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The history and the entire text of the six stories which became (or influenced) Chronicles of the Pride Lands. Also contains some interesting materials related to the history of creation of CotPL.

Includes:

The Prediction
The Shadow Falls
The Child from the Stars (not included in CotPL)
A Death in the Pride Lands
The Council
Rites of Passage
The Harvest of the Plague (a self-parody by John Burkitt)

Сборник ранних рассказов впоследствии в переработанном виде вошедших в первую и вторую части «Chronicles of the Pride Lands». Помимо этого содержит ряд материалов касающихся истории их создания.

Состав:

The Prediction
The Shadow Falls
The Child from the Stars (не вошёл в CotPL)
A Death in the Pride Lands
The Council
Rites of Passage
The Harvest of the Plague (пародия Джона Буркитта на самого себя)

This document contains both the history and the entire text of the six stories which became (or influenced) Chronicles of the Pride Lands, a four-part fanfic that now consists of:

CHRONICLES OF THE PRIDE LANDS
THE SPIRIT QUEST
SHADOWS OF THE MAKEI
UNDER THE BROAD ACACIAS

Two earlier disastrous attempt at fanfic were lost without a trace, a tragedy that dominates conversation on The Lion King List to this day (sniff!).
The first four stories of the post-disaster period became the intermediate Chronicles of the Pride Lands. THE PREDICTION, THE SHADOW FALLS, and THE CHILD FROM THE STARS were released as “Three Related Stories,” and the fourth one, A DEATH IN THE PRIDE LANDS, was released separately.
The plot line of “The Child From the Stars” was later scrapped because of credibility issues. Together with a later story, “The Council,” it is a large relic of what might have been.
The first two stories were based on the life and times of Taka, known as “Scar” in the movie “The Lion King.”
“A Death in the Pride Lands” was inserted into “Chronicles” nearly intact. It was written to explore the leonine concept of death.
At this point, the rough-cut “Chronicles of the Pride Lands” needed a lot of work. Some of it was repetitive, time filling work. I needed clerical help. I turned to my most enthusiastic fan and found instead so much more--a fellow author and wonderful friend.
The fifth fanfic, THE COUNCIL, was the inspiration for “The Spirit Quest,” though its plot changed rather radically. This story, partly inspired by Plato’s “The Apology of Socrates,” was my attempt to show The Lion King as a Way of Life. A trial gave Rafiki a forum to express and defend his views in a reasonably short passage. It was the inspiration for Kinara’s trial in “The Spirit Quest.”
“The Spirit Quest” began as a series of reminiscences that Rafiki had, looking back on his youth from the perspective of old age, while undertaking a journey to find a young apprentice. Mercifully, it was restructured in chronological order. It contained mostly new material, though the last of the original six stories, RITES OF PASSAGE, was incorporated. It was the first work where David Morris wrote some material completely from scratch.
“Shadow of the Makei” came from the need to remove some good material from “Spirit Quest” that did not fit in to the focus of that work. From the resulting “spare parts” pile, a running joke started between Dave and I about writing the hyena’s point of view. We jokingly referred to this as the “Hyannic Trilogy.” I threatened him on more than one occasion of being “stuck” with it as a form of punishment.
As it turned out, the concentration on just WHAT it was that affected Taka took on a life of its own. Writing “Shadows” became a real joy as we discovered the fragile beauty of Gur’bruk and Kambra’s love, the ego of Shenzi, and the deep faith of Ber. We were worried that this might suffer the fate of most sequels. But that was not the case. As with The Spirit Quest, this work broke new ground in dramatic development and polish. Hyenas were no longer mere stock characters.
“Under the Acacias” took some material pulled from “Shadow” when we realized some entertaining and energetic material (sound familiar?) was not contributing to the plot. We decided to pull back these chapters and give them the attention they deserve. So Uzuri and her terrible twosome of Togo and Kombi were given the spotlight, as is the lioness-chasing Ugas whose funeral in “Spirit Quest” was a scream. Rather than mere comic characters, they emerged as complex three-dimensional beings with thoughts and feelings about a great many things.
Last but by all means not least, the character of Makaka whose love for the lioness Uzuri was such a driving force in Spirit Quest. He was Benjamin Darden, my God son. Benjamin died at seven years of age when someone ran a red light and struck his mother’s car. About a week before he died, he came to me and said, “If I died, would you be very sad?” I answered that I’d be devastated. “If you died, I’d be very sad, but when Jesus comes, we’ll be together always.” I’m counting on it, Ben. I’ll be the old man with tears of joy in his eyes.
Enjoy these early works--they are made available due to public demand.

John Burkitt