Monthly Archives: June 2008

Steve Erikson and IRobert, over at Fantasy Book Critic, just posted an interesting interview with Steven Erikson, author of the mighty Malazan Book of the Fallen. Among general questions about the series and tidbits about the upcoming novel, Toll the Hounds, Robert asks Erikson about what’s coming after he’s done with the ten volume Malazan series. Here’s what he had to say:

Release dates remain unknown. I am into the ninth chapter of Dust of Dreams/strong> right now and things proceed apace. I anticipate completing the manuscript some time in the autumn of this year. I normally roll straight into the next novel with not much of a breather between the two, then get slowed up doing the edited version (of the previous one) that comes back from the publisher. With a novella or two thrown in as well.

I don’t think it’s a secret any more that I’ve signed with Bantam UK for six more fantasy novels. Two trilogies, in fact. But not one a year – that pace (with novellas thrown in) is wearing me out. I won’t get into any details on the books, or whatever stand-alone works I may squeeze in here and there. Not yet. Too early.

Hmm… two trilogies? Could one of those be an exploration of the Ascendants’ pasts that I hinted about a few months ago?

Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell

Ragamuffin

AuthorTobias Buckell

Paperback
Pages: 320 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: June 12 2007
ISBN-10: 0765315076
ISBN-13: 978-0765315076


Buckell manages to fit more into this lean novel than most authors do into novels twice as long. I don’t know how he does it, but other authors (and editors) need to take note; this is how you tell a lean, fast paced and frenetic story without any wasted words. Each and every one of Crystal Rain’s 384 pages burst at the seams with creativity: a vivid world inhabited by real people all wrapped up in a plot that races towards the finish line at full steam ahead.

So began my review of Tobias Buckell’s debut novel, Crystal Rain and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t hold true for the sequel. A novel under his belt and another candle on his birthday cake means Buckell only improved as a writer and that shows clearly in Ragamuffin, which is without a doubt a better novel in every sense than Crystal Rain – which was a damn fine novel in its own right.
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Well, the ink has dried and it’s official, Solaris Books will be publishing a two-volume omnibus of Paul Kearney’s The Monarchies of God

Kearney had this to say on his official forum:

I’ve posted this elsewhere on this site, but here goes again – I’ve finally signed the Omnibus contracts, and everything is now getting into gear. The Monarchies will be published in two volumes this autumn, the first entitled Hawkwood and the Kings, the second, Century of the Soldier

I’ve been speaking with Mark Newton, Paul’s publicist at Solaris, and it’s clear that they really believe that Kearney can be one of the top authors in the field. If anything, The Monarchies of God was probably ahead of its time when published several years ago and should thrive in this new fantasy environment that’s seen the success of authors such as Erikson, Abercrombie, and Morgan.

I’ve been holding off on reading this series for a while now (ever since the omnibus rumours first started floating around) and I can’t wait to get my grubby little hands on this!

The Born Queen by Greg Keyes

The Born Queen

AuthorGreg Keyes

Hardcover
Page Count: 464 pages pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: March 25, 2008
ISBN-10: 0345440692
ISBN-13: 978-0345440693


Greg Keyes is the most underread author in epic fantasy.

There, I said it.

His most recent work, a four volume cycle called The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone sets the bar for how to write a multi-volume epic fantasy without all the bloat that plagues so many other series. Keyes manages to tell an engaging, fully realized story and bring it all to a satisfying close by just the fourth book, The Born Queen.

Where Keyes excels is in the characters he crafts. Taking familiar archetypes – The Princess, The Woodsman, The Scholar, The Cocky Swordsman – he strips them down to the barest essentials and then reinvents them. The Princess, for once, is likeable; The Woodsman is an unconventional ladies man; The Scholar ends up kicking some ass; The Cocky Swordsman is most honorable and self sacrificing. When we were first introduced to the characters in The Briar King, I had trouble seeing what the big deal was – I had seen all this before. But by the end of that first volume I understood, and that was only the beginning of where those characters would take me.

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Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that I switched my RSS feeds over to Feedburner, so if things get wonky just try readding my blog to your RSS reader.

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