The Wise Man's Fear IX [Spoilers & Speculation]

[Ninefingers]

Yes. And no? I wonder if it'd be transferable.

I'd guess yes. Pat has previously given away prizes (like a ring that grants one wish from Rothfuss) and has said you could give them to someone else.

I suspect there would be limitations though. If I won and told Pat I wanted to give it to my brother I'd have a hard time imagining him saying no. If I won and put it up on ebay, I suspect he'd be less agreeable.

[Gaston de Foix]

I'd guess yes. Pat has previously given away prizes (like a ring that grants one wish from Rothfuss) and has said you could give them to someone else.

I suspect there would be limitations though. If I won and told Pat I wanted to give it to my brother I'd have a hard time imagining him saying no. If I won and put it up on ebay, I suspect he'd be less agreeable.

I'd guess yes. Pat has previously given away prizes (like a ring that grants one wish from Rothfuss) and has said you could give them to someone else.

I suspect there would be limitations though. If I won and told Pat I wanted to give it to my brother I'd have a hard time imagining him saying no. If I won and put it up on ebay, I suspect he'd be less agreeable.

I'm tempted. This is the only prize that I'd really like to win, but as I understand it, you might win any of those three prizes. Or do you win all three?

Of course if you win the prize, it would be necessary, as a prophylactic measure if nothing else, that you not discuss the books online until both the novella and the third book are published.

[thistlepong]

This has shown up elsewhere in Literature, so I won't add a link, but the publication date for Rogues has been moved up to June 17th and it's available for pre-order now.

I'm kind of surprised we still don't know much about "The Lightning Tree" this close to it coming out. It's about Bast. It's in third person.

Based on the progress of and his comments during the Pairs Kickstarter, I'm tempted to guess it takes place in Faen. While he's been talking about developing Modegan and Modegan culture as he writes the Laniel novel and even changing some of the cards in the middle of Pairs development, the Faen stuff seemed to arrive fully formed.

[Calibandar]

Has he posted any updates at all on Doorst of Stone recently? Or the novellas/short novels had has planned? I thought one of these was done.

[thistlepong]

Has he posted any updates at all on Doorst of Stone recently? Or the novellas/short novels had has planned? I thought one of these was done.

"The Lightning Tree"

• Bast novella (22,000 words)

third person

it's fairly likely at least some, if not all, of this takes place in Faen

in Rogues - June 17th, 2014

"The Weight of Her Desire" (likely title)

• Auri novella (28,000 words - last count)

third person

sent to early readers (Brett Hiorns, Mary Robinette Kowal, Vi Hart) January 2014 (28,000 words)

Alpha Reading opportunities awarded to three winners in the 2013 Worldbuilders Lottery

He's talked about it being weird, terrible, or likely to convince everyone that he's an idiot

Supposedly it deals with her mental state

It's possible that Auri is the only character and that there's no dialogue

This may be the "favor" Subterranean Press won in the Worldbuilders 2009 Auction

Untitled Novel

• Laniel Young Again (creeping up on 120,000 words)

third person

Set in Modeg

in progress, no word on whether anyone else has read it

He's been working on this longer than anything excepting The Doors of Stone

It grew from a short story to a novella to a novel

This will be published before The Doors of Stone

The Doors of Stone

• Final novel in the Kingkiller Chronicle (expect about 300,000 words)

MS went out to Alpha readers about a year ago

It is not ready for Beta readers

We'll see Renere, the three-part city (WoG)

We'll witness the meeting of Kvothe and Bast and their early adventures (WoG)

We'll learn what el'the means (WoG)

We'll learn about the relationship between naming and shaping (WoG)

He's confirmed it won't be out this year (2014) or next year (2015)

[Calibandar]

Thanks. So he has ruled out 2015 as well, didn't know that.

[Seiche]

Thank you Thistle, that's a great summary and helpful reference.

[Lol]

yay just another 2 year wait :crying:

[thistlepong]

Thanks. So he has ruled out 2015 as well, didn't know that.

This is more of an "effectively ruled out" plus an interview where he said it probably wouldn't be 2015. This kind of drove people nuts elsewhere. I'll try to get around to adding source links,

[Migey]

Not that it's my business to tell Mr. Rothfuss his, but wouldn't it make more sense to just hammer out the final Kingkiller book and then get going on all of these novellas?

Yeah, it would, but not all authors work like that.

I'm not an author, but I can imagine how tough it is to really stick on something and write good quality stuff at a consistent pace, even if you love it, particularly when it's a big project. A lot of authors I think feel the need to vary things up a bit. That's how Brandon Sanderson, for example, remains so prolific: he never sticks with any one thing for too long, and constantly switches around to keep his enthusiasm and work drive high, and it works. I imagine with something as large as Doors of Stone, Rothfuss really gets a much-needed diversion by doing things like writing these novellas.

Also, while there definitely is a point where too long is too long for one single project, and 'hurry the fuck up' becomes a slightly more valid thing to say (and don't we all know a few authors we'd like to say that to), with a project that an author is really invested in a cares about, just "hammering it out" isn't really... well, you can't suggest they do that. It's not an assignment, it's something they care about and are invested in (not to mention, we do and are as well). While not in every case, I think these things benefit often from being allowed to come out at their own pace. If it was methodically 'hammered out', we'd have an inferior product.

As far as I'm concerned, it'll come out eventually, and all I feel the need to do to speed it up is send a wish Rothfuss' way every now and then that doesn't get hit by a bus or suffer some debiliating accident or injury. Fortunately we're not quite at the point where we have to hope he doesn't die of old age, at least for now.

[Seiche]

Pure speculation: completing these intermediate works about Bast, Auri, and Laniel may serve to settle some of the final details of the Story, and to tell tales which will inform what we read in Doors of Stone. I'm failing to come up with a clear analogy of smaller things which come first that help you appreciate/digest a larger thing which follows. But these works might serve this type of purpose, both for Rothfuss as well as the reader.

[thistlepong]

Re: Why is he writing this and not that?

His explanation was that amidst DoS revisions writing the shorter works reinvigorated his enthusiasm for writing.^{(paraphrased)*ed added quote}

March 17th

I call Betsy, my editor. She’s glad to hear the writing’s going well again.

She’s not surprised that a fun side project has helped refresh me. She’s knows how writers’ brains work. She knows more about it than I do, actually. That’s her job.

She’s a great editor.

I suppose a practical justification would be that he committed to them; I'm pretty sure "The Lightning Tree" was the last story turned in to Martin and Dozois for Rogues. The wisdom of committing to them might be questioned.

As far as I know, they're not essential to the Kingkiller story, Seiche. Some of the worldbuilding will undoubtedly answer questions fans have. It'll probably mean that those questions aren't important.

So far we've only seen one of his short works: "How Old Holly Came to Be" in Unfettered. It's nothing like the trilogy, or even any of the stories within it. It was written in a single day. "The Lightning Tree" was hammered out in a month or two. The Auri story has probably taken more than a year. And the Laniel novel has been getting out of hand since at least NaNoWriMo 2011.

I reckon these stories, and the Laniel novel in particular, represent an opportunity to find out how folks respond to his work if it doesn't contain a bunch of the formal technique present in the Kingkiller books. At the same time, reconciling DoS with those techniques while telling a compelling story is probably frustrating at times. Try to read all this as explication rather than apology, though.

[Suttree]

That's how Brandon Sanderson, for example, remains so prolific: he never sticks with any one thing for too long, and constantly switches around to keep his enthusiasm and work drive high, and it works.

It works in consistently putting out marginal to sub-par work. He would be better served focusing on more polishing and rewrites.

[Migey]

He would be, and I do think he needs to maybe wait a bit longer before releasing his finished works, or at least try and get some better editors, but I think if he didn't write the way he does, he wouldn't put out much at all. There are loads of valid criticisms of his writing, but I for one like his stuff enough as it is that I'm happy he's found a way to pump it out as much as he does. Additionally, I think some of his bigger issues stem not from the speed with which he writes, but his style. Either way, thistlepong has confirmed my suspiscion that this is indeed why Rothfuss is doing this.

[thistlepong]

The Auri story might have a release date. The Kindle page says October 28th. The hardcover page says November 4th. This description is from the Kindle page:

A companion novella to Patrick Rothfuss’ bestselling Kingkiller Chronicle novels, The Slow Regard of Silent Things shares an enchanting new perspective on the Four Corners realm.



Renowned as a bastion of knowledge, the University draws the brightest minds to unravel the mysteries of enlightened sciences, such as artificing and alchemy. Yet deep below its bustling halls lies a complex web of abandoned rooms and ancient passageways. In the heart of this cavernous maze is a young woman named Auri, who calls this Underthing her home.



Formerly a student at the University, Auri now spends her days tending to the world around her. She knows that some mysteries are better settled and safe. No longer fooled by the sharp rationality so trusted by those above her, Auri sees beyond the surface of things, into subtle dangers and hidden names.



At once joyous and haunting, The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a richly atmospheric and lyrical tale, featuring one of the most beloved characters from Rothfuss’ acclaimed fantasy series.

176 pages seems long for the 28,000 word story he was talking about in January, but I'll take it.

[red snow]

It seems to be working a treat with Joe Abercombie's YA novels which he says he's been writing faster (and having more fun) than he has in a while. I think these kinds of breaks are ultimately good for everyone and probably mean he'll do a better job of his main series when he returns to it. I'd much rather get another series and wait for a new installment of the main series than just wait years.

[Frank Fitzpatrick]

It seems to be working a treat with Joe Abercombie's YA novels which he says he's been writing faster (and having more fun) than he has in a while. I think these kinds of breaks are ultimately good for everyone and probably mean he'll do a better job of his main series when he returns to it. I'd much rather get another series and wait for a new installment of the main series than just wait years.

Agreed.

At least the guys giving us stuff to read in the mean time.

[thistlepong]

The Slow Regard of Silent Things confirmed. November release date.

[thistlepong]

Rothfuss read the prologue to The Tale of Laniel Young Again to an audience over the weekend. It's about 10 minutes.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I'm re-reading TWMF. I had a radical thought... what if Kvothe isn't the hero? What if he's the villian who no one saw coming who's succesfully hid himself from justice? After all everyone is the hero of their own story.