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Next Omnibus due September 15
by Marc Rikmenspoel 24 Mar '09

24 Mar '09

Looking at Amazon today, I see that "The Return of the Black Company" is due from Tor on September 15 of this year. Considering its 672 page count and $15.99 list price, this is probably the omnibus of Bleak Seasons and She is the Darkness. As word of this spreads around the internet, it should quiet some of the folks complaining about the lack of availability of 3 of the 4 Glittering Stone books.

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Garrett reprints
by Marc Rikmenspoel 15 Mar '09

15 Mar '09

I noticed a couple of things on Amazon today. Whispering Nickel Idols must have gone to a 2nd printing, as it now has a list price of $7.99 (confirmed on Penguin/Roc's website), while it was first released at $6.99. I had wondered how Cruel Zinc Melodies could sell well enough to go to a 3rd printing, without its predecessor novel getting beyond the first printing. (for paperbacks such as these, publishers don't change the list price unless they reprint the book and change the price printed on the cover) Petty Pewter Gods is still listed for August 4, 2009 reprinting, with Deadly Quicksilver Lies scheduled now to follow on December 1, 2009. This still seems to me to be a case of confusion, which isn't unusual with Amazon listings for forthcoming books. Why would Roc skip Red Iron Nights (book 6), to move ahead to Petty Pewter Gods (book 8), and then go back to Deadly Quicksilver Lies (book 7)? I suspect that Red Iron Nights will actually be out sooner, circa May or June of this year, followed by Deadly Quicksilver Lies in August, and Petty Pewter Gods in December. This would leave Faded Steel Heat (book 9) and Angry Lead Skies (book 10) to be reprinted in 2010. I had wondered how Whispering Nickel Idols (book 11) would fit into all this, but the reprint indicated above takes care of that, even before the book has fully gone out of print (I saw a $6.99 1st printing at a local Barnes & Noble this weekend). Perhaps the entire series will be in print by the time book 13, whatever it ends up being called, is released in 2010-2011!

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Black Company Books needed!!!
by Joshua Johns 09 Mar '09

09 Mar '09

I am looking for someone to let their glittering stone series go at a decent price. Great as the books are there is no way I can afford the rediculous prices listed online. I would hate to have read this series this far to be thrwarted so close to the end. -- Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

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Spotted a Cook reference
by Richard Chilton 12 Feb '09

12 Feb '09

Jim Butcher has a Dresden short story in the collection Blood Lite. You might remember the first Dresden novel had a blurb by Glen Cook saying that Cook wished he'd thought of this setting (wise talking film noir wizard detective in a modern setting). Anyway, in the story in Blood Lite ("Day Off"), Dresden has his prized, planned, first day off in months ruined by ... well, let's just say it's ruined. Near the end of the story his girlfriend arrives while Dresden is giving the kiss of life to a bare breasted teenage girl while a naked couple huddle inside a mystic circle inside his smoke filled apartment. Anyway, during the chaos leading up to that point: "... sent me tumbling back across the room and into one of my bookshelves. I rebounded off it, fell on my ass, and sat there stunned for a second as copies of the *Black Company* novels fell from the shelf and bounced off my head." It's nice to see a reference like that in short story. Let's hope they were the paperbacks and not the hard covered Glittering Stone novels. Richard

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Dread Empire's Fall?
by Richard Chilton 07 Feb '09

07 Feb '09

So the other day I stumbled over a three book series called "Dread Empire's Fall". No, it wasn't by Cook, but on the off chance it was licensed or something I picked it. It's a space opera. Oh, the books are nice - plenty of character development mixed in with fleets going boom, but it's closer to the Sten books than anything written by Cook. Lots of twists and interesting setup, but not what I was looking for. Then I did a search and found a wiki page devoted to the series. It's at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dread_Empire%27s_Fall and doesn't give that many spoilers. A nice read (it would have to be, considering I finished the series knowing it had nothing to do with Cook), but not quite to Cook's standard. Richard

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Red Iron Nights and Petty Pewter Gods reprints
by Marc Rikmenspoel 07 Feb '09

07 Feb '09

Roc has been reprinting the Garrett books for the past two years, beginning with Sweet Silver Blues, and continuing through Dread Brass Shadows, as of this past December. Whispering Nickle Idols and Cruel Zinc Melodies are still in print, so that means that Books 1-5 and 11-12 of the series can easily be had new. Books 6-10 are out of print, but can reasonably be assumed to be scheduled for reprinting. In fact, Amazon for a while was showing a reprint of Book 6, Red Iron Nights, for early August 2009. But tonight I saw that this is no longer listed, and instead, Book 8, Petty Pewter Gods, is listed for an early August reprint this year. Does anyone know what is up with this? I'm hoping that Amazon got partial information, and that Red Iron Nights will actually be released sooner, followed by Book 7 Deadly Quicksilver Lies, and then Petty Pewter Gods, all this year. But I only hope this for the sake of those looking for the books. It doesn't really matter for me, I was lucky enough to complete my collection of Garrett books during 2008, through finding some good ebay deals. But it took a lot of looking and attention on my part, and for those who don't have the time or opportunity to look for deals, it would be nice to have more Garrett available for around $7-8 per book, instead of $20+.

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New Dread Empire novel confirmed!
by Marc Rikmenspoel 31 Jan '09

31 Jan '09

Check out this site http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/ to view a Q&A session with Glen Cook. He confirms that he is working on A Path to Coldness of Heart, the working title for a new Dread Empire novel! This made my day, I'm so pleased to have my suspicions confirmed. Now the delay in publishing the Wrath of Kings omnibus makes sense. I can hardly wait!

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A Few Tidbits
by Marc Rikmenspoel 05 Dec '08

05 Dec '08

Still no news on the release date for Instrumentalities 3, or the state of Wrath of Kings. And it has been quiet for fan postings. But I've kept poking around, and I found this potential cover for Nightshade's 2009 reissue of The Swordbearer http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Swordbearer/Glen-Cook/e/9781597800778/?itm… think it looks quite sharp! Dread Brass Shadows is now available as a reprint, and I think its cover also looks good. It takes the original Hildebrandt painting and zooms it in a bit http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?r=1&ISBN=978045… Iron Nights is scheduled for reissue in August of 2009. Finally, I noticed recently that Cruel Zinc Melodies is now on its 3rd printing, which is really impressive for only being out for around 6 months when I saw this in November. So Cook is continuing to sell well!

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Rambling thoughts on the Dread Empire
by Marc Rikmenspoel 15 Nov '08

15 Nov '08

*I apologize in advance for the length of this, but I felt the need to set down some ideas swirling around in my head. I first read the Dread Empire original trilogy and two sequels 20 years ago. I didn't read any Black Company books until later, though I had seen them in stores. In fact, I had seen a number of Glen Cook books, and recall the Dark War ones in particular. * * * *I noticed Reap the East Wind and An Ill Fate Marshalling in early 1988 because of the Ken Kelly cover art. I became a big fan of Kelly's work by around 1985, when I realized that the guy who painted the KISS Destroyer and Love Gun covers was the same guy who was doing the recent Gor book covers, was the same guy who did the Berkely Robert E. Howard covers, and was the same guy who was doing the Robert Adams Horseclans covers (and later, in 1987, he started doing the majority of Tor Conan pastiche covers). So I noticed his Reap the East Wind and An Ill Fate Marshalling covers right away. Both were labelled "The New Dread Empire Novel," yet I wasn't aware of any "old" Dread Empire novels!* * * *Perusing the books showed them to be fascinating, in large part because of hints of backstory such as frequent mentions of some horrific battle at Palmisano. I started looking around all the used bookstores in the **Albany* *, **New York** area, and finally found All Darkness Met. This was a few weeks before I headed to **Fort Collins**, **Colorado**, to become a freshman at **Colorado** **State** **University**. In **Fort Collins** I finally found A Shadow of All Night Falling and October's Baby (I then realized I had seen the latter in stores some years earlier, but iy had meant nothing to me then). * * * *At last I could read my way through the five books in order. I've thought back on that experience as I now, in A Cruel Wind, reread the original trilogy for the first time in its entirety. I've reread bits and pieces over the years, but this is the first thorough rereading. Just as two decades ago, I find A Shadow of All Night Falling to be fairly good, but only of real interest in how it sets up what comes later. October's Baby is where the story really kicks in for me, and it only gets better in the complex events of All Darkness Met. * * * *I've enjoyed reading these stories in a nice new volume, instead of in beat up old mass market paperbacks. I had wondered if the context would matter, and I think it does (I also suspect the Black Company original trilogy makes a better impression in the attractive omnibus than in the curious covers of the original mass market editions). Still, first impressions are usually strong, and thus I have always pictured Bragi Ragnarson as looking like Ken Kelly's depiction! (anyone who has seen the original version of All Darkness Met probably shares my amusement at Kinuko Kraft's in-joke of depicting Bragi with Glen Cook's face!).* * * *I've read online comments by people who are surprised that Steven Erikson and Jeff Vandermeer found the Dread Empire books so influential. I suppose they don't stand out in this era as much as they did 20 years ago. However, I can assure you all that they made a profound impact on me then! I know just what those guys mean when they write that these books helped them to realize that stories didn't have to be clichéd accounts of farm boys with hidden royal blood going on quests with unlikely, mismatched groups of "good guys." I may never write a fantasy novel, but I have the plots for some in my head, and the mode of their telling was strongly influenced by reading Cook's Dread Empire novels. I'm enjoying them now almost as much the second time around! If we ever do get "Wrath of Kings Recovered" it might be worth the 20 year wait! *

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Wrath of Kings news, of a sort!
by Marc Rikmenspoel 08 Nov '08

08 Nov '08

Late last night, after work, I finally got my mail for the first time in a few days (long story), and as expected, it included my Amazon package with A Cruel Wind (tpb), The Tower of Fear (mmpb), and the just-released A Fortress in Shadow (tpb). This latter is identical in format to A Cruel Wind, and is a handsome publication. The Steven Erikson introduction is highly amusing. And...the Glen Cook list of titles in the front is updated! (though not to include Cruel Zinc Melodies) So, for the Dread Empire, it mentions *A Cruel Wind*, and in parentheses says, Containing *A Shadow of All Night Falling*, *October's Baby*, and *All Darkness Met*. For *An Empire Unacquainted With Defeat*, it says parenthetically that is a "Short Fiction Collection". And for *The* *Wrath of Kings*, it states in parentheses, "Containing* Reap the East Wind* and *An Ill Fate Marshalling, and Wrath of Kings*"! (it seems that it once read "Containing *Reap the East Wind* and *An Ill Fate Marshalling*," and that "*and Wrath of Kings*" was added later, and somewhat sloppily, especially since the last word "and" is italicized like the book titles) So it certainly appears that Wrath of Kings as a book has been added to the Wrath of Kings omnibus, as I and others have speculated for a while might happen! We can't read too much into this, no pun intended, but it left me very excited when I noticed this just before going to bed last night. Hopefully some sort of confirming news is released soon, happy reading in the meantime!

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