Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora

[Werthead]

You could always just draw the map for Scott, based on the best data you have...

Werthead: official mapmaker to new authors.

(he drew the official Malazan maps, IIRC)

I did. But Steven Erikson has his own maps of the Malaz world (currently unofficially called 'Mu', I believe), he just said we won't be seeing them for a long, long time, so I took pre-emptive measures. I'm sure Scott has his own maps of the landmass lying around that will appear at some point.

I'm about 150 pages into it thus far. I really enjoy the dialogue though I don't know if I'm hooked on the story yet. Kind of more interested in the storyline of young Locke over adult Locke currently.

But my question to Scott if he's still reading is -- Is Locke named after the other famous thief found in FF6?

Check out Scott's website. I think he answers this there:

Locke's first name is an homage to a character in SquareSoft's Final Fantasy VI, also known as Final Fantasy III in the United States. This game had a huge influence on me when I was in my mid-teens; I think it's one of the most brilliant and heartbreaking console roleplaying games ever created, a real work of art.

[Lord Baelish]

I thought Erikson's world's unofficial name was Wu, rather than Mu.

[Werthead]

Wumu? Muwu? Actually, you are correct. I got my '*u's mixed up.

[Ixodes]

Scott--

Any plans for any central Minnesota signings (like in St Cloud?)? Didn't see any other plans on your website. I live in Brainerd and it is hard with my job (veterinarian) to get enough time to slip down to Minneapolis.

If you ever are in the Brainerd area and your fiancee wants to see our vet clinic, drop me a message and I would be glad to show you guys the place!

www.lakelandveterinaryhospital.com

[Olaf]

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?c...=0&id=37081

Warner Adapting Locke Lamora

Warner Brothers has tapped the Hageman brothers to adapt British author Scott Lynch's fantasy epic The Lies of Locke Lamora, Variety reported. Michael De Luca and Julie Yorn are producing for the studio.

Locke Lamora, the first of a seven-book series, hit the stands earlier this summer in the United Kingdom and United States to glowing reviews.

The storyline revolves around the adventure of a likable con artist as he and his band of followers, the Gentlemen Bastards, navigate the Venice-like city of Camorr.

It's the second Warners project for Kevin and Dan Hageman. They recently adapted the book Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom for 1492 Pictures, which is producing for the studio.

[The Iceman of the North]

That was fast, or?

[Red Sun]

So, I have ordered the book via Amazon (The UK edition). I hope it's a good one. (I also ordered Bakker.)

[Olaf]

Even faster than you think, because the movie rights were sold months before the book was actually published. The news about the movie deal made a big splash and added to the hype about the book a couple of months ago.

Here is the Variety article from February:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111793889...yid=13&cs=1

But it is good to see that the development of the movie actually moves along, although it is way too early to tell if they actually make it or not.

[Ran]

"British author Scott Lynch" .... Heh.

It was reported that the option had been taken out on the book even before it was published. I don't know whether it's unusual or not for screenwriters to be assigned to adapt an optioned property so quickly.

[RaceBannon42]

"British author Scott Lynch" .... Heh.

It was reported that the option had been taken out on the book even before it was published. I don't know whether it's unusual or not for screenwriters to be assigned to adapt an optioned property so quickly.

Oh geez, but British just sounds more dignified than Minnesoootan dontcha know.

*flees the interview*

[Jaxom 1974]

P.S. Scott Lynch is a cheesehead, not a proper Minnesoootan

Six on one hand, half a dozen on the other...but at least he can write!

[Werthead]

Great. But what have these guys done apart from, erm, that marvellous-sounding film they also wrote?

I'm guessing we're not going to get Scorsese, Spielberg or Jackson for director then? Shame.

[aeu]

They recently adapted the book Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom for 1492 Pictures, which is producing for the studio.

I think I want to watch that movie. Sounds fantastic.

[Ixodes]

Race! Don't make me laugh at work! Ixodes, it would be excellent to meet you (finally). There is no way you can make it down?

It kills me that I can't make it! As it stands the earliest I can leave on that day is 5pm. It would take me 2 1/2 to 3 hours to get there. I will pray to the cancellation gods and see if there is anyway I can make it. Outlook is grim, however...

[Scott Lynch]

Kraken: "But my question to Scott if he's still reading is -- Is Locke named after the other famous thief found in FF6?"

As others have indicated, the answer is "hell yeah."

Ixodes: "If you ever are in the Brainerd area and your fiancee wants to see our vet clinic, drop me a message and I would be glad to show you guys the place!"

Does my better half want to see your vet clinic? Does the Pope wear tall hats? Would you drop me an e-mail, at your leisure? Jen and I will be heading up north for sort of a mini-honeymoon in early September and would be happy to stop by.

Rhelly: "P.S. Scott Lynch is a cheesehead, not a proper Minnesoootan"

Hey! I spent 26+ years in Minnesota, and have spent less than two in Wisconsin... I know that makes me a mutant, but I haven't yet converted to a full cheesehead. You're not a full cheesehead until you start willingly watching Brewers games. We live just a few miles too far to the east to get Twins games on FSN, and as far as I'm concerned Brewers games are worse than no baseball at all. Bwahaha!

Werthead: "I'm guessing we're not going to get Scorsese, Spielberg or Jackson for director then? Shame."

Scorsese would be especially fantastic; I can just hear the opening narration of his version of TLOLL:

"At the height of the long, wet fuckin' summer of the Seventy-Seventh Year of that motherfucker Sendovani, the fuckin' Thiefmaker of Camorr paid a sudden and goddamn unexpeced fuckin' visit to his main motherfucker, the Eyeless Priest at the Temple of Perelandro, just fuckin' hoping to sell him the asshole Lamora boy. I shit you not."

Okay. Now, as for the subject of the Secret Peace

SPOILER: The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Secret Peace works imperfectly, and in fact is intended to work imperfectly, because honestly, there's no other way it could work.

Most of the aristocracy knows about it; those without any significant financial holdings might not have been tipped off by their peers, because nobles just love to play one-upmanship games. However, Dona Vorchenza, charged as she is with safeguarding the nobles of the city, would have taken it upon herself to see that everyone who needed to know did know.

Most of the Right People know about it, if only in the form of Capa Barsavi's direct orders: Don't mess with anything if you know that it belongs to a noble, and don't steal anything from the watch. Most of the garristas and other exceptional servants of Barsavi know about it pretty much in full.

Many of the common folk, be they monied or dirt poor, have heard rumors... but that's really all they are to the great mass of Camorri. Commoners are used to getting a raw deal from those above them; the idea of being squeezed out of a secret arrangement between the thieves in the palaces and the thieves in the alleys is not what you might call a radical notion to them.

There are a couple aspects of the Peace only loosely hinted at in TLOLL; most importantly, the fact that Barsavi and his people routinely rat out the least efficient, least effective, least subtle Right People to the watch. This is part of Barsavi's rules-enforcement mechanism; Camorr is a dangerous place, but if you run around Grand Theft Auto style outside the hellholes ceded to Barsavi, you'll find yourself turned over to the watch by your fellow crooks ASAP. The Peace involves a sort of pre-ordained hypocrisy between cops and crooks; as long as the crooks regularly turn over their craziest or least-productive members (at a net gain to themselves), the cops don't actually look too hard for the rest.

This also helps keep rumors of the Peace as nothing more than rumors among most folks... after all, the watch still hangs people every week, and if they hang less than they used to, well, isn't it just fantastic that Nicovante is such a great duke? Yay him!

I hope that helps explain things a bit; if it doesn't, poke at it some more and I'll try to further weasel my way out of it.

Cheers,

SL

[Ran]

Bleh. Lost most of my post!... Oh well.

SPOILER: LLL

Ah-ha. Well, the fact that the nobles were largely aware of it is something I didn't guess, but I suppose it makes sense. It's their little secret with the Duke and his Spider -- must make them feel like big men around town.

I think I've settled on a read of the situation that works for me. It seems to me, as noted previously, that there'd be enough people who'd actually witness the fact that noble stuff just wasn't getting pinched anymore for a lot of people (those involved in commerce in its various forms, mainly -- the ones who'd actually occasionally have contact with noble stuff) to strongly believe that the thieves were avoiding the stuff like the plague. However, what evidence is there to assume that this is because of an agreement? Seems easier to believe that this singular Capa -- a foreigner, to boot -- has introduced this innovation as a ploy to avoid the Duke's justice. Unhappily for the non-noble citizens of Camorr, it appears to be working.

People can be a little odd, though. They tend to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the people lording it over them. In A Fool and his Money, a citizen of the Bourg of Rodez is quoted from medieval court records as saying (IIRC) that he hoped that the Count of Rodez loved him and his fellow subjects, and if occasionally there were injustices this was a sign that the Count had many other things to worry about which kept him from realizing it rather than proof that he did not in fact love them. So ... assuming a significant number of citizens have cause to believe that the thieves are avoiding noble stuff so as to keep the Duke from hunting them too hard, they're likelier to believe that this is working because the Duke just isn't paying much attention. He's getting on in years, he's got bad advisors, etc. -- the usual complaints. But that he'd willingly throw them to the wolves thieves? Without proof, it's too dreadful an idea for most to willingly entertain, so they don't.

Of course, this would mean the Duke's claim that he's reduced crime (as allegedly evidenced by the small numbers of thieves executed as compared to olden days) would be taken by those citizens who actually know noble stuff isn't getting pinched anymore to just be a sign of how hoodwinked -- by his own neglect, or by those advisors, or the perfidious yellowjackets, etc. -- he is. And those other citizens, the ones who aren't too put upon by the thieves and/or those who haven't been informed that there's been a curious shift in the makeup of what the Right People have been pinching -- probably do believe, as you say, that the Duke is just an all-around excellent guy who has successfully reduced crime. Maybe not for them or their neighbors, but hey, could just be a bit of bad luck.

Perhaps it's a labored bit of logic. For that, I apologize. I just can't quite go the distance on the notion that the non-noble, non-criminal citizens of Camorr have nothing but unsubstantiated rumor. The fact that nobles aren't getting their property pinched has to have registered with at least a few people, but now I see that that's only half the puzzle and by itself not enough to make everyone suspect the Secret Peace exists.

Now, two questions

SPOILER: LLL

Are the yellowjackets actually aware of the Secret Peace, as well, then, much like the nobles? Maybe not the grunts, but the officers?

And ... perhaps you've already been asked, but is the plan for Locke to eventually wend his way back to Camorr? As I mentioned earlier, the criminal landscape has been left a shambles, and it looks to me like there could be quite the story there concerning what happens to the place now that there's no Capa around anymore.

[Jaxom 1974]

Hey! I spent 26+ years in Minnesota, and have spent less than two in Wisconsin... I know that makes me a mutant, but I haven't yet converted to a full cheesehead. You're not a full cheesehead until you start willingly watching Brewers games. We live just a few miles too far to the east to get Twins games on FSN, and as far as I'm concerned Brewers games are worse than no baseball at all. Bwahaha!

So that was you flipping me off last Saturday at the Cubs/Brewers game in the stands!

[Werthead]

He has also just had the ultimate SF/F accolade given to him - he's being included in the infamous Thog's Masterclass at http://news.ansible.co.uk/a228.html (it is quite a long way down the page)

You know you've succeeded in the SF/F world when you've been included there.

I was actually going through the other notable Thogs and found a few other classics which Scott Lynch can now sit alongside with pride:

Dept of True Romance in Author's Acknowledgements: `And two very special people, Richard and Kahlan, for choosing me to tell their story. Their tears and triumphs have touched my heart. I will never be the same again.' (Terry Goodkind, Wizard's First Rule, 1994)

Sound Effects Dept. `The horse's fall had the sound of a bag filled with rocks and lamp oil, landing beside him and rolling over his legs.' (Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon, 1999)

Sheepish Metaphor Dept. `The big destrier liked fire no more than Sandor Clegane had, but the horse was easier to cow.' (George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, 1998)

Dept of Martial Arts Truisms. `It is obviously impossible for an unarmed man to kill a bigger one with his bare hands.' (Margaret St. Clair, The Games of Neith, 1960)

Dept of Descriptive Originality. `Just to the south of them, the new Socket was like a titanic concrete bunker, the new elevator cable rising out of it like an elevator cable ...' (Kim Stanley Robinson, Green Mars, 1994)

And naturally:

`Now Danelle's big blue eyes looked thoughtfully inward.' -- Robert Jordan, The Fires of Heaven

`Egwene's stomach sank into her feet.' -- Robert Jordan, ibid

`Elayne wished the woman would just revert to herself instead of bludgeoning her with a lady's maid from the Blight.' -- Robert Jordan, ibid

`Birgitte's dry tone sounded odd with her wet cheeks.' -- Robert Jordan, ibid

`Nynaeve formed the image of her as a grown woman, concentrated.' -- Robert Jordan, ibid

`... and he tossed his head as if he was about to erupt.' -- Robert Jordan, The Dragon Reborn

[Relic]

Hey, this thread was just what i needed. Was waiting for Stego to answer my email about what he thought of the book, and lo n behold his review is linked here. Gonna be picking Lies up tommorow.

Welcome to the board Mr. Lynch.

[Xray the Enforcer]

fuckin' baseball people!! (minor league fan here -- go Cyclones!) And gigantor spoilers people. Mr. X is still reading LoLL, so I have to keep my damned mouf shut.

BTW: Scott -- thanks for the reply. I understand (now) what you were aiming for, and I think you partially achieved it. It's a tough decision as a writer -- what is best for my story? -- and while the results weren't 100% effective, I can grok what you were trying to do.

Finally -- when the HELL are you going to get to the East Coast (aka NYC or Boston?!) Because we got hospitality, too...