Fantasy You Look Forward To In 2009

[Nick]

A very HAPPY NEW YEAR to all Wonderlanders! This is a time for positive thoughts and of looking forward with hope and enthusiasm, come what may!

What are folk looking forward to in 2009 in the fantasy realm? It could be the next book by a favourite author slated for release this year or the fruition of one of your own projects.

I'm not hopeful of seeing J.V. Jones' latest instalment of her excellent Sword of Shadows series, Watcher of the Dead (she is in my view quite simply one of the finest writers of fantasy) yet I can but hope. I am hopeful of George R.R. Martin's latest A Dance with Dragons, slated for release in April 2009. Even by his own admission A Feast for Crows ran away with him and he had to savagely cut major character arcs out of it, the book being multiple point of view (an example of which A Game of Thrones is a masterclass for budding writers). So it will be interesting to see what a word craftsman of Martin's stature does to turn things around.

And personally: to finish stuff. Just stuff Lots of it. Complete the process. And to have something in the hands of an agent and even an editor. Once again: one can but hope!

I came upon this quote recently:

It is said there are four kinds of writers. 1. Bad writers with bad ideas; 2. Good writers with bad ideas; 3. Bad writers with good ideas; 4. Good writers with good ideas.

I like to think that at the moment I am a 3! It might be a sign of hope that an awful lot of 1s and 3s can have and do make money out of writing! It is also true that an awful lot of 4s do not!

Hope and realism for 2009, then!

[Deborah J Miller]

Hiya Nick!
IMO, it should be: Writers who think about writing - Writers who talk about writing - and Writers who write! I have a friend who once told me about his planned novel, which he had been mulling over for TEN years! It sounded fabulous - right down to an enigmatic/poetic-sounding title... I thought 'If X ever writes this book, it could be a best-seller'... of course he still hasn't written it! Most of us know people that can 'talk a good book' but actually getting the words on the page is what counts. There's absolutely no merit in being 'potentially brilliant!' That's why I think projects like NaNoWriMo are a great idea if they help people to break through that invisible barrier and actually produce some work!

As to novels I'm looking forward to this year, I'd say a big shout out to Wonderlands own, Stephen Deas, whose first novel... damm, will have to go look up the title again - but I can picture the beautiful cover art! - comes out from Gollancz here in the UK! I must confess to having lost the plot with Game of Thrones - much as it is an awesome and amazing achievement. I am a book behind everyone else.

For my own work - I want to finish my new project by February - yes, at the same time as running the DGLA - yes, completely insane... ;-)

Happy New Year!
Debs

[Nick]

Happy New Year!

Martin seems to fit in with a pet theory of mine: no series ever successfully and consitently holds up if it is longer than War and Peace or Lord of the Rings! It just collapses under its own weight.

Think of all the very long fantasy series out there, Martin, Jordan, Wurts, Erikson etc, they are all fatally flawed in some degree (even to the extent of a whole volume) and at least, repetitive. Even die-hard fans of this or that series admit to that. Is it just money, then? To string the thing out as long as possible? The authors themselves would and have denied this. Sigh...!

That writing quote of yours, absolutely! It's why I am where I am...! Yesterday I spent hours writing in two female characters I've had in my head for over a year, knowing exactly on what path and at what point they enter and what they looked like, to include in a draft of a novella I finished over a year ago! I have about 10,000 words to add to complete a further draft now, at a rough guess.

Here's to you completing the process by February, Debs!

[Nick]

That's a positive way to look at it. It really is. It makes me think that's why it is also very difficult to actually finish my own stuff, as well! Looking forward to the N.O. tale. Hope you are well. Nick

[Diane Urbanec]

I know I have trouble letting go of characters like Jilly in Charles de Lint's books. Sometimes it's the faithful readers begging for more, more, more. Onion Girl finally got me over some of my own disfunctional family stuff so I keep wondering how she is doing.

[drosdelnoch]

All the best with it Debs. Perhaps you should get the muse cuffs out and make sure that they hang around until you complete. LOL

[Kim Holmes]

Yah - one hears all too often about people which talk more than write. It's certainly just putting the idea down on paper.

Perhaps that is the fifth category. :)

[Stephen Deas]

Mostly I'll be catching up with 2008. However, automatically skipping to the head of the queue (*if* they make it out in 2009) will be A Dance With Dragons (with every finger crossed that it does for me what all the others except A Feast For Crows did) and A Wise Man's Fear (reading between the lines from Pat's blog, this still hasn't gone to edit, but I could be wrong. I kind of hope I am, because I want to read it. Then again, I kind of hope I'm not, because then I might get King of the Crags (the sequel to The Adamantine Palace) to edit first, and then I get to blow him a big fat raspberry :-) ).

Good luck to all with everything for 2009

[drosdelnoch]

Hey Stephen,
Alas Im looking forward to Pat's work as well. I don't think it will be out for the first part of the year and may (and thats a big MAY) be ready for release around the second part, probably around Octoberish I think.

[RobertB]

I can see what Martin's doing with Song of Ice and Fire; so far he's described the collapse of the realm to the point where it's like Sierra Leone during the civil war, or England in the war between Stephen and Matilda. I hope it gets rebuilt in the rest of the series, as A Feast for Crows brought back so many awful memories it really gave me the horrors at times.

[Liz]

Hi guys!

I am just looking forward to reading - loads and loads of reading and meeting authors and attending Cons. I have a bit to catch up on in 2009 - Joe Abercrombie and Pat Rothfuss, amongst others. I am looking forward to seeing Peat V Brett's Painted Man come out in the States as The Warded Man. I've just seen Twelve by Jasper Kent in the bookshops and I had to squeel as it is such a good book.

I've not checked but will we be seeing more of Scott Lynch this year?

[Nick]

Happy New Year Liz and all!

Last I heard The Republic of Thieves was slated for release in February 2009 but has been postponed. I think he has been working on some spin-off novellas related to the main series but not necesarily involving Locke directly.

[Mihai, Dark Wolf]

I have a huge list of the titles I am looking forward to read this year. Here it is a preliminary list, but I am certain that it is far from complete :)

Joe Abercrombie – “Best Served Cold”
Kevin J. Anderson – “The Edge of the World”
R. Scott Bakker – “The Judging Eye”
Peter V. Brett – “The Desert Spear”
M.F.W. Curran – “The Horde of Mhorrer”
Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio – “Stories”
Bill Hussey – “The Absence”
Jasper Kent – “Twelve”
Tim Lebbon – “The Island”
Thomas Ligotti – “MY Work is Not Yet Done”
George R.R. Martin – “A Dance with Dragons”
David Moody – “Hater”
Mark C. Newton – “Nights of Villjamur”
Patrick Rothfuss – “The Wise Man Fear”
Brian Ruckley – “Fall of Thanes”
Brandon Sanderson – “Warbreaker”
Conrad Williams – “One”
Carlos Ruiz Zafón – “The Angel’s Game”