I mentioned in passing awhile back that I’ve been contemplating atheism in the context of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Book 3 currently contains a minor character who describes himself as atheist. When he meets Sieh — a god — the following exchange occurs (cutting for length and worldbuilding spoilers for the second and third books):
Darre Details
One of the reader complaints I’ve seen a few times about 100K is frustration with the amount of detail allotted to the barony of Darr, since it’s one of only a handful of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms we get to see (beyond Sky, which isn’t so much a kingdom as a self-incorporated city-state of its own, a la the District of Columbia or Singapore) in the first book of the Inheritance Trilogy. In particular people seem to be fascinated by Darr because it’s a matriarchy and a warrior society — which is why I’m fascinated by it too, quite frankly.
Most authors’ worldbuilding is “icebergian”; readers get to see only maybe 10% of what the author actually comes up with, unless the author decides to load the book down with unnecessary infodumps and appendices. I did toss in some infodumps and appendices, because it’s epic fantasy and that’s how us epic fantasy writers roll, but since 100K wasn’t about Darr, naturally I didn’t spend a lot of time on it. Believe me, though, I’ve done a lot of thinking about how a society like that could work. So I figured I’d share the other 90% for people to chew on.
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Happy Monday!
I’ve noticed for the last few weeks that the reviews of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms have come in waves. Usually there are a bunch of them on Monday; I guess people are writing them up over the weekend. I’m not sure how today will go, seeing as I’m writing this a little early in the day, but I did see one marvelous review from one of my favorite print magazines, Weird Tales. It’s short enough that I can retype it, so:
NEW AND FANTASTIC
THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS
by N. K. Jemisin (Orbit, $13.99, paperback)This remarkable debut novel is not steampunk, but its alchemic mix of epic fantasy, cosmic science fiction, royal court intrigue, and profound sensuality ought to excite fans of every spec-fic subgenre. The young barbarian noblewoman Yeine is summoned to the miraculous floating city-palace of Sky, where her grandfather reigns over the world and her decadent cousin toys dangerously with the enslaved god of chaos, Nahadoth. Politics mixes with sorcery as war looms; also, a phenomenal sex scene.
Nice. Adding this one to the Reviews page.
It’s part of their steampunk month, hence the steampunk reference — and may I recommend this particular issue for that, if you’ve got a steampunk leaning? I’ve only dabbled myself, but this book is chock-full of steampunk novel reviews, steampunk short stories, a fascinating pseudo-realist article about a clockwork man, and ads for the upcoming Steampunk World’s Fair… which I can’t attend, because I’ve got a relative in town that week and also will be busy that weekend. =( But you guys should totally go.
Character Study: Dekarta
I have to admit that Dekarta fascinates me. He’s probably the only truly religious character in the whole book, for one thing. This is a world where everyone believes in gods because hello? they’re right there in your face. (I’m wrestling with the idea of how an atheist would function in this world right now, in book 3.) But not everyone believes in the gods. Especially among the Arameri, understandably; it’s hard to feel reverence for beings you can order about and put on a leash. But Dekarta feels true faith toward all the gods, even the Enefadeh. In fact, it’s because he feels such faith that he permits his fellow Arameri to torment them; in his eyes it’s his duty, as one of Itempas’ chosen, to make sure even the most exalted of Itempas’ enemies suffer.
Going to put the rest of this behind a spoiler cut for those who haven’t read 100K.
Book Covers Explained
Apologies for the relative silence, ya’ll. Been seriously motoring on book 3, which is threatening to become a doorstopper. ::ulp:: I’m planning to chop it ruthlessly when I get into the editing phase because I just don’t believe a fantasy novel should be heavy enough to punch a hole in the fabric of existence, but for the time being Sieh is being a demanding little brat, and I’d better do what he wants or he’ll replace all my coffee with Taster’s Choice or something.
So I’m just getting around to addressing this now. Last week there was a little confusion in the blogosphere because some folks dug through Orbit’s “forthcoming publications” catalog and found the preliminary cover of book 2 of the Inheritance Trilogy, The Broken Kingdoms. Nothing really wrong with that, since the catalog was after all online for anybody to download… but said bloggers didn’t realize the cover was preliminary, probably because the catalog didn’t say so. (Oops.) Which led to some confusion. And more blogging. And more confusion, as people emailed me with WTFs, wondering why I hadn’t posted anything about it. And so on.
The good news is that people seem to like the preliminary cover. The bad — or rather, neutral — news is, it’s the preliminary cover.
See, despite their availability, publisher “forthcoming” catalogs aren’t really meant for the public. For one thing, they come out so far in advance of the book’s publication — sometimes years before the book comes out — as to be meaningless for the purposes of retail marketing. Which is why they’re meant for wholesale marketing; they’re aimed at booksellers, distributors, and the like, to encourage them to put in orders for the forthcoming stuff. (Or so I understand. Remember, I’m new at this too.) These wholesale folks understand that the cover art isn’t final, but they still want to have an idea of what the publisher is thinking in terms of the book’s marketing push and direction. Descriptive blurbs are also helpful for that purpose, but to mutilate a cliche, a picture is worth a thousand retail orders. Even if that picture isn’t the one that will ultimately go on the book.
To illustrate my point, here are the preliminary and final covers of the US release of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (click for a larger version):
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Blog Tour: FantasyBookCritic
Another interview! This one with Mihir Wanchoo of FantasyBookCritic. FBC’s Robert and Liviu gave me some of my first five-star reviews when 100K came out (you can see them both at Goodreads), so I’m especially happy to do an interview for this site. A sample:
What level of technology is the overall world of the 100K kingdoms set at? I mean for eg. The city of Aramari (sic) seems to be very technologically advanced, however the rest of the world doesn’t seem to match up in that regard.
Technologically speaking, all of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms are at about Renaissance-level technology. They’ve got newspapers, very basic sciences, long-distance seafaring, and so on. The Amn’s capitol city, Sky, is no different in this respect. What Sky has more of, is *magical* advancement, mostly because the Arameri have money. Anyone in this world can have access to magic — the power to imitate the gods — if they can afford it. The nobility and wealthy people all use some of the same magical doodads as the Arameri, like the communication spheres and healing sigils. The poor people, however, make do like poor people in any society: they work a lot harder and they die more easily.
Enjoy!
Books for NYC Schools reading this Saturday!
Local folks: I’ll be reading this Saturday at the Center for Fiction as part of the Books for NYC Schools event. This is basically a day that’s chock-full of writers and readings and incredibly cool events, as both big-name authors and n00bs like me come out to try and help kids in NYC schools get their greedy paws on cool free books. The price of admission is just two new or gently-used books, K-12 level.
And speaking of big-name authors, I’ll be part of the sci-fi reading at 1:30 p.m. with Kurt Andersen and Rick Moody! Even if they did spell my name wrong. (I’m getting used to that ::sigh::) So come out, and help make more bibliophiles!
Character Study: Nahadoth
Continuing the theme on the character studies, next up is our boy, Nahadoth. He’s a complicated man, and no one understands him but his — actually, wait, no, she doesn’t get him either. Cue the “Shaft” theme anyway. RIP Isaac Hayes. And cut for spoilers.
I go you go HUGO (nom)! Also, reading.
More good news: “Non-Zero Probabilities”, my Clarkesworld story that’s already on the Final Ballot for the Nebula award, has also been nommed for the Hugo! There are no words to describe how stunned and thrilled I am by this. (Well, “stunned and thrilled” come close.) Seriously, ya’ll, this has been a banner year and it’s only April.
While I’m posting, though, let me remind folks that I’m reading tomorrow night at Lady Jane’s Salon, the new romance-fiction series that’s been getting lots of attention in the New York reading scene. Had thought about reading one of the “hot parts” from 100K, but those don’t work well without context, plus it’s hard to summarize so much of “what’s gone before”. So instead I’ll be reading (for those who have the book) pp. 76-81, which is not so much a hot part as a foreshadowing appetizer, with an amuse-bouche of sexual tension on the side. And since I’ll be reading with three other phenomenal newer authors, the evening promises to be tasty indeed. If you’re in the area, come check it out.
Not an April Fool’s Joke
I started to make a joke about scrapping book 3 in its current form and writing it over from the perspective of Zombie Scimina, who’s been cursed by Nahadoth to walk the earth like Caine looking for braaaains, which would allow me to take advantage of the new popularity of zombie fiction and improbable mashups… but that wasn’t funny.
Anyway, the serious news is, Clarkesworld Magazine has posted an interview with me, in which I talk about The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, “Non-Zero Probabilities”, and rejectomancy. A taste:
The world of the Inheritance trilogy, you’ve mentioned elsewhere, began with images. What were those images and how did you develop them into a world?
Well, I smoked a lot of crack — Wait, did I say that? Let me start over.
As you can see, I had fun with this one.
And speaking of fun, which are you?! Team Cake, or Team Pie!???!!1! Vote now! (Red Velvet) CAKE OR DEATH!!!