Who will replace Goodkind and Jordan?

[algernoninc]

two years ago I mentioned Rothfuss as the author to watch for popular success. I have yet to read The Wise Man's Fear, but I'm glad he's made it, as he is a great all-around guy on the internet.
I was also interested in the progress of Richard Morgan, but The Steel Remains was a great dissapointment. I'll give the series another chance when book two comes around, but I see him more as a niche author than a popular favorite.

As of 2011 the authors I would like to see at the top of the bookseller lists are Paul Kearney , Daniel Abraham and Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

[jtbrazil]

I would have to lead with two authors that no one would have much trouble accepting ,and have probably been said hundreds of times before, but I think the last author I will mention may get more than a few raised eyebrows,if not a full on heart attack. Patrick Rothfuss of course with NOTW and TWMF and the second of course would be Jim Butcher with the Dresden files and lastly the one I think will get me a few eyebrows raised in my direction is none other than Rick Riordan now hear me out before you let loose with the angry comments, true he is primarily YA but lets take a look at his works he has the 39 clues series, the Kane Chronicles , and of course Percy Jackson and now he has the start of a new series entitled The Lost Hero which expands on the Camp half-blood world that has become so popular. I would like to end with this, one day Rick Riordan's fan's will grow up and still read his books, and im one ofthem.

 

[jtbrazil]

If Rothfuss does stick with his three books only for Kvothes story, then he might be a one hit(trilogy) wonder.

I get what you are saying but he does have another book out there, and depending on you definition of success, is successful. The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle"

 

[Loerwyn]

Sanderson is ultra conservative. No joke when he gave his review of WMF he actually put a disclaimer there warning his fans that WMF has a fair amount of sex in it which made me damn near fall off my chair laughing.

And? It's a bad thing because...?

Wert; But Pyr have the better covers for Tchaikovsky I would hope he's picked up by one of the US publishers, because I think he deserves a chance to shine.

 

[ChrisW]

I get what you are saying but he does have another book out there, and depending on you definition of success, is successful. The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle"

Selling a limited edition book to your hardcore fan base while your still writing the series your famous for ain't exactly difficult.

 

[Werthead]

Feist is in an interesting position. After the one which just came out, he has just two more books in the RIFTWAR mega-saga. Whilst he's said he will periodically return to Midkemia (get-out clause) he wants to write another supernatural book set in the real world and then a science fiction novel, which apparently has 'concerned' his agent and publishers due to the economic drop-off in moving from fantasy to science fiction (something Donaldson also knows about).

What's interesting about that is that Feist isn't so rich he can sit on his laurels. Apparently an awful lot of the money he's made since 1997 has gone into alimony payments and his outgoings are pretty high. This is much more of a risk for him than for many authors.

 

[Loerwyn]

What's interesting about that is that Feist isn't so rich he can sit on his laurels. Apparently an awful lot of the money he's made since 1997 has gone into alimony payments and his outgoings are pretty high. This is much more of a risk for him than for many authors.

How odd. You'd think he'd be absolutely minted.

 

[KatG]

Not all of them and since so many fantasy fans have embraced his Dresden books he gets to be included. My thread my rules.

LOL, fine, then. If YA is included, then Rowling has already replaced everybody. If YA is not included, then Charlaine Harris has arguably beaten Butcher, but he's close behind and they both beat all the alt world fantasy authors currently except for posthumous Jordan and Martin. That doesn't mean of course that the older authors aren't outselling them in aggregate over the years, but just in terms of "replacing" or being the next heir to Jordan, Goodkind and Martin in having a big impact and large sales

What defines a "phenom"?

A phenomenon fiction writer is a writer whose books sell at levels about ten times more than the regular bestsellers. Rowling is the phenom of phenoms, although there are authors who have sold more than her over time, such as Agatha Christie, but per book, she's the phenom at the top. Stephen King, John Grisham, Dan Brown, Stephanie Meyers, James Michener have all been phenoms. They tend to skew people's perspectives of the book industry.

 

[Lagomorph_Rex]

This is a very interesting topic..

And while I'd love to see Rothfuss do a 10 book series.. It's sort of hard to think that I'd be like 68 before I'd read it all. He's just not got the output quotient (that we have seen so far) to do something like that.. I expect him to to be an author of "Trilogies" and " one-offs" perhaps set in the same world more like Abercrombie.. Or to even go the way of Gaiman and have a few really big hits and then putout whatever he feels like.

Sanderson is a book writing machine though.. and his books are good enough while not pushing anything that could be remotely considered offensive and he's working in a cunning way to put all of his books in a single shared universe last I heard.. so my money would be on him if I were the gambling sort.

Interesting thing about the drop off of readers when authors swap to different books or what have you.. I would probably agree I'd be one of the readers who wouldn't follow the author as much as I follow the characters.. and I know I do this with bands.. In through the Out door is a terrible album, Led Zeppelin, and had they not broken up afterwords I'm not sure I'd have kept buying their albums. I certainly didn't buy Robert Plants solo stuff, but I did buy the two albums "The Firm" put out..

 

[3rdI]

And? It's a bad thing because...?

Uh because it is absurdly humorous that Sanderson would feel the need to put a disclaimer on a review of a book because said book contains sexual content that is remarkably tame. That level of conservatism is humorous at best. Since we cannot discuss politics or religion I will leave it at that.

 

[Loerwyn]

Uh because it is absurdly humorous that Sanderson would feel the need to put a disclaimer on a review of a book because said book contains sexual content that is remarkably tame. That level of conservatism is humorous at best. Since we cannot discuss politics or religion I will leave it at that.

Oh dear, how dare Sanderson warn people of content that might offend them!

Good on him, if you ask me.

 

[Erfael]

I don't think it's terribly odd or humorous that he should make that comment, actually. In my years around here I've seen people who:

1. Will not read a book that has any sex at all in it.
2. Will not read a book that has no sex at all in it.
3. Will not read a book without a map.
4. Will not read a book that has any amount of swearing in it.
5. Will not read a book unless they're assured it has swearing in it.
6. Will not read a book if there's even the vaguest mention of the real world in it.
7. Will not read a book in 1st person.
8. Will not read a book if there aren't vivid descriptions of combat.
9. Will not read a book that has kissing in the first 50 pages.
10. Will not read a book written by a female.

The list of strange and interesting quirks of fantasy readers goes on and on. Sanderson has chosen to cater to some of the things on this list and not others. Just as Abercrombie has chosen some and not others. And Rothfuss, and Hobb, and so on...

So if Sanderson is writing a certain way and his audience feels that that's the kind of book they like it makes sense that he would point out areas where other books differed, even in a "tame" way, if he's recommending them. And while I think it's safe to say that Sanderson is religiously and politically conservative compared to other authors, I don't think you can necessarily always make that judgement from an author's work. An author is capable of acting one way in their personal life and beliefs and writing for a different audience. An author may decide that they can reach a much wider audience with their ideas if they remove swearing or sex or gratuitous violence, even if they love all that stuff in other areas of their lives.

Take Matt Stover...The Acts of Caine are some nasty, violent, R-rated stuff. And it's great. But then Matt is asked to do the novelization for Revenge of the Sith and he takes all that stuff out...and yet still manages to make a pretty good book out of it (maybe even better than the source material). There are other authors who write in multiple styles, sometimes wildly different styles, depending on the needs of the story they want to tell or the audience to whom they want to tell it.

 

[JohnH]

Oh dear, how dare Sanderson warn people of content that might offend them!

Not to mention:

OH DEAR!!!!! How dare someone find Sanderson's pearl clutching amusing and perhaps inappropriate for them.

If Sanderson offers an opinion for public consumption, wouldn't it be courteous to afford the people who read it and react to it the same righteousness even if it somehow dares to go against your own take? Demanding such for Sanderson even as you snidely dismiss the same consideration simply because it goes against your own take is kind of humorous. And hypocritical.

I find anything Sanderson writes to be amusing though. Sad. Horrifically bad. But still amusing. Sort of like reading Charlie Sheen. But with magic.

Specifically on topic I'd say that for all the talk about long series versus short series there is a factor being overlooked. That a large number of Jordan's fans were more invested in the series ending. Period. No matter what. Before he was ill, many devoted fans' number 1 issue was that the series be finished. Number 2? That Jordan definitely declare how many books were left. To the point that not only was there a rabidly devoted avowal that Jordan's one book remaining declaration be considered dogma no matter the inanity of such an idea, but many also simply adhered to Sanderson because the series would be finished. This despite the fact that Sanderson has some really wretched prose and complete lack of logical plotting in his efforts to make Jordan's notes into a novel. Illustrating several times that Sanderson might know in general what happens to the characters but doesn't really understand the How. Let deal with the characters in anything even remotely plausible.

But people don't care.

But before I tear out even nose hair of every Sanderson fan, let me skip back to the general idea here that involves long series. People want the same. Feist proves that. Lackey proves that. Mainstream authors prove that. Whining posts here demanding to be feed their next book recommendation like a helpless brainless baby bird prove that.

At the same time though they want a sense of completion I suspect. They want resolution. They can't see past three books and want that series to end. Until it does.

Then they want more.

So I don't think you can declare "people want ________" in even a singular instance example. People are stupid. I'm stupid. You're stupid. We all are stupid. And what we want is what we want. Until we get it. Then we want something else or more of the same. Just not the exact same. Or maybe but in a particular dose.

 

[3rdI]

Oh dear, how dare Sanderson warn people of content that might offend them!

Good on him, if you ask me.

Hold those guidelines tight to your chest now. Never question no no no. Follow the rules and listen to what your told.

And no it is more of Sanderson stuffing his dogma down everyone's throat. The ever so delicate sensibilities of the compassionate *coughs* conservative.....

Anyhoo

I find a disclaimer like that offensive. It is Sanderson pushing his morality on everyone and yet again bringing it to the forefront. I suppose from a business perspective I understand as he does need to keep his core audience (Utah) comfortable, safe and secure. Goodness knows it would be awful to expose someone to something as horribly vulgar as that nasty sex thing. Blah. Go back to sleep.



@John H thank you. The voice of reason.

 

[Evil Agent]

@John H thank you. The voice of reason.

Bahahaha! JohnH, the voice of reason? That's a good one.

 

[KatG]

Alright everybody, let's move it back from the personal and assessments of Sanderson's personality, which are against the rules, and back to the thread topic.

 

[Rob B]

I find a disclaimer like that offensive. It is Sanderson pushing his morality on everyone and yet again bringing it to the forefront. I suppose from a business perspective I understand as he does need to keep his core audience (Utah) comfortable, safe and secure. Goodness knows it would be awful to expose someone to something as horribly vulgar as that nasty sex thing. Blah. Go back to sleep.

How is Sanderson pushing his morality on people by telling them some of the content of a book he read? He didn't say "DON'T READ THE BOOK," did he? Here's the disclaimer:

As this is of note to many of those in my audience, I feel that I should mention that this book contains a fair bit more sex than the previous volume did. Pat avoids graphic details, but there are events in the latter half of the book that some readers may find discomforting.

Sanderson, in addition to Mistborn, Wheel of Time, and Stormlight Archives is also the author of a young-adult series so just perhaps some of the people reading his blog are readers of the YA books he writes. There's a chance he's providing the disclaimer for those readers?

I'm just baffled how this can be construed as Sanderson pushing his morality on everyone.

What if somebody reading Martin's books recommends them to a friend with the disclaimer that the books are violent?

 

[PeterWilliam]

I will not read a book in a non-omnibus format,.....somtimes.

 

[3rdI]

How is Sanderson pushing his morality on people by telling them some of the content of a book he read? He didn't say "DON'T READ THE BOOK," did he? Here's the disclaimer:


Sanderson, in addition to Mistborn, Wheel of Time, and Stormlight Archives is also the author of a young-adult series so just perhaps some of the people reading his blog are readers of the YA books he writes. There's a chance he's providing the disclaimer for those readers?

I'm just baffled how this can be construed as Sanderson pushing his morality on everyone.

What if somebody reading Martin's books recommends them to a friend with the disclaimer that the books are violent?

You really want to get into this discussion? Kat just said to back off of it. You know the discussion is going to delve into religious matters. This is your call as a moderator dude. If you want to discuss it cool but don't get on me later for bringing in the religious component.

 

[Kaeru]

Removed to respect the request that the thread be brought back on topic. And because the points have already been made