After several conversations with Reesa, what I think is the last chunk of Tiassa has fallen into place well enough that I can see where I’m going. I think. Maybe. For the moment. So I believe I’m on track to finish it. I have noticed that, with each of the last several books, I have pissed off some percentage of Vlad fans, and this makes me sad. So, with this book, I’m hoping to piss off all of them. I hate half measures.
87 responses so far ↓
1 Jason McCulley // Mar 1, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Pissing off all of us will be a neat trick. Vlad’s a lot better at it than you are, though.
2 ojiikun // Mar 1, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Hah, tough shit! Some of us will always squeal with delight at having inhaled the latest Vlad. ;)
Then again, some people like getting beaten with hot pokers . . .
Bad analogy.
][
3 Emma Bull // Mar 1, 2010 at 11:51 pm
Excellent ambition. Totally down with this. Let me know if I can help. *g*
4 Brad // Mar 1, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Good luck with that.. I’m awfully hard to piss off. :)
Hrm.. unless you finish it, then just tease us with tidbits for a few years and never publish. That’d do it. Don’t do that.
5 ZeroSD // Mar 2, 2010 at 12:13 am
I… like Iorich and Issola and Dzur! (though I do think Dzur’s second act was a bit long and resolution a bit short, but it was still fun, and it makes everyone hungry)
6 Billy Meyers // Mar 2, 2010 at 12:38 am
You finally decided to write a Vlad book in second person, huh? Color me pissed!
7 Skwid // Mar 2, 2010 at 12:44 am
Don’t be so limiting, Billy. I’m seeing…second person future tense! Yeah!
8 bd // Mar 2, 2010 at 2:07 am
How the H— ….
No, no, not the part about it making you sad. But how does that work? Yes, Issola hurt, and deeply. But what do we read fiction for? Okay, so there is something of a diverse set of answers to that, but how many of us, really, read fiction so that the author can give us every damn thing we ever thought we wanted in a story? Isn’t that boring? I mean, a friend of mine who is a musician once advised, “Write the book you want to read.” That, apparently, is how he does his albums. So it seems foolish to look to Steven Brust, or any other author, to deliver us what we cannot give unto ourselves.
Catharsis, catharsis, catharsis. Whether it’s a young boy’s lack of pockets, the staid faith of the fiddle player’s moment of clarity, or the costs of such devotion among friends as we do not see in modern life, is our pathos now about indignance and outrage? How sad, if so. Often it’s the little things, like Zerika’s neuroses expressed as she trod the Paths of the Dead, that bring the greatest rewards.
I cannot imagine the Taltos cycle being comfortable and predictable.
Over a decade ago, you sat on a panel in Seattle with Robin Hobb and a couple of others. I promised you a beer in Minneapolis, but never made it to the show. As you talked with passing fans after the panel … even now I recall the old line about how you enjoy other people’s speculation about subtext. It was easy to see in your responses, and hard to guard against as a fan. But what muttered theories could there be if everything about the story was comfortable and predictable?
Maybe I just don’t understand readers at large. Indeed, this would not be the first time the question has occurred to me; it may well be a primary reason I can’t seem to actually finish a novel.
I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time, and if it takes you a while to get it where you’re happy with it, I can deal with that.
If you confuse me, if you wound me, if you break my heart, it is actually more than I can ask. And if you manage to actually piss me off? I’ll hitch a ride to Texas and deliver a case of beer to your doorstep.
9 platedlizard // Mar 2, 2010 at 2:40 am
You’ve yet to piss me off (although Orca still has the distinction of being the only book I’ve actually thrown at a wall. “She’s WHO?!” Slam).
Hard for me to get mad at a book or a character, they’re just fiction. Now an author, that’s who I get pissed at. But rarely.
Well, I was slightly mad over Dzur. It ruined my diet.
10 Freudas // Mar 2, 2010 at 2:59 am
What have people been angry about? The Vlad books continue to entertain, delight, and touch off the more than occasional deep thought.
The last three books (or one) of the Khaavren Romances did leave a little to be desired – that one (or three) just didn’t have the same feel as the first two, to me anyway. Maybe that was the point though.
What I’d really like to see is for Steve to leave Dragaera again sometime.
11 Eric // Mar 2, 2010 at 3:18 am
I say “Fuck ‘em!” Don’t worry about pissing off Vlad fans.
Listen, I know people who are still pissed that Vlad and Cawti broke up, who confine themselves to rereading Taltos, Yendi, and Jhereg. Ah, conservatives. Not politically, I mean, uh, plotifically? I don’t know what the word would be for people who don’t want their favorite characters to ever change or have anything permanently bad happen to them. But I do know that the point is fuck ‘em.
Anyway, I say screw trying to please Vlad fans. Instead, try not to piss off fans of good stories. This fan of good stories says you haven’t pissed me off yet. But keep it up, Brust, or I’ll send over someone to break your typewriter. *Then* you’ll know I’m serious.
12 Aliera // Mar 2, 2010 at 4:40 am
So, with this book, I’m hoping to piss off all of them. I hate half measures.
Umm. *frets*
13 Frettled // Mar 2, 2010 at 6:31 am
I have yet to read Iorich, which is in the mail somewhere between the glorious bookshop and me, so perhaps I’m missing out on some annoyance that an otherwise presumably sane person might have been exposed to.
I’m with bd on this one, except that I’m not going to buy you a case of beer. :)
14 Mike Timonin // Mar 2, 2010 at 6:35 am
Hmmm. I’m two books behind – I wonder if I’m part of the fan base which is going to be pissed off with those two books or not?
In prep for Iorich, Jo Clayton did a semi-public re-reading of the cycle for Tor.com which sent me hunting (fruitlessly, it turns out) for my copy of Jhereg. For some reason, libraries I live close to don’t own your books, and they very rarely show up at used book stores (except Cowboy Feng’s. Which is perhaps indicative.) I hate buying a book before I’ve read it, but for Vlad, I tend to make an exception. Jhegella is out in paperback…
15 Phyr // Mar 2, 2010 at 7:09 am
as long as there is talk of food i will always be happy. :3
16 Becca Stareyes // Mar 2, 2010 at 7:25 am
Any author who can elicit an emotional reaction other than ‘how the hell did this crap get published?’ from me gets a feather in his or her cap. Even if it is along the lines of ‘Brust, you magnificent bastard’, said with a tone of grudging respect, after something horrible happens.
17 Dennis // Mar 2, 2010 at 7:28 am
L0oking forward to angrily slamming Tiassa against the wall in a year or so…
and then picking up Hawk or Chreotha or whichever a couple years after that.
18 Sharon C. // Mar 2, 2010 at 8:06 am
So, Tiassa has a Disney perfect happy ending?
19 NotACat // Mar 2, 2010 at 8:53 am
The only thing which is likely to piss off sufficient numbers to satisfy you properly would be to stop writing, and you don’t give the impression of being someone who would simply give up. I’ve been following Vlad’s career pretty much from the start and the two of you seem fairly well-matched for sheer bloody-minded unstoppableness ;-)
20 morriganson // Mar 2, 2010 at 9:01 am
the only thing i keep waiting for is lady teldra’s awakening.
nothing pisses me off about this series.
21 Seth // Mar 2, 2010 at 9:37 am
Maybe its because I haven’t read the Iorich (spoiler) thread, but what in the hell could you be pissed off about in reading a fantasy book?
ok, I just thought of something: while Vlad and company are out walking in the jungle, Loiosh gets eaten by a large snake. And this happens for no reason in the book.
That would piss me off.
Or the one actual example that happened to me: Douglas Adams writing the final book of the Hitchhiker’s Guide. That book pissed me off. Because it was obvious from page one that he only wrote the book because he had been pestered to do so for years. So it was a great big,”Fine you want another book? Here, choke on this.”
I highly doubt that Brust will do an entire reboot of the series or kill off Loiosh without a really really spectacular reason, so I feel pretty safe.
22 Steve the Younger // Mar 2, 2010 at 9:44 am
Just happy to hear that Tiassa is on its way, with inspiration of mind and a cunning plan.
If that plan should piss me off, it’s up to me to write a better one I guess….
Go Steve go…
23 lakrids404 // Mar 2, 2010 at 9:59 am
I am one those who really liked Orca and Athyra. And I do like that changing nature of the serie. But since Orca Vlad have been cut off from his friends, yes he does see them and works with them. But he is not living with them, and that gives a feeling to me, that the books are in sort in between a phase change that has gone on, for a to a long time.
24 Big Mike // Mar 2, 2010 at 10:42 am
I didn’t much like either Athyra or Jhegaala. It is probably significant that Vlad is incapacitated through large parts of both. I loved Orca, especially the revelation that Platedlizard objected so much to. Which just goes to show. I just reread Issola and, while the end is sad, I can see that the great weapon is going to be big in some story. And we have got a glimpse of some of its powers in Iorich.
When can we expect to see Tiassa?
25 Jay // Mar 2, 2010 at 10:48 am
I have been reading this series since I was 12. At 31 now, that is a long time.
I can say in all that time, a Vlad book has never pissed me off. I can still remember coming across a copy of Jhereg in a used bookstore in Key West. That copy is long gone, replaced by the omnibus edition, but since the cover with a flying lizard sucked me in, I haven’t looked back.
The series hasn’t always developed the way I wanted. Vlad’s decisions haven’t always been the same as my own, but that has only increased my enjoyment.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t have my own preferences for the series, and if anyone cares here they are:
1) Stop trying to write the books to stand alone. They don’t really stand alone anyway (at least at this point), and the constant references to other stories, and brief explanations of prior characters annoys me. Comparing to LoTR, how bad would it be if every time a character from the past popped up, there was an explanation of who that was? My solution, of course, is simple, I just skip those bits, so for me they effectively aren’t there.
2) Please wrap up the ‘Jhereg want to kill me’ plot. Of the novels in the series, it has played a part (major or minor) in six of twelve books, seven if one includes Phoenix. That isn’t to say that I dislike the concept in general, but it, to me, has certainly run it’s course. We get it. He pissed people off, other people want to destroy him for it, he will ultimately resolve this, evolve in a way that makes it unimportant, or die. I hope this happens in Tiassa.
But, those two things aside, I trust skzb to handle it his own way, in his own time. He has been entertaining me for more than half my life. I couldn’t thank him enough for the hours of enjoyment I have gotten from his writing, and I would buy him a beer any day. Or a wine, if, as Vlad, that is his preference.
26 Gail // Mar 2, 2010 at 11:10 am
As a Brust fan, who was once a Vlad fan, all I can say is…
bwahahahahahahahaha
I adore you. :P
27 Ricky // Mar 2, 2010 at 11:29 am
The only thing that would piss me off is if you stopped writing the books completely. :D
28 Scott // Mar 2, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Here come the Ewoks.
29 Jeanne Veillette Bowerman // Mar 2, 2010 at 12:54 pm
You ain’t writin’ less your pissin’ someone off. Bravo!
30 Pamela Dean // Mar 2, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Hey, some people got mad all the way back at _Teckla_.
I thought _Jhegaala_ was awesome, though Vlad’s isolation was very wearing. Just finished _Iorich_, where Vlad is back among people long familiar to us but everything is canted sideways. Brilliant. Not very soothing, but brilliant. There’s nothing like trading one discomfort for its opposite. I have managed not to get into a cycle of reading first one and then the other and then the one and then the other and then — but it was a near thing.
Vlad pisses me off on a regular basis, and you have been known to do so yourself, but never by writing a novel.
P.
31 Apf // Mar 2, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Trying to get all of us…well that’s just lacking in ambition. You should be aiming for all of us, plus our neighbours and our dogs – at the very least ;-)
32 Dusty // Mar 2, 2010 at 3:53 pm
I have to say that my least favourite Vlad book is almost always the most recently published one, simply because the anticipation for each is always so great that it would be nearly impossible to live up to (and even though I am aware of this trap, I always fall into it). When I re-read the books (as I always do–I am currently re-reading them now, twice in a row, first in publication order and then in chronological order, and am sad that I on my second time through Dzur and am thus almost done), I find things to like and appreciate in even those I did not enjoy as much the first time through. I will admit that Yendi and Taltos are probably my absolute favourites, and so far, Jhegaala my least (mostly because I wanted to see more of Fenario’s culture, and we are told repeatedly that Burz is atypical), but there are few things that would, I think, totally and permanently piss me off.
33 Dru // Mar 2, 2010 at 5:49 pm
The only way I can imagine you’ll piss off the fans is if the titular Tiassa has nothing to do with Khaavren – say, if the title is tangential to the House the way Jhegaala was.
34 Emzilyn // Mar 2, 2010 at 6:07 pm
You’d have to go further than that. To piss of _everyone_ it would have to be nothing to do with Khaavren, set both in the four years before Iorich and four years after, and in it Morrolan decides to go adventuring through his windows and exits the series altogether, Vlad gets back together with Cawti and then she dies, and due to a magical experiment gone wrong, Aliera turns into a talking cat.
… Although to tell the truth, I’d probably still like it.
35 Majikjon // Mar 2, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Maybe Vlad could become the next Lord of Chaos, and then have the series end with no resolution.
That’d probably do it.
36 stevem // Mar 2, 2010 at 9:03 pm
It’ll be difficult to piss us all off. I wish you the best and look forward to your effort.
37 Ethan // Mar 2, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Had no power for nearly three days after a storm, so I reread 500 Years After, Paths of the Dead, Lord of Castle Black, and am on Sethra Lavode. Here’s hoping Tiassa includes one of our beloved Tiassa characters!
38 Charles // Mar 2, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Not to doom anyone, but to arbitrarily piss us all off, he’d just have to permanently kill off Vlad, Morrolan, or Noishpa. Or perhaps to suit the titualar theme, Khaavren. Winter is coming – Adrilankha, look out.
39 Evrett // Mar 3, 2010 at 7:51 am
no mini hard back this time please
40 Ethan // Mar 3, 2010 at 9:27 am
I like the hardcover and am fine with it!
41 Dru // Mar 3, 2010 at 11:10 am
Maybe he’s going to reveal to us that Sethra sparkles in the sunlight.
42 Majikjon // Mar 3, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Dru@41:
Can Sethra go out in the sunlight? She is a vampire, after all.
Good thing she lives in a land that is perpetually shrouded in overcast.
43 Unbeliever // Mar 3, 2010 at 1:09 pm
I’m with Jay@25; I’m ready to end the Jhereg-want-to-kill-me thing.
Preferably by way of Teldra/Godslayer waking up, and Vlad out-Jhereging the Jhereg. He needs to be running the place. :)
But that’s probably why I’m not an author…
44 Mark Hall // Mar 3, 2010 at 1:58 pm
So… you’re aiming to piss off ALL the Vlad fans, huh?
1) Hot Vlad on Morrolan action. We all know it’s coming (no pun intended).
2) Kill Loiosh. If you’re really angling to piss everyone off, this would be a great way to start. Have him eaten to death by angry teckla.
3) Hot Vlad on Aliera action. We all know it’s coming (no pun intended).
4) Vlad needs to develop Parkinsons… or cancer! Then you can rapidly shift the book from being an adventure story to being about the courageous Tiassa doctor who is trying ideas never tried before to save this worthless Easterner!
5) Hot Vlad on Sethra action. We all know it’s coming (no pun intended).
6) Vlad really needs an episode where he runs a wacky talent show.
7) Hot Vlad on Verra action. We all know it’s coming (no pun intended).
8) Vlad: The Musical
9) Hot Vlad on Kragar action. We all know it’s coming (no pun intended).
Ok, I have to go back to work.
45 Mark Hall // Mar 3, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Ok, back from doing work (I love my job). To continue:
10) Lady Teldra wakes up and begins to complain.
11) Hot Vlad on Zerika action. We all know it’s coming (no pun intended).
12) The Vlad-Jhereg war resolved with a wrestling match and beer pong.
13) Hot Vlad on Noish-pa action. We all know it’s coming (no pun intended).
14) Vlad, seeking additional defense from the Jhereg, enlists Chuck Norris as a bodyguard.
15) Hot Vlad on Valabar action. We all know it’s coming (no pun intended).
16) Have the Demon cut off Vlad’s hand, then reveal that he is Vlad’s father.
17) Hot Vlad on Barlen action. We all know it’s coming (no pun intended).
46 Patrick // Mar 3, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I was honestly pissed off when you killed Lady Teldra. And the stupid knife she became is only a shallow compensation for loosing such a great charakter. On the other hand i treasure Issola more than any other book of the series.
So i’m really looking forward to you pissing me off again. Also many thanks for Iorich which i just finished reading a second time. The interaction between father and son (and Cawti) is more than awesome.
47 Sharon C. // Mar 3, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Damn it, you made me think some more. Like, how _could_ you really piss me off? I’ve got all your novels in my bookcase, so it would take some doing. I started reading your books back in my Weis/Hickman, Feist, and Salvtore days and while I’ve found that my tastes have changed over the years, reading and rereading Vlad’s stories has remained constant. You’re making me think and care, whether or not I really wanted to in the first place.
So, to start with, dumb it down and pretty it up a bit:
1) Hot glittering (or is it glittering hot?) Agyar on Sethra action. “So that’s where he disappeared…”
2) Morrolan & Verra marrying and, before riding off into the sunset, handing out great weapons to all their puny mortal friends.
3) Remedying the unicorn deficiency in your books.
48 MarkW // Mar 3, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Well, if you’re looking for suggestions, you can always make Vlad have a spiritual awakening and become a tree-hugging Vegan who believes “The universe is a happy place!”. That would do it; but not for everyone. People being the way they are, no matter what you do, some will hate it, and others will love it, even such dreck.
49 Shane // Mar 3, 2010 at 9:28 pm
@Mark Hall #45.
I think on item #14 you may have confused Vlad with Mike Huckabee.
50 Kerstan // Mar 3, 2010 at 10:02 pm
I was afraid the Jhereg-is-hunting-Vlad storyline would not be wrapped up until the end of the series, as part of the end of the series. Then I realized Steve has basically told us in Iorich that the Organization knows it can draw Vlad out by messing with his friends. That kind of thing can’t go on much longer without causing a new Dragon/Jhereg war. Which, of course, would be cool.
I myself cannot wait for the series to end so Steve can start on the next cycle of Dragaera novels – the Adventures of Vlad Norathar! Book 1 starts with an adult Vlad Norathar prying Lady Teldra from his father’s cold, dead fingers and then, with the help of his mysterious friend Devera, embarks on a seventeen book long orgy of revenge….
51 Kerstan // Mar 3, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Oh and please release all your books exclusively as mini hard backs. And make your publisher charge double. And make the retailers force all customers buying them to stand outside at the nearest street corner shouting: “Vlad is cool! Sethra is hot!” before the transaction is complete. ‘Cause, y’know, authors are powerful that way. ;)
52 Seth // Mar 4, 2010 at 5:36 am
It didn’t bother me that Teldra died. Shit, it bothers me more that all the major characters keep on living. If I remember correctly I think my response to her death was, “Damn, that sucks. Cool though that he had the balls to kill her off. Wouldn’t want to be the one to tell Morrolan about it.”
53 AShortt // Mar 4, 2010 at 10:07 am
The piss off would be the series ending, at middle age, I hold strong to my teen memories of first following Vlad while I was hating growing up.
I would luv to see a combo of the young lad coming into his own mixed in some vain with stories of the original Vlad as a youth.
54 Lewis H. // Mar 4, 2010 at 2:11 pm
What has anyone had to be pissed about? Perhaps the last three books in the series would not be my personal favorites but I still found them enjoyable.
I remember one poster complaining about the length of one of the books vs the price point but you could always check the book out from the library if that was a problem for someone.
I’m trying to think what he could do to piss me off, that is within the bounds of the story.
I don’t think killing off any of the characters, not even Rocza or Loiosh.
I suppose if he killed off Zerika or Norathar or any other characters in contradiction to what was written at the end of Sethra Lavode I suppose that would do it as I hate egregious continuity violations.
55 Rathgar // Mar 4, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Pamela @ 30 has me pegged. I got pissed off at Teckla when politics came between Vlad and Cawti, so I have no doubt that Steve is quite capable of doing what he threatens. I have to admit though that concern over getting angry wasn’t my first thought when I read this, it was “Man I am so jealous of Reesa right now.”
56 Jonathan // Mar 4, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I am surprised no one has said this…
What would piss me off? Steve not writing any more books. If he dies, I hunt down his body, and hire a witch. Unless he is killed with a Morganti blade, and then that would just be sad.
Steve, you don’t happen to have a Great Weapon that can harbor your soul for a while, do you?
57 Maratanos // Mar 4, 2010 at 7:29 pm
I dunno. I’m still kindof hoping the series ends with Vlad killing the Cycle, but it’s sortof low-probability.
Still, freakin’ thing deserves to die after how much it’s twisted Dragaera.
58 biguglymandoll // Mar 4, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Sir, the only way to piss us *all* off would involve putting down the Pen. Anything short of that, and I’m still reading you.
59 Reesa // Mar 7, 2010 at 8:34 am
Rathgar@55: I was a fan of Steve’s for 11 years before first meeting him. So yeah, it’s seriously cool to get to help him brainstorm past the writing bumps in the road. I’m very honored and pleased that Steve enjoys it as well.
60 Troublemaker // Mar 8, 2010 at 10:47 am
Hi Steve,
I think every single one of your Taltos books are GREAT, awesome and kick-ass (this includes all the other Dragaera novels too, I absolutely love’em!)…well except for Iorich .
So let me give you a some tips on how to piss off all Vlad fans (your idea, not mine). Have Vlad go on another Sherlock Holmes trek walking around and complaining about how much his feet hurt with the inevitable joke from Loiosh. Don’t mention Lady Teldra at all until the end of the book where she will do something inexplicable right before the book ends.
Yeah, that should do it.
61 Jason s.b.f. // Mar 8, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Folks, don’t you know better than to feed the troll (skzb@0). ;P
62 jake whitfield // Mar 9, 2010 at 7:38 pm
The only thing that could piss me off about this book would be a lack of khaavren. I’ve spent most of my adult life waiting for a khaavren/vlad story!
63 Jesterscap2003 // Mar 10, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Pissed, no.
Frustrated, however, is a different story. I want to Godslayer/Lady Teldra to wake up!!! That is all, but that is just nerd rage, so basically nothing at all. Still love the books and looking forward to the next one.
Probably more than I should….
64 NoRAd // Mar 12, 2010 at 12:28 am
I applaud your conviction, Mr. Brust. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, don’t let the fans change how you wright your books. I know I enjoy your stories written in your style, and while your style has evolved, I still think it’s you.
We don’t need Jhereg on a Plane (Although I would probably enjoy it…)
65 Rathgar // Mar 12, 2010 at 3:14 pm
I’ve had it with these Verra-be-damned Jhereg on this Verra-be-damned plane!
66 Mike Timonin // Mar 12, 2010 at 3:22 pm
For the record:
Today, I purchased Jhegaala (new), am about 1/4 of the way through, and am not yet pissed off. I’ll get Iorich when it comes out in paperback (must preserve integrity of collection.) Have ordered a (used) copy of Jhereg, because I only need the 1 book (and must preserve integrity of collection.)
67 Mike Timonin // Mar 13, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Have finished Jhegaala. Am not pissed off, but do crave lamb stew. Luckily, I have a recipe for that.
Jo Clayton’s re-reading of the series clued me into the fact that Vlad embodies the characteristics of the house for which the book is named; I liked watching Vlad morph from an Easterner who lives in the Empire to a Dragaeran who happens to look like an Easterner.
68 Kieronichee // Mar 17, 2010 at 12:32 am
Having Morrolan examine Vlads son and finding he has the soul of a Vulcan named Spock. That would piss me off. Lol
Keep the writing going my friend, I think Vlad has a few more adventures in his future.
69 Big Mike // Mar 17, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Add me to the list of fans who would like to see the fight with the Jhereg finished somehow (and not with them killing him). I realize it adds dramatic tension to the stories, but it also keeps him out Adrilankha and also unable to do sorcery.
70 KenB3 // Mar 18, 2010 at 10:11 am
I never understood that kind of fan mentality where they would get mad at the writer for what they decide to do with their characters. There have been series that I just lost interest in after a few books, but at no point did I feel pissed off at the author for what the character did. They are your characters, and who I am to tell you what to do with them, or what they would do?
Jhegaala was not my favorite, but Iorich was pretty interesting; just seeing Vlad with his son would have made it worthwhile on its own, and the actual plot was pretty entertaining. And getting the drop on Kragar, that’s priceless.
71 Big Mike // Mar 19, 2010 at 8:00 am
While recounting to my daughter (who, together with her husband is a Brust enthusiast) how several people felt that the feud with the Jhereg was getting old, I finally figures out one way of ending it. I said that I would like to see it ended, but not by killing Vlad, unless he was revivifiable. And it suddenly hit me. Maybe even a Morganti sword could not capture the soul of a wielder of a great weapon.
So here’s the scenario: Vlad is killed; Godslayer captures his soul, Sethra realizes what has happened and revivifies him. The Jhereg is satisfied and that is the end of it. Does it make sense? No, but authors can set their own parameters.
72 A Fan // Mar 25, 2010 at 9:30 pm
I’m sure Mr. Brust appreciates the back rub from fans… but yikes! There can’t be this many people that haven’t re-read the books and taken a critical eye to at least one.
Personally, I feel that all of the stories after Issola just had less grace.
–potential spoilers–
Dzur, Jhegaala, and Iorich all lacked the subtlety of the previous books–and I’m not talking about a change in Vlad’s mood so that the story mirrors his inner self. Vlad might have changed, or will, but that does not account for the loss of gently swaying curves of mystery and action. The stories went from a bell-curve to a triangle. Before, you strolled, trotted, and ran along with Vlad, but now, you pull your square-wheeled cart behind him and try to keep from getting crushed by it on the way down.
I also think this applies to The Viscount of Adrilankha, but much, much less so.
I think maybe the world changed in or around the early 2000’s for Mr. Brust. It’s none of my, none of our, business, but if it means anything to anyone: I miss what has been forgotten.
73 Le Rouge // Mar 28, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I think too much critical thought can derail the experience. Sometimes I just want to read (or re-read, or in the case of Steve’s work, re-re-re-re-re-re-read) a damn book.
I’ve been working a second job at a soulless corporate conglomerate wine chain for the last several years for a couple of reasons.
1) I love wine, and I get a substantial discount which radically expands my buying power. Shockingly enough, this surprises no one who knows me.
2) I actually enjoy working with people, and this gives me face time as opposed to electronic or telephonic contact with human beings. Shockingly enough, this surprises everyone who knows me.
I study wine and wine literature, I taste dozens upon dozens of bottles, but fairly regularly I just want to enjoy a damn bottle of wine.
So I buy my $10-$15 dollar go-tos, subtract my discount, buy a pizza and enjoy myself. Or whatever. It depends on my mood. Getting a bottle that sparks something special is a bonus.
And that’s Steve’s work to me–I KNOW I’m going to enjoy it. If I pick up something I missed, or it provokes some thought, or I twig to something different, that’s all bonus.
That the bonus still happens a LOT is a testament to Steve’s art, I think. But that’s just me.
74 Scott // Mar 29, 2010 at 4:52 am
You might have some trouble pissing me off as every book you’ve ever written has been pure gold to me. I love them all, some I like more than others, but when they’re that good all they have competition with is Zelazny. Good luck making the book what you want it to be and not what the fans want it to be, If I recall I’m in it to read YOUR stories, not what I’d write. There’s fanfiction for that.
75 Mark Mandel // Apr 1, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Yeah, they’re all different. Yeah, I get pissed off by different parts in different ways. Yeah, I enjoy some of them more than others.
I’m talking about days in my life here. Oh, the Vlad books, too. Wouldn’t want to miss a one. Of them either.
76 jeff zeplin // Apr 10, 2010 at 8:39 am
Vlad is the best thing I have ever read period. the things you write to keep the series fresh are astounding. don’t let some whiny fan boys living in their parents basements bring down the master. I would read your writing if it were on cereal boxes. well thats my rant and keep your chin up
77 Cobia // Jun 6, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Haven’t pissed me off as far as the stories go. I’m just along to read your novels, not one that I immagined up. I think it’s fun to read someone elses immaginatin instead of listening to mine every once in a while.
Besides, why should you worry about pissing people off? It’s your story, not ours.
Only thing that irritates me is the waiting for the next one part . . . . :-D
78 BassBear // Jul 1, 2010 at 10:22 am
I would like to add my feelings that the only thing which would really piss me off is for the writing to stop.
It’s your story, you’re doing a great job, don’t stop. If you piss off fans, you’re making them feel something with your writing. That’s what writing’s all about.
79 JP // Jul 8, 2010 at 10:28 pm
I’m unclear on the how pissing off fans or not pissing them off has anything whatsoever to do with the Cool Theory of Literature.
Cool evolves, for each of us, author and reader. C’est la vie.
80 Dan'l // Jul 10, 2010 at 2:29 pm
to A Fan @ 72
Really? I actually found both Dzur and Iorich to be much more smoothe, accomplished novels than earlier books. I tend to divide “early Vlad” (which I do still enjoy) from “later Vlad” at roughly Orca – which was a staggerer for me when I read it, but one I really enjoyed once I let go of wanting it to be like other books before it.
I felt Viscount was a little less smoothe than the earlier Paarfi romances, but attributed this to the author having to be more careful what he said about people still alive and influential in his present, as well as the decay of the culure of the Empire during the Interregnum.
Steve is a novelist, and an entertaining one. I certainly see development in his craft over the years. Vlad isn’t the only one maturing. Our author is as well.
81 Keino // Jul 14, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Because I don’t know where else this should be posted…..I just finished the Khaavren Romances and Brokedown Palace for the first time. I resisted reading these works for a few reasons but mainly that I, being such a Vlad fan, thought there was no way I could get into the tale from the Dragaeren perspective and I was afraid I wouldn’t like them. Boy was I wrong.
Now, the internal debate for me is whether I like Paarfi’s style or Vlad’s style more. They were simply fantastic stories, and I had no idea that events with which I was somewhat familiar through Vlad had such compelling details with a glimpse into some of the parts of Dragaeran society Vlad being human cannot show us.
Brokedown Palace was also fantastic, and it was very cool to me how it tied in to Vlad’s series at the end. The only disappointment for me is that I no longer have any un-read Dragaera material to keep my mind off of the fact that Tiassa likely won’t be available for a good 6 months or so.
82 Adam // Jul 15, 2010 at 7:16 am
So, it’s been four months. Can we PLEASE get another update? Pretty please, with honey on top.
83 Dennis // Jul 15, 2010 at 2:32 pm
The most recent update on Tiassa is here and on Steve’s Twitter feed: The first draft is done as of May, but he hasn’t said anything about the status of revisions.
84 Adam // Jul 16, 2010 at 8:22 am
Thanks Dennis.
85 Evrett // Jul 17, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Keino read To Reign in Hell. Its so good it should be a religion.
86 Rushwind // Jul 21, 2010 at 2:54 am
As I read The Phoenix Guards, I dog-ear the pages that have cool passages on them. As I re-read it, when I get to a dog-eared page, if it’s not as poignant as it once was, I un-dog-ear it. That’s only happened maybe once. Several times, I’ve found extra pages to dog-ear “after further review”.
When my original copy of TPG died, I bought another. The first thing I did, before re-reading again, of course, was to go through and transfer all of the dog-ears from the original to the new copy. Welcome to the library, rookie.
I’m not a fan of Athyra or Jhegaala.
At one time (and at the same time), I had an iPod named Loiosh (talked inside my head, you know), a PDA named Spellbreaker (but did not keep it on my left wrist), and a laptop named Teldra (performed minor feats of magic).
You keep writin’ em, and I’ll keep readin’ em.
87 Dan // Jul 25, 2010 at 4:47 pm
“Long-time fan, first-time poster.” Sorry ’bout that…
The only Vlad “adventure” I can’t get very good with is Teckla, for way too many reasons to go into here. Suffice to say, I simply don’t see the reason for it.
Anyway, I’ve been pissed off at Vlad/Cawti/Morrolan/Sethra et al so damn many times I’ve lost count. Actually, that’s part of the fun of the books, right?
My only real gripe: while I know quality takes time, I wish Steve could write faster!
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