As first lines go, this one’s a killer.
If you’re wondering what the next big thing in epic fantasy might be, then 14th April 2015 is a date you’re going to want to add to your calendar. Just saying.
Brian Ruckley, author of THE FREE – a rip-roaring tale of action and adventure – talks about magic systems, and why they’re completely unnecessary. Except when they’re not.
While I was doing the interview I did here the other day about my new book THE FREE, I left out a heap of stuff. Because you always have to leave stuff out, right? But there were a couple of topics I’d like to have kicked around a bit more, and here’s one of them: magic systems.
Role-playing games have to have their magic systematised to some degree – defined, constrained, structured, all that – because otherwise the whole thing would get messy fast. But what’s the deal with magic systems in fantasy novels?
The fantasies I loved as a kid did not, as best I can recall, generally define what magic was or how it worked in any detail. In most of those books, magic was an immanent property of the world, or of individuals, or objects. It was just there, inherent in certain people or places or things. A capacity for change that was kind of unspecified, and with inner workings that remained entirely invisible.
Which, I tend to think, is the natural state of magic in fantasy novels. Why would we want to have this stuff explained and circumscribed? The ‘magic’ of magic is in its numinous quality. We don’t need to know the mechanics of it all. That’s not really the sort of awe-inspiring otherliness and wonder we’re after in fantasy. It’s engaging the wrong bit of our brain. Look what happened when Mr. Lucas tried to escape the clutches of fantasy by midi-chlorianising the Force. He gently systematized his magic, and much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued.
So, naturally, having said all that, I’ve got a bit of a magic system in THE FREE. As you’d expect, I have reasons (excuses?) – aside from the basic one that I’ve got a brain that tends to see, and look for, systems and processes in the world around me generally.
First up, there’s the notion of having your approach to magic fit with the tone of a book. With THE FREE, I was shooting for a fairly hi-octane adventure vibe, with grounded characters making tough choices in psychologically plausible ways. It just felt consistent to have some structure to the magic that both reader and character could grasp and – to some extent – anticipate.
Of course, I decided I could have my cake and eat it too, because I didn’t want to lose the element of surprise and wonder and pyrotechnics that magic can bring. Thus, those who use magic in THE FREE (I call them Clevers) are theoretically capable of doing almost anything. Everything – physical and non-physical, every single aspect of the world – can become a part of magic, and that makes it both immensely powerful and almost infinitely varied. So although there is a sort of rationale for what’s happening and why, it’s not a prescriptive, circumscribing one.
Second up, there’s magic as an engine of plot, story, character. I figured that if I was going to have a magic system, it might as well help me as a writer, so I tried to come up with one that by its nature embodies some tension and conflict and climax. (more…)
The master of science fiction returns with a soldier’s-eye view of an interstellar war that has come to our solar system. This is a legendary writer at his very best.
Meet Master Sergeant Michael Venn, Skyrine veteran. The soldiers that are the greatest hope for earth’s survival:
One more tour on the red.
Maybe my last.
They made their presence on Earth known thirteen years ago.
Providing technology and scientific insights far beyond what mankind was capable of, they became indispensable advisors and promised even more gifts that we just couldn’t pass up. We called them Gurus.
It took them a while to drop the other shoe. You can see why, looking back.
It was a very big shoe, completely slathered in crap.
They had been hounded by mortal enemies from sun to sun, planet to planet, and were now stretched thin — and they needed our help.
And so our first bill came due. Skyrines like me were volunteered to pay the price. As always.
These enemies were already inside our solar system and were establishing a beachhead, but not on Earth.
On Mars.
Praise for WAR DOGS:
“Stuffed with adrenaline-pumping action… Bear’s series launch is a tempest of rousing SF adventure with a dash of Peckinpah.”— Publishers Weekly
“Packed with adventure and incident…and conveyed with gritty realism.” — Kirkus
“Excellent military action.” &8212; Library Journal
Three things that I love in epic/heroic fantasy: action (preferably involving lots of swords), impossible odds, and genuinely terrifying magic. Oh, and a fast pace: I like stories that hit the ground running and only get faster as they progress.
THE FREE by Brian Ruckley is all of these things. The action is plentiful and extremely well written, the odds of the protagonists’ survival are very long indeed, and the magic is both deeply frightening and very cool at the same time. The novel also starts like a rocket going off, and never slows down.
All of which is extremely pleasing. Yet what I like the most about THE FREE is the sheer humanity (or lack thereof) that Brian has imbued in each and every character. This is a tale about a mercenary company – The Free of the title – and there’s no doubt that they’re hard men and women, no strangers to violence or suffering. But they’re not heartless, steely-eyed killers: they all have their flaws, doubts, and weaknesses. They’re compassionate too, and are bound by the ties that they’ve forged over many years, both on and off the battlefield. Brian’s deft characterisation lends a real emotional depth and resonance to the novel, something that is sometimes lacking in heroic fantasy.
THE FREE is the thrilling story of this extraordinary mercenary company, about what they’ve done – and, perhaps more importantly, about what they’ve failed to do – and how they plan to right past wrongs. There is blood, certainly. There is pain, and there is death. But there is also love, and loyalty, and most of all, hope.
Some bonds cannot be broken.
Praise for THE FREE:
The Free is a blast to read, merging the standard medieval fantasy with Seven Samurai, complete with phenomenal set pieces of warfare and magic’ – Justin Landon, Staffer’s Book Review
‘Mesmerising, magical and human’ – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
‘Wonderfully composed action scenes and a thrilling climax’ – The Bookbag
‘Deliberate pacing, complicated characters and vivid descriptions elevate this far above run-of-the-mill epic fantasy’ – Library Journal (starred review)
‘An engaging mix of action and introspection . . . A gripping read’ – Graeme’s SFF
THE FREE is out now in paperback, ebook and audio editions.
It seems like only yesterday that we were getting ready for San Diego Comic-Con. Now it’s New York’s turn and we could not be more excited! Come see us at booth #2218. We’ll have signings, giveaways, and special promotions throughout the weekend. Below is the full schedule of events and panels.
Thursday, October 9th
SIGNING + GIVEAWAY: In-booth signing with Nicole Peeler; 2:00 PM at Booth #2218
Friday, October 10th
PANEL: Playing with Magic with Sam Sykes; 1:15 PM in Room 1A14
SIGNING: Sam Sykes and other panelists; 2:15 PM at Table 19 in the Autographing Area
Saturday, October 11th
SIGNING + GIVEAWAY: In-booth signing with Gail Z. Martin; 11:00 AM at Booth #2218
PANEL: These Are My People/Aliens/Zombies/Vampires/Dragons! with N.K. Jemisin; 12:00 PM in Room 1A18
SIGNING: N.K. Jemisin and other panelists; 1:00 PM at Table 19 in the Autographing Area
PANEL: Not Your Mother’s Fairy Tales with Nicole Peeler; 3:00 PM in Room 1B03
SIGNING: Nicole Peeler and other panelists; 4:00 PM at Table 19 in the Autographing Area
SIGNING + GIVEAWAY: In-booth signing with Andy MacDonald, artist of the graphic novel adaptation of Brent Weeks’s THE WAY OF SHADOWS; 3:00 PM at Booth #2218*
Sunday, October 12th
PANEL: How A Game of Thrones Changed Fantasy…Or Has It? with Gail Z. Martin; 1:15 PM in Room 1A05
SIGNING: Nicole Peeler and other panelists; 2:15 PM at Table 10 in the Autographing Area
*We will be giving away graphic novel samplers of The Way of Shadows at the 3:00 PM signing. The newly released hardcover will be available for purchase from Yen Press at the convention.
The much-anticipated graphic novel of THE WAY OF SHADOWS, the New York Times bestselling epic fantasy of thieves and assassins by Brent Weeks, comes out this week from Yen Press and Orbit UK.
We interviewed Brent about the process of turning his classic fantasy tale into a comic book, and asked him all about his favorite examples of the medium:
JH: Was there anything that surprised you about having your work adapted into comic book form?
BW: The first time I saw Andy’s depiction of the Gyre estate, I had to stop for a second. The rest of the process had been pretty gradual—when we did character sketches, we went through a lot of emails, and a couple iterations of drawings, so they didn’t have the same surprise factor for me—but when I saw the Gyre estate, it hit me all at once. I’d described all these details; this was what I’d written about, but I’d never seen it as a whole. When your artist is talented, there are things about seeing a place that are simply better than reading about it.
The other thing that surprised me was how much little things can matter. Andy does great work with characters’ expressions, hitting just the right tone. That little extra extension on that line turns that grin from amused to sarcastic, or what have you. Similarly, something like how tight an alleyway is, can suddenly be important, because a character in a tight alley feels trapped, and acts differently than in a wide open street.
JH: Which particular character do you think has been captured most perfectly by Andy Macdonald’s art?
BW: I’ll go for a less obvious one. Roth is just the right balance of handsome and creepy.
JH: Was it a strange experience, going back so closely over THE WAY OF SHADOWS, or do you often reread and re-examine your older books?
BW: As little as possible! I always want to edit my old books. Hmm, that sentence could be tightened, couldn’t it? It was very challenging. One of the pleasures of reading my books is that there’s a ton of foreshadowing that looks like throwaway world-building on a first read that ends up being important two thousand pages later. So I had to not only load three books into my brain, but I had to anticipate how each necessary change of adapting the first novel into graphic novel form would ripple through the second and third books. “Okay, this doesn’t happen any more, and that was going to pay off in book 2 when this happens, so now, in graphic novel 2, we’re going to have to do this other thing instead… But does that cause problems in book 3?” Oh, and I was finishing a not-so-simple little novel called THE BROKEN EYE. My assistant, Elisa, was invaluable in the process of keeping everything straight.
JH: Comics and graphic novels are an essentially collaborative medium, requiring a lot of co-operation between the artist and writer. Have you ever worked on something that involved this much collaboration?
BW: Never to this degree. We made a book trailer for THE BLACK PRISM, and I wrote lots of emails and script ideas back and forth (far more than you would think necessary for a two minute trailer, I guarantee!), but that was over about a month. This was a different level entirely.
I should point out, too, that it isn’t just collaboration between artist and writer! The original script adaptation was by Ivan Brandon, and throughout my editor JuYoun Lee was invaluable in the process, not only in feedback and scripting, but also in allowing me to be the difficult artist from time to time. I mean, editors have to make the business work, so a few times I wrote to her, “Look I just added a page to this chapter. I know we’re already over, but we need a full page for this reveal, or it will lack punch. Here’s the new script.” I’m sure she knew exactly how much that was going to cost—art costs, printing costs, extra thickness to the book, possibly fewer books per box which can hurt ordering, and so forth if you do it more than a couple times—and she let me get away with it when we needed to.
That said, I try not to play the diva, especially when it’s a medium I’ve got little experience in. I was lucky to be joined in the journey by people who know a lot more than I do.
JH: Who are your favourite heroes from comics and graphic novels?
BW: Can I confess something? I’ve always enjoyed comic books, but for a long time I had a fundamental reservation about them as art. I thought they were bad art. Partly this is the fault of the whole Death of Superman debacle. Since then (if not before, I’m not an expert), but since then they’ve felt like the ultimate playground for Plot Armor. No character will ever die. No character will ever settle down with one girl, and that’s it for all time. There’s no final story, no closure, even though they pretend there is constantly. And the reason there can be no final story is because money. You can’t kill Wolverine for good, because no matter how many copies of that final plot arc you could sell, you’d be killing the goose who lays the golden eggs. Wolverine is your year-in, year-out steady earner, and he will be for fifty years. A hundred if Marvel has its way. So the story has to account for reboots, and refreshes, memory-losses and reunions. (In some cases, they do that far better than others.)
So, to purist, younger me, comics in the Marvel vein were the biggest examples of art prostituted to money I could imagine. And yet they got a pass somehow—because it’s fun and well-done, I guess.
But I had an idea recently of Wolverine (a favorite since I was young), as a mythic character, rather than as a disjointed franchise. When you read Homer’s Odysseus, he’s a complete man, perhaps the ideal man in the Greek understanding of virtue. When you read Virgil’s treatment of the same character (Latinized to Ulysses, but ostensibly the same character), you realize they have very little in common. Virgil is trotting out the Greek hero to make him look tawdry next to the real stud, Aeneas. (Who just so happened to play for the home team, Rome.) They aren’t the same character—when Virgil handles Odysseus, he handles him as a mythic type, there to be useful in setting up the story that Virgil really wants to tell.
So when you ask “Who is your favorite character?” I have to politely say I don’t believe Wolverine as Wolverine is really a character anymore. Mark Millar’s Wolverine isn’t my favorite, but the idea of Wolverine is.
That said, things are simpler where we have only one writer and artist: I really like Bode and Tyler Locke of Locke and Key by Joe Hill (amazing art by Gabriel Rodriguez).
JH: Can you recommend any comic books which are ideal for fantasy fans?
BW: If you’ve never read a graphic novel and are skeptical about the kind of stories they can tell, check out I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly, which features a fifth-grader named Barbara.
Marvel’s 1602 is a fun re-visiting of the Marvel characters if they’d appeared in Elizabethan times (and goes nicely with my thesis above!). Locke and Key is a little more on the horror side, and though I don’t enjoy horror, I thought it was amazing. Literally the best graphic novels I’ve ever read. Peter V. Brett (of The Warded Man fame) has done a 6 comic book arc for Red Sonja. As for others… well, I’m always looking!
JH: The ultimate comic book question: who would win in a fight, Batman or Superman?
BW: I think Batman would know better than get in a simple fistfight with a bulletproof flying alien, so I like to think he’d change the rules of the engagement—a fight over who makes a tux look the best, perhaps, or who can destroy a villain first. Then I’d give an edge to the subtle thinker of the two.
Next week sees the publication of THE FREE by Brian Ruckley, and marks the return of one of epic fantasy’s prodigal sons.
Brian Ruckley burst upon the fantasy scene back in 2006 with WINTERBIRTH [UK / USA / ANZ], a novel that encapsulated the gritty, visceral style of storytelling that would become so popular in the fantasy genre a few years later.
WINTERBIRTH – along with its sequels, BLOODHEIR [UK / USA / ANZ] and FALL OF THANES [UK / USA / ANZ] – spun an epic tale of ancient feuds, deadly politics and devastating battles. These novels are notable for many qualities, not least their deep characterisation, absorbing worldbuilding and a highly evocative atmosphere.
After his brilliant and bloody tale had concluded, Brian delved into dark historical fantasy with THE EDINBURGH DEAD [UK / USA / ANZ] – a chilling supernatural crime novel set in Victorian-era Edinburgh.
Now, with THE FREE, Brian has returned to his epic fantasy roots and delivered an exhilarating novel full of desperate battles, terrifying magic, and a host of memorable characters.
We sat down with Brian – well, in a digital sense – and asked him about his return to epic fantasy.
Welcome Brian! THE FREE marks your return to writing heroic fantasy, after you dipped your toes into dark historical fantasy with THE EDINBURGH DEAD – how does it feel to be writing in this genre again, and what tempted you to return to it?
It feels pretty good to be swimming in the heroic fantasy sea again. It’s a fun genre that gives you plenty of freedom to let your imagination run loose for a while, plenty of scope to go heavy on the action and the drama. THE EDINBURGH DEAD was always kind of a specific project for me: it’s a dark fantasy, but one very specifically set in my home city and tied to a specific, almost surreally horrible, bit of its real world history that I’ve always been interested in. THE FREE is just what it says in the title: it’s me being free again to do whatever I want, in terms of plot, world, characters, magic. All that good stuff. A couple of reviewers have already described it as ‘a blast to read’ and ‘a lot of fun to read’, which counts as job done to me, and just goes to show that if you’re having fun on the writing side, the readers can often tell.
Your Godless World trilogy was a sprawling fantasy epic in a similar vein to Game of Thrones, with a large cast-list and a healthy dose of political intrigue (not to mention plenty of bloody battles). THE FREE retains the same gritty quality of storytelling, but feels far more reminiscent of David Gemmell or Fritz Lieber, focusing on fewer characters and with an emphasis on fast-paced action. How and why did this stylistic change occur?
There are lots and lots of reasons for the change. Here’s a few, all mixed up. You don’t always get to choose what story idea is at the forefront of your mind, ready to be written. THE FREE was that idea a couple of years back, and it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t a sprawling epic; it just didn’t need thousands of pages to get to the very particular ending that was built in to the idea. I’d be lying if I pretended to be disappointed about that. Sprawling fantasy epics are all well and good – they’re what made me a fan of the genre, after all, back in my younger days – but it’s a pretty demanding and draining business to write one. Anyway, the older I get as a reader the more I find I like my fiction to-the-point, with momentum. It takes slightly different writing muscles than the epic does, and for whatever reason I had a sense that I needed to give those different muscles a work-out.
Also, it’s partly because: movies. But we’ll get to that in the next question. (more…)
Please see below for an exciting press release from Orbit UK!
Orbit UK, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, has signed a deal with Sunday Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan for two new novels, described as “Bridget Jones meets The Big Bang Theory meets Independence Day”.
Jenny Colgan is the bestselling author of over sixteen novels including Little Beach Street Bakery, Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams and Meet Me at the Cupcake Café. Her last four novels have all been Sunday Times Top Ten paperback bestsellers.
Tim Holman, Publisher at Orbit acquired UK & Commonwealth rights from the Jo Unwin Literary Agency. The first Orbit novel Resistance is Futile will be published in June 2015 under the pseudonym J.T. Colgan, the same name under which Jenny has also written the Doctor Who tie-in novel Dark Horizons and Doctor Who short story Into the Nowhere. The story focusses on the young mathematician Connie, who is recruited to work on a top secret government project along with an oddball bunch of scientists.
Tim Holman said “The whole Orbit team loved RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. How could we not love a novel that blends aliens and romance and jokes about prime numbers? We’re thrilled to be publishing Jenny, and hugely looking forward to introducing her to SF fans and readers keen to get in touch with their inner geek”.
Jenny Colgan said, “Han and Leia. Claire and Henry. Supes and Lois. I have always been an absolute sucker for a sci-fi romance, and the chance to write one for a list as innovative, successful and inclusive as Orbit is a total joy. I’m so excited to get the chance to share Connie and Luke with the world. He totally doesn’t have a tail though.”
SABINA KANE IS BACK in a brand new novella from USA TODAY bestselling author Jaye Wells.
In the 1970s, Sabina Kane was a rookie assassin looking for first big kill. But when the day finally comes to prove her skills to the Dominae, she finds herself shadowing Slade Corbin, a more experienced assassin with a huge chip on his shoulder. Together, they must track down a blackmailer who’s threatening to expose the existence of vampires to the world. Will Sabina and Slade be able to find the blackmailer in time, and, more important, will they be able to get through the mission without killing each other?
And in case you haven’t been yet met Sabina, here are stellar some introductions to the Jaye Wells series that started with Red-Headed Stepchild:
“Hold on tight — a gritty new heroine has joined the pantheon of shoot-first, ask-questions-later protagonists.”
— RT Book Reviews on Red-Headed Stepchild
“Fast-paced and fun!” — Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series on Red-Headed Stepchild
“Urban fantasy doesn’t get much better than this. ”
— scifichick.com on Red-Headed Stepchild
“Jaye Wells is the next coming of Laurell K. Hamilton and Kim Harrison.” — Paul Goat Allen, bn.com, on Green-Eyed Demon
“Wells hits the sweet spot in combining wise-ass humor and mind-numbing danger. It’s outstanding!”
— RT Book Reviews Top Pick on Blue-Blooded Vamp
FOOL’S GOLD released today in the U.S. and Canada. It will be available next week in the U.K!
ANCILLARY SWORD (US | UK | AUS) the highly anticipated sequel to Ann Leckie’s breakout success ANCILLARY JUSTICE (US | UK | AUS), is released today. Ancillary Justice won every major science fiction award of 2014 and was the only novel every to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke awards.
Not often does a writer debut with a work that makes such an immediate impact and Ann’s second book is everything a fan of the first book could hope for. Broiling civil war, a fraught mission to a vital and dangerous planet, a tangled web of politics and class, and mysterious and powerful forces encroaching on the domain of the empire. Simply put, this is a writer at the peak of her powers.
I’ve been waiting excitedly for the day when I could finally share Ann’s next brilliant novel. If you read Ancillary Justice then chances are you loved it and have been looking forward to Ancillary Sword as well, if you have yet to fall under the spell of Ann and Ancillary Justice, I envy you greatly. Don’t delay.
A little bit more about the novel:
Breq is a soldier who used to be a warship. Once a weapon of conquest controlling thousands of minds, now she has only a single body and serves the emperor.
With a new ship and a troublesome crew, Breq is ordered to go to the only place in the galaxy she would agree to go: to Athoek Station to protect the family of a lieutenant she once knew – a lieutenant she murdered in cold blood.
Praise for Ancillary Sword:
“Breq’s struggle for meaningful justice in a society designed to favor the strong is as engaging as ever. Readers new to the author will be enthralled, and those familiar with the first book will find that the faith it inspired has not been misplaced.” – Publisher’s Weekly
“Leckie proves she’s no mere flash in the pan with this follow-up to her multiaward-winning debut space opera, Ancillary Justice.” – Kirkus
And here is a wonderful 10 out of 10 endorsement from The Book Smugglers!
