User:Krmarshall/notes

Other Malazan Races

'The First Empire, from which vast fleets had sailed forth to map the world. The coasts of all six continents had been charted, eight hundred and eleven islands scattered in the vast oceans, ruins and riches discovered, ancient sorceries and fierce, ignorant tribes encountered. Other peoples, not human, all of whom bled easily enough. Barghast, Trell, Tartheno, Fenn, Mare, Jhag, Krinn, Jheck . . . Colonies had been established on foreign coasts. Wars and conquests, always conquests. Until . . . all was brought down, all was destroyed. The First Empire collapsed in upon itself. Beasts rose in the midst of its cities, a nightmare burgeoning like plague...The Emperor who was One was now Seven, and the Seven were scattered, lost in madness. The great cities burned. And people died in the millions.'(MT, UK Trade, p.421)

Kallor

Kallor is currently Reaver in the High House of Chains and in that position he killed Whiskeyjack, who was trying to protect Silverfox, after which he disappeared in a chaos warren after being attacked with Telas magic by the Imperial High Mage Tayschrenn.

In Toll the Hounds, Kallor is wandering Genabackis, hoping to conquer Darujhistan, a hope which is foiled by one of the Tiste Andii.

First Empire

The Beast Ritual and subsequent Fall of the First Empire

"The final days - so long ago, now - had been chaotic. The ritual had unravelled, unexpectedly, unpredictably. Madness gripped the Soletaken. Madness splintered the more powerful of its kin, broke one into many, the burgeoning power wild, blood-hungry, birthing the D'ivers. The Empire was tearing itself apart...

I (Treach) was there at the end, one of the few survivors once the T'lan Imass were done with us. Brutal, merciful slaughter. They had no choice - I see that now, though none of us were prepared to forgive. Not then. The wounds were too fresh.

Gods, we tore a warren to pieces on that distant continent. Turned the eastlands into molten stone that cooked and became something that defied sorcery. The T'lan Imass sacrificed thousands to cut away the cancer we had become. It was the end, the end of all that promise, all that bright glory. The end of the First Empire. Hubris, to have claimed a name that rightly belonged to the T'lan Imass...

We fled, a handful of survivors. Ryllandaras...Messremb...'

STONEWIELDER

- Can you give us a bit of a synopsis regarding STONEWIELDER?

Stonewielder unfolds on the subcontinent variously known as ‘Korel’ or ‘Fist’. Again, like Deadhouse Gates, or Return, the novel will serve to flesh out the region of its setting over the course of which answering or furthering certain larger themes and questions. For example, I understand from the threads on the Malaz site that many readers were troubled by the appearance of the ‘Riders, or Stormriders, in Knives (and elsewhere). The readers will have the chance to decide whether Stonewielder puts all those concerns and reservations to rest. Events follow closely on Return and center on a new Malazan offensive in that theater launched by the new Emperor, Mallick Rel.

- In a previous interview you mentioned how much fun writing RETURN OF THE CIMSON GUARD turned out to be . Is STONEWIELDER as much fun to write, or is a more difficult endeavor?

I have to confess that I’m finding Stonewielder a harder row to hoe. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because I’m resolved to try to push my writing even further along, as I attempted in Return. What this has developed into is a slower pace, a more character-centered project. Some readers may prove to be turned off by this, but, at the same time, other readers will be pleased. Every work will find it’s own audience. And by slower, I mean less of a mad dash than Return.

- Where in the timeline is STONEWIELDER taking place?

Just less than two years after Return.

Sci-fi literary agent John Jarrold has concluded a four-book World rights deal for Canadian fantasy writer Ian Cameron Esslemont with Simon Taylor of Transworld Publishers in London for a strong five-figure sum. The first book, called Stonewielder, is due for delivery in September 2009, and publication in 2010.

Quote

"The Crusts for example. Assuming of course that the Captain of the Ragstopper and the Keeper are Cartheron and Urko Crust"