For as long as I can remember Rush has been my favorite band.  My first album was A Farewell to Kings, given to me by my mother.  One could say that Rush formed my earliest musical tastes.  By the time I was a teenager I had every studio and live album on both vinyl and cassette.  I even owned Rush Archives, my favorite album being Caress of Steel.

Shortly after college, I started writing.  I've always toyed with creative writing off and on during my life, but never got deep into it until after I was out of school.  I started to get into Fantasy, prompted mostly by my love of the Rush Epics, The Fountain of Lamneth, The Necromancer, By-Tor and the Snowdog. 

The idea started simple enough, a small seed that fell from another artists tree.  I started to play with the character of By-Tor and to a lesser extent Snowdog.  The idea was that after the mighty battle fought by the two foes, and once vanquished, By-Tor saw the light, and fought the Necromancer.  I began to expand the idea of By-Tor being a servant of The Necromancer, his journey chronicled in The Fountain of Lamneth.  It was pure fanfiction.

But this fanfiction grew into something more, and thus Aerthon is born.  Stephen King once said that good stories are not made, they are found.  I believe this as a sacred truth, the myths of Aerthon will be presented here on this site, along with maps, and setting information.  I use the Dungeons and Dragons game system to research and explore this vast and wondrous world, so information on gaming in Aerthon will also be presented here.

A word about other influences.  I discovered Tolkien long after Aerthon was found, however our worlds share a lot in common, an almost uncanny parallel to the myths with in my heart.  J.R.R. Tolkien is a huge influence, and continues to hold sway to my writing style.  I've recently begun to explore other worlds, including the Terry Goodkind  Sword of Truth series.  Stephen King's memoir, "On Writing" is also an important influence on me.  I learned more from reading that small book than in the many years in creative writing classes.

Aerthon is not meant to be a generic fiction set in the fantasy genre.  My writing is done organically, starting with ideas, seeds, and simple scenes evolving into adventures and short stories.  There is no overall plot, nor is there a plan set out.  Our lives are certainly plotless, and thats how Aerthon grows.  I hope to have a novel or two some day, but am not in a hurry to turn my hobby into work.  I do enough of that during the day.

So watch this site for new content.  The only thing I can promise is that updates will come slowly, however I hope you enjoy the Myth of Aerthon.

- Arthur H. Johnson II