Updates - Jemisin, Williams and Lawrence

Some interesting news need to be shared!

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New series for N.K. Jemisin

The author of the Inheritance trilogy (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms and The Kingdoms of Gods) and the newly released Dreamblood duology (The Killing Moon and The Shadowed Sun) announced that she sold a new series to Orbit books.  That's great news for the author and more interestingly, the description is particularly enticing:

Been sitting on this for a brief while, but finally got the okay to spill the beans. I’ve sold a new trilogy to Orbit! Can’t tell you much about it yet — it’s the Untitled Magic Seismology Project (UMSP) that some of you have seen me talking about here now and again; that was the reason for the research trip to Hawaii a few weeks back. I’m working on the first book now, but I don’t like talking much about my works-in-progress until they’re more complete. So suffice it to say that this will be a postapocalyptic epic fantasy trilogy, set in a world of seismic magic users and enigmatic nonhumans called stone-eaters. I’m experimenting with writing the kind of trilogy that follows a single character through mutliple books; this is the first time I’ve ever wanted to try doing so. And while the books have tentative titles for now, I think I’ll hold off on sharing those, given my usual track record with titles (i.e., they usually get changed. Lots.) Let’s just keep calling this the UMSP for now. 

So, WOO HOO!! Wish me luck and steady wordcount!

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Mazarkis Williams' Knife Sworn cover and blurb

I really enjoyed Mazarkis Williams debut novel, The Emperor's Knife (my review here), the first book in the Tower and Knife trilogy that was released last year.  In November, the author's second book will be out and here you have the cover art, pretty generic but it looks nice enough, and the blurb:

Mazarkis William's debut novel, The Emperor's Knife, was praised for its exotic settings, gripping intrigue, and vivid, full-blooded characters. Now Williams returns to the sumptuous palaces and treacherous back alleys of the Cerani Empire, where intrigue, passion, and dangerous magic threaten the very soul of a newly-crowned emperor. 

After spending most of his life in captivity and solitude, Sarmin now sits upon the Petal Throne of Cerana. But his reign is an uneasy one. Ambitious generals and restless soldiers want war at any cost. An insidious foreign religion stirs fear among the people and the court. And the emperor's own heart is torn between two very different women: Mesema, a Windreader princess of the northern plains, and Grada, a lowborn untouchable with whom Sarmin shares a unique bond. A natural-born mage, Sarmin also carries within him a throng of bodiless spirits whose conflicting memories and desires force him to wage a private battle for his sanity. 

In times past, a royal assassin known as the Emperor's Knife served as the keen edge of justice, defending the throne from any and all menaces, but the last Knife has perished and his successor has yet to be named. For his own safety, and that of the empire, Sarmin must choose his own loyal death-dealer . . . .but upon whom can be he bestow the bloody burden of the Knife-Sworn?

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Movietime!

Selling the rights of a book for the big screen or the TV isn't the confirmation that it's gonna be a reality in itself (that's probably why it's called "options") but it must start somewhere.  With Game of Thrones receiving the big and successful TV treatment and options like Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon having considerable chances of becoming a movie, one can only hope.  That's the case for Mark Lawrence. The debut author posted this last Friday:

I’m pleased to announce that Stephen Susco, writer of THE GRUDGE, and writer/producer of upcoming films HIGH SCHOOL (June 1st) and THE POSSESSION (Aug 30), has optioned the film and tv rights in Prince of Thorns and the Broken Empire trilogy published by Ace/Berkley in the US and Voyager in the UK.

Great news, I hope that it can be concretized!

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