Fantasy Book Club discussion

Join me in welcoming Mark Lawrence for another Q&A. This time we are reading Red Sister.

Thanks again, Mark.
: )

Woo, welcome Mark.

The amazing UK cover :)

Helen wrote: "Woo, welcome Mark."

Hellooo!

Helen wrote: "

The amazing UK cover :)"

A lot of people like it, but my poll showed a big preference for the US cover.

http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.co.uk...

The UK cover was aimed at attracting a new readership, there's talk of using something more familiar for the paperback.

Hello Mark, I was going to say the young girl on the U.S. cover was pretty until I read that she's suppose to be very young. She looks much older but I'll just say the covers nice.

It's weird about covers as I almost always prefer the uk one and it makes me wonder whether they're reacting to uk tastes or whether we're conditioned to like them.

On a side note, I finished the second trilogy recently. It involved lots of missed sleep, tears and intense worry accompanied by 'Don't you dare, Mark; no no no'. I thought it was excellent and immediately told everyone to read it :D

No pressure! Do you have a rough idea on when the other two will be available? I'm trying to decide if I can start :)

I promise not to hold you to them, hassle you etc etc

Helen wrote: "No pressure! Do you have a rough idea on when the other two will be available? I'm trying to decide if I can start :)

I promise not to hold you to them, hassle you etc etc"

I have an exact idea!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grey-Sister-...

Both were written 6 months before Red Sister came out.

Mark wrote: "Helen wrote: "No pressure! Do you have a rough idea on when the other two will be available? I'm trying to decide if I can start :)

I promise not to hold you to them, hassle you etc etc"

I have a..."

I love when authors do that!! I believe Michael Sullivan does that also. That's really great.

Helen wrote: "It's weird about covers as I almost always prefer the uk one and it makes me wonder whether they're reacting to uk tastes or whether we're conditioned to like them.

On a side note, I finished the..."

That's a great question. Now I'm really curious about that also.

Mark, on the poll on your website. Do you have a way to tell where the individuals who voted were from? Of course, only if it doesn't take much time.

Mark, I did mention in the other thread, that you where not checking in there.

Tnkw01 wrote: "Mark, on the poll on your website. Do you have a way to tell where the individuals who voted were from? Of course, only if it doesn't take much time. "

Yes. On the page the results are broken down into UK voters, US voters and Everyone Else.

The US cover was far more popular everywhere, but the least unpopular with UK voters. It wasn't a big effect though.

http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.co.uk...

Welcome, Mark..and thanks for taking time with us.

I really like this book so far @ about 36%.

That is fascinating. Fake 1 does nothing for me. I would probably pick up fake 2 although I'm not into the placement of the person. I totally get what that commentator said about it being a Sanderson cover. It's that mostly white with a colour splash thing he does. Or is that just in the uk!?

Mark wrote: "Helen wrote: "No pressure! Do you have a rough idea on when the other two will be available? I'm trying to decide if I can start :)

I promise not to hold you to them, hassle you etc etc"

I have a..."

Excellent! I'm in then.

FYI

The US cover for Grey Sister!

https://thatthornguy.com/2017/08/08/g...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...

So naturally i went looking for a UK cover and discovered that your book is being released twice with two different prices.

And i found this Road Brothers Stories

Helen wrote: "https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_......"

One of them being the US version which Amazon love to list in contravention of all the rules and regulations and copyright laws they sign up to,

Oh right. Well that's naughty!

I'm curious about why the convent exists. I never felt like I understood why they are trained or what their use is. Are they just for hire to anyone or do they have a code that they are trying to enforce?

Mark, I just wanted to complement you on a great novel. I cannot wait for the next one. Great Job!

Heather wrote: "I'm curious about why the convent exists. I never felt like I understood why they are trained or what their use is. Are they just for hire to anyone or do they have a code that they are trying to e..."

The convent (like the other convents and monasteries mentioned) exists for the same reasons any other convent exists.

Additionally they train the novices in martial roles and some of them go on to focus on these aspects. There have been a good number of military orders within Christendom, and we're familiar with the idea of monks trained in martial arts, so the convent's existence doesn't seem mysterious?

There's no mention of the sisters being for hire at all, so "just for hire" seems a curious speculation. No, they're not for hire.

In their service to the church they will be indirectly supporting the "code" or religion of the Ancestor, though "enforcing" is the specialty of the inquisition, albeit rather mild enforcing compared to the actual historical inquisition since the empire embraces, or at least tolerates, several different faiths.

Tnkw01 wrote: "Mark, I just wanted to complement you on a great novel. I cannot wait for the next one. Great Job!"

Thanks, I'm very glad you enjoyed it!

The US cover for Grey Sister is up on the Goodreads listing now.

Curious: what does your typical writing day look like?

Also- what do you enjoy most/least?

Helen wrote: "Curious: what does your typical writing day look like?

Also- what do you enjoy most/least?"

My writing days are pretty random, especially at the moment as they are arranged around when carers can look after my disabled daughter and when I have to be on duty.

I normally potter around on the internet (Facebook, Twitter) and write in short bursts as the mood takes me.

Not sure whether that's "enjoy" writing-wise or out of everything ... though both are just as hard to answer. I guess writing-wise I most enjoy the moments of high drama that make me feel some powerful emotion, and least enjoy checking the proofs.

I can imagine checking proofs isn't much fun. I'm a teacher and after half a class of bad grammar, I become grouchy! I'm guessing you are considerably better at grammar :)

Hi Mark, thanks for taking part in this Q&A. My favorite parts in Red Sister were the flashforwards I guess you would call them? Where Nona is older. Can we expect to see more of that in the next book?

Elise wrote: "Hi Mark, thanks for taking part in this Q&A. My favorite parts in Red Sister were the flashforwards I guess you would call them? Where Nona is older. Can we expect to see more of that in the next b..."

You can. In fact, before the trilogy is over she will catch up with herself!

Will we have more of the environmental issues of this world in book two? That was the most interesting aspect to me so I'm hoping for more!

Hi Mark. I have to ask...were any of the "teaching nun"characters (Apple, Kettle, Wheel, etc) at the convent created by drawing on personal past experience? There are a couple of nuns in my childhood who would fit in here...and now I'm wondering about them :-) Like the one who had no qualms about kicking children in the shins with her hard black pointy shoes, wrapping a ruler across the back of someone's hand, or pinching an arm if she thought you weren't paying attention. It was always good to get to class early and choose a seat in the middle of the room where she couldn't easily reach.

Heather wrote: "Will we have more of the environmental issues of this world in book two? That was the most interesting aspect to me so I'm hoping for more!"

Heh. If that was the most interesting aspect then I guess the book was a failure for you.

No, it's not a series about environmental issues.

Monica wrote: "Hi Mark. I have to ask...were any of the "teaching nun"characters (Apple, Kettle, Wheel, etc) at the convent created by drawing on personal past experience? There are a couple of nuns in my childho..."

I don't think I've ever met a nun!

I guess the biggest inspiration for the school aspects, the social elements, was Enid Blyton's Malory Towers which my very disabled daughter has been insisting that we listen to on audiobook on repeat for several years now. I can almost recite all of the books by heart.

Mark wrote: "I don't think I've ever met a nun!..."

That's interesting, because you nailed it with those characterizations (for me anyway).

Also, a very intriguing magic system. I'm curious enough to follow the players into the next chapter.

Thanks, Mark

My ex was raised a Catholic and he told stories about nuns at school. His first day at school resulted in his knuckles being rapped hard with a ruler.

Helen wrote: "My ex was raised a Catholic and he told stories about nuns at school. His first day at school resulted in his knuckles being rapped hard with a ruler."

I think all of us have some kind of "notion" of what a school run by Catholic nuns is like. I can't point to a particular book or film or anecdote but I'm sure I have experienced various of these and collectively they've built a picture of it (accurate or not).

Perhaps even nuns themselves have acquired these stereotypes from pop culture and subconsciously fall into the role...

You just made me cry! Chapter 11 :(

Helen wrote: "You just made me cry! Chapter 11 :("

Always better than a "meh"!

Tis good, though you know that :)

Thanks for the explanation of the convent's training and purpose of the convent. Some other people had the same question so I passed it on to them.

By environmental issues I meant - the ice, failing moon, etc. I have always enjoyed the "sci-fi" elements of your books.

I know this is the wrong series/book but when I read of the ship The Celyn (hope I have her name spelled right) in RQW it made me smile

Margret wrote: "I know this is the wrong series/book but when I read of the ship The Celyn (hope I have her name spelled right) in RQW it made me smile"

I must be getting old, I have no memory of such a ship! Which book was it in? I remember one called Ikea in Prince of Fools. I resisted having someone repairing it with an allen key.

I'm 99% sure it was in Prince of Fools.. BUT with the caveat that I listened to it on audio and could've misheard it. (view spoiler)[I did also love all of the old builder references like the IKEA and the bard singing The Rolling Stones song (hide spoiler)]

Margret wrote: "I'm 99% sure it was in Prince of Fools.. BUT with the caveat that I listened to it on audio and could've misheard it. [spoilers removed]"

Nothing compares to that first tingle sensation when you realize when Prince of Thorns takes place though!

Very true :)

What influenced your larger setting ie a world covered in ice with such a thin corridor. I've found this so fascinating. Especially with the glimpses of ships that must be scattered beneath.

Also, how do you dream up the names?

Finally, please post me book two....

Generally ideas come off the ends of my fingers as I type and I could no more say where they come from than why I choose a particular random number.

*However* I do have a kind of explanation for this one. It dates back to a conversation about storytelling with Peter V Brett several years ago when he visited me in Bristol.

He was talking about the demons in his series acting as a kind of pressure to act, putting the characters under duress, which is often when people are at their most interesting. All (?) stories need a source of pressure to exercise their characters. A war, a difficult social situation, a crime etc.

I recalled that conversation and thought it would be interesting to squeeze my characters and their whole society in an actual huge vise. So I sandwiched them between two huge walls of ice with the gap slowly narrowing ... rather like a giant version of the trap room in so many films.

Names ... I just wiggle my fingers and there's a name. People overthink stuff like that.

:) That's so interesting. I love the names in this one.

I also loved visiting Bristol zoo as a child although I hope the enclosure are much improved now!

I must read Brett.