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All Fantasy Authors Are Mass Murderers

Red Tide Written by Marc Turner

Pull up a chair, I could use some advice. The thing is, I’m in middle of writing the next book in my Chronicles of the Exile series, and I’m having trouble with a character. She–or he–is one of my favorites in the series. But in typical fashion, she has contrived to put her neck on the headsman’s block, and the axe is hovering. Her death makes most sense in light of the events to this point. So why am I hesitating?

Perhaps it is natural to do so. I’ve spent years dreaming up and developing my main characters. If I could slaughter one of them and feel nothing, what would that say about how they were written? After all, if I didn’t like them, I would have changed them. And if I don’t care for my characters, how can I expect other people to?

As a narrative tool, I can see the value of killing characters. I remember reading about the death of a certain main character in George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones. I couldn’t believe it when he was killed. I had to re-read the relevant passage several times, because I was sure I must have misinterpreted something. Like most of Martin’s readers, I suspect I fell into the trap of thinking the character in question was untouchable. So when Martin put him in danger, I wasn’t too concerned. And then he died. After I’d picked my jaw off the floor, it dawned on me that no one in the series was safe. So when Martin next put another of his characters in peril, you can bet I took him seriously.

Then along came the Red Wedding, and I had to reappraise my expectations all over again.

Are there right and wrong ways to kill a character? I’m a big fan of Steven Erikson’s Malazan series. The title of the seventh book, Reaper’s Gale, is a fair warning that not everyone will be walking into the sunset at the end. But the death of one particular character (I won’t say who) hit me hard. It wasn’t that he was my favourite in the book. Rather, it was the manner of his passing. By the time he died, the events of the story were all but concluded. The character had overcome huge odds. He was even in a budding romance, and had promised to return to his beloved. (In retrospect, I should have known from that point that he was destined to die.) Then out of the blue he was stabbed in the back. It felt so…meaningless.

Reading that sentence back, it seems an absurd thing to say. What is it that gives any death “meaning”? And why should every character go out with a drumroll and a blaze of sorcery? That would be unrealistic. In a recent interview, George RR Martin claimed that it is dishonest not to show how war kills heroes as easily as it kills minor characters. “You don’t get to live forever,” he said, “just because you are a cute kid, or the hero’s best friend, or the hero.”

I agree with that. But I still feel a writer needs to be careful with the lives of his or her characters. I have read books over the years where it felt like the death of a character was engineered for no other purpose than to shock. I have also read books that were spoiled – or at least soured – by the death of an important character. Yes, there were other characters to continue the fight, but the story just wasn’t the same afterwards. I can’t help thinking that some characters are too important to lose. Would A Game of Thrones be the same without Tyrion? Surely Martin would never kill him, would he?

Actually, I take that back. Wouldn’t want to tempt fate, after all.

So where does that leave my own character with her head currently on the block? In an uncomfortable spot, I’m afraid to say. Given the circumstances of the book, her death is the most credible outcome. Anything less would seem, to use Martin’s word, dishonest. If you’ve read my novels, you’ll know I’m not afraid to wield the axe when it is necessary. In this instance, killing the character feels right, and maybe gut feel is all an author has to go on in the end.

I’ve experienced that sensation before when I’ve bid goodbye to characters. On the one hand, I was sad to see them go. On the other hand, their death scenes ended up being among my favorites in the relevant book. If handled sensitively, the passing of a character has the potential to invoke a strong emotional response in the reader, and is that not the primary goal in dramatic fiction?

Buy Red Tide here:

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New Releases: 9/20/16

Here’s what went on sale today!

Deadlands: Thunder Moon Rising by Jeffrey Mariotte

Deadlands: Thunder Moon Rising by Jeffrey MariotteFear is abroad in the Deadlands as a string of brutal killings and cattle mutilations trouble a frontier town in the Arizona Territory, nestled in the forbidding shadow of the rugged Thunder Mountains. A mule train is massacred, homes and ranches are attacked, and men and women are stalked and butchered by bestial killers who seem to be neither human nor animal, meanwhile a ruthless land baron tries to buy up all the surrounding territory-and possibly bring about an apocalypse.

Death’s End by Cixin Liu

Death’s End by Cixin LiuWith The Three-Body Problem, English-speaking readers got their first chance to experience the multiple-award-winning and bestselling Three-Body Trilogy by China’s most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu. Three-Body was released to great acclaim including coverage in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. It was also named a finalist for the Nebula Award, making it the first translated novel to be nominated for a major SF award since Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities in 1976. Now this epic trilogy concludes with Death’s End.

The Family Plot by Cherie Priest

The Family Plot by Cherie PriestChuck Dutton built Music City Salvage with patience and expertise, stripping historic properties and reselling their bones. Inventory is running low, so he’s thrilled when Augusta Withrow appears in his office offering salvage rights to her entire property. This could be a gold mine, so he assigns his daughter Dahlia to personally oversee the project.

The crew finds a handful of surprises right away. Firstly, the place is in unexpectedly good shape. And then there’s the cemetery, about thirty fallen and overgrown graves dating to the early 1900s, Augusta insists that the cemetery is just a fake, a Halloween prank, so the city gives the go-ahead, the bulldozer revs up, and it turns up human remains. Augusta says she doesn’t know whose body it is or how many others might be present and refuses to answer any more questions. Then she stops answering the phone.

Metaltown by Kristen Simmons

Metaltown by Kristen SimmonsThe rules of Metaltown are simple: Work hard, keep your head down, and watch your back. You look out for number one, and no one knows that better than Ty. She’s been surviving on the factory line as long as she can remember. But now Ty has Colin. She’s no longer alone; it’s the two of them against the world. That’s something even a town this brutal can’t take away from her. Until it does.

Lena’s future depends on her family’s factory, a beast that demands a ruthless master, and Lena is prepared to be as ruthless as it takes if it means finally proving herself to her father. But when a chance encounter with Colin, a dreamer despite his circumstances, exposes Lena to the consequences of her actions, she’ll risk everything to do what’s right.

Red Tide by Marc Turner

Red Tide by Marc TurnerThe Augerans are coming. And their ships are sailing in on a red tide.

The Rubyholt Isles are a shattered nation of pirate-infested islands and treacherous waterways shielding the seaboards of Erin Elal and the Sabian League, a region even dragons fear to trespass.

The Augerans beseech the Warlord of the Isles, seeking passage for their invasion fleet through Rubyholt territory. But they are sailing into troubled waters. Their enemies have sent agents to sabotage the negotiations, and to destroy the Augeran fleet by any means necessary.

Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter

Vassa in the Night by Sarah PorterIn the enchanted kingdom of Brooklyn, the fashionable people put on cute shoes, go to parties in warehouses, drink on rooftops at sunset, and tell themselves they’ve arrived. A whole lot of Brooklyn is like that now—but not Vassa’s working-class neighborhood.

In Vassa’s neighborhood, where she lives with her stepmother and bickering stepsisters, one might stumble onto magic, but stumbling out again could become an issue. Babs Yagg, the owner of the local convenience store, has a policy of beheading shoplifters—and sometimes innocent shoppers as well. So when Vassa’s stepsister sends her out for light bulbs in the middle of night, she knows it could easily become a suicide mission.

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The Warren by Brian Evenson

The Warren by Brian EvensonX doesn’t have a name. He thought he had one—or many—but that might be the result of the failing memories of the personalities imprinted within him. Or maybe he really is called X.

He’s also not as human as he believes himself to be.

But when he discovers the existence of another—above ground, outside the protection of the Warren—X must learn what it means to be human, or face the destruction of their two species.

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Nightwise by R. S. Belcher

Nightwise by R. S. BelcherR.S. Belcher, the acclaimed author of The Six-Gun Tarot and The Shotgun Arcana launches a gritty new urban fantasy series set in today’s seedy occult underworld in Nightwise.

In the more shadowy corners of the world, frequented by angels and demons and everything in-between, Laytham Ballard is a legend. It’s said he raised the dead at the age of ten, stole the Philosopher’s Stone in Vegas back in 1999, and survived the bloodsucking kiss of the Mosquito Queen. Wise in the hidden ways of the night, he’s also a cynical bastard who stopped thinking of himself as the good guy a long time ago.

Vienna by William S. Kirby

Vienna by William S. KirbyJustine is an A-list fashion model on a photo shoot in Europe. Adored by half the world, she can have whomever she wants, but she’s never met anyone like the strange English girl whose bed she wakes up in one morning.

Vienna is an autistic savant, adrift in a world of overwhelming patterns and connections only she can see. Socially awkward and inexperienced, she’s never been with anyone before, let alone a glamorous supermodel enmeshed in a web of secrets and intrigue.

NEW IN MANGA

Arpeggio of Blue Steel Vol. 8 by Ark Performance

NTR: Netsuzou Trap Vol. 1 by Kodama Naoko

Tomodachi x Monster Vol. 3 by Yoshihiko Inui

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What Makes a Character (Un)Sympathetic?

Dragon Hunters by Marc Turner
Written by Marc Turner

When reading reviews of my debut, When the Heavens Fall, I’m always curious to find out which character was the reader’s favourite. My book features four point-of-view characters: two women and two men. They are all very different people, ranging from the steadfast but spirit-possessed prince, Ebon, to the hedonistic and charmingly ruthless priestess, Romany. There might just be a consensus forming as to who is the most popular, but even when readers agree on their favourite character, they rarely agree on the others.

I guess there is nothing surprising in this. We don’t all like the same characters in books just as we don’t all like the same people in life. What did surprise me, though, was the degree to which readers could disagree on the “merits” of a particular character. Take Romany, for example. Fantasy Book Review said the following about her: “Intelligent, cunning, immensely likeable, her affable irritation and eventual humanity in the face of the maelstrom of uber-fantasy is remarkably levelling.” A different reviewer, though, went so far as to call her evil. She can’t be both, can she? And if not, who is “right” about her?Image credit Diana Hirsch

It’s an important question for an author to consider. When I’m reading, if I don’t care about what happens to a book’s characters then I put the book down. I want a reason to cheer the characters on. In the “traditional” fantasy that I read as a teen, the writer tended to have an easier job of providing that reason because of the black and white complexion of their worlds. The protagonist was the Chosen One, the antagonist was the Dark Lord, and you’re never going to struggle to choose who to root for between those two, are you?

I prefer characters that are shades of grey, and grey certainly seems to be in fashion nowadays in epic fantasy. Take George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones, for example. When we first meet Jaime he is having sex with his sister and pushing a boy to his probable death from a tower window, but he has grown into one of my favourite characters. At times it can be hard in Martin’s books to distinguish the good guys from the bad. Actually that’s not quite true—you can tell the good guys apart on account of the fact that they’re all dead.

I like characters that have to battle against inner demons. I like characters that are facing decisions where the answers are far from clear, and where the consequences aren’t always what you expect. And what could be wrong with adding a few flaws to your characters, right? Think of your friends, your spouse, your parents. Are any of those people wholly without fault? Does that stop you caring about them?

Sometimes flaws can make your characters more sympathetic to a reader for a whole host of reasons. Generally, though, I think the more faults you give your characters, the harder it can be to win the reader’s sympathy for them. But it can be done. Consider Mark Lawrence’s The Broken Empire series. The main character, Jorg, is a thirteen-year-old sociopath, yet I still found myself rooting for him. What was it about Jorg that made me willing to spend time with him? What is the key to making an otherwise unsympathetic character sympathetic?

I asked Mark Lawrence that question in an interview I did with him earlier this year. His answer was: “Possibly it’s not caring whether you do [make them sympathetic] or not. I just aim to make characters interesting. Sympathy is over-rated.” Lawrence’s Jorg is certainly a fascinating character. Because of his age, I wanted to know the hows and whys of who he is. In Prince of Thorns, we learn that Jorg has been irreparably scarred from witnessing the murder of his mother and brother. This does not excuse the things he does in his pursuit of revenge, but at least it goes some way towards explaining them. And understanding an unsympathetic character is, I would argue, the first step to empathising with them. Would the readers who enjoyed Prince of Thorns have liked the book so much if they hadn’t been given that insight into Jorg’s background?

Another quality that might redeem an otherwise unsympathetic character is honesty. I’ve written elsewhere about the positive changes in Jaime’s character that take place during A Storm of Swords on his journey with Brienne to King’s Landing. But I also want to mention the scene where he is sitting in White Sword Tower reading The Book of the Brothers. There, he remembers the time when he was with Ser Arthur Dayne, and he fought and killed the outlaw known as the Smiling Knight. “And me, that boy I was… When did he die, I wonder?… That boy had wanted to be Ser Arthur Dayne, but someplace along the way he had become the Smiling Knight instead.”

Image credit Ivan BliznetsovJaime is honest about his faults, and with that honesty comes a sense that he wants to do better. He might stumble and fall on the road to redemption, but at least he is heading in the right direction. We are much more likely to sympathise with such a character, than one who refuses to acknowledge his shortcomings. Honesty is a technique I used to evoke sympathy for one of my characters, Parolla, in When the Heavens Fall. Parolla’s background is a mystery at the start of the book, but in time we learn that her parentage has left her with tainted blood. Sometimes the power carried on that blood slips her leash, but she never uses it as an excuse for her actions. Indeed, she tries to fight against her blood’s call, even as the darkness inside her begins to consume her.

A third consideration is humour. I recall reading an interview by Joe Abercrombie in which he said that people will forgive a lot in someone who can make them laugh. I agree. My favourite character in Abercrombie’s The First Law series, Glokta, is a ruthless torturer. He’s also very funny, and that made the scenes in which he features enjoyable to read. In Glokta’s case, the humour is often doubly appealing because it is self-deprecating. That indicates modesty, together with a sense of the honesty I referred to above.

There are other ways to provoke sympathy for a character, such as making them relatable to the reader, or vulnerable, or just setting them at odds with a character they like even less! There is a danger, though, in trying to make your characters too sympathetic. As my editor once put it, in seeking to make a character more likeable you might strip them of their “edge”. Taken to extremes, you could end up with a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu, too perfect to be realistic or interesting. And, of course, a change that makes a character more appealing to one reader might make them less appealing to another.

A lot is down to a reader’s individual preferences, which is why we should be careful against equating “I didn’t like this character” with “This character is a poor character”. It’s also why I’m so surprised when I hear someone pronounce that a particular character is “unlikeable”, as if the final decision were theirs.

So now it’s over to you. Which is the most disagreeable character you have found yourself rooting for in a book, and what was it that made you sympathise with them?

Buy Dragon Hunters today:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | iBooks | Indiebound | Powell’s

Follow Marc Turner on Twitter at @MarcJTurner and on his website.

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New Releases: 2/9/16

Here’s what went on sale today!

Dragon Hunters by Marc Turner

Dragon Hunters by Marc Turner Dragon Hunters, the sequel to Marc Turner’s When the Heavens Fall features gritty characters, deadly magic, and meddlesome gods

Once a year on Dragon Day the fabled Dragon Gate is raised to let a sea dragon pass from the Southern Wastes into the Sabian Sea. There, it will be hunted by the Storm Lords, a fellowship of powerful water-mages who rule an empire called the Storm Isles. Alas, this year someone forgot to tell the dragon which is the hunter and which the hunted.

Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan Seasoned investigative reporter Charlotte McNally knows that in the cutthroat world of television journalism, every story could be your last. There’s always someone younger and prettier to take your place, always a story more sensational to drive ratings through the roof.

When Brad Foreman’s widow demands to know why Charlie never answered his email, Charlie is confused. She never received his message. What did Brad, an accountant at a pharmaceutical company, want to tell her? As she searches through her computer, she finds an innocent-looking email in her junk mail folder that may turn out to be the biggest story of her career.

Shoot by Loren D. Estleman

Shoot by Loren D. Estleman Valentino, a mild-manner film archivist at UCLA and sometime film detective, is at the closing party for the Red Montana and Dixie Day museum when he is approached by no less than his hero and man-of-the-hour Red Montana, western film and television star.

Red tells Valentino that he is being blackmailed over the existence of a blue film that his wife, now known throughout the world as the wholesome Dixie Day and the other half of the Montana/Day power couple, made early in her career. With Dixie on her deathbed, Red is desperate to save her the embarrassment of the promised scandal, and offers Valentino a deal-find the movie, and he can have Red’s lost film, Sixgun Sonata, that Red has been hiding away in his archives. Don’t accept, and the priceless reel will go up in flames.

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A Song for No Man's Land by Andy RemicA Song for No Man’s Land by Andy Remic

He signed up to fight with visions of honour and glory, of fighting for king and country, of making his family proud at long last.

But on a battlefield during the Great War, Robert Jones is shot, and wonders how it all went so very wrong, and how things could possibly get any worse.

He’ll soon find out. When the attacking enemy starts to shapeshift into a nightmarish demonic force, Jones finds himself fighting an impossible war against an enemy that shouldn’t exist.

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Angel Beats!: Heaven’s Door Vol. 1 by Jun Maeda

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Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Vol. 2 by Rifujin na Magonote and Yuka Fujikawa

12 Beast Vol. 3 by OKAYADO

See upcoming releases.

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New Releases: 2/2/16

Here’s what went on sale today!

Pirate’s Prophecy by Chris A. Jackson

Pathfinder Tales: Pirate's Prophecy by Chris A. Jackson Paizo Publishing is the award-winning publisher of fantasy role playing games, accessories, and board games. Pathfinder Tales: Pirate’s Prophecy is the continuation of their popular novel series.

Captain Torius Vin and the crew of the Stargazer have given up the pirate life, instead becoming abolitionist privateers bent on capturing slave ships and setting their prisoners free. But when rumors surface of a new secret weapon in devil-ruled Cheliax, are the Stargazers willing to go up against a navy backed by Hell itself?

A Voice from the Field by Neal Griffin

A Voice from the Field by Neal Griffin Gunther Kane and his white supremacist group are using forced prostitution to finance the purchase of automatic weapons. Kane snatches young women off the streets and sells them to hundreds of men. When a victim is used up, she’s killed and dumped. After all, there are always more where she came from.

Physically recovered from being shot but struggling with PTSD, Tia Suarez almost doesn’t believe her eyes when she glimpses a Hispanic teenager bound and gagged in the back of Kane’s van. The look of terror on the woman’s face makes Tia desperate to rescue her.

Kane’s in the crosshairs of the FBI, who don’t want a small-town Wisconsin detective messing up their big gun bust.

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The Eterna Files by Leanna Renee Hieber

The Eterna Files by Leanna Renee Hieber London, 1882: Queen Victoria appoints Harold Spire of the Metropolitan Police to Special Branch Division Omega. Omega is to secretly investigate paranormal and supernatural events and persons. Spire, a skeptic driven to protect the helpless and see justice done, is the perfect man to lead the department, which employs scholars and scientists, assassins and con men, and a traveling circus. Spire’s chief researcher is Rose Everhart, who believes fervently that there is more to the world than can be seen by mortal eyes.

Their first mission: find the Eterna Compound, which grants immortality. Catastrophe destroyed the hidden laboratory in New York City where Eterna was developed, but the Queen is convinced someone escaped—and has a sample of Eterna.

Flash by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

Flash by L.E. Modesitt Jr. Ten years ago, Jonat deVrai was a rising star in the Marines. But he shocked his superiors by walking away from the Corps after witnessing atrocity and hypocrisy. Starting his life over, he established himself as the world’s expert on the effectiveness of “prod”– product placement, the only advertising which viewers will allow through the sophisticated filters they all use against unwanted intrusions on their electronic link networks. Prod, reinforced with sublims and the “res”– resonant frequencies, a form of sonic branding — is the wave of the future. Then Jonat’s comfortable world is upset when the Centre for Societal Research approaches him to study the effects of res and prod on political campaigns. After a res-heavy political rally for Laborite Republican Senatorial candidate Juan Carlismo, armed thugs jump deVrai in a parking garage. A day later, a sniper ambushes him. What looked like a safe, lucrative contract has suddenly turned dangerous. With his life on the line, deVrai must sort flash from fact before it’s too late.

Murdock’s Law and City of Widows by Loren D. Estleman

Murdock's Law and City of Widows by Loren D. Estleman Two westerns in the Loren D. Estleman’s critically acclaimed Page Murdock Series, now in one volume

In Murdock’s Law, Special U.S. Deputy Page Murdock rides into Breen, Montana, on the trail of a menacing and elusive outlaw. Before he can scout the saloons for his man, he is made town marshal in a territory heating up for the ugliest range war this side of hell. The big ranchers want a gunslinger marshal, and the small ranchers have their own hired gun. But the badge on Murdock’s chest means law, and he’ll enforce it the best way he knows…with a gun.

In City of Widows, Page Murdock has been sent to the tough New Mexico of 1881 to track down a man and bring him to justice. Murdock soon finds himself on a desperate odyssey, for in the Southwest a friend can turn out to be one’s cruelest enemy and an enemy one’s finest friend.

Of Irish Blood by Mary Pat Kelly

Of Irish Blood by Mary Pat Kelly It’s 1903. Nora Kelly, twenty-four, is talented, outspoken, progressive, and climbing the ladder of opportunity, until she falls for an attractive but dangerous man who sends her running back to the Old World her family had fled. Nora takes on Paris, mixing with couturiers, artists, and “les femmes Americaines” of the Left Bank such as Gertrude Stein and Sylvia Beach. But when she stumbles into the centuries-old Collège des Irlandais, a good-looking scholar, an unconventional priest, and Ireland’s revolutionary women challenge Nora to honor her Irish blood and join the struggle to free Ireland.

Seventh Son and Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card

Seventh Son and Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card From Orson Scott Card, the New York Times author of Ender’s Game, comes an unforgettable story about young Alvin Maker: the seventh son of a seventh son. Born into an alternative frontier America where life is hard and folk magic is real, Alvin is gifted with the power. He must learn to use his gift wisely. But dark forces are arrayed against Alvin, and only a young girl with second sight can protect him.

Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan

Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan Devoted readers of Lady Trent’s earlier memoirs, A Natural History of Dragons and The Tropic of Serpents, may believe themselves already acquainted with the particulars of her historic voyage aboard the Royal Survey Ship Basilisk, but the true story of that illuminating, harrowing, and scandalous journey has never been revealed—until now.

Six years after her perilous exploits in Eriga, Isabella embarks on her most ambitious expedition yet: a two-year trip around the world to study all manner of dragons in every place they might be found. From feathered serpents sunning themselves in the ruins of a fallen civilization to the mighty sea serpents of the tropics, these creatures are a source of both endless fascination and frequent peril. Accompanying her is not only her young son, Jake, but a chivalrous foreign archaeologist whose interests converge with Isabella’s in ways both professional and personal.

When the Heavens Fall by Marc Turner

When the Heavens Fall by Marc Turner If you pick a fight with Shroud, Lord of the Dead, you had better ensure your victory, else death will mark only the beginning of your suffering.

A book giving its wielder power over the dead has been stolen from a fellowship of mages that has kept the powerful relic dormant for centuries. The thief, a crafty, power-hungry necromancer, intends to use the Book of Lost Souls to resurrect an ancient race and challenge Shroud for dominion of the underworld. Shroud counters by sending his most formidable servants to seize the artifact at all cost.

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Magika Swordsman and Summoner Vol. 3 by Mitsuki Mihara; Art by MonRin

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Sneak Peek: Dragon Hunters

Dragon Hunters by Marc TurnerOnce a year on Dragon Day the fabled Dragon Gate is raised to allow a sea dragon pass from the Southern Wastes into the Sabian Sea. There, it will be hunted by the Storm Lords, a fellowship of powerful water-mages who rule an empire called the Storm Isles. But this year someone forgot to tell the dragon which is the hunter and which the hunted.

The second book in The Chronicles of the Exiled by Marc Turner, Dragon Hunters follows Emira Imerle Polivar and others intent on destroying the Storm Lord dynasty. As the Storm Lords assemble in Olaire in answer to a mysterious summons, they become the targets of assassins working for an unknown enemy. When Imerle initiates a planned coup, the enemy makes use of the chaos created to show its hand. Please enjoy this excerpt.

CHAPTER 1

THE TIME had come for Senar Sol to learn his fate.

The Guardian had known it as soon as the bolts of his cell door were thrown back, for this was the first time it had happened in all the months he had been imprisoned. He pushed himself to his feet, found his legs were trembling. How long had he been a captive? How long since he’d stepped through the Merigan portal and swapped Emperor Avallon Delamar’s knife at his back for a sword at his throat? The best part of a year, he realized, for through the bars across his room’s window he had seen autumn, winter, spring, and much of summer pass by. As the weeks of his imprisonment had turned into months, he’d begun to wonder if his jailers would just leave him there to rot. But then why had they kept passing food and water through the grille of his cell door? Why bother keeping him alive at all?

(more…)

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24 Audiobooks to Match Your Travel Time

Fourth of July weekend is almost here and that has us thinking about SUMMER VACATION! We’ve planned our trip and packed our bags. The car is gassed up and ready to go. But here’s the hardest part: what audiobook are we going to listen to on the drive?

If we’re having this problem, we’re assuming you are too. So we decided to put together a list of recommended audiobooks of varying lengths. Whether it’s a short train ride or a long flight with transfers, here are 24 audiobooks that will help make the journey memorable!

(more…)

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Cover Reveal: Dragon Hunters by Marc Turner

Tor Books is proud to present the cover of Dragon Hunters, book two in Marc Turner’s The Chronicles of the Exile series! Here’s what the author had to say about the cover, from artist Greg Manchess:

“Wow, that is stunning! I saw some pencil sketches of the cover a few months ago, but kudos to Greg Manchess for producing a final image that really captures the drama and threat of the book. I love how the waterline view makes the dragon loom higher. I also love how the creature seems to be staring at you rather than at the unfortunate souls on the ship. Hard to believe, looking at that cover, that the dragon is the one that’s being hunted. Perhaps someone should remind the creature of that fact.”

DragonHunters-comp

About Dragon Hunters: Once a year on Dragon Day the fabled Dragon Gate is raised to let a sea dragon pass into the Sabian Sea. There, it will be hunted by the Storm Lords, a fellowship of powerful water-mages who rule an empire called the Storm Isles.

Emira Imerle Polivar is coming to the end of her tenure as leader of the Storm Lords, but she has no intention of standing down graciously. As part of her plot to hold onto power, she instructs an order of priests known as the Chameleons to sabotage the Dragon Gate. There’s just one problem: that will require them to infiltrate an impregnable citadel that houses the gate’s mechanism—a feat that has never been accomplished before.

But Imerle is not the only one intent on destroying the Storm Lord dynasty. As the Storm Lords assemble in answer to a mysterious summons, they become the targets of assassins working for an unknown enemy. And when Imerle sets her scheme in motion, that enemy uses the ensuing chaos to play its hand.

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When the Heavens Fall – The Making of the Film

When the Heavens Fall by Marc Turner

By Marc Turner

Do you have any idea how many epic fantasy books are going to be published this year? No, neither do I, but I’m guessing it’s a lot. It’s hard as a new author to stand out from the crowd. People don’t like to think of writers competing with one another, but in some sense they do. No-one can possibly read every fantasy book, so how do you ensure yours is the one that makes it onto someone’s to-be-read list? I mean, there’s a book coming out later this year that features knights and dinosaurs. Knights and dinosaurs! Hey wait, where are you going? Come back!

You see the problem.

A while ago I came up with the idea of making a video trailer for my book. I’d just seen a teaser trailer for Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart that I thought was very effective. It features a woman walking up to the White House and summoning a ball of magical energy in her hand before throwing it at the building. That’s all. Nothing about the characters, nothing about the plot. But it certainly made me want to find out more.

The simplicity highlighted for me what I saw as a drawback in a lot of the video trailers for books that I’d seen previously: they tried to convey too much information about the story. That’s understandable, perhaps, but it’s difficult to summarise the plot of many fantasy books without making them sound silly. Try it with The Lord of the Rings. “So, there are these little people with hairy feet, and one of them has to throw a magic ring into a volcano to kill a Dark Lord . . .” Knowing nothing more, is that a book you’d rush out to buy? Of course, I’m not doing the book justice (who could?), but I’d argue it’s impossible to do it justice in the space you have available in a trailer.

The second problem with trying to convey too much story is that unless you’re using a voice actor you end up with lots of words on screen. But this is supposed to be a video, right? If someone wanted to read what the book is about, they’d look at the blurb. A trailer has to do something different. The best ones I’ve seen use images and music to create a mood, and tell you just enough about the book to spark your interest.

Unfortunately, finding the right images and music can be a challenge, particularly on a budget – and particularly for a fantasy book. My debut, When the Heavens Fall, tells the story of a man who steals an artefact that gives him power over the dead, then uses it to resurrect an ancient civilisation in order to challenge the Lord of the Dead for control of the underworld. That’s not the sort of subject matter most people are looking for when they go to a stock photo website. Put “undead army” into the website’s search box, and you won’t be inundated with options. No really, it’s true.

What about finding an image for your characters, though? That should be simple enough. Except you can never quite find a photograph that corresponds exactly to how you see the characters or (more importantly) to the detail in the book. Or the person in the picture is wearing the wrong sort of clothes, or standing in front of something that might just appear out of place in a medieval fantasy setting. Like a helicopter. Having looked through hundreds of images for my “main” character, Luker, I was forced to fall back on a photo of a man in a hood. But, hey, this is epic fantasy. It wouldn’t feel the same without a hooded man in there somewhere.

So, having robbed the process of all of its mystery, it’s time to invite you to sit back, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the video trailer for When the Heavens Fall.

It’s best viewed with the lights turned down and the music turned up . . .

video

Marc Turner was born in Canada, but grew up in England. His first novel, When the Heavens Fall, is published in May this year from Tor in the US and Titan in the UK. A short story set in the world of the novel is coming soon at Tor.com. The story will also be available as a free audio file. Marc can be found on Twitter at @MarcJTurner and at www.marcturner.net.

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