[Tatterdemalion]

Hey guys. I'll admit, it's been a while.

You may remember me from a few years ago - I was here a lot and insist my post count is merely passable on the basis that I tend to write big paragraph responses or nothing at all. My real name's Joel Minty, and apologies if you also frequent the Malazan Empire Facebook group as you'll have already read through this today. Ignore and move on.

Anyway, in the interim I signed a three-book deal with Realmwalker Publishing Group to pen my epic fantasy trilogy IMBALANCE, with the first novel Purge of Ashes slated for release this April. I'm eager/terrified to share it with YOU, Malazan Empire, since SE disciples are no doubt both the hardest to win over but the staunchest of allies. I intend for you to haze me in the ring of fire and find me worthy or some form of ruddy Pormqual. I am encouraging everyone to 'like' my links here and join with other pioneers of my readership. I will also be looking specifically, among the people who opt in, for some hardened readers who know they can take the plunge within a few weeks of its debut to either stoke the fire or crush all hope. I will inquire thusly in due time.

WEB: www.joelminty.com
Twitter: @JoelMinty
Facebook: Joel Minty - Author

P.S. I assume this is an all right category to post in. Hope so!

This post has been edited by Tatterdemalion: 25 January 2016 - 04:44 AM

[worry]

Cool. Hopefully you bout to be rich. I'll follow you.

[HoosierDaddy]

Good luck!

You should release a couple sample chapters to whet appetites and or get immediate feedback.

[Aptorian]

Congratulations, Tatterdemalion. You've done what many of us forumites only dream about.

I've lifted your first book's blurb off your site:

Quote

The Novels of the Imbalance

Purge of Ashes
Book One of the Imbalance

Zealots of the Scalion Legion arrive in a maelstrom of fire and blood, their ambitions as mystifying as their body count is explicit.

They fall upon Orenzo Madleej, once eager conscript now crestfallen mercenary, suffocating his wide-eyed notions about historied combat. They howl at Aronan Kloss, an heir to the throne determined to return to his father a worthy scion, leaving him embattled by the dueling responsibilities of national security and human decency. They prey upon Asma Madrejingo, a girl sheltered by her gilded upbringing, leaving her for dead amid the ruin of her family – yet with a faint memory of their cabalistic objective: to hunt a single immortal betrayer harbored by Aronan’s powerful father.

Now obligated by contract to escort half a city of refugees to the distant capital, Orenzo and his division are Aronan’s only hope to protect his people from a massacre of crude magic and relentless iron. The road is long as a spear, trust as fleeting as reprieve, and the trials of confidence without as exacting as the worms of misgiving within – for as the harrowing march cripples morale and civil war bleeds out the toughest of the crown’s retainers, the capital seems less and less likely to provide sanctuary…

Darker yet is the one who walks among them, smoldering temples in his wake: a god’s bastard purposed with upsetting the elemental equity between good and evil.

What chance, asylum, against the birth of imbalance?

Book Two, Grip of Dust, and Book Three, Silence of Deluge, will be coming out soon. Check the homepage for the latest updates.

Hmm. Sounds interesting yet familiar. A safe haven for fantasy readers.

If I could criticize the blurb I'd say that the language is a bit too flowery/obtuse for my liking. Maybe ambitiously complex is a better word for it. Especially that second paragraph is just confusing until you reread it in the context of the rest of the blurb.

I am not sure I would be instantly sold if I walked into a bookstore and read this on the back page.

On the other hand your description promises war, some kind of Chain of Dogs like retreat and demons and gods and magic which really is all I want in my fantasy.

EDIT: Also, that third book's title "Silence of Deluge". Maybe it has some in-fiction meaning but that is not a very sexy fantasy title.

This post has been edited by Apt: 25 January 2016 - 05:59 AM

[Mentalist]

Reading that description, I immediately want a PoV of the Legion. Like Apt said, the rest evokes Chain of Dogs quite a bit, and the main chars bear a serious resemblance to those of "Dagger and Coin" at first brush. Not that any of those are bad things, mind-a mash-up of the 2 could be VERY interesting--it's just setting the bar high trying to match 'em (Disclaimer: I only read Dagger and Coin 1 so far). And neither seems "original" (again, in the sense that I immediately had similar archertypes pop into my head), which is why I want to see into the heads of supposed fanatics massacring everyone on their way to kill an offspring of a god- because that COULD be new and exciting, if they have a compelling reason. If the "bad guys" are properly written and not cardboard villains, I'd like to read that.

I'm not trying to be pretentious, but those were my gut reactions. I read too much epic fantasy

EDIT: in any case, congrats, like Apt said- it's a huge achievement. And I hope that people like it (and I will probably take a look at it at some point to support a fellow Malazite)

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 25 January 2016 - 06:38 AM

[Morgoth]

Either way, you've accomplished something we all dream of doing but few ever manage to get done. I'll buy a copy when it becomes available. It's been a while since I read an epic fantasy anyway. The last one was probably.. hm.. Forge of Darkness maybe.

[Cause]

Will def give it a read. Remind us in April though! Shocking memory. Will it get an E-book version?

[D'rek]

Congrats! I'll buy it when it comes out!

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Sounds like it'll be an entertaining story - if it has half the depth of something like the Malazan books, that'll make it exponentially better!

You should also post around on /r/fantasy - they reward authors who post there (and who also comment about things other than just their own books).

[Lycaenion]

Congrats! You've accomplished what I can only dream of! I've followed you on Twitter.

[Tatterdemalion]

Cause, on 25 January 2016 - 12:05 PM, said:

Will def give it a read. Remind us in April though! Shocking memory. Will it get an E-book version?

Yes, Amazon will host a physical book to order (large, softcover - I'm assuming much like my Malazan collection) and an eBook version (Kindle?) will be available as well.

Thank you, everyone, for kind words and offers to follow! It has been a big part of my life and I am eager to share it April 5th. I hope all the things you're looking for - at least most of them - are present.

Mentalist: I've never read dagger and coin so I can only imagine who the characters resemble. There are plenty more than those three, but a blurb's a blurb.

Whisperzzzzz: I just posted my first thread in /r/fantasy wherein I bemoan the fact Fall of Light and new Abercrombie arrive in the same month. Many redditers pointed out that big names attracting fantasy fans to the fantasy section can only do good for the debut. I had to agree.

Apt:
1) What's up? I'm sure we had some lengthy discussions in the day. I value your insight.

2) Blurbs are tough, especially if you are thinking big and Imbalance is thinking big. Stories without ONE central protagonist are difficult to pare down, and from my end this was the most compact way to characterize three leads and summarize 'the problem' at the same time - basically Act I. The following paragraph covers Act II, the Journey and hopefully throws hints of the dangers to be faced. The final bit throws a monkey wrench into the equation and then leaves an admittedly vague rhetorical Q.

Nothing's in stone yet! I will think about simplifying the first big paragraph. It was originally written for a Query Letter that had to be under 250 words. The blurb has no such constraint and could therefore maybe breathe a little more. Below I attached a pic from an AMA where I asked Erikson about queries for anyone who is interested.

As per 'Silence of Deluge,' yes, it is an in-fiction thing that will be understood after reading Purge, and then again after Grip of Dust. So if you've gotten that far it will fit and make sense. (To compare, I remember thinking 'Memories of Ice' was one of the lamest LAMEST titles I'd ever heard when I was approaching it through the awesome 'Deadhouse Gates' - but the CONTEXT of the title once reading MOI made it amazing and turned my opinion on my head. Probably would never have read it if it was book one. Maybe Silence is the same principle. Or maybe I should hold off even mentioning the name as the writing of it is long distant and Grip of Dust is a sure thing.

Thoughts?

Attached File(s)

•  AMA-with-Steven-Erikson.jpg (176.25K)
  Number of downloads: 2

[Tatterdemalion]

HoosierDaddy, on 25 January 2016 - 05:10 AM, said:

Good luck!

You should release a couple sample chapters to whet appetites and or get immediate feedback.

Chapters 1 and 2 would do nicely!

[Aptorian]

Tatterdemalion, on 28 January 2016 - 05:14 AM, said:

As per 'Silence of Deluge,' yes, it is an in-fiction thing that will be understood after reading Purge, and then again after Grip of Dust. So if you've gotten that far it will fit and make sense. (To compare, I remember thinking 'Memories of Ice' was one of the lamest LAMEST titles I'd ever heard when I was approaching it through the awesome 'Deadhouse Gates' - but the CONTEXT of the title once reading MOI made it amazing and turned my opinion on my head. Probably would never have read it if it was book one. Maybe Silence is the same principle. Or maybe I should hold off even mentioning the name as the writing of it is long distant and Grip of Dust is a sure thing.

Thoughts?

I am thinking in much simpler terms. Your average potential book reader knows what a memory is and what ice is. Putting them together makes their own images.

As a non-English reader I am not sure I even know what Deluge is exactly. Something like heavy rain fall or a flood or something. It's a word that may not be easily recognizable to everyone and just doesn't have a particular flair.

Purge of Ashes works because of the sinister tone of it and it sounds like a fantasy title. Grip of Dust similarly sounds like strong title. There's oomph to it. Silence of Deluge... eh. It's more mysterious. Sounds like showdown in an old Western mining town or something.

My observations are entirely subjective of course. Other readers might look at the title and be immediately intrigued.

[Cause]

The trilogy is part of a series called the imbalance. The silence of the Deluge is a paradox. The words don't fit together. It's a paradox, a sign of imbalance. I could see it working. Though honestly, personally, I normally choose books based on the Blurb or authors fame. Titles are very hit and miss. Its very hard to convey anything meaningful about a hundred page book in 3 words. Even blurbs are risky. Sadly books don't get much advertising or exposure which makes being part of a forum like this one so important to begin with.

The wheel of time? I no longer remember exactly what made me choose to start this series. I can however say with confident I thought it was about an actual dragon when I first read the blurb.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Silence of the Deluge sounds more intriguing to me than Silence of Deluge.

[HoosierDaddy]

I like Silence of Deluge. It has a sense of poetry to it, like Dust of Dreams and Midnight Tides. An absence of sound to someone who is inundated with it everyday would very much be a deluge of silence.

Oh well. Where can we grab those sample chapters, Tatter/Malfarious, your website?

[Tatterdemalion]

HoosierDaddy, on 28 January 2016 - 10:51 PM, said:

I like Silence of Deluge. It has a sense of poetry to it, like Dust of Dreams and Midnight Tides. An absence of sound to someone who is inundated with it everyday would very much be a deluge of silence.

Oh well. Where can we grab those sample chapters, Tatter/Malfarious, your website?

I shall get on that with my publisher as soon as I post this EDIT: my promotion schedule has promo chapters slated for a site post on Monday, March 21st. But maybe I can drop one early here for Malazaphiles.

And yes, all points are good. I will likely keep the title, but I think perhaps it is wise not to promote it loudly until I see where Purge of Ashes (and "Grip o' Dust, comin' soon!") go. I won't add a 'the' because it breaks the consistency across all three books of '_____ of _____' titles. Apt's points on all three names ring true.

I will add one more idea to the concept of 'Silence of Deluge'.

I used to drive an ex home 1.5 hours at midnight every Friday. I'd be coming home really late by myself across this huge winding hill of valleys, rises and changing altitudes. All high beams. One time my windshield was fogging up and it was getting dangerous so I pulled off to the side of the road. It was raining rather hard and I had to lower the windows a bit to get the windshield to defog so I just sat and waited. The pounding rain was such a consistent roar. An all-encompassing deluge pounding down on me and my little car. I sat there for 5 minutes and felt like I was in a truer silence than could ever be found out in the world. That when you pause in life and try to really listen you hear impure silences that have buzzings and refrigerators and distant cars and winds whipping in and out - all the minutiae that the human ear can pick up when we stop talking or making noise ourselves. No matter how quiet things are in a library there's always that radiator. The silence of the deluge was in the fact that the white noise hid all other possible interruptions - yet it never changed its pitch, timber, volume or intensity due to the excess of raindrops. It was like a wall of sound that somehow created a hole of silence within.

I think the notion is powerful and symbolic of the paradox mentioned above. 'What peace can be found amid the torrential chaos of this finale?'

This post has been edited by Tatterdemalion: 29 January 2016 - 02:08 AM

[worry]

Ugh did you say April 5th? I think there's gonna be a conflict there, since that's when I'm releasing the first in my erotic fantasy trilogy Rimbalance: Bulge of Bushes (followed by Grope of Arses and the explosive finale, Friction of DaLube).

Well, good luck, and may the best man win.

[HoosierDaddy]

Good luck, Tatterdemalion. I'll read it! (Your description of silent deluge gives me an idea of your style, and I like it, even it if's not mine!)

Your Malazan friends are going to give you some love it seems!

[Salt-Man Z]

Cause, on 28 January 2016 - 11:01 AM, said:

The trilogy is part of a series called the imbalance. The silence of the Deluge is a paradox. The words don't fit together. It's a paradox, a sign of imbalance.

It occurs to me that "Grip of Dust" is the same thing. A grip that can be compared to dust cannot grasp anything, and is therefore not a grip at all. I like it.