Release Date: 06/08/13
Publisher: Orbit
SYNOPSIS:
Two men who hate each other. One impossible mission. A legend in the making. Hadrian, a warrior with nothing to fight for, is paired with Royce, a thieving assassin with nothing to lose. Together they must steal a treasure that no one can reach. The Crown Tower is the impregnable remains of the grandest fortress ever built and home to the realm's most prized possessions. But it isn't gold or jewels that their employer is after, and if he can only keep them from killing each other, they might just get him his prize.
REVIEW:
I had a lot of fun reading the original series when it was picked up by Orbit so as a reader I was more than intrigued to see what Michael would produce in the prequel that explains how the heroes from the original series came to forge their alliance. As with the series it works wonderfully well, brings a whole new area of trouble to the fore and when added to a whole host of chaos really gives the reader chance to get behind familiar friends.
The only real problem with this book, as far as I’m concerned is that because this is a prequel we know that our duo are never in any real danger which takes a lot away from the book in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong it’s a lot of fun, the pace is solid and with good action sequences I was more than happy but the best bit, the internal conflict between the heroes.
Release Date: 17/09/13
Publisher: Orbit
SYNOPSIS:
Two thieves want answers. Riyria is born. For more than a year, Royce Melborn has tried to forget Gwen DeLancy, the woman who saved him and his partner Hadrian Blackwater when all other doors were closed against them. Unable to stay away any longer, they return to Medford to a very different reception - she refuses to see them. Once more she is shielding them, this time from the powerful noble who abused her. She was right to suspect Royce wouldn't care about rank and privilege or fear any repercussions from reprisal. What she didn't realise is what he was capable of - until now.
REVIEW:
The concluding part to the prequel duology and as with the first, I had a lot of fun reading this. The characters are great to hand around, have some wonderful movements of humour and levity and when backed with great pace alongside plot aspects all round works delightfully well.
Add to the mix a whole host of dilemma’s, some cracking twists and an authors writing style that really does keep you glued all round makes this something that’ll deliver on all your reader demands. As with the first book in the series my gripe still stands but with everything else that I’ve enjoyed within it can be quite a minor one.
Release Date: 26/01/12
SYNOPSIS:
The New Empire intends to celebrate its victory over the Nationalists with a day that will never be forgotten. On the high holiday of Wintertide, the empress will be married, and Degan Gaunt and the Witch of Melengar will be publically executed. Once the empress suffers a fatal accident, everything will be perfect. There is only one problem-Royce and Hadrian have finally found the Heir of Novron.
REVIEW:
I’ve loved this series by Michael and having had it over subsequent months has made it a pure joy as I haven’t had to wait long to see what else life has in store for the principle characters who are reminiscent of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser which adds a touch of nostalgia for a number of fantasy fans.
Add to this cracking pace, top notch prose and dialogue that works well which also allows the characters to grow as well as to hopefully work things out for their own advantage and overall its been a real pleasure to read. Cracking fun all in and definitely a series I’d recommend to other fantasy fans.
Release Date: 02/12/11
SYNOPSIS:
The birth of the Nyphron Empire has brought war to Melengar. To save her kingdom, Princess Arista runs a desperate gamble when she defies her brother and hires Royce and Hadrian to perform a dangerous mission behind the enemy's lines. As the power of the Nyphron Empire grows, so does Royce's suspicion that the wizard Esrahaddon is using the thieves as pawns in his own shadowy struggle for power. To find the truth, he must unravel the secret of Hadrian's past. What he discovers leads the thieves to the ends of the world on a journey amid treachery and betrayals, forcing Hadrian to face a past he hoped never to see again.
REVIEW:
The second compendium in the Riyria Revelations series that keeps the story moving at a breakneck pace with cracking lead characters who in an effort to save their own hides end up in all manner of scrapes and shenanigans.
As with the original book it was fun, it had great moments of levity and of course action packed with high octane adrenaline fuelling the story from start to finish. Finally add to this a great overall arc, dark misdeeds and a knack for scraping through literally by the skin of their teeth and it’s a series that I’ve really come to enjoy. Definitely a great read and one I’d recommend to others, although personally I’d say to wait for the third books release and have a real marathon with Hadrian and Royce. You won’t regret it.
As people are aware, we love to champion the new guy and whilst some are lucky enough to get a publishing contract, others take a while to get theirs. Here with six books under his belt, Michael J Sullivan takes us through his Cinderella Story, from self-publishing to getting that contract from a major publisher…
I want to thank Gareth for inviting me here today. He asked me to share a little about my publishing journey, which has been a wild and unconventional dream come true.
In the original 1979 Muppet Movie, Kermit sets out with a single goal, “To make millions of people happy.” He runs into Gonzo who is on his way to Bombay India to break into show business. When questioned why he wasn’t going to Hollywood Gonzo responds, “Sure, if you want to do it the easy way!” Bombay is now a major hub for movie production, so the joke doesn’t work as well today, but I can definitely identify with choosing an unconventional path.
I’m talking, of course, about the dreaded “S” word: self-publishing. While today it carries less of a stigma, in 2009 it was considered:
a) The best way to ensure you would never have a professional writing career
b) An act taken only by desperate and delusional people
c) Proof that you didn’t have what it takes to be a real writer
So why did I decide to self-publish? Well, to tell the truth, I didn’t. I had wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I used to write, bind, and illustrate my own books using my sister’s manual typewriter. As an adult, I stayed home with the kids, and wrote when they napped. We lived modesty, but happily, on my wife’s salary.
Deciding to become a novelist seemed like a long shot, since I had no professional writing education. College had been out of the question (my father died when we I was nine, and we lived off my social security checks and his veteran benefits). I studied writing by reading novels and dissecting the techniques used by authors such as Stephen King, John Steinbeck, and Ayn Rand. After completing twelve books, I finally had written something I considered publishable. The standard submit-reject-repeat cycle went on for quite some time until in 1995 I finally gave up (dramatically vowing never to write creatively again). To me all those years had been an exercise in futility (or perhaps insanity).
Never again is a really long time—especially when you can’t stop ideas from filling your head (another possible indication of insanity). The seeds of The Riyria Revelations had begun to germinate in 1990, and in 2004 I finally broke my vow, but adjusted my goals. While Burden to the Earth had been a finely crafted piece of literary fiction, I decided to go a different route and write something just for fun. I had no intention of publishing; my only benchmark was if the books were something that I wanted to read.
My story might have ended there, but my wife loved the books, believed in me, and made it her mission to find an audience for the series. Robin is damn near unstoppable…upon encountering a wall she’ll dig under, go over, or find a way around it. She amassed her own collection of rejections (more than two hundred in eighteen months), and finally landed me an agent. Cat (yes, that’s her real name), spent most of 2005 building her own rejection pile, and cut me loose when she ran out of places to try.
Undaunted, Robin went the small press route, and Minnesota based Aspirations Media stepped up to the plate. There was no advance, and even if I sold out the entire printing (which I did) the maximum I could make was $3,300. But none of that matter because in October 2008, The Crown Conspiracy was published! We were excited when AMI came back and asked for the second book, scheduling it for April 2009.
Disaster struck in March when AMI announced they had no money for Avempartha’s print run. We had already scheduled store signings and book club appearances so the only way to meet the deadline was to publish it ourselves. One book every six-months seemed like a good schedule to me, so we were forced to stay on the self-publishing track.
By the time the fourth book came out in April 2010, I was seeing some modest success (selling 1,000 books per month). When Wintertide came out in October, sales more than doubled. Robin asked Teri Tobias, who had negotiated a foreign rights deal for us, if she wanted to pitch the series domestically. To be honest, we didn’t think anything would ever come of it—boy, were we wrong.
In mid-October Teri sent out seventeen proposals and asked editors to respond within three weeks. By that time the books were on multiple Amazon fantasy best seller lists, had had hundreds of positive reviews, and were also featured on numerous blogs. I guess that attracted some attention because seven publishers expressed their interest.
One of them was Orbit (the fantasy Imprint of the Hachette Book Group), who made a generous six-figure, pre-emptive offer. Even before submitting, Orbit had been at the top of our list. They were fairly new in the US, an imprint of one of the big-six publishers, and had a track record of choosing quality titles. In just a few years, they were already producing New York Times Best Sellers, and their books were being nominated (and winning) major fantasy awards. Even if another offer came in that was marginally higher, that wouldn’t change our minds. So we shook hands with them in mid-November 2010.
Just when I thought life could get no better, November’s final numbers came in at an astonishing 9,500 books sold. In addition, December, January, and February sold more than 10,000 each. We banked that little nest egg, and combined with Orbit’s advance, and foreign sales, Robin quit her day job in April 2011. After several decades of supporting me, I was now able to return the favor.
The rest, as they say, is history. Orbit decided to combine my six-book series into three, two-book omnibuses:
• Theft of Swords (Nov 2011): The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha
• Rise of Empire (Dec 2011): Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm
• Heir of Novron (Jan 2012): Wintertide & Percepliquis
• Percepliquis (Jan 2012) : A standalone edition for fans to complete their sets
The UK release just started, and the US version will be out in a couple of weeks, but already I have plenty of reasons to celebrate:
• Fantasy Book Critic named Heir of Novron #2 of their 5 most anticipated books for Q1 2012
• Library Journal named Theft of Swords their Fantasy Debut for September 2011
• Starbucks selected Theft of Swords for their Digital Network’s Bookish Reading Club (customers can read it free from their in-store wifi starting 12/20/2011).
• UK versions with their own covers and proper English spellings are already for sale
• Foreign translations have been sold for eight countries including: Russia, Spain, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Denmark, Japan, and Brazil
• One of the largest and most respected production houses is creating the audio version
• The SFBC (Science Fiction Book Club) is producing a special edition hardcover
• The head of ICM’s book to film division is pitching the series for movies and television
So there you have it…my Cinderella story. It took me thirty years toiling away before getting noticed by the handsome prince. I’m headed to the ball, and hoping that I won’t turn into a pumpkin. For me, the midnight clock will strike around the end of March 2012 (two months after the last book’s release). By then I might be back with Sally Field’s “You like me; you really, really like me” story. But even if the series falls flat on its face, I’ve already achieved more than I ever thought was possible. I’m eternally grateful to my wife, the early fans who took a chance on a nobody, and the blogging community who has been so instrumental in helping me get the word out. Words cannot express my gratitude for all that you’ve done on my behalf.
Release Date: 03/11/11
SYNOPSIS:
THEY KILLED THE KING. THEY PINNED IT ON TWO MEN. THEY MADE A BAD DECISION ...Royce Melborn is a superb thief, his partner, Hadrian Blackwater is a skilled mercenary. Together they make a profitable living as agents-for-hire to wealthy nobles until someone sets them up to take the blame for the murder of the king. Captured and sentenced to death the two are saved by an unlikely woman with a simple demand that will change the lives of the thieves, the course of a kingdom, and the foundation of an empire.
REVIEW:
I love a good fantasy that gives me something that not only invokes memories but also brings a new fantasy world and sneakiness to the fore. What this book by Michael J Sullivan does is bring together elements of Lieber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser with the detailed and political machinations of Martin alongside the authors own style that really works well with the plotline.
The principle cast members are fun to be around, have great depth and flavour and when added to a plot that has the pace of a galloping horse, leaves the reader hanging on to find out what’s going to happen next which when you add to this an epic subplot that will take some time to work through it will leave our heroes will have one hell of an arc to sort through as for them an armies worth of the brown stuff has just hit the fan. Cracking.
Finally just to help others avoid any confusion, this series released by Orbit is an amalgam of the previous released books and will work out like this:
* Theft of Swords: The Crown Conspiracy & Avempartha
* Rise of Empire: Nyphron Rising & The Emerald Storm
* Heir of Novron: Wintertide and Percepliquis
