Comments on: Kill Them All! Okay, Maybe Not All of Them … http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/03/02/kill-them-all-okay-maybe-not-all-of-them/ Orbit Books Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:58:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Philip Palmer http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/03/02/kill-them-all-okay-maybe-not-all-of-them/comment-page-1/#comment-3335 Philip Palmer Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:51:03 +0000 http://www.orbitbooks.net/?p=7786#comment-3335 This is a brilliant blog Brian...I laughed out loud. Thank God I'm not a character in one of YOUR novels...! How about a title change for the new one? The Edinburgh Just-Clinging-to-Life-Despite-the-fact-the-Author-is-Bloodcrazed? This is a brilliant blog Brian…I laughed out loud. Thank God I’m not a character in one of YOUR novels…!

How about a title change for the new one? The Edinburgh Just-Clinging-to-Life-Despite-the-fact-the-Author-is-Bloodcrazed?

]]> By: Mihai (Dark Wolf) http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/03/02/kill-them-all-okay-maybe-not-all-of-them/comment-page-1/#comment-3300 Mihai (Dark Wolf) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:37:10 +0000 http://www.orbitbooks.net/?p=7786#comment-3300 I like it, but maybe because my favorite character survived the series ;) I really like it, because considering the series' setting and events the fact that not many characters reach the end of the series comes in a natural way. And that is another reason why your series became one of my favorites. Still, the title "The Edinburgh Dead" might suggest a low life expectancy for the characters afte all ;D I like it, but maybe because my favorite character survived the series ;)
I really like it, because considering the series’ setting and events the fact that not many characters reach the end of the series comes in a natural way. And that is another reason why your series became one of my favorites.
Still, the title “The Edinburgh Dead” might suggest a low life expectancy for the characters afte all ;D

]]> By: Brian Ruckley http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/03/02/kill-them-all-okay-maybe-not-all-of-them/comment-page-1/#comment-3293 Brian Ruckley Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:00:44 +0000 http://www.orbitbooks.net/?p=7786#comment-3293 "Of course it does signal that nobody is safe and made me worry more about the one character I really wanted to survive." Well I'll claim that as a partial success, then. Clearly I wasn't particularly aiming for there to be only <em>one</em> character any reader really cared about, but let's gloss over that ... Your general point's obviously true, though: reader investment is essential for a character death to have a major emotive effect. But then, not all characters are intended to attract that level of investment, and not all deaths are intended to have that major effect. Also true is your suspicion that the climate of Edinburgh - and Scotland in general - may have something to do with the tone (and definitely the environment) of the books. Difficult to ignore what's going on outside your window every day. And constant wind is indeed, as I am sure we can all agree, maddening. As well as being socially inconvenient. “Of course it does signal that nobody is safe and made me worry more about the one character I really wanted to survive.”

Well I’ll claim that as a partial success, then. Clearly I wasn’t particularly aiming for there to be only one character any reader really cared about, but let’s gloss over that …

Your general point’s obviously true, though: reader investment is essential for a character death to have a major emotive effect. But then, not all characters are intended to attract that level of investment, and not all deaths are intended to have that major effect.

Also true is your suspicion that the climate of Edinburgh – and Scotland in general – may have something to do with the tone (and definitely the environment) of the books. Difficult to ignore what’s going on outside your window every day. And constant wind is indeed, as I am sure we can all agree, maddening. As well as being socially inconvenient.

]]> By: Wilfred http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/03/02/kill-them-all-okay-maybe-not-all-of-them/comment-page-1/#comment-3292 Wilfred Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:22:19 +0000 http://www.orbitbooks.net/?p=7786#comment-3292 I felt that there were actually not enough characters that one really could care about (with one strong exception, who luckily survived otherwise I would have had to burn the books). So if you kill of characters that people aren't really that invested in that has less of stunning effect than you would normally expect. Of course it does signal that nobody is safe and made me worry more about the one character I really wanted to survive. By the way, I read the last book whilst in an appartment on the waterfront in Edinburgh...I now see where you get this depressive and bleak outlook on (fantasy) life from. :) That constant wind is maddening. I felt that there were actually not enough characters that one really could care about (with one strong exception, who luckily survived otherwise I would have had to burn the books). So if you kill of characters that people aren’t really that invested in that has less of stunning effect than you would normally expect. Of course it does signal that nobody is safe and made me worry more about the one character I really wanted to survive.

By the way, I read the last book whilst in an appartment on the waterfront in Edinburgh…I now see where you get this depressive and bleak outlook on (fantasy) life from. :) That constant wind is maddening.

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