Bakker's TGO Excerpts II: Mining our Merest Fraction [Spoilers]s

[themerchant]

It's an expression used by Steven Erikson in his world where forces "converge" in a crazy climax at the end of his books.

 

Well that was my interpretation of it.

[themerchant]

Good map here: http://spiralhorizon.deviantart.com/art/Earwa-4109-sm-489666427

Not sure where exactly Akka/Mimara would be traveling to.

[Kalbear]

1 minute ago, themerchant said:

It's an expression used by Steven Erikson in his world where forces "converge" in a crazy climax at the end of his books.

Yes, but how are things in Kuniuri, Dagliash, Ish and Momemn going to converge? My visual interpretation was something akin to Return of the Jedi - the idea of three separate related things happening that all kind of melded together in a way that made sense. But it's tough to see that be the case, especially Momemn. And maybe Kuniuri. 

Guess the obvious answer is the No-God arises and everyone's aware, which would make sense as far as the cryptic "the Consult doesn't show up but makes their presence known" spoiler mentioned before. That somehow doesn't feel right to me, but I guess that could be a possibility. It sounded more like things were kind of wrapped up, or at least somewhat wrapped up. 

I'm also curious what the spoilerific third PoV is. I'm hoping it's the boy. 

Also bummed about the reply to @Claustrophobic Jurble about the whale moms. 

Was tempted to see if we could organize an ARC purchase and pass it around to the folks here. Given that apparently the publishing date is August (per the ARC seller) seems like we could get a lot of people a chance to read it by buying one copy. 

[Hello World]

So what does Mimara want to tell her mother if Kellhus is not even in Momemn and she doesn't know anything about the Fahim invasion?

Does she want to tell her that Kellhus left the Empire and doesn't care about its fate? Doubtful since she doesn't know that herself. She wants to warn Esmenet about her children. Which is going to have some impact given that Maitha's words about Kell seem to have stuck with her.

[themerchant]

24 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Yes, but how are things in Kuniuri, Dagliash, Ish and Momemn going to converge? My visual interpretation was something akin to Return of the Jedi - the idea of three separate related things happening that all kind of melded together in a way that made sense. But it's tough to see that be the case, especially Momemn. And maybe Kuniuri. 

Guess the obvious answer is the No-God arises and everyone's aware, which would make sense as far as the cryptic "the Consult doesn't show up but makes their presence known" spoiler mentioned before. That somehow doesn't feel right to me, but I guess that could be a possibility. It sounded more like things were kind of wrapped up, or at least somewhat wrapped up. 

I'm also curious what the spoilerific third PoV is. I'm hoping it's the boy. 

Also bummed about the reply to @Claustrophobic Jurble about the whale moms. 

Was tempted to see if we could organize an ARC purchase and pass it around to the folks here. Given that apparently the publishing date is August (per the ARC seller) seems like we could get a lot of people a chance to read it by buying one copy. 

I had hoped the Akka riding in on chariots ala Two Towers, seems unlikely given the information though.

I had the same thought on the No-god coming up when i read that. Or use another device that leads to us thinking folk are dead or has a massive impact.

I would like the boy as well. We've basically had a Koringus PoV with Kellhus (provided Kellhus wasn't kept in ignorance) anyway.

I could source an ARC if I wanted one. I'm going to wait till release which I believe is early July. Plus I live in Europe so if it becomes an intercontinental bakkerlistic missile it would spend too much time in transit rather than being read.

[themerchant]

6 minutes ago, Hello World said:

So what does Mimara want to tell her mother if Kellhus is not even in Momemn and she doesn't know anything about the Fahim invasion?

Does she want to tell her that Kellhus left the Empire and doesn't care about its fate? Doubtful since she doesn't know that herself. She wants to warn Esmenet about her children. Which is going to have some impact given that Maitha's words about Kell seem to have stuck with her.

I think she is just horrified at the "evil" and blurts out we have to warm my mother cause she is married to him. It may inform the plot though as she thinks we have to rescue everyone in the 3 seas before he comes back.

Maybe WUTTEAT can give them a lift back

[Kalbear]

1 minute ago, themerchant said:

I could source an ARC if I wanted one. I'm going to wait till release which I believe is early July. Plus I live in Europe so if it becomes an intercontinental bakkerlistic missile it would spend too much time in transit rather than being read.

Apparently the US release is sometime in July, but the UK release is September. And the July date isn't apparently firm, per the ARC. 

[themerchant]

25 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Apparently the US release is sometime in July, but the UK release is September. And the July date isn't apparently firm, per the ARC. 

I order from Amazon Canada and get it shipped to me, well I did with WLW. I'm confident it will be the July date. As I read someone has had the July date confirmed to them. This was after I saw the August date on the cover of the ARC. Maybe Bakkerfans I believe he got a copy of the ARC too.

I'll get the Kindle UK version when it comes out as well.

[Kalbear]

22 minutes ago, themerchant said:

I order from Amazon Canada and get it shipped to me, well I did with WLW. I'm confident it will be the July date. As I read someone has had the July date confirmed to them. This was after I saw the August date on the cover of the ARC. Maybe Bakkerfans I believe he got a copy of the ARC too.

I'll get the Kindle UK version when it comes out as well.

I'm curious about the Amazon Canada version given that Penguin dropped Bakker a while back. Who is doing the distribution for Amazon.ca - overlook? 

[Madness]

Both Pat and MG have said that the press material with the ARC confirmed the July 5th date and, I believe, Penguin is simply handling Canadian distribution of Overlook's version for future Bakker installments.

[Kalbear]

8 minutes ago, Madness said:

Both Pat and MG have said that the press material with the ARC confirmed the July 5th date and, I believe, Penguin is simply handling Canadian distribution of Overlook's version for future Bakker installments.

Thanks, Madness. Weird that the ebay ARC said August.

[Hello World]

Some nice words on TGO's amazon page,

“Terrifying and astonishing.  Here is world-building on the grand scale it should achieve.  Here are emotions and stakes driven to a pitch that will squeeze every reader breathless.” (Ian C. Esslemont, author of Dancer's Lament)

[Sci-2]

16 hours ago, lokisnow said:

but I don't think Serwe seeing the halos is a simple thing to dismiss. When you simply dismiss it, you also miss all the other, troubling little supernatural things that Serwe does in relation to Kellhus.

Sorry, but can you remind us of these other supernatural things? I'm drawing a blank.

[Madness]

I'm really interested in why Esslemont got a read on TGO early.

[Werthead]

I got some exclusive tidbits from Scott for an upcoming History of Earwa article: the locations of all nine High Mansions. I also got the names, but some of them are works-in-progress so I probably won't use them until Scott's happier with them.

Scott also confirmed that the Encyclopediac Glossary II will have a map of First Age Earwa in it, along with the "Reaches" (not quite borders, more a sort of rough area of influence) for each Mansion.

16 hours ago, Madness said:

Both Pat and MG have said that the press material with the ARC confirmed the July 5th date and, I believe, Penguin is simply handling Canadian distribution of Overlook's version for future Bakker installments.

The ARC itself says 2 August on the spine, but the accompany copy says 5 July.

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On this topic - where do Akka and Mimara go next?

You do actually find this out. That isn't one of the cliffhangers, fortunately.

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Yes, but how are things in Kuniuri, Dagliash, Ish and Momemn going to converge? My visual interpretation was something akin to Return of the Jedi - the idea of three separate related things happening that all kind of melded together in a way that made sense. But it's tough to see that be the case, especially Momemn. And maybe Kuniuri. 

RotJ is a good analogy. You also have individual plot threads in each location when then converge on one another (so the Proyas/Kellhus dynamic feeds into the actual battle itself, and in Momemn you have Kelmomas doing one thing, Esmi another and the Fanim another which then come together).

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I'm really interested in why Esslemont got a read on TGO early.

Erikson was a big fan of the first trilogy and I think clued ICE in on the series. And he probably just asked for one. ICE's success has kind of snuck in under the radar a bit as people keep seeing him as adjunct of Erikson, but he's done pretty well for himself (and we have to remember he released three Malazan books during Erikson's uncharacteristic dry spell, keeping the fires burning for that series) and is a reasonably good-selling author himself.

I would like to see GRRM give Bakker a cover blurb since he was a big fan of the first trilogy, but I don't think anyone has asked him.

[.H.]

12 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I got some exclusive tidbits from Scott for an upcoming History of Earwa article: the locations of all nine High Mansions. I also got the names, but some of them are works-in-progress so I probably won't use them until Scott's happier with them.

Oh man, I hope that comes sooner rather than later though.  I've always really wondered where Siöl is.  I have some guesses, but I'd love to know.

I'd also love to know if the one near Sobel was a high mansion or not.

[Madness]

15 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I would like to see GRRM give Bakker a cover blurb since he was a big fan of the first trilogy, but I don't think anyone has asked him.

Uh... Could we make this happen?

Is it as simple as posting on his blog?

[Hello World]

Last we heard from him he hasn't read AE. Even though he 'admired' PoN.

I honestly always got the sense that grrm is not a big fan considering how he belittles fantasy books where the magic is like a science and not just more miraculous.

Also, I'm pretty sure he doesn't like it when people make off topic comments on his blog.

[Werthead]

If you watch the video where he and Scott are on a con panel in Spain together, I think you can see George was quite into the books and geeking out over the historical parallels with the Crusades and Alexander the Great.

I'm pretty sure he only read them when all 3 were out though, so maybe he's planning to do the same with AE.

[Kalbear]

49 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I got some exclusive tidbits from Scott for an upcoming History of Earwa article: the locations of all nine High Mansions. I also got the names, but some of them are works-in-progress so I probably won't use them until Scott's happier with them.

Aww. I was really hoping you got some info on which of the crater-looking things were craters and what they were. 

49 minutes ago, Werthead said:

You do actually find this out. That isn't one of the cliffhangers, fortunately.

Yeah, I figured that they're heading somewhere. I just don't know where, and more importantly I don't know why. 

My current random thought about it is based on some crackpottery, which is that the Dunyain expected Akka and Mimara to know if Kellhus was a God yet, using their terms. Why would they do that? They immediately ask a question that either begs a question or assumes common knowledge, but both are odd from a Dunyanic perspective. How does that help them manipulate and control the situation? 

The only thing I can think is that these Dunyain are going to make it clear that Kellhus is part of the manipulation. That this is part of the plan, and has been part of the plan. That even Mimara coming there was part of the long-term plan. And that in order for Akka to stop the ending of the world, they have to do something else. Like...get the Heron Spear. 

49 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I would like to see GRRM give Bakker a cover blurb since he was a big fan of the first trilogy, but I don't think anyone has asked him.

I suspect very strongly that while GRRM might have done this a while back he will be discouraged from doing so now. Can't hurt to try. Wert would probably have the most success asking directly, but I suspect that @Ran would be faster.