I should be writing a book right now. My writing partner is going to cry because I’m not. But it’s turned into one of those days where I mostly just want to kill myself[1] and I haven’t got the Bock[2] for wrangling with the personal problems of two women from the thirty-fourth century right now. So here’s a story about lions and zebras instead.

One upon a time on the Serengeti there lived herds and herds of zebras and pride after pride of lions. There also lived all sorts of other animals but for the purposes of this story their relevance is precisely as an excuse for the numbers of zebras and lions to be about the same. Yeah, take that ecology and damn did those lions eat a lot of wildebeest. And for a long time there was a sort of steady situation in which lions ate zebras any time they felt like it and zebras basically felt pretty shit about life but on the whole they didn’t make a fuss and kept quiet about it because it generally wasn’t a good idea to stand out from the herd when there were always a hungry lion about the place. But as time went by, they slowly got more antsy about it. Some baboons took surveys of the zebras, asking them how they felt about the general state of affairs. Significant disenchantment was noted. The zebras started talking about making some changes. Continue reading “Isms (27/6/2013)”

Another week, another novel, another collaboration project with the ever-patient Mr Smith although I can’t really talk about this one yet (again! Arrgh! Because I really want to and this has been in the pipeline for months. But no contract, no talk. Mrmph). I have spent much of last week being a short female bounty hunter from the thirty fourth century, which turned out to be rather more fun than being a grumpy SAS sergeant who thinks he’s Rees from Person of Interest but so far utterly lacks any of the charm or charisma. I am also discovering a penchant for smug sarcastic spaceships.

So this week’s freebie is Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins which was one of my personal favorite reads from last year. It’s a wonderfully atmospheric espinonagey politically thrillery thing but what really sets it apart is the setting that feels so like an alternate inter-war Russia that you don’t really notice that it never actually says so and yet has giants, space-angels (I think), sentient rain and sentient forests. And it’s gloomy and broody and rains all the time and I like that sort of thing. Something Graham Greene might have written except after the first draft he got smacked round the head by a sentient walking hut and it was rewritten in a Siberian forest by Baba Yaga. There’s a bit of an undercurrent of quantum uncertainty and the overlapping of many worlds too. And then just when you’re really getting into it, some bastard (and I think I have to point a finger at the author here) shows up with a garotte and practically executes the novel mid-sentence, calls that an ending and we all have to wait until Spring next year for the next installment. Nevertheless, this is SF that sits beside Dune for me. It was wonderful. You can visit Peter’s site here.

Usual deal – comment on this post before June 29th  and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy of the book. Last week’s game was fun but I’ll just take comments this week since I’m late in putting it up. I’m not entirely sure about the edition I’m offering here since it will come direct from Gollancz – it may be a US ARC. The story inside is the same.

Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, it can take a while and if you live abroad then it can take even longer. Sorry about that, but they do get there eventually. Well, so far. Recent winners, I have cleared my backlog – they’re all in the post!

Dragon Queen is now published in the UK and available as an e-book in the US. In principle it should be available in paper form in the US from Trafalgar Square but I don’t see it listed as of the start of September. Maybe that’s changed.

Just as The Black Mausoleum was intended largely as a standalone work in the same universe as The Memory of Flames (how well it worked in that regard is something readers can judge better than I), so Dragon Queen rather ambitiously aims to be a both a new point of entry into the world and, to some extent, a continuation of previous stories. it’s definitely NOT a sequel to The Black Mausoleum. Arguably it’s a sequel to The Order of the Scales for at least one character, to The King’s Assassin for another and to The Adamatine Palace for a third. But it’s as much as anything starting anew[1]. In some ways it’s maybe what The Adamantine Palace would have been if I’d paid considerably more time and effort on the characters and gone to town on the world-building. The result is something that isn’t nearly as fast and furious (except for the last act which partially aims to be Call of Duty: Dragon Warfare) but maybe has a bit more weight to it. Or maybe not. For better or worse it’s as long as The Adamantine Palace and The King of the Crags combined.

For anyone who’s been reading the series so far, here’s a teaser: Remember Bellepheros? Remember how he mysteriously disappears half way through The Adamantine Palace? Not so mysterious any more.

And here’s another one: Remember how the Taiytakei get a tiny fleeting mention in The Thief-Taker’s Apprentice. . .  Guess who’s back!

No prizes, by the way, for guessing who the Dragon Queen is.

Dragon Queen’s first review was from Falcatta Times: “If you love a book that has fantasy elements, political double dealing and proceeds to give manipulate the reader then you really have to read Stephen’s work. The story is dark, it has a cracking pace and when you add into this an author who knows how to manipulate not only the reader but also the characters to showcase both their strengths and their weaknesses all round makes this compulsive reading.”

“If you like dragons and subtle story telling, then this is for you.” Fantasy Book Review

“I loved this book and I felt it was refreshing, action packed, destructive. It contains some great dialogue and a finale any author would be proud of.” Slightly Foxed

“The brooding menace of Diamond Eye builds and builds” Walled Kingdoms

“In short, Dragon Queen is a masterpiece of fantasy and easily Deas’ best work to date.” Fixed on Fantasy

Review in full from Publishers Weekly, 2015: “In prose sometimes as elegant as a gold and glass airship, or as stark as a dragon destroying an entire city, the worlds Deas carefully built in his previous Memories of Flames novels are slowly torn apart. Bellepheros, Grand Master of the alchemists’ Order of the Scales, is kidnapped by Taiytakei slavers so their sea lords can exploit his control over immortal dragons. They need a dragon rider, so they capture the fallen dragon queen Zafir. The Taiytakei have also enslaved Tuuran, former soldier in the Adamantine Order that answered to Zafir, and Berren the Crowntaker, a warrior cast into another’s body through sorcery. Bellepheros is charmed by the compassionate witch Chay-Liang into building a dragon eyrie, Berren seeks to undo his curse with the help of Tuuran’s skills and companionship, and revenge-bent Zafir swears to destroy all Taiytakei everywhere with her dragon, Diamond Eye. All of them race toward a major clash that may appear in future books but is only hinted at in this installment. Deas’s dense tale unfurls a fantastic multiverse where a queen can become a slave but a slave can change worlds.”

[1] Or so it was intended. The various reviews suggest maybe this doesn’t work as well as I’d hoped, and in part because of the uncertainty as to what a reader was *supposed* to know. I hadn’t thought of that.

Bellepheros the alchemist left the Veid Palace of Furymouth having failed to find a murderer. On his way home he vanished. Murdered, or so the story goes.

The Crimson Shield went down a bit better than Hostage to Pleasure. Nathan Hawke has a website now, which he didn’t when the giveaway started. It has this interactive map thing that makes me kind of envious and want to stop working on paid stuff and put up an interactive map of the dragon realms. But hey ho . . . Mortgage, kids to feed, etc., etc. This week, meanwhile, has been spent writing scenes for the SF collaboration with Gavin Smith; except it’s been one of those weeks where every single word sucks and what I seem to have produced is 15000 words of rancid cat barf. <le sigh>

So this week’s freebie – back to one of my own: The Black Mausoleum: Gone are the political machinations and the wheels within wheels (don’t worry, they come back in Dragon Queen) – this is much more about survival and a rag-tag band of characters who really can’t stand each other. Probably the best cover in the series too. Signed and lined to the luck winner, of course.If you read it and like it, please tell people about it, post an amazon review or on Goodreads. Something like that.

Usual deal – comment on this post before June 24th  and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy of the book. Since it’s one of mine, I’ll sign and line it of you like.

This week we’re going to play Fantasy Supermarket. First commenter has to point out something fantasy-related beginning with A, second commenter has to point out something fantasy-related beginning with B, etc.

Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, it can take a while and if you live abroad then it can take even longer. Sorry about that, but they do get there eventually. Well, so far. Recent winners, I owe you a particular apology – I have stack of parcels due to go to the post office. Later today, I promise!

News? What news? I’m still mucking about with some historical fiction and for a while I am no longer a fantasy author – no more of that until after the summer holidays. Turns out that neither I nor Lord Grimdark made it into Glamour magazine’s “If you like Game of Thrones. . . ” article possibly on account of being too much like Game of Thrones and not enough like . . . Well, like Hostage to Pleasure, I suppose. Oh, and the Black Mausoleum and subsequent dragon books apparently won’t be coming out in the US via Roc but via Trafalgar (whoever they are) but when I have a clue what that means I guess I’ll elaborate.

So, poor old Hostage to Pleasure possibly wins the prize for least loved giveaway I’ve ever done. I hereby try to redeem myself. I have for you an ARC (not often I get hold of those any more) for the first of Nathan Hawke’s Gallow trilogy coming out this summer. I hope this is more to your liking out there because I gather it’s really f**king rare. You’ll have to put up with the possibility of it having a slightly pre-read look but I’ll be as careful with it as I can before I give it up (he says, looking at the chocolate fudge smear on the screen here…)

So yes: An ARC: The Crimson Shield by Nathan Hawke, not out until 7th July. If it’s popular I’ll see if I can get a couple from the first print run to give away. If it’s *not* popular then I’m going to sulk and give away nothing but copies of Hostage to Pleasure until July :-p

Usual deal – comment on this post before June 16th  and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy. I’ll even let you off playing the Supermarket game for another week.

Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, it can take a while and if you live abroad then it can take even longer. Sorry about that, but they do get there eventually. Well, so far.

I’m still quite taken with The Blood Juggler. I feel a short story coming on for which I don’t have time to actually write.

Meh. An entire week spent on stuff about which I cannot yet talk. I have been talking to a games company, proofing some other stuff… meh. Oh and rewriting the historical fiction thing. More of that this week and some SF about which I cannot speak and it’s about time to knock the short story for World Fantasy on the head. Meanwhile, this week’s free book is a little bit of a departure from my normal offering – you can blame one of the editors at Gollancz for that who appears to want to experiment on me. So we’ll see what happens. I actually have three copies to give away so expect them to come up again if they’re popular.

Usual deal – comment on this post before June 8th  and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy. No challenge this week but now that I’ve been introduced to Rude Supermarket, there may be a more interesting one coming up. Maybe Lord of the Rings Supermarket (A is for Angmar, B is for Boromir, C is for Celador, etc…)

Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, it can take a while and if you live abroad then it can take even longer. Sorry about that, but they do get there eventually. Well, so far.