Guest Post: “On Change, Blood and Iron…” by Jon Sprunk

Hello everyone. I’m Jon Sprunk, the author of Blood and Iron (which came out last week) as well as the Shadow Saga, both from Pyr Books. I’m so glad to have this chance to speak to you. Today I’d like to talk about change.

Whoa, whoa. Don’t click away yet! I know everyone has a healthy mistrust for change, but I’ll keep it painless. Scoundrel’s honor.

What I mean by change are the differences between writing my two series. For those who don’t know my work, the Shadow Saga trilogy was about a lonewolf assassin named Caim. The new series, The Book of the Black Earth, follows the stories of three people caught up in the machinations of an empire ruled by sorcerers.

Guest Post: “Lessons I Learned While Stumbling Through the Looking Glass” by Jon Sprunk

US Covers (Pyr)

Writing a novel is a mammoth undertaking. It seems pretty easy at the beginning: just string together some interesting scenes involving remarkable characters and keep that process rolling along until you reach The End. Yet somewhere along the line you start to realize that all these “interesting” scenes will have to add up to something important, something bigger than They All Lived Happily Ever After. This is especially difficult when you dream that this novel will someday be published and read by people whom you’ve never met, who will judge your work against the entire history of literature. It’s enough to give a writer the shakes, and that’s before he or she starts hitting the bottle at increasingly-early times of the day.

Fortunately for me, I stumbled onto my first rule of writing: Don’t Sweat It, Just Write It.

“Shadow’s Lure” by Jon Sprunk (Pyr/Gollancz)

Hired Blade Caim returns, in this great new novel

The Unforgiving Northlands… In Othir, he was at the top of the food chain – an assassin beyond compare, a dark shadow in the night. But Caim left that life behind when he helped an empress claim her throne. And now his past has come calling again.

Searching for the truth behind the murder and disappearance of his parents, Caim discovers a land in thrall to the Shadow. Haunted by temptations from the Other Side, he becomes mired in a war he does not want to fight.

But there are some things a son of the Shadow cannot ignore, and some fights from which he can’t run. In this battle, all of Caim’s strength and skill won’t be enough.

For none can resist the Shadow’s Lure.

As with Sprunk’s debut, I find myself in the position of having to review a book which I thoroughly enjoyed and not wanting to sound like a frothing fan-boy. I shall, nonetheless, do my best to properly review the novel.

A Quick Chat with Jon Sprunk, author of “Shadow’s Son” and “Shadow’s Lure”

Last year, Pyr in the US and Gollancz in the UK published Shadow’s Son, the debut novel of Jon Sprunk. It was a rollicking fantasy tale of an assassin who is faced with a fateful decision on which the future of a nation depends. It was classic character-driven and action-led fantasy, which I really rather enjoyed. With the sequel’s publication later this year, I contacted the author with a handful of questions, and he was kind enough to answer them.

Some Exciting Artwork for 2011

Just some more artwork for you to enjoy before the next review gets posted, and to further whet your appetite for upcoming 2011 fantasy releases.

First up, Tor UK recently revealed the brilliant artwork for the follow-up to Col Buchanan’s superb Farlander, Stands a Shadow (published in the distant future… well, August 2011):

It’s becoming rather trope-ish to have a single figure posing as the centre-piece of a cover, and while some disapprove, I think Stands A Shadow is very eye-catching, and I like the mellow tones. It also fits nicely with the style of Farlander.

Next up, the (possibly final) UK artwork for Jon Sprunk’s second novel, Shadow’s Lure – it’s in the same style as Shadow’s Son, but this time in a more eye-pleasing blue:

And one final cover, again from Tor UK: Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Heir of the Blades, the seventh in his critically acclaimed, successful Shadows of the Apt series:

This, to me, looks like a fantasy novel designed by someone who is very fond of the Neal Asher re-jacketing (also published by Tor UK). I think it works very well. I really must catch up on this series!