Questions for Kate Elliott

[Teresa Edgerton]

Now you've done it -- ask a question like that around here, and people will probably answer you with copious lists of their own.

Interesting that you should mention being impressed with a collection by Ian MacLeod. I just finished reading one of his novels, The Light Ages. Weird and rather Dickensian. Fantasy in concept, but reads like SF.

(I'm very glad you stopped by.)

 

[GOLLUM]

Thanks for setting this up Kelpie and it's fantastic to hear from such a great author. I'll post something soon on my current booklist..

Ciaoo..

 

[GOLLUM]

Hi there Kate,

I don’t know when next you’ll visit us but it’s quite an honour having you here!

I’m currently reading/read multiple series primarily in the field of fantasy with some of my top favorites including:

Naturally the “Crown Of Stars” series
Steven Erikson’s Malazan Series (best EPIC fantasy series I’ve ever come across)
Stephen Donaldson’s T. Covenant series including his current and final T. Covenant quartet with Book 1 The Runes Of The Earth.
Tad William’s marvelous Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy and current Shadowmach trilogy.
George RR Martin’s Song Of Ice And Fire EPIC.
Paul Kearney’s Monarchies Of God series, having recently completed his fabulous Mark Of Ran.
Sean Russell’s Swans War trilogy.
J.V. Jones current and for me her best trilogy Sword Of Shadows eagerly awaiting Book 3..
Jude Fisher’s debut trilogy Fool’s Gold
Robert Silverberg’s sadly recently completed Majipoor series.
Phillips Pullman’s His Dark Materials, a real page-turner.
My favourite Aussie author Ian Irvine and his wonderful series.
Ricardo Pinto’s richly textured trilogy The Stone Dance Of The Chameleon
Greg Keye’s current Kingdom Of Thorn and Bone series.
Janny Wurts and her Wars Of Light and Shadow series.
John Marco’s Tyrants And Kings trilogy.
Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomico and current Baroque series.
China Mieville’s King Rat
Glenn Cook's Black Company

Hmm.. I’d better stop now otherwise I’ll be here till next Christmas.

BTW I’m currently posting researched articles for fun on this forum which cover some of the authors of classic fantasy/speculative fiction of times past like Robert E Howard, Lovecraft, P. Anderson, Lieber, Mallory, Carroll, Tolkien, Christian Anderson, Peake, Norton, Le Guin, Dunsany etc… Anyway I’ve just today got my hands on a copy of Poe’s collected works for a song and boy am I bursting at the seams to get stuck into it!!!

Ok then time to sign off and thanks very much for taking the time out to answer some of our questions.

It’s very much appreciated!!

P.S. I'm glad we'll finally find out Alain's true origins.
P.P.S. Looks like I should be checking out Ian McLeod.

 

[Alia]

I have to say Gollum, I was surprised by your list. Not the content, but the length. It looks a little short for the literary god...

And Kate, Thank you! I too am very glad you stopped by Chronies. I hope you'll come often to visit us!

My reading list: (much shorter than Gollum's)
Jaran series, on second book
Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan, had to stop reading to read Crown of Stars Series, so I'm on the second chapter of the the first book Very sad that I haven't finished it yet
I picked up Tad William's The Dragonbone Chair, but set it done to read The Hidden Stars by Madeline Howard (excellent work btw Kelpie) and I'll finish that one before I return to the others.

I will be going to the AutumnCon in Oct with the Hubby! We are looking forward to the trip and seeing you, Kate! Gollum, did you ever find a ticket?

Alia

 

[AryaUnderfoot]

I just finished reading "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (hysterically funny), and now I'm reading "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and re-reading "The Gathering Storm" thanks to Alia's persuasive questions.


Thanks for stopping by, Kate!

 

[Alia]

thanks to Alia's persuasive questions.

*snickering* Intriguing minds need to know Arya... I was just wondering what your thoughts were on Alain.
Did you see Kate's post about him? Good thing I'm taking notes on those books!

 

[AryaUnderfoot]

Yeah, Alia, I saw Kate's post about Alain. The word that floated across my brain upon reading that was "tease!" Thank goodness for forums, or the waiting would be unbearable. In the meantime, I'm just going to follow your lead and start writing things down.

 

[Alia]

I have to admit defeat... The first time I read the Crown of Stars Series I was pregnant. I don't know about any other pregnant woman, but as for me, I lost all of my memory... haven't regained it back yet either ~ very disappointing. That is why I take notes. I use to pride myself on how I could remember everything, even the simpliest stupidest thing... now I can bearly remember my head, thank goodness it's attached.
Anyways... take notes, and we'll compare when your finished.

 

[AryaUnderfoot]

I have to admit defeat... The first time I read the Crown of Stars Series I was pregnant. I don't know about any other pregnant woman, but as for me, I lost all of my memory... haven't regained it back yet either ~ very disappointing.

Hey, it's ok. My mom's had five kids, and she takes notes on EVERYTHING now. We'll definitely have to compare notes.

 

[GOLLUM]

I have to say Gollum, I was surprised by your list. Not the content, but the length. It looks a little short for the literary god...

And Kate, Thank you! I too am very glad you stopped by Chronies. I hope you'll come often to visit us!

My reading list: (much shorter than Gollum's)
Jaran series, on second book
Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan, had to stop reading to read Crown of Stars Series, so I'm on the second chapter of the the first book Very sad that I haven't finished it yet
I picked up Tad William's The Dragonbone Chair, but set it done to read The Hidden Stars by Madeline Howard (excellent work btw Kelpie) and I'll finish that one before I return to the others.

I will be going to the AutumnCon in Oct with the Hubby! We are looking forward to the trip and seeing you, Kate! Gollum, did you ever find a ticket?

Alia

Alia you reminded me I meant to add Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time series to my list, eagerly awaiting relase of Book 11 later this year.

Nope still waiting for that ticket...

BTW good on you for attending AutumnCon, let us know how it goes and maybe you can check out WorldCon in future years. Hmm.. Melbourne is bidding for Worldcon 2010, so fingers and toes crossed if we get the nod, maybe Kate could attend or maybe I could provide her with a ticket..

Bye for now..

 

[littlemissattitude]

But enough about me.

What are you guys reading?

And of books/stories published for the first time in 2004 (not just US, anywhere), is there anything that you particularly liked?

Not sure if it would be classified as fantasy, but I just finished reading "The Cloud Atlas" by Liam Callanan and liked it a lot. Like I said, perhaps not really fanasy, but with some fantastic elements in it. Not a long novel, but an involving one.

 

[Rahl Windsong]

What am I reading? hummn well I was at my local library last sunday and I noticed they had this book sale going on. I found a series by Sara Douglas, sort of a cross between SciFi and Fantasy. Titles Sinner, Pilgrim, and Crusader, I am only about 50 pages into Sinner and I have not really had time to sit and read more than about 10 pages in a row lately. The story is strange and I suspect I will need to read all three in this series to really be able to say much more about it.

I also found Sword Singer by Jennifer Roberson at the same sale.

Recently I read book 10 in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, Crossroads of Twilight, and I hate to say this but I really do feel like I wasted my money on that book. The only real value it may have for me is so that the set looks complete on my shelf though now I have very little desire to purchase the rest of this series.

Absolutely nothing happened in the entire book, all Mr Jordan did was to tighten all the plot strings, they are all singing now. The thing is that the plots have gone on for so long now that I am not entirely sure if even Robert Jordan knows how to end it. One can only hope that the final books of this series earns the right to be a "best seller" from their own merits and not from books he has already written.

Rahl

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Darn -- none of us thought to ask about what we were discussing awhile ago in the other thread: whether it was Kate's idea or her publisher's to put Jaran aside for a time and write a fantasy series.

 

[Rahl Windsong]

Darn -- none of us thought to ask about what we were discussing awhile ago in the other thread: whether it was Kate's idea or her publisher's to put Jaran aside for a time and write a fantasy series.

Well thats true, except now you did just ask!

Though all I have read of Kate's work are the first two in Crown of Stars (both very good) I am sure I will get to Jaran soon!

Rahl

 

[Journeyman]

I'm new to this, so here it goes. Of course, I recommend Kate Elliott's "Crown of Stars" series (eagerly awaiting more).

Here are some other series I found interesting:
"Sword of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind
"Xanth" series by Piers Anthony
"The Death Gate" series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Other good writers, though not science fiction or fantasy, are Tom Clancy (I really like his Op-Center books), John Grisham, Dean Koontz and John Saul.

Which reminds me to ask: Kate, do you ever get story ideas that are not in the genre of fantasy or science fiction? If yes, what are your plans for those ideas?

 

[Amber]

Kate, did you enjoy working with Melanie Rawn and Jennifer Roberson on The Golden Keys?

 

[Kate.Elliott]

Not sure if it would be classified as fantasy, but I just finished reading "The Cloud Atlas" by Liam Callanan and liked it a lot. Like I said, perhaps not really fanasy, but with some fantastic elements in it. Not a long novel, but an involving one.

I read a "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell. Is this a different book with a similar title? Because the Mitchell book was excellent, in my opinion. Highly recommended.

 

[Kate.Elliott]

Recently I read book 10 in . . .Absolutely nothing happened in the entire book,
Rahl

One of the big things I really worked at with Crown of Stars was to make the series a complete novel, with a beginning, middle, and end. It took longer than I expected, and the series is a probably, in page count, a bit longer than it really needs to be, but I hope that every volume seems necessary.

Because one thing I really wanted to avoid is the Jordon syndrome, which I read a lot about lately (I haven't read the Wheel of Time series).

 

[Kate.Elliott]

Darn -- none of us thought to ask about what we were discussing awhile ago in the other thread: whether it was Kate's idea or her publisher's to put Jaran aside for a time and write a fantasy series.

I needed a break from the Jaran series after The Law of Becoming, and it was a joint decision between my agent and I to move into a fantasy series. Then, it was decided that I had to finish the entire series before doing anything else. That took longer than expected.

 

[Kate.Elliott]

Which reminds me to ask: Kate, do you ever get story ideas that are not in the genre of fantasy or science fiction? If yes, what are your plans for those ideas?

Not many. I do have an historical fantasy novel I would like to write related to the Bible, but it's very daunting to consider it (even though my agent would certainly like me to).


I have had a couple of passing notions about historical novels, but I'm not sure I would really want to write those.

Also, my husband and I have a great idea for a mystery/thriller series, but I don't know if I have the chops to write it, mostly because I don't read that much in that particular genre.

Still, it's under consideration.