tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60830798662669714832024-02-19T00:36:29.413-08:00Written With A SwordAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-1480032332980767022014-05-27T11:55:00.000-07:002014-05-27T12:00:52.479-07:00Interview: David Guymer, Author of Headtaker.<br />
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<a href="http://api.ning.com/files/3fWxNBT49xDI0abxgAeJLKyvM*goa8RWEsQaqseRcmT1ThShsS4w-KNeDO86Mq8btyfgv5fQuZJo3UUWrapXonRE9Vt0n58P/davidguymer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://api.ning.com/files/3fWxNBT49xDI0abxgAeJLKyvM*goa8RWEsQaqseRcmT1ThShsS4w-KNeDO86Mq8btyfgv5fQuZJo3UUWrapXonRE9Vt0n58P/davidguymer.png" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Hi David, welcome to WWaS
(Written With a Sword). Congratulations for being nominated to the shortlist in
the David Gemmell Morningstar Award. For those readers who have yet to ‘meet
you’, tell us a little about yourself. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">According to my Goodreads profile I’m a fantasy
author living in East Yorkshire. Add to that wargamer, scientist, comic book
fan and Star Trek addict and we’re about there.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">So, how did you go from
being an occasional scientist to writing? Have you always wanted to be a
writer? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I’ll answer the second question first. No. I
always wanted to be a scientist, which is what I trained to do and for which I
wholly blame watching too much Star Trek in my formative years. The urge to be
a writer came on gradually, these little ideas niggling away at my brain,
growing fat on all the attention and ever more demanding until I had to start
writing it down. I’d written material for roleplaying adventures and gaming
campaigns before and at that stage it wasn’t a lot more than that, but that
desire to tell a story with the world I’d made luckily didn’t stop there. My
high fantasy opus has been half finished for a good 3-4 years now, but I still
hope to get back to it one day.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Have you conducted any mad
scientist type of experiments? In your debut novel ‘Headtaker’, we’re
introduced to the Skaven, and for those not familiar with the Warhammer
universe, the Skaven are a race of giant rats known for their dark sorceries,
haphazardly brilliant engineering, and savagery. Any Skaven-esque inventions? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I’m not particularly dexterous unfortunately. I
get excited when I manage to change my bicycle tyre without detonating the
inner tube. A little knowledge of genetics and technology though is certainly
no hindrance to writing about a race that has successfully crossed rats with
ogres and is responsible for giving the Warhammer world gas bombs, gatling
guns, and the Black Death.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="http://i509.photobucket.com/albums/s336/UltimateDeidara/Headtaker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i509.photobucket.com/albums/s336/UltimateDeidara/Headtaker.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Seeing we’ve mentioned it,
tell us about ‘Headtaker’ in 50 words or less – what’s your ‘elevator pitch’?
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">A decades old feud between two kingdoms of dwarfs
and orcs takes a turn anticipated by no one when the wildly egomaniacal and
probably mad skaven warlord Queek Headtaker is assigned the task crushing the
dwarfs. But Queek was never one for obeying so-called superiors.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">How long did it take to
plan and write the ‘Headtaker’? Do you have a writing routine? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">It took me about 6 months from the first plans to
the final edits, which, though I’ve gotten a little bit faster since, is still
about the time it takes me to complete a novel. On ‘Headtaker’ I tried to write
500 words a day every day, usually in the evenings after work, and then blitz
it at the weekends. I still work on top of writing unfortunately, but I find it
much easier to get 3000-4000 words done in a single sitting than I used to –
which is convenient as I now have a 3 month old baby girl vying for my
attention when I get home! On a related note, for anyone else wanting to
squeeze more words out of less time I’d recommend 2K to 10K by Rachel Aaron.
It’s transformed the way I write.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">What
inspired you to write ‘Headtaker’? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The ugly truth is that I was asked to write it –
I’d blooded myself on a few short stories for Black Library and they knew I was
a bit of a “skaven guy” so it was a natural fit for everyone. The idea for the
plot though came largely from reading ‘Thanquol’s Doom’ by C.L. Werner. The
theme running through that book is about the contrasting attitudes of the
dwarfs and skaven to progress and how the dwarfs’ resistance to it will
ultimately be their downfall. Maybe this is also the contrast between an
American author and a British one, but I thought the opposite could be the case
and wanted to show the conflict between breakneck innovation and
slow-and-steady from a different point of view. After that the various
characters and storyline slotted in nicely and, thanks to a very willful and
entertaining lead, was the easiest book to finish that I’ve yet written.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Now that ‘Headtaker’ has
been released into the wild, are you happy with it? Anything you’d
change? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Very happy actually. My writing’s come a long way
since which you’d expect so another round of editing probably wouldn’t hurt. I
don’t think there’s anything I’d actually change though, except perhaps a few
tweaks to the finale to tie up some loose ends<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">What
was the hardest part of writing ‘Headtaker’? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">This is actually a much harder question than
“what was the easiest part” as quite unlike my more recent works, ‘Headtaker’
pretty much fell out of my brain onto the screen. If I had to point the finger
at one aspect in particular then I suppose it would be in writing some of the
chapters, particularly in the middle, where several groups of characters are
doing lots of VERY exciting things in different places. Making sure that all
flowed naturally involved a bit of scene re-ordering and re-writing which was
much less fun than writing it in the first place so I guess that must’ve been
the hardest part!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The story follows two
major storylines, that of the Skaven, and that of the Dwarves. Which are you
more like? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I so much want to say skaven, but I know I’m a
dwarf really. I complain but don’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actually</i>
complain, don’t talk about my feelings, don’t spend my gold, assure the
neighbours everything’s fine even when the garden’s overrun with goblins, and just
have a beer instead.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I’m pretty sure that
you’re not a mutant rat in disguise (and if I’m wrong please don’t eat me!),
nor are you a subterranean miner with a thirst for ale and gold. How did you go
about researching the characters’ roles and ‘getting inside their
heads’? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Which just goes to show how good my disguise is
doesn’t it? I’ve been playing Games Workshop games and reading Black Library
books for a long time so there was no difficulty for me in segueing between
skaven, dwarfs, and goblins. Like any race born of the human imagination,
they’re rather like actual humans but with certain characteristics taken to
extreme. The skaven are fast-living, treacherous, and cowardly. Dwarfs are
stubborn and prideful. Goblins are mischievous and cruel. The best characters
I’ve found though, and this is based solely on reviews that I’ve read, seem to
be those that are based within these traits but differ from them in some
important and memorable way. So we have Queek Headtaker, so certain of himself
that he actually leads his armies from the front; Sharpwit, a skaven of such
experience and cunning that he’s lived long enough to see through the
self-aggrandisiment of the skaven race; Thordun Locksplitter, a compulsive
thief and an expatriate dwarf who was raised amongst humans. Give a character
enough individuality and, though it’s kind of a cliché, they make their head a
much more accessible place for both writer and reader<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">What
would you like readers to take away from ‘Headtaker’? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I hope they’ll go away smiling, taking the memory
of Queek and Sharpwit and company with them for a long long time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">What does it mean to you
to be nominated for the David Gemmell Morningstar award? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">As I mentioned to my editor when the longlist
first came out – you only get one chance to win a debut author prize, so yeah
it means a lot. It’s nice to just make the shortlist and get a day in the big
city for the awards ceremony, but obviously I want to win it!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">David Gemmell is regarded
as the ‘big daddy’ of modern British heroic-fantasy. Who is your hero? </span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I don’t know about “hero” as such, but there’s a
lot of interaction between the authors at Black Library and plenty of names to
look up to and aspire to emulate career-wise. I’m talking people like Dan
Abnett, Graham McNeil (A Legend Award winner, as we’re on topic), James Swallow
– people who’ve sold millions of books and seen it all. If I can take anything
from reading their work and sitting politely in hushed reverie in their
presence then I’ll be praiseful.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">What
can we expect next from you? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I’ve recently taken over the Gotrek & Felix
series so epically carried by first William King and then by Nathan Long. It’s
the sixteenth book of a series that’s been running for twenty years so it’s
kind of a big deal for me. The first of the new books, ‘Kinslayer’ is out later
this year.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Do you read other books in
your own genre? Who is your favourite author? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I’m going to cheat and give my TWO favourite
authors – Joe Abercrombie and China Miéville <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Do you have any pearls of wisdom that you’d like
to share with would-be writers?</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Write something and then get it read. Submit to
competitions that offer feedback, join a writing group, taking a writing class
– there’s no substitute for an external critique. I took a correspondence
course before I had a short story pitch accepted through an open submission
window at Black Library and it improved me immeasurably. It was stupid too
because the stuff I was getting pulled up on was mostly stuff I knew was wrong
but having it pointed out to me by another person really made me notice and
address it.<o:p></o:p></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-56275615003948876002014-05-26T15:04:00.000-07:002014-05-26T15:04:54.767-07:00Book Review: The Grim Company by Luke Scull.<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17190704" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Grim Company" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356881081m/17190704.jpg" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17190704">The Grim Company</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6872325">Luke Scull</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/547142001">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The Good:</b> A promising debut set in a truly epic world, with gritty, relatable characters, and a page burner of a plot (yes, that's right, a page burner).<br />
<br />
<b>The Bad:</b> In my opinion I don’t think there is a lot that is BAD about ‘The Grim Company’ – I’ve seen the pointed finger on a lot of reviews, but I’ll try and clarify my thoughts on the ‘grimdark’ and ‘Abercrombie mk2’ here.<br />
<br />
<b>The Ugly Truth:</b> The Grim Company is a hugely impressive debut. Yes, it’s Grimdark. Yes, it’s comparable to Joe Abercrombie. But if you’re going to write a grimdark novel OF COURSE you’re going to be compared to JA. It’s like writing a novel about elves and dwarves but hoping not to be compared to Tolkien. What the Grim Company does do, and does very well, is entertain. It’s unashamed of its roots, which to me is all that counts. Don’t shout and scream that it’s ‘just a copy’ – it’s not. It’s a tilt of the hat, a nod in the direction of, but in my opinion it’s a very strong contender in today’s fantasy market able to stand on its own two legs (unless you’re an unfortunate mage like Eremul, of course!).<br />
<br />
<b>For Those That Like:</b> David Gemmell, Brian McClellan, magic based stories, grimdark, gritty characters, tyrant-overthrowing-plots, and oh alright then I’ll say it, JOE ABERCROMBIE.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The gods are dead.<br /><br />Magic is dying.<br /><br />Freedom isn’t far off being terminal, either.<br /><br />Dorminia is a city under siege from within. The Tyrant of Dorminia rules with the approach of: hear no evil, see no evil, do no evil. ‘Evil’ being anyone with motive to oppose him. His mindhawks can hear the thoughts of the people, the city watch see everything, and if anyone steps out of place then Salazar’s magically powered Augmentors sort it out. Swiftly.<br /><br />But ‘evil’ is in the eye of the beholder. One man’s hero is another man’s villain. Salazar himself is a hero for overthrowing the gods hundreds of years ago, but what about the men who seek to overthrow Salazar?<br /><br />Two ageing barbarians, one with bad knees and the other with a bad temper, aren’t your typical everyday heroic pair. Nor is a cocky hot-headed youth who claims to be a hero at every opportunity. And a ‘half mage’ with no legs barely scratches at being 'half man', and there’s no such thing as a ‘half hero’. But together with a band of rebels, they seek to bring down Salazar and liberate Dorminia.</i></div>
<br />
<br />
<strong>Summary.</strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
Luke Scull’s ‘The Grim Company’ is his debut novel, and the opening to a brand new epic fantasy series. ‘The Grim Company’ is a story of the unlikeliest companions thrown together to bring down an enemy that even the gods couldn’t defeat. The odds of their success are grim (see what I did there? Ok, I’ll stop!).<br />
<br />
You need a fitting start to a tale in which the gods are dead. It needs to be a cataclysmic intro, something world-shattering to live up to the epic setting. What to choose, what to choose…oh, I know! A tidal wave. Eureka. Wait… <br />
<br />
…A TIDAL WAVE?!? In the first five pages? <br />
<br />
Certainly sets the tone, doesn’t it?<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Plot.</strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
‘The Grim Company’ comes out swinging, and throughout it doesn’t pull its punches. Look, I’m not going to go into the similarities that other reviewers have pointed out just yet, because I think that ‘The Grim Company’ can stand on its own two feet and fend for itself in terms of originality. Sure it’s grimdark fantasy, which is all the trend at the minute, but it has its own unique spice. I won’t bore you to death with examples but here’s a tidbit for you. Without spoiling anything, Scull introduces the concept of deep-sea mining at one point in the story. DEEP SEA MINING IN A FANTASY?!? Stick that in your originality pipe and smoke it. Then you have the concept of the Augmentors, warriors with a specific talent or trait magically magnified. Yes, this concept (or at least the base idea of it) has been used numerous times in fantasy, but it’s execution in the story is fantastic and makes for some fantastic character development and twists.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Characters.</strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
Scull shamelessly man’s his ‘Grim Company’ with the unlikeliest of heroes, even though each stereotype is likely to appear in every other grimdark fantasy novel out there. BUT, and I must emphasise this point, BUT Scull does it SHAMELESSLY. Ageing barbarian with aches and pains, getting too old for the life of a warrior; a crippled and bitter intellect, seated at the heart of a conspiracy yet he can’t sit down or stand up without risking sh**ting himself; and a hopeful young hero, talented, brave, destined for greatness, that is if he can stop his ego from running away from him. They’re all familiar to a fantasy fan, but don’t be put off by thinking this is a copy-paste cast. It’s a testament to Scull’s writing that he can take such familiar characters and breathe new life into them. I myself fell in love with the characters. Yes I can see the similarities. Do I care? No. They’re individual to me. <br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Setting & World building.</strong><br />
<br />
The plot and the setting are fantastic. Who doesn’t like an epic backdrop to a fantasy? And it doesn’t get much better than dead gods who's corpses leak magic. Seriously, top this, go on, I dare ya.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Style & Craftsmanship.</strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
Scull’s style is refreshing. I mean when you weigh it all up he has PACKED ‘The Grim Company’ with ideas and characters. When you try and list them all down, it seems like it won’t work on paper. There's just so much going on. But it does. It really, really does. The pacing is fantastic, never relenting. It’s not so much a page turner as a page burner.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Summary.</strong><br />
<br />
But the heart of the matter, I guess, the thing that everyone wants to know:<br />
<br />
…is ‘The Grim Company’ just another grimdark, or is it (as a minority of reviews/readers suggest) a blatant copy of other things out there (He-who-shall-not-be-named!).<br />
<br />
In my opinion?<br />
<br />
NO!<br />
<br />
‘The Grim Company’ is its own story. I used this word earlier, SHAMELESS. It is shameless in its use of characters, tone, and even word choice. But what does it have to be ashamed of? Nothing if you ask me. It’s a damn good read from a damned good author. I’m not going to point out the similarities for you, because in my opinion that’s not me doing justice to Luke Scull or ‘The Grim Company’.<br />
<br />
If every reader in the known world wants to know the TRUTH about this similarity binge, I’ll give you a truth. You might not be able to handle it, but here it is.<br />
<br />
Is ‘The Grim Company’ a mirror of Joe Abercrombie’s ‘First Law’ series?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
As a debut novel, ‘The Grim Company’ is better.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/547142001">View all my reviews</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-88878210252531593782014-05-25T13:35:00.000-07:002014-05-25T13:35:58.398-07:00Interview: Luke Scull, Author of 'The Grim Company'
Following on from the previous posts, we've reached the midpoint of the David Gemmell Morningstar coverage. There's no going back now! But that's not to say that this next author is of middle-ground mention, not in the least. I read Luke Scull's debut 'The Grim Company' when it was released last year, and I have reread it in anticipation for the awards. For a debut its damn good, and even on my second run through I found myself caught up in the adrenaline written in between the lines. So, let's hear Luke's side of it...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.vericon.org/img/luke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.vericon.org/img/luke.jpg" height="320" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Luke Scull - Author & Game Designer extraordinaire!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Hi Luke, welcome to WWaS (Written With a Sword). Congratulations for
being nominated to the shortlist in the David Gemmell Morningstar Award. For
those readers who have yet to ‘meet you’, tell us a little about
yourself. <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I'm a
video game designer turned novelist. I'm in my early 30s and currently living
in the south west of England, which in recent years has become a safe haven for
my kind. When I'm not writing fantasy novels or designing fantasy games, I'm
reading fantasy novels or playing fantasy games. Occasionally I venture outside
to hurl weights around a gym and exchange manly nods and the occasional chest
slap with the largely middle-aged women and OAPs who frequent the local sport
centre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">So, how did you go from video game designer to writer? Have you always
wanted to be a writer? <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I've
always been interested in narrative of one kind or another, starting with the
LARP scenarios I would create for my brother when we were children. I would
place needles in the carpet and make him walk over them, before battering him
with my broadsword +5/plastic vacuum attachment accessory. The journey to Mount
Doom was a veritable walk in the park compared with making it through one of my
games.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I've
been a video game writer for about 10 years. I wanted to see if my skills could
transition to writing a novel. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Grim
Company</i> was originally intended as a practice run for a serious attempt at
a book some time in the future. I guess things went better than expected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">With a second name so close to ‘skull’ it’s little surprise that you
went for the grittier, and excuse the second pun, ‘grim’ side of fantasy. Was
this something you had planned for, or did the story darken/realise of its own
accord? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>H</o:p></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">aving
such a grimdark-friendly name was obviously fate at work. The only other avenue
open to me was Olympic rower, and even with my prodigious physical gifts I'm
not certain I'd have improved Team GB <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that
much.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">When I
began writing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Grim Company</i> I was
already working on a teen-rated fantasy CRPG set in a pseudo middle-eastern
fantasy world. I had to make the two projects very different, to avoid feelings
of repetition or crossover. With my gaming project taking place in an
"exotic" setting, I decided to go in the other direction with the
novel and play with some familiar tropes whilst embracing an edgier tone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWaYj5QQTEZ-Ky9fBuvsegp-SYDsP_oPSvKkZoLPNHcL0o-a84v6RBzGNEhKFv6UdZEjjCQBlUJNETNcP7o5xL-1A3-Nc6yjeHjYOzGGOgqrf2V8LY-GPbaBzjB4ucNZ8TVOq92ywZYuw/s1600/grim_company.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWaYj5QQTEZ-Ky9fBuvsegp-SYDsP_oPSvKkZoLPNHcL0o-a84v6RBzGNEhKFv6UdZEjjCQBlUJNETNcP7o5xL-1A3-Nc6yjeHjYOzGGOgqrf2V8LY-GPbaBzjB4ucNZ8TVOq92ywZYuw/s1600/grim_company.jpg" height="320" width="215" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.vericon.org/img/luke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Seeing as we’ve mentioned ‘The Grim Company’ tell us more, but in 50
words or less – what’s your ‘elevator pitch’? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"></span></i><br />
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Grim
Company</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> is an epic fantasy about a group of anti-heroes
set in a world of long-dead gods, rampaging demons, and immortal tyrants. Among
fantasy novels written by white men living within 10 miles of Warminster, it
has few peers.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">How long did it take to plan and write ‘The Grim Company’? Do you have
a writing routine? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The
book took me around 10 months to write in haphazard fashion. I don't really
have a routine. I tend to think and edit during the day, and write at night
when I'm feeling more creatively inspired – possibly spurred on by guilt at
having wasted yet another day Googling myself, brooding over some negative
review that happened three weeks ago, and answering the door to the postman
dressed only in my underpants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">What inspired you to write ‘The Grim Company’? <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Free
time and a desire to see if I could write a book. When my now-agent e-mailed me
after reading the first 12 chapters or so online, I knew I had to finish the
story. Writers are supposed to approach agents and face years of rejection
before someone eventually says yes – yet here I was being invited to London
having made no effort at all to get published. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Now that ‘The Grim Company’ has been released into the wild, are you
happy with it? Anything you’d change?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Yes and
yes. I have somewhat mixed feelings. I suspect this is not uncommon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">On one
hand, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Grim Company</i> went to
auction with half a dozen publishers bidding, got some nice advances and great
reviews, and made it to the shortlist for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award.
It's also been translated into eight languages as of this interview.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">On the
other hand… it's pretty much the first draft of the first novel I ever
attempted. It's me at about 50% of my potential. It's very good in parts; a
little raw and perhaps not strikingly original in others, as befits both my
lack of experience and my original intent of simply writing for my own
amusement before things got serious. I dare say that in five years I'll look
back and frown darkly at certain things. I could rewrite it as a significantly
better novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">right now</i>, with the
experience I've gained between books one and two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Still.
To moan that my first book is merely good but flawed, and not one of the many,
ahem, masterpieces I will no doubt write in time, would be churlish. I've been
very lucky in so many ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">What was the hardest part of writing ‘The Grim Company’? <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Realising
just how much rewriting needed to be done on a sentence level to improve my early
prose. As a game designer, the plotting and structural sides of writing a book came
naturally – even the dialogue, after a shaky start. But bringing my prose up to
standard was a lengthier process, as I simply hadn't done anything like that
before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></b> </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The story follows multiple major characters including narcissistic
rebel Davarus Cole, barbarians Brodar Kayne and Jerek the Wolf, Yllandris the
power hungry sorceress, loyal and honourable Barandas sworn to Magelord
Salazar, and Emerul the legless Half-mage. Which are you most like? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I'm a
combination of Cole's lack of awareness, Jerek's black temper and intolerance,
Eremul's bitterness and cynicism, and Kayne's age-related physical afflictions.
Needless to say, my wife is a very lucky woman.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">What would you like readers to take away from ‘The Grim
Company’? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">A fervent
desire to pre-order the second in the trilogy as soon as possible. That, and to
be entertained. Maybe even chortle a few times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">What does it mean to you to being nominated for the David Gemmell Morningstar
award? <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I'm not
generally a big believer in awards. All that really matters are sales figures.
They're the most honest way of measuring whether or not you are succeeding as a
writer. Some people will hate me for saying that, but there it is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The
Gemmells are an exception to my award apathy. I approve of the public vote,
which for its many failings is still infinitely preferable to, for example, cliques
manipulating award nominations in yet another proxy for America's endless
culture war (sorry Americans: I love you guys, really). I approve of the fact
the Gemmells help commemorate a great man and author. That enough people voted
for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Grim Company</i> to propel it to
the shortlist warms the ashes of what I once called a heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">70,000
votes cast is phenomenal – long may the Gemmells continue to grow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">David Gemmell is regarded as the ‘big daddy’ of modern British
heroic-fantasy. Who is your hero? </span></b></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I don't
have a hero <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">per se</i>. Instead I'm going
to name my biggest influences: Tolkien, Martin, Pratchett, and Joe Abercrombie,
the last of whom I'm often compared to, though tonally and stylistically I've
been writing in a very similar way for many years. Here's a quote someone wrote
about my early games, released between 2002-2006:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">"They're frankly kind of a downer. The very first subquest has
you investigating the horrific death of a tavern maid at the hands of her
abusive boyfriend. Friendly NPCs die (and kill each other) in droves, bad guys
win and everyone and their dog are either dying of cancer or have been abused
as children or something. It's all a bit grim and joyless</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">So
there you go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">What can we expect next from you? <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">My
second novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sword of the North</i>,
should be out early next year, and will hopefully be a much stronger and more
innovative novel than the first. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dead
Man's Steel</i> will likely follow in 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">After <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Grim Company</i> trilogy is finished, I
would like to tackle some standalones, possibly in the same setting (the Age of
Ruin).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I'm
also considering writing outside the fantasy genre. Over the last 10 years I've
worked on multiple established<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>RPG<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>franchises, designed a new CRPG
setting, and written two fantasy novels in the Age of Ruin, with a third to
follow. That's a lot of time spent in secondary worlds. The prospect of working
with the real world for a change is enticing. (Go somewhere exotic! Conduct
on-site research! Interviews!) I have one or two ideas in mind…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Do you read other books in your own genre? Who is your favourite
author? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I try to
read broadly within the genre. I have 40 books on my 2014 Goodreads challenge,
including some of my fellow finalists' books that I own on kindle. If I don't
win the Morningstar award, I'm getting them refunded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I have
a few favourites. Martin, of course. Abercrombie. The usual neckbeard suspects.
I'm also a big fan of Mark Lawrence, who is both a great (and horrifyingly fast!)
writer and a very nice guy. Daniel Polansky is an undiscovered gem of an author:
I predict that in a few years he'll be getting the same recognition Matthew
Woodring Stover is receiving now in various "Name me an underrated
author" forum threads.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Do you
have any pearls of wisdom that you’d like to share with would-be writers?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Be humble. Accept criticism and advice from folk
better qualified than you until the moment you're <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">certain</i> you've learned enough that you can safely ignore it. Find
readers you trust.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-15611720454801833232014-05-24T14:46:00.001-07:002014-05-24T14:46:57.451-07:00Book Review: 'The Path of Anger' by Antoine Rouaud
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sffworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/path-of-anger-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.sffworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/path-of-anger-cover.jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UK Gollancz cover art.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-no-proof: yes; mso-themecolor: text1;"></span><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"></span></b> </div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Good:</b> Strong characterisation
for the two leading protagonists that contributes directly to the plot’s
development, inspires emotional empathy, thought-out execution of the story to
tie-up the loose ends and throw in twists in a complex and changing structure.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Bad:</b> The world-building comes
across as lack lustre, some of the flashbacks are a little clunky, and there
are a handful of mistakes/errors (though I’ll put these down to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘lost in translation’</i>).<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Ugly Truth:</b> A character
driven struggle, fuelled by tragedy and fanned by revenge, ‘The Path of Anger’
by Antoine Rouaud puts a fresh spin on familiar staples. Whilst the master
& apprentice, and the empire & republic are oft found in fantasy and
sci-fi (thus drawing immediate comparison to Mr Vader, himself) ‘The Path of
Anger’ approaches this with a deeper emotional connection to the characters,
built upon a lifetime of friendship and hardship – taking the familiar and
chartering into newfound territories. Honour, loyalty, betrayal and
revenge…what more could you ask for?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For Those That Like:</b> European-medieval
fantasy, knights and dragons, kings and castles, chivalry, stories based on the
fall from grace, and greater ties to religion and the meaning of life, the
universe and everything. For fans of Brent Weeks, Pat Rothfuss, and (oh, all
right I’ll say it!) Star Wars.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">They took everything from him.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">His apprentice.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">His emperor.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">His life…<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But now he’s going to take his
revenge.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dun-Cadal Daermon was a general, once.
A knight of renown, favoured of the emperor, and above all else a man of
honour. But that was years ago – these days he sports a wine jug and a hangover
rather than sword and armour. The Empire might be lost to the depths of
history, but Dun the drunk seems determined to drown his sorrows and himself in
the depths of his cups.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When Viola, a historian of new
republic, comes searching for knights of the Empire, she finds more than she
was expecting with Dun. Now, after what seems like an age, the Sword of the
Emperors’ is on the verge of rediscovery, though what use it will be to the
republic is anyone’s guess.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">With memories stirred by Viola’s
questions, Dun’s past has seemingly come back to plague him as flashbacks stalk
his thoughts – but when a killer strikes in the fashion of an Imperial
Assassin, it seems the ghosts of Dun’s past have returned to haunt him.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Summary<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<br />
Antoine Rouaud’s debut ‘The Path of Anger’ takes readers on a journey to
familiar shores, but it’s journey and not the destination that matters.
Published by Gollancz in the UK, the novel has had a simultaeneous
international release, going toe-to-toe with some of this year’s biggest
releases. Combining elements of historical fiction and heroic fantasy, Rouaud has
put himself on the map as a new and exciting talent – certainly one to watch
out for on the horizon!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Plot</b><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
‘The Path of Anger’ tells the story of Dun-Cadal Caermon, a fallen from
grace general and war hero of the now overthrown empire. When a stranger comes
looking for a lost relic – the Sword of the Emperors – Dun-Cadal is dragged
kicking and screaming into his memories, reliving his triumphs and failures,
even as they threaten to catch up with him. All the while a bigger purpose
lurks in the background – one of a book that foretells the futures and fate of
mankind.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Dun’s story is a nice solid underdog tale as he fights to return to his
former glory. Whilst the rebel and empire backdrop might not be the first of
its kind, the characters’ individual stories and the overarching ‘book and the
sword’ piece are intriguing and entertaining enough to ensure a good read.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Characters</b><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Dun-Cadal Caermon is the star of the show. He’s a tragedy in its truest
form. Once hero, now zero, we see all sides of Dun from his days of former
glory to his present state of despair and drunkenness. To have such a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">weak </i>hero is a nice change, and for me I
found myself empathising and relating to him all the more so for this. He’s not
a one-man-army as you’d see in fantasies, nor is he a daisy. He’s also not a
two-dimensional cardboard cut-out or a weeping emotional complex. He’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">human</i>, and that’s something we can all
understand.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Frog is just as interesting – even his name crooks a brow at the mention of
it. As Dun’s apprentice, he’s determined to be the greatest knight in the
world. But he’s afraid. Terrified even. And we all know what fear leads to… I
jest, ish. When Frog is afraid he lashes out, and he’s grown up in fear so
there’s plenty of pain to be dished out.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Other characters exist within ‘The Path of Anger’ but I only want to mention
the above two as much of the page time is dedicated to them.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Setting & World Building<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<br />
‘The Path of Anger’ is set in a European-medieval fantasy world with
elements of France, Italy, I could argue Egypt around the Naaga, throw in a
little bit of Germany and the United Kingdom…you get the idea. The ideas are
there, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. The world building is lacklustre,
and through the thin veneer it’s not that I could see cracks, it’s that I
couldn’t see anything standout and special.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I could pick apart the Empire and Republic thing again, the master and
apprentice, and even go so far as to compare the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">animus </i>to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">force</i>, but
by drawing these conclusions I risk denying myself of a damn good story.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Style & Craftsmanship</b><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The story is told through the eyes of Dun primarily (I’ll say no more as per
spoilers rules) via present day and memory flashbacks. It works for the most
part, but there were times that the flashbacks inhibited progression, came
across as clunky, and came across as a little samey (when a single scene was
retold from a different perspective).<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The pacing at times dropped off the curve, particularly towards the middle,
but the finale was probably one of the best that I have read in a long time.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I’ll put down the odd grammatical error here and there to lost in
translation, but on that note, to have taken the entire manuscript from French
to English and end up with something this good…bravo!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Final Thoughts</b><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
‘The Path of Anger’ is a hugely entertaining debut and one to which I will
subscribe for the rest of the series. The familiar elements made me feel at
home as the reader, but there’s enough going on behind the scenes and beyond
the norm to keep me hooked. I hope to have presented a balanced account in this
review, but in all honesty I’m already leaning to one side on this, and I’m not
ashamed to say which.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
May the force – I mean animus – be with you!<o:p></o:p><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-41956630032395579362014-05-14T23:43:00.002-07:002014-05-14T23:43:04.137-07:00Author Inteview: Antoine Rouaud - 'The Path of Anger'<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As part of the on-going series of posts covering the David Gemmell Legend Awards, I invited Morningstar nominee Antoine Rouaud to talk about his debut 'The Path of Anger', published by Gollancz in the UK. 'The Path of Anger' isn't just one of the hottest releases in the UK, it's everywhere, with simultaneous releases in France, Germany, Holland and Spain!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>Please note: </em></strong>English is not Antoine's first language, and my French is limited to <em>'Where are the pants? Oh, the pants are in the church' </em>(a story for another time), so between us we have managed to conduct the interview to best fit. Whilst some of the wording may have been edited for clarity, the answers remain the same. I took the explicit decision <em>not </em>to change the wording so as to preserve Antoine's character and charm.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.sffworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/path-of-anger-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.sffworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/path-of-anger-cover.jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hi Antoine, welcome to WWaS (Written With a Sword). Congratulations for being nominated to the shortlist in the David Gemmell Morningstar Award. For those readers who have yet to ‘meet you’, tell us a little about yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thank you very much, it's really a great thing for me to be nominated in such a prize as the David Gemmell Morningstar Award. It's really incredible and i'm really honored. So, who am I ? Just a little guy from Nantes, in the west of France, a nice place to live - and the birth place of Jules Vernes! I grew up with his universe, and with the story of my city, too. Its history is hard and dark with slavery during the 18th Century, but also bright and clever with a lot of artists, and a good part of "surréalisme". <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have always written – and since I’ve been able to I’ve created stories. I worked in radio for a while, and realized audiostories which are still available on internet. Now, I'm still living in Nantes, and working hard on the second book of ‘The Book and the Sword’. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, how did you go from being in the world of radio to writing? Have you always wanted to be a writer?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Yes, indeed. It was my dream... as I dreamed about being an actor, writing stories for cinema, composer... As I said above, I have always written – different things, different stories. I took my chance when I met Stéphane Marsan from Bragelonne. I spoke to him and proposed to him my book. What happened next was just unbelievable. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What does it feel like to have your debut novel simultaneously released on an international level, in multiple languages?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nothing Special... maybe a strange sensation of explode myself. Seriously, the good word to explain what it feel like is unbelievable... again. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tell us about ‘The Path of Anger’ – what’s your ‘elevator pitch’?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's a strong relation between a man who wanted to be a dad, and a boy who want to be the greatest knight in the world. It's a story of both, with their different ways of thinking, one from an ancient world, the other ready to build a new one. It talks about what we can learn from each other, and what we need for grow up. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And, not forgetting, there’s a dragon, and it’s set during a dark period when a revolution tries to bring hope to the common people. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">How long did it take to plan and write ‘Path of Anger’? Do you have a writing routine?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">No writing routine really. I just wanted to make the best I could. It takes me... let me think... six month for writing all ? Maybe a little more but not so much. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What inspired you to write ‘Path of Anger’?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Especially tragedies. From Shakespeare to Corneille... And Greek tragedies. I wanted an epic story. And tragic too but not for free. I tried to write it with a meaning, some way to think about our lives. It's why the base of the Trilogy is built on a book which is contain the destiny of all mankind. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now that ‘Path of Anger’ has been released into the wild, are you happy with it? Anything you’d change? Have you changed from the process?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">More coffee. More stress sometimes... but more confident too. I'm really happy. Now, I have to work more and more for write the sequel! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What was the hardest part of writing ‘Path of Anger’?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Corrections. The corrections with my publisher. Because you have to doubt about your script. You have to put your ego aside. You have to understand all the critic are made for the better of your story. Then, you have to write again, correct what it seems wrong. That was the hardest part. Finally, the biggest part. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The story follows two major characters, that of Dun-Cadal the knight, and Frog the boy from the saltmarsh. Which is your favourite?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I love both ! No one is black or white. They both have their weaknesses and strengths of mind. Which is important for a story I think. Having characters who want to love and hate. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></o:p></span></b> </div>
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Are you the mentor, like Dun-Cadal, or the apprentice, like Frog?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think I am more closer to Frog. With more anger. I was like him when I was a teenager. Without a sword, special power and the desire to kill everybody of course. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></b> </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What would you like readers to take away from ‘The Path of Anger’?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want the readers turn the last page of my book and think about what they just read... what happened to the characters, why they choose what they choose... And think they had a really great time. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What does it mean to you being nominated for the David Gemmell Morningstar award?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It means a lot. It's really an honour. My first book ? Released in all those countries and nominated ? ... amazing. I'm proud of it, I try to live that. But I have to think about the next step, the most important step. Make a good, very good, second book. For those who trust me, those who loved the first one. I have to try my best. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">David Gemmell is regarded as the ‘big daddy’ of modern British heroic-fantasy. Who is your hero?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I don't think I have one. I like so many authors, I learn about them. No-one especially is my hero. Or, all of them are. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></b> </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What can we expect next from you?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To finish the Trilogy and make it a great one? The Path of Anger is my first novel. I can do more. I want to make the sequels good enough, even better. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Do you read other books in your own genre? Who is your favourite author?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had to read some books recently. I was curious and didn't know so much about this genre in fact. So, I read Pierre Pevel, Scott Lynch, Mark Lawrence and enjoyed it. Especially ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora’ which is a great moment of adventure. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Do you have any pearls of wisdom that you’d like to share with would-be writers?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just write. Write, write, continue to write. What you want, when you want. Try to be your own critic first and then, when you will seems ready, go. Even you don't succeed with a story, the next one maybe will be the good one. Writing is not a question of skill. It's a question of will. </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-26798219588790749372014-05-13T01:25:00.000-07:002014-05-13T01:25:04.560-07:00Guest Post: 'The Villain's Point of View' by Mark T Barnes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a class="iol_imc" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" idx="7" style="height: 330px; left: 190px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; top: 54px; visibility: visible; width: 560px;"><img class="mainImage" src="http://www.lahilden.com/images/super-villains-collage-560-thumb-560xauto-28645.jpg" style="background-color: white; height: 330px; width: 560px;" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Where would the hero be without their villain? The protagonist, without
the antagonist? The conflict between two forces, whether directly or
indirectly, openly or secretly, has been a staple of storytelling. Hero and the
villain don’t always start as such, nor do they always end up as such, but at
some point in both character’s journeys they will oppose each other in one way
or another. Readers should have as strong a reaction to the villain as they do
to the hero, and like the hero the villain should develop over the course of
the story, reactive to their changing situation, and with the intention of
being victorious.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The antagonist serves many purposes. At their core they are the foil to
the protagonist, set at odds by contrasted values, goals and outcomes. Villains
and heroes execute different plot roles: often it is the villain who develops
the origin of the conflict, while the hero provides the solution, or vice versa.
A villain does not need to be evil to be effective, but like the hero they should
believe strongly in what they do. In some cases the difference between a
villain and a hero is purely a matter of perspective, motivation, and means to
achieve what are similar ends. Antagonists can teach us as much about our
nature than a hero, relieved as they can be of social restraint and the pressure
to do right. Villains often do what we wish we could do, were it not for the
consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">To me the best villains are those who have clear motivations, are
consistent in the pursuit of those motivations, and can generate a level of
understanding in the reader. Making the antagonist sympathetic in some way is
also a useful tool so that readers engage with the villain whether they want to
or not. A good antagonist can make an excellent point of view character,
providing a 360 degree view of the story as well as a different lens through
which we can examine the protagonist’s actions and motivations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Echoes of Empire</i> series
there are a number of villains but the most prominent is Corajidin of the Great
House of Erebus: a nobleman and a statesman; a nationalist and to a degree an
idealist; intelligent; educated; and with firm opinions, a course of action,
and the will to see it done. In the early days of writing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Garden of Stones</i>, the first novel in the EoE series, Corajidin
was never a point of view character. It wasn’t until first readers had read Act
I that they saw some value in telling a third of the story from the perspective
of the man who set events in motion. So in addition to the points of view of
Indris and Mari, I added Corajidin and additional avenues of telling the story
opened up. Rather than hearsay and conjecture, the reader had the direct
perspective of the villain and knew not only what Corajidin wanted to achieve,
but why.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Corajidin begins the story as tragically flawed and misguided, but his
motivations are clear and his methodology understood. As the story unfolds either
his expectations for his own future need to be managed, or his course changed.
To satisfy a self-serving agenda within a veneer of national pride and
sentiment, what little decency remained to him was shredded away as he dug
deeper into his id and ego to do what he believed needed to be done. As a point
of view character the reader joined Corajidin on his self-destructive journey
and was with him through his entire decision making process. The same insight
into the villain was provided in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Obsidian Heart</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Pillars of
Sand</i>, where the reader held on as Corajidin sunk deeper into a circumstance
of his own making.</span></div>
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</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">At no point in the novels would I describe Corajidin as a nice person.
Though it does not excuse him, he is a product of his nature, his nurture, and
his need, no different from many people in positions of authority who are
forced to make compromises. In Corajidin’s case those compromises had a domino
effect throughout the story from which he refused to escape. In many ways his
ultimate fall from what he could have been under different circumstances was as
tragic as the fall of any hero.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The villain’s point of view can be an effective tool, and one writers can
use to keep the reader immersed in the story from all perspectives. </span></div>
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</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mark Barnes lives in Sydney, Australia. He is
the author of the epic fantasy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Echoes of
Empire</i> series, published by 47North. The series includes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Garden of Stones</i> (released May 2013),
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Obsidian Heart</i> (released
October 2013). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Pillars of Sand</i> is
the third of the series, due for release in May 2014. In April 2014, The Garden
of Stones was selected as one of five finalists in the 2013/2014 David Gemmell
Morningstar Award for Best Newcomer/Debut, with the winner to be announced in
London in June 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can
find out more at <a href="http://www.marktbarnes.com/">www.marktbarnes.com</a>, his Facebook page at
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/marktbarnes.author">www.facebook.com/marktbarnes.author</a>, or follow Mark on Twitter @MarkTBarnes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-45226836016478655982014-05-11T16:42:00.000-07:002014-05-11T16:58:36.412-07:00Book Review: 'The Garden of Stones' by Mark T Barnes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;">The Good:</span></b><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;">
An truly epic debut that raises the newcomers’ bar for world building and
beatific writing, a complex and dynamic storyline and empathic characters who
drive their own stories as well as the main plot.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;">The Bad:</span></b><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;">
At times heavy on the purple prose which can detract from the pace, and the
lull following the high-octane opening was a little jarring.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;">The Ugly Truth:</span></b><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"> Puts the ‘epic’ into ‘epic fantasy’ – ‘The Garden of Stones’ is a
hugely impressive novel, all the more so as it’s Mark T Barnes’ debut. Every
sentence, paragraph, page and chapter is masterfully crafted, breathing life
into the truly original world and giving it a depth of ages and realism that
takes it from ‘good’ and shoots it right into the ‘great’.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;">For Those That Like:</span></b><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"> Sprawling worlds set within rich tomes of history,
bloody wars and even bloodier political battles, high and epic fantasy
backdrops, deep and troubled characters. For fans of Steven Erikson, Brandon
Sanderson, and Ursula Le Guin.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">The future holds only death for Corajidin – that is until prophecy
decrees he’ll rise to rule his people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">The key to his survival lives in the past – to secure his tomorrow
he must connect to his ancestors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">Between now and then, he would plunge the Great Houses and the
Hundred Families into civil war, assassinate the rulers of Shrian, desecrate
the history and memory of a city swallowed by time, and risk all out conflict
with the other nations including the humans.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-themecolor: background1;">But one man stands before Corajidin and his destiny – Amonindris.
And he has taken his stand today.</span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">Summary<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">Mark T Barnes’ debut ‘The
Garden of Stones’ is as rich and as deep as the world and history it is set in.
Published by Amazon’s own 47North, the novel stands shoulder to shoulder with
other releases from larger presses and publishing houses, whilst standing aside
not only in terms of origin but also execution and originality. Combining epic
storytelling seen in fireside tales and the wealth of information from a
fantasy-styled encyclopaedia, Barnes paints a masterpiece in worldbuilding and
wordsmithing.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-themecolor: background1;">Plot</span></b><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">‘The Garden of Stones’
tells the story of Corajidin, the dying ruler of house Erebus, as he plots and
schemes to usurp the rulers of Shrian, and in doing so secure not only his
personal and family destiny, but also his survival. Standing against him is
warrior-poet Anomandaris, an infamous warrior and sorcerer of renown.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">The tale is a good one,
and set within the backdrop of rich history, I for one felt that every
development in the plot was leading to ‘something bigger’. The characters’ and
their decisions drive the central plot, and whilst each have their own
individual stories to follow, I felt more in-tune with the overarching tale.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-themecolor: background1;">Characters</span></b><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">‘The Garden of Stones’ is
populated with a wide array of exotic characters, from Angoth witches to
lion-men Tau-se, Elementals to souls inhabiting mannequin vessels.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">Amonindris is the hero
of the tale. He’s a tragic case, having lost his wife, and to me seemingly
having lost his greater purpose in life, we as the readers are treated to his
philosophies and thoughts, as well as his sorcerous and martial moments of
general badassery. Like other reviews, I drew parallels to Steven Erikson’s
Anomander Rake, which is first and foremost down to the primary similarities in
name and characterisation, but that isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy reading
him. Quite the contrary in fact – whilst Amonindris (mostly referred to as Indris)
is a ‘think first act later’ type, this makes for further opportunity for the
reader to uncover the stunning backdrop of Shrian and the world around the
character.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">Corajidin is the ‘bad
guy’ of the tale – though he doesn’t quite see it that way. He’s dying, and
without knowledge of the Awakening – a ritual by which he can connect with his
ancestors and the world of Ia – he’s as good as dead already. Blinded by his
own mortality, ambition, and love for his family, Corajidin sets out to kidnap
the ruler of Shrian to force from him the knowledge of the Awakening, to not
only secure his survival, but also his seat of power. Corajidin is one of the
most enjoyable ‘villains’ that I have read in a long time, adding the perfect
balance of perspective to the tale.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">The last major
character that I’d like to mention is Mariam, Corajidin’s daughter, and knight colonel
of the Feyassin. Torn between love of her father, and loyalty of her duty,
Mariam’s decisions shape much of the events in the story. She’s headstrong and
heart-strong, feisty but not fearless – making for one of the best female
characters in recent fantasy.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">Setting & World Building<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">The land of Shrian is
presented as a blend of the Orient and Mediterranean, shaken into a cocktail
with fantasy flavours. Multiple humanoid and non-humanoid races, airships and
dragons, a bestiary of critters, and a magic system based on algorithms and
equations – ‘The Garden of Stones’ has pretty much got it all.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-themecolor: background1;">Style & Craftsmanship</span></b><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">As the reader, we’re
dropped into the middle of the plot right from the get-go. As an avid fan of
Steven Erikson’s Malazan series, I’m no stranger to this approach, but I think
in this case the execution<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>stumbled
somewhat. As the opening comes to a close, just as we’re getting to grips with
what’s going on, the pace falls away and we’re given time to question and think
– when really we should continue to be dragged along. Needless to say, one the
pieces are set out on the board the plot does move along at a sufficient pace,
and I’m looking forward to how this develops in book two.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">Barnes explores the
deeper thoughts and morals of each of the characters, but at times this
detracted from the pace on a chapter by chapter base. I mentioned above that
the plot does achieve sufficient pace once it gets going, but several chapters
dropped off the march at times, turning into a few pages of hard slog before it
picked up again.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">With such fantastical fantasy
settings, the temptation to divulge into lengths of purple prose is ever
present, and ‘The Garden of Stones’ falls victim to this on more than one
occasion. Whilst I’m not keen on reams and reams of paper describing the
eggshell blue horizon speckled with clouds and a fat sizzling yolk of a sun, I
have to admit that the descriptions were eloquently beatific, and did add to
the overall depth of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-themecolor: background1;">Final Thoughts</span></b><span style="mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; mso-themecolor: background1;">‘The Garden of Stones’
is an epic start to what I think will turn out to be an epic saga. It really
does have it all, and whilst it might not be for everyone at first glance, it
really does have something for everyone. Now that the scene is set and the
characters are in play, I for one am looking forward to seeing how the
different sides come together and seek to win in this game of ever rising
stakes.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-33324664798273281352014-05-10T14:06:00.002-07:002014-05-10T21:58:04.796-07:00Author Interview: Mark T Barnes - 'The Garden of Stones'<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">To celebrate the David Gemmell Legend Awards 2014, I invited
the Morningstar shortlist nominees to participate in a series of interviews and
guest posts to coincide with reviews of their debut novels. First up is Mark T
Barnes, author of ‘The Garden of Stones’ published by Amazon’s 47North.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.marktbarnes.com/images/wallpaper_1920x1080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" src="http://www.marktbarnes.com/images/wallpaper_1920x1080.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">The Garden of Stones cover art.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">Hi Mark,
welcome to WWaS (Written With a Sword). Congratulations for being nominated to
the shortlist in the David Gemmell Morningstar Award. For those readers who
have yet to 'meet you', tell us a little about yourself.</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"> Thanks, David. It's a pleasure. The
nomination came as a very welcome and somewhat bemusing surprise. As for me?
I'm an Australian living in Sydney. Most of my time is divided between running
my freelance business, writing, the gym, and taking what time I can to relax
with friends, a good book, or my three rescue cats. </span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">So, how did
you go from Information technology consultancy to writing novels? Have you
always wanted to be a writer?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> My mother has a short story I wrote when I
was about seven, and I'd been involved in writing on an ad-hoc basis for years.
Mainly as a roleplayer, building worlds and running campaigns for friends, and
tournament modules for conventions in Australia. <br />
<br />
I didn't take my writing seriously until I attended Clarion South 2005. Though
CS2005 was aimed at short story writing, it ignited a passion to want to write
more, and have my work seen by more people. My first year out I had a few short
stories published, and did very well in one of the quarters for Writers of the
Future in 2005. I tend to be a long-distance writer, but due to
personal reasons didn't start what would become the Echoes of Empire
series until late 2009. I still do my organisational change
consulting full time, though I am hoping that as more of my work is released into
the wild I can at try and do less consulting and more writing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">Tell us
about 'The Garden of Stones' in 50 words or less - what's your 'elevator
pitch'? </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">When civil war breaks out in Shrīan, the ancient
rivalries of the Great Houses threaten even further conflict. Indris, a knight
of the Sēq Order of Scholars, returns against his instincts to a city he had
foresworn to level the balance of power, thereby saving his people from further
suffering.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">How long did
it take to plan and write 'The Garden of Stones'? Do you have a writing
routine?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> First draft was about a month of planning and
three months of writing, with another month of editing in the back end.<br />
<br />
My writing routine is pretty simple: write. :) It comes down to you
are, or you aren't. I wrote GoS outside of a contract so there was no pressure
to complete anything by deadlines other than how much money I had set aside to
live. I had taken time off work so tried to keep as close to a professional
routine as possible which included a word count target on a sliding scale. When
I first started I set myself 250 words a day. Then 500, 1000, etc until I was
consistently writing circa 3000 words per day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">What
inspired you to write 'Garden of Stones'?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">I wanted to write the kind of book I'd enjoy
reading. When I was younger I devoured epic stories, as well as histories and
the classics. I cut my teeth on fantasies such as The Wizard of Earthsea, Lord
of the Rings, Conan, the Eternal Champion stories, etc. Later is was The Book
of the New Sun, Viriconium, Beowulf, and most especially
Dune. I found a lot of what I was reading was very similar, with a
focus on Dark Ages Europe. I wanted to try and write something different, so
started writing a world that was in an age of enlightenment, with more of a
Mediterranean / Orientalist setting.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">Now that
'Garden of Stones' has been released into the wild, are you happy with it?
Anything you'd change?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">I'm happy with it as a debut novel, but it has
issues. There are no perfect novels and I'm quite critical of my work in order
to improve my craft. Thankfully many people have responded well to GoS, and
more so to The Obsidian Heart. Some of the decisions made were risky, and may
have made the book less accessible to some readers. At the time I'd considered
writing a new Act I, and having the existing opening be the beginning of Act
II, to help flatten the learning curve for readers. I may still write that Act
I as a novella</span><span style="color: white; font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">.</span><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>What was the hardest part of writing
'Garden of Stones'?</i><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">There was no one thing, as the journey presented
different challenges along the way. Initially there was the anxiety of quitting
work to write, and the outcomes of knowing I had a certain amount of time
before money ran out. Being on the clock so to speak put a lot of pressure on
to write enough words every day in order to finish the book. Working from home
also poses its own set of challenges with regards to distractions. The home is
full of them! Books, TV, music, DVDs, movies . . . and within easy reach were
cafes and restaurants, museums and galleries, the cinema. Yeah, you don't
really know how much else there is that you.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">The worst part was the pressure I put on
myself to write a book that was reasonably different from other things
currently in the genre, and to do it as best I could. I think it sucked some of
the fun from the journey and I took it all a little more seriously than I did
for the later two books. While I enjoyed writing GoS, and was proud of the
outcome, I wonder how it might have been different had I been in a different
headspace.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">Of the
characters in 'The Garden of Stones', which do you most connect with and why?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">I think I empathise with Indris and Mari in equal
measure. I wrote characters who had experienced life, and had suffered both joy
and tragedy in order to become the people the readers get to know. But they
also don't shy away from change, and both realise that the world is never set
in stone. In the end both characters try to do the right thing, no matter what
the personal cost. They're also passionate, and able to love deeply without the
need to conform slavishly to societal norms.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">What would
you like readers to take away from 'The Garden of Stones'? Is there a moral to
the story, any life changing lessons?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">I wrote GoS to entertain rather than educate: my
hope was that readers could become lost in a new, beautiful, and exotic world
and share the exploits of characters they could care about. As for moral, or
life changing lesson? I think readers will take what they need from any story,
and leave what they don't. Similarly different people will read into a
narrative things the author never intended to be there. That saying there are
themes of pride and downfall, compassion, honour and justice, the pitfalls of
vengeance, and of taking accountability for who you are and what you do, or
have done. And with the latter, knowing that you have a choice at every turn.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">'The Garden
of Stones' is the first novel in the 'Echoes of Empire' trilogy. With both 'The
Obsidian Heart' and 'The Pillars of Sand' complete, what can we expect from you
next?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">At the moment I've written the first act of an
urban fantasy that is with my agent, and we're deciding what our next steps
are. I'm also writing another epic fantasy set in the same world as EoE. The
story runs concurrent to EoE, but is in a different country and with different
characters. </span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">Were there
any surprises for you, as the author, when writing book two and three? Did any
of the characters do something you hadn't planned for? Did the plot twist of
its own accord?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">There are always surprises! I knew exactly what was
going to happen at the beginning, middle, and end of this first trilogy, if not
some of the finer details that came out of the books as they developed. I can't
say too much in case I spoil something for readers, but I can certainly say the
each of the main point of view characters grew in directions I'd not fully
expected, but in ways that made me happy. Even the supporting cast grew in ways
other than expected, where conflicts or affiliations emerged as the result of a
piece of dialogue, or an action, that came as some kind of unlooked for
inspiration.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">The Pillars of Sand had the most change from my
initial plan, for which I'm grateful. Some changes in The Obsidian Heart caused
me to tweak a few things, and those things caused some big ripples throughout
the third book. Early responses to the PoS are telling me that the changes
seemed to have worked for the better.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">What does it
mean to you to being nominated for the David Gemmell Morningstar award?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">Being recognised by readers and industry
professionals for my work is an incredible, humbling, feeling. There was a lot
of doubt that making a world so new, and veering from what was most familiar in
the genre, was too risky for a debut author. Likewise writing what can be considered
a book on the larger side at 145K words or so. But to be a finalist among such
an outstanding selection of authors, including all those on the long list,
shows that there is a place for taking risks and trying something new in an
established genre. Hopefully other writers will do the same, and the genre will
expand as more people walking the path less trod and giving readers a
variety of new and exciting stories to read.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">David
Gemmell is regarded as the 'big daddy' of modern British heroic-fantasy. Who is
your hero?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">I've a few, and for different reasons, and most of
them aren't fantasy authors. At the top of the list would be Frank
Herbert, Shakespeare, and Clive Barker. I have almost every novel
David Gemmell published, and became a fan of his work through a partner who
adored his work.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">Do you read
other books in your own genre? Who is your favourite author?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">I've not read as much as I should have in the past
two years with most of my time going to writing and the long tail of editing,
and work on the audiobooks, for EoE. I do enjoy fantasy stories. At the moment
I'm reading my friend Rjurik Davidson's 'Unwrapped Sky' which I think will be a
finalist for next years Morningstar. I neither have a favourite author,
nor a favourite book: I never have as no single author has written all of my
favourite books, and what I enjoy depends on where I am in my life. The authors
that have written some of the fantasy books I love are J.R.R. Tolkien,
Ursula Le Guin, C.J. Cherryh, Guy Gavriel Kay, Gene Wolfe, M. John Harrison,
David Gemmell, Steven Erikson, and Joe Abercrombie.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">Do you have
any pearls of wisdom that you'd like to share with would-be writers?</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">Be patient with yourself and people in the industry
with whom you work, and know as much about the industry as you can. Writing
your novel is only the beginning, and you'll potentially face a lot of set
backs and mismanaged expectations before you see your name in print. Some key
points are research your agent as the right agent, be passionate about your work
and your genre, and this will help get you where you want to go. And don't overlook the
importance of your editors and first readers! You may kick and scream and
wonder what they're thinking, but if they have to ask the question you haven't
written something well enough. Those people are there to help make you look as
good as you can.</span><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">M</span><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;">ost
importantly have fun with it, and write what makes you happy rather than what
you think might make you money. Chances are one might lead to the other.</span><span style="color: white; mso-themecolor: background1;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-themecolor: background1;">Thanks for your time Mark! </span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-themecolor: background1;">Check
back tomorrow for a review of ‘Garden of Stones’.</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-47677946070779429952014-05-09T14:17:00.001-07:002014-05-09T14:17:08.556-07:00David Gemmell Legend Awards 2014 - Morningstar Shortlist Nominees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a class="iol_imc" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" idx="4" style="height: 438px; left: 321px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; top: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 297px;"><img class="mainImage" src="http://api.ning.com/files/Sb*4boFSxeNO-vpMZitGT5vlWh*BmRhTY*I2HAoZZBVajtzKgcUIGxP-bMtzGeE6Km7U2kjrLqRipiq*e*viya1SdSicMwh6/honourlegendscover.jpg" style="background-color: white; height: 438px; width: 297px;" /></a></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The call to arms has
been sounded. Blades have been sharpened, bows strung. Armour readied and
shields polished. Wizards have consulted their spell books and canted their
cantrips, sorcerors have consulted their demons and renewed their bargains.
Heroes from all corners of the realms have gathered to this one battlefield to
prove their measure. And none shall be found wanting…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s that time of year again – the David Gemmell Legend
Awards have arrived!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Both the short and long lists included authors from across
the globe, with a mix of indie publishers and major houses. The nominees are
separated into three categories: Legend (best novel), Morningstar (best debut),
and Ravenheart (best cover art). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With the voting on the long lists already complete, and
short list voting underway, I thought it about time to throw in my lot and take
a look at the contestants, specifically the nominees for the Morningstar Award.
To me, the Morningstar award represents the fresh and upcoming talent in the
genre, essentially the ‘one to watch’. Whether these be the prodigal sons and
daughters destined for print, or hard fought rookies with something to prove,
the Morningstar nominees bring raw talent and energy to their debuts, making
for some eye-catching reads. This year the nominees couldn’t be any more
different, which has made for some pretty interesting additions to my
bookshelf. So without further ado, let me introduce the contestants for the
David Gemmell Morningstar Award 2014!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In order of appearance on the official DGLA website:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.thescifishow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GardenofStonesCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thescifishow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GardenofStonesCover.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the red corner…of a
circular coliseum…we have the wonder from down under <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mark T Barnes </b>with his high fantasy debut <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘The Garden of Stones’ </b>published by Amazon’s 47North. Armed with
sorcery and swordsmanship, and armoured in a blend of Oriental and Mediterranean
layers, Barnes leads a host of war-chanters, witches, warriors and warlocks
into the fray.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://i509.photobucket.com/albums/s336/UltimateDeidara/Headtaker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i509.photobucket.com/albums/s336/UltimateDeidara/Headtaker.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Led in chains into the
arena is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">David Guymer, </b>spitting and
snarling, clawing at his jailers, squeaking and chittering a single word over
and over – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Headtaker </b>published by Black
Library. Hailing from the infamous Warhammer universe, Guymer brandishes a
horde of mutant-rat Skaven, a host of greenskin Orcs and Goblins, and a phalanx
of dwarves. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350337505l/15790883.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350337505l/15790883.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Riding in from the
wild wild west of his very own fantasy realm (and not forgetting Cleveland,
Ohio), <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brian McClellan </b>holds aloft
his debut <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Promise of Blood </b>published
by Orion. Fresh from a successful coup, having overthrown and ended the age of
kings, McClellan steers a regiment of professional soldiers armed to the teeth
with firearms and bayonets, and the deadly dead-eye Powder Mages.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.gollancz.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/path-of-anger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.gollancz.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/path-of-anger.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cool, calm, collected,
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Antoine Rouaud </b>steps onto the sands
shrouded in a drawn hood and full length cloak, one hand curled about a dagger
dripping with blood, the other clutching to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Path of Anger</b>, published by<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
Gollancz. </b>In his footsteps follow both knights and assassins, deadly with
both blade and magic, and who will let none stand in their way.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0wup5QZjLSG0pP9Q-LQks4muwes1Raol_gahQ8LbE7P6I0_TcCrTKa416YMp1CYTieoSXT-LwRl2lAFJLp5kv1dDMcU7ILwaydSsNpxwml7GRKR2qpmw16XhagH4u6TJYX-TG6xUYUj8/s1600/grim_company.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0wup5QZjLSG0pP9Q-LQks4muwes1Raol_gahQ8LbE7P6I0_TcCrTKa416YMp1CYTieoSXT-LwRl2lAFJLp5kv1dDMcU7ILwaydSsNpxwml7GRKR2qpmw16XhagH4u6TJYX-TG6xUYUj8/s1600/grim_company.jpg" height="320" width="215" /></a></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last but certainly not
least, especially if he has anything to say about it, is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Luke Scull, </b>heralded into the arena by chants of ‘Skull, skull
skull!’ as if the baying crowd has already sensed the pull-no-punches savage
grit of his debut <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Grim Company </b>published
by Head of Zeus. The tyro-titan boats his very own grim company of heroes and
heroines, barbarians and bastards, dead gods and diehard rebels, spoiling for a
fight from the moment he sets foot on the sands.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And that, ladies and gentleman is that! Head on over
to the <strong><a href="http://www.gemmellaward.com/" target="_blank">DGLA Official site </a></strong>to show your support for your favourite authors.
I'll be reviewing each of the nominations and inviting the authors for both an interview and guest post, for you to learn a little more about them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There’s only one last thing to say…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">GLADIATORS…ARE YOU
READY?!? </span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></b> </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Voting closes 31st May.</span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-3320466672564977102014-04-28T23:21:00.003-07:002014-04-28T23:21:49.253-07:00Book Review: 'The Emperor's Blades' by Brian Staveley.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a class="iol_imc" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" idx="5" style="height: 423px; left: 193px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; top: 7.5px; visibility: visible; width: 554px;"><img class="mainImage" src="http://daniellibris.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/wpid-staveley-theemperorsblades_thumb3-jpg.jpeg" style="background-color: white; height: 423px; width: 554px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UK and US covers for 'The Emperor's Blades' by Brian Staveley.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Good:</b> Nice change from the usual western-medieval setting. An epic start to a new
fantasy saga. An ever thickening plot, set in a rich and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real </i>world, cast with characters whose stories you don’t just
follow but live, too.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Bad:</b> Would have liked to see
more of the Annurian Empire through Adare’s storyline, but this really isn’t
criticism but more a curiosity, as I would have liked to discover more about the fully-fleshed world.
Kaden’s monk <em>‘trials’</em> (as I like to think of them) at times felt more like a
reminder of his importance/existence, rather than furthering the plot.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Ugly Truth:</b> Well deserving of
the hype proceeding it, Brian Stavely’s gutsy newcomer ‘The Emperor’s Blades’
doesn’t pull its punches – visceral and break-neck from start to finish. Whilst
packing a strong right hook in terms of action and suspense, it’s the subtle knife
that slips through your guard as the plot twists again and again.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For Those That Like:</b> Stories in
which no-one is safe. Conspiracy and betrayal, clandestine operations, court
intrigue, badass monks, and greater powers at war behind it all.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<i>The Emperor is dead.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Murdered...</i><br />
<br />
<i>...Betrayed.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i>Heir to the unhewn throne, Kaden, is yet to discover his father’s death.
For eight years he has trained under the Shin monks, honing the strength of
mind over matter. Isolated from the world, atop the Bone Mountains, Kaden and
the other monks are unaware of the events tearing apart the empire. But the
monks have threats of their own – an unknown creature stalks the mountains,
slaughtering livestock in a way that no natural beast can.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Valyn, Kaden’s brother and second-in-line to the throne, is nearing the
end of his Kettral training. Soon Valyn will join the elite Kettral ranks, and lead his
own Wing on clandestine operations. But on a routine training exercise he
uncovers a conspiracy that threatens not only his brother’s life, but the
future of the Empire, too. With enemies lurking in the shadows and betrayers in
the midst of the Kettral ranks, it’s down to Valyn to save his brother, that is
if he isn’t killed first by the assassins… or his own soldierly training.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i>Adare, Valyn and Kaden’s sister, appointed Minister of Finance within the
Empire, is there to witness the trial of her father’s murderer. The accused is
no deadly assassin nor common crook, but the high priest of the Empire’s faith.
The ensuing trial questions whether the Annurian Empire should be ruled by a
mortal Emperor or the will of a god…<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i>And behind it all greater forces are at play. An enemy lost to the pages
of history is about to return, and no matter of mortal quarrel can compare to
its power to destroy.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i>War is coming, and no-one is safe... <o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
Brian Staveley’s debut ‘The Emperor’s Blades’ is armed and dangerous. One of
the most highly anticipated releases for Q1 2014, the novel has set the
standard high for the rest of the year. A mix of fully-fledged-fantasy and the
‘grit’ that has become a popular staple in recent fantasy works, Staveley sets
himself apart with a non-western medieval setting, a new breath of life into
tried and tested character archetypes, and a magic system that even a d20 and a
pen and paper couldn’t predict (in a good way, of course).<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
‘The Emperor’s Blades’ tells the story of the titular Emperor’s children following
his murder. The story centres around the three main PoV characters, the story
told from their experiences, the overarching plot interwoven with their
individual journeys. The plot thickens as they ‘come-of-age’ in their separate
environments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kaden in a monastery under
the tutelage of Shin monks, Valyn training on a remote isle to join the ranks
of the Kettral elite, and Adare navigating the intricacies of politics and
plotting as a Minister of the Empire. The Emperor is dead, murdered by the hand
of the High Priest. Conspiracy is afoot, one that threatens the Emperor’s
children, and the rule of the Empire itself. Kaden, isolated from the outer
world due to the remoteness of the monastery, is unaware of his father’s death,
and his own sudden inheritance of the unhewn throne. Valyn uncovers the
conspiracy through the last words of a dying man, but if he makes it known then
he risks escalating the traitors into early execution of their plan. All the
while, Adare is party to the trial of her father’s murderer, fighting for
justice and not least a little bitter vengeance.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The characters carry the book. Whilst the overarching theme of ‘something
evil this way comes’ is ever present, and alluded to in snippets, it’s fair to
say that the debut focuses more on Kaden, Valyn and Adare as they complete
their tuition and come into their own.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Kaden’s chapters focus on his pursuit of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vaniate</i> – what the monks call ‘The Empty Mind’. Think = blank
canvas. The sub-elements of this include a photographic memory, the ability to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see </i>the world from another’s
perspective, and to ignore the physical presence of the body and emotion, and
remain detached to the world around you whilst still interacting with it.
Sounds like some monk-matrix-meditative stuff, but this is nicely interwoven to
the plot, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Staveley develops this in the
future. Kaden’s chapters also link into the greater evil at play, which might
not be evil in the sense of black leathers, eye of newt, and pointy horns, but
it still spells doom-and-gloom to the human race all the same.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Valyn’s story, to me, is the most interesting. As a recruit-in-training, we
follow him on exercises, and later the trials, required to become a Kettral.
The Kettral are an elite group of soldiers, formed of snipers, magic-using
leaches, demolitions experts, weapons specialists, and birds with 70ft
wingspans (pilots not included with each bird purchase, but required all the
same). I’d liken them to squad-based ninja-legionnaires crossed with modern-day
marines and paratroopers. From my own experiences I am more than happy to
report that Staveley handled the military elements more than adequately, introducing
enough black humour, barrack slang, and cussing, without going overboard and
boiling it down into over-used stereotypes that only know how to curse colourfully and stab
people. Valyn is the one to uncover the conspiracy to kill the Emperor’s heirs,
and it’s down to him to save him brother (and sister!) before the traitors take
over.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Adare’s involvement is limited to the Imperial Court and City. And I say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">limited </i>carefully. It’s not a criticism
in this book, as her role is to tie-in the trial of the Emperor’s murder, but
if there was space for further ‘world building’ then I’d argue it’s her pages.
Staveley’s world is rich with unique creations – from the unhewn throne to the
Skullsworn assassins and the pantheon of gods – and being set in a non-western
medieval backdrop, I’d have liked to see more of this. After all, it’s one of
the key differences between this book and the current fantasy-offering in the
market e.g. yet another Game of Thrones copy, or Elves, Dwarves and Dark Lords
aplenty.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The story is executed with all vigour and excitement of a newblood, and
whilst Staveley succumbs to a few rookie ‘stumbles’(I won’t say amateur, as
it’s clear he’s put in a lot more effort than some of the professionals), the
finished product is a breakneck race to the finish line. It’s by no means a
short read, coming in at over 450 pages, but the chapters (particularly
Valyn’s) fly by thanks to the author’s calculated pacing.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
From what I’ve read, it’s safe to say that ‘The Emperor’s Blades’ has
well earned its hype, and its high time that the author be recognised as a
rising star in the fantasy field. I for one am looking forward to the second
book, as now that the scene is set I want to see where Staveley takes it next.<o:p></o:p><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-89205016006294332532014-04-27T23:03:00.001-07:002014-04-27T23:03:04.250-07:00Guest Post: 'Gandalf's Hand Sanitizer' by Brian Staveley<a class="iol_imc" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" idx="2" style="height: 300px; left: 345px; top: 69px; visibility: visible; width: 250px;"><img class="mainImage" src="http://fantasy-faction.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2014-JAN-Brian-Staveley-250x300.jpg" style="height: 300px; width: 250px;" /></a><br />
<br />
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Yesterday I introduced you to the one and only Brian Staveley - writer, editor, father, teacher (in no particular order, of course). Brian's a busy man, and when he's not doing any of the above he's sharing his thoughts and opinions on topics within the fantasy genre. From swearing in fantasy to what motivates the bad guys, Brian isn't afraid to sugar coat his insight into the fantasy realm. It's a refreshing take on things that we either overlook or forgive our favourite authors for. Brian posts these articles on his <a href="http://bstaveley.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">blog</a>, but he was kind enough to submit one here, on Written-With-A-Sword.<br />
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So, without further ado, I give you Brian Stately and 'Gandalf's Hand Sanitizer - The Wounds of Fantasy.'<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>A
very partial list of the things that could kill you in the absence of modern
medicine: bees, thorns, nuts, horses, mosquitoes, childbirth, chicken, spinach,
farming, dogs, rats, rusty tacks, ticks, and shit.* <o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>If
you live in a part of the world without access to cipro and epi pens,
doxycycline and tetanus shots, penicillin and measles vaccines, chances are one
of these things will kill you. To
feel the gravity of the situation, just try the following experiment: go
somewhere remote. Hike a week into the backcountry or get dropped off by a
float plane. Now break your leg with a rock. Take notes about the experience so
the rest of us can appreciate your observations after your death, which will
probably be imminent. Without a hospital nearby, a broken leg can be a death
sentence. In fact, everything starts
to look like a potential death sentence. Appendicitis is easily treatable when
you live in Columbus, Ohio. Get it while mountaineering in the Brooks Range and
you die.<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>In
traditional epic fantasy, of course, no
one has access to modern medicine. You’d rarely know that, though, from the
way the characters carry on. Wounded soldiers will occasionally battle
infection, the odd woman will die in childbirth, but by and large the heroes
and villains appear blithely unconcerned by the mortal threats surrounding
them. During the American Civil War, two out of every three soldiers fell to
disease or infection. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When was the last
time you saw a fantasy character die of tetanus? Or malaria? Or anaphylactic
shock? Or salmonella? <o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>I
get it, of course. A fantasy novel in which the main characters languish in the
grip of chronic illness hardly sounds like delightful reading. If the Lord of the Rings played out in the real
world, Sam would collapse of dengue fever contracted in the Dead Marshes,
Gollum would be long dead from some raw-trout-borne illness, and Frodo, rescued
from the taint of the Morgul-blade, would succumb to a staph infection. No one
wants to read that book, least of all me.<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>Moreover,
to be fair to writers of fantasy, magic often fills the void left by the
absence of modern medicine. Lizard men leave a nasty gash in your shoulder?
Heal it up with a little magic salve. The unpleasant end of a dagger stuck in your
leg? Have the local witch lay hands on it. That arrow straight through the gut?
A few runes and a muttered incantation ought to do the trick. This is the whole
point of healers and potions in games like Elder Scrolls. Without magic no one
would ever win. Ever.<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>The
magic-as-medicine approach works, and can work elegantly. It does, however,
invite a sort of macabre escalation. When the rules of healing are murky,
there’s no reason for an author not to raise the stakes in every battle, and it
is oh, so tempting to raise the stakes. The escalation of physical violence is
an ancient authorial impulse – Beowulf isn’t content to wrestle Grendel; he
rips his entire arm off and hangs it from rafters – but it’s encouraged by the
calibration of the modern reader. <o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>If
you cut sliced your hand open with a dirty knife tomorrow, you’d probably be
irritated but not terrified. The most inept emergency room in America could
have you out the door in an hour and your life expectancy would be excellent.
As a result, a slashed up hand just doesn’t impress us. We’d be pissed off if
Aragorn keeled over from an injury incurred during food preparation. <o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>In
fourteenth century, however, a knife wound was serious shit. If you hacked into
your palm while gutting a goat, there wasn’t much to do but stare at the wound,
offer a prayer, and try really hard not to die. And if mortality rates are any
indication, the stare-prayer-try method wasn’t all that reliable. <o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>Hence
an interesting predicament: modern writers and readers of fantasy are out of
tune with the gravity of the injuries about which we read and write. Wounds
large enough to impress our super-size sensibilities would almost certainly
annihilate any character without magical protection. Plausible wounds, on the
other hand, are boring.<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>This
isn’t a call to action. As I said above, I don’t really want to read a whole
lot of books in which elite mystical assassins succumb to the ravages of food
poisoning. Great battles and horrifying wounds are a staple of the genre (all
of which is quite bullish for the potion-brewers and incantation-mutterers),
but I’m sure that Gandalf has room, somewhere in that voluminous robe of his,
for a small bottle of Purell.<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><em>*
A good example, incidentally, of the value of the Oxford comma, which places
beyond all doubt the idea that the ticks can kill independently of the shit.
Although I’m sure that shit-dipped ticks could also be deadly.</em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><strong><span style="color: white;">Brian Staveley's debut 'The Emperor's Blades' is published by Tor,
and is available from all major bookstores and
Amazon.</span></strong><span style="color: white;"> </span><br /><strong><span style="color: white;">You can find
out more about Brian on his blog </span><a href="http://bstaveley.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: white;">bstaveley.wordpress.com</span></a><span style="color: white;">.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-37004823051995646162014-04-26T14:33:00.002-07:002014-04-26T14:33:24.497-07:00Author Interview: Brian Staveley<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a class="iol_imc" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" idx="9" style="height: 423px; left: 193px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; top: 7.5px; visibility: visible; width: 554px;"><img class="mainImage" src="http://daniellibris.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/wpid-staveley-theemperorsblades_thumb3-jpg.jpeg" style="background-color: white; height: 423px; width: 554px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'The Emperor's Blades' - UK cover on the left, US cover on the right.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: white;"><strong>The Emperor's Blades </strong>has been one of the most highly anticipated débuts of 2014. I first invited the author, Brian Staveley, to WWaS last year for a guest post, and you can expect another of these tomorrow, as well as a review in the coming days.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Between Brian's busy schedule of running trails, splitting wood, writing and editing, and baby-wrangling, I caught up with him recently to discuss the release of his first novel, playing April Fool's pranks on his editor, and what it feels like to be a published author.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://torbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Brian-Staveley-pic-copyright-Laura-Swoyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" src="http://torbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Brian-Staveley-pic-copyright-Laura-Swoyer.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Brian Staveley - Image copyright Laura Swoyer.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="color: white;">Hi Brian, welcome back to WWaS. For those readers who have yet to ‘meet you’, tell us a little about
yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">I like hoppy beer,
peaty scotch, and orange juice without pulp. I’m the worst dancer in my family
– that includes the two-year-old – but out of the three of us I am hands-down
the best sledder. My son’s not even close, and my wife doesn’t sled at all. I
studied poetry for an impractically long time, both as an undergraduate and in
grad school, arriving belatedly at the dismaying realization that no one pays
anyone to write poetry. Fortunately, I had a lifetime packed with fantasy and
science fiction novels, and after a little over a decade teaching high school
English and history, I decided to try writing one of my own. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Emperor’s Blades</i> is my first
novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="color: white;">So, how did you go from teaching to
writing? Have you always wanted to be a writer?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">As I mentioned, for a
long time I was fixated on the writing and translation poetry, but gradually my
focus shifted. After more than a decade obsessing over tiny poetic details,
testing cadence after cadence, banging my head against line breaks and medial
caesurae, it was a great gust of fresh air when I turned my attention to the
central concerns of speculative fiction: character, plot, and world-building. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">Teaching made the
writing possible. It paid the bills and provided me with vacations in which to
put in unbroken weeks of work on the book. It didn’t hurt that I loved the job
itself, the chance to work with curious young people and to study pretty much
whatever material interested me. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="color: white;">You taught history, religion and philosophy
for more than a decade – and in your debut novel ‘The Emperor’s Blades’ it’s
easy to see how much of an impact this has had on your writing. Which of the
subjects do you think has had the BIGGEST impact?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></span></div>
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</strong></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">I taught a course in
ancient world history, which was really a hysterical task, sort of like moving
a whole beach with a pair of tweezers. The curriculum required us to cover
everything that had happened in the world from the Neolithic to the 16<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>th</sup>
century. A person might take a decent stab at that task if she had twenty or
thirty years; we had eight months. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">The upside, of
course, is that if you can’t do what’s required, you can do whatever the hell
you want. At least, that’s how I looked at it. Every year we’d go in a
different direction with the class, find a different lens through which to
focus on world history, and every one of those lenses helped when it came to
the writing of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Emperor’s Blades</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">The world of the
books is invented, of course, but even the most audacious fantasy author
doesn’t invent things <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ex nilho</i>. In my
case, real-world history provided inspiration, context, and models for various
political structures, characters, and events in the novel. Which isn’t to say
there’s a one-to-one correspondence between the real world and my invented one.
Annur isn’t Tang China or the Khmer Empire or Rome, but without real-world
history, my own world would look like a cheap cardboard movie set. I really
hope it doesn’t look like a cheap cardboard movie set.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>Seeing we’ve mentioned it, tell us about
‘The Emperor’s Blades’ in 50 words or less – what’s your ‘elevator pitch’?<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">Three adult children
of a murdered emperor – a monk, a politician, and an elite soldier – attempt to
uncover the conspiracy behind their father’s death, all the while trying to
stay alive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>How long did it take to plan and write the
‘Emperor’s Blades’? Do you have a writing routine?<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span></span><br />
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</strong></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">Five months. Or five
years. Depends on how you count. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">I quit my teaching
job and moved to Asia for a year in order to write the first draft. Laos and
Cambodia are wonderful places to write: warm, inexpensive, rich in history and
culture. Better yet, I didn’t know anyone over there, didn’t know the language,
so there wasn’t much in the way of distraction. I’d write for the morning, get
chased by stray dogs during my long afternoon run, write some more in the early
evening, drink a beer, and go to sleep. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">By the end of five or
six months, I had a book. In fact, I had way too <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">much</i> book. That draft ran to about 300,000 words, which is awesome
if your first name is George and your last name is Martin. Considerably less
awesome if your first name is Brian and your last name is Staveley. Literary agents
welcome 300,000 word manuscripts from unknown authors the way they might
welcome boxes filled with used diapers. I went back to my teaching post and
spent the next five years reworking the thing over the summers. And by
reworking, I mean, “cutting mercilessly.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="color: white;">Now that ‘The Emperor’s Blades’ has been
released into the wild, are you happy with it? Anything you’d change?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">Some readers I’ve
chatted with want a larger role for Adare in the first book, and if I had it to
do again, I’d shift some of her plot from book two into book one, giving her
equal screen time with the brothers. Luckily, anyone jonesing for more Adare is
going to be very happy with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Providence of Fire</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>What was the hardest part of writing ‘The
Emperor’s Blades’?<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">Writing the monks
just about drove me crazy. The Shin train from a very early age to eliminate
all emotion. It’s a nice goal for a group of monks, but absolute misery for a
writer who relies on human emotion to drive a story forward. Luckily, none of
the monks, even the most adept among them, has truly mastered this emotional
emptiness. They have urges and angers, if deeply repressed, but the handling of
those feelings is so, so dicey. Too much emotion, and they seem like shitty
monks. Too little, and they lose all individuality and character.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>The story follows three major PoV
characters, all children of the Emperor. Kaden the monk, Valyn the Kettral
soldier, and Adare the finance minister of the Annurian Empire. How did you
come up with these vastly different characters? Are they based on anyone you
know?<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">I wanted three
characters with very different psychological profiles; at the most absurdly
simple level, Kaden is calm, Valyn is tough, and Adare is smart. Of course, if
you stop at the absurdly simple level you end up with a lousy book, and the
characters twisted and resisted as I wrote them. As a result, Valyn has some
moments of real weakness, Adare makes one very foolish decision, and Kaden
loses his cool when it matters most. All three have grown well beyond the
initial impulse that gave birth to them, accruing tics and foibles, secret
wells of strength and conviction that I never anticipated. As I write my way
into book three, I’m astounded at how far they’ve come (those who are still
alive) from their younger selves in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Emperor’s Blades</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="color: white;">Of Kaden, Valyn and Adare, which do you
most connect with?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">Adare. While certain
elements of Kaden’s and Valyn’s training are familiar to me, I’m not a military
guy, and I’d never be able to hack it as a monk. Adare, on the other hand, does
a lot of reading, her success or failure depends primarily on her ability to
use her brain. I’m not saying I’d ever rise to the level of Minister of
Finance, but if I ever tried out for the Kettral I’d be kicked off the Islands
inside of a week.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>I’m pretty sure that you’re not the son of
an emperor (and if I’m wrong please forgive my transgressions oh’ your
mightiest of mighties!), nor are you a monk, soldier, or minister. How did you
go about researching the characters’ roles and ‘getting inside their heads’?<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">I rely on the holy
trinity of the fantasy writer’s research: reading, chatting with real people,
and making shit up. For example, I read quite a few books involving monks and
monasteries, everything from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Rule</i>
of St. Benedict to Wu Cheng’en’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journey
to the West</i>. A guy who lives down the street spent seven years in a Zen
Buddhist monastery, and I enjoy picking his brain. And, of course, since I’m
not writing about any denomination of real monks from our world, it’s possible,
even necessary, to improvise, explore, and invent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="color: white;">What would you like readers to take away
from ‘the Emperor’s Blades’? Is there a moral to the story, any life changing
lessons?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: white;">I'd be overjoyed in a reader had sweaty palms, stayed up too late reading, or cursed loudly at a character in the middle of a tense chapter. As for Morales and lessons... I've always been suspicious of literature that wants to teach me something.</span></strong><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span> </div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="color: white;">What can we expect of the sequel?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">The characters really
hit the ground running, swords swinging, burning eyes blazing in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Providence of Fire</i>. Training is
definitely over. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">We explore a lot more
of the world – six or seven new locations, depending on how you count. There’s
a lot more Adare – as you might infer from the cover, she’s really at the
center of this second book. There’s also a new point of view character, someone
you’ve already met in book one. And more Pyrre. I love Pyrre.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>Recently, you posted that during the
writing of book 3, you realised that you had to go back and change a large
chunk of book 2. Does this happen a lot with your writing? Is it a straight
forward beginning-to-end process, or do you go back and edit as you go?<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">You might be thinking
of an April’s Fool’s prank I played on my editor. Book Two is about to go into
copyedit, and I told him I needed to scrap 150,000 words of it. He was less
than excited. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">In all honesty,
though, writing the third book is terrifying. I’m firmly convinced that the key
to a good ending lies in the handling of the story’s beginning, and now that
the beginning is set in stone (limestone tablet version now available from
Amazon), I get nervous. I have the end sketched out, of course, but I’m
horrified that I’ll realize, on Book Three, Chapter Thirty-Six, that I should
have set up some detail in Book Two, Chapter Eight. Of course, there’s nothing
to be done about it, but that doesn’t stop the fretting. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="color: white;">Do you read other books in your own genre?
Who is your favourite author?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">Ursula Le Guin is
just staggeringly good. I almost always have one of her novels going, alongside
whatever else I’m reading. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="color: white;">You have your own </span><a href="http://bstaveley.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">blog</span></a></strong><strong><span style="color: white;">, on which you post
thought-provoking articles around writing, fantasy in particular. Do you have
any pearls of wisdom (particularly from your philosophy background) that you’d
like to share with would-be writers?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white;">I’m not sure there’s
such a thing as a would-be writer. There are people who are writing and people
who are not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<strong><span style="color: white;">'The Emperor's Blades' is published by Tor, and is available from all major bookstores and Amazon.</span></strong><br />
<strong></strong><span style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<strong><span style="color: white;">You can find out more about Brian on his blog </span><a href="http://bstaveley.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: white;">bstaveley.wordpress.com</span></a><span style="color: white;">.</span></strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-35169951662416987692014-04-07T14:28:00.003-07:002014-04-07T14:28:56.974-07:00Book Review: 'Valour' by John Gwynne.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img class="mainImage" src="http://readeroffictions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Valour-John-Gwynne.jpg" style="background-color: white; height: 438px; width: 283px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">The axe isn't just for show...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-no-proof: yes; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: white;">Valour – John Gwynne.</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Good:</b> The stuff of legends,
for fans young and old, page-burning pace.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Bad:</b> Overcomes the ‘difficult
second book’ syndrome and whilst it lives up to the debut I felt that the
overarching plot was second to the characters’ journeys.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Ugly Truth:</b> The ‘Chosen-One’
offspring of George R R Martin and J K Rowling, raised on the bedtime stories
of Tolkien and whipped into fighting shape by David Gemmell…but still 100%
Gwynne.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For Those That Like:</b> Epic
battles, Coming-of-age epics, fantasy with a pinch of fairytale-dust, and
world-ending prophecies.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Battle is joined in the Banished Lands.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>A crusade sweeps the land. Kings are put to the sword. Traitors lurk in
every shadow. Ancient weapons emerge from forgotten histories…<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>But the war of the Gods has only just begun.<br />
<br />
King Nathair has declared war on Asroth the Fallen. With the allegiance of
kings, queens, corsairs giants, and the angelic Ben-Elim, Nathair marches to
defend his kingdom from the coming of the Black Sun, avatar of darkness. The
prophecy has come to pass – ‘at Midwinter’s height, bright day shall become
darkest night’ – and as the chosen ‘Bright Star’ Nathair is the last hope for
the Banished Lands and those faithful to the benevolent god Elyon.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Or so it seems…<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Corban and his companions are on the run. Battered and bruised, but not
yet broken, the motley company head for sanctuary in a foreign kingdom. Hunted
across the land, Corban cannot escape the company’s pursuers, or his
encroaching destiny. Trained daily in the sword dance by the mysterious Gar,
and schooled in the fabled Earth Power, Corban is coming to realise that a
certain prophecy might just have a ring of truth to it.<br />
<br />
Whilst the Banished Lands are plunged into war, dark forces in the Otherworld
prepare to enter the fray. The final struggle is nearing, and the Fallen will destroy
the Faithful. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
John Gwynne comes out swinging in ‘Valour’, second novel in his ‘The
Faithful and the Fallen’ series. Comes out swinging a big axe that is! ‘Valour’
is a saga true to form, set in a richly-realised world, and populated with a
cast of heroes, heroines and hell-spawn.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
‘Valour’ picks up directly from where ‘Malice’ left off, following Corban
and company as they flee their home. Nathair’s pursuit is delayed by the
politics of the realm and the squabbles of other kingdoms, but his attention
turns to greater rewards, namely the Seven Treasures as they once war emerge
from the forgotten corridors of history. Maquin should be dead – and he
believes he’d be better off that way after witnessing the murder of his friend,
Kastell. Driven by the need for revenge, Maquin crosses land and sea to exact
his bloody judgement. Cywen has been abandoned by friend and family alike, but
she cannot escape the attention of Nathair and his advisor Calidus. If she ever
wants to be reunited with those she loves, she’ll have to slip past her guards,
a traitorous swordmaster, a giant, a draig, and the ever watchful eye of a god’s
avatar.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Returning to the Banished Lands is as if you never left. The world rushes out
to meet you for the pages, the backdrop of myth and legend enriching every
detail. The story is wrought with a master plan in mind, and as the plot
progresses you can see the pieces moving on the board. Gwynne plays for the
long haul, never once revealing his ‘full hand’, giving the reader just enough
to keep them hooked. When the checkmate does come in the final chapters it’s so
masterfully done that you’re not quite sure if you’re rooting for the winning
side, and who exactly is meant to be the hero.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Whilst I did feel that ‘Valour’ directed the reader away from the
overarching plot and instead favoured the individual characters’ journeys and
development, I welcomed the cast’s evolution which added further weaves to the
ever-thickening tapestry. It’s a hefty tome too, but no sentence is spared. The
pace was not sacrificed in light of this, as the book goes from page-burner to
page-turner. I snatched time to read between taxis, trains, planes and coffee
breaks, and the book in turn snatched me from the real world so much so that I
read late into the night and early in the morning.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Gwynne has gone from strength to strength in the past year, earning critical
acclaim, securing further publishing contracts, and winning no less than the David
Gemmell Morningstar award. In the past other authors have been backed into the
corner with the ‘difficult second novel’ but Gwynne delivers hard-hitting and
gutsy. For an author still cutting his teeth in the big blue ocean that is the
mainstream fantasy catalogue, John Gwynne wades in with a depth of world
building that’d see most newbie authors flounder. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
With both ‘Malice’ and ‘Valour’ setting Gwynne’s standards high, it’s safe
to say that one of fantasy’s newest authors has raised the bar for his next
offering.<o:p></o:p><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-56082090877997662342014-04-06T00:25:00.003-07:002014-04-06T00:25:18.777-07:00Book Review: 'The Red Knight' by Miles Cameron<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><img class="mainImage" src="http://www.orbitbooks.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/RedKnightIphone.jpg" style="background-color: white; height: 438px; width: 292px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -36pt;">
<em>Note from the reviewer: After the
Malice review David tracked me down to my lair at Sharpe Towers – </em><em>trekking
through a maze of Oracle manuals, six nations programming, theories on the Blacklist
and the occasional beer to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ask me for
another review.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here we go...)</em></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
As I said in a previous review – 2013 was a great year for
books, one of which was The Red Knight by Miles Cameron.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book follows a band of mercenaries
commanded by the Red Knight as they ride to garrison a fortress in a Middle Age
English world.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p>Sounds simple, like it’s been done before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well don’t be it hasn’t… and it’s bloody and
brilliant (I put the and in as I am polite).<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
Bloody in that Miles Cameron is a re-enactor and he writes
battles be they one on one or a cavalry charge against infantry very
realistically and people die, some suddenly some bloody.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
Brilliant in that it combines multiple POV’s in a believable
world, with multiple believable magic systems – well a first glance they are
different.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
The book has a great cast of characters, where Miles got the
some of the names from I have no idea. – There’s the Red Knight, Sauce, Bad
Tom, Wilful Murder and Mr Smythe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
The “villain” of the book would be sympathetic if he wasn’t
so pompous – his reasoning will, I am sure, be expanded in further books<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the other “villainous” character Jean
d'Vrailly, the self-styled "greatest knight in the world – must be the
most obnoxious man in the Fantasy genre at the minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So much so that you want the Red Knight or Bad
Tom to introduce him to Mr Slap.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p>At over 600 pages this is a hefty book, so don’t expect
action all the way, Miles has paced it just right as there are lulls in between
the various skirmishes for both the characters and the readers to catch their
breath.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
Then at the very end of the book – BAM – Miles expands the
plot and you realise that all is not what it seems and that there are other
things going on and the red Knight will be a very busy chap.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
I have two complaints about this book – firstly the editing
is a bit shaky, bad grammar the company going west when the map says east.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Secondly the character of the Queen of Alba
doesn’t really do a lot – but I am hoping that gets rectified in future novels.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
All in all a great start to what I hope will be a future
classic series.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
And lastly !!!!!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
Lachan for Aa<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(read
the book you’ll understand).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc1P-3eMk_ncMGbyCsCoBWtFCZ_vCJM8P5gx_OvgpGi0iSnMwWo_tEY1CY191DI61n66KYFsN-7Njy07SQtyBCGEOOwkujkNjoCHVDvKCAq3f2MDi1IdBpCQ186zb2ZMl6be-PizPioK5O/s1600/IMAG0087.jpg" height="320" width="180" /><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-style: normal; right: auto;">
<span style="right: auto;"><em><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Rob Sharpe when not writing Oracle IT code is a keen reader. </span></em></span><br />
<span style="right: auto;"><em><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Rob first started of with Tolkien, Donaldson and Eddings before moving on heroic fantasy - especially Brirsh heroic fantasy and the late great David Gemmell. </span></em></span><br />
<span style="right: auto;"><em><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Rob can be found, if you can track him down, busy reading books by John Gwynne, James Barclay, Joe Abercrombie, Anthony Ryan, Richard K Morgan, GRRM, Miles Cameron and a host of others.</span></em></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-27393274695740133952014-03-27T13:28:00.000-07:002014-03-28T00:02:04.249-07:00Interview: John Gwynne, author of 'Malice' & 'Valour'<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img class="mainImage" src="http://torbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Gwynne-John-new-480x319.jpg" style="background-color: white; height: 319px; width: 480px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Gwynne. Heroic Fantasy at its best - axes and warhounds.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To celebrate the release of 'Valour' - John Gwynne's second novel in his Faithful and the Fallen series - we invited John back to 'WwaS' for another interview. It's been a busy year for John receiving critical acclaim for 'Malice', picking up awards, and extending his publishing rights across the world as part of his plan for global domination.<br />
<br />
So how does a fantasy writer deal with the fame and the success? A good day out at Warner Brother Studios exploring the world of Harry Potter! So without further ado, let's begin.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Lucida Grande";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hi John, welcome back to ‘WWAS’ (Written
With A Sword). Since we last spoke way-back-when in 2013, you’ve had a busy
year of awards and further publishing contracts. What’s been your highlight of
the past year?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
Hi David -
thanks for inviting me back. You’re right, it has been a pretty crazy year for
Malice and its sequels. The year started very nicely with Orbit US buying the
American rights for Malice and Valour, and soon after Fanucci bought the
Italian rights. A little later in the year Tor UK bought books 3 and 4 in the
Faithful and the Fallen series. In October Malice won the David Gemmell
Morningstar Award for best fantasy debut of 2012. I’ve also attended some great
events, such as Goldsboro Books Fantasy in the Court, as well as the David
Gemmell Awards and World Fantasy Con 2013. Malice was released in the US in
December 2013. And behind all of that Valour was going through the editorial
process, which has been great fun, ending with me seeing a glimpse of the
artwork in December (love that axe!)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
So yes, a
pretty full year. The highlight, though. It has to be Malice winning the
Morningstar at the David Gemmell Awards. It came as such a monumental surprise,
and kept me grinning for a very long time - I still am, in fact, whenever I
think of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<o:p> </o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Lucida Grande";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Being a fan of David Gemmell yourself, what
does it feel like to have won the Morningstar award?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b>Utterly
amazing. I’ve been a fan of David Gemmell’s since my teens, when I discovered
Legend and read it in one sitting - right through the night. It was a great moment
for me when I saw Malice on the shelf in Waterstones alongside Legend, so when
I heard that Malice was in the longlist for the Gemmell Awards I was absolutely
thrilled. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
The
Gemmell Awards has really been the only award that I have ever taken any interest
in, partly because of Mr Gemmell’s name attached to it, and also because it is
a readers vote, which appeals to me. I’ve voted on it every year, and often
bought books in the shortlist. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
When I
heard that Malice made it through to the shortlist I was over the moon,
especially considering the other titles on that list - all great books that
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
To win the
Morningstar - it was such a wonderful moment. My daughter, Harriett, is
profoundly disabled and requires a high level of care, so I rarely get out
these days. By a pleasant twist of fate the Gemmell Awards took place in
Brighton, only a short distance from where I live. I thought it would be a nice
opportunity to have a rare night out with the family, so we all went along. Not
expecting to win, just looking forward to a night out together amongst some
lovely company. And it was great fun - right from James Barclay’s opening
rendition of a Druss speech. Winning the Morningstar came as an absolute shock.
It was a wonderful moment, made all the better by my family being there with
me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Lucida Grande";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">As humble a man as you are, I hear your
speech at the DG award ceremony was completely off the cuff. Is this the same
for your writing process, or do you go with the flow and see what happens?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b>I didn’t have
a speech prepared because I did not for one second think Malice would win. When
my name was read out I was clapping the winner, not realising that it was me!
So I did wing it - can’t actually remember what I said, it’s a bit of a happy
blur. There were some thank-you’s, and a reference to my fatness! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
As far as
writing goes, there is a lot more order. I spent a long time researching for
Malice and the Faithful and the Fallen series. George R. R. Martin is often
quoted for saying writers fall into two camps -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>architects or gardeners. For me I’d say my writing style falls somewhere
in the middle - there are definite key events all along my story that are
clearly set out, but the character journeys between those events have been
subject to change, or at least to considerable meandering! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Lucida Grande";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The release of ‘Valour’ marks what some
authors claim to be ‘the difficult second book’. Did you find it difficult to
rise to the occasion with book number two, or was it all the more enjoyable as
you were getting deeper into the story?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b>To be
honest I didn’t feel much of that ‘second book syndrome.’ Valour was a much
smoother write for me. A lot of Malice was a learning curve, balancing
character, plot, action, world-building, scene-setting, whereas in Valour most
of that is in place, so it was just a case of getting on with the story. And I
was getting to points that I’ve been imagining for many years. I really enjoyed
writing it. Also I had a deadline for Valour, which for me really helped me get
my head down - although with a little added stress. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Lucida Grande";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Between Malice and Valour, have you
discovered anything new in how you write? Any lessons learnt?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b>Absolutely.
The whole experience has been one long learning curve - and I’m most definitely
still learning. Having a great editor has helped immensely. My editor at Tor
UK, Julie Crisp, has been amazing. Never heavy-handed or dictatorial, all of
her editing comes in the form of questions. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
To my mind
it’s all about getting the balance right. Description, character, plot, action.
I don’t know how other people write, but I tend to visualise a scene first, try
and put on the character’s head and see things from their point of view, then
try and write that. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Lucida Grande";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In your opinion is writing an honed skill
or a natural talent? And, how do you gauge when a chapter/book is ‘finished’ to
its final standard?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b>I don’t
know that I’m the right person to be asking that question! I still feel that
Malice being published is due as much to luck as any other factor. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
Writing
(and reading) is such an objective experience, as much art as anything else. I
suppose if I were to try and answer your question I’d say - both (not a cop
out, honest). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
Any
creative undertaking usually starts with a dollop of natural talent, but to
take it anywhere it has to be practised, refined, improved. As my agent John
Jarrold is very fond of saying, “writer write.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Lucida Grande";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What’s a ‘day at the office’ of writing for
you?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b>There is
no typical day. My daughter Harriett is profoundly disabled, and my wife and I
are her carers. A lot of Harriett’s practicalities fill the day - eating,
changing, washing etc. Harriett also likes to be sung to, which is strange as
my wife and I have possibly the worse voices in known history. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
Also my
wife and I run a vintage furniture and accessories business (bills have to be
paid). It is something that’s fairly flexible that we can manage mostly from
home. My wife’s the brains in this, so for me it mostly means lifting,
carrying, fixing, sanding, painting and restoring old furniture. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
And of
course, lets not forget the other children. Three boys - the oldest, James has
left home, although his regular drop-ins manage to leave the fridge and
cupboards picked clean of all food. The other two - Edward (the Teenager) and
William. For them my wife and I interchangeably fill the roles of taxi driver
and referee!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
Writing
fits in around the above - usually at night, when it’s dark and quiet, and more
so in the day when dead-lines loom!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Lucida Grande";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In 10 years time what would you like
readers to remember from your books?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b>Crikey, I’ve
not thought of that one before. I suppose to be moved emotionally (hopefully
not by hatred or loathing of my books). For me my favourite books are the ones
that stir and hook me emotionally. They’re the ones that I think back on, that
I sneak off to the loo to read the next chapter. That I stay up later than I
should reading. If anything I’ve written has that kind of effect on someone
else then I’d be really pleased.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
When I was
writing Malice my wife Caroline and my middle son Edward were my only readers
for a while. He cried at a point in Malice and I remember feeling very happy at
that - sick parent, I know. But I suppose that is the highest praise, that
another person can be moved emotionally by the arrangement of words on a page.
He cried whilst reading Valour, as well. A good sign in my book!</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thanks John! VALOUR is out today (27th March).</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-31585632380995502042014-03-05T23:37:00.000-08:002014-03-05T23:40:16.549-08:00Guest Book Reviewer Rob Sharpe & 'Malice' by John Gwynne<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWEvd3AikMpZGpDO1z34Vql7qZfesh9LnweKKpO_uDkUF475Fx8hPclLOpn4eWWJWBl1_k6OAbolVNzwcAX0jSV6Sy8h1bYm2HlMoeeg-dczEoU5NXl2oXlPh253rEZ31Rqz6KYshyntim/s1600/johngwynne-malice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWEvd3AikMpZGpDO1z34Vql7qZfesh9LnweKKpO_uDkUF475Fx8hPclLOpn4eWWJWBl1_k6OAbolVNzwcAX0jSV6Sy8h1bYm2HlMoeeg-dczEoU5NXl2oXlPh253rEZ31Rqz6KYshyntim/s1600/johngwynne-malice.jpg" height="400" width="260" /></a></div>
<em></em><br />
<em>To celebrate the upcoming release of John Gwynne's <strong>'Valour' </strong>the second novel in his 'The Faithful and The Fallen' series, here on WwAS we're running a few extra features on the award-winning debut 'Malice'. And rather than start with what WE think of 'Malice', we've gone out into the world and tracked down a <strong>reader </strong>in it's natural territory. On the way we trekked through swamps of coffee-rings, edged our way along the precipice of many a pile-o'-books, and were sworn at more than a few times on the London Underground for trying to read someone's Kindle over their shoulder. Alas, we have emerged successful (though not unscathed thanks to an unfortunate incident with unexpected breaking and an accidental screen-touch on an ereader!) and found a reader! So, without further delay, please let me introduce Rob Sharpe and his interview for '<strong>Malice'.</strong></em><br />
<strong><em></em></strong><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
I picked Malice up last year on a whim, and am glad to say
that this time my whim made me very happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So happy that it was my favourite book of 2013, in the face of some
stiff competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2013 was a good year
for my bookshelf.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p>Malice, in the current UK trend of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“grimdark”, is a coming of age story -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but this isn’t any old coming of age story –
the characters are all very well fleshed out, there are twists and turns,
politic machinations, deaths, some very well written battle scenes, that
Bernard Cornwell would tip his hat to, and GIANTS…<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p>John Gwynne the author has stated that he has been
influenced Gemmell, Tolkein and GRRM amongst other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly he, like GRRM uses multiple POV’s,
my two favourite POV’s are the sister of one of the main protagonists, and the
sworn man of the other protagonist, and he isn’t afraid to get rid of major characters
or POV characters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
From my point of view there are two Gemmell related themes
running through Malice – “The End never justifies the means” and “Evil only
exists when good men stand aside and doing nothing”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’ll have to read the book to understand
what I mean.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
I cannot praise this book enough, and have tried not to give
away too many spoilers – the reason being is that I want the people reading
this review to pick up the book and enjoy every page as I have.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
I would like to thank John, whom I have met, for such a
great novel, and to D.E.M Emrys for publishing this review.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I can’t wait until March 27<sup>th</sup> for Valour
(Book 2)</span></div>
<strong><em></em></strong><br />
<div style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; right: auto;">
<span style="right: auto;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="right: auto;"></span> </div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-style: normal; right: auto;">
<span style="right: auto;"><em><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Rob Sharpe when not writing Oracle IT code is a keen reader. </span></em></span><br />
<span style="right: auto;"><em><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Rob first started of with Tolkien, Donaldson and Eddings before moving on heroic fantasy - especially Brirsh heroic fantasy and the late great David Gemmell. </span></em></span><br />
<span style="right: auto;"><em><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Rob can be found, if you can track him down, busy reading books by John Gwynne, James Barclay, Joe Abercrombie, Anthony Ryan, Richard K Morgan, GRRM, Miles Cameron and a host of others.</span></em></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-59543916734599539552014-02-11T03:51:00.001-08:002014-02-11T03:51:31.378-08:00Book Review: The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson<img height="500" src="http://thebooksmugglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/final-empire.jpg" width="324" /><br />
<br />
The Good: new play on old favourites, inventive magic system, stand-out
female protagonist.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The Bad: A lull in pace toward between the beginning & middle, and
there’s only so many times you can read ‘Vin pushed/pulled on her metals’...<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The Ugly Truth: An impressive tome of high fantasy with all the usual tropes
and suspects turned on their heads to make for a truly original and enjoyable
(if at times effort-centric) read.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
For Those That Like: Robert Jordan’s ‘Wheel of Time’ novels (and not just
because Sanderson finished the series), Tolkien-esque universes, good vs evil, novels
with a young adult feel to them, stories about the ‘coming of age’, anime/manga
fight scenes, and ‘a greater purpose’.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<i>Ash blackens the sky.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i>Blood stains the land.<br />
<br />
Evil rules the age.<br />
<br />
For a thousand years a dark lord has ruled the Final Empire with an iron fist.
The common people are forced into slavery, toiling to clear the ash fields as
volcanoes choke the sky. The aristocracy live to their whims, throwing
glamorous balls amidst games of power play, safe in the knowledge that the
Inquisitors and metal-magic Allomancers crush any threat to the status quo.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Allomancers are key to the
Lord Ruler’s reign, and by way of approved marriages, the powers of allomancy
are contained within the aristocracy.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i>Yet rumour surfaces of a man who survived the Lord Ruler’s judgement.
Together with an underground faction of criminals he plans to pull off the
greatest heist the world has ever known.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i>But to do it, the crew are going to need insiders, willing-to-die
recruits, a fortune’s worth of luck… and the power of allomancy.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
Brandon Sanderson is a household name in the fantasy genre. Rising to the
challenge of finishing Robert Jordan’s ‘Wheel of Time’ series, he further
launched himself into the fray with his acclaimed ‘Elantris’ follows by the
renowned ‘Mistborn’ series. ‘The Final Empire’ is the first novel in this
series and with a title that promises epic-ness from the get-go its certain to
catch your eye on the book shelf.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
‘The Final Empire’ boasts a return to the usual fantasy tropes with a
difference – the forces of good lost the war and evil rules unchained.
Sanderson carries this trend throughout, subverting stereotypes wherever possible,
making for some pretty big plot twists. There’s a sense of ‘something greater
at play’ running throughout, meaning that every time our heroes scale the
mountain that is their mission, they soon find themselves at the edge of a
precipice.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The story in concept sounds like something we’ve all read before. Dark lord
vs band of underdogs. Looking at the bare bones of ‘The Final Empire’ this is
true, but it’s the subtle differences that count here. Evil here has its
purpose and motive, a refreshing change from the usual ‘wants to see the world
burn / fancies a legion of minions / you stole my lunch from the office fridge
and now you shall feel my wrath’.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The cast of underdogs include our leading lady Vin – a Skaa thief with
untold powers, the save-the-day mastermind hero Kelsier, his downtrodden
brother Marsh, the aptly named soldier Ham, Breeze the master of social
manipulations, and Elena the noble romanticist long overdue a rude awakening to
reality. Each character goes through their personal journey and development
arc. Vin does a standout job of being a remarkable female protagonist, showing
true character growth whilst sticking true to her roots. Is she a Mary Sue? I
haven’t decided yet, but it’s a nice change to have a female wear the trousers
in the story, kicking ass and taking names.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Sanderson is known for his unique magic systems, and whilst I won’t discuss
this in too much detail as other reviews have already done so, let me just say
a few things. 1. Allomancy is a nice change from the usual spellbook of
fireballs and demonic conjurings, but there’s only so many times I could read
the words ‘Vin pushed/pulled on her metals’ before I skipped sentences. 2. Each
reader to their own, whilst I don’t mind magic systems being explained to me,
this did detract from the pace of the story at times. 3. If you’re a fan of
anime/manga style fight sequences this book is for you, and it would also make
for a fantastic video game.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Normally I stay well clear of books surrounded by hype and I’m glad that I
did with this. By waiting for the series to be released as a whole I was able
to storm through the books in record time, so stay tuned for a further two
reviews.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
My take on ‘The Final Empire’? Whilst a lot of popularity surrounds the
series and Sanderson himself, the story holds its own and lives up to its
reputation. From the pitch I was expecting something darker, but this
YA/coming-of-age tale is charmingly inventive and strives to do everything a
little bit differently. It might not be the genre-changing titan that you’d
expect but it’s a page-turner well deserving of its shelf-space.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-33533940452722292612013-12-31T17:28:00.000-08:002013-12-31T17:28:07.373-08:002014 - In with the new, out with the old!Well, hello there dear readers! Long time no speak. I hope all is well with you in your world and that you had a fantastic holiday season. But with the passing of a new year comes the ever looming return to work and with it the return to reality.<br />
<br />
Speaking of reality, last year was something of a fairy tale in my household. What with the arrival of baby Brandon and the return from military life to 'civdiv' aka civilian status. It'll be a hard-pushed year to top the last but we'll see how we go.<br />
<br />
Look for a return to form on my part, in particular on the reviewing front. I'm currently re-reading/finishing Steven Erickson's titanic Malayan series so stay posted for that, and I'll try squeeze in a few more interviews and author guest posts.<br />
<br />
With all that said and done all that's left to do is to wish you all a very happy new year!<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-27236479146038680122013-08-18T02:24:00.000-07:002013-08-18T02:24:10.766-07:00David Gemmell Morningstar Award Guest Post: John Gwynne, Author of 'Malice'.John Gwynne doesn't just write heroic-fantasy, he lives it, too. On the 'Hero's Requirement' list, he's ticked all the box.<br />
<br />
Son of a warrior - check. His father was in the Royal Air Force.<br />
Seen the world - check. Born in Singapore, waited tables in Canada, lectured in Brighton University, and now restoring vintage furniture in East Sussex (heck, even heroes need to pay the bills).<br />
A Heart of Gold - Full time father of four, including his disabled daughter, Harriet.<br />
Fair maiden - check. Though I'm sure she's now damsel in distress!<br />
A Mighty Steed - well, he's got three dogs, each much not smaller than a horse!<br />
Legendary Weapon - A WHOPPING great big axe!<br />
<br />
So, when John put his pen to paper, it was only natural that an <b>epic saga </b>be born from the ink. A tale of <b>heroes and heroines, nightmarish creatures and black magic.</b> A world in which a black sun rises on the horizon of tomorrow, and with it comes a war to end all wars...<br />
<br />
But even in a world where <b>angels and demons </b>vie for power on the battlefield, even the lowliest of mortal beings can change the tide. John brings his <i><b>human nature</b></i> to fantasy, reminding us that even everyday heroes can make a difference.<br />
<br />
John Gwynne is one of the shortlist nominees for the <b>David Gemmell Morningstar Award 2013. </b>If you'd like to vote for him - or any of the other authors - please visit the <a href="http://www.gemmellaward.com/page/morningstar-1" target="_blank">site</a> and show your appreciation for your favourite books, and the great men and women who write them.<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Firstly I’d like to
say a huge thank-you to David Emrys for inviting me back to his blog. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I love David Gemmell’s
books. My first encounter was with ‘Legend,’ way back in the mists of my
teenage years. Back when there was hair on my head. I remember buying ‘Legend’
from my local Waterstones, heading home and settling in. I finished it in the
small hours of the next morning, feeling both exhausted and elated. Ever since
then David Gemmell has been responsible for a distinct lack of sleep in my
life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Much to my regret I
never met him, although I did discover that we lived in the same area. I know
this because of something that he wrote in the acknowledgements of one of his
books, ‘Sword in the Storm’ - which also happens to be one of my top reads
ever, I just LOVE IT - I’ll quote in full the acknowledgement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman Italic","serif";">“My thanks to
my editors Liza Reeves and Broo Doherty, and also to Alan Fisher, Val Gemmell,
Mary Sanderson, Bill Woodford, Tony Fenelon, and Jan Dunlop for feeding the
imagination. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman Bold Italic","serif";">And
to the staff at Deep Pan Pizza, the Crumbles, Eastbourne, for their warmth,
their friendliness, and their Regular Americano with extra bacon and pepperoni.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman Italic","serif";">”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">How cool is that. If I
had not already been a complete fan of David Gemmell’s then that
acknowledgement would have finished the deal. What a cool bloke.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I live in Eastbourne
and have done on and off since I was 15. The Crumbles was Eastbourne’s first
out-of-town retail park. Originally it consisted of a cinema, a furniture shop,
a supermarket, and Deep Pan Pizza. It was the height of sophistication to go to
Deep Pan first, and then on to the cinema. These days the Crumbles is much
bigger. Unfortunately Deep Pan Pizza is gone, the same building taken over by
Frankie and Benny’s (another favourite of mine - my wedding reception was held
there as we had a 1940’s/50’s theme; my wife and I are total vintage nuts). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Anyway, I’ve shown
that acknowledgement from ‘Sword in the Storm’ to a lot of people, usually
saying something like ‘I’ve been there/eaten/ordered that pizza,’and considered
it a claim to fame. Things have gone a little mad this last year with the
release of my debut novel, Malice, and now I have a new claim to fame.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This is a photo of
Malice on a bookshelf in my local Waterstones - the same bookshop that I bought
my first Gemmell book, Legend, from - next to a couple of the Big Man’s books. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It feels pretty
surreal to even see Malice in a book</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">shop at all - I can still vividly remember it being
scattered notes on my desk, and I feel exceptionally fortunate to see it in
print. There have been lots of great, memorable moments along the path to
publication and beyond - my agent John Jarrold taking me on was a big ‘am I
dreaming’ moment, as was the phone call from him telling me of Julie Crisp’s
pre-emptive offer from Tor UK.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Seeing Malice on the
same shelf as David Gemmell is my latest ‘pinch-me-because-I-must-be-dreaming’
moment. Now, I don’t know about you, but in my book that is cool. </span><span lang="en-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b>- John Gwynne, 2013.</b></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-454235745295949412013-08-17T09:28:00.004-07:002013-08-18T01:57:14.937-07:00David Gemmell Morningstar Award Guest Post: Miles Cameron, Author of The Red Knight.<div>
Miles Cameron,<i> 'The Red Knight' </i>as his enemies know him, battled his way through the first round of the David Gemmell Morningstar Awards nominations. Last Sunday, he emerged from the longlist arena, spoiling for round two.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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You see, the thing about Miles is that he knows a thing or two about putting up a good fight. A military veteran, having served in combat and support roles, he's bloodied noses and wiped them, too. This experience, combined with a passion for fantasy, gives Miles a killer edge in the writing-wrestlemania. Front line warfare? He's been there done that. Commanded troops and called the difficult decisions? No problem!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Magic...?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
...well, he's been as close as it gets in reality, pitting his talents against the dark arts of electronic warfare.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Since the announcement of the shortlist for the David Gemmell Morningstar award, fantasy fans have flocked to the ballots, pledging their allegiance (and more importantly their votes!) for their favourite authors and their debut novels.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
(If you haven't already done so, be sure to visit the <a href="http://gemmellaward.ning.com/page/morningstar-1" target="_blank">site</a> and have your say in the nominations! Oh, and while you're there vote in the Legend and Ravenheart categories, too.)</div>
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Today, Miles Cameron is here to talk about his debut novel <i>'The Red Knight'</i>, and how real life shaped his fantasy world.</div>
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I just returned to Canada (I'm a Colonial) from three weeks spent in the UK. I've been many times, as an officer in the Navy pulling into Portsmouth, as a tourist flying into London, and for years I've been fishing for sea trout and salmon in Scotland. But this trip was spend being a tourist in the North of England--the Lakes and the Border. I've been before, but this time I really had the time to get to know the Dales.<br />
<br />
Why should you care?<br />
<br />
One of the most frequently asked set of questions about The Red Knight is about locations. In the UK, readers assume the book is set in an alternate England, and in North America readers seem to feel it is set in the Great North Woods of our own continent, so I thought I'd use David's pulpit here to mention some locations that I love, because, of course, the answer is--it's set in both. It is Fantasy, after all!<br />
<br />
So, for example, while the Adnacrags--the mountains to the north fo the main action--are the Adirondack Mountains of my childhood, the dales and villages surrounding the Fortress of Lissen Carrack where the main action takes place are the villages of Hawkshead and Kentmere in the Lake district. The dragon lives on the high fells above the Lakes--those barren, beautiful, stark towers of grass and rock--and the Inn of Dorling might be recognized by Glaswegians as their own Drover's Inn at the head of Loch Lommond, with a strong hint of the inn at the top of Kirkstone pass, locally known as 'The Struggle' in Westmoreland. Harndon--the capital of Alba--is mostly Medieval London, although there's some Paris there and a little New York, and Master Pye, the armourer, works out of a shop that I saw (it belongs to a real life Armourer, Mark Vickers) in Boston, in the UK.<br />
<br />
I am an inveterate camper and hunter and fisherman, and the outdoors always appeals to me, but the Lakes--like the Adirondacks--have a magical aura to them--a darkness under the canopies of the trees contrasting with the light of the open ground and lakes--the special colours of the sky when rain is immanent--that brings home to me the visceral meaning of the Wild. Too often, in fantasy (and all other forms of adventure fiction) the struggle of the protagonist is against monsters and evil (or good)--and yet, anyone with a passing familiarity with the outdoors must realize that to take a horse, a sword, and armour across any distance in the misty 'past' that is fantasy would have been a major effort. Even in goretex and wellies, the Fells offer real challenge. And so do the Adirondacks, once described by a veteran climber as 'the only Mountain Swamp in the world'. The Wild--as I see it--is more than Wyverns and Dragons and Irks and Boggles. It is rain and mud and cold and heat and midges and mountains and fells and tracks and rock and rivers and becks--and beauty. <br />
<br />
It is no fantasy. <br />
<br />
You can go there still.<br />
<br />
<b>-Miles Cameron, 2013.</b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-60401685455483015442013-08-11T14:43:00.000-07:002013-08-11T14:43:02.633-07:00And the Nominees are....Announcement of the Shortlist Candidates for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award 2013!To many a fantasy fan, myself included, the David Gemmell Legend Awards is like the Oscars...but better.<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
1) Because us - you, me and I - we get to vote, to have our say. I could launch into an Obama-style rhetoric here, but I'm not here to flood the polling stations to change the WORLD. But if you do vote for someone in the Gemmell awards, you will change THEIR WORLD. <br />
<br />
2) Because, arguably, authors are unsung heroes in their own rights. Sure you might not see Mark Lawrence slinging abuse at paparazzi (though I'm sure Jorg would do that for him), or Helen Lowe arm-in-arm with Robert Patterson on the red carpet, earning her the envy of teenage girls the world-over, but authors do deserve a nod for their achievements.<br />
<br />
This evening, at the Nineworlds Geekfest event, the shortlist candidates for all categories in the David Gemmell Awards were announced. The longlists have been whittled down to the publicly-voted few. Both the Legend and Morningstar categories have 5 hopefuls, whilst the Ravenheart has 6.<br />
<br />
On 'Written With a Sword' I've been following the Morningstar category, because to me at least, it's the who's who in rising fantasy authors...the next big guns as it were.<br />
<br />
So, it gives me great pleasure to name the short list candidates for the 2013 Morningstar award:<br />
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Saladin Ahmed - Throne of the Crescent Moon.</div>
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Miles Cameron - The Red Knight.</div>
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John Gwynne - Malice.</div>
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Aidan Harte - Irenicon.</div>
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Jay Kristoff - Stormdancer.</div>
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In previous years (and this information was taken from the DGLA site) longlist voting closed in Easter, followed by shortlist voting up until a predesignated date. The awards were then announced and presented at the DGLA event. </div>
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This year, the award ceremony will be at the World Fantasy Convention on 31st October.</div>
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Be sure to vote for your favourite authors (and books!) in all of the categories when the second round goes live!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-84387565997635758952013-08-09T14:51:00.003-07:002013-08-09T14:51:44.000-07:00David Gemmell Morningstar Award Guest Post: Gaie Sebold, Author of Babylon Steel.Continuing with the theme of long list nominees for the David Gemmell Morningstar award, Gaie Sebold has very kindly written a guest post discussing her debut and its titular character Babylon Steel. The post itself, I think, is as current as Edward Snowden's void stamp on his travel insurance, why? Because the interwebz side of the fantasy community over the recent months has been rife with calls of 'female characters shouldn't just be depicted as hussies looking to drop their clothes at the first sign of a square-jawed hero' (or perhaps a loveable dwarf we all know so well) or, more importantly, the pointed finger of misconception that female writers aren't held as equal to male writers...<div>
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Talk about kicking the vipers nest, eh?</div>
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I, for one, do not believe in that. Heck, I'd go so far as to say that I think it's ludicrous that someone would/wouldn't pick-up a book based on the author's gender.</div>
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But, all that is for another time, another post, another mass internet debate.</div>
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Today, Gaie has centre stage - and yes, Babylon Steel might be a damsel with an appetite for the physical side of life (heck, who doesn't like sex and brawling?...in some senses they're very much alike), but I assure you, you won't find her taking centre stage in a chain bikini...</div>
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Take it away!</div>
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You know those lines in the <i>Airplane</i> films about ‘Looks like I chose the wrong day to…”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Well, unbeknownst to me, just as a great deal of furore was
in the process of bubbling up about everything from depictions of women in
fantasy and what sort of armour any sane woman would wear on the
battlefield (hint - not the sort that
showcases your boobs, unless you want a broken sternum) to Fake Geek Girls,
Girl Cooties in SF and whether the day of the kick-ass heroine was over, I was
writing swordfighting fantasy with a female protagonist. The eponymous heroine, Babylon Steel, is not
only good with a sword, but good in bed and proud of it. She runs a brothel, she’s its chief asset and
she regards whoring as a craft, not a last resort.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course, I was actually doing it on purpose. Not courting controversy, that is, but
writing about a character who embodied certain things that interest me. I do wonder about the timing, but then, my
subconscious has an entire life of its own and only occasionally lets me in on
it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Babylon is a strong woman who is physically capable of
taking care of herself. Now, it
frustrates me that this should even still be an issue. I know lots of women like this. Every martial arts class I’ve ever taken or
witnessed contains women – sometimes, they’ve been the instructors. True, not all female protagonists have to be
kick-ass. On the other hand, neither do
all male ones, but strangely, I don’t hear nearly such a fuss about all these
kick-ass men and how everyone’s getting really tired of that trope. (I was recently asked at a panel whether
kick-ass female characters really <i>are</i>
empowering for women. My response was to
ask whether James Bond is empowering for men.
At which point the panel ended, sadly – I’d still be interested in the
answer).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Maybe not everyone of
any gender <i>wants </i>to be kick-ass. Maybe not everyone – of any gender - should <i>have</i> to be. But with the constant chronic threats to
women’s physical autonomy that we all live with, I can’t see any reason why
anyone, except perhaps people who’d rather women stayed nice soft targets,
would object to physically capable female role models. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I don’t, of course, believe that all problems can or should
be solved with violent physical response – but I don’t believe the capacity
should be confined to one gender. After
all, it never has been. Female warriors
have existed throughout history; and women who weren’t classed as warriors have,
like men, always had to fight to protect themselves, their families, or their
land.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then, of course, there’s the sex/brothel thing. I tend to get asked about how much research I
did on that…it’s usually asked in good humour, thankfully. But it does amuse me. No-one asks about how I researched the
swordplay (I took classes in Fioré school sword fighting, among other
things). I know several crime writers
and, somehow, no-one asks them whether they’ve committed murder in order to get
the splatter patterns right! <o:p></o:p></div>
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But as a culture we are obsessed with sex, and as soon as it’s
mentioned, that’s what people focus on. As
a society we despise people who have sex for a living, while constantly
worrying about whether we’re not getting enough or someone else is getting too
much. Babylon thinks sex is important, and she enjoys it. But for her it’s not this huge complicated <i>problem. </i>I wanted to write about her partly
as a way of examining our own society’s attitudes to sex. And not everyone she encounters has the same relaxed
attitude to sex or prostitution. I am, after all, using fantasy to write about
reality – and the reality, especially for many sex workers, is often extremely grim
and very dangerous.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Babylon Steel</i> isn’t
just about sex and fighting. It’s also
about power, and responsibility, and what happens when people have too much of
the first without enough of the second. And
about loyalty and friendship and good food and rude jokes. It’s set in the rather peculiar city of
Scalentine, which is surrounded by several portals leading to other planes with
their own various societies, their own particular obsessions and attitudes,
which I hope to examine in future books.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some people won’t pick it up because the subject matter puts
them off. Some people may pick it up
because they think it’s going to be nothing but blades and bonking. They may be
disappointed, but on the other hand, they may get more than they expected. That,
of course, is my evil plan.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-1778194024114302322013-08-06T01:20:00.001-07:002013-08-09T14:34:44.972-07:00David Gemmell Morningstar Award Guest Post: Aidan Harte, Author of Irenicon.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
First in a series of guest posts from the longlist nominees of this year's 'David Gemmell Morningstar Award', Aidan Harte talks politics, the ideal world, and his historical-fantasy 'Irenicon'.</div>
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What is Christ died before ever reaching adulthood?</div>
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What if Herod had killed the infant Christ?</div>
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Would Christianity be any different?</div>
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Would the world be any different?</div>
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<b><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">POLITICAL FANTASY</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">In less liberal regimes, allegory is a useful veil to
protect the author from the authorities (sometimes that veil is judged too
thin: only the protection of being dead could induce Bulgakov to publish <i>The Master and the Margarita</i>.) More
often, transposing of thorny scenarios to other worlds is a means of clarifying
questions that are muddy in our own. Since Jonathan Swift took Gulliver on his grand
tour of Lilliput, authors have recognised Fantasy as an ideal form to
interrogate political ideas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">One cannot talk about Fantasy in this vein without
reference to its cool jetpack-wearing brother, Science Fiction. Political
engagement is something SF has never shied from – indeed, it is widely
considered one of its main functions. However diverting a new SF, if it has
nothing to say about <i>this</i> world, it
is a disappointment, if not a failure. This is not to say a SF can do without
drama if the political ideas are sufficiently interesting – disguised
manifestos are a bore; trudge through some 1950s SF if you doubt me – only that
an especially vivid type of political debate is something that attracts many
readers to the genre. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">I believe Fantasy has the same possibilities and
obligations. Its record however is less consistent and I blame that
pipe-smoking rogue: Tolkien, J'accuse! Although there is certainly a political
element to LOTR, its roots and aspirations are in the world of myth. A more
important and representative figure for those who champion the political model
of Fantasy is Ursula K. Le Guin. It was because she had a foot in each genre
that she escaped the withering effect of the professor’s vast shadow. You may locate
her masterpieces, <i>The Left Hand of
Darkness</i> and <i>The Earth Sea Quartet</i>
in different shelves of your bookshelf but they are kindred creatures. “Speculative feminist Fiction” sounds too dreary
for words – but fans of Le Guin will tell you she is bracing, funny and
intellectually nimble. The wisdom as well as passion of her stories, forces the
reader to engage. Unlike the SF of the previous generation, these two books are
not moored in their era. Yes, they are informed by the tumult of the 60s and the
shadow of Vietnam is there but they have that sure mark of the classic: they are
fresh today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">All this is by way of saying that Le Guin’s light
touch was an exemplar when I began to write my Wave Trilogy and tease out the
politics of my world, an alternate medieval Italy called Etruria by the natives.
The 14<sup>th</sup> century was a period when finding the best governmental
model was not an academic debate but a matter of life and death. From Milan to
Naples, Monarchies, communes, republics, and plutocracies vied with each other,
and the only ones that profited were mercenaries called condotteri who
cheerfully fought for whoever paid the most. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">An ideal world? Far from it, but it was at least not a
world in thrall to that modern Grail: consensus. Consensus, it’s nearly as ugly
as that other word polluting contemporary political discourse: Harmonisation. Those
who use it imply that opponents are tone-deaf. Devilishly hard to pit yourself
against harmony. “I’m for dissonance!’ is a stinker of a rallying cry. But the
opposite of harmony, when you’re talking about countries, currencies, laws, tax
or interest rates is not dissonance – it is choice. With our fixation on
consensus, comfort and consumerism, choice is the vital ingredient of the good
life we lack. Not that you’d know it; our leaders our desperate to remind us
that we’ve never had it so good. When you’re hooked by a status quo, it’s
impossible to know it. Since the late 17<sup>th</sup> century, we – the West –
have been in thrall to the nation state, but what are the alternatives? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">Federalism is a concept with great antecedents.
Germany today is still a type of federation, albeit a paradoxical version with
a strong central government; as for its neighbour, Dante would have found the
modern state of Italy absurd, spiritually and linguistically impoverished. But
the most famous example of a land of loosely allied city states is Ancient
Greece. Its unity was a brief thing, forged by the Persian invasion and
sundered by the Peloponnesian War. O, but what a summer! The hothouse
competition of drastically different models in one land with a common language
created civilizations that still cast their shadow. To compare the Athens of
Pericles with the sclerotic banality of contemporary Greece is entirely unfair;
every modern country would fail that test. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">The Warring States</span></i><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">, the title of book II of the Wave Trilogy, is a
phrase purloined from Chinese history. This was the turbulent period when China
was a plurality of kingdoms, filled with shifting alliances, sustained warfare,
and general misery. The competition ended when the First Emperor ruthlessly
forged a unified country with one central authority. It’s a dreadful
generalisation (but essentially true) to say that there followed, with a few
interruptions, a long period of stasis in which dynasties slumbered on the
throne surrounded by scheming bureaucracy. China’s bureaucrats never paid the
lip service to diversity that ours are wont to but, East or West, allowing real
choice is never in the interests of the political class. Many historians and
economists posit nevertheless that choice is, in the long-term, beneficial. They
argue that it was Europe’s diversity of states, their political experimentation
and the free market of competing ideas that led to the continent eclipsing of
the rest of the world from the 1500s onwards. If true, then it is not only
ironic that harmony is our goal when Europe is declining, it is tragic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">Infuriating as the paternalists who would deny us
choice are, they have one point, and it’s a doozy: federations, whatever their
merits, tend to be unstable, prone to factionalism and hostile takeovers. Big
fish do not readily give equal voting rights to little fish when there are
other options. The nation state, and its big brother Empire, offer, at least in
the medium term, stability. Stability isn’t the stuff of great oratory, but
then it doesn’t need to be. Stability makes its own argument. When you’re half
way into a mortgage, stability is positively sexy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;">My story is an exploration of this perennial struggle.
It has, I hope, interesting ideas, but I don’t pretend that it provides any prescriptions
or predictions. It’s become a commonplace to suggest that the nation state is fading
away painlessly thanks to, like, Twitter n’ junk. Reports of its demise are
certainly exaggerated and if past form is any indicator, it won’t go down
without a fight. Which model will win? Neither. In this war, all victories are
partial and temporary. As the classic of Chinese literature, <i>The Romance of Three Kingdoms</i> begins: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;"> <b> “Anything
long united must fall apart; anything long apart must unite.”</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;"><i>Aidan Harte, August 2013.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE;"><b>Irenicon </b><i>is available now.</i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-29111848907115500302013-08-05T06:36:00.000-07:002013-08-06T00:47:05.600-07:00The Rising Stars of Fantasy - David Gemmell Morningstar Award Nominees.<div>
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Imagine an arena...</div>
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No, not that one - not the Colosseum. That's a little out of the budget I had in mind.</div>
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Listen to the roar of the crowd...</div>
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No, not that one either - you really think I'm talking about the back room in the local ye-olde-tavern where the drunkards take potshots at each other?</div>
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Smell the sweat - hear the thud of flesh - taste the...</div>
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No, no, NO! I'm not talkinga bout Christian Grey's 'Red Room'! </div>
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Ok, this is getting out of hand now. Before we smear the remaining six wonders of the world (wait, the tavern isn't in that list?!?) or infringe on any other intellectual properties (we could always take a swing at Hogwarts if you'd like?) let's get down to it.</div>
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Voting for the long list of the <i>David Gemmell</i><b> MORNINGSTAR AWARD </b>closed last week. The shortlist will be announced at the Nine Worlds GeekFest event on Sunday 11th August...THAT'S THIS WEEK!</div>
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Ok, ok, ok - I'm excited, I'll admit it.</div>
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And, I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but the awards themselves will take place on Thursday 31st October, as part of the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.</div>
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The <b>Morningstar Award </b>is a very special category, because not only does it crown a well deserving author for her/his debut novel, but it also marks the rising stars in Fantasy for years to come.</div>
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This year the longlist nominees (and their respective titles) were: </div>
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<a href="http://www.saladinahmed.com/wordpress/the-books" target="_blank">Saladin Ahmed - Throne of the Crescent Moon.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.traitorson.com/the-red-knight/" target="_blank">Miles Cameron - The Red Knight.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Princes-Books-Shaper-Fultz/dp/0316187860/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359700067&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+princes" target="_blank">John R Fultz - Seven Princes.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.maxgladstone.com/three-parts-dead/" target="_blank">Max Gladstone - Three Parts Dead.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.john-gwynne.com/about-malice/" target="_blank">John Gwynne - Malice. </a></div>
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<a href="http://www.aidanharte.com/books/" target="_blank">Aidan Harte - Irenicon.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.jaykristoff.com/" target="_blank">Jay Kristoff - Stormdancer.</a></div>
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<a href="http://gaiesebold.com/?page_id=24" target="_blank">Gaie Sebold - Babylon Steel.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.jospurrier.com.au/books" target="_blank">Jo Spurrier - Winter Be My Shield.</a></div>
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As a huge supporter of new talent within the fantasy genre, I've invited each of the long list nominees to post a guest blog on 'Written With a Sword'. These guys and gals are the ones to watch, and how better to get acquainted with them than this?</div>
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Stay tuned for their pieces' - and stay tuned for announcement of the short list next week! </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6083079866266971483.post-47868935658257838892013-08-02T01:47:00.002-07:002013-08-02T01:47:59.507-07:00Book Review: 'Emperor of Thorns' by Mark Lawrence <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1352546106l/15804760.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1352546106l/15804760.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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My world has ended.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And it’s all because of Mark Lawrence.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>‘Emperor of Thorns’</b>
was released yesterday in the UK, and even at a hefty 592 pages I finished it
this morning…Rome might not have been built in a day, but like I said at the
beginning of this review, Mark Lawrence has ended my world in less than 24
hours.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you’re unfamiliar with Lawrence’s <b>‘Broken Empire’</b> trilogy, then you must have been sleeping under a
rock for the past few years because its gathered so much attention from
reviewer and reader alike that Jorg has all but become a household name. People
have at once flocked to Lawrence’s banner, showering praise and pleasantries
for his talents, whilst others have been up in arms, accusing him of ‘needless
animal cruelty’ or ‘over indulging in the rapey-ness’ within fantasy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Me? I’ve got my pitchfork out, not to join the mob of
naysayers, but to rally to Lawrence’s cause.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I like ‘The Broken Empire’ trilogy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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No.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I FREAKING love it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To a reader, the main character <b>Jorg Ancrath</b>, is like that kid at school your parents warn you to
stay away from. He doesn’t listen in class, he’s never on time, never tucks his
shirt in, can never keep himself out of trouble…locks the janitor in the
closet, shaves the school cat, sets fire to the science lab because it’s funny
to wedge magnesium strips in the top of teacher’s lighter. Jorg is dangerous –
and he knows it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s the sheer beauty of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you thought Geoffrey Lannister was a loathsome, wicked,
evil, decrepit, malignant, hateful, blasphemous…how do I put this…fucker, then
you haven’t met Jorg yet. Jorg is worse, for one simple reason. He’s aware of
what he’s doing, which is also the reason why you fall in love with him.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Like that kid at school, you can’t stay away. It’s
impossible. You’re intrigued, you want to know more. And, after all, it’s
better to have him as a friend than an enemy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In <b>‘Emperor of
Thorns’</b> Jorg sets out to do what his creator, Lawrence, has so successfully
done. Get people to flock to his banner. Namely the kingdoms of the Hundred.
But it’s not the living that Jorg has to worry about, it’s the Dead King and
his army…<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, in a story where existence as we know it has been
totally and utterly destroyed after nuclear war, where the Dead rise…you can
see why I say my world has ended.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You’d be wrong.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My world ended when the story did. Lawrence is a master of
weaving – dropping plot devices here and there, scattering them far and wide.
Through split time narratives, at first, the reader debates whether these
little additions have purpose other than to add colour. It’s safe to say that
NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM is wasted. Forgive me for using the tapestry example,
but Lawrence weaves thread after thread into a grand masterpiece, and when it’s
done he lays it at your feet for your admiration. It’s beautiful, one of a
kind. You take a step closer to get a better look...<o:p></o:p></div>
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…Then he rips it right out from underneath you, leaving you
flat on your ass, bewildered, shocked.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And then you smile. With an ending like that what else can
you do but smile? There’s no other fitting way to finish Jorg’s story other
than that. It’s perfect. For readers it’ll definitely have a Marmite effect –
you’ll either love it or you’ll hate it. In <b>‘Emperor of Thorns’</b>s case, however, I reckon you’ll either ram it
into every available orifice you crave it so much, or you’ll poison yourself
with it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Because this trilogy was that good, because it came to life
on the pages, because I wanted it to go on forever…when I finished it, my world
came to an end. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Touché, Mark Lawrence, Tou-<i>bloody</i>-ché.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04834067027368072027noreply@blogger.com3