Posts Tagged ‘Daniel Abraham’

An Interview of James S. A. Corey by Daniel Abraham

DANIEL:  Well. This is odd, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve done interviews before, but seeing that I’m half of the team that writes as “James S. A. Corey” and you are James S. A. Corey, this whole project feels a little meta.

JIMMY: Eh. Meta’s for chumps. Meta and twee have been what’s wrong with science fiction for decades. You got me here to ask questions, ask questions. I’ll answer ’em. I got nothing to hide.

DANIEL: All right. So Leviathan Wakes is the first book in the Expanse series. That’s been out for almost a year now.  How has your view of the book changed since it came out?

JIMMY: More distance, mostly. It’s not like I go back and reread it. Did that enough when it was in production. The editing pass, the copy edits, the galley proofs. I still go back if there’s something I’m looking for, but you have to understand, I’m coming in sight of the end of the third book. The opening page of Leviathan Wakes is a long way from here. Like what I remember, though. Not a bad book. Still love that cover though.

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Which Daniel Abraham book is best for you?

Whether it’s writing urban fantasy as M. L. N. Hanover, epic fantasy under his ‘real’ name, or space opera as one half of James S. A. Corey (the ‘James’ part, apparently), there’s no doubt that Daniel Abraham is a man of many talents – and many guises.

This invariably leads to two questions: why the various names, and where should you begin your Daniel Abraham experience?

We can help you with the second question, but first let’s have Daniel himself answer the first:

I recognize that my take on working with a different name for each different project is a little idiosyncratic, but it’s not exactly unprecedented.  Richard Stark and Donald Westlake, for instance, were openly the same guy writing very different kinds of books.  The name on the cover is one of the best ways to let people know what kind of ride they’re signing on for, and that can avoid a lot of disappointment later.  There’s a price to pay in that folks who like the things I do under one name might have to dig a little to find all the other stuff, but in the age of the Internet, it’s a pretty low investigative bar to clear.  I think the tradeoff’s worth it.

 There are also writers I know, like, and admire who don’t like the idea of putting a name on their work that isn’t the one they go by in the world.  Now, I know all writers are egoists, myself very much included, but that particular kink isn’t one I have.  I don’t care what name we put on the cover as long as I can be proud the work that went into it.

 There is another idea that if you know you like Stephen King (or Jeanette Winterson or Sebastian Junger — the model holds true for everyone), you’re already better primed to like one of their books when you pick them up.  I think that if the name of the author is what makes a book good, it isn’t a good book.

Many thanks to Daniel for the explanation! Now to the second question: which Daniel Abraham book is best for you? Read on and find out. (more…)

Read an excerpt from THE KING’S BLOOD

When an act of harrowing betrayal threatens to set the cities afire, all certainties are called into question. The high and powerful will fall, the despised and broken shall rise up, and everything will be remade. 

The King's Blood by Daniel Abraham

THE KING’S BLOOD (US | UK | ANZ) is the next chapter in The Dagger and Coin series.  Read an excerpt from this thrilling fantasy by Daniel Abraham.

“With a deft and light hand, Abraham questions and explores the fantasy-world assumptions that most authors take for granted, telling an enjoyable and genuinely innovative adventure story along the way” — Publishers Weekly, starred review. If you haven’t read THE DRAGON’S PATH (US | UK | ANZ) now is a great time to start.

“The apostate, called Kitap rol Keshmet among other things, stood in the soft city rain, the taint in his blood pressing at him, goading him, but being ignored. Fear and dread welled up in his throat.

In any of the cities and villages of the Keshet or Borja or Put, the temple would have been the central fact of the community, a point of pride and honor, and the axis about which all life turned. In the vast glory of Camnipol, it was only another of a thousand such structures, awe-​inspiring in its scope, beauty, and grandeur, and rendered unremarkable by its company.

The city was the heart of Imperial Antea as Imperial Antea was the heart of Firstblood power in the world, but Camnipol was older than the kingdom it ruled. Every age had left its mark here, every generation growing on the ruins of the old until the earth below the dark-​cobbled streets was not soil, but the wreckage of what had come before. It was a city of black and gold, of wealth and desperate poverty. Its walls rose around it like a boast of invulnerability, and its noble quarters displayed great mansions and towers and temples casually, as if the grandeur was trivial, normal, and mundane. Had Camnipol been a knight, he would have worn black-​enameled armor and a cloak of fine-​worked wool. Had it been a woman, she would have been too handsome to look away from and too intimidating to speak with. Instead, it was a city, and it was Camnipol.”

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Orbit signs up three new Expanse novels by James S.A. Corey!

Published in summer 2011, James S.A. Corey’s LEVIATHAN WAKES (US | UK)  was an instant favorite among space opera fans. Charles Stross deemed it “a slick, fast-paced, old-fashioned yarn,” and George R.R.  Martin called it his favorite science fiction novel of the year. The second volume in the Expanse series, CALIBAN’S WAR (US | UK), is due out this summer, and a third will follow a year after that.

This saga of interplanetary intrigue, adventure, and first contact will only get bigger—so we are thrilled to announce Orbit’s new deal with agent Danny Baror and author James S.A. Corey for three new Expanse novels, plus five new Expanse novellas.

We asked Corey (the formidable writing duo of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) for a hint of what’s in store:

“Brave new worlds and broken old ones, love and loss, noble deaths and stupid ones, unexpected threats and the dangers that we all carry in our back pockets all the time.  And an ending that pulls it all together.  The Expanse is a love letter to the science fiction we grew up with, and we’re grateful that we get to tell the story the way we’d hoped to.”

Read an excerpt from Leviathan Wakes Read an excerpt from Caliban's War

Locus’s 2011 Recommended Reading List

Locus published their 2011 Recommended Reading List today, and you’ll see a lot of Orbit authors among their choices:

  • Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey (US | UK | ANZ)
  • Deadline, Mira Grant (US | UK | ANZ)
  • Rule 34, Charles Stross (UK | ANZ)
  • The Heroes, Joe Abercrombie (US)
  • The Dragon’s Path, Daniel Abraham (US | UK | ANZ)
  • Heartless, Gail Carriger (US | UK | ANZ)
  • The Fallen Blade, Jon Courtenay Grimwood (US | UK | ANZ)
  • The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (US | UK | ANZ)
  • The Hammer, K.J. Parker (US | UK | ANZ)

And, in case you missed them the first time around, keep reading for a round-up of other Best of 2011 lists!

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Daniel Abraham Speaks

“The characters and world in THE DRAGON’S PATH, for instance, are supposed to remind you of other characters you already know, so that by the time you meet them, you already have a little bit of a relationship with them. I want this to be a book you can fall into effortlessly.”

Daniel Abraham’s forthcoming novel is just one of many topics touched upon in a fascinating interview with Aidan Moher of A Dribble of Ink. He discusses, among much else, the value of pseudonyms, why fantasy is a safe place to explore exoticism, gender roles and writing from a woman’s perspective, and what makes a good story — any story — good.

“There is something at the base of genre – and it’s commercial and accessible and low-class and embarrassing – that brings people to what we do, and I think writers turn away from that at our peril.”

THE DRAGON’S PATH will be published by Orbit April 7, 2011.

New Excerpts from THE DRAGON’S PATH and LEVIATHAN WAKES

Over at the newly launched Danielabraham.com you can read two new excerpts from THE DRAGON’S PATH (by Daniel Abraham) and LEVIATHAN WAKES (by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck writing as James S.A. Corey.) These are two of the most hotly anticipated  launches of the year (see here and here for some early buzz,) so  if you’re a fan of fantasy or space opera, this Spring/Summer is going to be EPIC. Read on below for the excerpts.

The public gaol of Vanai had once been a menagerie.  In ancient days, the dragons themselves had stalked the wide square and bathed in the great fountain at its center.  At the perimeter, a deep pit, and then great cages rising three stories high.  The dragon’s jade facades were carved with figures of the beasts that had once paced behind the iron bars: lions, gryphons, great six-headed serpents, wolves, bears, great birds with breasts like women… Read More


The Scopuli had been taken eight days ago, and Julie Mao was finally ready to be shot.

It had taken all eight days trapped in a storage locker to get to that point.  For the first two she’d remained motionless, sure that the armored men who’d put her there had been serious…Read More

THE DRAGON’S PATH: the Prologue

Now up at A Dribble of Ink — the prologue from what we are sure will be one of the major fantasy titles of the year, Daniel Abraham’s THE DRAGON’S PATH. The book itself will be on-sale April 7 but in the meantime, whet your appetite for the rest of this epic, unforgettable narrative. And don’t just take our word for it:

“Daniel Abraham gets better with every book” — George R.R.Martin

“Intricate, elegant, and almost hypnotically told — to call Daniel Abraham an exciting new author is to wildly understate the case” — Connie Willis

“Welcome to Daniel Abraham. If you are meeting him for the first time, I envy you: you are in for a remarkable journey” — Junot Diaz

Cover Launch: LEVIATHAN WAKES

Leviathan Wakes is by James S.A. Corey, which is the pen name of  Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. This behemoth is hitting stores May 2011. What an awesome project. We’re talking space opera, big ships, interstellar travel, secrets, conspiracies, and high adventure. Once I got my hands on it the gears started turning full tilt.

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What Makes a Genre?

Daniel Abraham recently put up a long and fascinating post regarding what defines a genre– any genre, from Westerns to Romance to Science fiction. And, frankly, he’s someone who knows a little something about what it means to work in a different genre since he is a wearer of many hats professionally. Daniel is the author of the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series The Long Price Quartet and the upcoming The Dragon’s Path as well as the urban fantasist MLN Hanover (author of The Black Sun’s Daughter series) and one half of James S.A. Corey, author of the upcoming space opera Leviathan Wakes. Like I said– he knows genre.

“I think that the successful genres of a particular period are reflections of the needs and thoughts and social struggles of that time.  When you see a bunch of similar projects meeting with success, you’ve found a place in the social landscape where a particular story (or moral or scenario) speaks to readers. You’ve found a place where the things that stories offer are most needed.“

Check out the whole thing on his blog.