Canadian fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay has launched a new internet journal to share his thoughts in the lead-up to the April 2010 publication of his new book, Under Heaven.
The book will take place in a world inspired by the Chinese T’ang Dynasty of the 8th century, focusing on Shen Tai, the son of a general who led the forces of imperial Kitai in a war twenty years before, in which forty thousand men were slain alongside a mountain lake. More details are available from the Penguin press release.
Kay has published eleven fantasy novels, commencing with his applauded trilogy The Fionavar Tapestry. He has won a number of major awards and been nominated for many more. All of his works have a link to the world of Fionavar, the first of all the worlds, of which the rest are merely echoes.
On the first entry in the journal, Kay writes that one of things he attempts to achieve with such journals (he conducted a similar exercise for his 2007 novel Ysabel) is to give readers a glimpe into the publishing world, and how a manuscript becomes a book. But it appears as if the author will apply a sense of humour as well:
“I remember, in the first of these journals, for Last Light, describing one editor as ‘doughty’ and then musing on the awesome importance of the letter ‘t’ in that adjective. I still like that one. He’s decent enough to pretend to do so, even though we no longer work together, so he doesn’t have to!”
As for the book itself, Kay is currently working on what he says is the “final” pass-through of Under Heaven. “I use the quote marks because it really isn’t final,” he writes. That process is likely to be done by early to mid-October. After that, the book goes to his copy editor, and then on-wards through the publishing process.
Commentary
After reading many, many recommendations for Guy Gavriel Kay’s work, I picked up The Summer Tree, the first volume in The Fionavar Tapestry, several weeks ago, and I’m almost finished.
While I haven’t yet written a review of the book (look out for that soon), suffice it to say that I’ve already ordered the next couple of books in the series and will probably end up with Guy Gavriel Kay’s entire collected works on my shelves. He’s that good.
The author reminds me of Ursula K. Le Guin. His writing goes to the heart of what it really means to be human; using fantasy tropes to illustrate the deepest ideas about our lives. His writing isn’t hard, or complicated; it’s easy to pick up and easy to keep reading, but that simplicity is deceptive. I would commend Guy Gavriel Kay to anyone. And I suspect there will be a lot of people out there who will be anticipating his next work with pleasure and bated breath.
Kay has been on my list of authors to read for some time. I really need to sit down and start reading his stuff. Is your recommendation, for first time readers of Kay, to start with the Summer Tree? Or is there another book such as The Lions of Al-Rassan or The Last Light of Day that I should read? Or does it matter?
hi Steven,
I’ve actually only read The Summer Tree so far, I have a few more Kay books on order. I would highly recommend you start there; that book at least is fantastic.
And the rest of Kay’s novels do reference the world of Fionavar, if only slightly, so it’s worth starting at the beginning, I reckon.
The Summer Tree is not a long book, but I feel it is perfectly formed :) Very, very easy to pick up.
lions of al rassan is amazing… to me he was at the height of his power when he wrote it… but a song for arbonne is probably my all time favorite book… its above neuromancer even…
Glad to hear it … I have pretty much committed myself to buying his entire bibliography after reading the second book in the Fionavar Tapestry, the Wandering Fire (expect review soon). I just love his style.