AncalagonTheBlack Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 HarperCollins has signed a six-figure deal with fantasy writer Mark Lawrence. HarperVoyager’s Jane Johnson signed UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to a trilogy by Lawrence for a “substantial” six-figure sum, in a deal with Ian Drury at Sheil Land. The Red Sister Trilogy will feature a female protagonist, trained to kill using wild, natural magic. Johnson said: “Mark Lawrence is one of the best reasons I continue to be a publisher: he is without doubt the finest new writer to enter the fantasy field in the past decade and I am hugely proud to publish him. He has an extraordinary talent, combining wonderfully lyrical writing with a very dark sensibility and a scientist's precision, and he has turned the genre on its head.” http://www.thebookseller.com/news/hc-inks-six-figure-deals-lawrence-and-casey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Neat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Great news that Mark is able to make a living off his work (although I wonder why I always assume "6 figure" is 1 million when it's actually anything from 100,000 - 999,999 I must think in log scale) given his recored of a book a year.I'm taking for granted this is set in the same world as his other books although I wonder if the name of the trilogy will change as it sounds very similar to his current "red Queen" series.It'll be also fun to see him handle a female POV character (although he's dabbled in it before) as the central figure. I'm sure Mark will pop up and correct me if it is a new world/series Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjornbert Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 On his blog he wrote it's a new world. Excited for this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 More info from Mark's blog: In a bold move, RED SISTER features Mark’s first ever female protagonist, Nona; a girl with a mysterious past and a dangerous future. There are rich evocations of The Wizard of Earthsea and The Name of the Wind, alongside Mark’s trademark grit and violence: Nona is being trained to kill, and dark political forces will seek to use her wild natural magic to their own advantage. I'm currently 70,000 words into book 1, Red Sister, so still a ways to go yet. The books are set in a new world. I might return to the Broken Empire one day, but I felt it time for new horizons. This will also be my first published work not in the 1st person, though I'm sticking to one point of view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 New world? Interesting.Given the blurring between him and Abercrombie (it's a two way street) I'm surprised the new series isn't YA. I guess this also means that the third book in the red queen is done - so we should be seeing that next year too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Lawrence Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 New world? Interesting. Given the blurring between him and Abercrombie (it's a two way street) I'm surprised the new series isn't YA. I guess this also means that the third book in the red queen is done - so we should be seeing that next year too. It does, it is, and you should! http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/the-wheel-of-osheim.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Reckoner Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Can't wait for the new trilogy, Mark. :drunk: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowDogJen Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Neither can I! Thanks, Mark! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shinrei Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 First work not in 1st person view? Perfect, i guess this will be my first foray into your writing, Mark. Looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 It does, it is, and you should! http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/the-wheel-of-osheim.html That should be the blurb on the book :) Thanks for the succinct and encouraging answer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjornbert Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 First work not in 1st person view? Perfect, i guess this will be my first foray into your writing, Mark. Looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Red Sister - The Prologue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Red Sister - The Prologue If that artwork was the cover to a comic book the internet would be outraged! It does seem a bit over-sexualized but I've no idea if that's official art (or something Mark picked out) or whether it's reflective of the actual character so I'm ok with it. But given how the internet is, I can imagine it will be commented on. I'm not great with reading web based samples but it seemed pretty good. A bit thick on similes but i sort of liked the ones that didn't seem to make sense but actually worked in the context of the sentence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 'In a bold move...'Not sure writing a female character is that bold of a move. People, people like Mark, have been writing them for years.Sorry, line made me laugh. I too am looking foward to this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Lawrence Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 'In a bold move...'Not sure writing a female character is that bold of a move. People, people like Mark, have been writing them for years.Sorry, line made me laugh. I too am looking foward to this one. Yeah, I didn't write that, and it took me by surprise. But then I had a think about it and found I couldn't name any fantasy books I own that have a single female PoV. To rephrase - not that I couldn't think of any books with female PoVs, but I couldn't think of any which had just one PoV and that PoV was female. I'm sure there are lots of them in urban fantasy, and maybe some in YA fantasy, but I don't think I own any in epic / swords and sorcery fantasy. Or perhaps I do and I'm just not remembering them. Anyhow, I didn't consider it a bold or unusual move - but that line in the release did prompt me to the above musing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I couldn't name any fantasy books I own that have a single female PoV. To rephrase - not that I couldn't think of any books with female PoVs, but I couldn't think of any which had just one PoV and that PoV was female. I'm sure there are lots of them in urban fantasy, and maybe some in YA fantasy, but I don't think I own any in epic / swords and sorcery fantasy. Or perhaps I do and I'm just not remembering them. The Runes of the Earth and Fatal Revenant by Stephen Donaldson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Lawrence Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 The Runes of the Earth and Fatal Revenant by Stephen Donaldson. I stopped 4 or 5 books into the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I liked them (a lot early on) but ran out of steam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maester Llama Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 It is disturbingly hard to think of examples, yes -- highlights a gap in terms of stuff I'm personally aware of I'm sure, rather than in terms of what exists. There's Ursula Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan. There's the first two books in N. K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kingdoms, which are first-person. Oh, oh, there's Bujold's Paladin of Souls [bujold's availability / exposure in the UK is the next best thing to non-existent, I understand.] However, as Mark Lawrence has noted, as soon as we get into ya things explode: I believe a bunch of Tamora Pierce's books, specially the early ones, are told from the perspectives of lone girl or woman protagonists -- interesting how Pierce landed in juvenile lit from the start, while authors like David Eddings, who were writing primarily or at the very least partially about boys but with content at the most only marginally more "adult" than Pierce's, got shelved as fiction for grown-up people [Eddings has more recently been repackaged as ya I believe.] Are some of the early Robin McKinley fantasies single viewpoint? More recently, authors like Rachel Hartman have continued in this vein of stuff that's shelved as ya and is indeed great for younger readers but is also secondary world fantasy focusing on a lone female protagonist [i think the Bardugo and Maas books might also apply here, though I've not read them -- just from the descriptions I suspect the Maas in particular may include multiple viewpoints.] So there's stuff out there, certainly more than enough to make the "bold move" line very eyebrow-raising -- and, I imagine, quite disconcerting to read if you're the author! I enjoyed this prologue a lot, and am excited to read more. The Broken Empire and I did not get along even though I think the books are often stylistically and structurally aces, so I'm very much looking forward to trying Mark's work again in a new setting with new characters and concerns! In amongst all the lovely shiny writing in the prologue I already notice an intriguing world thing, specifically that, like the world of the Broken Empire, there are some definite shout-outs to Earth -- "Corinthian," "Styx Valley." I'm trying not to get too involved fifty months prematurely, but I'm looking forward to finding out more and exploring this world in the company of hardcore badass killer nun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Yeah, I didn't write that, and it took me by surprise. But then I had a think about it and found I couldn't name any fantasy books I own that have a single female PoV. To rephrase - not that I couldn't think of any books with female PoVs, but I couldn't think of any which had just one PoV and that PoV was female. I'm sure there are lots of them in urban fantasy, and maybe some in YA fantasy, but I don't think I own any in epic / swords and sorcery fantasy. Or perhaps I do and I'm just not remembering them. I didn't figure you wrote it =) Though I would love to see promos written by the author, could be very interesting. But since we are playing... Broken Kingdoms by NK Jemisin. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey The Bone Palace by Amanda Downing The Scar by Chine Mieville Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (any Granny book really but especially this one) Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone (maybe this is UF) Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip Cold Magic by Kate Elliott (steampunk) Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey (probably YA by today's standard) God's War by Kameron Hurley (SciFi but reads much like fantasy) Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie Half Made World by Felix Gilman That is my Goodreads list that doesn't include UF or YA. And you are right, not the strongest list around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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