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Grim indeed, yet eloquent and utterly compelling."
The End: NECESSARY EVIL Is Out! - 5/1/2013, 10:29 AM Because I Haven't Posted About tDCS In A While - 4/8/2013, 04:07 PM Announcing the NECESSARY EVIL Signing Tour - 4/5/2013, 05:15 PM Nuclear Deterrence in a Blood Magic World - 2/22/2013, 09:41 AM Guest Post #2 at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/17/2013, 04:41 PM Guest Post at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/15/2013, 09:17 PM A Conversation with Charlie Stross - 2/8/2013, 11:06 AM NOW OUT in the UK: THE COLDEST WAR - 2/7/2013, 12:22 AM Clarion Is Accepting Applications for the Class of 2013 - 1/27/2013, 06:38 PM Holy Smokes! Cover Art for Something More Than Night - 1/23/2013, 09:44 PM
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I'd planned to write a long post about the awesomeness of Blue Heaven yesterday. But the insomnia cycle hit pretty hard, so I was too brain dead to do much of anything.
But I found a nice surprise in my Google Alerts this morning: Tor.com has posted an excerpt from The Coldest War. Hooray!
I've related this anecdote many times, so I won't repeat the details, but as I've said before my original idea for what became the Milkweed books was for a single standalone book set during the 1960s. And then, you know, lots of stuff became clear once I actually thought things through, such as the fact the whole story was far too large for one book, which is how it turned into a trilogy.
So I sort of had to write Bitter Seeds just to set up the Cold War scenario I originally wanted to explore. (And then I had to write Necessary Evil just to bring the story to full completion.) Along the way, that middle book changed to accommodate a larger story, and different characters, and different rules. But if I squint I can still see the bones of the original standalone idea hidden deep inside The Coldest War:
I wanted to riff on the legend of Cincinnatus. It's not a running theme in The Coldest War as I'd originally imagined for the standalone book, but it's present in one scene. And that makes me happy. I quite like the scene in question.
And I also knew that the Cold War era of the story would begin with an assassin tracking down and killing a warlock. I even knew what the first line of that scene would be. While the ensuing story changed considerably, both the opening scene and the opening sentence survived into the completed trilogy.
I also knew what the final sentence of The Coldest War would be—what it had to be—before I started writing Bitter Seeds. But that's best left to a different blog post.
Close PermalinkThat's interesting info on the final sentence and it makes perfect sense. I look forward to a discussion at some alternate time.
I also intend to someday post *my* original sketch for the cover art of The Coldest War. I don't like to brag, but it's fairly epic. I'm sure the people who have seen it will agree...
But it's spoilery, just as a discussion of that final sentence of TCW would be. So I'm holding off...
It would also be fun (for me, anyway) to post a "Gretel concordance" at some point. I put effort into trying to make it so that she never lies -- everything she says is factually correct. It just seems like she's lying, sometimes, because people tend to misinterpret what she's saying. But that isn't *her* fault, of course...
I'm putting the release date on my calendar (which I probably should have done already).
Thank you!
You know, I thought for a moment that I had run into you this past week, but then I realized it was unlikely that you were working in a barbecue restaurant in North Carolina.
Ooo, a discussion of a Gretel concordance would be very fun. Also, I think that "Gretel Concordance" would be an awesome band or Culture ship name.
I have waited tables, but never in North Carolina, and never at a BBQ joint. I am, however, very fond of Carolina-style BBQ.
I'm voting for a Culture ship name. Failing that, my Culture ship name would be "Volton versus MechaStalin."
Maybe you've never waited tables in a NC BBQ joint, but have you been a cook in a NC BBQ joint? Because that would explain it.
Yeah, it's obvious that you had to know a lot about what was going to happen in The Coldest War before you could write Bitter Seeds. I found that pretty slick. Still, I seem to remember spotting a pretty serious discontinuity... of course, now I can't remember what it was. I guess I'll have to pick up the print version to refresh my memory!
(Should point out I ALSO recall thinking "Maybe he did it on purpose and it will all come out in the wash in the third book.)
Thanks, Tim!
I won't claim that I did everything right -- it's inevitable that some things must have slipped through the cracks -- but I did my best to get the big pieces to fit together correctly. I know there were things in Bitter Seeds that some readers objected to because they hadn't yet read Coldest War. But if something slipped through, oh well. Que sera sera...
Unwalkers interview [English | French ]
Interview with Speculate! Podcast Interview with Adventures in SciFi Publishing
Ian Tregillis on the Sword and Laser Podcast
Ian Tregillis on John Scalzi's The Big Idea
Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with SFRevu
Interview with Mad Hatter Book Review
Interview with Apex Books
Interview at Literary Musings Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
An interview with the authors of Busted Flush at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with Travis Heermann at The Write Line
9-way interview with the contributors to the Wild Cards novel Inside Straight at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview in the February, 2008 newsletter of the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
An extended interview with Ian Tregillis by Ty Franck, on www.wildcardsbooks.com.