American sci-fi/fantasy author Ken Scholes has almost finished writing Antiphon, the next book in the Psalms of Isaak series he kicked off in February this year with Lamentation.

Scholes has only this month published the second book in the series, Canticle. You can find an excellent review of the book over [...]]]>

American sci-fi/fantasy author Ken Scholes has almost finished writing Antiphon, the next book in the Psalms of Isaak series he kicked off in February this year with Lamentation.

Scholes has only this month published the second book in the series, Canticle. You can find an excellent review of the book over at Neth Space. In a post on his LiveJournal yesterday, Scholes wrote that he was travelling, including attending the World Fantasy Convention in California, but had recently been getting some editing done as well:

“I’m nearly finished with Antiphon revisions. I may wrap it up on the plane Wednesday or in the wee hours Thursday.  It’ll get turned in this week, though, and then I’ll start bending my mind towards Requiem. 

I want to wrap the entire Psalms of Isaak by first quarter 2011.  Considering all of the interruptions and distractions, pandemonium and madness, I’m feeling pretty good about the notion of writing a five volume series in a total of five years.  (What you can’t see is me knocking on wood.)”

The Psalms of Isaak is set far in Earth’s future – so far that our modern age is not remembered. Instead, magic abounds and society has returned to a more or less familiar setting for fantasy readers – dominated by kingdoms, wars and intrigue.

Commentary
I haven’t read any of Scholes’ work yet, but Lamentation is definitely on my list. It’s received mixed reviews, but I haven’t been able to find any real negative ones. Most critics agreed the book was a landmark release – not on the scale of “you must read this book NOW” as most people seem to feel about Patrick Rothfuss‘s debut book The Name of the Wind, but more on the scale of “place this in your top five to read list very soon”.

It’s in my top five fantasy list – the only problem is that I also have a top five science fiction list to get through ;)