Fantasy 2005

File Updated: 23/10/2005

Tangled Web UK: New Fantasy Titles 2005

Sarah Ash Prisoner of Ironsea Tower Pbk published January 2005 by Bantam at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0-553 81471 0

Book Two of The Tears of Artamon
A shattered empire reunited. A victory exacted at a terrible price. The Tears of Artamon continues…
Gavril Nagarian has finally cast out the dragon-daemon. The Drakhaoul is gone - and with it all Gavril’s fearsome powers. But now rid of the daemon’s unnatural lusts and desires, he understands how he has betrayed his birthright and his people - put the ice-bound kingdom of Azhkendir at risk and lost ...
Emerging from his battle with the Lord Drakhaon scarred but victorious, Eugene of Tielen exacts a terrible revenge upon the vanquished. For crimes against the Rossiyan Empire, renegade warlord Gavril Nagarian is condemned to spend the rest of his days in an asylum for the insane - for the absence of the Drakhaoul is indeed slowly driving him mad. But Eugene is motivated by something altogether more sinister: he longs to possess the Drakhaoul - whatever the cost to his kingdom and his humanity.
With Gavril imprisoned in Ironsea Tower, it is left to three women to keep his memory alive. His mother - having returned to her homeland - sows the seeds of rebellion, while a young scullery maid whose heart is broken by Gavril’s incarceration sends her spirit out to quest the Ways Beyond. And even the emperor’s new wife is haunted by the memory of the handsome young painter who once captured her soul.
As the five realms of a shattered empire are reunited and the last of Artamon’s ruby tears adorns Eugene’s crown, peace comes to Rossiya. But peace can be as fragile as a rebel’s whisper. Or a captive’s desire to be free ...
In an enthralling sequel to the acclaimed Lord of Snow and Shadows, Sarah Ash returns to this realm of spirits and singers, daemons and kings to tell a tale flowing with power and light, where courtly intrigue collides with wild magic, and good and evil are as nebulous as the memory of a dream ...
'This is no run-of-the-mill good-versus-evil fantasy potboiler… this is complex, ambitious writing with an engrossing plot' SFX
‘Ash does it in style ... she has given us a superb interweaving of characters and context, seamless enough to carry us through the threshold of disbelief into a world both magical and firmly, unwaveringly human’ Tom Holt, about Lord of Snow and Shadows

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by Sarah Ash at Amazon.co.uk

Steve Aylett Karloff's Circus Pbk published January 2005 by Gollancz at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0575076259

Damnation - it takes as long as it takes
As an episode of Accomplice history comes to a close, the Circus of the Heart’s Shell transforms the town square into a venue for hellish clowning. Sweeney’s forces are closing in upon Barny from several directions ...
But is Dietrich right that humanity is more routinely evil than any mythical fright?
Will Fang be re-united with his zombie family?
What does doomed Eddie Gallo find outside Accomplice?
Will Gregor survive a boxing match with a slob demon?
Violaine’s prophecy comes to pass. The troops do something useful. Two living Steinway Spiders attack. Rudloe confronts the Conglomerate with his cowardice.
This may well be the Rosetta Stone of the four Accomplice books.
'All-consuming big-top madness… an endlessly amusing, infinitely quotable and dazzlingly inventive blend of horrific tragedy and comic farce. The accomplice books display Aylett's brilliant imagination and assured wit to stunning effect' Starburst
'Aylett's dialogue is often laugh-out-loud funny' SFX
'Aylett is the coolest writer alive today' Starburst
About The Author
Steve Aylett was born in Bromley in the late sixties. He left school at 17, worked in a book warehouse, and later in trade and law publishing - here he invented the concept of `fractal litigation’, whereby the flapping of a butterfly’s wings on one side of the world results in a massive compensation claim on the other.
His first book The Crime Studio, published in 1994, was generally regarded as a `cry for help’. This was followed by Bigot Hall, Slaughtermatic, The Inflatable Volunteer and Atom.
Steve Aylett has built up a massive cult following on both sides of the Atlantic and in 1998 was nominated for a Philip K Dick award.
His toured `Shroud’ show, during which he silently impersonated the Shroud of Turin, caused rage and impatience in clubland. His books and stories, including those appearing in the Disco Biscuits anthologies, have been translated into Spanish, Czech, Italian, French, Japanese, German, Russian and Greek.
Presently he lives in Brighton with his skeleton. If he were any more English he'd be dead.

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by Steve Aylett at Amazon.co.uk

Kirsten Britain First Rider's Call Pbk published March 2005 by Pocket Books at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0 7434 0894 2

Following the events in Kristen Britain’s acclaimed first novel, Karigan G’ladheon, who took on the mantle of king’s messenger after chancing upon a dying Green Rider, has returned to her everyday life, the thrills and perils of being caught up in great events apparently behind her. But few may evade their destiny, and Karigan is soon to face even greater dangers...
Blackveil Forest is stirring, its tainted powers seeping through the breach in the D’Yer Wall, the bulwark built a thousand years ago to hem in the ancient evil, of the forest. The people of Sacoridia are caught unawares, for the power of the forest has been forgotten over the generations, and they have not kept watch. While havoc sweeps the countryside, and even visits within the walls of King Zachary’s castle, Alton D’Yer, a Green Rider and scion of the stoneworkers who created the wall, attempts to mend the breach, only to find himself lured into Blackveil’s devious plots.
The taint of Blackveil takes yet another dangerous turn, twisting the magic of the Green Riders, so that none can be confident in their abilities. Some are weaker, some stronger, and some find themselves tormented by the very gift they once cherished. Captain Mapstone is one such, and has locked herself away after her own magic turned on her, leaving the Green Riders leaderless in their time of need.
Summoned to duty by the call of the First Rider, Karigan must help the Riders, and face the truth about her own savage heritage. Sought by undead warriors and caught in the machinations of the mysterious Eletians, Karigan must confront an ancient enemy in the rotten heart of Blackveil.
'If anything, First Rider's Call is better than Green Rider and I would not have believed that to be possible. This book has everything… stunning' Alien Online
'Stunning… a really talented new writer' Anne McCaffrey
'Terrific… It's going to be a classic' Marion Zimmer Bradley
Praise for Green Rider
`Exuberant, suspenseful, and hugely enjoyable’ Starburst
`A wonderfully captivating heroic fantasy’ Terry Goodkind
`A tremendously good read from an exciting new talent’ Time Out

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by Kirsten Britain at Amazon.co.uk

Terry Brooks Straken Published August 2005 by Simon & Schuster at Ł17.99 ISBN: 0743259467
The concluding volume (Book Three) to The High Druid of Shannara
Young Penderrin Ohmsford has been charged with the daunting task of rescuing his aunt Grianne, Ard Rhys of the Druid order, from her forced exile in the terrifying dimension of all things damned: the Forbidding. With the noble dwarf Tagwen and the prodigal elven princess Khyber Elessedil by his side - and with the outcome of the bloody war between the Federation and the Free-born at stake - Pen has accepted his mission without question. But not without risk ... or sacrifice.
Shadea a’Ru, the ruthless Druid responsible for usurping the true Ard Rhys, has sent her agents and assassins in relentless pursuit of Pen’s small band. And in securing the talisman he needs to breach the Forbidding, Pen has paid a devastating price. Now, if the last of the Free-born forces should fill, Shadea’s domination of the Four Lands will be assured. Only Pen’s success can turn the tide.
But Pen’s challenge grows greater when he learns that his parents, Bek Ohmsford and Rue Meridien, have fallen into Shadea’s hands. He must try to save them, by plunging into the depths of Druid’s Keep where Shadea’s minions and dark magic lurk at every turn.
Yet these dangers will all pale in comparison to the horrors that wait inside the Forbidding - horrors poised to break free upon the Four Lands when the time is right...
'Terry's place is at the head of the fantasy world' Philip Pullman

About The Author
A writer since high school, Terry Brooks published his first novel, The Sword of Shannara, in 1977. It became the first work of fiction ever to appear on The New York Times Trade Paperback bestseller list, where it remained for more than five months. He has published twenty consecutive bestselling novels since.
A practising attorney for many years, Terry Brooks now writes full time and lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.

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by Terry Brooks at Amazon.co.uk

Terry Brooks Tanequil Pbk published May 2005 by Pocket Books at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0 7434 1498 5

Book Two of The High Druid of Shannara

Pen Ohmsford is the only one who can rescue the rightful High Druid of Shannara from her exile. But what even he doesn’t know is that a long banished evil has returned – an evil that my threaten everyone in the Four Lands.

Events that began in Jarka Runs come swiftly to a head in this second thrilling volume of High Druid of Shannara, by master myth-maker Terry Brooks.
Grianne Ohmsford, rightful High Druid of Shannara, has been banished to the harsh mirror-world of the Forbidding. Her only hope for rescue is her nephew Penderrin - but Pen is under siege as well. Both he and his parents are sought by the treacherous druid who took Grianne’s place and who wants to make sure their magic will never help her return.
Eluding death is only half the battle for Pen. To breach the Forbidding and bring Grianne back to the natural world means finding the fabled Tanequil, and the talisman it alone can provide. That means journeying into the Inkrim - a dreaded region thick with shadows and haunted by harrowing legends. It also means striking a bargain more severe than Pen could ever imagine.
And there is a third threat. No one but Grianne is aware that her entry into the Forbidding allowed something dark to escape. A fearsome force long ago exiled has been let back into Grianne’s world. She knows that this creature - which can bend itself to any shape, and can kill at will - may be only the vanguard of a much greater, devastating invasion.

About The Author
A writer since high school, Terry Brooks published his first novel, The Sword of Shannara, in 1977. It became the first work of fiction ever to appear on The New York Times Trade Paperback bestseller list, where it remained for more than five months. He has published twenty consecutive bestselling novels since.
A practising attorney for many years, Terry Brooks now writes full time and lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.

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by Terry Brooks at Amazon.co.uk

Chris Bunch The Last Battle Pbk published March 2005 by Orbit at Ł6.99 ISBN: 1 84149 223 X

Dragonmaster Book Three the Final Volume
The Great War against Roche is over but the world is a scarred and bleaker place. and the promise of peace never quite materialises for Hal Kailas. Even the joy has gone from the Dragon master’s marriage. for reasons neither he nor Lady Khiri can determine.
As Hal had feared, with the end of the war not only dragon-fliers but the dragons themselves have been cast aside. Worse, as before the conflict, the beasts are being savaged by a mysterious foe within their native lands. Enlisting trusted comrades. Hal embarks on a new crusade to protect the dragons, and in doing so uncovers a terrible threat, not just to the creatures but to man himself.
Praise for Chris Bunch
'The Dragonmaster trilogy is the fantasy equivalent of Haldeman's Forever War' Thealienonline
'A banquet of blood and thunder' Starburst
‘A vast arid intricate tapestry woven by a writer who knows both history and war’ David Drake
‘Slam-bang excitement, lusty action and military magic… fast-paced and ferocious’ Julian May on the Seer King
‘Rich and convincing… will leave you eagerly awaiting the next installment’ SFX
About The Author
Chris Bunch was part of the first troop commitment into Vietnam. Both Ranger and airborne-qualified, he served as a patrol commander and a combat correspondent for Stars and Stripes. Later, he edited outlaw motorcycle magazines and wrote for everything from the undergound press to Look magazine and Rolling Stone and primetime television. He is now a full-time novelist.
Allan Cole was raised as a CIA brat, travelling the world and visiting pretty much every global hot-spot before he was eighteen. Subsequently, he has worked as a chef, a prize-winning newspaperman and a TV screenwriter, He has nineteen novels to his credit and has written more than a hundred episodes for television shows such as Battlestar Galactica, The Rockford Files, The A-Team, Magnum, PL, Quincy, The Incredible Hulk, Walker, Texas Ranger, and even The Smurfs. He currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida, with Kathryn, his strongest supporter, and 'Squeak' - the cat who rules all writer elves.

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by Chris Bunch at Amazon.co.uk

Mark Chadbourn The Hounds of Avalon Pbk published April 2005 by Gollancz at Ł10.99 ISBN: 0 575 07278 4

The Dark Age
The Hounds of Avalon are coming ...
For these are the twilight days, when eternal winter falls and the gods destroy themselves in civil war; when an invasion force of ghastly power threatens to eradicate all life.
Humanity’s last chance lies with two friends, as different as night and day, but bound together by an awesome destiny - Hunter: a warrior, a rake, an assassin; Hal: a lowly records clerk in a Government office.
They must pierce a mystery surrounding the myths of King Arthur to find the dreaming hero who will ride out of the mists of legend to save the world. But time is running out.
For when the Hounds of Avalon appear, all hope is lost ...
'A sumptuous feast of fairytale, magic, dark gothic horror and romance' The Times
`Proof that even in the most barren genres, new shoots can burst through’ Edge
‘He conjures up the horror of this harsh new world brilliantly, and the sheer brutality of his writing is often jaw-dropping ... Chadbourn’s work is the answer to the prayers of all those who’ve been moaning about by-the-numbers fantasy’ SFX
‘I can think of a handful of writers whose writing and creativity leave the reader gasping in astonishment and admiration at the power within their stories. Mark Chadbourn is one of those authors’ Masters of Terror
About The Author
Born in 1960, Mark Chadbourn was raised in the mining communities of South Derbyshire. After studying Economic History at Leeds University, he became a journalist, covering riots, murders and natural disasters in the provinces, before moving to London where his bylines appeared in most of the national newspapers. As an investigative journalist, he was shot at in the desert in California, set on fire with NATO troops in the Arctic and attacked by gangsters in Brighton. Following a brief spell working for an American magazine in Los Angeles, he became Music Editor and Senior Feature Writer at the now-defunct Today newspaper. He turned freelance in 1992 to write for a range of national newspapers and magazines, and to work as a journalist for BBC TV.
Away from journalism, Chadbourn has laboured as a fitter's mate at a power station, toilet cleaner and a Marmite production line worker, as well as running the independent record company Faith, and managing bands, including one top five chart act.
His writing career began in 1990 when his first published short story won the Best New Author award in Fear magazine. His first novel, Underground, was followed by Nocturne, which was nominated for Best Novel in the prestigious British Fantasy Society Awards, The Eternal and Scissorman, all published by Gollancz, and the non-fiction study of the paranormal, Testimony.

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by Mark Chadbourn at Amazon.co.uk

Mark Chadbourn The Queen of Sinister Pbk published April 2005 by Gollancz at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0 575 07653 4

The Dark Age
With the sudden return of magic, our modern, technological society has crumbled. Cities lie in ruins, communications are limited. Ancient gods and mythic creatures rage across the land, but in this new order good and evil are never quite as they appear. Welcome to Britain’s new Dark Age.
The plague came without warning. Nothing could stop its progress: not medicines, not prayer. The first sign of the disease is black spots at the base of the fingers; an agonising death quickly follows. But this is no ordinary disease ...
Caitlin Shepherd, a lowly GP, is allowed to cross the veil into the mystical Celtic Otherworld in search of a cure. Her search takes her on a quest to the end of a land of dreams and nightmares to petition the gods.
The Queen of Sinister is the latest instalment in Mark Chadbourn’s brilliant new sequence: exciting, evocative, terrifying and awe-inspiring.
'A sumptuous feast of fairytale, magic, dark gothic horror and romance' The Times
‘Thought-provoking at times, darkly disturbing at others ... a satisfyingly deep and unpredictable read’ At The World’s End
`Appealingly different’ Locus
`Very fine, intensely suspenseful’ Science Fiction Chronicle.
`His characterisation has an energy and a freshness that is lacking in too much of the genre these days’ Starburst
About The Author
Born in 1960, Mark Chadbourn was raised in the mining communities of South Derbyshire. After studying Economic History at Leeds University, he became a journalist, covering riots, murders and natural disasters in the provinces, before moving to London where his bylines appeared in most of the national newspapers. As an investigative journalist, he was shot at in the desert in California, set on fire with NATO troops in the Arctic and attacked by gangsters in Brighton. Following a brief spell working for an American magazine in Los Angeles, he became Music Editor and Senior Feature Writer at the now-defunct Today newspaper. He turned freelance in 1992 to write for a range of national newspapers and magazines, and to work as a journalist for BBC TV.
Away from journalism, Chadbourn has laboured as a fitter's mate at a power station, toilet cleaner and a Marmite production line worker, as well as running the independent record company Faith, and managing bands, including one top five chart act.
His writing career began in 1990 when his first published short story won the Best New Author award in Fear magazine. His first novel, Underground, was followed by Nocturne, which was nominated for Best Novel in the prestigious British Fantasy Society Awards, The Eternal and Scissorman, all published by Gollancz, and the non-fiction study of the paranormal, Testimony.

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by Mark Chadbourn at Amazon.co.uk

Michael Cobley Shadowmasque Pbk published June 2005 by Simon & Schuster at Ł10.99 ISBN: 0 7432 5682 4

Book Three of the Shadowkings Trilogy

300 years after the end of the Great Shadowking War, evil is seeping out into the world once more.

Emperor Magramon is dead and his only son, Ilgarion, will finally ascend to the Khatrimantine throne, guided by the Archmage Tangaroth and protected by the Iron Guard. But dark undercurrents are moving beneath the surface of life in Sejeend, the imperial capital, and the agents of an old and malign power are plotting and waiting. Only the Order of Watchers, a band of renegade mages, has any inkling of what is afoot and their investigations lead to grotesque and violent confrontations.
But Ilgarion is obsessed with the empire’s enemies, imagined or otherwise, and his pursuit of them can only bring about turmoil. Into this web of uncertainty, Corlek Ondene, former captain of the Iron Guard, unknowingly walks and sets in motion a string of clashing events. Can Tashil, Dardan, the Countess Ayoni, and the other Watcher mages, root out the source of evil before its terrifying hunger is set loose? And can the poet Calabos, elderly leader of the Watchers, keep his real identity a secret through all the nightmarish encounters he will undergo?
For the faces of Night dance with the faces of Day, but the weaver of Fate dances alone.
'Darkly different… writing to rival David Gemmell' Guardian
‘Vigorous, violent fantasy adventure’ Interzone
‘Fantasy doesn’t come much better than this’ Alien Online
About The Author
Michael Cobley has had short stories published in magazines and anthologies for a number of years. He attended Strathclyde University and lives in Glasgow.

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by Michael Cobley at Amazon.co.uk

Stephen Donaldson The Runes of the Earth Pbk published October 2005 by Gollancz at Ł7.99 ISBN: 0575076127

The First Book of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

The triumphant return to the Sunday Times bestselling fantasy series, a modern classic that has changerd the face of epic fantasy.

Since their publication more than twenty years ago, the first six books in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant have sold more than 10 million copies and have been published around the world. Now, with The Runes of the Earth, Stephen Donaldson returns to the Land, and the story of Thomas Covenant. Struck down with a deadly disease, abandoned by his wife and son, Covenant was drawn into the Land, where the earth itself brings healing, and welcomed as the reincarnation of a legendary saviour. Though he could not - would not - accept this magical world was real, the Land itself was under threat, and only Covenant had the power to save it - and the sacrifice of his life was the Land’s redemption as well as his own.
Now comes the book every fantasy reader has been awaiting. Ten years on, Dr Linden Avery had thought she would never see the Land, or Covenant, her beloved, again. But Lord Foul has stolen her adopted son, and there is more at risk than the life of the boy she adores: Lord Foul is unmaking the very laws of nature and if he is not stopped, he could destroy everything. And though Linden believes Covenant dead, he keeps sending her messages: ‘Find me’, and ‘You’re the only one who can do this’, and ‘Remember that I’m dead’. The Land is in turmoil, and Lord Foul has plans for them all ...

'Something entirely out of the ordinary' The Times
'Comparable with Tolkien at his best' Washington Post
‘Covenant is Donaldson’s genius’ Village Voice
‘Remarkable scope and sophistication’ Los Angeles Times
‘The most original fantasy since Lord of the Rings’ Time Out
‘A remarkable achievement which will certainly find a place on the small list of true classics’ Washington Post Book World
About The Author
Stephen Donaldson spent thirteen years in India, where his father was a medical missionary and orthopaedic surgeon; the idea for Thomas Covenant grew out of his father’s work with lepers. The first trilogy, Lord Foul’s Bane, The Illearth War and The Power That Preserves, won Donaldson the British Fantasy and, John W. Campbell Awards. The second Covenant trilogy comprises The Wounded Land, The One Tree and White Gold Wielder; Donaldson is also the author of the Gap SF novels, the World Fantasy Awardwinning collection Reave the Just and Other Tales and a series of mystery novels. He lives with his family in New Mexico, where he is at work on the second novel of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

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by Stephen Donaldson at Amazon.co.uk

Steven Erikson Midnight Tides Pbk published March 2005 by Bantam at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0-553 81314 5

After decades of warfare, the five tribes of the Tiste Edur have finally united under the implacable rule of the Warlock King of the Hiroth. But peace has been exacted at a terrible price - a pact made with a hidden power whose motives are at best suspect, at worst deadly.
To the south, the expansionist kingdom of tether has devoured all of its less civilized neighbours with rapacious, cold-blooded hunger. All, that is, save one - the Tiste Edur. For Lether is approaching a long-prophesied renaissance - from kingdom and lost colony of the First Empire to Empire reborn. And so its people have fixed their avid gazes northward, to the rich and abundant lands and coasts of the Tiste Edur. And beneath the suffocating weight of gold, or by slaughter at the edge of a sword, it seems the Tiste Edur must fall. Or so Destiny has decreed.
As the gathering for a pivotal treaty between the two nears, ancient forces are awakening. For the impending struggle between these civilizations is but a pale reflection of an altogether more profound, primal battle - a confrontation with the still-raw wound of an old betrayal and the craving for vengeance at its heart.
Among the Tiste Edur - among Trull Sengar’s people - it is believed that the darkest hungers of the spirit arrive on the tides from the south, and these tides come at midnight...
War and betrayal, magic and myth collide in this, the stunning fifth chapter in Steven Erikson’s magnificent Malazan Book of the Fallen sequence - a monumental achievement that is being hailed by readers and critics alike as an epic of the imagination and a fantasy classic in the making.
‘The kind of epic narrative that will have you scrambling for more.’ Stephen R. Donaldson
‘If any work is truly deserving of the accolade epic, it is the writing of Steven Erikson . . . he readily towers over every other author writing fantasy today.’ SF Site
‘Rare is the writer who so fluidly combines a sense of mythic power and depth of world with fully realized characters and thrilling action, but Steven Erikson manages it spectacularly.’ Michael a. Stackpole
Acclaim for Steven Erikson and House of Chains...
‘Truly epic in scope, Erikson has no peer when it comes to action and imagination, and joins the ranks of Tolkien and Donaldson in his mythic vision and perhaps then goes one better’ SF Site
‘Like the archaeologist that he is, Erikson continues to delve into the history and ruins of the Malazan Empire, in the process revealing unforeseen riches and annals that defy expectation .. . this is true myth in the making, a drawing upon fantasy to recreate histories and legends as rich as any found within our culture’ Interzone
‘Everything we have come to expect from this most excellent of fantasy writers; huge in scope, vast in implication and immensely, utterly entertaining’ alienonline
‘A multi-layered tale of magic and war, loyalty and betrayal. Complexly drawn characters occupy a richly detailed world in this panoramic saga ... should appeal to fans of epic and military fantasy as well as series followers’ Library Journal
‘The duel between the sisters and the abundantly detailed world Erikson has built really carry the book ... enjoyable even without previous acquaintance with the Malazan tales’ Booklist
About The Author
Archaeologist and anthropologist Steven Erikson is a graduate of the celebrated Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His first fantasy novel, the critically acclaimed Gardens of the Moon, marked the opening chapter of his epic sequence, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and was nominated for a World Fantasy Award. It is published by Bantam, as are the acclaimed subsequent volumes, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice and House of Chains. The thrilling fifth instalment in this remarkable story, Midnight Tides, will shortly be published by Bantam Press. Steven Erikson lives in Canada.

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by Steven Erikson at Amazon.co.uk