[Shurque's biatch]

WOOHOO! *dies of joy*

That is sooooo cool. Thanks for thinking of your poor wayward children Steve!

Hetan and Mal, you guys rock! :banana:

This is as exciting as the prologue itself.

[Aptorian]

That was cool. And I thought Malaclypse post elaborating on the timeline subject was even better, I always figured that Trull had been on that wall for longer than people wanted to believe.

It still strikes me as being... unrealistic, that it took Ruin years before he was finally fed up walking backwards and forwards along the Lether/Edur outposts before he finally carved his way through. I mean I know he's probably the most patient creature in all the world, an ascendant witha draconean mind, but seriously... years?

[caladanbrood]

As oppopsed to the voluentary millenia he spent trapped in an Azath, you mean?

[Aptorian]

Well, that was understandable. When you have giant sentient magic/power sucking tree on your ass, you're sort of stuck there.

Of course maybe it took Ruin years to figure out he was supposed to go to the bluerose mountains to find his next clue. You know... "So dark the con of Andii", "Oh, lame saint!" etc.

[Deragoth]

Thanks for clearing this up! I've been to Vic a lot and probably walked by a coffee shop and didn't even notice you in there writing away, lol.

[Warqueen]

I am in awe...speechless...well not that...I am amazed that SE posted this note and is so willing to help clear the cobwebs for those of us sifting through this world sized amount of story....These books have pulled me and won't let go....what a world...what a world..

[acarl]

that is simply amazing to have that kind of consideration from an author on a pre-released prologue. Much appreciated to Mr. Erikson and Hetan.

[Nagrom]

How fantastic
Im drooling for the release of TtH now.

'Old blue eyes' certainly does have a particular type of nihilism, lol, nice one.

[ch'arlz]

NagromGarvlid;274173 said:

'Old blue eyes' certainly does have a particular type of nihilism, lol, nice one.

I worked with a woman probably 15-20 years older than me (I'm 57 tomorrow) who told me about skipping school to see Frank Sinatra on Thursdays in NYC. Penny loafers and bobby sox. She died a few years ago unfortunately, but she typified the fans who subsequently screamed for the Beatles, threw their underwear at Kiss, and who knows what these days.

[Vengeance]

Much thanks to Hetan for bring us this tidbit from steve. It made me all a flutter for the whole book........Droooolllll.......

-Vengeance has been against time lines from the beginning......

[amphibian]

Malaclypse;273504 said:

OK, since Steve saw fit to comment on things, I'll try to mollify the timeline-nerds among us ... Special thanks to Imperial Historian, vaiski and Morgoth who helped work this out. No doubt you will still find eggregious problems but meh, deal with it

you need to accept:

1) As Steve said, all printed dates are to be discarded entirely. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I first read that but it's wonderfully liberating once you get used to the idea

2) Midnight Tides occurs well before the other books, which means that Trull hangs on that wall for a looong time, relative to the timeline of the mortal realm but of course time works differently in the Nascent. Also, Silchas and co. wander around for a few years.

3) The news of Pale's fall in HoC at Culvern Crossing must be propaganda, albeit shockingly prescient propaganda (not entirely out of the question considering the various forms of divination available to the Malazans). Karsa's trip to Genabackis takes about a year and then he spends a couple of years in Raraku before his appearance in DG. Essentially, to paraphrase SE, we've been compressing the events of the books into ridiculously small chunks of time due to the erroneous printed dates. All sea voyages, marches, etc. take a lot longer than our current notions of the timeline would allow.

4) Look for flexibility in the timeline to accomodate the order of events, rather than restricting conditions which make that order impossible

In future editions of the books (I'm of course assuming that they'll keep selling a bunch), would it be against Erikson's beliefs to remove the dates or retcon the biggest errors?

I'm unsure as to whether I'd like to see that or not. On one hand, they are mistakes and may jar us out of the experience, but on the other hand, we have a bunch of fun pointing them out and trying to juggle them.

[Optimus Prime]

Jeez, I will never joke about being the first to read anything ever....

Anywho,

@Apt. I just don't focus on the timeline too much, then it doesn't bother you as much. With the three point arc of the story, it's much easier to do this obviously.

[Zanth13]

You know, if it wasn’t for this forum I would never have picked up on any alleged "errors"... I never paid attention to the time line, I wouldn’t have even noticed the sex change of Orfantal if it wasn’t for you bunch of crazies...

[Raraku]

its gr8 to have an author who cares about the geeky forum members who sit at this site looking for and debating subjective stuff to the nth degree
way to go
also the 3rd guy not being duiker bummed me out a little
i was hoping to see him
but he may still be there later (heres hoping)

[Optimus Prime]

It doesn't hurt the chances of seeing Duiker again at all IMO.

But it does drive me nuts to wonder who the hell the sad dude is....and how big of a role he will play. SE seemed to stress that we would "know" who he is by the end of the book.

[buddhacat]

It's Greymane.

[Nequam]

Raraku;274265 said:

its gr8 to have an author who cares about the geeky forum members who sit at this site looking for and debating subjective stuff to the nth degree

Hey we're not geeky!
Okay maybe sometimes
Yeah, it is a great feeling. when I first read this I felt so...loved. To think, that whole time we were having those disscussion about the prologue and stuff he was reading what we had to say. Then reacting. Makes me wonder how often he really checks out the forum. I know if I wrote a book(s) that had their own forums I would constantly be wondering what people are talking about.

...Though I don't SE visits much, and I hope not. He needs to write!

[Bent]

Okay,so I Just Saw This Because The Inn Is My Home, Thanks To Everyone Involved, I'm A Bit Drunk So Bear With Me...

Hetan Didn't You Say That Your Sig Was Part Of The Prologue...sorry If I Am Wrong, But If I Am Correct, Does This Mean You Have Read The Actual Book, Or At Least Part Of It? I Know This Probably Is Spamming And If So I Appologize Ahead Of Time, And Swear It Won't Happen Again, But I Really Think That It Is Cool If You Have And Admire Your Control At Not Letting Anything Slip.

Sorry If I Am Spamming, But I Didn't Want To Start A Thread Asking This.

[Dancer+]

Hetan is a forereader so she's read all of the book You could have pm'd Hetan.

What's Up With This Whole Capital Thing?

[Kimloc]

Zanth13;274261 said:

You know, if it wasn’t for this forum I would never have picked up on any alleged "errors"... I never paid attention to the time line, I wouldn’t have even noticed the sex change of Orfantal if it wasn’t for you bunch of crazies...

Sex change?? In the Malaz world? Oh, oh, I see now. Andarist must have used Vengeance on him. Is Orfantal Korlat's sister now? Or was he her sister?