The Fireside

TOR, the US publisher of The Wheel of Time series, will be publishing the prequel novel, New Spring , which originate din the form of a short story. Both editions will be paperback, and details follow. First up (and most importantly for collectors) will be the trade paperback edition (same dimensions as a hardback, but paperback instead) which will match the other trade paperback editions, as well as the paperback of The Wheel of Time Companion . It's set to be published on August 18 . The ISBN, which is a direct link to this edition, is 9781250774361 . Secondly, New Spring will be coming out in the design style and format of the new mass-market (smaller) paperbacks. Since that these began being published in the fall of 2019, and all the titles aren't yet out, New Spring isn't "missing" in the same that it was in the trade series, which concluded in the fall of 2015. The publication date for this edition is being published June 30 , and the ISBN for it is 978125...

Today the House editions of Goblet of Fire , the 4th Harry Potter novel, was published. The House editions started off as a celebration of the 20th anniversary; however some of the later books may come sooner than that. For instance, the 20th anniversary for Order of the Phoenix will be 2023, Half-Blood Prince for 2025, and Deathly Hallows for 2027. The house I got sorted into via Pottermore (read: canon, and not same random internet quiz) is Slytherin, so the Slytherin edition is pictured. The hardbacks will be the house colours, and the paperbacks will be black ; as has been established (this will make a sort of neat 'scarf like pattern' for anyone who gets all 7 House editions in the same format (hardback, paperback) and all the same house. To find them, go to any UK bookseller (Amazon UK, Waterstones, Blackwell's...) and search for the name of the Harry Potter book, followed by the house you'd want. I'll keep your posted when the others come out, as well.

Currently, I'm reading The Saga of the Volsungs , published by Penguin as part of their Legends From the Ancient North series (other titles include Beowulf, The Elder Edda, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Wanderer . I am quite enjoying it so far, as well as some similar books I've read lately. However I've yet to read any of these sagas. There a few different versions from a few publishers. There are 49 Sagas total, so I'm going to look at which editions of the Sagas offer what. First up is Penguin's Sagas of Icelanders . (ISBN: 9780141000039) This collection offers some of the Sagas and Tales, and is a great 'best of' in that sense, or greatest hits. This edition also 'matches' some of their other deluxe paperback editions, such as Robert Fagles' translations of The Iliad, The Odyssey and The Aeneid ; as well as some other titles (like Anna Karenina ). Please note that the pages are 'deckle edge', so they're supposed to loo...

Yesterday, Christopher Tolkien has passed away, at age 95. I wanted to write a post....but was not sure on what to say. Today, HarperCollins released a statement which I'll share, but before that, I wanted to say that Christopher Tolkien has a lived a long, fulfilled life. I'm grateful for his contributions to his father's writings, published material, and legacy. Their statement follows: HarperCollins is deeply saddened to have learnt of the passing of editor and author Christopher Tolkien, aged 95. Christopher was the third child and youngest son of J.R.R. Tolkien, who became his father’s literary executor in 1973 and during a remarkable period of 47 years edited or oversaw the publication of 24 editions of his father’s works, many of which were international bestsellers. Christopher was an editor from the age of 5, catching inconsistencies in his father’s bedtime tales, and was promised tuppence by his father for every mistake he noticed in The Hobbit . As a yo...

I've often spoken on how the final two seasons of Game of Thrones were cramped - they tried to squeeze too much story into too few episodes, when HBO would have surely let them take their time. In this post, I propose how I would have liked to seen the ending of the show. Of course, anyone unhappy with how the story itself unfolded, well, I'm not re-writing anything - just restructuring the final seasons. In my scenario, Season 9, the final season, would be happening this year. So, let's start. Season 7: The Army of the Dead and The Night King Season 7 should have been a full 10 episodes, with each episode having a 60 min+ runtime. The pace and story of my season 7 would be adjusted. Reflecting back on the real Season 8, it's clear that the Army of the Dead and the Night King aren't the antagonists - after they'yre dealt with, it would be Cersie, and then Dany. While it would be tricky to break down my story episode by episode, with a re-stru...

30 years ago today marks the publication of the first book in the massive 14-book Wheel of Time series, The Eye of the World . The series is very Tolkien-esque, but not being a ‘copy + paste’ The Lord of the Rings clone. The series does have its flaws (it should have only been 6-10 books, for starters) but it helped establish the fantasy genre (until A Song of Ice and Fire re-defined it) and was incredibly beneficial to the American publisher, TOR. I also like to think if it as the first great fantasy series, post The Lord of the Rings . Even though The Lord of the Rings is not a series, but you get my point. It also has a literary successor, by way of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight. Sanderson is relevant here, as he connected the dots Jordan left before he passed - Jordan was unable to finish the series himself.....but it has *an* ending. Think of him as Christopher Tolkien to J.R.R. Tolkien, in this regard. I suggest looking into that series once you finish The Whe...

On this blog, I've sometimes stated that due to the wait times for George R.R. Martin's Ice and Fire books, I may prefer more, smaller books that come out more often; as opposed to fewer, larger books that come out less often. On the basis of the UK paperback editions - where A Storm of Swords and A Dance With Dragons got divided into two smaller books each (a good move, as the font size and paper quality don't suffer because of that) - I'm going to examine what the publishing history would be like, if this division had initially occurred. Before I proceed, a few things: a) This on the assumption that the series will end at 7 books total b) This is on the assumption that Books 6 and 7, once published in paperback in the UK, will also be two books each. Ok, let's get to it: Book 1 - A Game of Thrones (1996) This title would be exactly as it really is, and still published in 1996. Book 2 - A Clash of Kings (1999) Again, same as with Book 1. B...

Well, here we are already - another New Year! Nay, New Decade ! This post will run through things that I am interested in getting, based on my areas of interest. BOOKS - A Secret Vice in paperback. This could be my final Tolkien book, by the time it comes out - Quidditch Through the Ages illustrated edition. This was announced by Bloomsbury, and should be out in Oct. - The Winds of Winter by George R.R. Martin. I know I've been saying this since 2013/2014; however based on George's remarks throughout 2019, the book really should be in the final stages by now. At this point, I think I'd prefer multiple smaller books, rather than fewer larger ones. - a Kobo Forma + Sleepcover. I prefer Kobo over Kindle (not because 'I hate Amazon!' or anything of the sort) because the epub file format, as opposed to mobi, seems to have fewer issues than Amazon's mobi. Look at a book review on Amazon - I bet there's bound to be at least one review commenting how the Kindle ...