Introductions | Origins of an Empire

The first of a series of three prequels, Forge of Darkness purports to be a new beginning for The Malazan Book of the Fallen, but as ever with the work of Steven Erikson, it is not so simple — an assertion acknowledged by the cult Canadian novelist:

"What I would speak of this morning is but the beginning of a tale. It is without borders, and its players are far from dead, and the story is far from finished. To make matters even worse, word by word I weave truth and untruths. I posit a goal to events, when such goals were not understood at the time, nor even considered. I am expected to offer a resolution, to ease the conscience of the listener, or earn a moment or two of false comfort, with the belief that proper sense is to be made of living. Just as in a tale." (p.513)

A tale such as this tale of tales. But where else are we to begin, if not at the beginning?

Even then, one can only wonder: which beginning?

Because you could say The Malazan Book of the Fallen began in 1982, when a couple of archaeologists endeavoured, in their off-hours, to excavate a history of their own creation. They did this, according to the old wives' tale they each tell, by playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. So the story goes.

Several years into these sessions, their campaigns had become so complex - and so compelling in their eyes - that Steve Lundin and Ian Cameron Esslemont resolved to share them in some way with the wider world. Together, then, nearly a decade on from the fiction's first informal flush, these friends collaborated on a film script. The movie would have been called Gardens of the Moon... if it had ever been made.

But it wasn't. The co-written script didn't sell. And if you'll permit me a side-note, perhaps that's just as well. Given Erikson's comments on the matter, Gardens of the Moon the movie would have played the affairs of this death-drenched empire in large part for laughs — an unconscionable thought, is it not?

Of course, the story was far from over, for soon after the screenplay's failure, Lundin and Esslemont drew a line in the sand and went their separate ways with the canon they had created. The latter author was to take his time developing his share of the saga, but almost immediately the former composed a novel based on the ill-fated film script.

Still, it took another age for anything to materialise from this. Finally, in 1999, Bantam Books published Lundin's first work of fantasy, under the pseudonym most of us know him by today. Gardens of the Moon garnered Steven Erikson a modest yet immodestly devoted following, and if not a win then a nomination for the World Fantasy Award. It was seen as self-contained at the time, but the book soon sparked a bidding war for further adventures in and of its empire. Thus, The Malazan Book of the Fallen - at least as we understand it - was born.

Twelve years, nine additional novels, seven to ten thousand pages (depending upon your preference for paperbacks) and approximately three million words later, Erikson's saga drew to a close with The Crippled God in 2011. The outspoken author lately allowed that he would die a happy man, knowing that the tale has been told to completion... however I'd really rather he hang on a little longer — not least because Forge of Darkness is, quite frankly, remarkable.

Stay tuned for my full review on The Speculative Scotsman tomorrow!

Holiday Reading: Redux

In case all the tweeting and yesterday's post hasn't given the game away, my holidays are, much to my dismay, well and truly over.

I had just the loveliest time.

No surprises there, I suppose. The company was all I could hope for. The cottage was just lovely; warm, spacious, stocked and perfectly placed. As for Skye itself, well, suffice it to say last week wasn't my first time in the Western Isles - nor my tenth, come to that - but the weather was with us, and there were, as per usual, some incredible sights to be seen.

Yes, I took that. Didn't I go up high! :)

We took in the Faerie Glen, the Old Man of Storr and the Quirang; there was no shortage of fun to be had in the ruins that dot the island; and in Portree - the only place populated enough that you might call it a town - we idled a beautiful day away by the pier and in a great veggie-friendly restaurant that I'd urge everyone who goes to Skye eats in at least once. Cafe Arriba might have cooked up the only cheese and leek fritters I've ever had, but I don't doubt that they were the very best. Dee-licious!

But the Speculative Scotsman is no place to be burbling on about food and local landmarks - however good the food and however historic the landmarks. First and foremost, this is a blog about books! And wouldn't you know it, somehow, in between all the gallivanting around, I found the time to get some serious reading in too.

As detailed in The Curious Case, I took eight books on holiday with me. Actually, that's a bit of a fib. You see, I managed to catch the Amazon man before I left, and - I've no idea how - a ninth novel snuck into my suitcase: Shadow and Betrayal, an omnibus of the first two volumes of Daniel Abraham's sprawling quartet, The Long Price. The first half of which I read, and loved. I'll hold off on saying any more till I've finished the second part.

Of the remaining eight books, I read three, and started two others. Not half bad considering the sun was blazing down every day but for one (my birthday) when I'd fully expected it to be a spiteful no-show so early in the year.

For no particular reason, the first novel that I read from the little library I took on holiday with me was A Dark Matter by Peter Straub. Short of a review and an interview on The Book Smugglers, I really haven't seen much coverage of this one, which is a shame. It's not a perfect piece of speculative fiction - scattershot in places and a little too metaphysical for my tastes, to be honest - but nonetheless, it's an accomplished story by turns creepy and baffling that kept me turning pages well into the wee hours of an evening.

Stay tuned for more on A Dark Matter within the next few weeks. In fact, you can expect a review of that - not to be a tease, but it's already in the can, waiting for the right moment to make a break for it - as well as my takes on the other two books I read from cover to cover within the next few weeks. Which is to say, Alexey Pehov's apparent Night Watch-killer Shadow Prowler and Kat Falls' fabulously inventive all-ages underwater thriller, Dark Life - both of which I enjoyed, although to varying extents. You'll have to wait and see which book's first third nearly had me at my wit's end...

Of course, I had both the winner and the runner-up of February's holiday reading poll in with my luggage, too, and though I'm afraid to say I didn't manage to give the latter - Scar Night by Alan Campbell - another go, as I'd planned to, I did manage to read roughly 400 pages of Gardens of the Moon, the first volume of The Malazan Book of the Fallen. I have the 10th anniversary edition of Steven Erikson's fantasy debut, and the author's down-to-earth introduction had me worried that I might be among those readers who "bail on the series in the first third".

I did not. I suppose there's time yet - but I sincerely doubt that I'll turn my back on the series given how much I've enjoyed what little I've read of it. It was hard going to start with, I'll grant, dense and intimidating at every turn, but soon enough I'd fallen in with the rhythm and flow of Erikson's prose, and from there on out I really began to get into Gardens of the Moon.

So much so, in fact, that in a few weeks you'll be seeing the first in what I hope will be a regular feature series here on The Speculative Scotsman. For the moment, I'm calling it The Malazan Diaries, and whatever particular shape or form it might take, it's going to be a chronicle of my experiences with The Malazan Book of the Fallen from the very first page of the first book in the sequence to the last page of The Crippled God, which still doesn't have a release date yet, though given Erikson's track record should be along sometime in 2011. If I've time enough, I may even take in the novella-length side-stories, not to mention co-creator Ian Cameron Esslemont's novels of The Malazan Empire.

It's going to be quite the trip, and God knows, it could take years for me to make, but I mean to be good and ready for the last novel in The Malazan Book of the Fallen when it arrives. For now, I'll say no more - only advise that you keep your browsers and RSS readers tuned to The Speculative Scotsman for more details on The Malazan Diaries shortly. And if you're feeling particularly kind, you can even help spread the word. This promises to be a long and involved discussion of one of the great fantasy sagas of all time, and if you know a Malazan fan, please do point him or her on over here; I'd love to have everyone with even a passing interest on the series along for the ride, and the participation of an experienced Erikson reader could make for a perfect counterweight to what I'm sure will be a wealth of uninformed observations and assumptions.

So there we have it. My holiday reading. I'm sad, of course, that my break is over, but it was a lovely time, and I'm grateful for that.

But let's be honest: the reading certainly won't stop just because my holiday has!

That's it for today. Expect the usual assortment of news, reviews and interviews to return with a vengeance as of tomorrow. For one thing, it's finally come time to share my interview with Sam Sykes with you all, not to mention my thoughts on Tome of the Undergates, an exciting giveaway... and much, much more.