Posts Categorized: News

News

An Aside (Meme) | I’ve been Tagged

By Aidan Moher June 19th, 2008

Bloody Larry. As if the controversial ringmaster of the OF Blog of the Fallen, wasn’t already the bane of my existence, he’s gone ahead and tagged me in one of those internet memes that people either love or hate. But, no matter my feelings on them, I can never resist the opportunity to take part. The meme this time around is:

Grab the nearest book and turn to page 123. Write down the fifth sentence, post it, and then tag 5 others to do this.

My Book: Riding the Unicorn by Paul Kearney.

Presents.

Yep, that’s it. A one word sentence. What are the odds. Thank you, Mr. Kearney, for saving me some pride on this day.

Tagged:

– The Book Swede
– Grasping for the Wind
– Speculative Horizons
– Fantasy Debut
– Jumpdrives and Cantrips

P.S. I’m kidding about Larry, he rocks my world, even if we are polar opposites in taste!

News

An Aside | SFX’s Top 100 Authors

By Aidan Moher June 17th, 2008

SFX Magazine, a well known UK publication focused on Science Fiction and Fantasy literature, recently published a list of the top 100 authors, as voted on by their readers. Thanks to Adam from The Wertzone for the heads-up!

The top ten looks like this:

  • 10. Robert Rankin
  • 9. HG Wells
  • 8. Philip K. Dick
  • 7. Iain M. Banks
  • 6. Isaac Asimov
  • 5. George RR Martin
  • 4. Douglas Adams
  • 3. Neil Gaiman
  • 2. JRR Tolkien
  • 1. Terry Pratchett

I think this is the first mass-market list that doesn’t have Tolkien at number one, which is interesting itself. I’m glad to see Neil Gaiman so high, and it’s quite impressive to see George R.R. Martin topping the list as the highest non-British author. It’s also interesting to see how many of those authors don’t write epic fantasy; those types of authors usually tend to top lists like this.

The full list is found after the jump.
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News

An Aside | Tobias Buckell Working on Halo?

By Aidan Moher June 17th, 2008

Hmm, this is an interesting turn of events. Tobias Buckell, author of the upcoming Sly Mongoose, has been hinting at his current project for a while now, reffering to it as the ubiquitous ‘Project X.’ Well, thanks to Luke Smith over at bungie.net (the official web site for Halo developers Bungie) the beans have been spilled.

Halo: The Cole Protocol will be the sixth novel set in the Halo Universe. Tobias S. Buckell, author of Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin will pen the novel, which reveals the location of the Spartan Gray Team and “takes readers into an unexplored conflict of the Human-Covenant War where unlikely alliances are formed and shattered…”

Bungie expatriate and Microsoft’s Franchise Development Director Frank O’Connor had this to say on the upcoming book, which is slated for a Fall 2008 release, ” Buckell continues an excellent tradition that’s now a solid aspect of the Halo novels, bringing a fresh new perspective to a limitless universe and bringing his prodigious writing talents to bear in ways that will surprise and engage fans of the series and newcomers alike.”

I’m not really one for tie-in novels, and I’m not even really all that familiar with Halo (despite being an avid videogamer), but Buckell’s writing is so damn good that I’m at least intrigued by this.

Buckell himself comments on the news HERE.

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News

An Aside | What’s Next for Erikson?

By Aidan Moher June 13th, 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?

News

An Aside | The Monarchies of God Omnibus

By Aidan Moher June 10th, 2008

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!