Q & A for Steven Erikson

[Maggie, The Malazan Queen of Chaos]

I received an email from SE that he would come back and answer any questions we may have, so start your questions here!

I did ask about the Tavore as a Talon question, here is the answer:


Dear Maggie

Thanks for the note. I looked in on the discussion. I must apologise ifI have missed a q&a sessions for this group. I try to come through on all such requests, so I'm not sure how that one went astray. So, for what it is worth, now that the group has completed the series, I am happy to field questions (just send me the link or let me do it via a Word doc, as I can never remember my password, etc).

Regarding Tavore, oh how I wince with what I am about to say: it is up to the reader to decide, because everything is down to a character's own sense of him or herself, whether that sense is legitimized externally or not, and really, which of the two is more important? Tavore sees herself as a Talon: whether she was 'officially' one or not is not really important. So, the reader can decide whether she was a true Talon or not, and the text offers both options, but I wonder, which of the two is the more poignant? I have my own answer to that, but it may not be the same as anyone else's.

In any case, glad you all enjoyed the series.

Best Regards
Steven Erikson

[Maggie, The Malazan Queen of Chaos]

The first question I think of is in re Felisin II. What happened to her? We last left her (if IRC) heading up a hedonistic temple to the Crippled God...are we going to hear about her in a later book or are we just supposed to make our own assumptions?


also: Lostara and Quick Ben IIRC in I think it is the Bonehunters Lostara recollecting their time as lovers. But then when they are in the same place (which I think didnt happen until this book) there is no mention of it...Just seemed like there should have been some kind of reaction there...

[Lee]

Ironically my question is about one of my least like characters (admittedly he became more likable later).
After finishing the series I find myself back in Gardens, and with wide eyes I re-read the story,

So the question(s) is, in creating the Ganoes character, did you already plan to have him as the master of the deck?

I ask because I can't make up my mind if you planned the Ganoes/Tavore ending before you started book one (which is a concept that blows my mind) or Ganoes went out of the story and came back in (with new cojones and greater knowledge) because it fitted as the story progressed.

Out of all the characters, Ganoes was the most perplexing for me. For the record the Pust character writing was a masterpiece.

[Maggie, The Malazan Queen of Chaos]

are we going to see more of re-incarnated Coltaine?

[Shelley]

Hey gang!!! Sorry I was on vacation for a few days! :) (Had friends come into town for St. Paddy's Day, ahhhh good times!)

I'll be back later today when I catch up on work emails!

Oh Mr. Erikson I have questions for you!

Shells:)

[Shelley]

Hello Mr. Erikson! :)

I know you were here answering questions back in Apr 2011, so thank you for coming back and answering more questions now!

Here's my two questions;

1) Are you going to complete Silver Fox's/Tlan Imass story? That is the one lose end not cleared up with tCG.

2) Okay so if I understand things correctly, at the end of Toll the Hounds, Brood destroyed Dragnipur with Burn's Hammer, and so keeping his vow to Rake. Here's my question; how is it that in Dust of Dreams Draconus walks out of Dragnipur with Dragnipur?

Again, thank you so much for your time, and whatever you do, do not EVER stop writing!! Never ever!!

Warm regards,

Shelley:)
*waiting in agony for Forge of Darkness*

[Lee]

I didn't think draconus had Dragnipur in the mortal world.

[Shelley]

Lee wrote: "I didn't think draconus had Dragnipur in the mortal world."

I'm quoting here from Dust of Dreams, you can find this excerpt on the very last page of Book three in DoD...

"Hammering concussions shook the hills, sheared away slopes leaving raw cliffs, boulders tumbling and pitching thru the remnants of carnage. And still the darkness streamed down, converging, coalescing into an elongated sliver forming at the end of the figure's out stretched hand.

A final report, loud as a snapping of a dragon's spine and then sudden silence.

A sword, bleeding black, dripping darkness.

...He slowly scanned the ground, even as desiccated fragments of hide and flesh began raining down from the heavens, and he stepped forward, bending down to retrieve a battered scabbard. He slid the sword home....Returned to the world. Draconus."

I know for a fact that Dragnipur was the only weapon repeatedly described as "bleeding black, dripping darkness" :)

[Elizabeth]

Hello! I have a question regarding Tattersail. When I first started reading, I loved Tattersail's character and then was very shocked when she's killed so early on in the first book (I know she gets resurrected but she's not the same).

So my question is, what made you decide to kill off such a major character so early in the series? Did you have Tattersail's transformation mapped out, or did this develop as the books did?

[Traci]

Love, love, love this series. And after disappointment after disappointment I have to give thanks that this series is great from beginning to end and left me with a big grin on my face and tears in my eyes. :)

I wonder about the many deaths in the series as well. Were there any that made you pause? Whiskeyjack. Anomander Rake. Coltaine. And of the ones who die and come back, were most or all of these planned. Or were any a regret that you killed the character off.

Of all the characters in the series Fiddler easily became my favorite even though when I started to read Deadhouse Gates I didn't remember him other than the other Bridgeburner that left with Apsalar. So my second question is, did you always plan for Fiddler to have the role he does at the end or was it a work in progress?

My last question regards Karsa Orlong. My second favorite character. Before The Crippled God I expected Karsa to have a larger role in the end than he did. I just wonder why after reading so much about this character his sections in the last book were very brief.

And lastly, thank you, thank you, thank you for writing.

[Shelley]

Hey gang, not sure if you guys saw this, but here's the link to the Q & A session we had with Steven Erikson last year after tCG came out...

[Elizabeth]

Hello again, I have another question:

Your books are very complex, with lots of characters and storylines. How do you keep track of it all? Did you ever get confused and have characters in the wrong places or with the wrong people?

[Lee]

LMAO i can summarise most of these questions with one:

How the hell did you plan all this?

[Maggie, The Malazan Queen of Chaos]

lol Lee

Just so everyone knows-SE wrote and said he is at a conference this week but will be answering soon!

[Lee]

bump

[Maggie, The Malazan Queen of Chaos]

lol-we got forgotten twice, huh

[Shelley]

Yes we have! :( Oh well, as long as SE keeps writing! :)

So I've been getting caught up on a huge pile of books that I'd put off reading for the last four years, think I've read about 8 books since OST! :) Yay for me, because I was sooooooooooo distracted with SE/ICE no book could keep my attention! :)

Hope everyone is well, I miss my SE/ICE buddies! :)

[Amelia]

I've still got OST to read. I waited for it to be released in the US. (It was a long wait, tortuous actually.) Now that I have the book I haven't read it yet. What's up with that? I'm planning on reading it this month.

[Shelley]

Hi Amelia!! :)

Yeah what's up with that? :P OTS was really good, a little confusing at times, meaning some things weren't really explained, BUT otherwise it's fantastic....ICE's best book so far! I think we should open a folder, so we can post observations! :)

[Amelia]

Yeah, I know. I've just been reading other stuff.

The good news is that my brother is almost done with Deadhouse Gates, so I think he'll pick up his pace a little and read the others. I can't wait to talk to him about it. He's been my real life book discusser for a long time and it's been torture that I couldn't speculate with him.

[Shelley]

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY to the brother!!! :) Like I said before, my sister and I finished tCG within five minutes of each other! It was totally awesome to finish it, still be crying and calling her at midnight to talk about the ending!!! Great memory! :)

[Lee]

I must admit to having struggled to get into anything post Erikson.
Mistborn was kind of good, but by book three I was yawning at same ol, same ol', then I read The RoadThe Road depressingly dark, but well written and thankfully short. Now I am reading Pratchett, but it doesn't feel like a real book.
Last night I found an hour free, normally I'd be all over the Kindle like a rash, but I just channel surfed wasting my hour, as Mort didn't inspire me to pick up.
I guess i could just start reading the Fallen again, but then I feel like I am missing out on so many other stories.

sigh. I am ruined.

[Amelia]

Absolutely ruined Lee.

I read Mistborn before I'd read any of Erikson, so I really enjoyed them for what they are fun, light and easy.

I'm reading Pratchett right now too, but I'm reading Going Postal. I got the mini series for Christmas, loved it and am now reading the book. It takes a little bit out of it already knowing the story, but I'm still liking it.

Another series that really messed up other books for me was Janny Wurtz series: the war of light and shadow. Everything that I read after that seemed overly simple. But I got over it. I think that helped me move on after Erikson. I am too much of a reader to not be reading something.

LOL!

I feel for you though.

[Traci]

I went through the same slump. I reread favorites to try to get over it. It gets better. =)

[Shelley]

Hey Lee, I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so! Try not being able to read ANYONE else for four years, nothing I picked up could compare to SE! With the last year and a half being the worst wait of my life! Honestly, your best bet is reread the Malazan series, and hopefully you get it out of your system! Truth be told, reading the series so many times is the only reason why I'm able to read anything today, I finally got it out of my system.

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will never come across anything quite like what SE/ICE have created and it has lifted my reading expectations, which isn't a bad thing, just makes it harder to find such thoughtful writers/writing!

Maybe we should create a "recovering from SE" support group! :P We could name it "Forever Ruined"....

[Lee]

Hi Everyone, my name is Lee and I admit that Erikson has ruined my ability to enjoy other peoples writing.

Everyone: Hi Lee, welcome to the group.

[Lee]

Shells,
I am glad I read it when i did, starting in the same year that CG came out, I would have hated to wait to start the next book, this was one of the primary reasons that I went off the Game of Thrones, that and the way to many side stories of little interest.

I really don't want to start the series again right now though, it is too close to finishing it. I don't want to spend 2 years reading nothing but Erikson. I started GotM again, but had to put it down, it blew me away, if I kept at it, I would have been right back into the series again.
I want to read some other things, but finding it hard to enjoy much. I have been listening to The Dark Tower by King and that has been a audio epic and has had a lot of my attention, so that has been a reasonable replacement, quite a good Epic. But that is drawing to an end.

Maybe I'll try his new book: The devil The Devil Delivered

[Maggie, The Malazan Queen of Chaos]

I have been reading a lot of sci-fi....fantasy wont cut it right now

[Lee]

Hmmm thinking about that too. Started Fire Watch on a buddy read. Might have to follow your lead me thinks.

I tried Foundation again, but found it ........old?

I want something new. Maybe I should try some Peter Hamilton.Peter Hamilton

[Maggie, The Malazan Queen of Chaos]

I am reading To Say Nothing of the Dog and Redshirts, recently finished A Fire Upon the Deep. Thought provoking stuff!

[Shelley]

Well, I tried! :) You're ruined either way Lee! I think I was able to get it all out of my system (finally) with our reading group read of SE series. Being able to discuss and explain the series thru our group read really cured me, so I'm greatful to the group for that!! At least now I can finish a book without comparing it to SE!

I honestly believe that we've experience something pretty profound reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen and I'm greatful to SE forever for picking up a pen to write! :)

Shells:)

[Lee]

Read A Fire Upon the Deep a couple of times. Vinge is one of my favorite authors, probably my fav author up until June last year when I made that Deadhouse Gates decision.

I am going to try a group read again, Abercrombies book starting in 2 weeks. I am currently reading Hamilton's Pandoras Star and loving being back into SciFi and listening to the second book of Wheel of Time.

I keep returning to Deadhouse and really would love to read it again, but I want to read other books as well and am resisting the temptation for now.