Yum. I nabbed these from Irene Gallo’s blog, and I’m wondering how I never ran across them before. I’m always a fan of Stephan Martiniere‘s art, and Jamie Stafford-Hill’s design work is the perfect companion. Just wonderful.
When Blake Charlton showed up on last week’s Functional Nerds podcast, I just knew I had to be on. Not for any sort of rational reason. Just that Blake found a soapbox from which to be witty, and I had to outdo him!
So, it goes without saying, I was rather chuffed when Patrick Hester and John Anealio asked me to appear on the ninth episode of The Functional Nerds, which is quickly becoming one of my goto podcasts every week (even before I appeared on it!)
The three of us shoot the shit for about a hour and fifteen minutes and cover everything from Terry Goodkind’s crazy antics to Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela, my sad lack of knowledge of the Canadian comic book industry and Star Wars to some other bloggers and why I’m intensely jealous of them, my new Kobo eReader to upcoming novels we’re looking forward to (like The Last Page by Anthony Huso and Swords and Dark Magic, edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan). I had an absolute blast and hope to be back again!
So, what are you waiting for?
From Abercrombie’s blog:
So it is with great regret I have to inform you that, following a meeting with my editor and various whip-and-sword-wielding figures at Orion made from fire and shadow, we have decided, reluctantly, that we have to move the publication date of The Heroes.
But do not weep a river of tears quite yet, my friends, for the publication date is coming forward.
Yes, indeed, the UK hardcover of The Heroes will now be available on January 20th 2011, and not a moment before. If any among you were minded to pre-order what will undoubtedly be THE fantasy release of that day, you could do so here.
The US hardcover release is still currently scheduled for March 7th, but I’ll let you know if that changes in the light of these developments. Bear in mind that the management take no responsibility for any future disappointing delays in publication dates, as publication is a fickle business, and etc. etc.
Well, well, would you look at that! Lucky buggers in the UK are going to get their grubby hands on The Heroes a bit sooner than expected. Mighty fine news! Now, if only we could get a look at the UK cover art….
Caliph Howl carried a thin paper-wrapped package across the well-tended lawns of the High College. Today was the day of his revenge.
Tattered shadows slid back and forth under a canopy of danson trees. The old stone buildings of Desdae warmed themselves in the sun like ancient mythic things, encrusted with gargoyles and piled with crippling tons of angled slate. Thirty of the buildings belonged to the township. The other eighteen belonged to the college. Two camps with an uneasy truce watched each other across the lake that separated them; collectively known by one name, Desdae: the gray hamlet of higher learning that crouched at the foothills of the mighty Healean Range.
Behind the campus’ thick walls, Caliph knew theory-haunted professors wasted away, frisking books for answers, winnowing grains of truth, pulling secrets like teeth from deep esoteric sockets. This was a quiet war zone where holomorphs and panomancers cast desperately for new ideas, compiling research with frenetic precision.
Desdae might be far away from the mechanized grit of cities like Isca, it might be quiet and sullen, but it wasn’t simple. It had small-town villains and small-town gossip and, he thought, small-town skullduggery as well.
Caliph tugged the library’s massive door and cracked the seal on the tomb-like aromas: dust, buttery wood polish and ancient books.
Caliph scanned for the librarian and slunk smoothly into the aisles.
Yesterday, we had a look at the cover and synopsis for The Last Page, and today we’ve got a taste of the novel itself. You can read the first chapter of The Last Page (heh, you see what I did there?) on Huso’s website.
With the concluding volume of her The Rain Wilds Chronicles kinda-duology finally out in all regions (several weeks passed between the UK release and this week’s North American release), it was only a matter of time before we started hearing about her next project.
From Robin Hobb’s LiveJournal:
The Rain Wilds Chronicles was written as a single manuscript, and then divided into two volumes for publication. Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven are those two books.
My next published book will be a collection of stories featuring shorter works by both Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm.
The untitled book I am working on now picks up the tale of the Tarman expedition in search of Kelsingra. It’s my work in progress and threatens to be a long book!
If Hobb’s already referring to it as a long book, it’s not a stretch to imagine that it may be split into two volumes, like Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven. It should also be noted that Hobb’s next book scheduled for release is a collection of short fiction written under both ‘Robin Hobb’ and ‘Megan Lindholm’ (her real name), so we likely won’t see this untitled Rain Wilds novel for a while yet.
- Hugo Award
Winner
- About Aidan Moher
- Bibliography