The immediate inspiration for this book came while reading the story The Rapid Advance Of Sorrow by Theodora Goss.
I am also indebted to the following works: The Atlas Of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky, The Book Of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, and The Dictionary Of Imaginary Places by Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi, plus many others in a similar vein too numerous to mention.
Some of the islands have been named after places and people in existing works: Sorrow is from The Rapid Advance Of Sorrow by Theodora Goss; Ix is from Dune; Viy is from the story of the same name by Nikolai Gogol; Vurt is from the novel by Jeff Noon.
Essex is just Essex.
The Islands of The World – Introduction
Ache – Allegory – Bay – Beauty – Blue – Boundary – Brilliance – Cage – Calamity – Certainty – Chalk – Change – The City Of Red Houses – Constellation – Cork – Delusion – Denial – Depth – Drowned – Earth – Easy – Erstwhile – Essex – Eyrie – Familiar – Far – Fireflies – Forest – Ghost – Golgotha – Guilt – Hope – Hotel – Impermanence – Infinity – Inspiration – Intervention – Ix – Jorel’s Island – Knowledge – The Light Of The Sun – The Lighthouse – Lure – Mars – Masque – Mist – Myth – Nest – North – Obscurity – Passage – Past – Poetry – Promise – Quiet – The Reflection of The Moon – Ritual – Roan – Rock – Rule – Salt – Self – Shatter – Shell – Silence – Silky – Siren – Soon – Sorrow – Speech – Story – Suffering – Target – Thicket – Thirst – The Thorns – Torpor – Tower – Unknown – Viy – Vurt – Walk – Wall – Web – Whisper – Wilderness – Wonder – X – Youth – Zaratan – Zeal