Glen Cook?

[rune]

Anyone read this authors books

I'm wondering about the Black Company series. It looks interesting but I know nothing about this author.

 

[dwndrgn]

I don't believe I've read any of the Black Company books. I've read a few of his others and would say he's ok. Nothing spectacular or really memorable that I've encountered. They're pretty good stories though.

 

[rune]

Are they very detailed, or more action and character driven?

 

[dwndrgn]

Definitely more action and character driven.

 

[rune]

Sounds like her stuff would be OK I'll have to get one from the Library.

 

[Leto]

Rune, have also a look at the Garret P.I. serie. it's less heavy than the Black Company, has a steady path and very funny.
Be careful with the Black company, this stuff is very addictive.

 

[GOLLUM]

Anyone read this authors books

I'm wondering about the Black Company series. It looks interesting but I know nothing about this author.

Hi Rune!

This is one of the aurhors I emailed you about but as you've obviuosly previuosly been good enough to post this thread on him here's some information I posted on another quite recent Glenn Cook query on this forum.

Looks like Great minds think alike HE HE..

Actually have you since read any of his Black Company Books?

Um... not sure on availibilty on Glen Cook's The Black Company. I've probably mentioned this already but Erikson places Cook and Kearney at the top of modern day fantasy writers. All three are Millitary fantasy writers. Erikson is No 1. but Cook's pretty good too!!

He's written other stuff but here is the list as I know it for BC and he may decide to start a new sequence in the near future. WOW lots of reading there I think!
*NB The only issue for me is that its written in first person singular and not 3rd person like he/she I'm used to but still good!!!!

1. Black Company (1984)
2. Shadows Linger
3 White Rose
4. Silver Spike (Sequel to Book 3 but not BC so much).
5. Shadow Games
6. Dreams Of Steel
7. Black Seasons
8. She Is The Darkness
9. Water Sleeps
10. Soldiers Live (2001, tidy up book that ties off some loose ends)

The Black Company is actually considered something of a classic in literary circles but not necessairly that widely known in the larger fantasy community.

Enjoy!!

 

[rune]

I am finding the more I find out about this author the more my interest is peeked

I tried to get one of his earlier books through my library and they didnt have any There are times I can't understand the logic behind the purchasing system at all. They'll get some obscure authors, but some better know ones never get into the County
This is one of my big peeves, but I wont rant here about it.

So I may have to take the chance and buy the Black Company just to see if I like it

 

[Jay]

I like Glen Cook's work, that said I don't consider him among the best writers but defintely solid. I am however very interested in his forthcoming title, The Tyranny of the Night :book 1 of the Instrumentalities of the Night. Check out the description Here. I'm hoping to have a advanced reader copy of this book for preview.


http://Fantasybookspot.com

 

[Leto]

Sounds like a good read.

 

[GOLLUM]

I like Glen Cook's work, that said I don't consider him among the best writers but defintely solid. I am however very interested in his forthcoming title, The Tyranny of the Night :book 1 of the Instrumentalities of the Night. Check out the description Here. I'm hoping to have a advanced reader copy of this book for preview.


http://Fantasybookspot.com

Yep, I’m definitely hanging out for The Tryanny Of The Night!!!

Hi there rune and anyone who may be interested!

Glenn Cook otherwise known as Greg Stevens, has written a lot of books in the sci fi/fantasy genre but unfortunately a lot of them are not that widely available

His Sci Fi series include the Dread Empire series (7 books) and the Starfishers trilogy. They’re not my cup of as I prefer more fantasy oriented books, so I haven’t read these but here’s a listing all the same. Once again not so easy to get hold off!

Starfishers series

1. Shadowline (1982)
2. Starfishers (1982)
3. Star's End (1982)
4. Passage at Arms (1985)

Dread Empire series.

1. A Shadow of All Night Falling (1979)
2. October's Baby (1980)
3. All Darkness Met (1980)
4. The Fire in His Hands (1984)
5. With Mercy Toward None (1985)
6. Reap the East Wind (1987)
7. An Ill Fate Marshalling (1988)

He’s also written a series of fantasy detective novels that focus on the hard-nosed detective ala Raymond Chandler in the guise of P.I. Garrett and his weird and wonderful circle of unusual fantasy characters with more than a dollop of dry sarcastic humour. I’ve read some but not all of these books; something a bit different to your standard sword and sorcery fare, that’s for sure!

PI Garrett.

1. Sweet Silver Blues (1987)
2. Bitter Gold Hearts (1988)
3. Cold Copper Tears (1988)
4. Old Tin Sorrows (1989)
5. Dread Brass Shadows (1990)
6. Red Iron Nights (1991)
7. Deadly Quicksilver Lies (1994)
8. Petty Pewter Gods (1995)
9. Angry Lead Skies (2002)
10. Faded Steel Heat (2003)
11. Whispering Nickel Idols (2005)

Other than the Black Company books my favourite series is the Darkwar trilogy, featuring sword wielding Merika and her fight to maintain her community in the face of an “advanced” civilization. This trilogy is a mix of fantasy, sci fi and tragic setbacks that occur on a regular basis to our heroine. These books are not easy to get, out of print as far as I know. A gritty and somewhat emotional read for me at the time! Make sure you have a clean set of hankies before checking these out.

Darkwar Trilogy

1. Doomstalker (1985)
2. Warlock (1985)
3. Cermeony (1985)

He’s also written a number of other novels, so as you can see he’s quite prolific.

OH.. and I highly recommend his novel Tower Of Fear; it’s really well conceived and written IMHO!!

Hope this encourages you to check out this author!!

 

[Chimeco]

The Black Company. That's a great name for being so simple. I absolutely loved the books when I read them, but that was back in my high school days when my literary standards weren't so picky. Although I remember even back then, thinking that this author had a different style of writing, one that almost turned me off to the series at first. I believe that, in the heavily descriptive worlds of Jordans and RR Martins, if I were to go back to them today I'd find his writing style wanting--which is why I've yet to read them again.

10 years later I find myself using "The Black Company" as a name in some of the online games I've tried. I have to say the series left a deep impression. I still remember some scenes as if I'd read them yesterday. ( I loved the two mages that would play-fight each other with shadows at night). Very original ideas as far as magic and world building goes.

 

[GOLLUM]

The Black Company. That's a great name for being so simple. I absolutely loved the books when I read them, but that was back in my high school days when my literary standards weren't so picky. Although I remember even back then, thinking that this author had a different style of writing, one that almost turned me off to the series at first. I believe that, in the heavily descriptive worlds of Jordans and RR Martins, if I were to go back to them today I'd find his writing style wanting--which is why I've yet to read them again.

10 years later I find myself using "The Black Company" as a name in some of the online games I've tried. I have to say the series left a deep impression. I still remember some scenes as if I'd read them yesterday. ( I loved the two mages that would play-fight each other with shadows at night). Very original ideas as far as magic and world building goes.

Hi there Chimeco,

Have you had a chance to check out Steven Erikson's Malazan series?

Unbelievable world building and storytelling ability. The most complex EPIC and amongst some of the best magic concepts I've ever read, best fantasy series ever (George RR Martin is my No 2. fav).

All the best.

 

[Chimeco]

No, i haven't checked him out but I certainly will if you think he's that good. I've been craving a good, strong series to get into. They seem so few and far between nowadays.

 

[GOLLUM]

Hi again Chimeco!

FYI.

Steven Erikson is a Canadian writer and UK based. Compared to Homer by some critics for sheer scope and complexity of storyline. Great storytelling especially for his first venture into this genre! He has a background as an anthropologist and archaeologist and it sure shows in his world building!!

The “Malazan Book Of The Fallen” is the series title. Malazan is the empire in charge of things like the Romans in ancient history. Steven writes 1/year, as it is part of his contract with the publisher.

It takes places currently on around 3 different continents but each novel will focus on a particular continent with characters and continents interlinked so say book 1,3 are on continent x, book 2,4 continent y etc.. Each novel is also in a sense standalone with most threads pulled together by story’s end, which is a good feature for me, so I’m not waiting for the next instalment to see if character x is about to fall of the proverbial precipice. This is not to say that the books don’t follow each other or not interlinked as they are.

As he deals with Military fantasy on the grand scale he's fairly hard edged as well as being brilliantly conceived and written. The point is Erikson drops you into his world in the middle of what is obviously an EPIC series but whilst it is not easy to follow early on he does tie most threads by books end. The last 200 pages of Book 1 is action packed, what one critic very aptly put as a 'machine gun finish" Book 2 Deadhouse Gates and the future books reach a high water mark in fantasy writing that never goes down. Anyone I know who has read Erikson immediately places him at or near to the top of the list ahead of Martin and others as great as they are. Epic, gritty, grey characters along the lines of Martin.


Don’t be put off if you find it hard to follow things in the first few hundred pages of book 1, lots of concepts that get fleshed out in later books appear here. By the end of book 3 I had a fair handle on things.


For UK/Aus readers, Books 1 –4 are in smaller paperback, ranging from 700-1000+ pages. Book 5 is in trade paperback and 500+ pages, so plenty of reading there. Book 5 in smaller paperback, approx 700, pages comes out in March 2005. Bantam is the UK/Aus publisher. Books 1 and 2 have now come out in the US.

Malazan Book Of The Fallen

PUBLISHED UP TO 2005/Early 2006.
1. Gardens Of The Moon.
2. Deadhouse Gates
3.Memories Of Ice
4.House Of Chains
5.Midnight Tides
6.The Bonehunters (due Feb 2006).

TO BE PUBLISHED 2006 and beyond.
*NB Roughly the first five books came out around April of each year, book 6 may still be by April so basically the books come out in the first half of each year.

7.Reapers Gate (2006?)
8.Toll The Hounds (2007)
9.Dust Of Dreams (2008)
10.The Crippled God (2009)

OH and he's also featured in the Authors forum.

Hope this helps!

 

[Jay]

I would recommend the Malazan series to, as well as the various novella's hat have come out, and are forthcoming, however I will say this most Martin fans I am aware of do not place Erikson ahead of him, one loo kat the Martin board will tell you there is a large quantity of people that absolutely think Erikson's work is fluff.

I like Erikson's work, it's really IMHO Sword/Sorcery at a high level with an epic scope, and there really isn't too much Sword/Sorcery worth buying being published today. If your interested in a review of te hfirst book, Gardens of the Moon, I wrote one Here

A very good, entertaining, fun series, but it's not nearly as tightly writen as Martin IMHO, or a Bakker for that matter.

 

[GOLLUM]

Ainulindale,

Um.. interesting comments about Erikson. I can understand some people placing Martin ahead of Erikson BUT saying that Erikson is fluff is a little unwarranted. I wonder if these people have taken the bother to read all 5 books curently out? If they did they may have a different opinion perhaps.
Anyway as you and a number of other peole appear to be saying on this forum Erikson and Martin are probably amongst the better fantasy writers of today.

I also agree with R. Scott Bakker, he's another one right up there in my top bracket. Have you checked out Paul Kearney, he's quite good, especially his new book The Mark Of Ran?

Bye for now..

 

[rune]

This series -

PI Garrett.

1. Sweet Silver Blues (1987)
2. Bitter Gold Hearts (1988)
3. Cold Copper Tears (1988)
4. Old Tin Sorrows (1989)
5. Dread Brass Shadows (1990)
6. Red Iron Nights (1991)
7. Deadly Quicksilver Lies (1994)
8. Petty Pewter Gods (1995)
9. Angry Lead Skies (2002)
10. Faded Steel Heat (2003)
11. Whispering Nickel Idols (2005)

Sounds like fun I'm wondering if it is similar to Jim Butcher's Dresden File series which is one of my favourites at the moment

 

[Jay]

I can understand some people placing Martin ahead of Erikson BUT saying that Erikson is fluff is a little unwarranted

I want to point out that is not my opinion, but from what I have been able to notice (on many boards) there is a large contingent of readers who simply think Gardens of the Moon presents a very choppy inroduction, which does have some merit to it admittedly. This is eliminated as the series porgresses howevr, and I think it's a good series.

Anyway as you and a number of other peole appear to be saying on this forum Erikson and Martin are probably amongst the better fantasy writers of today

Hmmm..I'm a big Martin fan, in regards to epic fantasy I would agree along with Bakker). I can't say that I think Erikson is writing at the same level of Gene Wolfe, or China Mieville however, but that's really no slight.

Have you checked out Paul Kearney, he's quite good, especially his new book The Mark Of Ran?

No I haven't I may give it a try however, although I must admit outside of the current series by Keyes, Martin, Bakker, and Erikson I have given up on Epic fantasy for now , and have been focusing on a couple of works that are similar but have slightly different elements like John C. Wright's Last Guardian of Everness, and the Year of our War by Steph Swainston, both recent, excellent first installments to series, and highly recommended.

 

[GOLLUM]

This series -

PI Garrett.

1. Sweet Silver Blues (1987)
2. Bitter Gold Hearts (1988)
3. Cold Copper Tears (1988)
4. Old Tin Sorrows (1989)
5. Dread Brass Shadows (1990)
6. Red Iron Nights (1991)
7. Deadly Quicksilver Lies (1994)
8. Petty Pewter Gods (1995)
9. Angry Lead Skies (2002)
10. Faded Steel Heat (2003)
11. Whispering Nickel Idols (2005)

Sounds like fun I'm wondering if it is similar to Jim Butcher's Dresden File series which is one of my favourites at the moment

UM.. I'm certainly not an authority on the PI Garrett books only having read some of these in the series BUT I'm afraid I've never heard of Jim Butcher and the Dresden Files. DOH!! somehow I think I may be missing out on something, please elaborate a little.