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What’re you reading this weekend?
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At long last, Unfettered, a fantasy anthology edited by Shawn Speakman, is available for purchase. So, please excuse me while I have a little fangasm.
If you’re unaware of the anthology, Unfettered has a history that stretches back to Speakman, owner of The Signed Page, being diagnosed with Hogdkin’s lymphoma in 2011. Uninsured (due to a past cancer diagnosis), Speakman did the only thing he could think of to deal with the monumental medical bills accrued during his cancer treatment: he called his friends, he made a book.
Oh, yeah… his friends include Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, Naomi Novik and Lev Grossman. Each author contributed an original short story to the anthology and, as the title suggests, were not restrained by an overall thematic structure as is often the case with anthologies.
Authors and stories included in the anthology:
– Foreword by Patrick Rothfuss
– Introduction: On Becoming Unfettered
– Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks
– How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss
– The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
– Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
– The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey
– Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
– The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
– The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
– Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
– Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
– Dogs by Daniel Abraham
– The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
– Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
– All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
– Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
– Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick
– Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
– In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik
– River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
– The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan
– The Duel by Lev Grossman
– Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
– The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman
The slam dunk here looks like Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson’s “River of Souls,” which is a deleted sequence from A Memory of Light, which explores the off-screen actions of Bao, the Wyld, who Wheel of Time fans might recognize by a different name. With Jordan’s Wheel of Time series concluding earlier this year, this on-the-cutting-room-floor excerpt from the series is one last chance to dip a toe into Jordan’s world.
I’ve not had a chance to read through the entire anthology, but a meander through its pages, along with the handful of stories I have read, Unfettered seems to live up to its promise of being one of the most comprehensive and exciting anthologies of mainstream fantasy released in years. The Table of Contents won’t set anything afire for pushing boundaries, but the (admittedly male-heavy) list of authors includes Sanderson, Carey, Abraham, and Rothfuss, and looks to provide a variety of short stories that is sure to please readers.
Unfettered can be purchased now from Grim Oak Press, Kobo, Nook and Kindle.
Disclaimer: I provided editorial feedback to Todd Lockwood on his story, Keeper of Memory, which appears in Unfettered.
Huzzah! I’m just going to pretend I didn’t see that bit where the elves are snowboarding through the trees and shooting arrows at the Dwarves as they escape in the barrels. Nothing to see here folks, move along!
Oh, and, Smaug. Yum.
So. Much. Sadistic. Pleasure.
By now, you’ve either seen last night’s episode, or seen the immense fallout from the events that happen at the end. A Song of Ice and Fire fans who read A Storm of Swords on release, have been waiting for last night’s episode for years. And, my oh my, it was delicious.
I should admit, I can’t take credit for the application of the animated gif as a reaction to Game of Thrones, I saw it on twitter. But, it’s perfect.
Art by Hunter Severn Bonyun
In an email from Sanderson (who has a very good reputation about communicating directly with his fans), the author confirmed that there are still plans for two more Mistborn trilogies. He suggests that the series will eventually be a ‘trilogy of trilogies.’ These do not include the “Wax and Wayne” books, though there are more of those coming, too. He says, “they’re not so much ‘prequel’ as they are a side venture into life between the first and second trilogies, but they will be used to provide some foreshadowing for the second trilogy.”
For the first time (I believe), Sanderson also described some early plot elements and setup for the next Mistborn trilogy:
As I envision it now, the second Mistborn trilogy, take place in a more technologically advanced version of the world, several hundred years later. They’ve progressed beyond steam technology to combustion engine technology, are building skyscrapers and that level of technology. It will follow the exploits of a team of Allomancers who are kind of like an Allomantic SWAT team, group of hybrid mercenary/deputized individuals who are brought in by the police to take out Allomancer criminals. The first book will deal with when they are called in to deal with a Mistborn serial killer. That’s how it starts. It will go bizarre from there, of course, but think guns, cars, skyscrapers, and Allomancers.
It’s amusing, and likely intentional, to see that Sanderson has swapped out the crooked band of criminals from the first Mistborn trilogy with a law enforcement-type group of mercenaries. Fans of Sanderson know that he’s halfway decent at writing enjoyable group chemistry, but the true selling point, in addition to his complex plotting, will be to see how he utilizes Allomancy in a semi-modern era. Readers had a taste of how Allomancy, a magic system that can manipulate metals, can affect and be affected by guns in The Alloy of Law, and it sounds like Sanderson plans to take this concept even further with the upcoming trilogies, as he advances the technology level in the world. in The Alloy of LawThe appearance of a mysterious character event at the end of The Alloy of Law is likely the first of these ‘foreshadowing’ moments that provide hints about the overall story arc of the upcoming trilogies.
There is no known release date for any of these novels.
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