Posts Tagged: Fantasy

News

Shawn Speakman announces Unfettered, feat. Rothfuss, Sanderson, Abraham and many more

By Aidan Moher April 13th, 2012
Unfettered, edited by Shawn Speakman

GRIM OAK PRESS TO PUBLISH UNFETTERED FANTASY ANTHOLOGY

Genre’s Best Writers to Contribute Against Fellow Writer’s Cancer Debt

SEATTLE, WA — Grim Oak Press, a new publishing company formed by webmaster and freelance writer Shawn Speakman, will be producing Unfettered, a fantasy short story anthology by some of the best writers in the genre, for a very good cause.

In 2011, Speakman was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He completed the recommended chemotherapy, but lacking health insurance, the treatment left him with almost $200,000 of financial debt. At the suggestion of New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks, and with the help of nearly two dozen authors who call Speakman a friend, Grim Oak Press will publish the short story anthology Unfettered, with the proceeds helping to alleviate the medical bills.

Authors contributing include: Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Naomi Novik, Brandon Sanderson, RA Salvatore, Tad Williams, Jacqueline Carey, Daniel Abraham, Peter V.Brett, Robert VS Redick, Peter Orullian, Todd Lockwood, Carrie Vaughn, Blake Charlton, Kevin Hearne, Mark Lawrence, David Anthony Durham, Jennifer Bosworth, Lev Grossman, Steven Erikson, and Shawn Speakman

Some of the authors will be writing short stories set in the fantasy worlds that made them famous. Other writers will be creating entirely new tales. The contribution by so many noteworthy authors of bestselling titles speaks to the generosity found within the science fiction and fantasy communities.

Unfettered will be published as a trade hardcover as well as a leather-bound, signed and numbered edition limited to 500 copies and autographed by all contributors. Speakman will also publish his full-length urban/high fantasy novel, The Dark Thorn, through Grim Oak Press to further offset treatment expenses.

Orders are currently being accepted for The Dark Thorn, which is tentatively scheduled to publish in August 2012. Unfettered will be released by early 2013.

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If you’d like more information about Grim Oak Press or wish to set up an interview about its projects, please email Shawn Speakman at [email protected]

For anyone with even a vague interest in Epic/High/Secondary World/Traditional/Whatever Fantasy, that’s a monstrous who’s-who list of the biggest names in the industry at the moment.
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News

Read an excerpt from Orb, Sceptre, Throne by Ian Cameron Esslemont

By Aidan Moher April 12th, 2012
ORB, SCEPTRE, THRONE, a MALAZAN novel by Ian Cameron Esslemont

In the nameless shanty town rambling westward of Darujhistan, an old woman squatted in front of her shack carving a stick beneath a night sky dominated by the slashing lurid green banner of the Scimitar. Her hair was a wild bush about her head tied with lengths of string, ribbon, beads, and twists of leather. Her bare feet where they poked out beneath her layered skirts were as dark as the earth the toes gripped. She droned to herself in a language no one understood.

An old woman living alone in a decrepit hut was nothing unusual for the shanty town, peopled as it was by the poorest, most brokendown of the lowest class of tannery workers, sewer cleaners and garbage haulers of Darujhistan. Every second shack seemed occupied by an old widow or grandmother, the menfolk dying off early as they do everywhere – the men claiming this proves they do all the hard work, and the women knowing it’s because men aren’t tough enough to endure being old.

And so this woman had lived in her squalid hut for as long as anyone could remember and none remarked upon it, except for all the surrounding old widows and grandmothers who amongst themselves knew her as ‘that crazy old woman’.

Squatting in the mud before her hut she brought the thin stick she was carving close to eyes clouded by milky cataracts and studied the intricate tracery of curve and line that ran end to end. She crooned to herself, ‘Almost, now. Almost.’ Then she glanced fearfully, and rather blindly, to the starry night sky and its intruding alien banner, muttering, ‘Almost now. Almost.’

Malazan fans are wide and plenty these days, so surely there’re a few people out there who will ravenously gobble up this excerpt from Ian Cameron Esslemont’s bizarrely titled Orb, Sceptre, Throne, the latest instalment in the overarching Malazan story. Me? I’m not one of them, for various reasons.

You can find the excerpt from Orb, Sceptre, Throne on Tor.com.

News

A Song of Ice and Fire meets Minecraft

By Aidan Moher April 11th, 2012
A Song of Ice and Fire meets Minecraft

A Song of Ice and Fire‘s Westeros meets Minecraft, births and awesome video. I don’t have much to saw other than, “Awesome.” Brandon the Builder would be proud (and probably perplexed by the computer running Minecraft.)

There’s a great video after the jump.

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Feature Article

Thoughts on the 2012 Hugo Award Shortlist

By Aidan Moher April 10th, 2012

Hugo Awards LogoI might be late to the party here, but a few people have asked for my thoughts on this year’s Hugo ballot. A similar article last year inspired much conversation, particularly with regards to “Best Fanzine” and “Best Fan Writer.” So, then, here goes:

Bold is my choice of winner
Asterisk (*) indicates that they were included on my ballot

Best Novel

  • Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
  • Deadline by Mira Grant
  • A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin*
  • Embassytown by China Miéville
  • Among Others by Jo Walton*

I’m happy to see Leviathan Wakes on the list. It didn’t make my nominations, but only because of the last minute addition of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (which I’m sorry, but not surprised, to see miss the final ballot). It’s a fun science fiction adventure with noir undertones. Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck are both great guys and I’m excited for the work they’ve been doing recently. I wouldn’t be upset to see this win, despite it just missing my own ballot. Also interesting to note is that before Leviathan Wakes, Franck was best known as the personal assistant of George R.R. Martin, who also has a novel on the list. Has there ever been a case of an author and their PA being nominated in the same category at the Hugos? I’d love to be at breakfast the morning after the awards if “Corey” wins the award. Talk about awkward. ;)
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Art

Cover Art for The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks

By Aidan Moher April 6th, 2012
THE BLINDING KNIFE by Brent Weeks

You know, hooded figure aside, that’s pretty darn sexy and much preferable to the photorealistic cover for The Black Prism, while still retaining the same feeling for the series. This isn’t the final cover, but gives us a good idea of the direction that Orbit Books is taking with the series. I like it. Great colours. I’ll be sure to post the final cover when I get my hands on it.

Thoughts?