[Aptorian]

Did I get you? I did get you didn't I? Oh yes. And it was good.

Been a while since I did one of these threads.

I was wondering if there is any chance of us getting the prologue before the release. According to some estimates there is less than a month till the book should be released.

[Malaclypse]

I actually don't think Steve would mind if the Prelude were posted. If I'm wrong, I guess I'm in trouble.

It gives away nothing, but, at least for me, it's always an immense pleasure to read passages like this from Steve:

Prelude




… so you have found me and would know the tale. When a poet speaks of truth to another poet, what hope has truth? Let me ask this, then. Does one find memory in invention, or will you find invention in memory? Which bows in servitude before the other? Will the measure of greatness be weighed solely in the details? Perhaps so, if details comprise the full weft of the world; if themes are nothing more than the composite of lists perfectly ordered and unerringly rendered; and if I should kneel before invention, as if it was memory made perfect.
Do I look like a man who would kneel?
There are no singular tales. Nothing that stands alone is worth looking at. You and me, we know this. We could fill a thousand scrolls recounting the lives of those who believed they were each both beginning and end, those who fit the totality of the universe into small wooden boxes which they then tuck under one arm – you have seen them marching past, I’m sure. They have somewhere to go, and wherever that place is, why, it needs them, and failing their dramatic arrival it would surely cease to exist.
Is my laughter cynical? Derisive? Do I sigh and remind myself yet again that truths are like seeds hidden in the ground, and should you tend to them who may say what wild life will spring into view? Prediction is folly, belligerent assertion pathetic. But all such arguments are past us now. If we ever spat them out it was long ago, in another age, when we both were younger than we thought we were.
This tale shall be like Tiam herself, a creature of many heads. It is in my nature to wear masks, and to speak in a multitude of voices through lips not my own. Even when I had sight, to see through a single pair of eyes was a kind of torture, for I knew – I could feel in my soul – that we with our single visions miss most of the world. We cannot help it. It is our barrier to understanding. Perhaps it is only the poets who truly resent this way of being. No matter; what I do not recall I shall invent.
There are no singular tales. A life in solitude is a life rushing to death. But a blind man will never rush; he but feels his way, as befits an uncertain world. See me, then, as a metaphor made real.
I am the poet Gallan, and my words will live forever. This is not a boast. It is a curse. My legacy is a carcass in waiting, and it will be picked over until dust devours all there is. And when my last breath is long gone, see how the flesh still moves, see how it flinches.
When I began, I did not imagine finding my final moments here upon an altar, beneath a hovering knife. I did not believe my life was a sacrifice; not to any greater cause, nor as payment into the hands of fame and respect. I did not think any sacrifice was necessary at all.
No-one lets dead poets lie in peace. We are like old meat on a crowded dinner table. Now comes the next course to jostle what’s left of us, and even the gods despair of ever cleaning up the mess. But there are truths between poets, and we both know well their worth. It is the gristle we chew without end.
‘Anomandaris’. That is a brave title. But consider this: I was not always blind. It is not Anomander’s tale alone. My story will not fit into a small box. Indeed, he is perhaps the least of it. A man pushed from behind by many hands will go in but one direction, no matter what he wills.
It may be that I do not credit him enough. I have my reasons.
You ask: where is my place in this? It is nowhere. Come to Kharkanas, here in my memory, in my creation. Walk the Hall of Portraits and you will not find my face. Is this what it is to be lost, in the very world that made you, that holds your flesh? Do you in your world share my plight? Do you wander and wonder? Do you start at your own shadow, or awaken to rattling disbelief that this is all you are, prospects bleak, bereft of the proof of your ambition?
Or do you march past sure of your frown and indeed, that is a fine box you carry…
Am I the world’s only lost soul?
Do not begrudge my smile at that. I too cannot be made to fit into that small box, though many will try. No, best discard me entire, if peace of mind is desired.
The table is crowded, the feast unending. Join me upon it, amidst the wretched scatter and heaps. The audience is hungry and its hunger is endless. And for that, we are thankful. And if I spoke of sacrifices, I lied.
Remember well this tale I tell, Fisher kel Tath. Should you err, the list-makers will eat you alive.

[Vengeance]

Ohhh that looks like Gallan is talking from the past to Fisher in the futures. I love it when that happens.


Mal thanks for posting this.

[Salt-Man Z]

TL;DR: "The timeline is not important."

Love it.

[End of Disc One]

I've been guardedly skeptical about this trilogy but I really enjoyed that prelude. Thanks for posting!

[Aptorian]

Malaclypse, on 05 July 2012 - 06:21 PM, said:

I actually don't think Steve would mind if the Prelude were posted. If I'm wrong, I guess I'm in trouble.

It gives away nothing, but, at least for me, it's always an immense pleasure to read passages like this from Steve:

Eriksons writing has a way of leaving me humbled. Thanks for posting this.

Now, who could you hassle and harass to earn us a prologue. This was just an appetizer.

Vengeance, on 05 July 2012 - 06:34 PM, said:

Ohhh that looks like Gallan is talking from the past to Fisher in the futures. I love it when that happens.

Mal thanks for posting this.

Maybe there is a warren of poetry or maybe memory, and Galans impression upon the universe lingers there for Fisher to bump into. Maybe Fisher conjured Galan with the power of his pen?

[champ]

Ok, so I wasn't going to read that... I lasted five minutes!

And I am glad that I did, that rocked! Thanks Mal!

Quote

Remember well this tale I tell, Fisher kel Tath. Should you err, the list-makers will eat you alive.

Message to ICE ha? Details, details!

Aptorius, on 05 July 2012 - 06:46 PM, said:

Vengeance, on 05 July 2012 - 06:34 PM, said:

Ohhh that looks like Gallan is talking from the past to Fisher in the futures. I love it when that happens.

Mal thanks for posting this.

Maybe there is a warren of poetry or maybe memory, and Galans impression upon the universe lingers there for Fisher to bump into. Maybe Fisher conjured Galan with the power of his pen?

Gallans still alive, he's in QB

This post has been edited by champ: 05 July 2012 - 06:54 PM

[Malaclypse]

Aptorius, on 05 July 2012 - 06:46 PM, said:

Malaclypse, on 05 July 2012 - 06:21 PM, said:

I actually don't think Steve would mind if the Prelude were posted. If I'm wrong, I guess I'm in trouble.

It gives away nothing, but, at least for me, it's always an immense pleasure to read passages like this from Steve:

Eriksons writing has a way of leaving me humbled. Thanks for posting this.

Now, who could you hassle and harass to earn us a prologue. This was just an appetizer.

Vengeance, on 05 July 2012 - 06:34 PM, said:

Ohhh that looks like Gallan is talking from the past to Fisher in the futures. I love it when that happens.

Mal thanks for posting this.

Maybe there is a warren of poetry or maybe memory, and Galans impression upon the universe lingers there for Fisher to bump into. Maybe Fisher conjured Galan with the power of his pen?

There is no prologue, at least in the version I have, only a prelude.

Also, I do not mean to encourage your trolling Apt, so don't get any ideas

[Aptorian]

Malaclypse, on 05 July 2012 - 06:53 PM, said:

Also, I do not mean to encourage your trolling Apt, so don't get any ideas

Trolling? Me? Perish the thought.

[Malaclypse]

I love it when he rants so artfully

edit: not you Apt

[waylander001]

and what a Prelude it is! Just a reminder of how gripping my favourite Author's writing is - I was sucked into another world(or mind) after the 2nd sentence. Plus - just like his previous works it reads even better the 2nd and 3rd time around

This post has been edited by waylander001: 05 July 2012 - 10:34 PM

[Z'ress]

good ol' Fisher.

[Defiance]

That was fantastic. Can't wait for the 31st.

[amphibian]

Vengeance, on 05 July 2012 - 06:34 PM, said:

Ohhh that looks like Gallan is talking from the past to Fisher in the futures. I love it when that happens.

What makes you think it's in the future? This could be a letter to a contemporary - given how we know Fisher is old enough to be familiar with Envy.

[Abalieno]

That was deliciously "meta".

Though I wonder if Gallan is merely a "front-end" for the writer, or if Erikson developed him as a hidden real character within his own story, with his own agenda and role to play. I'd love if he has a part to play, even if it's never explicit, but it appears here more as a proxy than a real character.

I demand more misdirection and boxes within boxes

[Asharak]

This is going to be good. Hopefully this book will work for new readers as well as old ones. If it does I think this trilogy could potentially bring in a lot of new readers.

This post has been edited by Asharak: 06 July 2012 - 08:14 AM

[D'iversify]

Appetite-whetting. Admittedly will probably not read this for a while as have other things lined up and doctoral work, but definitely anticipating when I do have the time.

[tiam]

Very good prelude that opens up a multitude of possibilities for Gallan, Fisher and this book. I have been looking forward to it and while SE is clearly getting in early stating it is not a book about Rake, I still think he going to be a major part of the story but not a POV character.

I still hope Apt dies horribly in a fire though for what hes done here...

[Aptorian]

amphibian, on 06 July 2012 - 04:43 AM, said:

Vengeance, on 05 July 2012 - 06:34 PM, said:

Ohhh that looks like Gallan is talking from the past to Fisher in the futures. I love it when that happens.

What makes you think it's in the future? This could be a letter to a contemporary - given how we know Fisher is old enough to be familiar with Envy.

The thing is, if we are to believe the chronology (ha!), did not emerge until hundreds of thousands of years after the Tiste Andii Exodus. And from what we've heard of Gallan, I don't think he made it out of Kurald Galain. Making it improbable that the two guys have ever met in the flesh unless Fisher is not human.

Abalieno, on 06 July 2012 - 04:46 AM, said:

Though I wonder if Gallan is merely a "front-end" for the writer, or if Erikson developed him as a hidden real character within his own story, with his own agenda and role to play. I'd love if he has a part to play, even if it's never explicit, but it appears here more as a proxy than a real character.

From the sounds of it Gallan was a central and important figure back in Kharkanas. I am sure he will be present in the stories.

Unless he was speaking only figuratively it sounds like the guy gets sacrificed to something at the end of his tale.

Jean-Claude Van tiam, on 06 July 2012 - 10:07 AM, said:

I still hope Apt dies horribly in a fire though for what he's done here...

[tiam]

Gallan was the High Seneschal of magery or some such at Kharkanas so was probably a pivotal figure.

I think he is speaking metaphorically though. Its not like SE to give us such blatant clues. The clues are normally unclear until the event has already happened then they seem so obvious.