I’ve told Tor that I want to release KINGS on a schedule of two books, followed by one book in another setting, then two more KINGS. The series of KINGS has been named The Stormlight Archive. (The Way of Kings is the name of the first volume.)

So I should be doing plenty of shorter series in between. We’ll see how busy this all keeps me. I think I’d go crazy if I weren’t allowed to do new worlds every now and again.

But, then, KINGS turned out very, very well. (The first book is complete as of yesterday.) What is it about? Well…I’m struggling to find words to explain it. I could easily give a one or two line pitch on my previous books, but the scope of what I’m trying with this novel is such that it defies my attempts to pin it down.

It happens in a world where hurricane-like storms crash over the land every few days. All of plant life and animal life has had to evolve to deal with this. Plants, for instance, have shells they can withdraw into before a storm. Even trees pull in their leaves and branches. There is no soil, just endless fields of rock.

According to the mythology of the world, mankind used to live in The Tranquiline Halls. Heaven. Well, a group of evil spirits known as the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms, but the Voidbringers chased them there, trying to push them off of Roshar and into Damnation.

The voidbringers came against man a hundred by a hundred times, trying to destroy them or push them away. To help them cope, the Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, known as Shardblades. Led by ten angelic Heralds and ten orders of knights known as Radiants, men resisted the Voidbringers ten thousand times, finally winning and finding peace.

Or so the legends say. Today, the only remnants of those supposed battles are the Shardblades, the possession of which makes a man nearly invincible on the battlefield. The entire world, essentially, is at war with itself–and has been for centuries since the Radiants turned against mankind. Kings strive to win more Shardblades, each secretly wishing to be the one who will finally unite all of mankind under a single throne.

That’s the backstory. Probably too much of it. (Sorry.) The book follows a young spearman forced into the army of a Shardbearer, led to war against an enemy he doesn’t understand and doesn’t really want to fight. It will deal with the truth of what happened deep in mankind’s past. Why did the Radiants turn against mankind, and what happened to the magic they used to wield?

I’ve been working on this book for ten years now. Rather than making it easier to describe and explain, that has made it more daunting. I’m sure I’ll get better at it as I revise and as people ask me more often.

The working title (and so far everyone, including me, seems to quite like it, so I imagine it’ll probably survive all the way through to publication) is The Edinburgh Dead. The setting is, as you might guess, Edinburgh; specifically, Edinburgh in the first half of the 19th century. Since I write fantasy rather than history, though, it’s not quite as simple as that.

I’m taking some gruesome and rather famous aspects of Edinburgh’s past and spicing them up a bit with veteran warriors, magical conspiracies, killers both human and decidedly not, desperate combat and sinister goings-on in general. In short, it’s a dark, heroic fantasy set in 19th century Edinburgh. With swords and gaslamps.

The Gathering Storm is, in my opinion, quite easily one of the most intense and exciting books in the entire Wheel of Time series. Yes, you read that right. I avoided writing this review right after I finished reading. Instead, I purposely waited some time to let the initial rush and enjoyment wear off. It certainly has cooled a great deal, but I can still say with grounded and sober confidence that the book is outstanding. I would rank it up there in the top 4 in the series along with The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, and The Great Hunt. Pacing-wise, I would agree with Brandon Sanderson’s statement that it’s similar to books 4-6 in the series.

…

There is a scene towards the middle of the book that was so dramatic and intense, that I … I don’t even know to say it. As a long time fan of the novels, it rocked me to read it. I had to set the book down and let it soak in. Remember the intensity of Dumai’s Wells at the end of Lord of Chaos? This is like that, minus the armies. I am certain that in the years ahead, we’ll run polls on DM for the “Best Scenes in the Series”, and this will be one of the popular choices. Trust me. You’ll know it when you read it.

So now the other burning question: does this feel like a Robert Jordan novel? Does it have his “voice”? Well, truthfully, I thought the prose stayed very true to previous novels. … it seems like Brandon put himself into the heart of the saga and allowed himself to be its vessel and storyteller. The result is that this book is clearly and undeniably a novel which belongs in the WoT series. There were only a few times where I suspected the scene I was reading was entirely from Brandon’s imagination.

…

Even though it’s a thick tome, none of it feels padded or rushed. Before he was the writer tasked with finishing this series, he was a fan like you and me.

…

Guided by a strong plot outline, familiar characters, and a knowledge of the franchise that was honed to a razor sharp edge by lots of research, it became quickly apparent to me (or “intuitively obvious to the most casual observer”) that Brandon was the best person in the world to take this gig, and that he did as fine as a job as was even possible.

…

There’s no doubt that The Gathering Storm deserves an equal place on your top shelf next to the previous eleven volumes. Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson have crafted a remarkable novel fraught with dark, foreboding themes that will remind you why you first fell in love with the series to begin with. Even though we know it’s Brandon who pulled the actual words together, this is undeniably Robert Jordan’s work, and perhaps one of his best.

Filmmaker Paul W. S. Anderson and longtime producing partner Jeremy Bolt, the duo behind the moneymaking “Resident Evil” franchise, have picked up film rights to Peter V. Brett’s debut fantasy novel “The Warded Man.”

…

The book is set in an undetermined future where mankind is beset by nightly attacks from demonkind and has been thrown back into a feudal state. Three young people emerge with the potential power to turn the tide, including the title character, a man who has wards (spells) tattooed on his body.

“It was an occasion where it paid to be British,” Anderson said. “It launched in the U.K. six months earlier than in the U.S., and we got wind of it when it was in galley form before the U.K. release. We think it has the potential to be a new ‘Lord of the Rings’-style epic, and the book has all this great imagery.”

Added Bolt: “We put our own money to buy it. We were reading all these great reviews, and we thought someone was going to buy it pretty fast.”

The new novel is called UNDER HEAVEN. It is a long, single-volume historical fantasy inspired by the extraordinary Tang Dynasty, essentially 8th century China.

It will appear in the English-language markets in April and May of 2010.

Due to very popular demand, SciFiNow and Tor UK open competition, now sponsored by Play.com, to international applicants.

Aspiring writers from outside of the UK are now eligible to apply to leading consumer specialist magazine SciFiNow and SF imprint Tor UK’s competition to find the new voice in science fiction and fantasy.

Writers must submit a full synopsis of their novel, along with the first three chapters, by 20th August 2009. The judging panel is comprised of members of SciFiNow magazine and Tor UK, and a shortlist of six entries will be announced before the overall winner is revealed in SciFiNow issue 35, on sale 25 November 2009.

1. The winner will receive a publishing contract with Macmillan Publishers Limited for publication in 2010 dependent on publishing schedules. For the purposes of this competition we will pay the winning author a 20% royalty on net receipts but there will be no advance (i.e. an advance payment against future sales). Our contract is non-negotiable and we acquire world rights, with rights revenue split 50/50. We also reserve the option to publish the author’s second novel. The final book is intended to be published in the United Kingdom. Publication will be subject to the winner’s acceptance in writing of those terms and conditions and compliance with them.

2. All entrants must have a full length novel (being between 80,000 and 150,000 words long) completed and available upon request by the close of competition on 20 August 2009.

3. Entrants who have had a full-length novel previously published by a trade publisher anywhere in the world will not be eligible, (so you will not be excluded by virtue of having any previously self-published work). Additionally this competition is not open to employees or their immediate families of the Promoters and any companies within the Imagine Publishing Ltd. group of companies or the Macmillan Publishers Limited group of companies.

4. To be eligible, initial entries must comprise of a full synopsis and the first three chapters of a novel set in the fantasy or science fiction genre. There must be a novel completed and available for review by 20 August 2009 should the judging panel request to see the full novel. Entrants will not be put forward to the shortlist without a full novel. The synopsis and first three chapters should be double spaced and emailed to: warofthewords@imagine-publishing.co.uk to be received by SciFi Now Magazine at Imagine Publishing Limited on or before the closing date of 20 August 2009 17:30 GMT.

Tiago would normally have taken his cut of the picked pockets and stopped right here at the Seaside Plaza. On the very edge, past the vendors on the cobblestone sea walk, Tiago would sit with his legs over the rocky sea wall and look out over the harbor.

Today he only detoured through the plaza to throw the crowd in between him and the woman chasing him.

He’d gotten a brief glimpse of her before the running started: tall, dark eyes, dark skin, dark leather jacket and microfibre pants, careful dreadlocks pulled back into a pony tail.

She was fast in the crowd. She wasn’t dodging around legs, using the ebb and flow of the masses to see open routes like Tiago. No, people who got in her way were just… thrown out of the way.

Too strong. She was some sort of soldier, Tiago thought, refocusing ahead.

He might have gotten himself into a bit of a situation.

Yes, the rumors you’ve been seeing all over the web the last few days are true. Another huge piece has fallen into place for the HBO pilot of A GAME OF THRONES — we have signed Sean Bean to play the part of Lord Eddard Stark.

For the movie fans out there, Sean Bean needs no introduction. I mean, what the hell, he was Boromir and he was Sharpe, he was terrific in both roles, and in a hundred other parts besides. I can’t imagine a better Ned. The deal took some doing, so my fingers have been crossed for a month now (and boy, that made it hard to type), but now it’s done, and I’m thrilled.

For King Robert I Baratheon, we’ve got Mark Addy, a veteran British actor of stage and screen that many of you may remember from his fine turn in A KNIGHT’S TALE.

The roles of Joffrey Baratheon, the crown prince, and Viserys Targaryen, the beggar king, have also been filled… by Jack Gleeson and Harry Lloyd, respectively. Sorry, I haven’t been able to find pictures of them on the internet yet, though I’m sure they are out there somewhere. I’ve seen readings by both Gleeson and Lloyd, and both should be terrific.

And last, but certainly not least, the role of the bastard Jon Snow will be played by a young actor named Kit Harington. You probably haven’t heard of him yet… but you will, we’re confident. David and Dan can’t say enough about his talent and intensity.

Of course, there’s a lot more roles still to fill, including some very crucial ones like the Lannister twins, the Stark children, and Daenerys Targaryen, so the search will continue for awhile. But we’ve begun, and so far I couldn’t be happier. October is right around the corner

In the spring of 1845, Sir John Franklin leads a company of two ships and 130 men on a hazardous voyage to the remote, uncharted Arctic. His goal: to locate and map the legendary Northwest Passage. Two years later, the expedition, which began in a spirit of optimism and high purpose, faces disaster. Franklin is dead. The two ships — the Erebus and the Terror — are hopelessly trapped by gigantic, shifting ice floes. Supplies are dwindling, and the crews struggle daily against lethal, unimaginably frigid conditions. And something — some Thing — is stalking the survivors, spreading death, suffering, and chaos in its remorseless wake.

The Terror is both a rigorously researched historical novel and a compelling homage to one of the seminal SF/Horror films of the 1950s. It is popular fiction of the highest order, the kind of intense, wholly absorbing epic only Dan Simmons could have written

When I heard that Zafón was going to be in town, I found myself in the wonderful position of getting to read his novels back-to-back, to immerse myself in his wonderful prose, his delightful cityscapes and his insidious, inventive narrative style. Zafón writes the sort of books that you just don’t want to end.

I managed to catch up with him in his hotel in San Francisco. While I was setting up, I mentioned that I used to work at E-mu Systems, and then, for the next ten minutes we geeked out about the joys of the Proteus Modules (which he and I both still used) and the virtues of hardware with knobs and switches and instant sounds coming out of nice, neat one-rack space modules. It was only the beginning.

Zafón has a firm grasp on what he’s doing with literature and why he’s doing what he’s doing. If you think his books are entertaining (that is, if you’ve read them, in which case you almost certain do!), then let me confirm that the man speaking about his novels is just as entertaining as are the novels themselves.

I recently finished Zafon’s latest novel, The Angel’s Game, which is easily my favourite read of the year so far. Keep an eye out for a review soon.

You can download/listen to the podcast HERE.