AUTHOR INFORMATION: Richard (K) Morgan is the acclaimed author of five science fiction novels including the 2008 Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning “Black Man/Thirteen”, “Woken Furies”, “Market Forces”, “Broken Angels”, and “Altered Carbon”, a New York Times Notable Book that also won the Philip K. Dick Award. Both “Altered Carbon” and “Market Forces” have been optioned for film adaptation with the latter novel a winner of the 2005 John W. Campbell Award. Richard has also written two six-issue comic book miniseries starring the Marvel character, Black Widow. “The Steel Remains” is the author’s first fantasy novel.
PLOT SUMMARY: Ringil Eskiath, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap, is a legend to all who don't know him and a twisted degenerate to those that do. A veteran of the wars against the Scaled Folk, he makes a living from telling credulous travelers of his exploits. Until one day he is pulled away from his life and into the depths of the Empire's slave trade, where he will discover a secret infinitely more frightening than the trade in lives...
Egar Dragonbane, a Majak steppe-nomad and one-time fighter for the Empire, is now the Skaranak clanmaster. Pining for the past, Egar finds himself entangled in a small-town battle between common sense and religious fervor. But perhaps there is some truth behind the tribe’s gods, the Sky Dwellers…
PLOT SUMMARY: Ringil Eskiath, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap, is a legend to all who don't know him and a twisted degenerate to those that do. A veteran of the wars against the Scaled Folk, he makes a living from telling credulous travelers of his exploits. Until one day he is pulled away from his life and into the depths of the Empire's slave trade, where he will discover a secret infinitely more frightening than the trade in lives...
Egar Dragonbane, a Majak steppe-nomad and one-time fighter for the Empire, is now the Skaranak clanmaster. Pining for the past, Egar finds himself entangled in a small-town battle between common sense and religious fervor. But perhaps there is some truth behind the tribe’s gods, the Sky Dwellers…
Archeth, an abandoned 207-year-old Kiriath half-breed advisor to Jhiral Khimran II of the Yhelteth Empire, is sent to investigate a demonic incursion against the Empire's borders. What she uncovers is evidence of a terrifying new enemy that makes the Scaled Folk seem like children…
Anti-social, anti-heroic, and decidedly irritated, all three of these veterans of the War against the Scaled Folk are about to be called upon to fight again for a world that owes them everything and has given them nothing…
CLASSIFICATION: Even though “The Steel Remains” is Richard (K) Morgan’s first attempt at fantasy, the book has a lot in common with the author’s science fiction work including in-depth characterization, dynamic prose, provocative themes like sexuality and race, and excessive amounts of vulgar profanity, graphic violence and explicit sex. Of the fantasy aspect, “The Steel Remains” blends old-school sword-and-sorcery with modern sensibilities and a dash of gallows humor irony for a dark and gritty mixture that reminded me of a cross between Joe Abercrombie, Michael Moorcock’s Elric novels, Conan, David Gemmell and Glen Cook’s The Black Company. Recommended for fans of Richard (K) Morgan and anyone who likes their fantasy harsh, cynical, bloody and extreme…
FORMAT/INFO: Page count (ARC Version) is 409 pages divided over thirty-two chapters and an epilogue. Narration is in the third-person and alternates between three main protagonists in Ringil Eskiath, Egar Dragonbane, and Archeth. Poltar Wolfeye and Grace-of-Heaven Milacar are also given narratives, but their roles are minor. Story is mostly self-contained, but “The Steel Remains” is Book One of a trilogy which continues in “The Cold Commands” (TBA 2009).
August 7, 2008 marks the UK Hardcover publication of “The Steel Remains” via Gollancz. A paperback version is expected from Gollancz in November 2008, while the US Hardcover version of “The Steel Remains” will be published by Del Rey in January 2009.
ROBERT’S TAKE: Fantasy and horror literature will always be my first loves, but recently I’ve become a big fan of science fiction and much of the credit goes to author Richard (K) Morgan who blew me away with “Altered Carbon” and has since become a personal favorite with his consistently excellent reads. So when I heard that Richard was writing a fantasy trilogy, how could I not be excited!?! And despite the buildup, the overwhelmingly positive reviews, and my own high expectations, “The Steel Remains” delivers…
What I like about Richard (K) Morgan is that he’s a jack-of-all-trades. In other words, he can do it all including stylish prose, complex characterization, detailed worldbuilding, sharp dialogue and intelligent plotting. Plus, he has a vivid imagination, can write incredible cinematic-quality action sequences, and his novels not only provide balls to the wall entertainment, but can also be rewardingly thought-provoking. Thankfully, most of these qualities have been transferred to “The Steel Remains”, most notably the characterization which is the driving force behind the novel. Specifically, Ringil Eskiath, Egar Dragonbane, and Archeth Indamaninarmal are the heart & soul of “The Steel Remains” and much of the book is spent defining these characters and their flaws with flashbacks and insightful ‘conversations’ that they have with their selves: “Were you a better man then, Gil? Or just a better liar? Your arse cheeks and belly were tighter, anyway. Your shoulders were bigger and harder. Perhaps that was enough, for them and for you.” As strong as the characterization was though, I did have a few issues. One was that all three characters possess strikingly similar narrative voices which I thought made little sense, particularly Archeth who is a semi-immortal halfbreed. Another was the imbalanced character development with Ringil receiving much more attention in the book than either Archeth or Egar. And lastly, I thought Poltar’s narrative felt out of place compared to the rest of the novel.
As far as the world-building, Richard crafts a fully-fledged fantasy world complete with different races (Kiriath, Scaled Folk, Aldrain, Helmsmen, etc), history (Gallows Gap), societies (Trelayne, the Yhelteth Empire, Majak, Naom), customs, religions (the Sky Dwellers, the Revelation, Marsh idol worship), and even drugs like krinzanz, but the overall result is a mixed bag. The problem is that Richard will describe certain objects or places in great detail like Ringil’s famous Kiriath blade, Ravensfriend, or the city of Ishlin-ichan, but gloss over larger concepts like the Kiriath, the war with the Scaled Folk, or the Revelation.
Creatively, Richard utilizes a number of familiar fantasy conventions such as the barbarian-type warrior, dragons, slavery, portentous warnings, ghosts and the divine interfering with mortal lives, but at the same time the author does leave his own stamp on the genre with the zombie-birthing corpsemites, the alien akyia, the nightmarish Helmsmen, the dwenda and The Ageless Realm, some of which showcase Richard’s science fiction roots :) Speaking of leaving his own stamp, the over-the-top violence, language and sex has already been widely publicized, but it’s worth mentioning again as well as the characters’ sexuality—Ringil is gay, Archeth is a lesbian, and Egar just likes having sex period—and the novel’s various modern flourishes. Action scenes meanwhile, are mainly of the sword & blade variety and are breathless in their execution, whereas themes include everything from heroism to slavery, religion and so on…
The one area that I was disappointed in was the story. Basically, “The Steel Remains” is a character-driven novel, so not only does it take a while for the plot to get moving, but the pacing is a bit slow and suffers from a few predictable contrivances like when the three characters converge at Ennishmin. Another problem with the story is that it’s not very complex, especially compared to Richard’s previous efforts, and the ‘twists’ in the plot aren’t very hard to predict, although the one regarding “a dark lord will rise” is undeniably cool :)
In the end, aside from my disappointment with the story and a few minor issues, I had a blast reading “The Steel Remains”! After all, the book is bold, entertaining as hell, tailor-made for adult readers, and is written by Richard (K) Morgan :) Which is really what it all comes down to. Because if you’re a fan of fantasy and of Richard (K) Morgan, how can you not love “The Steel Remains”…
LIVIU’S TAKE: I've been a big fan of Richard Morgan’s ultra-violent, ultra-dark and quite explicit novels since his extraordinary debut “Altered Carbon”. Though in his last novels the repetitions of themes, plot and gimmicks became a bit tiresome, in “The Steel Remains” Mr. Morgan moves to epic/adventure fantasy and reinvigorates said themes. While longtime readers of Richard Morgan will be less surprised at the twists and turns of this novel because of the echoes of previous works, there is a lot of new stuff here and the three main characters—especially Ringil who gets the most face time—are as engaging as ever in Mr. Morgan's newest effort.
Not for the squeamish or easily offended—explicit descriptions of torture, mutilations, mostly homosexual sex both with humans and human-like aliens/wraiths, and repeated profanities fill up the book—“The Steel Remains” is a very dense novel, gripping and with a reasonable resolution of its original issues. But as with most first novels in a series, the larger issues are just now starting to impact the characters.
Of the three main characters, Ringil, with his magical/superior alien-tech sword Ravensfriend—moonlighting as tourist attraction in an obscure marginal village at the edge of the League—is the best defined. Since the traumatic events in his teens when his best friend and lover died a gory death by impalement in a cage at the hands of the “moral guardians” of the League for unnatural acts with Ringil—while our hero is spared being of a noble family—Ringil is a man consumed by fury. To his surprise he becomes a hero in the war against the Scaled Folk but only the powerful influence of the alien Kiriath and especially of his friend Lady Archeth—a half Kiriath, half human warrior/mage/scientist—keep him sane and from committing atrocities against whomever stands in his path. Barely...
So no wonder that at the end of the war Ringil looks for solace in obscurity, but when his lady mother requests his aid in saving a cousin from debt slavery, since his powerful father refused to get involved, he gets caught back up in the thick of things.
Meanwhile, the Kiriath abandoned humanity, but Lady Archeth could not follow due to her human heritage—the journey, while very dangerous for pure-blooded Kiriath, is fatal for those with human blood—so she plays the courtier/ magical/tech adviser to the current emperor that she does not like or appreciate that much. Doubly damned in the eyes of the official Revelation priesthood—for being half-alien and for her sexual orientation, though I think that being a powerful woman in a patriarchal society does not help either—only the emperor stands between her and the cleansing fire of the Citadel. So she has to keep showing her worth to the young emperor, who among other things, likes to marginalize almost anyone powerful from his father's reign...
The third main character, Egar the Dragonbane—slayer of a dragon—of the Majak “barbarian” clans has been a chieftain of one such for seven years since the end of the wars, and he kind of hates it, missing the Empire, civilization, sophisticated women, books and shows, while doing his best to forget those memories in girls, drinking and herds. When his chief shaman and his older brothers decide that the clan is better off without Egar, one way or the other, he becomes reunited again with his two friends from the war for one more desperate stand...
The typical Morgan touches that I come to expect in his novels are here and they are perfectly exemplified in “The Liberalizations” laws in the League that made debt slavery legal and moved the underground slave commerce with the neighboring on and off allied/enemy Empire to free and legal trade, while Mr. Morgan’s contempt and detestation of the powerful trampling on the powerless resonate from almost every page of the novel.
Highly recommended…
NOTE: For more reviews of “The Steel Remains”, please visit the following: Adam Roberts, Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, Joe Abercrombie, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, Sandstorm Reviews, SFF World, The Book Bag, The Book Swede, The Genre Files, The Wertzone
BONUS FEATURE — Richard (K) Morgan Q&A:
Q: As most everyone should know by now, "The Steel Remains" is your first fantasy novel. Was writing a fantasy novel harder, easier or about the same compared to writing science fiction?
Richard: Hard to gauge really. It was certainly different; in places it was harder going, yes; for example, the logistics of travel in a fantasy universe are more rigorous than in SF. In Black Man, I could get my characters from one side of the globe to the other in forty-five minutes on a sub-orbital. In fantasy, journeys of any distance have to be done on horseback or by sail, and it can take days, weeks or even months to get anywhere at all. That applies its own limits, obviously. But the trick is not to let that kind of thing throw you; instead you look for ways to turn it to your advantage. One of the nice things about long, uneventful journeys is that they allow space for character development, something which you don’t have to actually mention, except in retrospect. In one case in The Steel Remains, one of my characters gets a few weeks of road time to work out what’s been done to him and he comes to the next chapter already equipped with the benefit of that thinking time. You drop in the fact, retrospectively, and bang—you’re off and running.
On the other side of the balance, the good thing about fantasy, the thing that was definitely easier for me, was the relaxation on motivation and coherent logic. The kind of SF I write is fairly close to contemporary reality, which means characters’ actions have to make some kind of sense, at least within the context of human behaviour as we understand it. But in fantasy, these constraints are loosened considerably. The actions of gods and demons don’t have to make any human sense. Other planes of reality don’t have to follow any logic we’d recognize. That gives you the chance to really spread the wings on your imagination, really cut loose and do whatever the fuck weird stuff comes into your head. That part, I’ve had a blast with.
Q: Since you've now written both fantasy & SF, what do you feel are the differences between the genres, and why is there such a great divide between the two in marketing, fan support, etc?
Richard: It beats me, it really does.
I mean, just to start with, I think the divide in terms of subject matter is largely illusory. For instance, how would you classify Moorcock’s High History of the Runestaff? At one level, it’s classic sword and sorcery, but it’s also stuffed full of sentient machines and ruined chunks of technology from an earlier age of what was clearly scientific sophistication way beyond our own. You get essentially that same scenario, though more subtly done, in Gene Wolfe’s Books of the New Sun, in M. John Harrison’s Viriconium series and, I’m told, in C. J. Cherryh’s Chronicles of Morgaine. And that’s before we even touch stuff like China Mieville or Hal Duncan. Are these books SF? How do you decide? And more to the point, who fucking cares? I just don’t get this whole thing of reading exclusively in one genre. It seems pitifully self-limiting, like a little kid refusing to eat anything except chips. If I track back through what I’ve read in the last few months it includes a Steve Erikson Malazan novel (Deadhouse Gates, my first), Charlie Huston’s The Shotgun Rule (contemporary noir thriller), mainstream literature like Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (though that’s a weird fucking book, with elements that cross right over into fantasy and horror) and Pynchon’s Mason and Dixon (which, like most Pynchon, defies meaningful categorization), a golden age SF classic (Pohl and Kornbluth’s The Space Merchants), Hal Duncan’s Ink, a re-read of Robert Sabbag’s cocaine trade classic Snowblind, Karen Joy Fowler’s Sister Moon (no idea what you’d classify that as!) and the graphic novel Shooting War (which you could argue is SF, since it takes place in a putative 2011). Next up on the bedside table is Michael Chabon’s Yiddish Policeman’s Union (we’re all still arguing about what that is exactly) and Don Winslow’s The Power of The Dog (Ellroy-style crime novel about the drug wars). Like Heinlein once said, specialization is for insects. Genre boundaries really don’t mean much to me—I’ll read anything if it looks like it might be interesting or well written, and I don’t really understand people who won’t.
Q: Well said! Now last I heard, "The Steel Remains" is set for a January 20, 2009 US release through Del Rey. Do you think the delay between the UK & US release will hinder, aid, or make little difference when it finally hits stores stateside, and will you be making any changes to the US version?
Richard: No—aside from the usual spelling and vocabulary conventions (colour-color, pavement-sidewalk etc)—the two editions will be exactly the same. And I don’t think it’ll make a huge difference that the book is coming out later. A few diehard fans I’ve heard from are going to buy the UK edition because they don’t want to wait, but generally I think people can live with the extra six months. Actually, it’s only with Black Man/Thirteen that the two editions of anything I’ve written have come close to simultaneous release on both sides of the Atlantic. Prior to that, my American editions were all coming out at least six months behind the UK dates, and again, apart from a few diehard fans, no one seemed to mind the wait. So I don’t really think it’s going to be much of an issue.
Q: Recently you were at the center of a couple of controversies—first the article you wrote for Pete Crowther's Postscripts anthology HERE on "endemic factionalism in SFF", and then a debate about 'hype' on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist HERE. I'm sure you're probably tired of both of these topics, but now that things have settled down a little, do you have anything to add about either subject?
Richard: Only that I was stunned at the strength of feeling in both cases. In the case of the factionalism article, I couldn’t believe there’d be such a strong reaction (both positive and negative) to what was intended as an off-hand rant about something that seemed to me self-evident. What you have to remember about that article is that it wasn’t some bad-tempered blog crusade on my part—Pete came to me for the piece, and I put it together following his suggestion that I “have a rant” about some aspect of the genre I was interested in. At the time, I didn’t think I was saying anything very radical and I was quite taken aback when Pete wouldn’t publish it. I only posted the article on my site because, first it seemed a shame to waste it, and second it was what Pete himself had suggested I do. I really didn’t expect anything to come of it other than most people who read the piece grunting and nodding in agreement and then turning the page.
Instead, I was mobbed with e-mail from people saying how glad they were someone had come out and said this—which was very nice, obviously, but as I said, genuinely unexpected. And of course then there was this general (though admittedly rather attenuated) grumbling undertone across some of the genre sites, something along the lines of Leave us alone, we LIKE bitching and squabbling. Well, fair enough, it’s a free internet, I guess—but I’m really not buying the it proves how vibrant and alive we are as a genre end of that argument because, first the most vibrant and alive SF fans I’ve run into tend to be pretty laid-back and live-and-let-live about this stuff, and second, despite the later qualifications I offered, you can go look at the equally vibrant crime genre scene and you simply do not see the same levels of rage. I guess in the end what this has proved is that there are a lot of people out there who dearly love their indiscriminate rage and don’t want to have to give it up.
Interestingly, I was in Croatia when all this broke loose, and my Croatian publisher, Neven Anticevic, told me he remembered going to a meeting of an SF society decades ago (they were arguing about Blish, which should date it for you) and listening to this tiny group of fans raging at each other about whose understanding of SF was better, who’d read what and how much more valid it was. Sound familiar? Neven’s theory (and he’s a smart, worldly guy whose theories bear paying close attention to) is that decades of exclusion and thinly disguised contempt from the mainstream has driven the SF genre into a reflexive posture of vicious defensiveness, and that the reflex becomes so ingrained that we know no other way to express ourselves. So if we’re not snarling at those bastards in the mainstream for excluding us, we have to find someone else to snarl at—and that ends up being anyone with even slightly differing views or tastes to our own. The more I think about this, the more I think Neven might be onto something there. But the fact remains—it’s a great shame we can’t just grow out of it.
As for the hype debate, I’ve already made my position clear in my comment on the thread, but I think in retrospect the whole thing manifested some of the same uncalled-for ill-temper as the factionalism debate. It took only the most level-headed of comments from my editor querying the use of the word “hype”, and suddenly the site was crammed with abusive response. He was arrogant, he was manipulative, it was all part of some evil marketing scheme…I mean, come on, people. To Pat’s eternal credit, he took those people down pretty smartly, but still, it seems you only have to scratch the surface anywhere in genre and suddenly the air is full of toxic anger. What I want to know is what are these people so furious about? Reminds me of Sandra Bullock’s character in Crash where she says “I’m angry, all the time, and I don’t know why.” Quite. Perhaps we should look into that.
Q: In an interview Jay Tomio recently conducted with Ian Cameron Esslemont HERE, the following quote by Michael Moorcock was brought up: "If you want to write fantasy then read everything but fantasy", which kind of brings up another debate—should fantasy authors be well-read in the genre or not?
Richard: Hmmm. I find myself getting very uncomfortable when that word “should” crops up in connection with writing—it suggests (incorrectly, in my view) that there is a given right way to go about creating fiction, and I think there’s no better way to stifle creativity than to lay down prescriptive (and proscriptive) writing guidelines. Just look at the Hollywood school of screenwriting and where it’s taken creative endeavour in mainstream movies.
That said, I suppose a certain amount of prior genre knowledge is handy. Obviously you don’t want to go re-inventing the wheel—look, it’s a sword with magical powers! how cool is that! So forth. You need to know the ground, not so much to avoid re-using motifs and concepts (which is both inevitable, and in some senses the very essence of what modern fiction is about), but so that you have a reasonably up-to-date base from which to launch your own particular re-working of what the genre already has to offer. But then, I don’t think Moorcock was really being proscriptive in that quote. I think what he was getting at (hoping he’ll forgive my presumption here!) is that there is often an unhealthy insularity to genre fans (we’ve covered some of this above) and that any aspiring fantasy writer whose reading habits are already enslaved to the genre is likely to come up with rather dull, derivative work. Someone, on the other hand, whose influences are broader, has a far better chance of bringing something fresh and innovative to the form. And obviously we all like to see fresh, innovative voices emerging because that’s what keeps the genre healthy and dynamic (though perhaps it should also be pointed out that the well-worn, derivative and generic stuff does tend to sell awfully well! Shannara, anybody?)
Q: Speaking of Ian Cameron Esslemont, if you look at the Malazan co-creator, Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson, Jacqueline Carey, Daniel Abraham, Paul Kearney, and yourself, more and more authors these days are writing fantasy that is ambiguous, gritty or blatantly defies traditional fantasy tropes. What are your thoughts on this movement, the audience's response to such books, and fantasy tropes in general?
Richard: To be honest, I’m not hugely familiar with those guys—the only thing I’ve read by any of them is Erikson’s Deadhouse Gates, and even that had to wait until after I’d finished writing The Steel Remains (I mean, have you seen the size of that book??? Reading Erikson is a major commitment!). Most of the epic fantasy I know was written before 1980 (and in a lot of cases, well before). Exceptions to that are Glen Cook, Steph Swainston and Scott Lynch (and of those three, I’m not convinced Steph would be all that keen on being labeled epic).
So, from this position of very limited knowledge, I’m not sure I have much right to comment. But it does seem to me, very broadly speaking, that epic fantasy has been dragged kicking and screaming into a more grown up sensibility over the last decade or so. Erikson and George R. R. Martin should probably get a major part of the credit for that, as of course should Cook for his unrepentantly pulpy Black Company books. But I think you also have to credit the other areas of fantasy, the really weird and wonderful cutting edge stuff like Kelly Link or China Mieville or Neil Gaiman, which has upped the ante for everybody. Those guys have ensured that all but the most stick-in-the-mud Tolkien worshippers now have raised expectations of the genre, whatever sub-section of fantasy they like, and that general upgrade has more or less enforced the ascendancy of guys like Erikson and Martin. To borrow from Voltaire, if Erikson et al hadn’t existed, it would have been necessary to invent them—just to keep epic fantasy credibly afloat.
Q: Back in April, your most recent novel, "Black Man/Thirteen", was awarded the 2008 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Obviously this is a great honor, but how does it compare to your Philip K. Dick Award win, and do you believe these awards validate your work as an author?
Richard: Well, I think the Clarke pays a little more than the Dick :)
Seriously, I don’t think anything will ever compare to the PKD win, because it was my first novel, and to be honoured that way with the first thing you get published is indescribable. I won’t say I wasn’t bowled over when I won the Clarke, because I was (go check the video of my rather shaky acceptance speech for some sense of just how bowled over!). But these days I’m a full time pro with five years work under my belt, five books in, a sixth coming out, and in that position you can’t ever get back that sense of rookie wonder your first book gives you. And obviously, you can only write your first novel once!
As to validation, yes, obviously it’s very nice when a group of informed people get together and say your work is worth something. It’s also very nice when your books sell well, for a similar reason—a very much larger (though possibly less well informed) group is also telling you your work has worth. Getting the Clarke for Black Man was especially nice because the book got such a mixed response from the readership (though, oddly, it still sold very well). But in the end, you have to keep a sense of perspective about these things (awards and sales). If you’re a decent writer, you’re writing for yourself, and that’s the initial audience you have to please. It’s nice when what you have to say chimes with others, but if you genuinely believe it’s worth saying, that won’t sway you very much. As far as I’m concerned, my books are validated when I let them out the gate in a form I’m happy with. Anything after that is just icing on the cake.
Q: The last time we talked, both "Altered Carbon" and "Market Forces" had been optioned for movie adaptation. Is anything going on with these films? How about other adaptation new?
Richard: Not really. Both those options are still in force, and there’s some talk about Black Man going the same way but no action or cash to back the talk up yet. It’s strictly a waiting game—it doesn’t pay to brood on it too much.
Q: Considering your experience with not only writing novels, but also movie scripts and comic books, what do you think of the cross-pollination today between different mediums such as films, novels, comic books, television, et cetera? Is it getting to the point where it might be more advantageous for a writer to have experience in more than one format in order to be successful?
Richard: Well, I think it’s always advantageous to have more than one basket for your eggs, yeah. Success is an elusive little motherfucker, and it pays to look for him wherever you think he might show up. And personally, I like the novelty of learning new forms, exploring what you can do with them—I find it keeps you fresh. So that kind of diversity strikes me as a good thing, both in purely pragmatic terms and in terms of personal development.
That said, I am a novelist, a story-teller, first and foremost, and as a story-teller I have been singularly unimpressed with some of the cross-pollination we’ve seen of late. I mean, if 300 and Sin City are anything to go by, then the trend has been a colossal disaster for story-telling as an art. Ditto the movie of Doom (I mean, for god’s sake, what was the point of that? Ruin a perfectly good video game by copying it into a format where you can’t actually play? Why?). Then again, I thought Beowulf and the first Resident Evil movie worked pretty well, so maybe the news isn’t all bad.
I think the trick in dealing with different media, is to keep in mind that they are different. Which is why Sin City works as a comic-book, but—after the impact of the first ten minutes—absolutely doesn’t as a movie. It’s why Bladerunner is almost nothing like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, but still manages to be a brilliant piece of cinema. It’s why the movie and the original novel of The Prestige are so different, but each still works well in its own right. Moving from medium to medium involves exploring what the other medium has to offer, what its potentials and its limitations are; not slavishly transferring what you’ve done in one form directly to another. It’s a delicate thing, and it’s not easy to succeed at. It takes intelligence and finesse—and maybe that’s the key point, because both 300 and Sin City were dumb as fuck.
Q: Lastly, with entertainment becoming more technology-based, which in turn is becoming more and more advanced, is the print format (books, comics) in danger of becoming extinct, and what can publishers & authors do to adjust to the changing times? Additionally, what are your thoughts on ePublishing?
Richard: Yeah, there’s been a lot of talk about this—the death of print and so on—but most of it sounds to me like good old moral panic bullshit. I can’t speak for the US, but in the UK book sales are up, and have been trending that way for some considerable time. And look at the Harry Potter phenomenon. Thing is, books are nice things to own, they make good gifts, there’s a genuine visual and tactile pleasure to holding and using them, and their technology, to be honest, is pretty near perfect. I mean, this little hinged and printed thing with no need for batteries, charger or external power supply, and it enables you to disappear into a virtual world in complete silence wherever you happen to be. How incredibly sophisticated is that? What more could you ask?
Oh, sure, you’ve got the adolescent male mindset that can’t relate to anything other than Halo 3 or Spiderman, but then we’ve always had those guys around. They were never big readers before and they certainly aren’t going to join the club now that the field of brain-dead entertainment has blossomed so massively. But I don’t see the technology itself as a threat—the real problem is the catastrophic failures in schooling that mean so many inhabitants of supposedly first world nations are coming out of education with a reading age of about six. That’s the real threat—fuckwit right wing government and its long-term failure to fund social systems effectively. But if you can beat that, if you can elect someone who actually gives a shit about the broad swathe of the population, and then if you teach people to read properly, teach them to get benefit and pleasure from reading, then it’s like riding a bike—they never lose it. Take me as an example—I play my fair share of video games, but that doesn’t stop me reading. Why should it? I go rock climbing as well, but no-one would suggest that’s going to dissuade me from buying books. It’s not a zero sum game—you get different things out of different forms of entertainment, and if you’re educated to it, you can make that distinction easily enough and act on it.
Also, if you look at what’s happening on the tech front, a huge amount of R&D right now is being ploughed not into replacing reading as an activity, but into creating more effective versions of the existing technology, which is to say developing a book with all the benefits of the original format but with massively improved acquisition and storage capacity. Look at Kindle. Look at the on-going search for a viable form of “e-paper”. As far as I can see, these are not signs of the death of print—they’re signs that it’s right there at the cutting edge of the entertainment field as much as it ever has been. Of course, there’s going to be the issue of data piracy once e-format books become commonplace, but I suspect that the anti-piracy science we’re seeing developed in the music industry at the moment will probably solve that problem for us pretty efficiently by the time it arises. For the rest, the future of print looks pretty bright to me.
CLASSIFICATION: Even though “The Steel Remains” is Richard (K) Morgan’s first attempt at fantasy, the book has a lot in common with the author’s science fiction work including in-depth characterization, dynamic prose, provocative themes like sexuality and race, and excessive amounts of vulgar profanity, graphic violence and explicit sex. Of the fantasy aspect, “The Steel Remains” blends old-school sword-and-sorcery with modern sensibilities and a dash of gallows humor irony for a dark and gritty mixture that reminded me of a cross between Joe Abercrombie, Michael Moorcock’s Elric novels, Conan, David Gemmell and Glen Cook’s The Black Company. Recommended for fans of Richard (K) Morgan and anyone who likes their fantasy harsh, cynical, bloody and extreme…
FORMAT/INFO: Page count (ARC Version) is 409 pages divided over thirty-two chapters and an epilogue. Narration is in the third-person and alternates between three main protagonists in Ringil Eskiath, Egar Dragonbane, and Archeth. Poltar Wolfeye and Grace-of-Heaven Milacar are also given narratives, but their roles are minor. Story is mostly self-contained, but “The Steel Remains” is Book One of a trilogy which continues in “The Cold Commands” (TBA 2009).
August 7, 2008 marks the UK Hardcover publication of “The Steel Remains” via Gollancz. A paperback version is expected from Gollancz in November 2008, while the US Hardcover version of “The Steel Remains” will be published by Del Rey in January 2009.
ROBERT’S TAKE: Fantasy and horror literature will always be my first loves, but recently I’ve become a big fan of science fiction and much of the credit goes to author Richard (K) Morgan who blew me away with “Altered Carbon” and has since become a personal favorite with his consistently excellent reads. So when I heard that Richard was writing a fantasy trilogy, how could I not be excited!?! And despite the buildup, the overwhelmingly positive reviews, and my own high expectations, “The Steel Remains” delivers…
What I like about Richard (K) Morgan is that he’s a jack-of-all-trades. In other words, he can do it all including stylish prose, complex characterization, detailed worldbuilding, sharp dialogue and intelligent plotting. Plus, he has a vivid imagination, can write incredible cinematic-quality action sequences, and his novels not only provide balls to the wall entertainment, but can also be rewardingly thought-provoking. Thankfully, most of these qualities have been transferred to “The Steel Remains”, most notably the characterization which is the driving force behind the novel. Specifically, Ringil Eskiath, Egar Dragonbane, and Archeth Indamaninarmal are the heart & soul of “The Steel Remains” and much of the book is spent defining these characters and their flaws with flashbacks and insightful ‘conversations’ that they have with their selves: “Were you a better man then, Gil? Or just a better liar? Your arse cheeks and belly were tighter, anyway. Your shoulders were bigger and harder. Perhaps that was enough, for them and for you.” As strong as the characterization was though, I did have a few issues. One was that all three characters possess strikingly similar narrative voices which I thought made little sense, particularly Archeth who is a semi-immortal halfbreed. Another was the imbalanced character development with Ringil receiving much more attention in the book than either Archeth or Egar. And lastly, I thought Poltar’s narrative felt out of place compared to the rest of the novel.
As far as the world-building, Richard crafts a fully-fledged fantasy world complete with different races (Kiriath, Scaled Folk, Aldrain, Helmsmen, etc), history (Gallows Gap), societies (Trelayne, the Yhelteth Empire, Majak, Naom), customs, religions (the Sky Dwellers, the Revelation, Marsh idol worship), and even drugs like krinzanz, but the overall result is a mixed bag. The problem is that Richard will describe certain objects or places in great detail like Ringil’s famous Kiriath blade, Ravensfriend, or the city of Ishlin-ichan, but gloss over larger concepts like the Kiriath, the war with the Scaled Folk, or the Revelation.
Creatively, Richard utilizes a number of familiar fantasy conventions such as the barbarian-type warrior, dragons, slavery, portentous warnings, ghosts and the divine interfering with mortal lives, but at the same time the author does leave his own stamp on the genre with the zombie-birthing corpsemites, the alien akyia, the nightmarish Helmsmen, the dwenda and The Ageless Realm, some of which showcase Richard’s science fiction roots :) Speaking of leaving his own stamp, the over-the-top violence, language and sex has already been widely publicized, but it’s worth mentioning again as well as the characters’ sexuality—Ringil is gay, Archeth is a lesbian, and Egar just likes having sex period—and the novel’s various modern flourishes. Action scenes meanwhile, are mainly of the sword & blade variety and are breathless in their execution, whereas themes include everything from heroism to slavery, religion and so on…
The one area that I was disappointed in was the story. Basically, “The Steel Remains” is a character-driven novel, so not only does it take a while for the plot to get moving, but the pacing is a bit slow and suffers from a few predictable contrivances like when the three characters converge at Ennishmin. Another problem with the story is that it’s not very complex, especially compared to Richard’s previous efforts, and the ‘twists’ in the plot aren’t very hard to predict, although the one regarding “a dark lord will rise” is undeniably cool :)
In the end, aside from my disappointment with the story and a few minor issues, I had a blast reading “The Steel Remains”! After all, the book is bold, entertaining as hell, tailor-made for adult readers, and is written by Richard (K) Morgan :) Which is really what it all comes down to. Because if you’re a fan of fantasy and of Richard (K) Morgan, how can you not love “The Steel Remains”…
LIVIU’S TAKE: I've been a big fan of Richard Morgan’s ultra-violent, ultra-dark and quite explicit novels since his extraordinary debut “Altered Carbon”. Though in his last novels the repetitions of themes, plot and gimmicks became a bit tiresome, in “The Steel Remains” Mr. Morgan moves to epic/adventure fantasy and reinvigorates said themes. While longtime readers of Richard Morgan will be less surprised at the twists and turns of this novel because of the echoes of previous works, there is a lot of new stuff here and the three main characters—especially Ringil who gets the most face time—are as engaging as ever in Mr. Morgan's newest effort.
Not for the squeamish or easily offended—explicit descriptions of torture, mutilations, mostly homosexual sex both with humans and human-like aliens/wraiths, and repeated profanities fill up the book—“The Steel Remains” is a very dense novel, gripping and with a reasonable resolution of its original issues. But as with most first novels in a series, the larger issues are just now starting to impact the characters.
Of the three main characters, Ringil, with his magical/superior alien-tech sword Ravensfriend—moonlighting as tourist attraction in an obscure marginal village at the edge of the League—is the best defined. Since the traumatic events in his teens when his best friend and lover died a gory death by impalement in a cage at the hands of the “moral guardians” of the League for unnatural acts with Ringil—while our hero is spared being of a noble family—Ringil is a man consumed by fury. To his surprise he becomes a hero in the war against the Scaled Folk but only the powerful influence of the alien Kiriath and especially of his friend Lady Archeth—a half Kiriath, half human warrior/mage/scientist—keep him sane and from committing atrocities against whomever stands in his path. Barely...
So no wonder that at the end of the war Ringil looks for solace in obscurity, but when his lady mother requests his aid in saving a cousin from debt slavery, since his powerful father refused to get involved, he gets caught back up in the thick of things.
Meanwhile, the Kiriath abandoned humanity, but Lady Archeth could not follow due to her human heritage—the journey, while very dangerous for pure-blooded Kiriath, is fatal for those with human blood—so she plays the courtier/ magical/tech adviser to the current emperor that she does not like or appreciate that much. Doubly damned in the eyes of the official Revelation priesthood—for being half-alien and for her sexual orientation, though I think that being a powerful woman in a patriarchal society does not help either—only the emperor stands between her and the cleansing fire of the Citadel. So she has to keep showing her worth to the young emperor, who among other things, likes to marginalize almost anyone powerful from his father's reign...
The third main character, Egar the Dragonbane—slayer of a dragon—of the Majak “barbarian” clans has been a chieftain of one such for seven years since the end of the wars, and he kind of hates it, missing the Empire, civilization, sophisticated women, books and shows, while doing his best to forget those memories in girls, drinking and herds. When his chief shaman and his older brothers decide that the clan is better off without Egar, one way or the other, he becomes reunited again with his two friends from the war for one more desperate stand...
The typical Morgan touches that I come to expect in his novels are here and they are perfectly exemplified in “The Liberalizations” laws in the League that made debt slavery legal and moved the underground slave commerce with the neighboring on and off allied/enemy Empire to free and legal trade, while Mr. Morgan’s contempt and detestation of the powerful trampling on the powerless resonate from almost every page of the novel.
Highly recommended…
NOTE: For more reviews of “The Steel Remains”, please visit the following: Adam Roberts, Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, Joe Abercrombie, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, Sandstorm Reviews, SFF World, The Book Bag, The Book Swede, The Genre Files, The Wertzone
BONUS FEATURE — Richard (K) Morgan Q&A:
Q: As most everyone should know by now, "The Steel Remains" is your first fantasy novel. Was writing a fantasy novel harder, easier or about the same compared to writing science fiction?Richard: Hard to gauge really. It was certainly different; in places it was harder going, yes; for example, the logistics of travel in a fantasy universe are more rigorous than in SF. In Black Man, I could get my characters from one side of the globe to the other in forty-five minutes on a sub-orbital. In fantasy, journeys of any distance have to be done on horseback or by sail, and it can take days, weeks or even months to get anywhere at all. That applies its own limits, obviously. But the trick is not to let that kind of thing throw you; instead you look for ways to turn it to your advantage. One of the nice things about long, uneventful journeys is that they allow space for character development, something which you don’t have to actually mention, except in retrospect. In one case in The Steel Remains, one of my characters gets a few weeks of road time to work out what’s been done to him and he comes to the next chapter already equipped with the benefit of that thinking time. You drop in the fact, retrospectively, and bang—you’re off and running.
On the other side of the balance, the good thing about fantasy, the thing that was definitely easier for me, was the relaxation on motivation and coherent logic. The kind of SF I write is fairly close to contemporary reality, which means characters’ actions have to make some kind of sense, at least within the context of human behaviour as we understand it. But in fantasy, these constraints are loosened considerably. The actions of gods and demons don’t have to make any human sense. Other planes of reality don’t have to follow any logic we’d recognize. That gives you the chance to really spread the wings on your imagination, really cut loose and do whatever the fuck weird stuff comes into your head. That part, I’ve had a blast with.
Q: Since you've now written both fantasy & SF, what do you feel are the differences between the genres, and why is there such a great divide between the two in marketing, fan support, etc?
Richard: It beats me, it really does.
I mean, just to start with, I think the divide in terms of subject matter is largely illusory. For instance, how would you classify Moorcock’s High History of the Runestaff? At one level, it’s classic sword and sorcery, but it’s also stuffed full of sentient machines and ruined chunks of technology from an earlier age of what was clearly scientific sophistication way beyond our own. You get essentially that same scenario, though more subtly done, in Gene Wolfe’s Books of the New Sun, in M. John Harrison’s Viriconium series and, I’m told, in C. J. Cherryh’s Chronicles of Morgaine. And that’s before we even touch stuff like China Mieville or Hal Duncan. Are these books SF? How do you decide? And more to the point, who fucking cares? I just don’t get this whole thing of reading exclusively in one genre. It seems pitifully self-limiting, like a little kid refusing to eat anything except chips. If I track back through what I’ve read in the last few months it includes a Steve Erikson Malazan novel (Deadhouse Gates, my first), Charlie Huston’s The Shotgun Rule (contemporary noir thriller), mainstream literature like Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (though that’s a weird fucking book, with elements that cross right over into fantasy and horror) and Pynchon’s Mason and Dixon (which, like most Pynchon, defies meaningful categorization), a golden age SF classic (Pohl and Kornbluth’s The Space Merchants), Hal Duncan’s Ink, a re-read of Robert Sabbag’s cocaine trade classic Snowblind, Karen Joy Fowler’s Sister Moon (no idea what you’d classify that as!) and the graphic novel Shooting War (which you could argue is SF, since it takes place in a putative 2011). Next up on the bedside table is Michael Chabon’s Yiddish Policeman’s Union (we’re all still arguing about what that is exactly) and Don Winslow’s The Power of The Dog (Ellroy-style crime novel about the drug wars). Like Heinlein once said, specialization is for insects. Genre boundaries really don’t mean much to me—I’ll read anything if it looks like it might be interesting or well written, and I don’t really understand people who won’t.Q: Well said! Now last I heard, "The Steel Remains" is set for a January 20, 2009 US release through Del Rey. Do you think the delay between the UK & US release will hinder, aid, or make little difference when it finally hits stores stateside, and will you be making any changes to the US version?
Richard: No—aside from the usual spelling and vocabulary conventions (colour-color, pavement-sidewalk etc)—the two editions will be exactly the same. And I don’t think it’ll make a huge difference that the book is coming out later. A few diehard fans I’ve heard from are going to buy the UK edition because they don’t want to wait, but generally I think people can live with the extra six months. Actually, it’s only with Black Man/Thirteen that the two editions of anything I’ve written have come close to simultaneous release on both sides of the Atlantic. Prior to that, my American editions were all coming out at least six months behind the UK dates, and again, apart from a few diehard fans, no one seemed to mind the wait. So I don’t really think it’s going to be much of an issue.
Q: Recently you were at the center of a couple of controversies—first the article you wrote for Pete Crowther's Postscripts anthology HERE on "endemic factionalism in SFF", and then a debate about 'hype' on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist HERE. I'm sure you're probably tired of both of these topics, but now that things have settled down a little, do you have anything to add about either subject?
Richard: Only that I was stunned at the strength of feeling in both cases. In the case of the factionalism article, I couldn’t believe there’d be such a strong reaction (both positive and negative) to what was intended as an off-hand rant about something that seemed to me self-evident. What you have to remember about that article is that it wasn’t some bad-tempered blog crusade on my part—Pete came to me for the piece, and I put it together following his suggestion that I “have a rant” about some aspect of the genre I was interested in. At the time, I didn’t think I was saying anything very radical and I was quite taken aback when Pete wouldn’t publish it. I only posted the article on my site because, first it seemed a shame to waste it, and second it was what Pete himself had suggested I do. I really didn’t expect anything to come of it other than most people who read the piece grunting and nodding in agreement and then turning the page.Instead, I was mobbed with e-mail from people saying how glad they were someone had come out and said this—which was very nice, obviously, but as I said, genuinely unexpected. And of course then there was this general (though admittedly rather attenuated) grumbling undertone across some of the genre sites, something along the lines of Leave us alone, we LIKE bitching and squabbling. Well, fair enough, it’s a free internet, I guess—but I’m really not buying the it proves how vibrant and alive we are as a genre end of that argument because, first the most vibrant and alive SF fans I’ve run into tend to be pretty laid-back and live-and-let-live about this stuff, and second, despite the later qualifications I offered, you can go look at the equally vibrant crime genre scene and you simply do not see the same levels of rage. I guess in the end what this has proved is that there are a lot of people out there who dearly love their indiscriminate rage and don’t want to have to give it up.
Interestingly, I was in Croatia when all this broke loose, and my Croatian publisher, Neven Anticevic, told me he remembered going to a meeting of an SF society decades ago (they were arguing about Blish, which should date it for you) and listening to this tiny group of fans raging at each other about whose understanding of SF was better, who’d read what and how much more valid it was. Sound familiar? Neven’s theory (and he’s a smart, worldly guy whose theories bear paying close attention to) is that decades of exclusion and thinly disguised contempt from the mainstream has driven the SF genre into a reflexive posture of vicious defensiveness, and that the reflex becomes so ingrained that we know no other way to express ourselves. So if we’re not snarling at those bastards in the mainstream for excluding us, we have to find someone else to snarl at—and that ends up being anyone with even slightly differing views or tastes to our own. The more I think about this, the more I think Neven might be onto something there. But the fact remains—it’s a great shame we can’t just grow out of it.
As for the hype debate, I’ve already made my position clear in my comment on the thread, but I think in retrospect the whole thing manifested some of the same uncalled-for ill-temper as the factionalism debate. It took only the most level-headed of comments from my editor querying the use of the word “hype”, and suddenly the site was crammed with abusive response. He was arrogant, he was manipulative, it was all part of some evil marketing scheme…I mean, come on, people. To Pat’s eternal credit, he took those people down pretty smartly, but still, it seems you only have to scratch the surface anywhere in genre and suddenly the air is full of toxic anger. What I want to know is what are these people so furious about? Reminds me of Sandra Bullock’s character in Crash where she says “I’m angry, all the time, and I don’t know why.” Quite. Perhaps we should look into that.
Q: In an interview Jay Tomio recently conducted with Ian Cameron Esslemont HERE, the following quote by Michael Moorcock was brought up: "If you want to write fantasy then read everything but fantasy", which kind of brings up another debate—should fantasy authors be well-read in the genre or not?
Richard: Hmmm. I find myself getting very uncomfortable when that word “should” crops up in connection with writing—it suggests (incorrectly, in my view) that there is a given right way to go about creating fiction, and I think there’s no better way to stifle creativity than to lay down prescriptive (and proscriptive) writing guidelines. Just look at the Hollywood school of screenwriting and where it’s taken creative endeavour in mainstream movies.That said, I suppose a certain amount of prior genre knowledge is handy. Obviously you don’t want to go re-inventing the wheel—look, it’s a sword with magical powers! how cool is that! So forth. You need to know the ground, not so much to avoid re-using motifs and concepts (which is both inevitable, and in some senses the very essence of what modern fiction is about), but so that you have a reasonably up-to-date base from which to launch your own particular re-working of what the genre already has to offer. But then, I don’t think Moorcock was really being proscriptive in that quote. I think what he was getting at (hoping he’ll forgive my presumption here!) is that there is often an unhealthy insularity to genre fans (we’ve covered some of this above) and that any aspiring fantasy writer whose reading habits are already enslaved to the genre is likely to come up with rather dull, derivative work. Someone, on the other hand, whose influences are broader, has a far better chance of bringing something fresh and innovative to the form. And obviously we all like to see fresh, innovative voices emerging because that’s what keeps the genre healthy and dynamic (though perhaps it should also be pointed out that the well-worn, derivative and generic stuff does tend to sell awfully well! Shannara, anybody?)
Q: Speaking of Ian Cameron Esslemont, if you look at the Malazan co-creator, Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson, Jacqueline Carey, Daniel Abraham, Paul Kearney, and yourself, more and more authors these days are writing fantasy that is ambiguous, gritty or blatantly defies traditional fantasy tropes. What are your thoughts on this movement, the audience's response to such books, and fantasy tropes in general?
Richard: To be honest, I’m not hugely familiar with those guys—the only thing I’ve read by any of them is Erikson’s Deadhouse Gates, and even that had to wait until after I’d finished writing The Steel Remains (I mean, have you seen the size of that book??? Reading Erikson is a major commitment!). Most of the epic fantasy I know was written before 1980 (and in a lot of cases, well before). Exceptions to that are Glen Cook, Steph Swainston and Scott Lynch (and of those three, I’m not convinced Steph would be all that keen on being labeled epic).So, from this position of very limited knowledge, I’m not sure I have much right to comment. But it does seem to me, very broadly speaking, that epic fantasy has been dragged kicking and screaming into a more grown up sensibility over the last decade or so. Erikson and George R. R. Martin should probably get a major part of the credit for that, as of course should Cook for his unrepentantly pulpy Black Company books. But I think you also have to credit the other areas of fantasy, the really weird and wonderful cutting edge stuff like Kelly Link or China Mieville or Neil Gaiman, which has upped the ante for everybody. Those guys have ensured that all but the most stick-in-the-mud Tolkien worshippers now have raised expectations of the genre, whatever sub-section of fantasy they like, and that general upgrade has more or less enforced the ascendancy of guys like Erikson and Martin. To borrow from Voltaire, if Erikson et al hadn’t existed, it would have been necessary to invent them—just to keep epic fantasy credibly afloat.
Q: Back in April, your most recent novel, "Black Man/Thirteen", was awarded the 2008 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Obviously this is a great honor, but how does it compare to your Philip K. Dick Award win, and do you believe these awards validate your work as an author?
Richard: Well, I think the Clarke pays a little more than the Dick :)
Seriously, I don’t think anything will ever compare to the PKD win, because it was my first novel, and to be honoured that way with the first thing you get published is indescribable. I won’t say I wasn’t bowled over when I won the Clarke, because I was (go check the video of my rather shaky acceptance speech for some sense of just how bowled over!). But these days I’m a full time pro with five years work under my belt, five books in, a sixth coming out, and in that position you can’t ever get back that sense of rookie wonder your first book gives you. And obviously, you can only write your first novel once!
As to validation, yes, obviously it’s very nice when a group of informed people get together and say your work is worth something. It’s also very nice when your books sell well, for a similar reason—a very much larger (though possibly less well informed) group is also telling you your work has worth. Getting the Clarke for Black Man was especially nice because the book got such a mixed response from the readership (though, oddly, it still sold very well). But in the end, you have to keep a sense of perspective about these things (awards and sales). If you’re a decent writer, you’re writing for yourself, and that’s the initial audience you have to please. It’s nice when what you have to say chimes with others, but if you genuinely believe it’s worth saying, that won’t sway you very much. As far as I’m concerned, my books are validated when I let them out the gate in a form I’m happy with. Anything after that is just icing on the cake.Q: The last time we talked, both "Altered Carbon" and "Market Forces" had been optioned for movie adaptation. Is anything going on with these films? How about other adaptation new?
Richard: Not really. Both those options are still in force, and there’s some talk about Black Man going the same way but no action or cash to back the talk up yet. It’s strictly a waiting game—it doesn’t pay to brood on it too much.
Q: Considering your experience with not only writing novels, but also movie scripts and comic books, what do you think of the cross-pollination today between different mediums such as films, novels, comic books, television, et cetera? Is it getting to the point where it might be more advantageous for a writer to have experience in more than one format in order to be successful?
Richard: Well, I think it’s always advantageous to have more than one basket for your eggs, yeah. Success is an elusive little motherfucker, and it pays to look for him wherever you think he might show up. And personally, I like the novelty of learning new forms, exploring what you can do with them—I find it keeps you fresh. So that kind of diversity strikes me as a good thing, both in purely pragmatic terms and in terms of personal development.
That said, I am a novelist, a story-teller, first and foremost, and as a story-teller I have been singularly unimpressed with some of the cross-pollination we’ve seen of late. I mean, if 300 and Sin City are anything to go by, then the trend has been a colossal disaster for story-telling as an art. Ditto the movie of Doom (I mean, for god’s sake, what was the point of that? Ruin a perfectly good video game by copying it into a format where you can’t actually play? Why?). Then again, I thought Beowulf and the first Resident Evil movie worked pretty well, so maybe the news isn’t all bad.
I think the trick in dealing with different media, is to keep in mind that they are different. Which is why Sin City works as a comic-book, but—after the impact of the first ten minutes—absolutely doesn’t as a movie. It’s why Bladerunner is almost nothing like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, but still manages to be a brilliant piece of cinema. It’s why the movie and the original novel of The Prestige are so different, but each still works well in its own right. Moving from medium to medium involves exploring what the other medium has to offer, what its potentials and its limitations are; not slavishly transferring what you’ve done in one form directly to another. It’s a delicate thing, and it’s not easy to succeed at. It takes intelligence and finesse—and maybe that’s the key point, because both 300 and Sin City were dumb as fuck.
Q: Lastly, with entertainment becoming more technology-based, which in turn is becoming more and more advanced, is the print format (books, comics) in danger of becoming extinct, and what can publishers & authors do to adjust to the changing times? Additionally, what are your thoughts on ePublishing?
Richard: Yeah, there’s been a lot of talk about this—the death of print and so on—but most of it sounds to me like good old moral panic bullshit. I can’t speak for the US, but in the UK book sales are up, and have been trending that way for some considerable time. And look at the Harry Potter phenomenon. Thing is, books are nice things to own, they make good gifts, there’s a genuine visual and tactile pleasure to holding and using them, and their technology, to be honest, is pretty near perfect. I mean, this little hinged and printed thing with no need for batteries, charger or external power supply, and it enables you to disappear into a virtual world in complete silence wherever you happen to be. How incredibly sophisticated is that? What more could you ask?Oh, sure, you’ve got the adolescent male mindset that can’t relate to anything other than Halo 3 or Spiderman, but then we’ve always had those guys around. They were never big readers before and they certainly aren’t going to join the club now that the field of brain-dead entertainment has blossomed so massively. But I don’t see the technology itself as a threat—the real problem is the catastrophic failures in schooling that mean so many inhabitants of supposedly first world nations are coming out of education with a reading age of about six. That’s the real threat—fuckwit right wing government and its long-term failure to fund social systems effectively. But if you can beat that, if you can elect someone who actually gives a shit about the broad swathe of the population, and then if you teach people to read properly, teach them to get benefit and pleasure from reading, then it’s like riding a bike—they never lose it. Take me as an example—I play my fair share of video games, but that doesn’t stop me reading. Why should it? I go rock climbing as well, but no-one would suggest that’s going to dissuade me from buying books. It’s not a zero sum game—you get different things out of different forms of entertainment, and if you’re educated to it, you can make that distinction easily enough and act on it.
Also, if you look at what’s happening on the tech front, a huge amount of R&D right now is being ploughed not into replacing reading as an activity, but into creating more effective versions of the existing technology, which is to say developing a book with all the benefits of the original format but with massively improved acquisition and storage capacity. Look at Kindle. Look at the on-going search for a viable form of “e-paper”. As far as I can see, these are not signs of the death of print—they’re signs that it’s right there at the cutting edge of the entertainment field as much as it ever has been. Of course, there’s going to be the issue of data piracy once e-format books become commonplace, but I suspect that the anti-piracy science we’re seeing developed in the music industry at the moment will probably solve that problem for us pretty efficiently by the time it arises. For the rest, the future of print looks pretty bright to me.
3:01 AM | 
Posted by
Robert |
Orbit Books is pleased to announce the upcoming releases of four new books from four new stars of fantasy fiction: “Best Served Cold” by Joe Abercrombie (June 2009); “The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart” by Jesse Bullington (Sept. 2009); “Soulless” by Gail Carriger (Nov. 2009); and “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” by N.K. Jemisin (Sept. 2009).
When Joe Abercrombie burst onto the fantasy scene with his widely-praised First Law Trilogy SFF World called his books “compelling, character-driven, adult fantasy, for readers who want to be entertained as well as challenged.” “Best Served Cold” will be his hardcover debut in the US. A stand-alone novel of mercenaries, gruesome deaths, and twisted plans, “Best Served Cold” returns readers to the world introduced in the First Law Trilogy, but with an all-new cast of scoundrels.
Jesse Bullington came to the attention of the SFF world when author and critic Jeff VanderMeer posted on his blog about a novel handed to him by a young man in his local video store. That novel was “The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart”, and VanderMeer wrote: “The odds of being handed a novel by a new, relatively young writer and being blown away by what you read are…very low. But that’s exactly what happened.” At Orbit we were blown away too. This tale of philosophical grave-robbers on the run is bloody, grim and thoroughly engaging.
Gail Carriger’s “Soulless” introduces Alexia Tarabotti, a spinster who foils an attack by a vampire (with a parasol, no less) only to be dragged into the supernatural politics of Victorian London (where parasols will become increasingly handy). A novel with equal parts wit and action, “Soulless” is a comedy of manners with vampires—a thrilling and hilarious debut.
“The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” by N.K. Jemisin, is a brilliantly original debut fantasy. A young woman vies to become the heir to the throne of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and must bargain with the gods themselves to save her life—and her people.
About the Authors:
Joe Abercrombie is a freelance film editor, working mostly on documentaries and live music events for bands from Coldplay to Iron Maiden. He lives and works in London. He was nominated for the 2008 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, Jesse Bullington spent his childhood alternating between deep pine woods and rich libraries. He currently conspires with his lovely wife to escape the muggy climes of the South for the Pacific Northwest. Upon receiving his Magna Cum Laude Bachelor degrees in both History and English Literature from Florida State University, he immediately set to work on “The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart”.
Gail Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an ex-patriot Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She now resides in the Colonies, surrounded by a harem of Armenian lovers, where she insists on tea imported directly from London and cats that pee into toilets. She is fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit.
N.K. Jemisin is a career counselor, political blogger, and would-be gourmet living in New York City. She’s been writing since the age of 10, although her early works will never see the light of day.
About Orbit Books:
Launched in 2007, Orbit US is the new Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint at Hachette Book Group USA. Orbit is also the leading SF and Fantasy imprint in the UK, where it was launched in 1974.
When Joe Abercrombie burst onto the fantasy scene with his widely-praised First Law Trilogy SFF World called his books “compelling, character-driven, adult fantasy, for readers who want to be entertained as well as challenged.” “Best Served Cold” will be his hardcover debut in the US. A stand-alone novel of mercenaries, gruesome deaths, and twisted plans, “Best Served Cold” returns readers to the world introduced in the First Law Trilogy, but with an all-new cast of scoundrels.Jesse Bullington came to the attention of the SFF world when author and critic Jeff VanderMeer posted on his blog about a novel handed to him by a young man in his local video store. That novel was “The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart”, and VanderMeer wrote: “The odds of being handed a novel by a new, relatively young writer and being blown away by what you read are…very low. But that’s exactly what happened.” At Orbit we were blown away too. This tale of philosophical grave-robbers on the run is bloody, grim and thoroughly engaging.
Gail Carriger’s “Soulless” introduces Alexia Tarabotti, a spinster who foils an attack by a vampire (with a parasol, no less) only to be dragged into the supernatural politics of Victorian London (where parasols will become increasingly handy). A novel with equal parts wit and action, “Soulless” is a comedy of manners with vampires—a thrilling and hilarious debut.
“The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” by N.K. Jemisin, is a brilliantly original debut fantasy. A young woman vies to become the heir to the throne of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and must bargain with the gods themselves to save her life—and her people.About the Authors:
Joe Abercrombie is a freelance film editor, working mostly on documentaries and live music events for bands from Coldplay to Iron Maiden. He lives and works in London. He was nominated for the 2008 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, Jesse Bullington spent his childhood alternating between deep pine woods and rich libraries. He currently conspires with his lovely wife to escape the muggy climes of the South for the Pacific Northwest. Upon receiving his Magna Cum Laude Bachelor degrees in both History and English Literature from Florida State University, he immediately set to work on “The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart”.
Gail Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an ex-patriot Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She now resides in the Colonies, surrounded by a harem of Armenian lovers, where she insists on tea imported directly from London and cats that pee into toilets. She is fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit.
N.K. Jemisin is a career counselor, political blogger, and would-be gourmet living in New York City. She’s been writing since the age of 10, although her early works will never see the light of day.
About Orbit Books:
Launched in 2007, Orbit US is the new Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint at Hachette Book Group USA. Orbit is also the leading SF and Fantasy imprint in the UK, where it was launched in 1974.
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Awarded a BA in Magazine Editing from Cal. State Long Beach, Kat Richardson is the author of the Greywalker urban fantasy series which includes “Greywalker”, “Poltergeist” and the new book, “Underground”. She also dabbles in other text forms and media including: RPGs (Moon Elves); Film (The Glove); Computer Games (T2X); and Comics (Dangerous Days). Upcoming releases include the “Wolfsbane & Mistletoe” (October 7, 2008) anthology edited by Charlaine Harris & Toni L. P. Kelner, and the “Mean Streets” (January 2009) omnibus with Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, and Thomas E. Sniegoski.
PLOT SUMMARY: Harper Blaine was your average small-time P.I. until she died—for two minutes. Now Harper is a Greywalker, treading the thin line between the living world and the paranormal realm. And she’s discovering that her new abilities are landing her all sorts of “strange” cases…
In the cold of winter, Pioneer Square’s homeless are turning up dead and mutilated, and zombies have been seen roaming the streets of the Underground—the city buried beneath modern Seattle. When Harper’s friend Quinton fears he may be implicated in the deaths, he persuades her to investigate their mysterious cause.
Harper and Quinton discover in the city’s past a pattern to the deaths that points to an inhuman killer stalking the modern citizens of the Underground and raising the walking dead in its wake. But when Harper turns to the city’s vampire denizens for help, they want nothing to do with the investigation.
For this creature is no vampire. Someone has unleashed a monster of ancient legend upon the Underground, and Harper must deal with both the living and the dead to find the creature and put a stop to it…unless it stops her first…
CLASSIFICATION: Following the same template used by many authors in the urban fantasy subgenre, Kat Richardson’s “Underground” has detective/police procedural elements mixing it up with the paranormal in a contemporary urban setting. The book also utilizes a first-person POV, and has horror, romance, and sarcastic humor thrown into the mix, although the latter two are notably low-key while the novel’s supernatural aspect is surprisingly dark and violent at times. Of course, compared to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels, “Underground” is quite tame overall and warrants more of a PG-13 rating. In short, if you’re a fan of Kim Harrison, Carrie Vaughn, Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Tanya Huff, et cetera, then Kat Richardson’s Greywalker series might be up your alley…
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 344 pages divided over twenty-two chapters, a prologue/epilogue, and an Author’s Note. Narration is in the first-person via the protagonist, Harper Blaine. Story is self-contained, but “Underground” is the third novel in Kat Richardson’s Greywalker series after “Greywalker” and “Poltergeist”, with more sequels to come. Currently, the author is working on book four, “Vanished”.
August 5, 2008 marks the North American publication of “Underground” via Roc Books and is actually Kat Richardson’s Hardcover debut. The UK Paperback version (see inset) will be released August 7, 2008 via Piatkus Books. The US cover art is provided by Chris McGrath, another favorite :)
ANALYSIS: Normally I hate starting a series in the middle, but I decided to make an exception with Kat Richardson’s “Underground”. Part of the reason is because the publicist personally requested a review, but it also has to do with meeting the author at Norwescon 31, the fact that she lives in Seattle, Washington—which in a way has become my new home—the positive comments that I’ve heard about the Greywalker series, and also because I was in the mood for some urban fantasy :) So, I plunged into Harper Blaine’s world, and while the novel had its fair share of problems, I didn’t regret my decision…
Starting with the good, Kat Richardson’s “Underground” has several positives going for it including the Seattle backdrop. What I like about Seattle in the book is that the city is treated like an actual character and is a three-dimensional creation complete with “real-life geography” and historical details such as Pioneer Square, Occidental Park, the Great Fire, the 1949 earthquake, Prohibition, Bartell Drugs, etc. Plus, it’s refreshing to read a story that is set somewhere besides New York, Los Angeles, London, or whatnot.
Also refreshing was how little romance or humor there was in the novel in contrast to the supernatural angle. To me, it seems like a lot of urban fantasy series these days want to be sexy, funny, or both—which is all fair and good if done right—but sometimes I wish the authors would concentrate more on the paranormal aspect and approach the material with a darker, more serious attitude. “Underground” isn’t perfect in this regard as the book has sex, banter and so on, but the book is a little grittier than many of its counterparts, and it’s a characteristic that I really appreciated.
My favorite part of “Underground” though was the author’s use of the paranormal. At first glance, the idea of a person “treading the thin line between the living world and the paranormal realm” didn’t seem very original. Nor the ghosts, zombies, vampires or witches that show up in the novel. But Kat brings a fresh perspective to these concepts such as Harper’s Grey-sensitive senses which allow her to see, smell and taste the world in a whole new light, or being able to shift backwards in time through pockets of memories. Additionally, the vampires in the book are hiding some dark secret—a creature that possibly hunts vampires—Harper is educated on the different types of zombies and monsters out there including the shaggymen; ghosts also come in different forms; and Kat even uses the law of physics to explain shape-shifting. Which is all interesting stuff, but it’s with the Native American mythology like the legend of the monster Sisiutl and its master, Qamaits, that Kat really outdoes herself, injecting some much appreciated freshness into the urban fantasy genre…
On the negative side, the writing—while competent—lacks personality and is boring. This includes stiff dialogue and wooden characters who are one-dimensional and hard to care about. In fact, the city of Seattle possesses more individuality and is better developed than any of the actual characters in the book. Of the novel’s romantic and humorous elements, Kat is not very good at either one. Humor in “Underground” is dry and forced, while the romance is underdeveloped and far more annoying than it is sexy, so it’s a good thing that there is so little of it in the book. As far as the story, the central plotline/mystery is intriguing, but it takes a while to get going, and the twists toward the end aren’t difficult to decipher.
As for starting the Greywalker series with the third book, it wasn’t an issue for me. Sure, I missed out on the previous interactions between Harper and such returning characters as William Novak, Quinton, Edward Kammerling, the necromancer Carlos, Cameron, the Danzigers, etc., as well as references to the previous books including Blaine’s ‘origin’, but “Underground” works well as a standalone novel and does enough to bring the reader up to date.
CONCLUSION: Using the urban fantasy that I’ve read as a measuring stick, Kat Richardson’s “Underground” rates a little above average with supernatural creativity, atmosphere and setting the book’s strengths; and prose, characterization, dialogue and romance/humor its weaknesses. Basically, “Underground” is the kind of book that I would check out from the library for a fast-paced, entertaining time, but would never read again. Still, the novel displays potential and if Kat Richardson can improve her writing so it’s on the same level as her strengths, then the author’s Greywalker books could become something really special. Until then, “Underground” is worth a look, but there is much better urban fantasy out there to be enjoyed…
PLOT SUMMARY: Harper Blaine was your average small-time P.I. until she died—for two minutes. Now Harper is a Greywalker, treading the thin line between the living world and the paranormal realm. And she’s discovering that her new abilities are landing her all sorts of “strange” cases…
In the cold of winter, Pioneer Square’s homeless are turning up dead and mutilated, and zombies have been seen roaming the streets of the Underground—the city buried beneath modern Seattle. When Harper’s friend Quinton fears he may be implicated in the deaths, he persuades her to investigate their mysterious cause.
Harper and Quinton discover in the city’s past a pattern to the deaths that points to an inhuman killer stalking the modern citizens of the Underground and raising the walking dead in its wake. But when Harper turns to the city’s vampire denizens for help, they want nothing to do with the investigation.
For this creature is no vampire. Someone has unleashed a monster of ancient legend upon the Underground, and Harper must deal with both the living and the dead to find the creature and put a stop to it…unless it stops her first…
CLASSIFICATION: Following the same template used by many authors in the urban fantasy subgenre, Kat Richardson’s “Underground” has detective/police procedural elements mixing it up with the paranormal in a contemporary urban setting. The book also utilizes a first-person POV, and has horror, romance, and sarcastic humor thrown into the mix, although the latter two are notably low-key while the novel’s supernatural aspect is surprisingly dark and violent at times. Of course, compared to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels, “Underground” is quite tame overall and warrants more of a PG-13 rating. In short, if you’re a fan of Kim Harrison, Carrie Vaughn, Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Tanya Huff, et cetera, then Kat Richardson’s Greywalker series might be up your alley…
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 344 pages divided over twenty-two chapters, a prologue/epilogue, and an Author’s Note. Narration is in the first-person via the protagonist, Harper Blaine. Story is self-contained, but “Underground” is the third novel in Kat Richardson’s Greywalker series after “Greywalker” and “Poltergeist”, with more sequels to come. Currently, the author is working on book four, “Vanished”.August 5, 2008 marks the North American publication of “Underground” via Roc Books and is actually Kat Richardson’s Hardcover debut. The UK Paperback version (see inset) will be released August 7, 2008 via Piatkus Books. The US cover art is provided by Chris McGrath, another favorite :)
ANALYSIS: Normally I hate starting a series in the middle, but I decided to make an exception with Kat Richardson’s “Underground”. Part of the reason is because the publicist personally requested a review, but it also has to do with meeting the author at Norwescon 31, the fact that she lives in Seattle, Washington—which in a way has become my new home—the positive comments that I’ve heard about the Greywalker series, and also because I was in the mood for some urban fantasy :) So, I plunged into Harper Blaine’s world, and while the novel had its fair share of problems, I didn’t regret my decision…
Starting with the good, Kat Richardson’s “Underground” has several positives going for it including the Seattle backdrop. What I like about Seattle in the book is that the city is treated like an actual character and is a three-dimensional creation complete with “real-life geography” and historical details such as Pioneer Square, Occidental Park, the Great Fire, the 1949 earthquake, Prohibition, Bartell Drugs, etc. Plus, it’s refreshing to read a story that is set somewhere besides New York, Los Angeles, London, or whatnot.
Also refreshing was how little romance or humor there was in the novel in contrast to the supernatural angle. To me, it seems like a lot of urban fantasy series these days want to be sexy, funny, or both—which is all fair and good if done right—but sometimes I wish the authors would concentrate more on the paranormal aspect and approach the material with a darker, more serious attitude. “Underground” isn’t perfect in this regard as the book has sex, banter and so on, but the book is a little grittier than many of its counterparts, and it’s a characteristic that I really appreciated.
My favorite part of “Underground” though was the author’s use of the paranormal. At first glance, the idea of a person “treading the thin line between the living world and the paranormal realm” didn’t seem very original. Nor the ghosts, zombies, vampires or witches that show up in the novel. But Kat brings a fresh perspective to these concepts such as Harper’s Grey-sensitive senses which allow her to see, smell and taste the world in a whole new light, or being able to shift backwards in time through pockets of memories. Additionally, the vampires in the book are hiding some dark secret—a creature that possibly hunts vampires—Harper is educated on the different types of zombies and monsters out there including the shaggymen; ghosts also come in different forms; and Kat even uses the law of physics to explain shape-shifting. Which is all interesting stuff, but it’s with the Native American mythology like the legend of the monster Sisiutl and its master, Qamaits, that Kat really outdoes herself, injecting some much appreciated freshness into the urban fantasy genre…
On the negative side, the writing—while competent—lacks personality and is boring. This includes stiff dialogue and wooden characters who are one-dimensional and hard to care about. In fact, the city of Seattle possesses more individuality and is better developed than any of the actual characters in the book. Of the novel’s romantic and humorous elements, Kat is not very good at either one. Humor in “Underground” is dry and forced, while the romance is underdeveloped and far more annoying than it is sexy, so it’s a good thing that there is so little of it in the book. As far as the story, the central plotline/mystery is intriguing, but it takes a while to get going, and the twists toward the end aren’t difficult to decipher.
As for starting the Greywalker series with the third book, it wasn’t an issue for me. Sure, I missed out on the previous interactions between Harper and such returning characters as William Novak, Quinton, Edward Kammerling, the necromancer Carlos, Cameron, the Danzigers, etc., as well as references to the previous books including Blaine’s ‘origin’, but “Underground” works well as a standalone novel and does enough to bring the reader up to date.
CONCLUSION: Using the urban fantasy that I’ve read as a measuring stick, Kat Richardson’s “Underground” rates a little above average with supernatural creativity, atmosphere and setting the book’s strengths; and prose, characterization, dialogue and romance/humor its weaknesses. Basically, “Underground” is the kind of book that I would check out from the library for a fast-paced, entertaining time, but would never read again. Still, the novel displays potential and if Kat Richardson can improve her writing so it’s on the same level as her strengths, then the author’s Greywalker books could become something really special. Until then, “Underground” is worth a look, but there is much better urban fantasy out there to be enjoyed…
PRESS RELEASE: Dabel Brothers to Adapt Two Novels from Sherrilyn Kenyon's Bestselling Dark-Hunter series
ATLANTA, GA—August 4, 2008: Dabel Brothers Publishing is proud to announce the manga-style adaptations of two Dark-Hunter novels by the #1 best-selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon, to be released in 2009.
The novels, “Night Pleasures” and “Night Embrace”, are the first and second books in Kenyon's blockbuster series, The Dark-Hunters. The series is about eternally damned warriors who have sold their souls for vengeance and who now protect mankind from the evil that preys on them.
Kenyon's work has a worldwide following, with sales of more than fourteen million books in twenty-nine countries.
The story will be adapted by writer Joshua Hale Fialkov, known for his unique storytelling style on titles like Cyblade and the upcoming Afro Samurai Manga. Claudia Campos, already a favorite with Kenyon's fans for her knockout illustrations in The Dark-Hunter Companion, will again provide the art. Production services are being provided by Glass House Graphics.
Dabel Brothers will be working in partnership with St. Martin's Press, the publisher of Kenyon's novel, who will serve as publisher for these anticipated adaptations.
“This is a very exciting opportunity for Dabel Brothers Publishing,” says Dabel Brothers President Ernst Dabel, “It's a chance to create the kind of visual adventure that we do best while connecting with Sherrilyn's millions of fans throughout the world. Our goal is to create something special that will be warmly embraced by fans old and new alike.”
About Sherrilyn Kenyon:
#1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon has more than fourteen million copies of her books in print, in twenty-nine countries. She is the author of the Dark-Hunter novels, which have an international cult following and have appeared at on the top-three lists of the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today. Writing both as Sherrilyn Kenyon and Kinley MacGregor, she is the author of several other series, including: Lords of Avalon, BAD, and the Dream-Hunters series.
About St. Martin's Press:
Founded in 1952 by Macmillan Publishers Limited of England, St. Martin's Press is now one of the largest publishers in America. Best known for the strength and breadth of their list, the company publishes 700 titles a year, and is equally committed to finding and nurturing the first-time author as it is to bestseller publishing. St. Martin's operates eight separate imprints and utilizes the resources of six unique sales divisions, ensuring maximum exposure for its authors in the wide variety of markets for books today. Imprints include: St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin, St. Martin's Minotaur, Picador USA, Thomas Dunne Books, and Truman Talley Books. St. Martin's is part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC, a group of publishing companies held by Verlagsgruppe George Von Holtzbrinck, a family owned publishing operation based in Stuttgart, Germany.
About Dabel Brothers Publishing, LLC:
Dabel Brothers Publishing, LLC, is a comic book studio dedicated to bringing many of the best and most popular novels in the world of fantasy to the comic book medium. Since its inception in 2001 they have produced adaptations of novels by bestselling authors including George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, Laurell K. Hamilton, Raymond E. Feist, Tad Williams, Richard A. Knaak, and Robert Silverberg. Currently on the schedule is a remarkable list of high-profile projects including adaptations of major novels by bestselling authors: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, an original story set in the world of Jim Butcher's bestselling series The Dresden Files, a Wild Cards series edited and overseen by George R. R. Martin, and a brand-new Mercy Thompson adventure by Patricia Briggs titled Mercy Thompson: Homecoming.
Recently announced Dabel Brothers projects include Malcom Wong’s Dog Eaters, Jim Dresden’s Dresden Files: Storm Front, Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, and The Warriors.
The novels, “Night Pleasures” and “Night Embrace”, are the first and second books in Kenyon's blockbuster series, The Dark-Hunters. The series is about eternally damned warriors who have sold their souls for vengeance and who now protect mankind from the evil that preys on them.
Kenyon's work has a worldwide following, with sales of more than fourteen million books in twenty-nine countries.
The story will be adapted by writer Joshua Hale Fialkov, known for his unique storytelling style on titles like Cyblade and the upcoming Afro Samurai Manga. Claudia Campos, already a favorite with Kenyon's fans for her knockout illustrations in The Dark-Hunter Companion, will again provide the art. Production services are being provided by Glass House Graphics.Dabel Brothers will be working in partnership with St. Martin's Press, the publisher of Kenyon's novel, who will serve as publisher for these anticipated adaptations.
“This is a very exciting opportunity for Dabel Brothers Publishing,” says Dabel Brothers President Ernst Dabel, “It's a chance to create the kind of visual adventure that we do best while connecting with Sherrilyn's millions of fans throughout the world. Our goal is to create something special that will be warmly embraced by fans old and new alike.”
About Sherrilyn Kenyon:
#1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon has more than fourteen million copies of her books in print, in twenty-nine countries. She is the author of the Dark-Hunter novels, which have an international cult following and have appeared at on the top-three lists of the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today. Writing both as Sherrilyn Kenyon and Kinley MacGregor, she is the author of several other series, including: Lords of Avalon, BAD, and the Dream-Hunters series.About St. Martin's Press:
Founded in 1952 by Macmillan Publishers Limited of England, St. Martin's Press is now one of the largest publishers in America. Best known for the strength and breadth of their list, the company publishes 700 titles a year, and is equally committed to finding and nurturing the first-time author as it is to bestseller publishing. St. Martin's operates eight separate imprints and utilizes the resources of six unique sales divisions, ensuring maximum exposure for its authors in the wide variety of markets for books today. Imprints include: St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin, St. Martin's Minotaur, Picador USA, Thomas Dunne Books, and Truman Talley Books. St. Martin's is part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC, a group of publishing companies held by Verlagsgruppe George Von Holtzbrinck, a family owned publishing operation based in Stuttgart, Germany.
About Dabel Brothers Publishing, LLC:
Dabel Brothers Publishing, LLC, is a comic book studio dedicated to bringing many of the best and most popular novels in the world of fantasy to the comic book medium. Since its inception in 2001 they have produced adaptations of novels by bestselling authors including George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, Laurell K. Hamilton, Raymond E. Feist, Tad Williams, Richard A. Knaak, and Robert Silverberg. Currently on the schedule is a remarkable list of high-profile projects including adaptations of major novels by bestselling authors: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, an original story set in the world of Jim Butcher's bestselling series The Dresden Files, a Wild Cards series edited and overseen by George R. R. Martin, and a brand-new Mercy Thompson adventure by Patricia Briggs titled Mercy Thompson: Homecoming.
Recently announced Dabel Brothers projects include Malcom Wong’s Dog Eaters, Jim Dresden’s Dresden Files: Storm Front, Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, and The Warriors.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Winners of the Elizabeth Bear and Terry Pratchett Giveaways + Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time 2009 Calendar...
Congratulations to Mihir Wanchoo (Texas), Cath Stevenson (California) and Bryce Bell (Colorado) who were all randomly selected to win a SET of Elizabeth Bear’s Promethean Age series including copies of “Whiskey & Water”, “Blood & Iron”, “Ink & Steel” and “Hell & Earth”, all courtesy of Roc Books!!!
Also, congratulations to Belinda Moore (Mississippi), Ingemar Hulthage (California), Shilo Beedy (New York), Bryon McGregor (Montana), Alyce Mulloy (Maryland), Dorothy Lazorchik (Pennsylvania), Tracey Chambers (Illinois), Clifton Wade (North Carolina), Dean Reiser (Florida) and Malinda Morris (Ohio) who were all randomly selected to win a COPY of Terry Pratchett’s The Discworld Graphic Novels, courtesy of HarperCollins!!!
In news, Tor Books is proud to announce that Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time® 2009 Calendar is now on sale.
Last spring, Robert Jordan announced a competition on his blog where artists would have the opportunity to submit original artwork based on the Wheel of Time® for inclusion in a 2009 calendar.
He wrote, “I know there is some really professional quality work because I have seen it. Style doesn’t matter in this. Manga, hyper-realism, current cover-art. Whatever. Anything and everything is acceptable as a possibility. It will be the quality that counts, not the style. If you want to try it the way you think Rembrandt would have done it, go for it.”
The competition ran from Tuesday, May 22nd through Wednesday, August 15th 2007, and the initial judging was conducted under the supervision of a panel of judges from several popular Wheel of Time® websites including:
http://www.dragonmount.com/
http://www.wotmania.com/
http://www.tarvalon.net/
http://www.ageoflegends.net/
http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/
Robert Jordan personally conducted the final judging and selected the 12 images that appear in the 2009 Wheel of Time® Calendar just a few days before he passed away on September 16th, 2007, from the rare blood disease, amyloidosis. The pieces chosen symbolize the devotion that readers have to Robert Jordan and to the rich world he created. They are (in alphabetical order):
Michael-James Anderson — “Into the Ways”
Susan Frech-Sims — “Aviendha in the Aiel Waste, Book 4”
James Keegan — “Mordeth Revealed”
Jared Magneson — “The Heart of the Stone”
Doug McCluer — “Couladin Surprises Mat”
Paul Pederson — “Night Stalkers”
Andrea Perurena — “Rand in The Fires of Heaven”
Matty Ryan — “Child of the Light, Galad Damodred”
Kevin Ed Tinney — “The Caemlyn Waygate”
Joseph B. Trimarchi — “Battle at Whitebridge”
Joni Warden — “Sedai, Among Us”
Tess Wrathall — “A Lily in Winter”
The July 2008 publication of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time® 2009 Calendar offers another new way to experience favorite stories and characters, and will be a must-have for Robert Jordan’s millions of fans.
Also, congratulations to Belinda Moore (Mississippi), Ingemar Hulthage (California), Shilo Beedy (New York), Bryon McGregor (Montana), Alyce Mulloy (Maryland), Dorothy Lazorchik (Pennsylvania), Tracey Chambers (Illinois), Clifton Wade (North Carolina), Dean Reiser (Florida) and Malinda Morris (Ohio) who were all randomly selected to win a COPY of Terry Pratchett’s The Discworld Graphic Novels, courtesy of HarperCollins!!!
In news, Tor Books is proud to announce that Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time® 2009 Calendar is now on sale.Last spring, Robert Jordan announced a competition on his blog where artists would have the opportunity to submit original artwork based on the Wheel of Time® for inclusion in a 2009 calendar.
He wrote, “I know there is some really professional quality work because I have seen it. Style doesn’t matter in this. Manga, hyper-realism, current cover-art. Whatever. Anything and everything is acceptable as a possibility. It will be the quality that counts, not the style. If you want to try it the way you think Rembrandt would have done it, go for it.”
The competition ran from Tuesday, May 22nd through Wednesday, August 15th 2007, and the initial judging was conducted under the supervision of a panel of judges from several popular Wheel of Time® websites including:
http://www.dragonmount.com/
http://www.wotmania.com/
http://www.tarvalon.net/
http://www.ageoflegends.net/
http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/
Robert Jordan personally conducted the final judging and selected the 12 images that appear in the 2009 Wheel of Time® Calendar just a few days before he passed away on September 16th, 2007, from the rare blood disease, amyloidosis. The pieces chosen symbolize the devotion that readers have to Robert Jordan and to the rich world he created. They are (in alphabetical order):
Michael-James Anderson — “Into the Ways”
Susan Frech-Sims — “Aviendha in the Aiel Waste, Book 4”
James Keegan — “Mordeth Revealed”
Jared Magneson — “The Heart of the Stone”
Doug McCluer — “Couladin Surprises Mat”
Paul Pederson — “Night Stalkers”
Andrea Perurena — “Rand in The Fires of Heaven”
Matty Ryan — “Child of the Light, Galad Damodred”
Kevin Ed Tinney — “The Caemlyn Waygate”
Joseph B. Trimarchi — “Battle at Whitebridge”
Joni Warden — “Sedai, Among Us”
Tess Wrathall — “A Lily in Winter”
The July 2008 publication of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time® 2009 Calendar offers another new way to experience favorite stories and characters, and will be a must-have for Robert Jordan’s millions of fans.
Reviewed by Liviu C. Suciu:
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Andrew Davidson graduated in 1995 with a BA in English Literature from the University of British Columbia. He has worked as a teacher of English in Japan and a writer of English lessons for Japanese websites. “The Gargoyle” is his first book.
INTRODUCTION: I first heard of “The Gargoyle” on a book forum when it was mentioned as THE literary debut of 2008. I was curious and when I checked out an excerpt, I was immediately hooked and could not wait to get a copy of the book. I started the novel the day it arrived at my door and in two nights finished it, completely enthralled by the hypnotic prose that keeps you glued to its pages and a narrative, that by jumping between two time frames, increases the tension of the novel, making for a superb if occasionally horrifying experience.
SETTING: “The Gargoyle” mainly alternates between a contemporary story thread in and near an unnamed US city close to an ocean—presumably Los Angeles from the implied clues—and a medieval storyline set in 14th century Germany, although there are detours to various places including a Viking-era Iceland, Victorian England, medieval Japan, and Dante's Hell, or a close approximation thereof.
FORMAT/INFO: The ARC of “The Gargoyle” that I have stands at 465 pages divided over XXXIII Latin-numbered chapters. The book is mostly narrated in the first-person, present-tense, via our unnamed main character—a once amoral, cynical, and successful porn actor/director and drug addict who is currently a burned cripple recovering from a terrible car accident. In contrast to this narrative, there are interludes that grow in length and intensity, featuring the other main character, Marianne Engel, a mysteriously rich and very popular sculptor of gargoyles who is occasionally hospitalized for schizophrenia. These interludes are presented in the first-person, past-tense and mostly deal with Marianne’s early life as a monastery-raised orphan in 14th century Germany, her meeting with our narrator as a wounded and badly burned mercenary then, and their presumed life together.
August 5, 2008 marks the North American Hardcover publication of “The Gargoyle” via Doubleday Books. The UK edition (see inset) will be released September 25, 2008 via Canongate Books. US cover designed by Amanda Dewey.
PLOT HINTS AND ANALYSIS: “The Gargoyle” starts with the vivid description of the drug-induced car accident that burns and cripples our narrator. After a mixture of explicit burn treatment descriptions and a short but cynical and darkly funny review of his life experience, Marianne Engel makes her appearance as a temporary psychiatric patient in the same hospital, and takes over both him and the novel. These first fifty pages are the hardest ones to read from the novel since they involve very explicit and sometimes stomach-turning descriptions of burn injuries, their highly painful treatment procedures, and assorted induced nightmares, but the matter-of-fact cynical tone and the backstory interludes make the scenes bearable. And they are necessary for only in the crucible of pain, humiliation and the knowledge that it's a life sentence can the narrator move beyond the disgusting person that he once was. So even if you find those pages horrifying, persevere, especially once Marianne Engel makes her entrance because you will be hooked by the mystery that she represents as well as her larger-than-life persona.
Providing an added dimension to the book is the rest of the hospital staff and their numerous memorable scenes that could be quite mawkish in the hands of a less talented writer. Of these, a Christmas hospital party, a Japanese therapist escaping a stultifying life in her country, and a likable shrink are some of the highlights in this part of the novel.
Soon discharged from the hospital, Marianne returns repeatedly and slowly gains the trust of the dedicated doctor treating our narrator, while our narrator starts becoming addicted to her visits. When she mysteriously stops visiting for a week, he is very distressed and returns to his elaborated suicide plans after discharge, but then Marianne returns and explains that the gargoyles that she sculpts are actually “alive” and “talk” to her demanding her full dedication to finishing them, thus explaining her occasional disappearances. But are these merely ravings of a sick woman that refuses to take her medications once she leaves the hospital?
And there is a hitch. Marianne endows each of her gargoyles with a heart from her large but not unlimited supply of hearts inside her, and the last heart is supposedly for him. More ravings?
And then of course the medieval interludes start, and despite his initial mocking and disbelief, the narrator gets drawn into the story with us. From here, the book is impossible to put down, demanding to be finished and concludes with an ending that is very well done and brings the story full circle. Many passages from the novel remained with me for a long time and I would go and reread them from time to time. I expect I will reread this novel several more times to fully experience its texture and wonderful prose.
With echoes of several famous novels, but written in a very personal and accomplished style, “The Gargoyle” makes a well deserving claim to being THE literary debut of the year. By turns, it will horrify you, it will enchant you, it may even bewitch you, but ultimately you will fall in love with “The Gargoyle” because it is impossible not to care about our narrator, Marianne and their epic love story across the gulf of time, space, and even the gates of Hell…
Highly, highly recommended.
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Andrew Davidson graduated in 1995 with a BA in English Literature from the University of British Columbia. He has worked as a teacher of English in Japan and a writer of English lessons for Japanese websites. “The Gargoyle” is his first book.
INTRODUCTION: I first heard of “The Gargoyle” on a book forum when it was mentioned as THE literary debut of 2008. I was curious and when I checked out an excerpt, I was immediately hooked and could not wait to get a copy of the book. I started the novel the day it arrived at my door and in two nights finished it, completely enthralled by the hypnotic prose that keeps you glued to its pages and a narrative, that by jumping between two time frames, increases the tension of the novel, making for a superb if occasionally horrifying experience.
SETTING: “The Gargoyle” mainly alternates between a contemporary story thread in and near an unnamed US city close to an ocean—presumably Los Angeles from the implied clues—and a medieval storyline set in 14th century Germany, although there are detours to various places including a Viking-era Iceland, Victorian England, medieval Japan, and Dante's Hell, or a close approximation thereof.
FORMAT/INFO: The ARC of “The Gargoyle” that I have stands at 465 pages divided over XXXIII Latin-numbered chapters. The book is mostly narrated in the first-person, present-tense, via our unnamed main character—a once amoral, cynical, and successful porn actor/director and drug addict who is currently a burned cripple recovering from a terrible car accident. In contrast to this narrative, there are interludes that grow in length and intensity, featuring the other main character, Marianne Engel, a mysteriously rich and very popular sculptor of gargoyles who is occasionally hospitalized for schizophrenia. These interludes are presented in the first-person, past-tense and mostly deal with Marianne’s early life as a monastery-raised orphan in 14th century Germany, her meeting with our narrator as a wounded and badly burned mercenary then, and their presumed life together.August 5, 2008 marks the North American Hardcover publication of “The Gargoyle” via Doubleday Books. The UK edition (see inset) will be released September 25, 2008 via Canongate Books. US cover designed by Amanda Dewey.
PLOT HINTS AND ANALYSIS: “The Gargoyle” starts with the vivid description of the drug-induced car accident that burns and cripples our narrator. After a mixture of explicit burn treatment descriptions and a short but cynical and darkly funny review of his life experience, Marianne Engel makes her appearance as a temporary psychiatric patient in the same hospital, and takes over both him and the novel. These first fifty pages are the hardest ones to read from the novel since they involve very explicit and sometimes stomach-turning descriptions of burn injuries, their highly painful treatment procedures, and assorted induced nightmares, but the matter-of-fact cynical tone and the backstory interludes make the scenes bearable. And they are necessary for only in the crucible of pain, humiliation and the knowledge that it's a life sentence can the narrator move beyond the disgusting person that he once was. So even if you find those pages horrifying, persevere, especially once Marianne Engel makes her entrance because you will be hooked by the mystery that she represents as well as her larger-than-life persona.
Providing an added dimension to the book is the rest of the hospital staff and their numerous memorable scenes that could be quite mawkish in the hands of a less talented writer. Of these, a Christmas hospital party, a Japanese therapist escaping a stultifying life in her country, and a likable shrink are some of the highlights in this part of the novel.
Soon discharged from the hospital, Marianne returns repeatedly and slowly gains the trust of the dedicated doctor treating our narrator, while our narrator starts becoming addicted to her visits. When she mysteriously stops visiting for a week, he is very distressed and returns to his elaborated suicide plans after discharge, but then Marianne returns and explains that the gargoyles that she sculpts are actually “alive” and “talk” to her demanding her full dedication to finishing them, thus explaining her occasional disappearances. But are these merely ravings of a sick woman that refuses to take her medications once she leaves the hospital?
And there is a hitch. Marianne endows each of her gargoyles with a heart from her large but not unlimited supply of hearts inside her, and the last heart is supposedly for him. More ravings?
And then of course the medieval interludes start, and despite his initial mocking and disbelief, the narrator gets drawn into the story with us. From here, the book is impossible to put down, demanding to be finished and concludes with an ending that is very well done and brings the story full circle. Many passages from the novel remained with me for a long time and I would go and reread them from time to time. I expect I will reread this novel several more times to fully experience its texture and wonderful prose.
With echoes of several famous novels, but written in a very personal and accomplished style, “The Gargoyle” makes a well deserving claim to being THE literary debut of the year. By turns, it will horrify you, it will enchant you, it may even bewitch you, but ultimately you will fall in love with “The Gargoyle” because it is impossible not to care about our narrator, Marianne and their epic love story across the gulf of time, space, and even the gates of Hell…
Highly, highly recommended.
Congratulations to Cindy Weiss (Illinois), Jennifer Womble (Texas) and Jen Fruno (Canada) who were all randomly selected to win a SET of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, including copies of “Twilight”, “New Moon”, “Eclipse” and the new book “Breaking Dawn”, courtesy of Hachette Book Group USA!!! Not unexpectedly, the giveaway set a new Fantasy Book Critic record for entries with 14,451. So much thanks to all of the participants!
Miscellaneous News:
~NEW YORK, NY – July 30, 2008: Paws, Inc. and Ballantine Books, a division of the Random House Publishing Group, announced last week at Comic-Con International that Ballantine will publish a book inspired by the popular webcomic Garfield Minus Garfield.
Garfield Minus Garfield made its online debut in February 2008 and quickly became an online sensation based on a simple premise: What would Jim Davis’ Garfield comic strip be like without its lasagna-loving fat cat? Without the presence of Garfield and other characters such as Odie the dog and Nermal the kitten, the strips “create a new, even lonelier atmosphere for Jon Arbuckle…Jon’s observations seem to teeter between existential crisis and deep despair.” —New York Times
The full-color book format will give readers the experience of having both the original and doctored Garfield strips together on the same page for comparison. Dublin, Ireland-based Garfield Minus Garfield creator Dan Walsh will provide the foreword to the book, which is scheduled for publication October 28, 2008.
Garfield creator Jim Davis was intrigued by—and pleased with—the concept. “I think it’s an inspired thing to do,” Davis said. “I want to thank Dan for enabling me to see another side of Garfield. Some of the strips he chose were slappers: ‘Oh, I could have left that out.' It would have been funnier.”
Garfield Minus Garfield site creator Dan Walsh says, “When I looked at Jon and laughed at his crazy antics I thought ‘He's just like me.’ As it turns out, I wasn't the only one saw myself in him: millions of visitors from all over the world visit Garfield Minus Garfield and tell me they think the same thing. Now, thanks to the awesome generosity and humor of Jim Davis, Garfield Minus Garfield is going to become a book and I'm absolutely honored to be part of it.”
Ballantine Books has been publishing Garfield books since 1980, and thirty-three Garfield titles have made the New York Times bestseller list. Thirty Years of Laughs and Lasagna: The Life and Times of a Fat, Furry Legend, will be published by Ballantine Books in October 2008. This hardcover anniversary collection will include a foreword from Dean Young, Blondie cartoonist, and exclusive content from Jim Davis.
ABOUT PAWS INC.:
Paws, Incorporated was founded in 1981 by cartoonist Jim Davis as a creative house to support Garfield licensing. Today, the company, located in rural Indiana, handles not only the creative angle, but also the business concerns of the corpulent kitty worldwide. Paws boasts a staff of more than 50 artists, writers, and licensing professionals. Paws, Inc. is a privately held company and the sole owner of the copyrights and trademarks for GARFIELD and GARFIELD Characters.
ABOUT GARFIELDMINUSGARFIELD.NET:
Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. Garfield Minus Garfield began in February 2008 and quickly gained a large following. It has been covered in such publications as Time magazine, Rolling Stone, the Washington Post and the New York Times. Garfield Minus Garfield is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.
~Judith Moffett has released “The Bird Shaman”, the long-awaited conclusion of her Holy Ground Trilogy, about the alien Hefn who have taken possession of Earth in order to save it from human abuse. The novel's ecological themes, developed in Utah deserts and Kentucky woods, are interwoven with issues of child abuse, Mormon history, and the mysteries of prehistoric rock art. The trilogy's previous two volumes, “The Ragged World” and “Time, Like an Ever-Rolling Stream” were both New York Times Notable Books. “Moffett's combination of harsh realism with visionary zeal addresses contemporary issues and personal struggles with compassion and insight.” —Library Journal. “The Bird Shaman” is available from Amazon.com, or direct from the publisher, Bascom Hill Publishing Group, via the author's website. To read the novel's first chapter, and to place your order, please visit http://www.judithmoffett.com/:
“Occupation of Earth is now in its 27th year, and relations between humanity and the dictatorial Hefn have never seemed shakier. The aliens' mission is to save the planet from its human abusers; and the Baby Ban imposed by mass hypnosis has made Earth a cleaner, wilder, less crowded place. But the Ban has now lasted so long, and provoked such hatred, that when a spark is struck the situation explodes into worldwide riots on one side and retaliatory mindwipings on the other. Years of effort by the eco-spiritual Gaians, who mediate between humans and Hefn, have been destroyed.
While the Gaians regroup and brainstorm frantically in an atmosphere of doubt and danger, one obsessed Hefn and one young woman begin a radical experiment. Pam Pruitt has discovered a growing ability to acquire information by non-rational means. Childhood suffering has empowered her, in a way once understood by hunting and gathering peoples—an understanding lost with that lost lifeway—to communicate with mysterious forces through strong dreaming: to function as a shaman on behalf of her community, the human race…”
~Moving on, it’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally been officially announced HERE via Variety that David Anthony Durham’s epic fantasy novel, “Acacia” (Reviewed HERE) has been optioned by Relativity Media for film adaptation. While I’m not familiar with the screenwriter Andrew Grant, Relativity has produced a lot of great films including 3:10 To Yuma, American Gangster, The Kingdom, Wanted, etc, so I believe the book is in great hands :) For David’s thoughts on the film adaptation, check out his blog HERE.
~Lastly, Brave Luck Books is hosting the Fantasy Pleasure Reading Contest for the month of August. Basically, by downloading the free fantasy ebook “Union of Renegades: The Rys Chronicles Book I”, anyone will be entered to win one of these prizes:
1st prize: Brand new mass market paperback copies of the first four novels of George R.R. Martin's international best-selling Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy series—A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows. A $31.96 value.
2nd prize: A brand new trade paperback copy of The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: The Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All Time! This unabridged collection of stories is by the famous fantasy writer Robert E. Howard. A $16.95 value.
3rd and 4th prizes: The Rys Chronicles complete epic fantasy series in trade paperback. Win all four novels: Union of Renegades, The Goddess Queen, Judgment Rising and The Borderlands of Power.
5th through 10th prizes: The Rys Chronicles complete epic fantasy series in ebook format. Win all four novels in your choice of digital format: Union of Renegades, The Goddess Queen, Judgment Rising and The Borderlands of Power.
The contest is open to all readers worldwide. Winners will be drawn on September 1, 2008. Full contest details can be found HERE.
Miscellaneous News:
~NEW YORK, NY – July 30, 2008: Paws, Inc. and Ballantine Books, a division of the Random House Publishing Group, announced last week at Comic-Con International that Ballantine will publish a book inspired by the popular webcomic Garfield Minus Garfield.Garfield Minus Garfield made its online debut in February 2008 and quickly became an online sensation based on a simple premise: What would Jim Davis’ Garfield comic strip be like without its lasagna-loving fat cat? Without the presence of Garfield and other characters such as Odie the dog and Nermal the kitten, the strips “create a new, even lonelier atmosphere for Jon Arbuckle…Jon’s observations seem to teeter between existential crisis and deep despair.” —New York Times
The full-color book format will give readers the experience of having both the original and doctored Garfield strips together on the same page for comparison. Dublin, Ireland-based Garfield Minus Garfield creator Dan Walsh will provide the foreword to the book, which is scheduled for publication October 28, 2008.
Garfield creator Jim Davis was intrigued by—and pleased with—the concept. “I think it’s an inspired thing to do,” Davis said. “I want to thank Dan for enabling me to see another side of Garfield. Some of the strips he chose were slappers: ‘Oh, I could have left that out.' It would have been funnier.”
Garfield Minus Garfield site creator Dan Walsh says, “When I looked at Jon and laughed at his crazy antics I thought ‘He's just like me.’ As it turns out, I wasn't the only one saw myself in him: millions of visitors from all over the world visit Garfield Minus Garfield and tell me they think the same thing. Now, thanks to the awesome generosity and humor of Jim Davis, Garfield Minus Garfield is going to become a book and I'm absolutely honored to be part of it.”
Ballantine Books has been publishing Garfield books since 1980, and thirty-three Garfield titles have made the New York Times bestseller list. Thirty Years of Laughs and Lasagna: The Life and Times of a Fat, Furry Legend, will be published by Ballantine Books in October 2008. This hardcover anniversary collection will include a foreword from Dean Young, Blondie cartoonist, and exclusive content from Jim Davis.ABOUT PAWS INC.:
Paws, Incorporated was founded in 1981 by cartoonist Jim Davis as a creative house to support Garfield licensing. Today, the company, located in rural Indiana, handles not only the creative angle, but also the business concerns of the corpulent kitty worldwide. Paws boasts a staff of more than 50 artists, writers, and licensing professionals. Paws, Inc. is a privately held company and the sole owner of the copyrights and trademarks for GARFIELD and GARFIELD Characters.
ABOUT GARFIELDMINUSGARFIELD.NET:
Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. Garfield Minus Garfield began in February 2008 and quickly gained a large following. It has been covered in such publications as Time magazine, Rolling Stone, the Washington Post and the New York Times. Garfield Minus Garfield is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.
~Judith Moffett has released “The Bird Shaman”, the long-awaited conclusion of her Holy Ground Trilogy, about the alien Hefn who have taken possession of Earth in order to save it from human abuse. The novel's ecological themes, developed in Utah deserts and Kentucky woods, are interwoven with issues of child abuse, Mormon history, and the mysteries of prehistoric rock art. The trilogy's previous two volumes, “The Ragged World” and “Time, Like an Ever-Rolling Stream” were both New York Times Notable Books. “Moffett's combination of harsh realism with visionary zeal addresses contemporary issues and personal struggles with compassion and insight.” —Library Journal. “The Bird Shaman” is available from Amazon.com, or direct from the publisher, Bascom Hill Publishing Group, via the author's website. To read the novel's first chapter, and to place your order, please visit http://www.judithmoffett.com/:“Occupation of Earth is now in its 27th year, and relations between humanity and the dictatorial Hefn have never seemed shakier. The aliens' mission is to save the planet from its human abusers; and the Baby Ban imposed by mass hypnosis has made Earth a cleaner, wilder, less crowded place. But the Ban has now lasted so long, and provoked such hatred, that when a spark is struck the situation explodes into worldwide riots on one side and retaliatory mindwipings on the other. Years of effort by the eco-spiritual Gaians, who mediate between humans and Hefn, have been destroyed.
While the Gaians regroup and brainstorm frantically in an atmosphere of doubt and danger, one obsessed Hefn and one young woman begin a radical experiment. Pam Pruitt has discovered a growing ability to acquire information by non-rational means. Childhood suffering has empowered her, in a way once understood by hunting and gathering peoples—an understanding lost with that lost lifeway—to communicate with mysterious forces through strong dreaming: to function as a shaman on behalf of her community, the human race…”
~Moving on, it’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally been officially announced HERE via Variety that David Anthony Durham’s epic fantasy novel, “Acacia” (Reviewed HERE) has been optioned by Relativity Media for film adaptation. While I’m not familiar with the screenwriter Andrew Grant, Relativity has produced a lot of great films including 3:10 To Yuma, American Gangster, The Kingdom, Wanted, etc, so I believe the book is in great hands :) For David’s thoughts on the film adaptation, check out his blog HERE.
~Lastly, Brave Luck Books is hosting the Fantasy Pleasure Reading Contest for the month of August. Basically, by downloading the free fantasy ebook “Union of Renegades: The Rys Chronicles Book I”, anyone will be entered to win one of these prizes:1st prize: Brand new mass market paperback copies of the first four novels of George R.R. Martin's international best-selling Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy series—A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows. A $31.96 value.
2nd prize: A brand new trade paperback copy of The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: The Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All Time! This unabridged collection of stories is by the famous fantasy writer Robert E. Howard. A $16.95 value.
3rd and 4th prizes: The Rys Chronicles complete epic fantasy series in trade paperback. Win all four novels: Union of Renegades, The Goddess Queen, Judgment Rising and The Borderlands of Power.
5th through 10th prizes: The Rys Chronicles complete epic fantasy series in ebook format. Win all four novels in your choice of digital format: Union of Renegades, The Goddess Queen, Judgment Rising and The Borderlands of Power.
The contest is open to all readers worldwide. Winners will be drawn on September 1, 2008. Full contest details can be found HERE.
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