Malazan Empire: The Collected Steven Erikson Questions & Answers thread - Malazan Empire

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The Collected Steven Erikson Questions & Answers thread see note in first post for explanation Rate Topic: -----

#181 Guest_Rallick Nom_*

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Posted 09 August 2003 - 11:22 AM

And yet another question from me...

I have read on these forums that the Twin Jesters of Chance, are known only as Oponn together, but when they are apart they are known as Beru and Nerruse. is this true? If this is true, is their Warren Ruse due to their relationship with the sea, and the Warrens name apparently being taken from Nerruse's name?

'"Simplifying matters." Oh wait til I tell him that one. Hey Rallick, you're not a man who kills people, you're a man who simplifies.'

m/ Soldier, High House Light m/

(Y)
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#182 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 10 June 2003 - 09:12 AM

Fiddler, Kalam, Quick Ben...
Shield Anvil, Mortal Sword and Destriant of the Bridgeburners?

Cheers,
Love the books,

Abyss

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#183 User is offline   caladanbrood 

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Posted 27 February 2003 - 03:40 AM

erg! anarchist... Posted Image

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O xein', angellein Lakedaimoniois hoti têde; keimetha tois keinon rhémasi peithomenoi.
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#184 Guest_Rallick Nom_*

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Posted 25 July 2003 - 09:46 AM

Another question from the "unwashed masses" here.

You've mentioned how much you enjoyed Stephen R. Donaldson's "Thomas Covenant" series. Do you think the Ritual of Tellann which cursed the T'lan Imass with sleepless immortallity has any correlation to the Vow of the Bloodguard which had very similar consequences enacted by an act of sheer will?

Thanks.

'"Simplifying matters." Oh wait til I tell him that one. Hey Rallick, you're not a man who kills people, you're a man who simplifies.'
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#185 User is offline   Monok 

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Posted 07 July 2003 - 06:00 AM

Can you please sort something out that's been annoyng me? When the enkar'l drank the water with the demon-possesed toblakai blood in it, was the soul of the enkar'l put in the body of the toblakai or was it still in the enkar'l somewhere?

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"Let he that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred, three score and six."
-Revelation, Chapter 13, verse 18
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#186 Guest__*

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Posted 29 January 2003 - 11:33 AM

Actually, Lady... he said they had ascended, but were ascended ghosts. If I understood him correctly. Posted Image

Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.
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#187 Guest__*

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Posted 27 January 2003 - 10:47 PM

Whoo! Any writer out there who pays no attention to his or her readers should be shot (no, don't take me literally). Hello one and all, I've spent more than a few hours the last couple of days reading this thread and that, finishing here on this one. To those of you who took time to reply to my query, my heartfelt thanks. Are all fan sites like this one? Anyway, you've swept aside my uncertainty and as for future acknowledgement of this site, count on it.

All right, some questions to go through, but first, some news (reward time, in gratitude for your commantary). Blood Follows will appear in a four novella trilogy coming out soon, so those of you who missed it first time round, hang in there. Now, there's been plenty of speculation about Midnight Tides, and I have no wish to take the wind out of any sails, so all I'll say is, you'll recognise a few names in the first half of the prologue, and another you'll know as soon as you see him in the second part of the prologue. Apart from that, there's one and only one: Trull Sengar. I could give you a character list but he's the only name you'll recognise.

Before there's wild panic, the abandonment of other characters is a temporary one, this book only. The Bonehunters centres on Tavore's new army. Toll the Hounds takes us back to Darujhistan. Reaper's Gale -- well, I'll hold back on the rest for now. You can expect to see a lot of the old cast reappearing -- I don't intend to leave anyone behind, honest.

So, for Midnight Tides, you'll just have to trust me. The new take on the pantheon is more of a variation than something entirely disconnected from what you already know. I've just sent off a 225 word blurb thing to my editor, so it should appear on the publisher's site sooner rather than later. I'm 300 pages into the novel, smooth sailing so far (touch wood), on chapter 10, which begins in the city of Letheras, with a visit to a brothel to retrieve a dead woman. That won't seem so strange when you reach that scene. Really.

Okay, some questions already touched on. To the others....

Coltaine reborn, will he have a role in future books? Not in this series, I don't think. I may change my mind, but don't put money on it.

Platoon and influences on my characters? Hmm, you know, that film would have worked better if Stone hadn't lost his stones at the end when the Sheen character voice-overs what's been obvious for the previous two hours, that he had two directions in which to go, each embodied by the two rival soldiers in the squad. Well, yeah, no kidding, mate! I'll take Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket over Platoon any day, and in a lot of ways Apocalpyse Now was a real influence in my fantasy writing, that surreal juxtaposition of in-the-dirt grunt point of view and overwhelming firepower raining down from the sky -- that's the siege of Pale in a nutshell.

The deragoth mystery will be revealed in due course. Thus far, all that's been revealed (maybe) is that the two hounds Rake killed who escaped the sword ended up conjoined with the Deragoth in those statues. Either that or the Hounds of Shadow and those of Darkness are diametrically opposed -- if one's around its opposite can't be. The secret lies in Dessimbelackis (no connection to Dassem, btw).

Malazan weapons and armour. No real plate armour. Banded or scaled or chain. Longswords are more Norse or Saxon than a spartha. Normally one-handed. Longknives are usually single-edged, with a slight downward taper beginning two-thirds of the way down. Thin-bladed, the blade itself about thirty inches long.

Finding character names seems, on reflection, pretty damned random. Although I'll occasionally do the Dickensian trick of creating one perfectly suited to that character's personality. I could tell you the origin of Quick Ben but it might take the allure off the character, so I won't.

Is Tiam male or female. Female, sometimes a mother, sometimes a lover, sometimes a daughter, and sometimes all three, but always female. The next book will have in the glossary Baruk's interpretation of the Draconic family tree ... all three versions.

Heboric's healing of Scillara reversed the circumcision, yes.

Apsalar most certainly will return. Lady Atheilen, how old are you again? You write better than fellow students of mine at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. UVic has a very good writing program btw....

The ascendant Whiskeyjack? All rightie, this ties in with concerns I've seen expressed about resurrections in the novels. Curious. Paran is the only character truly resurrected, because in his re-animation he is essentially the same person he was before. Maybe Duiker, too. Tattersail was reborn, as was Nightchill, but Silverfox is a very different creature. Baudin as a servant of Hood is perforce very dead, and will remain so. The Bridgeburners who make a re-appearance in HoC are ghosts. Ascended, yes, resurrected, no. Coltaine is a month old and his mother still has to hold him out when he pees. No fast return there. Felisin is gone. Toc's just inhabiting a different body. Will there be any more resurrections? Only one, and it's what all the others are leading to.

Will my stuff ever get adapted into an RPG computer game? Beats me, no one's asked.

Jaghut as a word has no earthly influence by way of origin. I just liked the way it looks on the page. I pronounce it Jag-goot but accenting the first syllable and falling off on the last syllable.

The realm of Shadow. More will be revealed in due course, especially in Toll the Hounds.

Dessembrae -- the cult sees their god as male, but his grief as female.

A few more things ... there was more than one chaining of the crippled god. The account that Kruppe reads has merged all of them into one (hence his comment about finding his grandmother's name in the list -- had he read further, he just might have). One of the things that always fascinated me in my readings of recorded people's histories has been the strange notion of time, especially the way it's sometimes compressed, other times stretched out. There's a history of the Goths I once read that does this again and again; as do a few versions of the Norse creation myth. As a writer of fiction, I realised this was exceedingly useful, particularly in the way it could mislead. Yeah, I'm a mean bastard, ain't I just. Anyway, The Malazan Book of the Fallen is a compiled history, warts and all. It's not above brazen manipulation of events and facts, because, well, that's the nature of the beast. By this, do I mean it as a way of squirming out of things? No, you'd all never let me get off that easily. I just love the feel of an uncertain history, as all histories are. If none of you had any questions, then I'd be worried.

Enough to chew on for a while? I hope so. Cheers to you all.

SE
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#188 Guest__*

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Posted 27 May 2003 - 07:17 PM

just finished reading your first book, and it was very inspiring that someone could write such an intelligent, well crafted and imaginative piece in a genre that although i love, i have at times found stale and repetitive. I was just wondering if you could tell me one thing. When approaching a publisher or agent, did you present a complete synopis of the story, or a major part of it, and recieve an advance based on the strength of that piece or did you prehaps present the first chapters or segments of the book? I aspire to be a full time writer but the means of supporting myself whilst writing has always been a mystery to me. Is it just a case of making money from a normal job and writing the rest of the time (sounds tiring to me!!!) or can a first time writer receive an advance based upon the strength of a plot or idea and some show of writing ability?

Thanks
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#189 Guest_Bottle_*

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Posted 07 April 2003 - 03:30 AM

Just as a begging question Mr. Eriksson, in your next book, is it possible that you write a small and minor character, something like the character Ebron in your House of Chains, but this time make his or her Warren that of Tennes. In all your other stories, you have emphasised a lot on the warren Denul, Meanas, Thyr ( Tattersail gave us a good insight into the working of this warren ), D'riss and Hood. The Warren I think you have not covered with any depth on is the power of the warren Tennes ( unless Quick Ben's making a hole in the ground under Kallor in Memories of Ice is the power of Tennes ).

And to Caldazar, hi hi, from one forum to the other now are we?
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#190 User is offline   Calot 

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Posted 29 June 2003 - 09:25 AM

Hmmm... I think he may need a bigger bait...

Here's a half baked one- but will we hear more of a sort of 'Narrator' character- Thinking back to the very first Quote in the book "Now we open the old book..." etc.

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#191 Guest_Riot_*

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Posted 15 July 2003 - 07:08 PM

Just thought i would ask a question in regards to the malazan uniform...i am in the process of drawing Whiskeyjack and havent been able to find a detailed description anywhere...The mains parts in am having trouble with are:

body armour - what does he wear and how does he wear it (under or over uniform etc...).

shape of his helm

rank markings

standard issue weapons, armour, etc

anything else that may be useful!!

Thanks heaps in advance... Posted Image

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"Playing your own songs is like having no clothes on." - Ed Vedder.
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#192 User is offline   Orfantal 

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Posted 30 January 2003 - 05:49 AM

@ caladanbrood
MOI page 685
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#193 Guest_Eru Iluvatar_*

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Posted 27 July 2005 - 04:07 AM

Hehe, that would be something... a love triangle between Anomander Rake, Lady Envy and Osric. Lady Envy could be the mother of L'eoric.

They travelled once all together, didn't they?
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#194 Guest_Jhag_*

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Posted 07 March 2003 - 05:02 PM

I thought of even more questions after re-rereading Deafhouse Gates and just by mulling over the story some more.

Is Mobi the same as Trout Sen Bhokarala? The Bhokarala in the name and the things described by him seem to indicate that, well at least to mePosted Image

You said earlier that you wanted magic to be something that had nothing to do with 'birthright' so to speak. That kind of implies that everyone should be able to become a mage. My question thus is how do you become one? And do you have to have a link with the 'owners' of the warrens?

And a lil thing I noticed about Crone. In the beginning of chapter six of GotM it indicates that she is 1000 years old (it states something like she learned in a live of 1000 years) while we read in MoI that she was the First Born of the Great Ravens and that the Great Ravens were born from the flesh of the Crippled God at the Fall which abt 120 000 years before. How does that add up?

Will try to think of more questions nowPosted Image And thx very much for answering all of our questions, I know its been said before but it cant be said enoughPosted Image

[This message was edited by Jhag on 09 March 2003 at 07:32 AM.]
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#195 User is offline   Monok 

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Posted 08 February 2003 - 11:46 AM

Are you ever going to combine all the forthcoming Broach + Bauchelain novellas into an omnibus edition at something less than daylight robbery?!

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#196 Guest_Pale Remnants_*

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Posted 03 February 2003 - 10:33 AM

Any chance of some commisioned artwork? Or illustrated special editions.

( Duplicate? no idea what happened there )

The Way Of The Exploding Fist
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#197 Guest_The Shadowlord_*

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Posted 15 February 2003 - 11:53 AM

probly because he was going into chaos and it would have been too dangerous with a physical body. Also, Shadowthrone would have identified him immediately...

Wake him not.
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#198 User is offline   ChrisW 

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Posted 10 July 2003 - 08:42 PM

Lady A, If SE emails you with the next batch of answers just unlock the Q&A 3 thread and add it on there in my post, then leave the topic open.
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#199 Guest__*

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Posted 16 January 2004 - 02:59 PM

A teeny question that someone brought up in the forum. Did you notice that Quick Ben's initials spell B.A.D. ???

Masher of High House Tea
Priest of Milk and two Sugar
Mortal sword of Tesco's Value

"Wash my cup and die evil doer."


edit: urm, wrong thread mate... post this in the Q&A #3... the clues in the titlePosted Image

[This message was edited by caladanbrood on 17 January 2004 at 12:53 AM.]
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#200 Guest_Delat_*

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Posted 15 August 2003 - 08:41 AM

Seeing as everyone appears to be emptying their curiosity Eriksons way I thought I may as well do the same. Now I realise that this has probably been touched on a thousand times, and you are all free to ridicule me for my ignorance as much as you see fit, but something has been nagging at me for a while, it could be I'm the only one to put thought to this so far but I would find it hard to believe my insights in to the subtle mechanisms of this series match up to the majority of this community. I'll ask anyway. Two questions really, it appeared to me that when the hounnds of darkness were first awakened and were tested by the taste of an imass flint sword that the weapon failed to affect them, why then are Karsa's flint creation and Leomans' flails capable of fatal damage. Is Karsas' sword more powerful than a regular imass incisor due to his friends spirit or ws it just because Karsa wielded the sword that the hounds previously impervious fell. Also, to extend my personal splurge, as to the Hounds (Which I personally find just as exciting and wondrous as dragons for their sheer raw power) we have been introduced to Hounds of Shadow and of Darkness, both of which have met their matches in power in their debut appearances. Where then, I ask, skulk the hounds of light? Do such things exist because, although this is meer speculation, that would definately seem to fit. And if you are prepared to disclose such speculation will they also fall on the dawn of their revelation? Any answer you can give would be welcome, and then perhaps I can finally sleep at night.
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