The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica

"The Imaginarium Geographica... “What is it?” John asked. The little man blinked and arched an eyebrow. “It is the world, my boy,” he said. “All the World, in ink and blood, vellum and parchment, leather and hide. It is the World, and it is yours to save or lose.”"

A murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the First World War. An eccentric little man called Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of The Imaginarium Geographica, an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship The Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams.

Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.

There are currently five books in the series as of June 2011:
 * Here There Be Dragons (2006)
 * The Search For The Red Dragon (2008)
 * The Indigo King (2008)
 * The Shadow Dragon (2009)
 * The Dragon's Apprentice (2010)

Provides Examples Of:
"Character A: (asks for explanation of something Character B mentioned) Character B: (gives explanation, which is unencouraging, grotesque, or both of the above) Character A: Sorry I asked."
 * All Myths Are True: Not to say that they were recorded correctly...
 * Alternate Timeline: Run all over the place and each other...
 * Alternate Universe: Expect to find a Charles there. There are at least two of them (or more, if you want to count altered timelines as separate universes), but who really knows?
 * Author Catchphrase:

"Book 1: The Winter King Book 2: The King of Crickets Book 3-5:"
 * Awesome McCoolname: Brigadier-General Throatwarbler-Mangrove
 * Badass Bookworm: Most of the Caretakers, to a certain extent-- especially Nathaniel Hawthorne.
 * Big Bad:


 * Celtic Mythology
 * Classical Mythology
 * Corrupt the Cutie: Jack in Book 1, having lost his shadow.
 * Darkest Hour:
 * Diabolus Ex Machina: In The Search For The Red Dragon, the protagonists are surrounded by giant, mechanical creatures,  and have nowhere to run. It looks like things are looking up when the Red Dragon appears until they realize  . Cue the Darkest Hour
 * Dirty Coward: An alternate spelling of "Magwich".
 * Embarrassing Tattoo: Charles ends up with a map permanently painted onto his back. Obviously, it requires consulting.
 * Everything's Worse with Wolves: The Wendigo.
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink: See Magical World.
 * Fighting a Shadow: In its literal format.
 * For Want of a Nail: A Hugo Dyson walks through a (free-standing) door, and-- boom. Instant Villain World. Granted, a lot went on, on his side of things, but nobody told that to the fellows who went in to find him a few minutes later.
 * Half Dressed Animal: Try not to bring it up, though.
 * Here There Be Dragons: The phrase appears on every map in the multilingual Geographica, serving as a sort of Rosetta stone.
 * Historical Domain Character: Most of them.
 * Inn Between the Worlds
 * It Makes Sense in Context: The obligatory disclaimer that must preface any attempt to discuss the series with the uninitiated.
 * I Should Write a Book About This: Every caretaker who ever existed
 * King Arthur: The core mythology on which the series' mythology is based.
 * Lost World: The Archipelago of Dreams is this to our world.
 * Magical Land: The Archipelago of Dreams. Contains anything religious, mythological, historical or literary we know and that only scratches the surface.
 * Older Than She Looks: Aven, as implied in The Search For The Red Dragon
 * Oxbridge: Which one you attend is taken into consideration when becoming a Caretaker.
 * Real Person Fic: When you get right down to it, isn't that what this series is?
 * Seen It All: Samaranth and Ordo Maas most likely have.
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran: John suffers from this in the first book, having fought in WWI.
 * The Storyteller: What each of the caretakers become in some way or another.
 * Time Travel: Thanks to a certain Jules Verne and his Timey-Wimey Ball
 * Trapped in the Past: Hugo Dyson in the 6th century. Perhaps also Bert in Book 3, where it seems he missed the mark while trying to rescue the Caretakers and ended up stranded in an alternate timeline for 14 years, waiting for them to get there. Though, technically, that was the future...
 * Twice-Told Tale: If you don't have a decent knowledge of Greek and Arthurian mythology, along with the works of a variety of writers, prepare to miss out on a lot.
 * Villain World: In which
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: Discussed in The Search For The Red Dragon when they meet Daedalus.