The Book Plank

The Journey into Malaz by Ian C. Esslemont The question of the journey of the Malazan Empire up to now is of course impossible to answer in any short form.  However, I suppose I could trace out a few ideas that Steve and I pursued, or hoped we’d managed to pursue.  Of course we both grew up on fantasy literature.  We love the genre; and as fans and budding writers and scholars of literature, we hoped to contribute to it, while, at the same time, providing something new – or at least different.  So, in sculpting our material (consciously and unconsciously), we decided to take from the extant fantasy genre the elements we enjoyed, while at the same time excising those elements we wished to leave behind (such as moral absolutes).  Then, we looked at other genres for models or other desirable elements, and we ended up importing aspects of war fiction, historical fiction, so-called ‘realism’, hard-boiled detective fiction, noir, ancient classical fiction...

Dancer's Lament by Ian C. Esslemont, Path to Ascendancy #1 For ages warfare has crippled the continent as minor city states, baronies, and principalities fought in an endless round of hostilities. Only the alliance of the rival Tali and Quon cities could field the resources to mount a hegemony from coast to coast -- and thus become known as Quon Tali. It is a generation since the collapse of this dynasty and regional powers are once more rousing themselves. Into this arena of renewed border wars come two youths to the powerful central city state that is Li Heng.  One is named Dorin, and he comes determined to prove himself the most skilled assassin of his age; he is chasing the other youth -- a Dal Hon mage who has proven himself annoyingly difficult to kill. Li Heng has been guided and warded for centuries by the powerful sorceress known as the "Protectress", and she allows no rivals. She and her cabal of five mage servants were enough to repel the Quon Tali Iron L...

Willful Child by Steven Erikson These are the voyages of the starship, A.S.F. Willful Child . Its ongoing mission: to seek out strange new worlds on which to plant the Terran flag, to subjugate and if necessary obliterate new life life-forms, to boldly blow the... And so we join the not-terribly-bright but exceedingly cock-sure Captain Hadrian Sawback - a kind of James T Kirk crossed with 'American Dad' - and his motley crew on board the Starship Willful Child for a series of devil-may-care, near-calamitous and downright chaotic adventures through 'the infinite vastness of interstellar space'... The bestselling author of the acclaimed Malazan Book of the Fallen sequence has taken his life-long passion for 'Star Trek' and transformed it into a smart, inventive and hugely entertaining spoof on the whole mankind-exploring-space-for-the-good-of-all-species-but-trashing-stuff-with-a-lot-of-hi-tech-kit-along-the-way type over-blown adventure. The result...

Author interview Steven Erikson  Author bio: Steven Erikson is an archaeologist and anthropologist and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His Malazan Book of the Fallen series, including  The Crippled God ,  Dust of Dreams ,  Toll the Hounds  and  Reaper’s Gale , have met with widespread international acclaim and established him as a major voice in the world of fantasy fiction. The first book in the series,  Gardens of the Moon , was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award. The second novel,  Deadhouse Gates , was voted one of the ten best fantasy novels of 2000 by SF Site. He lives in Canada. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Steven, welcome to The Book Plank and for taking your time to answer these few questions for us. BP: First off could you give us a short introduction as to who Steven Erikson is? What do you like to do in your spare time? What are your likes and dislike...

Media Alert: Steven Erikson's Willful Child Steven Erikson is the bestselling author of the Malazan Empire of the Fallen books a 10 volume epic fantasy, sword and sorcery adventure series. Currently he is working on a prequel series to the Malazan Empire of the Fallen, The Kharkanas Trilogy. Steven Erikson also writes a novella based series featuring the eccentric duo Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. But now for something completely different. SPACE OPERA SCIENCE FICTION.  The project of Willful Child was released somewhere last year I think but only by title and which genre it would be. I for one was pleasantly suprised to hear that Steven Erikson was working on a Space Opera title. Now as the publication date it drawing to a near, Willful Child published by Bantam Press on the 6th of November and by T or on the 4th of November , its time for a shoot out.  Here is the most of the information so far:  These are the voyages of the starship, A.S.F. Willful Child ...

Author interview with Ian C. Esslemont author bio: Ian Cameron Esslemont was born in 1962 in Winnipeg, Canada. He has a degree in Creative Writing, studied and worked as an archaeologist, travelled extensively in South East Asia, and lived in Thailand and Japan for several years. He now lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, with his wife and children and is currently working on his PhD in English Literature. Ian C. Esslemont and Steven Erikson co-created the Malazan world in 1982 as a backdrop for role-playing games. In 1991 they collaborated on a feature film script set in the same world, entitled Gardens of the Moon. When the script did not sell, Erikson greatly expanded the story and turned it into a novel.   --------------- Hi Ian, Welcome over to the Book Plank and for taking your time to answer these few questions for us. BP: First off, could you give us a short introduction as to who Ian C. Esslemont is? What are you hobbies, likes and disli...

Assail by Ian C. Esslemont, Malazan Empire #6 Tens of thousands of years of ice is melting, and the land of Assail, long a byword for menace and inaccessibility, is at last yielding its secrets. Tales of gold discovered in the region's north circulate in every waterfront dive and sailor's tavern, and now countless adventurers and fortune-seekers have set sail in search of riches. All these adventurers have to guide them are legends and garbled tales of the dangers that lie in wait -- hostile coasts, fields of ice, impassable barriers and strange, terrifying creatures. But all accounts concur that the people of the north meet all trespassers with the sword. And beyond are rumoured to lurk Elder monsters out of history's very beginnings. Into this turmoil ventures the mercenary company, the Crimson Guard. Not drawn by contract, but by the promise of answers: answers to mysteries that Shimmer, second in command, wonders should even be sought. Arriving also, par...