Now that Amanda and Bill have concluded their reread of Orb Sceptre Throne we’re opening the floor for questions to Ian Cameron Esslemont!
The procedure is pretty direct: just leave your question in the thread below before 12 PM (EST) on Wednesday, May 20th. Once we’ve collected all the questions and submitted them to Ian, we’ll publish his responses as soon possible—please keep in mind that the timing of the answers is subject to Ian’s schedule, of course.
Note: There are no strict guidelines for questions, but concise and well-composed questions are always always always best! And once again, a big thank you goes to Ian for taking time out of his schedule to engage in depth with fans of the Malazan series!
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great book, ice. Big fan.
Just started b&b and am really into it.
Question: karsa and Samar Dev. Why didn’t we get onscreen action? I got really excited at the references but then no more mentions. Did you consider them at some point and decide against it? What impact do you think they could have had? Any interactions between them and another character that piqued your interest? Thanks.
Hey Ian! Just finished Return of the Crimson Guard and am already about 20 pages in Stonewhielder and I would like to tell you that the books are awesome. I don’t know about the next books but would you like to write more about my favourite duo Shadowthrone and Cotillion? Also which is your favourite duo?
Hi Ian!!
Firstly, a big thanks for all your books – I’ve read them all (apart from Assail, and that grievous offence will be rectified soon, just some pesky exams to do first . . .*yawn* :) ), and I’d firstly like to say I really enjoyed them all – I think Return of the Crimson Guard and Stonewielder are some of my favorites in the entire Malazan set.
How did you come up with the whole idea of the mask for the Tyrant? I really liked that idea, to be honest. I got goosebumps reading the bit where the Tyrant killed those guards near the beginning – one of the standout scenes from the books for me.
Also, how did you feel writing characters that, up until now, had been the domain of Steven? Of course, I don’t know which ones were your own creations and what not, but did you feel any extra pressure writing characters that Steve had been with for 1-3 books? Quite frankly I think you handled them pretty well, especially Scorch and Leff and Torvald (nomiest of noms), some of my favourites from Toll the Hounds.
Finally, I’m going to have a fan boy bitch about not seeing enough of Caladan. Unfortunatly, I can’t have a go at you for not putting in more of him, I understand completely why he was in where he was . . . but still! Caladan Brood is amazing. It is possible I fanboy over him too much . . . :)
Anyway, thank you for helping create the best series out there! And if you could send me a copy of Dancer’s Lament early. . . I’m not sure I can be so excited for so long. Anyway, next year I’ll be on a Uni budget :(
I will ask the question we were just discussing in the comments of the epilogue, who are Rallick and Vorcan talking about?
Thank you for all of the work you have put into this series and world. Your books are great! Also, thank you so much for taking the time to read and answer our questions, I say this every time, but it is truly appreciated.
Thank you, Ian, for participating in these Q&A sessions.
The re-read and commentary allowed me to understand for the first time that the Heels from Assail are in Moon’s Spawn in OST. I suppose that I only became aware of them as characters after reading Assail, so I didn’t recognize them when I read OST the first time. Can you elaborate just a little as to what was their purpose in journeying to the Spawn, since my reading of their personalities in Assail is that they are pretty closely tied to their land and water in the continent of Assail? What did they hope to accomplish in the Spawn?
Thank you again!
Hi ice, thanks for agreeing to do this Q&A. I’m reading your books for the first time, entirely out of order (NoK then OST and now RotCG), and I’m enjoying them greatly.
I’ve a question about description. I’ve noticed (and, obviously, feel free to disagree) that you often tend to be quite sparing in describing a new character – that you’ll provide maybe one distinguishing feature or article of clothing, then move on. It strikes me as a quite conscious decision, and I was wondering if you could account for this preference over a more ‘full’, lavish accounting.
Cheers!
Hi Ian,
Thank you for the opportunity. We have a small group of people, on Portugal, that have “stubbled” appon the Malazan word. Currently I re-reading Orb, Cepter and throne and it is making way more scence the second time around. Being such an intercrate saga, and writing in the same word you share with Steven, what is your very on favourite character? Also, I have to ask, do you even consider coming to the Portuguese market and eventualy participate in a book signing? Best regards, João Lamas
Ian,
Thanks so kindly for taking time to answer our questions, and for your books, which have helped paint so much interesting and compelling detail into the portrait of the Malazan universe. I’ve just finished Assail and lament (pun most certainly intended) that I’ll have to wait at all to read about Shadowthrone and Cotillion…but I feel confident the wait will be worth it.
I have a comment and a question.
My comment is simply this: there is a brief scene, perhaps a page in length, in OST, that is one of my favorite stretches of writing, period. It’s when, through the eyes of another of the Hundredth, we see Jan take off through Majesty Hall absolutely demolishing every Moranth he runs into, and ends with the other of the Hundredth catching up to him, breathless. *I* was breathless. I’ve read that passage again and again. It’s the creme de la creme!
My question: II find that one of the greatest pleasures in writing are when, having crafted an outline and knowing where the story goes, during the process of writing you find yourself totally surprised by what you’re writing – you didn’t see it coming. Perhaps it’s a detail that doesn’t change the course of the story, but sometimes you discover something truly staggering – that a character has to die, perhaps, who you thought would survive. I wanted to ask you if you could share any such moments of surprise from your writings in the world of the Malazan Empire? Whether in OST or any of your other books (though I suppose we don’t want to spoil BaB and Assail for any first-timers following along.
Thanks again and have a wonderful time writing the Path to Ascendancy trilogy!
-Daniel
Hi Ian,
thanks for the wonderfull books! I thoroughly enjoyed the different environments and story structures you used in them to craft the Malazan World. I have a question.
Is T’renn now a god? And will we see him again in the future from either you or Steven?
With Regards,
Dion Mengerink
Hi Ian,
First of all, I love your work, so thanks for that, and thank you for talking to us in this way.
Okay, questions!
In your early books, you’ve broken the text into Parts, just as Erikson does. However, by B&B and Assail you’ve left this behind, writing uninterrupted novels. May I ask what the point of this was? I can speculate that it was more natural for the story being told, or there was a change on the part of your editors, or you wanted to break the mold a bit, but hopefully you can tell me!
As to specifics: in RotCG, we learn that the Malazans sent approximately 40,000 soldiers after the Crimson Guard to Stratem, forcing the Diaspora to occur. I wonder why the Malazans didn’t stay and occupy Stratem? Especially given the descriptions of a peaceful, forested land that just seems ripe for colonisation and deforestation!
That’s it! My special mention from your series goes to the interactions between Murk and Celeste in B&B. A beautiful characterisation of yet another standard Malazan soldier being forced to think for himself. So thank you.
From Adrian
I find that in interviews you are often asked about your collaborative gaming experience with Steven, however I was wondering if there were any prominent takeaways from other members of your gaming group, be it noteworthy actions, characters, or narrative decisions, that may have impacted the world of Malaz as we now know it.
As a GM myself, I feel that I have taken something away from every person I have played with, and I was curious if you’d shared any kind of similar experience.
Hi Cam,
As always, thanks for taking the time to do this. I have two process questions
1) Rather than ask about what happened in this book, I first wanted to ask about what didn’t happen. I’m wondering if you can tell us something that was cut from the book–a character, a scene, a foreshadow—, at what stage it was cut, and why it was cut (obviously because you thought it wouldn’t work, but if you could add a little beyond that . . . )
2) Several characters are revealed in little dribs and drabs and hints, and for some, even those dribs and drabs and hints don’t add up to a fully clear portrait (which I’m fine with most of the time). I’m curious about how you release those dribs in your writing. Do you have a full portrait of the character in your head and plan out a “time-release capsule” version of revelations? Do you ever go, “Whoops, that’s giving the store away!” and pare back an already written scene to make it more ambiguous? Do you ever rub your hands and cackle maniacally as you imagine readers trying to figure a particular character out?
thanks!
I don’t have any questions, I just want to thank you for your books, they’re great, and I look forward to reading more from you!
I missed the end of the OST reread, plunged on into DoD and now tCG along with other extracurriculars. So I just wanted to say thanks, Cam! OST was one of my favourites of the whole series. I read it right after Toll the Hounds and it worked really well following that one up. Really enjoyed learning more of the Moranth and Seguleh, but as always, wanting more.
In the DoD Q&A, Steven mentioned the possibility of their being a Malazan RPG D20 system with supplement(s). Is there any word on that?
When you divided the world/history up for writing, did it just work out the way that the books have been published, so far? In that you wrote 6 whereas Steven wrote 10 (not including Kharkanas and other such).
Thank you,
There has been discussion about the seemingly unrealistic ability of the Seguleh to take on vast forces that greatly outnumber them. Examples being the three Seguleh “punitive” army that faced the Tenescowri in Memories of Ice and the battles in Orb Sceptre Throne against the Rhivi and Malazans. While Envy might have tipped the scales against the Tenescowri, the sheer number of Rhivi (a few hundred Seguleh against 30,000 Rhivi) made some readers skeptical. Do you have any comments on this? Are they the Malazan world’s Spartans?
Hi Ian,
thanks for doing this Q&A, my two questions are:
Do you consider “Novels of the Malazan Empire” as a series, and if so what were your goals with it?
How do you approach theme for a single book?
Thank you again.
So nobody’s gonna ask about K’rul, huh? Good! Me neither!
I do want to ask:
So what exactly is so special about the stones used by the T’orrud Cabal to build the circle around Majesty Hill? Is it the same material that the moon-like Orb is made of?
Did Rake go to the Seguleh Isle specifically to take that mask? Rake definitely loomed large throughout this book (very much appreciated and skillfully weaved in), and it makes me think he must have had some sort of foresight (or given his age, firsthand knowledge) about the nature of the Tyrant. Anyway there’s a lot of great imagery regarding the orbs/circles/etc on the one hand and the moon (shattering and reforming) and Moon’s Spawn’s destruction/pillaging on the other, with like Rake dying and the Tyrant rising as the shared middle section of that Venn Diagram. I dunno, I feel like it’s all connected and it’s on the tip of my tongue but just not coming, so my brain is frazzled.
What did you think of the scene in The Crippled God where gods are picking over the Fall of Coltaine? A lot of your Tayschrenn/D’rek/K’rul culmination reminded me of that, as well as some of Dassem’s thoughts on the war of the gods (and maybe his general reluctance to step into the role of Dessembrae), so I was wondering what your insider insight of that scene was, if that’s not too much giveaway.
And one last comment: I’ve noticed that you tend to give your characters sandals while SE gives them boots. I don’t have a question, I just think it’s charming when little differences like that pop up. Kind of like that whole K’rul thing, come to think of it…well, nevermind.
Thanks for a great book! I just had a couple of questions.
1) Can you expand on the nature and identity of the Tyrant? Why was the decision made to keep him so anonymous?
2) What type of demons are the Cabal members? Are they from Aral Gamelon?
3) Is Kruppe human or a demon who escaped from the Cabal?
4) What happened to Tayschrenn when he became T’renn and how does this relate to K’rul?
5) Since no one else has I will ask about K’rul :) Why is it stated that K’rul is female while the Malazan Book of the Fallen portrays a male version?
Thanks for answering!:)
Hi Ian,
Thank you so much for your work and your time! Two quick questions:
+ I am a huge fan of the various ground-level stories you tell about different types of grunts and their growth across ROCG, Stonewielder, and OST. It really reminds me of how many filmmakers will make thematic trilogies. Was it a conscious decision you made early in the series to explore how various personalities become integrated into the army? Or was it a theme that you just enjoyed returning to as you tackled each book?
+ What drew you to try to humanize and flesh out characters like Mallick Rel, Leoman, and <redacted>? It seems like a very tall mountain to climb :)