Wise Man's Fear [SPOILERS!]

[Myrddin]

Thanks, Jussi. I hope Sanderson is spot on (about April and being very impressed). I held off reading Name of the Wind until last year, so I haven't been waiting as long for WMF as many of you, but this and Wheel of Time are my most anticipated releases in the next year.

This thread prompted me to toggle over to Rothfuss' blog and I saw a panel discussion he's on for Comic-Con. (This may be a better new thread, so anyone is free to take the link and repost)

Panel: Once Upon a Time: Epic Fantasy, Bigger Than Life Heroes/Heroines

Notes: Im pretty excited about this panel. Its got Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Lynn Flewelling, Christopher Paolini, and Megan Whalen Turner. And me(Rothfuss), of course. Should be a good discussion.

Whaaa? Paolini is going to talk about bigger than life heroes/heroines in epic fantasy?

Should be an interesting discussion indeed... I wish I could be there.

ETA link

[Poobah]

That's kinda disgusting that Paolini gets to sit next to Sanderson and Rothfuss. I'm not Sanderson's biggest fan, having only read TGS and none of his other work and I'm not familiar with the others but even so I think I'm on pretty safe ground when I say that Paolini doesn't belong there, on account of him being the Fantasy Nock-Off of Dan Brown, without any of Brown's skill at not blatantly plagiarising Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

[Werthead]

That's kinda disgusting that Paolini gets to sit next to Sanderson and Rothfuss. I'm not Sanderson's biggest fan, having only read TGS and none of his other work and I'm not familiar with the others but even so I think I'm on pretty safe ground when I say that Paolini doesn't belong there, on account of him being the Fantasy Nock-Off of Dan Brown, without any of Brown's skill at not blatantly plagiarising Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

OTOH, Paolini has tons of fans. Hopefully they'll show up, go off and read Sanderson and Rothfuss and never touch a Paolini book again, at least until he gets a lot better.

[Tears of Lys]

It's kind of scary to think that someone just reading Paolini may consider every other writer to be copying HIM. :o

[Renasko]

Paolini is rubbing shoulders with some decent writers in the genre from time to time, now. Not an uncommon thing. I figure the Meyer blitz removed the critics eye from him, along with the bullcrap about his age, so he's been cut a break. Hey, perhaps he'll write a less rip-off book by the time he's 30.

[Poobah]

Yes but this doesn't remove the central nagging question from my mind: why is he being given money for writing the starwars/lord of the rings/generic fantasy land/heroes journey nock off fanfiction that I was writing when I was 13, and more importantly can I have some of that money now?

:P

[Garlan the Gallant]

I was at the panel and the signing today at Comic Con with Patrick. He confirmed to the entire the crowd that the book will be out March 1st. He later told me that its hell or high water because if its not out by that exact date its his ass on the line.

[Renasko]

Just after Valentine's, nice. I'm sure it'll make a fine late present for the missus. (Followed by something before, of course :P)

Hope Pat doesn't encounter any land mines.

[pat5150]

Regarding the rumors that there are some TWMF galleys going around, that's bullshit. Just heard back from Betsy Wollheim, and she told me that there won't even be ARCs of this one. Rothfuss doesn't want anything to go around before the pub date, except perhaps to some authors for blurbs...

That's that.

Patrick

[Werthead]

No (American) ARCs? That's a dangerous game.

If this was one or even two years after The Name of the Wind, based on its reception, I could understand that, but four years after the fact and with a lot of people's faith in the author dented by the wait? If Rothfuss were RJ or GRRM with a long, proven track record of multiple books behind him and a decades-established fanbase I could also see the no ARCs thing working, but this is a bit of a gamble. Okay, probably not much of one, but it's still an odd move.

[jamesM]

Paolini sells. Meyer sells. DAN BROWN...SELLS.

This is the disgusting world we live in, make your peace with it as best you can.

[Calibandar]

Actually Wert, I think people will be jumping all over this one, arc's or not. This book is going to be massive, and not just in it's 900 plus pagecount. Many people have been waiting for this one and I don't think DAW would see much of a dent in sales if they don't send out arc's, the first book has done incredibly well.

[Myrddin]

If this was one or even two years after The Name of the Wind, based on its reception, I could understand that, but four years after the fact and with a lot of people's faith in the author dented by the wait? If Rothfuss were RJ or GRRM with a long, proven track record of multiple books behind him and a decades-established fanbase I could also see the no ARCs thing working, but this is a bit of a gamble. Okay, probably not much of one, but it's still an odd move.

No ARCs does show a high level of confidence from the publisher, no doubt. Rothfuss was the biggest debut in some time. I'd say faith him has been dented less for this wait than... others we can't mention on this board.

Expectations are high for WMF, so the wait hasn't done Rothfuss any favors either (unless he hits it out of the park).

Long waits after a proven track record are far worse in my mind than long waits for a second book. First novels are usually the product of years and years of writing, rewriting, scrapping, starting over, and more revising. Second novels are the real test, since it's usually the first novel on a deadline.

[kuenjato]

No ARCs does show a high level of confidence from the publisher, no doubt. Rothfuss was the biggest debut in some time. I'd say faith him has been dented less for this wait than... others we can't mention on this board.

Expectations are high for WMF, so the wait hasn't done Rothfuss any favors either (unless he hits it out of the park).

Long waits after a proven track record are far worse in my mind than long waits for a second book. First novels are usually the product of years and years of writing, rewriting, scrapping, starting over, and more revising. Second novels are the real test, since it's usually the first novel on a deadline.

The vast hype--particularly about "all three books are done"--certainly hasn't helped the situation. On the other hand, Rothfuss has been amazingly forthcoming in his blog and elsewhere concerning the writing process and his stated goal to produce the best book possible.

I hope the wait and constant rewrites means that he's stretched his wings with this one. Book one had decent flowing prose but offered virtually nothing new to the genre. Of course, that's a positive for many, so YMMV.

I wonder how long book 3 will take... :rofl:

[Garlan the Gallant]

Rothfuss said that the book is just under 400,000 words long.

[Myrddin]

The vast hype--particularly about "all three books are done"--certainly hasn't helped the situation. On the other hand, Rothfuss has been amazingly forthcoming in his blog and elsewhere concerning the writing process and his stated goal to produce the best book possible.

I hope the wait and constant rewrites means that he's stretched his wings with this one. Book one had decent flowing prose but offered virtually nothing new to the genre. Of course, that's a positive for many, so YMMV.

I wonder how long book 3 will take... :rofl:

Yeah, I agree. I loved his prose in NOTW, but the plotting was a bit shakey. The micro plots were fun and kept me very engaged, since I assumed they were building toward something. The shift at the end to something out of the blue, was a bit "huh?" As this thread is about waiting for book 2, I'll ignore spoiler tags. The whole dragon subplot was very misplaced and not set up at all. I understand this was a late addition to add a "climax" to the book. Again, I enjoyed it as an isolated adventure, but as part of a larger tapestry, not so much.

My main hope for WMF is that he strings the micro plots together better, to form a better whole. Otherwise there is no need for a 400k word novel. He might as well just publish a collection of novellas. Which I would still read, but without the expectation of an interconnected epic.

That said, I haven't enjoyed a book as much in a long time. His wit makes up for the plot issues.

And time for book 3? THAT's when I'll lump him in with GRRM and RJ. :lol: Post-sophmore effort is where I expect more from professional writers.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

The prose of NOTW made the book for me too.

[Garlan the Gallant]

Sorry about the double post, I am posting from my phone from the first time. The only other bit of news I got out of pat (aside from a hilarious reading of one of Elodin's lessons - seriously though, it was amazingly funny) is that the second book will get into the mechanics of the magic of naming and that all things have names (some are much more complex and "logarithmic" I.e. a person while others are much less complex I.e. a stone) except for one thing. That is all things can be named except for one. That one thing is the title or is in the title for the third book.

[Tomekire]

Does anyone know if the panel with Rothfuss and co. will be released in a podcast or something? I would really like to see it.

[pat5150]

The hubris of the SFF online community will never cease to dumbfound me. :shocked:

First of all, though we are the most passionate readers in the genre, all of us (the good guys and the trolls put together) amount for about 10% of the market. Most SFF readers will never read a blog, peruse a message board, or go to a con. They simply don't really give a fuck about anything but the books themselves. Hell, most GRRM fans in the world are not even aware that A Game of Thrones will soon be a TV series.

Which is why A Feast for Crows, though delayed time and again, debuted at number 1 on the NYT bestseller list. Which is also why A Dance With Dragons will do the same, and probably outsell AFfC in hardcover by a good margin.

And which is why The Wise Man's Fear, coming after the bestselling fantasy debut of all time in hardcover, will also debut on the NYT list, regardless of the fact that some disgruntled fans think Rothfuss is a wanker and does everything but write the next book, is not professional, and doesn't give a fuck about his fans.

If we had that much influence, Terry Goodkind wouldn't sell a single book. Sadly, at times we are just a fart in the wind.

Don't get me wrong, any author wants to have the SFF online community on their side. Ask writers like Erikson, Bakker, Abercrombie, Lynch, etc, what all of us meant to their careers when we helped spread the word around and get the ball rolling, and I'm sure they'll tell you how grateful they are that our excitement helped give exposure to their books.

But all in all, we are just one drop in the ocean. Something many fans seem to forget. . . :worried:

Patrick