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Hello everyone,
Normally I don't step in, especially this early in the game with Toll the Hounds still a few months from being released, but it occurs to me you might find it useful if I toss in a few comments to assist you in your discussions. This is all pretty random, but here goes:
The two dead characters in the prologue are not related to anyone seen in the books; in fact, they are generic and won't be seen again -- no need to speculate on their identities. At the end of that sequence, when she says: 'oh here comes my carriage,' this is simply the product of being exceptionally brainless on her part, and highborn to boot. Trust me when I say that what's on its way ain't her carriage. That section, with the two corpses, needs to be read through to a deeper level than what's on the surface.
You've not yet met the third member in Kruppe's little gathering. By the novel's end you will know precisely who the man is.
The line regarding 'two women' in the daughters section missed my editing eye -- I will correct before publication.
Sundry other comments: Timeline. Well, yes, I can see how this fascinates everyone. I recall speaking with Malaclypse over the phone a few months back and numbing his ear with a run-through of how the events fit in my head, the key being to disregard all noted years (which is where I consistently screw up -- while things remain in the form of a blurred cause and effect sequence in my head, it all makes sense. To me, at least.). He mulled on it for a while and then said 'yeah, that almost fits.' Friends, 'almost' is good enough for me. I used to be scared of inconsistencies. Not any more. Well, make of that what you will. With respect to the Nascent and time going strange there, and to those who have noted that detail: yes, some basics laws are very much awry in the Nascent. The reasons will come clear.
I noted some curiosity as to the music I listen to while writing. Some people have suggested that it's all personal and private and I'd never tell. Nah, sure I'll tell. You are welcome to know what music I listen to and even argue with each other over it. What remains personal, as with each and every one of us, is how that music affects us. Not only is that personal, it's probably ineffable. What stirs my imagination in a song can sometimes being as little as a single phrase (a lone line about 'hyenas' in Roger Waters' Amused to Death that set most of the Chain of Dogs afire in my brain); or a spectacularly evocative guitar lick with stunning lyrics (Bruce Cockburn's last song on the Charity of Night album -- Strange Waters? that spoke to me about the price of displacement).
Over the past couple years I have been listening to, in no particular order:
Bob Dylan (and covers by other artists)
Bonnie Rait
Leonard Cohen (and covers by other artists)
Bruce Cockburn
Roger Waters & Floyd
Ferron
Talking Heads
David Byrne
and for the most ecelctic collection imaginable, try this:
lyle lovett, sinatra, crowded house, led zepplin, neil halsted, joni mitchell, hootie and the blowfish, planet p, chris rea, van morrison, neil young, nick cave and the bad seeds, annie lennox, etc.
Betrays my generation? Maybe. Uncool? Probably. Whatever I listen to while writing, it needs lyrics, and generally good lyrics (the exception to the latter being led zepplin, which flaunts terrible lyrics, but the sound!). Stunned and appalled by 'sinatra'? Ah, you younglings -- want the best the-world-is-fucked-and-we're-all-going-to-die song? Try old blue eyes and 'Let's face the music and dance.' See what I mean about private head-space? It's a mystery, all right, but one with a big wide grin.
Anyway, thanks for your patience on the prologue; I hope the wait was worth it.
Cheers
Steven Erikson
Normally I don't step in, especially this early in the game with Toll the Hounds still a few months from being released, but it occurs to me you might find it useful if I toss in a few comments to assist you in your discussions. This is all pretty random, but here goes:
The two dead characters in the prologue are not related to anyone seen in the books; in fact, they are generic and won't be seen again -- no need to speculate on their identities. At the end of that sequence, when she says: 'oh here comes my carriage,' this is simply the product of being exceptionally brainless on her part, and highborn to boot. Trust me when I say that what's on its way ain't her carriage. That section, with the two corpses, needs to be read through to a deeper level than what's on the surface.
You've not yet met the third member in Kruppe's little gathering. By the novel's end you will know precisely who the man is.
The line regarding 'two women' in the daughters section missed my editing eye -- I will correct before publication.
Sundry other comments: Timeline. Well, yes, I can see how this fascinates everyone. I recall speaking with Malaclypse over the phone a few months back and numbing his ear with a run-through of how the events fit in my head, the key being to disregard all noted years (which is where I consistently screw up -- while things remain in the form of a blurred cause and effect sequence in my head, it all makes sense. To me, at least.). He mulled on it for a while and then said 'yeah, that almost fits.' Friends, 'almost' is good enough for me. I used to be scared of inconsistencies. Not any more. Well, make of that what you will. With respect to the Nascent and time going strange there, and to those who have noted that detail: yes, some basics laws are very much awry in the Nascent. The reasons will come clear.
I noted some curiosity as to the music I listen to while writing. Some people have suggested that it's all personal and private and I'd never tell. Nah, sure I'll tell. You are welcome to know what music I listen to and even argue with each other over it. What remains personal, as with each and every one of us, is how that music affects us. Not only is that personal, it's probably ineffable. What stirs my imagination in a song can sometimes being as little as a single phrase (a lone line about 'hyenas' in Roger Waters' Amused to Death that set most of the Chain of Dogs afire in my brain); or a spectacularly evocative guitar lick with stunning lyrics (Bruce Cockburn's last song on the Charity of Night album -- Strange Waters? that spoke to me about the price of displacement).
Over the past couple years I have been listening to, in no particular order:
Bob Dylan (and covers by other artists)
Bonnie Rait
Leonard Cohen (and covers by other artists)
Bruce Cockburn
Roger Waters & Floyd
Ferron
Talking Heads
David Byrne
and for the most ecelctic collection imaginable, try this:
lyle lovett, sinatra, crowded house, led zepplin, neil halsted, joni mitchell, hootie and the blowfish, planet p, chris rea, van morrison, neil young, nick cave and the bad seeds, annie lennox, etc.
Betrays my generation? Maybe. Uncool? Probably. Whatever I listen to while writing, it needs lyrics, and generally good lyrics (the exception to the latter being led zepplin, which flaunts terrible lyrics, but the sound!). Stunned and appalled by 'sinatra'? Ah, you younglings -- want the best the-world-is-fucked-and-we're-all-going-to-die song? Try old blue eyes and 'Let's face the music and dance.' See what I mean about private head-space? It's a mystery, all right, but one with a big wide grin.
Anyway, thanks for your patience on the prologue; I hope the wait was worth it.
Cheers
Steven Erikson
discuss....
