alison
March 18th, 2005, 12:45 AM
Wow, you take your eye off the forum for two seconds (ok, a couple of weeks) and see what happens - !!! The Cadvan fans come out of the closet and mayhem breaks loose...Apologies for being absent. I was busy doing my magazine and other things that are late because The Crow took a little longer than I planned.
Thanks to all those posting here about the books. It's great to hear your responses. I "answered" the $64 million question (will Maerad and Cadvan finally get it together?) in another thread...the fact is, even the author doesn't know. Though they obviously remain great friends, at least. And Cadvan is very much the kind of man I find attractive myself (difficult, tormented, a bit arrogant, a pain in the bum really...but also generous and fair and funny and brave &c&c ) He's not really based on anyone I know, though I married someone a bit like that, but on a composite of some people I know plus maybe some fictional heroes. Like most characters in the books, I guess.
As for The Crow... here the story shifts to Hem and Saliman, down in the South in Turbansk, and the war. I know it's a risky move - especially with the Cadvan fans - but I think Saliman is pretty cool as well. And a little less difficult than Cadvan! The Crow picks up where The Gift leaves off, more or less, and finished on Midwinter Day, the same day as The Riddle finishes. I won't say much more, except that Hem was great to write - he grows up a lot - and there are some interesting new characters, a couple of whom took me by surprise. It's called The Crow for a couple of reasons, but a major reason is Hem's pet crow, Irc, who I ended up liking a lot. It's definitely the darkest so far. When I have time to breathe a little I'll put a couple of sample chapters up on my website, and let you know.
The bad news is (for Australians) that it looks like Penguin won't be publishing it until May next year. It was going to be November - but I said too many people would be very cross with me! So it actually comes out at the same time as the UK edition will. I should say none of this is confirmed yet, but that's what the plans are at this stage.
Re: what Cadvan and Maerad look like: well, everyone has their own picture of fictional characters. The US edition of The Gift (there it's called The Naming) actually has a picture of Maerad on the cover - it's not bad actually! She has a very determined chin. Still, not quite how I think of her. Cadvan is in the background, not quite as I imagine him...I think he's a kind of cross between some gaunt rock star and a dark-haired Sean Bean. But that's just me. I love the fact that everyone has their own pictures.
Thanks to all those posting here about the books. It's great to hear your responses. I "answered" the $64 million question (will Maerad and Cadvan finally get it together?) in another thread...the fact is, even the author doesn't know. Though they obviously remain great friends, at least. And Cadvan is very much the kind of man I find attractive myself (difficult, tormented, a bit arrogant, a pain in the bum really...but also generous and fair and funny and brave &c&c ) He's not really based on anyone I know, though I married someone a bit like that, but on a composite of some people I know plus maybe some fictional heroes. Like most characters in the books, I guess.
As for The Crow... here the story shifts to Hem and Saliman, down in the South in Turbansk, and the war. I know it's a risky move - especially with the Cadvan fans - but I think Saliman is pretty cool as well. And a little less difficult than Cadvan! The Crow picks up where The Gift leaves off, more or less, and finished on Midwinter Day, the same day as The Riddle finishes. I won't say much more, except that Hem was great to write - he grows up a lot - and there are some interesting new characters, a couple of whom took me by surprise. It's called The Crow for a couple of reasons, but a major reason is Hem's pet crow, Irc, who I ended up liking a lot. It's definitely the darkest so far. When I have time to breathe a little I'll put a couple of sample chapters up on my website, and let you know.
The bad news is (for Australians) that it looks like Penguin won't be publishing it until May next year. It was going to be November - but I said too many people would be very cross with me! So it actually comes out at the same time as the UK edition will. I should say none of this is confirmed yet, but that's what the plans are at this stage.
Re: what Cadvan and Maerad look like: well, everyone has their own picture of fictional characters. The US edition of The Gift (there it's called The Naming) actually has a picture of Maerad on the cover - it's not bad actually! She has a very determined chin. Still, not quite how I think of her. Cadvan is in the background, not quite as I imagine him...I think he's a kind of cross between some gaunt rock star and a dark-haired Sean Bean. But that's just me. I love the fact that everyone has their own pictures.