Posts Categorized: News

News

More Details on Joe Abercrombie’s Next Trilogy, coming… sometime.

By Aidan Moher January 30th, 2013
Cover Art for Red Country by Joe Abercrombie (UK)

Map by Dave Senior and Daggers by Didier Graffetaption

From the horse’s mouth to your ears:

I’ve got a contract for three more books in the First Law world, and those will be a trilogy, and I have some rough ideas about what the content and characters might be.

Yippee. But, we already knew that, didn’t we? For about two years. In a recent ‘guest post’ (to use the term loosely, it was more of an open letter to his fans on his publisher’s website), Abercrombie addressed this trilogy, and some of the complications he’s been facing in writing it. He further describes those ideas about content and characters for the trilogy as ‘very rough.’ With his previous projects, Abercrombie has finished each book with a good idea of what was coming next, so that he was well into the writing of it by the time his previous book was published. He explains, however, that Red Country was a difficult book to write.

He says,

Red Country was pretty draining. Not that I’m not totally delighted with the results because, you know, brilliant book and all that, but I found it hard work. Felt burned out at times. Felt like I was having to reach a long way for new ideas, new ways of doing things. It was not, at all times, a joyous process. So now seems a good time to take a break, do some reading, do some thinking, recharge the creative batteries.

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News

Brandon Sanderson spills all of A Memory of Light‘s unrevealed secrets on Twitter

By Aidan Moher January 24th, 2013
A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Yesterday, Tor.com hosted one of their ongoing #TorChat twitter conversations, and invited Brandon Sanderson, co-author of A Memory of Light, the final volume of Robert Jordan’s long-running Wheel of Time series, to answer fan questions. And, well, it being Sanderson and Wheel of time, the questions were endless. And spoiler-filled. Egads, by the end of the chat, my virgin ears were stuffed full of more spoilers for A Memory of Light than I cared for. They were popping up on my twitter feed left and right. Ah well.

To save those of you still waiting to read the book from unwanted spoilers, I’ll hide them behind the jump. Read More »

News

Feeling Tentacle-y? Shortlist for ‘The Kitschies’ 2012 is Out!

By Aidan Moher January 23rd, 2013
The Kitschies 2012

The Kitschies are a non-profit association with the mission of encouraging and elevating the tone of the discussion of genre literature in its many forms.

You know how we all like to bitch and complain about how out of touch the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award voters and judging panels are? Well, that’s why awards like The Kitschies exist. They’ve a pure, well stated prerogative and judging criteria, they were created by two of the best people in in the Speculative Fiction community (Jared Shurin and Anne Perry, of Pornokitsch), and the panel of judges is always stellar. They exist, in many ways, as a balance against the long-time awards circuit. So, you should pay attention.

They released the short list for this year’s awards late last week, and it’s looking mighty swell. Read More »

News

On Hugo Eligibility & the Best of A Dribble of Ink ’12

By Aidan Moher January 18th, 2013
Hugo Awards 2013 Banner

As a fan writer, I’m personally eligible for the ‘Best Fan Writer’ award, but this space will not be devoted to me as a fan writer, but A Dribble of Ink as a publishing platform. I think I’ve published some pretty cool stuff, by some very talented fan writers, and I’d like to bring attention to some of those articles. 2012 was a big year for this blog, and I feel that several of the articles published here, and listed below, contributed positively to the ongoing discussion of Fantasy, Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction in general.

Below, for your consideration, is a collection of asides, reviews and articles published on A Dribble of Ink:

  • “Concerning Historical Authenticity in Fantasy, or Truth Forgives You Nothing” by Daniel Abraham

    The idea that the race, gender, or sexual roles of a given work of secondary world, quasi-medieval fantasy were dictated by history doesn’t work on any level. First, history has an almost unimaginably rich set of examples to pull from. Second, there are a wide variety of secondary world faux-medieval fantasies that don’t reach for historical accuracy and which would be served poorly by the attempt. And third, even in the works where the standard is applied, it’s only applied to specific, cherry-picked facets of the fantasy culture and the real world.

  • “It’s Amazing the Things We Know, That Are Actually Wrong” by Kate Elliott

    Let’s say my unexamined understanding of the European Middle Ages means I view the era as a monolithic block where the oppressed women of the time were in constant danger of having sexualized violence perpetrated on them, where women had no lives outside of their relationship with a man who gave them guardianship or money, and where they could barely be said to have personality because they were too oppressed and socially inferior and ignorant to have personalities. If this is what I think I know, then my attempts to read—much less write!—a fantasy story with women who do not fit those limited and limiting parameters will fail. Understandably so, since to write outside those assumptions means my normative ideas will have been transgressed. How unrealistic a more “diverse” story will seem to a reader or writer whose views of the past are mired in these sorts of errors. How flawed, even though it actually isn’t.

Read More »

News

Free Readin’, The Winds of Winter by George R.R. Martin

By Aidan Moher January 10th, 2013

A-Song-Of-Ice-And-Fire-2012-Calendar-a-song-of-ice-and-fire-31077687-900-900Over on his blog-that’s-not-a-blog-that’s-actually-just-a-blog, George R.R. Martin has released a new teaser chapter from The Winds of Winter, the sixth volume of his popular A Song of Ice and Fire series. There’s still no release date, but it’s a nice treat anyway. That said, I won’t read it until the book is released, but I know some people like these.

On the morning that she left the Water Gardens, her father rose from his chair to kiss her on both cheeks. “The fate of Dorne goes with you, daughter,” he said, as he pressed the parchment into her hand. “Go swiftly, go safely, be my eyes and ears and voice… but most of all, take care.”

“I will, Father.” She did not shed a tear. Arianne Martell was a princess of Dorne, and Dornishmen did not waste water lightly. It was a near thing, though. It was not her father’s kisses nor his hoarse words that made her eyes glisten, but the effort that brought him to his feet, his legs trembling under him, his joints swollen and inflamed with gout. Standing was an act of love. Standing was an act of faith.

He believes in me. I will not fail him.

Seven of them set out together on seven Dornish sand steeds. A small party travels more swiftly than a large one, but the heir to Dorne does not ride alone. From Godsgrace came Ser Daemon Sand, the bastard; once Prince Oberyn’s squire, now Arianne’s sworn shield. From Sunspear two bold young knights, Joss Hood and Garibald Shells, to lend their swords to his. From the Water Gardens seven ravens and a tall young lad to tend them. His name was Nate, but he had been working with the birds so long that no one called him anything but Feathers. And since a princess must have some women to attend her, her company also included pretty Jayne Ladybright and wild Elia Sand, a maid of ten-and-four.

What does this mean for The Winds of Winter? Who knows. But, if it’s your thing to read Martin’s books one trickled-out chapter at a time, have at ‘er.