The Crowded Shadows

Celine told us that a few years ago she had a shoebox filled with the usual myriad rejection slips that all writers collect. Holding down two jobs with two children, she would secretly write at night. But much hard work later she’s now the proud owner of a finished trilogy with some very shiny covers! She’s also accumulated two nominations for the Irish Book awards and a raft of great reviews for The Poison Throne (UK | US), book 1 of the trilogy:

‘Marvellous, vivid writing, and storytelling at its absolute best . . . I was utterly engrossed’ Roddy Doyle

‘Atmospheric, complex, and intense …  this epic starts strong and doesn’t falter one iota’ Publishers Weekly (starred review)

‘All the ingredients of an international bestseller: political skulduggery, passion, violence, loyalty and betrayal’ Irish Independent

‘Told with great assurance … this is an exciting, fast-paced story’ SFX

‘Kiernan will stun you with her debut … sure to captivate’ Romantic Times

‘A complex and original story… Kiernan has created a world that fascinates’ Bookgeeks.co.uk

So, with further books hitting shelves internationally over the next few months, we’ll look forward to hearing more from the the author over the next few weeks. Watch this space!

And if you have any interesting pictures of The Crowded Shadows (UK | US) in the wild to share with us (for example, at your local bookstore or courtesy of your own PhotoShop mash-up parlour) they would be gratefully received at the same email as above.

If you haven’t seen her post, Celine’s description of how she approaches illustrating is fascinating. And the animation of this Wynter drawing taking shape before your eyes in seconds is just amazing. And to see it again, click HERE.

1. What’s the best thing about living in New Zealand?

Oh, that is such a hard question, because how do you ever see yourself objectively? But there’s still a lot of open space, compared to other countries I’ve visited, and I really like that—areas where you can drive for miles and not see another person, or a house. But because NZ is long and narrow, even really remote places are never that far away; for example, the location of Edoras, in The Lord of the Rings’ films, wouldn’t be more than a couple of hours drive from Christchurch, where I live.

2. How do you think the poet part of you impacts upon your fiction writing?

I don’t see the poet and the novelist as different — they are more different faces of the same creative impulse. To me, a poem like The Wayfarer, which is about Odysseus, is as much work of fiction, with both character and story, as The Heir of Night (ANZ | UK). (If you click on the name, you can read The Wayfarer on my website.)

3. Where did the idea to write The Wall of Night quartet come from?

Ah, another tough question. I think it evolved — I had had this idea of a twilit world from when I was quite young, about 8 or 9, and that was reinforced when I read The Lord of the Rings — not by the LoTR story directly, but by the references to the older, mythic tales of Morgoth and Beleriand, where the sense I got was, once again, of dark, twilit worlds. The rest came from a quite strong response to some of the tropes in epic Fantasy, how black and white it so often is, whereas I felt that, in fact, life is never like that … And I wanted to explore that idea.

4. You’ve blogged about world building – what is it that attracts you to the process of world building in your writing?

For me, it just happens. The vision of the world is always so strong, so real, and I always experience it as the characters do, through the five senses. So the original twilit world, which evolved into the bitter peaks and wind-blasted mountain range of the Wall of Night, was always “just there. ” I am simply describing what already exists.

5. What are you reading at the moment?

Well you know that I read all the Hugo Award fiction finalists — that took some doing! [Grins.] And I am on a panel at Worldcon with an author called Karen Healey, so I have just finished reading her book, Guardian of the Dead. I have a couple of books to read on the plane, on the way to Melbourne, but of course I’m longing to get some quiet time with Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay, which is just out.

6. If you could create a pseudonym for your genre fiction, what would it be?

A pseudonym for Helen Lowe? Well, I did have one in mind, because it did seem to be a bit of a tradition for big name fantasy authors to just use initials: you know, J. R. R. Tolkien, G. R. R. Martin, C. J. Cherryh, J. K. Rowling. But just “H Lowe” falls a bit flat … And there’s this really beautiful place called the Mavora Lakes, in the south of the South Island. (Yes, the lakes featured in the LOTR films — where the fellowship run the elven boats ashore at the end of the first film, just before the uruk-hai attack—that’s the Mavora Lakes.) So I thought HL (my actual initials) Mavora might work—but my editor at Knopf, Nancy Siscoe, (the publisher for my YA novel, Thornspell) talked me out of it. [Grins again.]

7. We’ve heard you practice martial arts, what is it about this discipline that draws you to it?

It’s a bit like the vision of the twilit world, something that’s endured from an early age. As a kid, I lived in Singapore for a few years and I loved the Chinese swords (toy, of course!) and tv shows like The New Samurai. (It was Japanese, dubbed into Malay, so I never understood a word, but I was glued to the drama and the samurai and ninja action.) Later, at high school and university, I was in the fencing team, and aikido just felt like a natural progression (it’s a sword based art, as well as “empty hand”.) I like the physicality of the art, but also the discipline and sense of tradition. I do zen meditation as well, so there’s obviously something that appeals.

8. What’s most enjoyable about writing dark characters?

I try to make characters emotionally real and I think darkness is something that is present in all of us—which is something that you can’t hide from when you do a martial art like aikido, actually. But the enjoyment comes in making the characters true to the human condition, not in getting off on the darkness.

9. Many fantasy writers have been influenced by folklore and myths from different cultural heritages, is this something that resonates with you?

Absolutely. Eight to nine was obviously a formative age, because it was around then that I first discovered the Greek myths and read everything about them I could find, before progressing on to Norse, Celtic, Egyptian, and folklore from a huge range of countries. As I recall, I got a little stumped on the Epic of Gilgamesh — but I was only little! But myths and folklore really are all through our literature, not just SFF, possibly because they speak to universal themes and the truths, as well as tropes, of being human.

10. Who would be your dream interviewee for your radio programme?

I mainly interview writers, so sticking with that, I would really love to have had the opportunity to interview someone like Mary Renault, because her books made that amazing crossover — especially The King Must Die and the Alexander trilogy — from the mythic/legendary to the anthropological/real history. But right now … maybe someone like Suzanne Collins, because I loved The Hunger Games so much. Or China Mieville, because he’s always working at breaking new ground.

THE HEIR OF NIGHT, book one of The Wall of Night quartet, is out in ANZ this October and in March 2011 in the UK.

GUARDIANS HAVE RETURNED TO THE HUNDRED TO SPREAD CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION UNDER THE BANNER OF A TWISTED STAR.

Reeve Joss is struggling to defend a country ravaged by the assaults of twin armies. His men now patrol a land of burning villages and homeless refugees as Joss tries to separate traitor from friend. The Reeve’s thoughts are also plagued by the intriguing Zubaidit, pleasure-giver, spy and temple-trained assassin. But Zubaidit is focused on a dangerous mission, her target being warped Guardian Lord Radas. His death would leave the invading militia in chaos, but the old tales tell truly of the Guardians’ immortality – and of the powers they now wield to twist the hearts of men. Joss’s nights are also troubled, disturbed by dreams of Marit. His lost love has returned from death to become a feared Guardian herself, but Marit rejected the corrupt temptations they offered. She now seeks others of her kind, praying some are yet uncontaminated by the blight on the land — and have the will to fight it.”

Plus here are few quotes for the series are HERE to show just what a damn fine read is in store.

Lastly, and very excitingly indeed, get ready to grab a copy of Cold Magic (US | UK | ANZ). Publication is imminent and this is book 1 in Kate Elliott’s superb new fantasy with a touch of steampunk. More on that very soon …

Wings of Wrath

In a world where the price of magic is life itself, a group of seemingly immortal sorcerers appear to have cheated the system. And now Kamala has breached their secrets, she seeks to join their ranks as the first female Magister. But they would rather see her dead, forcing her to flee to the frozen north. There Kamala will find an evil far greater than a sorcerer’s enmity, and will hear a dire prediction of a future war.”

Tad Williams once said ‘If you haven’t read her work you need to do something about that right now’ – I’d agree with that, plus here are a few of the great reviews we’ve had for the series:

“It’s potent stuff … Friedman is an excellent writer”   SFX
“Imaginative, deftly plotted fantasy”   Publishers Weekly
“Powerful, intricate plotting and gripping characters distinguish a book in which ethical dilemmas are essential and engrossing”   Booklist
“Typically superb writing style, dark content and well-drawn characters”   FantasyBook Critic
“An excellent new fantasy trilogy … highly recommended”   NethSpace

CLICK HERE (for exploding space ships, politics and scientifical things that catch the Cobley eye).

The Orphaned Worlds (bk2, UK|ANZ) will be out in mass market paperback in the Spring next year, then a few months afterwards bk3,  The Ascendent Stars, will complete the trilogy. So to keep you going, get an Orphaned Worlds screen saver HERE and a free extract of Seeds of Earth (bk1, UK|ANZ) HERE. Get both, don’t be shy!

And saving the best until last, you can watch the illustrious Mike Cobley in action as he answers Orbit’s probing questions below.

I am very excited to have such a fine cover to show off for our wonderful new fantasy The Heir of Night (ANZ | UK), book 1 in The Wall of Night sequence by Helen Lowe. To reference Orbit’s new survey of cover art, there are no unicorns or dragons here, but instead see a seriously on-trend sword, and some  fashion-forward, dark (and meaningful) mist. But the main thing is that it’s gorgeous, richly atmospheric and stand-out to go with the fast-paced breathtakingly good content inside.

The Heir of Night is Helen Lowe’s adult fantasy debut, and we enter a world where the violence of an age-old war casts a long shadow. There we meet Malian who, although she’s being trained to rule, is unprepared for the savagery of her people’s ancient enemy as they attack in the darkest part of the Night.

Helen may be new to adult fiction, but she’s already received critical acclaim for her previous YA novel Thornspell. Last year this won New Zealand’s prestigious Sir Julius Vogel award for Best Novel, Young Adult. Helen won the Vogel award for Best New Talent in the same year, so we are delighted she’s turned her hand to adult fantasy, and you can find a free advance extract for The Heir of Night HERE. The book will be out in Australia and New Zealand in Oct 2010 — and if you are going to WorldCon in September look out for Helen as she’ll be doing some panels and a pre-publication reading. UK readers will have to wait a little longer for the book until  March 2011. But rest assured, it’ll be so worth the wait!

Helen’s been hugely busy in the run up to WorldCon as she’s also preparing for New Zealand’s Christchurch Writers Festival and on top of that she’s just done a pre-AussieCon guest post on Marianne de Pierres’ blog.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Robin Hobb, which perfectly encapsulates this wonderful adventure:

The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe is a richly told tale of strange magic, dark treachery and conflicting loyalties, set in a well realised world’ Robin Hobb

The Sworn,

We wanted something that would draw you into Gail’s world, that would hint at the action and pure thrill of her writing and I think Steve Stone has delivered something wonderfully atmospheric with this visual. Here be swords, brigands, dark magics and other forms of mayhem aplenty, so those seeking adventure between the pages need look no further.

In addition to saying something about this new book, we were also keen to produce something that would be in sympathy with the cover style of the Necromancer Chronicles, as this book is set in the same world as that series. But at the same time, we had to balance this against not wanting to reproduce the previous style exactly as this book is of course the start of something new. And to find out for yourself just how much excitement is in store, have a look at our first sneak preview of The Sworn with this early extract here.

You can also expect more from Gail Z. Martin all this week, as she will be talking about this new book as part of her Hawthorn Moon online book event. This has been a great success for several years now, so look out for interviews, giveaways, twitter-only extras, podcasts and much else!

“Basso the Magnificent. Basso the Great. Basso the Wise. The First Citizen of the Vesani Republic is an extraordinary man. He is ruthless, cunning and, above all, lucky. He brings wealth, power and prestige to his people. But with power comes unwanted attention, and Basso must defend his nation and himself from threats foreign and domestic. In a lifetime of crucial decisions, he’s only ever made one mistake. One mistake, though, can be enough.”

You can read a free extract of it here and it’s also available in the States and will be out soon in Australia.

K. J. Parker has attracted huge amounts of critical praise throughout a long career (UK I US), and here’s just a selection of it, below:

• ‘I have reviewed books before that I thought might someday be found to have achieved greatness . . . K.J. Parker is writing work after work that demands to be placed in this category’ Orson Scott Card 
• ‘Impressive . . . there’s a mordant wit to the workings of Parker’s mind’ TIME OUT
• ‘I was hooked from the very first scene’ LOCUS
• ‘Parker raises the bar for realistic fantasy war craft’ PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
• ‘Has a complexity and ambiguity that’s lacking in much fantasy fiction’ DEATHRAY
• ‘One of fantasy’s premier voices’ SFX
• ‘Stunning’ BOOKBAG.CO.UK

 

And here’s a bit more on Cold Magic, book 1 of the Spiritwalker trilogy, out from Orbit in September.

As they approach adulthood, Cat Barahal and her cousin Bee think they understand the society they live in and their place within it. At a select academy they study new airship technologies and the dawning Industrial Revolution, but magical forces still rule. Drawn into a labyrinth of politics involving blood and old feuds, Cat is betrayed by her family and forced to marry a powerful Cold Mage. As she is carried away to live a new life, fresh dangers threaten her every move and secrets form a language she cannot read. At least, not yet.’