June 2007 Issue #105

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Steven Erikson's Malazan Empire Series

StevenErikson (born October 7, 1959) (a pseudonym, his real name being Steve Rune Lundin), is a Canadian novelist, who was educated and trained as both an archaeologist and anthropologist. His best-known work is the on-going series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Biography

Steven Erikson was born in Toronto, Canada, grew up in Winnipeg, lived in the UK with his wife and son, and has since returned to Canada. He is an anthropologist and archaeologist by training[1] and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop.[1]

Works

His first fantasy novel, Gardens of the Moon (1999), constitutes the first of ten projected volumes of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. His style of writing tends towards complex plots with multiple point-of-view characters. The Malazan world was devised by Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont, initially as a setting for a role-playing game. Gardens of the Moon began as a movie script but evolved into a novel, which Erikson completed in 1991-92 but failed to sell.

In the late 1990s, Bantam UK bought Gardens of the Moon and requested that Erikson write additional books in the same series. Using the history of the world created by himself and Esslemont as a guide, he mapped out the series of ten novels. The rights to the Malazan Book of the Fallen were sold for approximately £500,000, among the "largest fees ever paid for a fantasy series"[2].

Erikson has stated explicitly that he enjoys playing with and overturning the conventions of fantasy, presenting characters that violate the stereotypes associated with their roles,[3] an obvious point being the insightful and murderous barbarian Karsa Orlong. He deliberately began the Malazan Book of the Fallen series in the midst of an ongoing story rather than beginning with a more conventional opening.[3]

Bibliography

Malazan Book of the Fallen

Core books of the series:

Sidetrack novels set in the Malazan world:

Other Novels

  • Stolen Voices (1993 book)|Stolen Voices (1993), as Steve Rune Lundin
  • This River Awakens (1998 book)|This River Awakens (1998), as Steve Rune Lundin
  • Fishin' with Grandma Matchie (2004)
  • The Devil Delivered - a novella (2005)

Collections

  • A Ruin of Feathers (1991), as Steve Rune Lundin
  • Revolvo & Other Canadian Tales (1998), as Steve Rune Lundin

Scripts

  • The Dark (2006), a web-based episodic drama serial, also served as co-creator.

Interviews

External links

The Malazan Book of the Fallen is a fantasy series written by Canadian author Steven Erikson, consisting of six books as of 2006 and projected to be ten books long in total. It is an epic fantasy, wide in scope and encompassing the stories of a very large cast of characters. Each book tells a different chapter in the ongoing saga of the Malazan Empire and its wars. For the first five books, each volume is self-contained, in that the primary conflict of each novel is resolved within that novel. However, many underlying characters and events are delicately interwoven throughout the works of this highly complex series, binding it together.

The Malazan world was co-created by Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont, who in 2005 commenced publishing his own Malazan novels co-developed with Erikson. See Authorship below.

The Malazan series is often compared both to Glen Cook's Black Company, and George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. It is like Song of Ice and Fire in that both are epic-length fantasies consisting of doorstop-sized novels, deal with war and have a large cast of characters. They are also contemporaries, so the comparison is natural enough. Both also deal with large, faceless military campaigns and one can draw parallels between the Malazan Bridgeburners Company and Cook's Black Company.

Novels in the Series

1.      Gardens of the Moon (1999)

2.      Deadhouse Gates (2000)

3.      Memories of Ice (2001)

4.      House of Chains (2002)

5.      Midnight Tides (2004)

6.      The Bonehunters (2006)

7.      Reaper's Gale (due for release on 7 May 2007)

8.      Toll the Hounds (forthcoming, no release date set)

9.      Dust of Dreams (forthcoming, no release date set)

10.  The Crippled God (forthcoming, no release date set)

Novellas in the Series

1.      Blood Follows (2002)

2.      The Healthy Dead (2004)

3.      The Lees of Laughter's End (forthcoming)

Additional Malazan Books

  • Night of Knives (2005, written by Ian Cameron Esslemont). This book is only available in a small-press edition from PS Publishing. However, it will have a major hardcover release in the UK in May 2007 from Bantam.
  • The Return of the Crimson Guard (forthcoming, written by Ian Cameron Esslemont). Bantam have also the rights to publish this novel and have formally announced that it will be released in 2008 (previous announcements suggesting it would be a 2007 release were a mistake), alongside the paperback of Night of Knives.
  • The Encyclopedia Malaz (forthcoming, to be published following The Crippled God)

Malaz in Other Media

Rumours of a film version of the series have circulated for the past several years. Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont originally developed Gardens of the Moon as a film script, apparently a comedy centering around the Phoenix Inn Regulars of the first novel. All copies of this script now seem to have been lost. More recently a script has been in development entitled Chain of Dogs, which is essentially an adaptation of a major plot strand of the novel Deadhouse Gates. This script is awaiting funding. The writers (who have consulted with Steven Erikson on the project) have declared they hope to fund the film outside of the Hollywood system, but acknowledge the large budget and extensive CGI requirements may make this impossible.

Discussions have been entered into about a roleplaying game based on the series, possibly using the D20 system used by the newest version of Dungeons and Dragons. No formal announcement has yet been made.

Authorship

The world of the Malazan tales was created (in rudimentary form) by Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont in 1982 as a backdrop for roleplaying games using a highly modified version of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. By 1986, when the GURPS system was released and adopted by Erikson and Esslemont, the world was closer to its current scope. It was then developed into a movie script entitled Gardens of the Moon. When this was not successful, the two writers agreed to each write a series set in their shared world. Erikson wrote Gardens of the Moon as a novel in the period 1991-92 but it was not published until 1999. In the meantime he wrote several non-fantasy novels. When he sold Gardens of the Moon he agreed to a contract for an additional nine volumes in the series. The contract with Bantam UK was worth approximately £500,000, making it "among the largest fees ever paid for a fantasy series"[1]

Ian Cameron Esslemont's first published Malazan story, the novella Night of Knives, was released as a small-press book in 2005 and will be followed by at least four novels, the first of which is provisionally entitled The Return of the Crimson Guard. In July 2006, Bantam Books in the UK confirmed that they will publish a mass-market paperback of Night of Knives and the first edition of Return of the Crimson Guard in May 2007. Steven Erikson has indicated that they will collaborate on The Encyclopedia Malaz, an extensive guide to the series, which will be published following the last novel in the main sequence.

Structure

The series is not told in a linear fashion. Instead, several storylines progress simultaneously, with the individual novels moving backwards and forwards between them. As the series progresses, links between these storylines become more readily apparent. During a book signing in November 2005, Steven Erikson confirmed that the Malazan saga consists of three major story arcs, equating them to the points of a triangle.

The first plot strand takes place on the continent of Genabackis, where armies of the Malazan Empire are battling the native city-states for dominance. The novel Gardens of the Moon depicts the struggle by the Malazans for control of the city of Darujhistan. Memories of Ice, the third novel released in the sequence, continues the unresolved plot threads from Gardens of the Moon by having the now-outlawed Malazan armies uniting with their former enemies to confront the Pannion Domin.

The second plot strand takes place on the subcontinent of Seven Cities and depicts a major rebellion against Malazan rule. This rebellion is known as 'the Whirlwind'. The second novel released in the sequence, Deadhouse Gates, shows the outbreak of this rebellion and focuses on the rebels' relentless pursuit of the main Malazan army as it escorts some 40,000 refugees more than 1,500 miles across the continent. The fourth novel, House of Chains, sees the continuation of this storyline with newly-arrived Malazan reinforcements taking the war to the rebels. The sixth novel, The Bonehunters, deals with the aftermath of this conflict.

The third plot strand was introduced with the fifth novel to be released in the sequence, Midnight Tides. This novel introduces a previously unknown continent where two nations, the Tiste Edur and the Kingdom of Lether, are engaged in escalating tensions which culminate in open warfare. The novel takes place contemporaneously with earlier books in the sequence and is in fact being related in flashback by a character from the fourth volume to one of his comrades (although the novel itself is told in the traditional third-person form). The events of Midnight Tides will come to play a major role in the remaining volumes of the series.

The sixth book, The Bonehunters, released in March 2006, sees the first two plot strands combined, with characters from Genabackis arriving in Seven Cities to aid in the defeat of the rebellion. The Tiste Edur of Midnight Tides also play a role in the book. It has also been confirmed by Steven Erikson that Reaper's Gale returns to the continent of Lether and that the eighth novel, Toll the Hounds, will take the story back to Genabackis. Steven Erikson has said that after the sixth volume the story will move outside the confines of the Malazan Empire, and that the unvisited continents of Assail and Korelri will be dealt with in Ian Cameron Esslemont's novels.

Geography

The series largely takes place on one planet, although there are extensive sequences which take place within the warrens (other realms or planes of existence) of magic. There are also occasional flashbacks to events in the distant past. This planet is comparable to Earth, although its size has not been revealed and it has been inhabited by intelligent races for much longer. Midnight Tides confirms that there are six continents on this planet, although the series makes frequent use of the term 'subcontinent' which makes it unclear what landmasses are considered continents and which are considered subcontinents.

The major landmasses are held to be Seven Cities, Quon Tali, Genabackis, Jacuruku, Korelri, Assail and the continent which contains Lether and the Tiste Edur Empire. The discrepancy between the number of continents and those landmasses named in the series is believed to be explained by Quon Tali and Seven Cities being considered one continent although separate landmasses, or by an error (either by the writer or in-text by the character who made that statement).

Seven Cities is the setting for the novels Deadhouse Gates, House of Chains and The Bonehunters. It is termed a subcontinent and only its eastern-most extent has been shown on maps in the series. It is named for the seven holy cities (Aren, Karakarang, Ubaryd, Ehrlitan, Karashimesh, Yath Alban and Ugarat), although other large cities exist such as Hissar, Panpot'sun and G'danisban. The subcontinent consists of large areas of wasteland and desert known as 'odhans'. The subcontinent is also held to include the nearby large island of Otataral (where the magic-deadening ore of the same name is mined), which lies off the north-eastern coast. The mapped region of Seven Cities extends nearly 2800 leagues from east to west and over 1800 leagues from north to south. The western part of Seven Cities has not been mapped but has been described in The Bonehunters, where it is revealed that three nations (Nemil, Perish and the Shal-Morzinn Empire) lie west of the Jhag Odhan and Trell tribelands.

The continent of Quon Tali has been seen briefly in Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates. It is the homeland of the Malazan Empire and lies to the south of Seven Cities. The extensive island chain of Falar lies off the north-eastern coast. The Quon Tali landmass extends for over 500 leagues from east to west and for approximately 780 leagues from north to south (including the Falari Isles). Quon Tali is the only continent to be mapped in its entirety in the series. Quon Tali is usually referred to as a continent.

Genabackis is the setting for the novels Gardens of the Moon, Memories of Ice and a lengthy sequence at the start of House of Chains. Genabackis is named a continent in its own right and lies to the east of Seven Cities and Quon Tali, across the Seeker's Deep (which natives of Genabackis call the Meningalle Ocean). The mapped portion of Genabackis extends for over 600 leagues from east to west and over 1000 leagues from north to south. Genabackis' northern area is controlled by the Malazan Empire, whilst its central area is held to be controlled by a loose coalition of cities led by Darujhistan. Its southern coast does not appear on the maps in the books.

Jacuruku has only appeared in flashback. This landmass is described as a 'sister continent' of Korelri. It was largely destroyed in a devastating war which took place many tens of thousands of years prior to the series. Prior to The Bonehunters, some fans disputed whether Jacuruku still existed or whether the entire continent had been removed from the world during events in the prologue to Memories of Ice. However, The Bonehunters confirms that Jacuruku still exists when a character reminisces about meeting people from Jacuruku.

Korelri lies relatively close to Quon Tali, as Malazan armies are active upon it. Although often mentioned, Korelri has not appeared directly in the series as yet. Korelri consists of two subcontinents, named Korel and Stratem. The Korelri continent is said to have been badly damaged in the downfall of the Crippled God, leaving hundreds of small islands along its coasts and many lakes in the interior. The Bonehunters reveals that a powerful race of sorcererous beings known as the Stormriders dwell in the sea between Quon Tali and Korelri, and Korelri is defended from them by a massive fortification stretching along the north coast, known as the Stormwall.

Assail has been mentioned several times. It lies between Genabackis and the Letherii continent and is held to be the most dangerous and hostile part of the Malazan world. The Crimson Guard mercenaries and some T'lan Imass are known to have present engagements there. The Malazans know of the existence of Assail and the Wrecker's Coast along its shores, but the Empire has chosen to make no incursions there due to the extreme danger of the land. It is known that the continent is dominated by a 'Tyrant' (or possibly several Tyrants) whose armies are powerful enough to destroy T'lan Imass forces. Little else is known of it.

Lether and the Tiste Edur lands lie upon a previously unknown landmass. A small portion of this continent is mapped in Midnight Tides and it is said to lie on the other side of the globe to the Malazan Empire. The mapped portion of the continent extends for over 600 leagues from north to south and for nearly 700 leagues from east to west.

History

The history discussed in the novels to date extends back for over 300,000 years and has not been fully revealed. Nevertheless a brief summary follows.

In the beginning there were four Founding Races: the K'Chain Che'Malle, Forkrul Assail, Imass and Jaghut. The K'Chain Che'Malle were a technologically-advanced species employing gravity-based magic who built floating fortresses called 'skykeeps'. The K'Chain Che'Malle were eventually destroyed, largely in a war with their own creations, a resurrected sub-species known as the Short Tails. The Forkrul Assail removed themselves to an unknown location long ago where their fate remains unknown, though individual Forkrul Assail have made appearances in the novels. Around this period, two factions of a group of alien races known as the Tiste invaded the world. This race was divided into three subraces: the Liosan, Edur and Andii. The Liosan have had little contact with the Malazan world, remaining sealed in their own Warren. The Andii were largely wiped out in the invasion with a few surviving at Bluerose; other forerunners of the invasion also remain under Anomander Rake. The Edur decayed into a tribal species.

The humanoid Imass and the tusked Jaghut waged war against one another across many thousands of years, mainly due to the extremely savage and powerful magic of those rare Jaghut known as Tyrants. Although the Imass destroyed the Jaghut over 33 major pogroms, enough escaped by magical means for the Imass to take extraordinary measures to destroy them. The Imass underwent the ritual of Tellann, becoming the T'lan Imass. Their entire race became undead, so they could survive long enough to finally destroy the last remnants of the Jaghut. In the process, the source of their magic shifted from the Hold of Beasts to the newly created Elder Warren of Tellann. Meanwhile, a minor offshoot species of the Imass seems to have evolved into humankind -- another offshoot developed into the Barghast race, as revealed in Memories of Ice. Over 100,000 years ago, the First Empire of humanity came into existence, based on the subcontinent of Seven Cities where the First Emperor sat on the First Throne. The First Empire explored the world, establishing colonies on all of the main continents (possibly bar Assail). A contemporaneous empire, controlled by the High King Kallor, came to dominate the continents of Jacuruku and Korelri and ruled with terror and fear until the last opposition of High Mages summoned down a god from a foreign realm (the Crippled God) to destroy Kallor. They failed. The Crippled God's fall shattered the continent of Korelri and rendered him unable to act for many thousands of years. Kallor, meanwhile, destroyed his own empire once it became clear that elder gods planned to punish him for his exceedingly cruel ways. He was cursed with eternal life and an inability to ascend, but used the power of hundreds of thousands of deaths to curse the Elder Gods in kind.

The First Empire eventually collapsed. The Seven Holy Cities arose on the ashes of its birth continent and the colonies became independent kingdoms. Just over 100 years ago, a band of adventurers and schemers in Malaz City, on an island off the Quon Tali continent, overthrew the lord of the city, Mock, and forged the Malazan people into a military power. Under the leadership of the charismatic Kellanved, Malazan power spread to the mainland, eventually coming to dominate all of Quon Tali and the Falari Isles. Malazan armies then subjugated Seven Cities before launching campaigns on Genabackis and Korelri. The efficiency of the Malazan military was radically bolstered when Kellanved found the long-hidden First Throne under the sands of Seven Cities, allowing him to command the Logros T'lan Imass to do his will. Kellanved and his assassin companion Dancer disappeared for a time on an unknown mission. When they returned, possibly spurred by the apparent assassination of the Empire's greatest general and champion, Dassem Ultor, outside Y'Ghatan on Seven Cities, they were killed by Surly, the head of the Empire's secret service, the Claw. Surly became the Empress, taking the name Laseen. Under her leadership the Malazan Empire continued to grow, but internal dissent among the noble classes of Quon Tali and the threat of a prophecised rebellion on Seven Cities have dogged her reign. On Genabackis the Malazan 2nd Army lays siege to the city of Pale, opposed by Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii warriors. On Korelri the Malazan forces under Greymane fight a gruelling war against the native forces.

Meanwhile, on the far side of the world, the Tiste Edur tribes have been united under the Warlock King Hannan Mosag, who apparently desires peace with the expansionist neighbouring human kingdom of Lether. The House of Shadow has reappeared among the Ascendant powers, sparking a major shift of power in the warrens. And it is said that the Crippled God is chained no longer.

Magic

Magic in the Malazan series is accomplished by reaching into a Warren (or sometimes a Hold), or through the mostly forgotten means of taking magic from within or the taking of spirits. Effects common to most warrens include enchantment of objects, large-scale energy blasts and travel through Warren, which allows movement across greater distances than the equivalent time or space within the Malazan world. Only a minority of humans can access Warrens, but those mages who can have access to between one (in most cases) to seven (in special circumstances). Certain Elder races have access to racial Warrens, that seem to be significantly more powerful. On at least one continent of the Malazan world, Warrens do not function but magic can be accessed by way of Holds, which are the primitive and inefficient (though powerful) precursors to Warrens. It is possible that certain modern Warrens are descended from Holds, as many human warrens are descended from Elder Warrens (Telas from Tellann, etc.). Magic can be countered through the use of the magic-deadening ore otataral, though it is ineffective against Elder Warrens.

Warrens can be both an access point to power and a physical realm; some are both while others are only access to power. Within some of the Warrens that exist as physical worlds dwell organized races with families, rulers and kingdoms. As well, some Warrens manifest with variations in different parts of the human realm, resulting in a certain duplication of purpose (i.e., Meanas and Rashan, both essentially being Warrens of Shadow). Warrens may also in some ways mirror or reflect the circumstances and physical properties of the Malazan world. Warrens also exist as the realms of Gods only accessible to priests instead of mages, though the distinctions between the two types of Warrens have not been clarified.

Warrens can be used to enchant physical objects through a process called investment. Examples include the unbreakable flint weapons of the T'lan Imass, which permit knapping useful blades of a size that would normally shatter, and the stone slab that pinned the Forkrul Assail Calm in House of Chains.

The Elder Warrens (some are called Holds):

  • Starvald Demelain: The Eleint, the First Warren (Tiam, the First Warren); also Dragon Hold
  • Kurald Galain: The Tiste Andii Elder Warren of Darkness
  • Kurald Emurlahn: The Tiste Edur Elder Warren of Shadow, the Shattered Warren; also the Empty Hold (in one part of the world); various pieces now serve various rulers or none.
  • Kurald Thyrllan: The Tiste Liosan Elder Warren of Light
  • Omtose Phellack: The Elder Jaghut Warren of Ice; also the Ice Hold. Exerts an influence of preservation or stasis
  • Tellann: The Elder Imass Warren of Fire; created from Kurald Thryrllan by the Imass Bonecasters for the purpose of giving the Imass a type of immortality; this was done while the Tiste Liosan believed their warren to be sealed.

Warrens accessible to humans (and revealed powers within the series to date):

  • Aral Gamelon: The Path of Demons, allows the summoning and control of demons; related to Hood's Path
  • Denul: The Path of Healing; allows treatment of injuries and diseases
  • D'riss: The Path of the Stone; allows petrification of wood and passage through solid stone, the flesh of the Sleeping Goddess Burn
  • Hood's Path: The Path of Death; allows animation of corpses, communication with spirits and control over demons
  • Imperial: Formerly Kallor's Empire, made into a warren by the Elder god K'rul to contain the destruction of a continent
  • Meanas: The Path of Shadow and Illusion, allows the manipulation of colour and sound
  • Mockra: The Path of the Mind, allows manipulation of thoughts and emotions of individuals and groups
  • Ruse: The Path of the Sea, allows manipulation of pressure and summoning of underwater creatures
  • Rashan: The Path of Darkness, allows concealment through shadow
  • Serc: The Path of the Sky, allows travel through the air and the perception of and movement through the temperature and layers of gasses in the air
  • Telas: The Path of Fire, allows powerful blasts of fire
  • Tennes: The Path of the Land
  • Thyr: The Path of Light

The Bonehunters provides further insight into the nature of the Warrens - Shaped by K'rul in his own flesh and flowing with his own blood, the Warrens are also personified by various Eleint (Dragons). These entities are generally sealed into the Eleint Warren.

There are other Warrens (or possibly Holds) whose existence is implied, but remain as yet unnamed, such as the Warren of the Forkrul Assail (mentioned in Gardens of the Moon) and that of Mael, the Elder God of the Sea (mentioned in Deadhouse Gates, House of Chains and The Bonehunters) whose magic we know to be Elder in nature. Some Warrens appear to be named simply for their ruler or majority users, such as Fener's Warren, Hood's Warren, and the Toblakai Warren.

Deck of Dragons - the Fatid (and associated Ascendants)

The Deck of Dragons resembles a Tarot card deck in that it consists of cards that divine the future. The difference is that a real Deck of Dragons adjusts itself to the changing circumstances of the Pantheon (gods). If an entity ascends or dies the deck will reflect this fact.

The deck was made of Holds before the Houses came into play. Original Hold card names are prefixed with a "Hold:" notation. Entries after the title are the current holders of the title.

Note that cards in the deck are seen on some occasions to represent various characters; this does not necessarily mean the character holds the position/title. For example, in 'Gardens of the Moon', Whiskeyjack is associated with the Mason of High House Death; he did not however assume this role. Also not all cards are active on all continents; for example Obelisk is referred to as inactive on Seven Cities until partway through the second book, Deadhouse Gates.

As the books progress we gain a deeper understanding of the Deck of Dragons; it currently (as of 'The Bonehunters') seems that Houses and Holds co-exist. Thus positions in both can be simultaneously filled.

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