Where Fantasy Meets Reality

Jason McCammon has worked as a freelance stagehand, cook, photographer and wedding video editor.

Two years ago, the Southern Illinois University graduate added another title to his resume: fantasy author.

The Oak Park resident conceived The Ancient Lands in 2008, in part as a result of watching the miniseries Roots.

“I was going through a phase, a heritage thing,” he said.

He’d been reading fantasy novels since childhood, and as he pursued greater knowledge of African culture, he never saw a place where they intersected.

“I wrote The Ancient Lands because it didn’t exist,” he says, noting the dearth of young adult fantasy novels containing African themes.

His first book, The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest: Search for the Ifa Scepter, takes place in a quasi-African kingdom that is falling apart in the absence of the scepter that holds the key to its vitality. The protagonist is a 15-year-old prince named Bomani. (Bomani, or “warrior," is just one of many African words integrated into the book.)

The leading female is a young sorceress-in-training who joins Bomani on a quest to find the Ifa scepter. Some readers are surprised to find that her relationship with Bomani remains platonic through the whole book.

Intentionally or not, the pair make a point: “Just because a boy and a girl are together doesn’t mean they have to have a romantic relationship,” McCammon said.

Fans of the The Ancient Lands – those who review it online and those who McCammon meets in person – tend to say one of two things about the book. The first is that they “don’t normally like reading fantasy,” but that The Ancient Lands resonated with them; the other is that the book reads a lot like a movie.

That latter is no coincidence. The Ancient Lands started as an idea for an animated movie complete with songs, à la Disney.

Of course, movie production costs a lot more money than putting words down on paper, so McCammon opted to turn the idea in a novel. Now, he's aiming to publish at least four books in the Ancient Lands series.

“I’m constantly mapping them out in my head,” he says. “When I’m not writing, I’m writing.”

Despite The Ancient Lands’ entertainment value, he sees the work having a larger purpose. McCammon often visits Chicago area schools to talk to students about the importance of reading and writing.

“Imagination is the gap between where you are and where you want to be. It’s especially important for black youth in our society and in our city. We have enough ball players. I want to see kids develop their creativity," he said. “If someone reads my book and it makes them want to write one, and theirs turns out better, that would make me happy."

Recognition comes in many forms these days — The Ancient Lands is on shelves at on Lake Street and at area Barnes and Noble stores. He’s even seen a line from the book quoted on Facebook.

The line?

“Life is full of ‘what ifs’. Ask yourself: What if you succeed?”

Jason McCammon is currently working on the second book in the series. He expects to publish it by the end of 2011.