The Book Plank

Best First in Series (no debut!) The first in series is a category I actually just came up with. I wanted to mention some books that aren't debuts but that do kick off a new series as most new series are often debuts. Why I wanted to name this category in particular is to show that many authors write second series that are just as or even better as there first. Writing books is difficult but coming up with a compeltely new series ust be even more difficult (I think). Authors oftentimes also write a new series in their earlier divided universe which in itself is also difficult as some storylines have been established in the earlier series so you have to thread carefully, ensuring all that has been written before. This brings me to the first book on the list. Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence. Taking place in The Broken Empire but following a completely new protagonist. In Prince of Fools Mark Lawrences' writing never falters and produces another winner, though the universe is...

Review Round-up November 1. Willful Child by Steven Erikson, Bantam Press/Tor This venture of Steven Erikson into the dark reaches of was a very wild, fast and rip roaring adventure that for me succeeded in many ways. Not only does Steven Erikson show that he is a brilliant writer switching from writing Epic Fantasy to Science Fiction, also the story alone is jsut so much fun to read and this was clearly the intention that Steven Erikson had in mind, bringing down several tropes often seen in Science Fiction and creating humorous scenes around them. Captain Hadrian Sawback is really a piece of work, many will hate his arrogance but there is also much to like and I think deep down the reason why you might hate Hadrian is that he just does what he likes and we are often bound by rules and protocols. Willful Child is a superb read and excellent escape from reality. After an eventful mission, Captain Hadrian goes about his constitutive mission in space, so lets hope we w...

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...

(p)review forecast November part 2 With only 2 months left in this year I have to pick my last reads of this year carefully, there are still so many books that I want to read, sadly. Here is my selection of the first two weeks. Cheers, Jasper 1. Tarkin by James Luceno, Century books A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. . . . Bestselling Star Wars veteran James Luceno gives Grand Moff Tarkin the Star Wars: Darth Plagueis treatment, bringing a legendary character from A New Hope to full, fascinating life. He’s the scion of an honorable and revered family. A dedicated soldier and distinguished legislator. Loyal proponent of the Republic and trusted ally of the Jedi Order. Groomed by the ruthless politician and Sith Lord who would be Emperor, Governor Wilhuff Tarkin rises through the Imperial ranks, enforcing his authority ever more mercilessly . . . and zealously pursuing his destiny as the architect of absolute dominion. Rule through the fear of force rather than...

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 ...