The Long Price Quartet

[Brandon Stark]

I found the idea of a physical form of communication that rose exponentially in degree of complexity and difficulty to be no less realistic than spoken - or especially written - languages in the real world that do the same thing. I thought it was a great feature of the world and one of the things that marks Abraham's culture building as pretty ace.

[Calibandar]

Well this is the first Abraham thread I could find, so I might as well ask here.

Initiates Summon Author spell......

Daniel, is there a synopsis for Dragon's Path that you could post?

[DanielAbraham]

Well this is the first Abraham thread I could find, so I might as well ask here.

Initiates Summon Author spell......

Daniel, is there a synopsis for Dragon's Path that you could post?

There's some catalog copy. The Game of Thrones bit wasn't strictly speaking mine, but hey.

The dragons are gone, the powerful magics that broke the world diluted to little more than parlour tricks, but the kingdoms of men remain and the great game of thrones goes on. Lords deploy armies and merchant caravans as their weapons, manoeuvring for wealth and power. But a darker power is rising – an unlikely leader with an ancient ally threatens to unleash the madness that destroyed the world once already. Only one man knows the truth and, from the shadows, must champion humanity. The world's fate stands on the edge of a Dagger, its future on the toss of a Coin.

I also pulled some extracts for an interview by Peter Orullian. They were supposed to be exclusives, so I'd rather not repeat all of them here, but with the caveat that I've only just gotten the editorial letter, and plan to make some changes...

The apostate pressed himself into the shadows of the rock and prayed to nothing-in-particular that the things riding mules in the pass below him would not look up. His hands ached, the muscles of his legs and back shuddered with exhaustion. The thin cloth of his ceremonial robes fluttered against him in the cold, dust-scented wind. He took the risk of looking down toward the trail.

The five mules had stopped, but the priests hadn't dismounted. Their robes were heavier, warmer. The ancient swords strapped across their backs caught the morning light and glittered a venomous green. Dragon-forged, those blades. They meant death to anyone whose skin they broke. In time, the poison would even kill the men who wielded them. All the more reason, the apostate thought, that his former brothers would kill him quickly and go home. No one wanted to carry those blades for long; they came out only in dire emergency or deadly anger.

Well. At least it was flattering to be taken seriously.

The priest leading the hunting party rose up in his saddle, squinting into the light. The apostate recognized the voice.

"Come out, my son," the high priest shouted. "There is no escape."

The apostate's belly sank. He shifted his weight, preparing to walk down. He stopped himself.

Probably, he told himself. There is probably no escape. But perhaps there is.

On the trail, the dark-robed figures shifted, turned, consulted among themselves. He couldn't hear their words. He waited, his body growing stiffer and colder. Like a corpse that hadn't had the grace to die. Half a day seemed to pass while the hunters below him conferred, though the sun barely changed its angle in the bare, blue sky. And then, between one breath and the next, the mules moved forward again.

[Zappster]

Oh my. Seriously looking forward to that. You are in a select group of authors whose books I now buy asap on publication. Hoping for some shiny cover art to go along with that.

[mormont]

:) Many thanks for the mini-extract, Dan. Fair whets the appetite. I'll also be buying this one as soon as it comes out.

[Ran]

Oh, this thread reminds me that I finished the final book in the Long Price Quartet. What can I say that hasn't already been said before? A rich finale to one of the finer fantasy series of the last decade.

[Tears of Lys]

Thanks for the excerpt. Count me in as a devoted follower, Abraham-kvo. :P

[Jussi]

It looks like The Dragon's Path will be published in April instead of June:

http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/Title/9781841498874

[red snow]

I like the sound of poisonous swords that slowly kill the wielder too. It's a nice "price" for an advanatge. Good to hear that fantasy world economics will be as powerful a weapon as physical strength too - that was one of the interesting aspects of "the long price".

It's funny how the phrase "Game of thrones" is too strongly associated with GRRM for me now. Feels odd seeing it in another synopsis.

2011 is looking like an insanely good year for books by authors I enjoy.

[Merrett Frey's Sponsor]

I have nothing of substance to contribute here, but after finishing the series this weekend (interspersed with the stories of Leviathan Wept) I feel compelled to announce that I love Daniel Abraham's work.

[aidan]

I've got a synopsis for Leviathan Wakes by Abraham:

Humanity has colonized the planets – interstellar travel is still beyond our reach, but the solar system has become a dense network of colonies. But there are tensions – the mineral-rich outer planets resent their dependence on Earth and Mars and the political and military clout they wield over the Belt and beyond.

Now, when Captain Jim Holden's ice miner stumbles across a derelict, abandoned ship, he uncovers a secret that threatens to throw the entire system into war. Attacked by a stealth ship belonging to the Mars fleet, Holden must find a way to uncover the motives behind the attack, stop a war, and find the truth behind a vast conspiracy that threatens the entire human race.

Sounds great! It's odd, though, that he publishes under so many different pseudonyms.

[Zappster]

I think it's because it's not just him writing alone on this one. I seem to remember this pseudonym being a collective one for himself and Ty Franck.

[Jussi]

Yeah, this is old news.

[aidan]

Thanks guys, didn't realize it was a collaboration. The synopsis is new, right?

[Emery Silverstein]

I'll definitely be picking it up. Thanks for posting the synopsis, Aidan.

[DanielAbraham]

It isn't in stone yet, but I've read the rough back cover copy for Leviathan Wakes and seen the art, and it's *great* but I can't show it to anyone yet. As soon as I'm permitted, I'll post it here. Suffice it to say that Orbit's doing fine by it so far.

And the pseudonym thing. Yeah, that's contentious. My take is that the name of the author is a signal about the kind of book you're about to pick up. So if it's a really different kind of book, it makes sense to put a different name on it. My sense is that the three main projects (urban fantasy for The Black Sun's Daughter, epic fantasy for The Dagger & the Coin, sf for The Expanse) read differently enough that it's only fair to give readers a heads-up. It's like Richard Stark writing straight-ahead crime novels and Donald Westlake writing humorous crime novels.

I could, of course, also be totally full of it. My perspective on the things is pretty idiosyncratic. But that's the idea behind them anyway.

[red snow]

And the pseudonym thing. Yeah, that's contentious. My take is that the name of the author is a signal about the kind of book you're about to pick up. So if it's a really different kind of book, it makes sense to put a different name on it. My sense is that the three main projects (urban fantasy for The Black Sun's Daughter, epic fantasy for The Dagger & the Coin, sf for The Expanse) read differently enough that it's only fair to give readers a heads-up. It's like Richard Stark writing straight-ahead crime novels and Donald Westlake writing humorous crime novels.

I could, of course, also be totally full of it. My perspective on the things is pretty idiosyncratic. But that's the idea behind them anyway.

I guess as long as readers know what you're other names are, it's all fine. Otherwise it could be tricky to track down other stuff by authors they like. Leaping from fantasy to sci-fi or urban fantasy isn't really a huge shift for me - I think it would be more off-putting if a fantasy author did a romance or a comedy (with or without the fantasy setting).

If an author has a massive hit with one of their pseudonyms, do publishers suggest they use that name for all of their work?

[Foreverlad]

I can understand using different pseudonyms to represent different styles or subject matter for the sake of the readers' expectations. At the same time, it's frustrating to see for a few reasons. I'm sure many posters here will agree that the LPQ is under-represented in terms of recognition and high quality storytelling; there's a number of folk still waiting for their chance to grab TPoS paperback. Seems like a recognizable name spanning sub-genres would help boost sales, demand and author popularity.

This has obviously been discussed and considered by people paid to know these things. Just wish I wasn't left feeling like a part of a cult-following :P

[DanielAbraham]

Seems like a recognizable name spanning sub-genres would help boost sales, demand and author popularity.

It's funny, but that's not really what the numbers show. People (apparently) become fans of projects more than of authors. In my circles, it's called the Donaldson Problem after something Stephen R. Donaldson is alleged to have said after The Mirror of Her Dreams / A Man Rides Through sold massively less than Thomas Covenant, and The Gap Into sold a whole bunch less than *that*. It went something like "I thought I had a hundred thousand Stephen R. Donaldson fans. It turned out I had a hundred thousand Thomas Covenant fans." (caveat: I don't know that he ever actually said that.)

To pull out a couple other examples from my immediate circle, S. M. Stirling's Embervese is pushing up against the NYT top 10, but his other stuff -- some of which I think is even stronger than the Emberverse books -- don't do particularly well. And George's side projects -- Wild Cards, Hunter's Run, etc. -- do decently, but nothing compared to his Ice & Fire stuff.

By comparison, I've heard some analysis of Walter Jon Williams -- who is for my money one of the most consistently solid authors in the field -- and why he doesn't own the world outright. That one went like this: You don't know what a Walter Jon Williams novels is going to be like. It could be post-singularity, it could be high space opera, if could be near-future techno-thriller, it could be old school cyberpunk, it could be military space opera, it could be regionalist New Mexican literary SF, it could be New Weird. The man's done it all. And so, if you're in the mood for military space opera, you reach for someone who does that -- Bujold or Weber come to mind -- instead of Williams, even though Dread Empire's Fall is a freaking brilliant set of books.

The exception to this appears to be YA. Westerfelt can write anything he damn well pleases. My guess is that YA readers are still reading for novelty, where the rest of us read for comfort and consolation. That's just my take on it, though.

[Humble Asskicker]

Yo Abraham,

You are a god of writing. Your books are my Eucharist, which I consume with a loving ardor that would disturb most Catholics.

Just thought you should know.

You may now continue with your regular programming.