I mean, the upside-down sword is fairly overdone at this point, but the cover is nicely executed and I’m glad to see a change of scenery now that The Malazan Book of the Fallen series is over. It’s still identifiably Erikson, thanks to the typeface, but also clearly from a new series. Reminiscent of the Gollancz editions of Richard Morgan’s The Steel Remains and The Cold Commands.
Last week, I wrote a cage match between Moiraine and The Dagda Mor for the 2012 Suvudu Cage Matches. Moiraine stomped Terry Brooks’ demon lord into the ground and moved onto the next round to face Jardir from Peter V. Brett’s The Desert Spear. When the editors at Del Rey/Suvudu approached me about the opportunity to co-author the Moiraine vs. Jardir cage match with Peter V. Brett, I couldn’t refuse. Together, Peat and I cam up with a pretty wicked fight between the two powerhouse characters. If you’re into these cage matches, check out the Moiraine vs. Jardir match and defend me and Peat from the Wheel of Time fans ripping us a new one in the comments section!
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Welcome to the new version of A Dribble of Ink!
As you’ve likely noticed (and if you haven’t, refresh your browser!), A Dribble of Ink has a whole new look. I felt that the previous design (which had been around, in some form or another, since the start of the blog four-and-a-half years ago) was starting to look a little long in the tooth; so, it was time to re-launch A Dribble of Ink with a whole new look, an early celebration of its fifth birthday.
I coded the template myself from scratch using HTML5 and CSS3, which has a lot of benefits for you guys, my readers. It’s a heck of a lot faster (this template is 50% the size of the previous template and relies on far fewer image files), it’s easier for search engines to find content (semantic coding and streamlined structure), and, overall, the design and ‘look’ of the site is simpler and cleaner, allowing the content itself to shine.
If you want to experience all the new fun stuff, and have A Dribble of Ink look its best, make sure you’re using a modern browser like Chrome or Firefox. It’ll work just fine in Internet Explorer, but Microsoft are a little behind the curve in integrating the new HTML5 and CSS3 features.
In addition to this, I’ve switched away from my previous webhost (GoDaddy *shudder*) to a new host that is more friendly with WordPress, meaning general performance of A Dribble of Ink should improve immensely. I was aware of the lagginess and slow load-times of the site in recent months and have worked hard to fix this.
Feel free (and encouraged) to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section here. I hope you like the new design!
Yowza. Priest’s Clockwork Century novels have never lacked for attractive covers, but I think this one might take the cake. Instead of the traditional browns and greys that defined the previous covers, this time around we’re given a nice splash of blue and orange that really makes the whole image pop.
The art is by Cliff Nielsen, his first time working on the Clockwork Century novels (previous covers were painted by the equally awesome Jon Foster, and you might recognize him for the amazing covers he did for N.K. Jemisin’s The Inheritance Trilogy (like The Kingdom of Gods). I’m glad to see Nielsen getting even more exposure, he’s one of my favourite artists.
An a synopsis:
Rector “Wreck ‘em” Sherman was orphaned as a toddler in the Blight of 1863, but that was years ago. Wreck has grown up, and on his eighteenth birthday, he’ll be cast out out of the orphanage.
And Wreck’s problems aren’t merely about finding a home. He’s been quietly breaking the cardinal rule of any good drug dealer and dipping into his own supply of the sap he sells. He’s also pretty sure he’s being haunted by the ghost of a kid he used to know—Zeke Wilkes, who almost certainly died six months ago. Zeke would have every reason to pester Wreck, since Wreck got him inside the walled city of Seattle in the first place, and that was probably what killed him.Maybe it’s only a guilty conscience, but Wreck can’t take it anymore, so he sneaks over the wall.
The walled-off wasteland of Seattle is every bit as bad as he’d heard, chock-full of the hungry undead and utterly choked by the poisonous, inescapable yellow gas. And then there’s the monster. Rector’s pretty certain that whatever attacked him was not at all human—and not a rotter, either. Arms far too long. Posture all strange. Eyes all wild and faintly glowing gold and known to the locals as simply “The Inexplicables.”
In the process of tracking down these creatures, Rector comes across another incursion through the wall — just as bizarre but entirely attributable to human greed. It seems some outsiders have decided there’s gold to be found in the city and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get a piece of the pie unless Rector and his posse have anything to do with it.
Much to my shame, I haven’t actually read any of the Clockwork Century novels, so I can’t really comment on the synopsis above. Hopefully you’ve found it enjoyable/interesting, though!
The Inexplicables is set for release on November 12th, 2012.
In a new article in Entertainment Weekly, David Benioff, co-creator of Game of Thrones, the television series that launched George R.R. Martin and his A Song of Ice and Fire novels into super-stardom, confirmed that he and D.B. Weiss, the show’s other co-creator, were able to successfully convince HBO to increase the budget of season two by 15%, or, roughly, $9,000,000, enough to fun and extra one-and-a-half shows.
So, where’d the money go? Sorry to say, but you’re not going to get 11.5 episodes this season. Instead, you’ll be left with one heck of a rendition of ‘The Battle of Blackwater,’ the raucous conflict that provides the climax for A Clash of Kings. Most of the new money was funnelled into raising the production value and length of that scenario.
Benioff:
“This is season is about a country at war,” says Benioff, who along with Weiss, successfully lobbied HBO for a 15 percent budget increase to stage the second season. “And we felt like if we didn’t see the most important battle of this entire war onscreen, we’re going to shortchange viewers.”
But, really, are we surprised? HBO has been known to cut ties with series that begin to see inflating budgets *coughRomecough*, but with the roaring success of Game of Thrones, which has taken over not only geekdom but mainstream entertainment as well, you have to think that that nine million bucks will be quickly earned back, and will help to further cement the show as one of pop culture’s most successful literary/Fantasy adaptations. What remains to be seen is how the mainstream audience that bouys Game of Thrones‘ success will respond to A Clash of Kings, which takes the tighter, less action-packed narrative of A Game of Thrones and throws open the doors to more characters, more plot twists and a hell of a lot more violence and slaughter. Luckily, we only have to wait until April 1st to find out.
Now, back to my Game of Thrones Blu-rays. They ain’t going to watch themselves.
