Exciting news, no?

I travelled down to London this evening to see fantasy authors Joe Abercrombie and Brandon Sanderson in conversation. I don’t get out to these events as much as I used to, but this was too interesting an opportunity to pass up. Waterstones hosted the event at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster.

Joe and Brandon are a similar age and launched their careers relatively close together, with Brandon’s debut novel *Elantris* released in 2005 and Joe’s debut *The Blade Itself* following a year later. Both have been highly successful, with Joe moving close to 10 million books and selling his latest novel *The Devils* to James Cameron for a movie adaptation, whilst Brandon has sold over 50 million books and is writing the screenplay for a Mistborn movie for Apple.

Brandon went over his career in some detail, such as writing thirteen novels before he got published, a good way of getting acquainted with failure and honing his skills of characterisation before hitting the big …

A little bit more about me…

I’m the author of THE WOUNDED KINGDOM, TIDE CHILD and FORSAKEN trilogies. My third novel, THE BONE SHIPS, won the British Fantasy Best Novel/Holdstock award and the Prix Italia best international novel which obviously makes me very fancy. My first novel, Age of Assassins, came out in 2016 so I’ve been up to my nonsense for a full decade now and I’ve been translated into ten different languages. Remarkable, for some guy who just sits about making stuff up and getting bitten by his awful cat.

Some other stuff.

·       I live in Leeds in the UK, not too far from Adrian Tchaikovsky. Leeds is the best city in the UK but we keep that secret so please keep going to London.

·       My house is VERY OLD and full of outsider art, taxidermy that has escaped from museums and is now a bit odd looking, and drafts.

·       I have a son, an awful cat, and a wife who is way, way more creative than I will ever be.

·       This year is a three book year for …

I’ve always loved knights and how different fantasy worlds handle ideals like honor and protection of the weak.

Some of my favorites:

Dragonheart:

“A knight is sworn to valor,

His heart knows only virtue,

His blade defends the helpless,

His might upholds the weak,

His word speaks only truth,

His wrath undoes the wicked.”

The Witcher 3’s knightly virtues:

Compassion

Generosity

Honor

Valor

Wisdom

And obviously Stormlight Archive’s Radiants:

“Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.”

What the best knight codes from fiction? Could be from books, games, movies, anime, anything. I’m especially interested in codes that actually feel inspiring or philosophically coherent instead of just sounding cool.

I am floored by the fact that no one talks about this, that it isn’t recommended more often, and that even my most avid reader friends have never heard of it.

When I first finished this series I thought, perhaps pretentiously (lol), that this must be one of the most profound works that I’ll read in my adult life. Such a large but distinct & memorable cast of characters, it has been so long since ive been so immersed and felt that each character was so real.

This has everything I commonly see requests for but elevated by the incredible writing, all cylinders firing all the time: Mature female POV, rags to riches arc, POC mc, mysterious and complex magic system that feels more and more rewarding as you learn its intricacies, well-written female villain, *extremely* and infuriatingly well-written male villain, fantasy races that feel grounded, cultural analyses, an early medieval world that is deeply rooted in historical research, religion! The church and its politics, …

I used to shoot traditional archery and was moderately competent, but I read up a LOT on medieval archery. So when I see it done wrong in a movie (once I saw a guy draw a bow and the string stretched!), it kills my suspension of disbelief.

What is it you know about that writer’s, actors, directors get wrong and spoils your enjoyment in the moment?

I developed aphantasia in my late teens and was devastated that I couldn’t read books anymore in the way I used to. I was always a kid who had her nose in a book as I had undiagnosed adhd and a very abusive home life. I used to get grounded for reading too much. I also have agoraphobia due to, well, reasons.

I didn’t read for years, I kept trying and nothing stuck and I would just get frustrated and give up and go back to watching tv or playing video games.

Well, holy shit. This book just struck me from almost the get go. The way she describes Constance hiding when the door is knocked at, the way she shrinks when people are walking around the house and looking into windows, I had to keep rereading those passages because I couldn’t believe how well I related to what she was writing. And then I read that Shirley Jackson herself had agoraphobia and it all made sense.

i asked my boyfriend to read it as well and he was just like, yeah. It‘s fine. He didn‘t relate to any of it like I did …

I’ve had a few issues with the “New Space Opera” style, but the biggest one is that it forgets the “opera” part. Hyperion, Ancillary Justice, Revelation Space-all of these felt short of my wants because they felt so mundane and quiet. When I read space opera, that’s not what I want! Spectacular heroes! Bombastic space battles! Epic narratives! SAGAS OF A THOUSAND SUNS! Y’know, that sort of thing. So what are your suggestions?

Examples of what I’m looking for: Lensmen, anything Peter F Hamilton writes, Final Architecture, Sun Eater, Bobiverse, Deathstalker, Dune, and Edmond Hamilton’s stuff like Star Kings and Battle For The Stars.

EDIT: Please read the full post before replying.

I’ve been a casual collector of the SF Masterworks series since the (mostly) numbered hardback editions, though far from a completist. The latest I picked up was Brian W. Aldiss’ _Galaxies Like Grains of Sand_, a fix-up of short stories set in a common long history of Earth/the galaxy. It’s a great read in fact, think _Foundation_ but putting the galactic empire into the background and concentrating on how Earth adapts to its changing place in the galaxy.

Unlike most of the books in the series, which are usually well printed but sometimes have strange choices of typeface, this has lots of artifacts that look like letterpress printing. But it’s from 2025, and I doubt they actually did that, it would be too expensive. Does anyone know if this is an effect they’ve used to emulate older pulp novels, or if this edition is scanned from the earlier printings or reproduced from flongs?

I just finished the audiobook of Exordia on a long drive. Wow, this book is a wild ride. It was uncomfortably visceral, intelligent, and has some really crazy ideas but still felt believable and self-consistent.

One thing that jumped out at me was how much care went into the writing of the human weaponry and military side of things. The amount of detail that went into the descriptions of the modern human equipment and military communications was really refreshing. There were a lot of details about weapon handling and function that made me think “wow, this guy actually knows how to load a pistol and how a rifle works”. It is a small thing but I think realistic and accurate writing of real-world weapons really helps sell the experience when you have some exotic alien weapons and destruction flying around at the same time. He also did a great job of using this to add more depth and believability to the characters. Badass professional soldier X effortlessly and naturally moves …

Hello! I just finished Clarke’s Rendezvous With Rama and loved it! Can you recommend any other more modern titles with big dumb objects and a sense of wonder? I already know of Eon by Greg Bear. Thank you.

EDIT: Many thanks for the suggestions! I have a lot to look through now.

I know Allan Kaster has some kindle anthologies. Are they the only ones left? Haven’t seen any sign of the Neil Clarke ones for a few years.

I know there’s the John Joseph Adams ones but they are mixed genre.

Have we reached the end of the era for these? I, for one, really miss them.

I see some recommended books on Kindle always like Best SF anthology 18! Or some similar title. Have anyone given these a shot? I would worry that its just mediocre stories or worse that are cheap to acquire rights to and than resold as “Best”