Monthly Archives: October 2007

Shawn C. Speakman, known to many of my readers as the man behind The Signed Page, is a good friend of mine. Beyond that, though, he is a storyteller. Like many of us, Shawn is an aspiring writer, looking to emulate the success of many of his idols (some of whom he also considers friends) and is hard at work on a trilogy titled Battle’s Perilous Edge, with the first novel being called Song of the Fell Hammer. The problem however, according to his blog, is that he has been unsuccessful so far in finding an agent to represent him or a publisher to publish him.

Why?

The last two [rejection letters] have been similar. Their underlying theme is best summed up by one of the agent’s quotes:

“Unfortunately, there isn’t anyone here that is looking for epic fantasy at this time.”

This is pretty darn silly if you ask me. Sure, Urban Fantasy is king (or should I say Queen…) at the moment, but that doesn’t mean epic fantasy doesn’t sell. George R.R. Martin, anyone? Too established. Fine, how about Patrick Rothfuss? New writer, epic fantasy and a first person narrative? Terry Brooks’ latest novel was once again a New York Times Bestseller, R.A. Salvatore still sells bucket loads and newcomer Joe Abercrombie seems to be doing pretty well for himself.
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Me and Steven Erikson, author of The Malazan Book of the FallenWell, I once again had the chance to sit down with Steven Erikson for a little while (at a signing and then at a pub) and this time I have a bit of actual news for all of you Malazan fans out there!

Steve held a reading/signing at a local bookstore at which he read from not Reaper’s Gale (his latest release), but instead from his work in progress, Toll the Hounds. I’ll save the really juicy stuff for after the jump (stuff that some people might consider spoilers) but right now I can tell you that Toll the Hounds is almost finished, the ending is still supposed to knock your socks off, and that the final two novels in the series, Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God, will essentially read as one gigantic novel, as opposed to being stand-aloneish like his other books.

He also mentioned that he’s already rolling around ideas of where he might go once he’s done the current cycle of books and that one of the ideas he’s throwing around is to explore the pasts of some of the Ascendents (such as Anomander Rake) before they became the powerful figures we see them as in The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me!

Cam’s novel, The Return of the Crimson Guard is finished and in the hands of his publisher. Steven said it clocks in at around 280k words, so expect a much heftier novel than Night of Knives.

Also, don’t forget that I’m accepting questions for my interview with not only Steven Erikson, but also with Ian Cameron Esselmont! You can send questions to questions(no-spam)@aidanmoher.com [Just remember to remove the (no-spam) tag!]. And I also have a giveaway for signed copies of The Bonehunters!

Now for the Toll the Hounds spoilers!
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