Games

It is more than a quarter of a million years before the time of the Malazan Empire. In this ancient age, the Tiste race is divided between noble families and bickering militias, trying to find their place in the world following the devastating wars against the Forulkan and the Jheleck. When the Tiste ruler, Mother Dark, takes the obscure Draconus as lover and consort, the noble houses are incensed and the seeds are sowed for civil war and religious conflict. Forge of Darkness is the first novel in The Kharkanas Trilogy , a prequel series to Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen . This trilogy will chart the splintering of the Tiste race into the three sub-races seen in the main series book (the Andii, the Liosan and the Edur) and explain much of the ancient backstory to the series. Some characters from the main series - such as Anomander Rake, Silchas Ruin, Hood and Gothos - appear here as much younger, far less experienced figures. However, those hoping for I, Anomander Rak...

Via Pat's Fantasy Hotlist , Bantam UK have revised their cover art for Forge of Darkness , the first book in Steven Erikson's Kharkanas Trilogy (a prequel to the Malazan Book of the Fallen sequence). The new artwork has added blueness. The book will be published on 31 July in the UK and 18 September in the USA.

The cover art and blurb for Steven Erikson's The Forge of Darkness has been released: Enter the New York Times bestselling Malazan universe... at a time that sets the stage for all the tales already told . Steven Erikson entered the pantheon of great fantasy writers with his debut Gardens of the Moon . Now Erikson returns with a trilogy that takes place before the events of the Malazan Book of the Fallen . The Forge of Darkness takes readers to Kurald Galain, the warren of Darkness, and tells an epic tale of a realm whose fate plays a crucial role in the fall of the Malazan Empire. It’s a conflicted time in Kurald Galain, the warren of Darkness, where Mother Dark reigns. But this ancient land was once home to many a power… and even death is not quite eternal. The commoners’ great hero, Vatha Urusander, longs for ascendency and Mother Dark’s hand in marriage, but she has taken another Consort, Lord Draconus, from the faraway Dracon Hold. The idea of this union sends fissur...

In an extensive (and highly intriguing) interview on Reddit, Steven Erikson reveals that the working titles for Books 2 and 3 of the Kharkanas Trilogy will be Fall of Light and Walk in Shadow . The first book, Forge of Darkness , will be released this August.

Steven Erikson has reported that he has completed The Forge of Darkness , the first novel of the Kharkanas Trilogy . Erikson's new book is set several hundred thousand years before the events of the main Malazan sequence and expands on the Tiste Andii and events in the city of Kharkanas (which appears, in a deserted state, in the main series novels). Anomander Rake is expected to feature heavily. Erikson reports that the novel has come in at 292,000 words, noting that (ironically) this is 'short' by his standards. It falls between the length of Deadhouse Gates (272,000 words or over 900 pages in paperback) and House of Chains (306,000, or over 1,000 pages). No publication date has been set for the novel, but it is likely to appear before the end of 2012. Meanwhile, Erikson's collaborator Ian Cameron Esslemont's latest Malazan novel, Orb, Sceptre, Throne , is due for publication in January 2012.