Tag Archives: A Song of Ice and Fire

A Song of Ice and Fire series of books by George R R Martin

Williams completes 555 pages of “The Witchwood Crown”

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Tad Williams announced today that he has written well over 500 pages of the first draft of The Witchwood Crown, the first volume in his new series, “The Last King of Osten Ard”:

Just to let you all know, I hit a nice little milestone today — 555 pages of the 1st draft, end of Chapter 30. I’ve actually had time again to get into a rhythm, and it’s amazing how much faster it goes when I have dedicated working time and thinking time.

With 30 chapters of the first draft having been written, the manuscript may already be larger than Stone of Farewell, which only contained 28 chapters. In comparison, The Dragonbone Chair had 44 chapters and To Green Angel Tower had 60. This means that the manuscript is approaching or has already exceeded the size of previous Osten Ard books. Williams is known for long, intricate stories, and it looks as though The Witchwood Crown will be no exception.

In other news, it appears as though the publication date of The Witchwood Crown has been pushed back to Spring 2016, to allow time for editing of what is likely to be a massive manuscript. The original publication date had been set to Fall 2015. Williams writes very fast, and there likely will be no long publication delays that have been seen in other massive epic fantasies such as Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time” or George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire”. Indeed, The Witchwood Crown was only announced in April of this year.

Tad Williams to do Reddit AMA interview

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Aidan Moher of A Dribble of Ink reports that Tad Williams will be doing a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) interview with fans on Reddit’s fantasy board on September 18th:

So, if you have anything you want to pick his brain about, mysteries of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, if he realizes that The War of the Flowers is his secret best work, or what it’s like to have been a direct influence on the biggest fantasy series of the decade (Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire), now’s your chance!

The Witchwood Crown is still on track for a 2015 release from DAW Books. If you’re looking to join in the fun, now would be a perfect time to discover Tad Williams’ seminal Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy, beginning with The Dragonbone Chair.

More details, such as exact times for the interview, are forthcoming.
Update: Deborah Beale, Williams’ wife, states the AMA interview will be ‘mid-day’, but she’s not sure what time zone ‘mid-day’ represents.

Twenty-fifth Anniversary of The Dragonbone Chair

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This month marks the 25th Anniversary of the publication of Tad Williams’ fantasy novel, The Dragonbone Chair, Book One of “Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.”  The epic series begins as the story of a simple castle servant named Seoman who stumbles upon treachery as nonagenarian King John lies dying. The book went on to become a nationwide best-seller in the US.

A war fueled by the dark powers of sorcery is about to engulf the peaceful land of Osten Ard–for Prester John, the High King, slayer of the dread dragon Shurakai, lies dying. And with his death, an ancient evil will at last be unleashed, as the Storm King, undead ruler of the elvishlike Sithi, seeks to regain his lost realm through a pact with one of human royal blood. Then, driven by spell-inspired jealousy and hate, prince will fight prince, while around them the very land begins to die. Only a small scattered group, the League of the Scroll, recognizes the true danger awaiting Osten Ard. And to Simon–a castle scullion unknowingly apprenticed to a member of this League–will go the task of spearheading the quest for the solution to a riddle of long-lost swords of power…and a quest that will see him fleeing and facing enemies straight out of a legend-maker’s worst nightmares!

Williams’ series went on to inspire George R. R. Martin to write “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which was adapted for television as Game of Thrones.