now is I’m working on a log series of blog posts (which I’m not going to put up until they’re all done) about William Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land. The last includes works by Bear and Edmond Hamilton.
I’ll read them, as always!
Oh, as to whether I liked them. I had an odd reaction to Eon and Eternity. I found them dated, something which I usually don’t feel reading any sf. In thinking about it, I think what bothered me was that they were full of inventive and original ideas — better done later by others. Eon and, to a lesser extant, Eternity struck me as rather diagrammatic and missing some element of emotion and wonder. I was kind of disappointed since the last Bear I read, when it first came out, was Queen of Angels which I thought highly of.
I frequently feel hard-SF as “diagrammatic” — my eyes glaze over, unable to engage in any meaningful way with the science… I might read Hegira in the next few weeks, we shall see….
For those who enjoy classic science fiction, this site is a treasure.
As always, thank you for the kind words. Read any Bear?