Posts Tagged: Fantasy

RED COUNTRY by Joe AbercrombieStraight from the horse’s mouth:

I’m really, really gutted to report this, especially at such a late stage, but the US publication date for Red Country is dropping back three weeks to the 13th November.

UK publication remains unaffected.

The delay is unfortunate, especially at such a late point in the game, and doubly frustrating for American readers who were finally given a chance to read an Abercrombie novel just days after their UK and Canadian brethren, rather than the weeks that usually separate the releases of his novel in the different regions. Given that Gollancz was capable of publishing and releasing the novel on time, five days before the previous US release date, which cog in the great Orbit Books engine wasn’t sufficiently oiled. Abercrombie sheds some light on the delay, but it still seems like an unfortunate incident that could likely have been avoided:

[O]nce the manuscript was turned in it gradually became apparent that there had been one or more serious miscalculations or miscommunications somewhere and there wasn’t going to be enough time for proof-reading, setting, and the various necessary file jiggery-pokery to get the books printed and distributed across the US for the 23rd October publication date.

In any case, a three week wait won’t hurt anyone, and I’m sure the book will be mighty fine, regardless of the delay. Heck, it’ll likely be better, not being rush and all.

Also of note, it was recently revealed that Abercrombie has hit 1,000,000 novels sold worldwide. Impressive numbers.

The Hedge Knight by George R.R. MartinFrom Westeros.org, via Locus, we have news about the release date for the next ‘Dunk & Egg’ novella from George R.R. Martin. The ‘Dunk & Egg’ novellas, which currently consist of ‘The Hedge Knight,’ ‘The Sworn Sword,’ and ‘The Mystery Knight,’ are a series of stories following the titular characters, Duncan the Tall and Egg, on their various adventures and mis-adventures through the land of Westeros. The stories are set about 90 years before the events in Martin’s popular A Song of Ice and Fire novels, and often feature cameos by characters and events hinted at in the mainline novels.

Of the novella, Westeros says:

[The] fourth Dunk and Egg novella, which will follow Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg to Winterfell where the “she-wolves” are said to rule as Lord Stark lays dying.

As Westeros mentions, it will be interesting to see if, indeed, this short story/novella does intersect with one of my favourite scenes from A Dance with Dragons. It won’t be the first time that the path of Duncan the Tall has intersected with everybody’s favourite little greenseer.

It’s ain’t The Winds of Winter, but you’ll never catch this guy complaining about new George R.R. Martin short fiction coming available, especially when it’s tied to A Song of Ice and Fire.

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb, Art by John HoweRecently, a listing appeared on Amazon.co.uk for a novel called ‘Fitz Fool 1 Hb’ by Robin Hobb. That title refers to the two characters at the center of her most popular novels, the Farseer trilogy and the Tawny Man trilogy, and had her most ardent fans all up in a tizzy about her potential return to their tale. Though she’s been writing in that setting for the last several years, those stories, notably The Rain Wilds Chronicles, are set far to the south of the Six Duchies, where fans first fell in love her world and characters, and both Fitz and the Fool have been long absent from her tales.

It looks like this is about to change, though Hobb is rightly upset that the news broke. Hobb, on her newsgroup:

With great reluctance, I am addressing this thread, as it simply won’t go away, I suppose.

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb, Art by John Howe

The accidental listing on Amazon.co.uk is extremely premature. I’d say very extremely except that’s a misuse of adverbs. I’m not blaming anyone for being curious about what the listing means! I just wish it hadn’t happened at all.

Clearly, for some time, my publishers have wanted me to write a continuation of the Fitz and Fool story . It was my hope to work on such a story slowly, carefully and very privately. For years. Because if I do it badly or hastily, I will have ended my career.

[…]

But it’s out there now and there’s no dodging it.

I’m going to avoid posting about this. I’m not going to reply to any queries about it. Not because I’m trying to be a diva or an artiste, but because I need to focus on writing, not talking about writing. I think I’ve posted here before about what I see as the difference between Being a Writer and Writing. I’m not going to Be a Writer about this. There will be no hints, page counts, updates, teasers, or warnings that A Main Character Will Die! I know that many other writers use things like that to build excitement and increase internet chatter. But I don’t. For me, writing is like working on a long complicated math equation. If someone in the room is reciting phone numbers or saying the times table out loud, everything gets scrambled. So I’m going to insulate myself.

Fitz and the Fool are two of the most beloved Fantasy characters of the past twenty-plus years, and its understandable that Hobb wants to explore their stories privately, ensuring that they’re as good as they can possibly be, which takes time (just ask her friend, Mr. Martin). In the meantime, I hope that her fans can sit with proper patience and allow Ms. Hobb the time and energy she needs to finish the books to a standard she is happy with.

The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks

On release date for The Blinding Knife, the second volume of Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer series, the author, through the Orbit Books blog, has news about a new addition to the series, a fourth (and supposedly final) volume to the series:

I’m happy to tell you that the Lightbringer Series will be four books. (No, don’t worry, I’m not floating down the Never-Ending Series River, though yes, I do feel the current!) I was always torn between three books and four for this series, and as I got working on book three, I realized I was going to have to cut way too much great stuff to fit the story into three books, so Orbit and I have agreed to a fourth book. Progress on the next one has been fantastic.

While it’s always disconcerting to hear that a Fantasy series ‘needs’ to be expanded, in light of the ‘Never-Ending Series River’ that Weeks mentions, especially a successful one, like Weeks’, I’m more confident than usual about this one. Weeks has proven through five novels that he crams more content, character development, action and plot into each volume of his series than most similar authors, so I don’t forsee a problem with turgid, meandering volumes that have ruined other Epic Fantasy series. And, hey, a fourth Lightbringer just means more fun for the rest of us, as long as it doesn’t get out of hand.

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Tomorrow marks the release of The Blinding Knife, the second volume of Brent Weeks’ The Lightbringer series. It also happens to be one of my favourite novels of 2012, and I’d love for it, and the series in general, to make it into the hands of as many readers as possible. Thanks to Orbit Books, Weeks’ publisher, the first three chapters of The Black Prism, the first volume of The Lightbringer series, are available to devour, free of charge.

Read an excerpt from The Black Prism on the Orbit Books website.

It’s not as good as a free eBook, but it’s a good way to check out Weeks’ work. If you like what you see, keep an eye out for my upcoming review of The Blinding Knife, and I’ll tell you just why I fell so in love with Weeks’ novel.