Pulled from a Thread. (Corwin, Nevada)
I've found a connection between Amber Chronicles and Dresden Files. And it involves both a Nevada ghost town, walking through the Ways of the NeverNever which Jim says he largely lifted from Amber Series, and the main protagonist Corwin of the first 5 books in the Series.
First the Woj:One of your more weirder scenes was the journey on the Chichen Itza. That journey through the parallel universes, but mixed in with the physical ones. Where did you get the ideas? I think there was like the upside triangles of light. Do you use like random things or how did you...?
As far as going through the parallel universes, to get somewhere else, that's largely lifted from Zelazny's Amber books. I don't know if you guys read Amber but travelling through Shadow is much the same.
Excerpt from Changes“Ah,” Susan said. “You want us to walk blind through a tunnel filled with poisonous gases that could explode at the smallest spark.” “
Yeah.”
“And . . . you’re sure this is a good idea?”
“It’s a terrible idea,” I said. “But it’s the fastest way to the storage facility.” I lifted my fingertips to touch the red stone on my amulet as I neared the location of the Way. It was an old, bricked-over doorway into the ground level of the apartment building. A voice with no apparent source began to speak quietly—a woman’s voice, throaty and calm. My mother’s voice. She died shortly after my birth, but I was certain, as sure as I had been of anything in my life: It was her voice. It made me feel warm, listening to it, like an old, favorite piece of music that you haven’t heard for years.
“The hallway on the other side is full of dangerous levels of methane and carbon monoxide, among other gases. The mixture appears to be volatile, and in the other side you can never be sure exactly which energies might or might not trigger an explosion. Forty-two walking steps to the far end, which opens on a ridge outside Corwin, Nevada.”
There was a moment of silence, and then the same voice began to speak again, panting, shaking, and out of breath. “Notation: The hallway is not entirely abandoned. Something tried to grab me as I came through.” She coughed several times. “Notation secundus: Don’t wear a dress the next time you need to go to Corwin, dummy. Some farmer’s going to get a show.”
“Maybe it was a grue,” I murmured, smiling.
“What did you say?” Susan asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “Never mind.” I put a hand on the doorway and immediately felt a kind of yielding elasticity beneath my fingertips. The separation between the world of flesh and spirit was weak here. I took a deep breath, laid out a fairly mild effort of will, and murmured, “Aparturum.” A circle of blackness began to expand from the center of my palm beneath my hand, rapidly swelling, overlaying the wall itself. I didn’t let it get too big. The gate would close on its own, eventually, but smaller gates closed more quickly, and I didn’t want some poor fool going through it. Present company excluded, of course. I glanced back to Susan and Martin. “Susan, grab on to my coat. Martin, you grab hers. Take a deep breath and let’s get this done fast and quiet.”
I turned to the Way, took a deep breath, and then strode forward. Mom’s gem hadn’t mentioned that it was flipping hot in there. When I’d stepped into the hallway on the first trip, I felt like I was inside about three saunas, nested together like those Russian dolls. I found the righthand wall and started walking, counting my steps. I made them a bit shorter than normal, and nailed the length of Mom’s stride more accurately this time. I hit the Way out at forty-three. Another effort of will and a whispered word, and I opened that gate as well, emerging into a cold mountain wind, and late twilight. Susan and Martin came out with me, and we all spent a moment letting out our pent-up breaths. We were in desert mountains, covered with tough, stringy plants and quick, quiet beasts. The gate behind me, another circle, stood in the air in front of what looked like the entrance to an old mine that had been bricked over a long time ago.
“Which way?” Martin said.
“Half mile this way,” I said, and set out overland.
There is no Corwin, Nevada.I found only one brief mention about a ghost town named Corwin, Nevada in the mid 1800s with say two cabins and that was it.
I also found a map of a list of about 30 or so ghost towns in Nevada where Corwin was one of these. These are abandoned mining ops 100-200 years ago. (SW Nevada)
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nv/nveureka.htmlCorwin: Main/Major character in the Chronicles of Amber.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corwin_of_AmberSo, this ghost town of Corwin, Nevada is the place that the Red Court Vampires placed their secret warehouse facility at.