A Dribble of Ink

The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan
Gollancz (UK): out now
Del Rey (USA): 20/01/09
Richard Morgan’s first fantasy novel is a gripping, taut and visceral story with some brilliant worldbuilding and terrific ideas. Expect more criticism of the explicit sex and violence when the book hits US stores, but this is a first-rate novel, although admittedly not Morgan’s best work.

Drood by Dan Simmons
Little, Brown (USA): 09/02/09
Quercus (UK): 05/03/09

Simmons’ new novel is a mammoth historical tome about the end of Charles Dickens’ life and his incomplete final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The SF&F elements are reportedly minor, but this should prove to be an interesting read regardless.

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
HarperCollins Voyager (UK): out now
Del Rey (USA): 10/03/09

The US publication of Peter Brett’s much-acclaimed debut novel, which was published last year under the title The Painted Man. A vivid and interesting premise and world give rise to a story with plenty of excellent twists and turns.

The City and the City by China Mieville
Macmillan (UK): 15/05/09
Del Rey (USA): 26/05/09

Mieville’s new book is a stand-alone noir thriller set in a fictional pair of eastern European cities. His publishers are extremely excited about this novel, naming it his best work to date. This is easily one of my most eagerly-awaited books of the year.

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
Tor (USA): 09/06/09

Sanderson’s new stand-alone following his acclaimed Mistborn trilogy has been developed in full public view on his website, with new full drafts of chapters and the entire book published upon completion so readers can follow the writing process. The published novel will likely be another big success for him, and raise awareness of his name ahead of the publication of the final Wheel of Time novel – which he is completing – at the end of the year.

Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton
Tor (UK): 12/06/09

SF&F blogger and commentator Newton’s debut novel and the first book in his Legends of the Red Sun series is already generating some pre-release buzz, and should be well worth a look when it comes out.

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
Gollancz (UK): 18/06/09
Orbit US: 29/07/09

Abercrombie’s follow-up to the First Law trilogy is a stand-alone set in the same world, although expect a few cross-overs from minor characters. It is a tale of mayhem, blood and murder set in the lands of Styria, and should be an interesting change of pace and focus from Abercrombie’s debut work.

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb
HarperCollins Voyager (UK): 01/07/09

Hobb returns to the world of the Six Duchies with this stand-alone novel set in the Liveship Traders mileu.

Shadowrise by Tad Williams
DAW (USA): November 2009
Orbit Books (UK): tbc

The epic conclusion to Williams’ Shadowmarch Trilogy.

It’s a question that comes up quite often — back in the 1960s a typical SF novel ran to 60,000 words (130-150 pages); one that topped 80,000 words was considered lengthy. But today, I’m more or less required by contract to hand in 100,000 word novels; and some of them are considerably longer. (At 145,000 words, “Accelerando” would have been considered a whopper back in the 1970s.) So what happened?

…

Until the early 1990s, mass market SF/F paperbacks in the US were primarily sold via grocery store racks, supplied by local distributors (400+ of them). The standard wire rack held books face-out, either against a wall or on a rotating stand. And that’s where the short form factor novel became established. Thinner books meant you could shove more of them into a rack that was, say, three inches deep. Go over half an inch thick, and you could no longer fit six paperbacks in a 3″ rack. And there was only so much rack space to go around.

During the inflationary 1970s and early 1980s, prices of just about everything soared. The publishers needed to increase their cover prices to compensate. But the grocery wholesalers who sold the books insisted “the product’s gotta weigh more if you want to charge more”. They weren’t in the book business, after all, so just as buffalo tomatoes got bigger, so did paperbacks. (Even though this meant there was less room to go round in the wire racks.) You can only get so much milage by using thicker paper and a bigger typeface; so they began looking for longer novels.

Anyway. I began selling novels (in 2001-02) just as the trend for longer novels peaked. I’m actually writing shorter books than my earlier ones — my last two finished manuscripts ran to 102,000 and 107,000 words respectively, whereas my first three SF novels ran to 118,000, 138,000 and 145,000 words each. (On the other hand, I’m not necessarily writing less. Two bloated 150,000 word behemoths take nearly as long to write as three relatively slim 100,000 word novels, if you’ve got your future projects planned out well in advance.)

The DGLA will be presented for the very first time in 2009 for the best Fantasy novel of 2008. The award will be given to a work written in the ‘spirit’ of the late, great David Gemmell, a true Master of Heroic Fantasy.

And, we want YOU – the readers who love the genre to VOTE to decide who makes the Short-list!