Malazan Empire: Dust of Dreams - a message from Steve - Malazan Empire

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Dust of Dreams - a message from Steve Rate Topic: -----

#1 User is offline   Hetan 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 08:03 AM

Here's a message from Steve to you all - it was sent on the 5th and unfortunately somehow found it's way into the spam folder - thankfully I always check it before deleting :thumbsup:

Quote

Hello everyone. I am writing this from a Blenz Cafe in North Vancouver. Tomorrow, early in the afternoon, I board a plane bound for Beijing, and then on to Ulan Bator. Why am I going to Mongolia? The thing with archaeology is one can never quite get it out of one's blood. I am joining a US/Russian/Japanese/Mongolian expedition, for a five week dig. With luck, I'll get a chance to do some riding once there, which is something I've wanted to do for years.

Now, before anyone panics regarding the timing of this, rest assured I do this in the best interests of the entire series in mind. Before I settle into writing the tenth and last novel, I need a period of time in which to take stock, review all that has gone before in the previous nine novels, and charge up the batteries. Five weeks in a primitive camp on the Asian steppes may not seem an ideal place in which to recharge, but for me it's the perfect place. I return to the UK on the 21st of August, hopefully in time to do some promotion for Dust of Dreams.

Today I wandered the Malazan site for a time, reading many of your comments. Always nice to see such lively debate on countless topics. Thank you all for investing so much in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. I suspect that in the months to come, plenty will be hitting the fan with Dust of Dreams (if Bill and Hazel's responses are anything to go by), and I will look in from time to time (though I found, with Toll the Hounds, that I would be wise to wait a month or two after launch. If precedent is anything to go by, responses mellow and opinions often reverse following the initial rush to comment: if I had taken to heart the predominantly negative reactions to Toll the Hounds in the days following its release, I might have been depressed for days. Curiously, this pattern seems pretty consistent, if I look back on the reactions to House of Chains, Midnight Tides, etc. As much as I meekly advise patience with my readers, so I must with myself). In any case, fare well for now.

Yours
Steven Erikson

"He was not a modest man. Contemplating suicide, he summoned a dragon". (Gothos' Folly)- Gothos
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#2 User is offline   alt146 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 08:07 AM

Awesome! Good luck with your dig and enjoy your well deserved rest :thumbsup:
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#3 User is offline   HoosierDaddy 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 08:08 AM

Thanks for caring about your audience, Steve, and for giving us so many enjoyable hours before ever finding each other at this forum to debate endlessly. We love your stuff, enough to spend countless hours here talking about it. Have fun on your vacation, it is justly deserved.
Trouble arrives when the opponents to such a system institute its extreme opposite, where individualism becomes godlike and sacrosanct, and no greater service to any other ideal (including community) is possible. In such a system rapacious greed thrives behind the guise of freedom, and the worst aspects of human nature come to the fore....
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#4 User is offline   MTS 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 08:40 AM

^^ What Hoosier said. I've never come across an author who I enjoy enough to spend countless hours discussing the finer points of his/her writing and debating minutiae. You've captivated so many, and we all appreciate you taking the time to keep us posted. Go and enjoy your holiday. You've definitely earned it, and then some.
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#5 User is offline   Battalion 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 09:25 AM

... Sorry, I still think Toll the Hounds was a let down ...
Get to the chopper!
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#6 User is offline   Lisheo 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 09:27 AM

Good luck, Steve. Your writing is one-of-a-kind, and I'm glad to be part of this comunity :thumbsup:
“People have wanted to narrate since first we banged rocks together & wondered about fire. There’ll be tellings as long as there are any of us here, until the stars disappear one by one like turned-out lights.”
- China Mieville
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#7 User is offline   Silencer 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 09:39 AM

Have fun!

It's certainly a well-deserved break, and much as we might like you to get straight into writing again, I'm sure everyone here understands the need for breaks from work. :thumbsup:
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<Vote Silencer> For not garnering any heat or any love for that matter. And I'm being serious here, it's like a mental block that is there, and you just keep forgetting it.

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#8 User is offline   drinksinbars 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 10:04 AM

sounds like an awesome holiday.

have a good one, steve and then back get to work!!! :thumbsup:
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#9 User is offline   tiam 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 10:15 AM

View PostBattalion, on Jul 9 2009, 10:25 AM, said:

... Sorry, I still think Toll the Hounds was a let down ...


Reread it. I hated it as im not the sharpest philosophical tool in the box and even the ending never saved it for me. But on a reread and a further reread i couldnt get enough of the earlier stuff. I think the first time you read it its to verbose to absorb all the facts especially Endest who throws out all sorts of gems on a whim but while i would like a decent explanation for the dying god i thought that it was the best written book bar possibly MT

Anyway thanks steve for the decency to not hide away from fans. We have all invested hundreds of hours in these books (At the very least) and it is much appreciated that you actually give a shit
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#10 User is online   Wry 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 10:32 AM

View PostBattalion, on Jul 9 2009, 10:25 AM, said:

... Sorry, I still think Toll the Hounds was a let down ...



I do too... BUT, i think it needs to be said that while i think it's the poorest book in the series, that stil puts it head and shoulders above almost everything out there.

And i'm glad Steves getting a much needed break, he certainly deserves it!
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#11 User is offline   Use Of Weapons 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 10:40 AM

Great to get the message, and hopefully there'll be a signing at Forbidden Planet in London!

I have to say that in my recent reread, Toll The Hounds is one of my favourites. I liked it on first reading, and I love it now. I'm a huge fan of Kruppe, and his narration really worked for me.
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#12 User is offline   Gothos 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 11:06 AM

meh what's wrong with you guys? TTH is up there among the 3 best books in the series (wtih RG and MT)...

that taken care of, mr Erikson, that's one hell of a place to be :p it's a lot how I imagine Awl'dan. have an interesting time and thank you for your effort! :thumbsup:
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#13 User is offline   D'rek 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 12:42 PM

I'm scared he's going to get run down by zombie-Genghis Khan and we'll never get the Crippled God!!! Please SE don't pull a Robert Jordan on us!

Though if I lived in Mongolia right now I would definitely go wander aimlessly in the steppes on the off-chance of finding him...

View Postworrywort, on 14 September 2012 - 08:07 PM, said:

I kinda love it when D'rek unleashes her nerd wrath, as I knew she would here. Sorry innocent bystanders, but someone's gotta be the kindling.
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#14 User is offline   Mezla PigDog 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 01:06 PM

I love how he feels the need to justify some time off to us. Are we that mental? Anything that makes the brain producing the final book feel better is good for everyone here. It sounds like a fantastic trip. Riding Mongolian ponies across the Steppes would be awesome.
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#15 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 01:06 PM

Steve's awesome. The man needs a break, he goes digging in the ground for Genghis Khan's bones! neat.


- Abyss, would have just sat on a beach...
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#16 User is offline   Illuyankas 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 01:09 PM

Cheers, Steve. Just don't give in to temptation and invade China while you're there.
Hello, soldiers, look at your mage, now back to me, now back at your mage, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped being an unascended mortal and switched to Sole Spice, he could smell like he’s me. Look down, back up, where are you? You’re in a warren with the High Mage your cadre mage could smell like. What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it, it’s an acorn with two gates to that realm you love. Look again, the acorn is now otataral. Anything is possible when your mage smells like Sole Spice and not a Bole brother. I’m on a quorl.
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#17 User is offline   caladanbrood 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 01:10 PM

Excellent stuff, have a great holiday Steve! Do we expect plenty of brilliantly-researched nomads in TCG? Hope so :thumbsup:
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#18 User is offline   Bhurnae 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 01:12 PM

but a whole five weeks off? C'mon..........2 weeks in Spain woulda done the job. Kidding. Have fun scooting along the Silk Road on a moped Steve.

View PostMezla PigDog, on 28 September 2009 - 09:34 PM, said:

I have been entertaining tourists for many years now.... A girls gotta make a living.
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#19 User is offline   RangerSG 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 01:26 PM

I have to say that is just about the coolest idea for a vacation I have ever heard of. And a well-deserved one, too. Thank you for sharing your imagination and vision with us. It's been an amazing experience. One I've thoroughly enjoyed. And this community is a very good one as well. And that speaks of the type of people your writing draws.

My most sincere thanks for your labors. :thumbsup:
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#20 User is offline   Gem Windcaster 

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Posted 09 July 2009 - 05:14 PM

So you're going away to get dirt everywhere (or to get dirty :thumbsup:). Cool!
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