Gaming disgression - Starcraft 2

I can't believe it's already been 11 years since the first one. I spent several sleepless nights back when I was studying fighting against Zerg rush or Protoss carrier fleet. I guess it won't be the same now but I'll still probably get a blast again. So anyway, if you're a gamer you already know that this is the release day but here's the amazing video posted in the last weeks by Blizzard :

Blade Itself limited cover art

Joe posted on his blog today the cover art for the Subterranean Press’s limited edition of The Blade Itself. Looking great! so much cover art these days :) The artist is Alexander Preuss (follow the link for his website).

The work in progress for the cover was posted a few weeks ago by Pat. Here it is again with the first artwork, which is supposed to be the shipyard of Gurkhul.

Updates

The past week went on with a couple of updates from authors Steven Erikson, Stephen Deas and Peter V. Brett. Here's a summary :

Thanks to Pat and Facebook, we were made aware that Steven has finished the Malazan Book of the Fallen series! The Crippled God is done! The offical countdown to February is started!

GASP! That would be me, coming up for air. How long was I down there? About twenty years, from conception to completion. The Malazan Book of the Fallen is done. Sure, editing and all that crap to follow. But ... done. I don't know who I am. Who am I again? What planet is this? Three months of butterflies ... maybe this double whiskey will fix that. Hmm. No. Delayed reaction going on here.

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Stephen Deas signed a new four book deal with Gollancz. The new books will include a stand-alone, The Black Mausoleum novel and a new trilogy (The Sea Prince, The Dragon Queen and The Silver King). The Black Mausoleum will be released after next year final book of his first series, The Order of the Scales in two years (Spring/Summer 2012) and the new trilogy will follow yearly afterward. The Black Mausoleum will include some of the characters from the Memory of Flames series and I'll let Stephen explain the new trilogy :

We’re back in trilogy-land here. Want to know more about the mysterious Taiytakei? You’re in luck – most of the first two books will be set there. Want to know more about the mysterious Silver King? Wellll… OK, a bit. A mystery from The Adamantine Palace will finally be solved (but at least one won’t). A few new ways to try and control dragons will be explored. One will succeed. There will be a magic knife and a spear, too. There is the possibility of some more overt magic, although to be honest I’m still a little hazy on that part of the story. The cast will largely be new, but at least two characters from The Adamantine Palace will make it at least as far as The Dragon Queen. Jon Weir’s favourite character will continue to be annoying. And, as advertised elsewhere, the Thief-Taker’s Apprentice YA trilogy will be one of the major protagonists in this trilogy too.

Congrats Stephen!

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Peter V. Brett sold another novella (the first one was The Great Bazaar) to Subterranean Press. The book is named Brayan's Gold. Thanks to Aidan at A Dribble of Ink for pointing it out. Here's the release statement :

Peter V. Brett sold a stand-alone novella, Brayan’s Gold, to Subterranean Press, via agent Joshua Bilmes. The volume will be “heavily illustrated by artist Lauren K. Cannon.

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Finally, just a little aside. Joe Abercrombie posted a link for one of the latest Mind Meld by SF Signal, How do you define the sub-genre of "Swords and Sorcery"?. The question was asked to all the authors of the Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword & Sorcery anthology. Some interesting views... here's the link.

Morgan's The Cold Commands UK cover

Richard Morgan on his latest update about the writing of The Cold Commands (previously named The Dark Commands and previously name The Cold Commands), stated this :

Oh, and I think I’ve found a way to call it The Cold Commands after all.

So, the first cover art of the novel with the final title (the UK cover) was revealed by Pat at the Hotlist. Here you go! I find it nice but I'm not sure about the link between the dagger and the story...


And the blurb you say?

Ringil Eskiath, scarred wielder of the kiriath-forged broadsword Ravensfriend, is a man on the run from his past and the family who have disowned him, from the slave trade magnates of Trelayne who want him dead, and apparently from the dark gods themselves, who are taking an interest but making no more sense than they ever have. Outlawed and exiled from his ancestral home in the north, Ringil has only one place left to turn Yhelteth, city heart of the southern Empire, where perhaps he can seek asylum with the kiriath half-breed Archeth Indamaninarmal, former war comrade and now high-up advisor to the Emperor Jhiral Khimran II. But Archeth Indamaninarmal has problems of her own to contend with, as does her house guest, bodyguard and one time steppe nomad Egar the Dragonbane. And far from gaining the respite he is seeks, Ringil will instead find himself implicated in fresh schemes and doubtful allegiances no safer than those he has left behind. Old enemies are stirring, the old order is rotted through and crumbling, and though no-one yet knows it, the city of Yhelteth is about to explode.

German covers exploration part 1

Orbit books posted yesterday on their website the final cover for the upcoming follow-up to N.K. Jemisin The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms. Seeing that, I remembered that I had already taken a look recently at the German cover for the book, via a link posted by Jemisin on her blog. As I began to search for it again, I found out many interesting (or not) German covers for the books I've read in the past. So, all this to say that I wanted to share this with you.

I'll start with six authors series but I've more and I have broken it into multiple parts. After this look at Germany, I'll be heading west to France, since it's been full of wonderful cover art lately. Here's the first part of my comparison :

N.K. Jemisin - The Inheritance trilogy

Although I like the blanvalet covers, the US/UK cover is still much better, depicting the city of Sky. By the way, the US/UK Broken Kingdoms cover art was unveiled officially this week. Though call, but I'll go with the US/UK, and you?

German	US/UK

Scott Lynch - The Gentleman Bastard sequence

Next up is Scott Lynch's series. I did not include The Lies of Locke Lamora since it's the same cover art. This time, my vote is a split. The German cover for Red Seas Under Red Skies is looking better as far as my taste goes, but the Republic of Thieves cover is way more beautiful in the UK. I have included some alternate covers after the comparison (US RoT and a couple of RSURS).

German	US/UK

Peter V. Brett - The Warded Man (or Painted Man) and The Desert Spear

For The Desert Spear, it's an easy choice, seeing a well rendered Jardir is a sure win. However, for the Warded Man... both are kind of boring, not much to add...

German	US/UK

Joe Abercrombie - The First Law trilogy and Best Served Cold

A distinct winner this time, the US/UK covers. I really like the style while the German covers look like any other fantasy novel. I have added the MMPB editions of The First Law trilogy (they look even better than the original covers) and the other covers for Best Served Cold (US and MMPB).

German	US/UK

R. Scott Bakker - The Prince of Nothing trilogy

Tough call! First there is multiple covers for the US and UK and at least two of them look great (I really don't like the covers with a guy in a circle). The medieval scenes pictured in the latest US/UK edition is nice but I had something for the original art style (I even bought the first book because of the cover without having heard about Bakker). The German covers are not bad but not really representative...

German	US/UK

Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind

Finally for the first part, The Name of the Wind. Here again, my vote would go with the German cover art, but it's a close call. The cover I chose to compare is the MMPB cover. Everyone must remember the infamous Fabio cover (totally awful) and although the darker set of colors is interesting in the MMPB cover, I think Kvothe is better represented in the German art.

German	US/UK

Next up? Erikson, Martin, Hobb, Lloyd, Keyes, Durham, Evans, Sanderson... :)

The King of the Crags review

The King of the Crags is the second book of the Memory of Flames trilogy. Its predecessor, The Adamantine Palace was a truly commendable fantasy debut for author Stephen Deas, who I interviewed last year. While the tag line for the first novel given by Joe Abercrombie "A fast, sharp, ruthless read" could still be applied to the second book but just in a different dose, there's something more this time that caught my attention.

The Red Riders have appeared, heralding a revolution to come. In the Adamantine Palace, Zafir is ruling mercilessly. As she calls for a council of kings and queens to condemn the actions of Queen Sheriza and King Valgar, Jehal gets bored. Longing for his wife back home, he will try to stop the upcoming war before it begins. The commander of the Adamantine guard, Vale Tassan will have to take part in the action even though his role demands of him that he remains on the side. Meanwhile, the white dragon is out of his slumber and will stalk the land in search of brothers and sisters to free. On her back is Kemir, still oblivious of all that is happening to him.

Even though the first book was not fundamentally lacking in term of characterization, this is the element in which the follow-up is more distinctive. Jehal was and is still the gem to be found beneath the tale of dragons, yet, there's the addition of the Night Watchman, Vale Tassan. Deas mentioned in the interview that it was one of his favorite characters and I can understand why. The guy is blasé (less so than Jehal), full of himself in term of military might with his Adamantine guards and is viciously challenged morally because of his unbreakable allegiance to the speaker entity but not necessarily to the person itself. The man internal struggle is unceasingly compelling, a thrill to follow. Suffice to say that I would enjoy his downfall into the mouth of a dragon :)

As I noted, Jehal steal the show. He participates in much of the action after his brief episode of boredom. Since there's no definite evil mastermind in this work, aside for a slippery blood mage, but a profusion of self-centered ambitious leaders riding fire breathing dragons, the tone is one of darkness falling on the kingdoms, destruction and mass murdering. In the first book, we experienced the political scheming and in King of the Crags, we live through the consequences. For those who grew to love The Adamantine Palace because of the crafty political games, you won't find as much in the follow-up. The book is an evolutive continuation (if I can say so), not a repetition.

In comparison with The Adamantine Palace, the story arc for the dragon(s), mainly Snow, is less considerable. The story probably couldn't have supported a faster development in the dragon liberation. However, the free thinking ones may not have all the ground for themselves but their brothers make up for it. The battles including a plethora of dragons with their riders and scorpions make for something quite vicious and expeditive. Jehal dresses a confusing portrayal of the action from within and from high up in the air, making me believe that this is the kind of chaos that would arise from skirmishes between dragons.

I've already said that Snow felt less central in the whole plot, but her moments with her "useful food", Kemir the ex-mercenary now free-minded dragon rider, were a blast. Their relationship as awkward as it can be is well handled. This is where much of the intriguing debate about dragon life in a human world takes place. Since I think this is the author goal to explore this question, I will admit that its a task nicely going toward completion.

The speedy pace is slowed just a bit. Some of the protagonists have more time to develop (Meteroa - Jehal uncle, Jehal himself, Jaslyn and Tassan as examples) and I felt there was a decrease in term of number of PoV switches, which I appreciated. The writing is still sharp, right to the point, without being excessively extravagant and just harsh and biting enough to give it some edge. In this again, an improvement for Deas.

However, the descriptive aspect of world-building felt forced at certain occurrences. At the beginning of a couple of chapters, there's a page or two where a protagonist is looking at the landscape and describing his surroundings. A nice effort by the author but just slightly lacking in subtlety. I'm pretty sure he could have found a better way to integrate this in the narrative. Sadly, the epigraphs with the portrayal of dragon breeding and attending are gone. Nevertheless, the background history, the increase in blood mage presence (something that with the mysterious Taytakei could be even more developed), dragon mythology and perspective compensate for these small lacks. Still a step in the right direction, significantly better than in the previous book.

Just one last comment, I'm really not sure about the title. The King of the Crags is an important part of the story but enough to deserve the book title? Anyway, the book is a pleasant read, an unforgiving (some heads will roll) and fascinating novel that will make you eager for more.

Technically, as with TAP, Gollancz came up with a great looking cover. The book stands at 384 pages and a finely detailed map was included, thanks Mr. Deas! Bring on The Order of the Scales, I'm hungry for dragons eating useful food!

The King of the Crags review score :

Characterization............. 8 /10
World building............... 7.5 / 10
Magic system................. 7.5 /10
Story.............................. 8 / 10
Writing........................... 8 / 10

Overall (not an average) 8 / 10

Enjoy!

Stephen Deas page

Crossroads of Twilight ebook cover art

The tenth cover art for the ebook editions of Robert Jordan's work has seen the light of day! Crossroads of Twilight ebook cover art give us a much better representation than the book deserve (as far as my taste goes for the WoT novels, this is really the worst by far). The release is set for July 20th. As with the previous covers, Tor.com posted a full description of the creation process by Greg Ruth (follow the link to his website).

I have to admit that this idea of choosing 14 different artists to redraw the covers for our beloved Wheel of Times books in electronic format was simply genius, giving the artists enough space for their creativity and resulting in amazing artwork.

The scene depicted is Perrin getting away from his axe after choosing to depart from it. Nice choice! Here's a glimpse of the explanations :

With Crossroads, we wanted to show Perrin at his breaking point. After engaging in a despicable act he, in a fit of justifiable rage, finally chooses to throw away his axe of war. The trick was getting the moment right. Attempts to show the action came across a bit cartoony. Instead, we decided to depict the minutes just after. The point was to show what Perrin, in this character-defining moment, was leaving behind.

You can see the first nine ebook covers here :

The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords
The Path of Daggers
Winter's Heart

Abercrombie's The Heroes UK cover

Joe revealed today the UK cover for his upcoming stand alone novel set in the northern part of the same world as his previous novels. I like it a lot, as beautiful as Best Served Cold. Vive the maps!

As for the credit for this piece of work, the author goes with this :

As with Best Served Cold, it’s a collaborative effort. The map is by Dave Senior from my original scrawl. The axe is by Didier Graffet. The design is by Laura Brett.

Here's the blurb again (the book will be released on January 20th 2011) and the US cover art :


War: where the blood and dirt of the battlefield hide the dark deeds committed in the name of glory. THE HEROES is about violence and ambition, gruesome deaths and betrayals; and the brutal truth that no plan survives contact with enemy. The characters are the stars, as ever, and the message is dark: when it comes to war, there are no heroes…

Meet THE HEROES.

Curnden Craw: a ruthless fighter who wants nothing more than to see his crew survive.

Prince Calder: a liar and a coward, he will regain his crown by any means necessary.

Bremer dan Gorst: a master swordsman, a failed bodyguard, his honor will be restored—in the blood of his enemies.

Over three days, their fates will be sealed.

Malazan news - Stonewielder and more

Man I can't get enough of the Malazan world and the next book in line to satisfy my hunger just got a bit more real. Posted at the MalazanEmpire forum is the prologue for Stonewielder by Ian C. Esslemont (follow the link). Since Adam at The Wertzone asked if the cover could be posted with the copyrights, I couldn't help myself, here it is. Still in the ship theme... not sure why, but I like it.

Cover art is a work in progress, copyright Transworld/Bantam UK,
reproduced with permission of Malazanempire.

For those of you looking for the release date, here's the note from the publisher about the prologue and the publication date :

As promised, attached are an early glimpse of our cover-in-progress for Stonewielder PLUS the first few pages (13 in all I think) of Cam’s new novel. As always, I’d stress that these are uncorrected, might well change and not-to-be reproduced without permission etc. All being well, Stonewielder: A Novel of the Malazan Empire by Ian C. Esslemont with be published by Bantam Press hardcover on 25th November 2010.

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Aside from Esslemont's work, Tor.com came up with two goodies for the Malazan fans or future readers. First, as they are doing every week with the Wheel of Time re-read, they will host The Malazan Re-read of the Fallen which started yesterday (follow the link). Every post will be commented by Bill Capossere and Amanda Rutter (from Floor to Ceiling books). If you still haven't tried some Malazan books, this could be a good opportunity to take a look at Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.

Secondly, in collaboration with Malazanempire.com, Tor.com announced that a beautiful wallpaper of Michael Komarck work depicting Anomander Rake is available on the forum (follow the link) in various sizes. Quite splendid for those who are not the lucky owners of the Subterranean Press edition of The Garden of the Moon illustrated by Komarck.