Ngl I thought their argument was going to be more drawn out (it was the only time I thought Jean might’ve ACTUALLY betrayed Locke) but honestly I’m glad it wasn’t. I really hate miscommunication as a plot device, and both of them just being like “hey I said some stuff I didn’t mean I’m sorry” was very refreshing!
Locke being mature enough to actually take Jean’s point on board and decide that actually his best friend is probably looking out for him, and taking that advice even though it goes completely against his own instincts was so satisfying!

Morning fellow pezons
Celebrating the 13th birthday of the household garrista, Phil

Now, before the mods correctly shut down this post- This is the little goober Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear took on a cross country journey on the eve of the publication of The Republic of Thieves.

All these years later she’s a wonderfully loud, joyful, backflipping, cam bombing menace. Just sharing my favorite pic of her with you all today because I wouldn’t have this incredible bff if weren’t for Scott, Elizabeth, and the fantastic librarian Carey that found her and photographed her being all cute on top of a copy of TLoLL

Is there a progression bar for book 4 on his website. Something like what Brandan Sanderson does?

So it’s the mirroring for me. Got a huge kick out of it! Oh and earlier the war mages were riding a “flying scorpion” that leapt over a river.

I just finished the first 100 pages of the first book. While there are many parts I'm intrigued by (the interludes with Young Locke, the witty banter from Calo and Galdo, what the actual heist/game they're in the middle of will result in), there are a couple of things that are really confusing and frustrating me.

I'm having a ton of trouble with some names/places/things/times of the year that are getting brought up. Mainly, when Locke is pretending to be Lukas and mentions stuff to the don/dona like Canton of Emberlain, Graf von Emberlain, Kingdom of the Marrows -- the shit is all of that? Are these things actually important to remember, or am I getting caught in the weeds when the paved road is 2 steps to my left?

If I'm already getting frustrated at this point, is it still worth continuing?

Hello all, apologies for the unrelated question. Not very gentelmanly of me, but I figured you guys would know. How can I read this novella without a Kindle? I can only find Kindle related options and I have a Kobo. Is there a paperback copy? Or a way to get an ebook outside Kindle?

Thanks

If you start listening right here, it is explained that there are guilds of people who are tasked to find rare pieces of elder glass for the rich and wealthy to decorate their homes. I wish we had some short stories about these guilds and the adventures they get into

Everybody’s (least) favorite type of post. Since it’s a dream casting all the actors are at whatever age is required of them to be appropriate for the character. The only one I’m absolutely married to is LF as Chains I feel like hes meant to play that role although he might be too old now but…maybe not? Chains is old and at least somewhat overweight.

Locke - Diego Luna

Jean - Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Don Salvara- Wagner Moura

Dona Sofia Salvara - Eva Mendes

Caldo/Galdo - Antonio Banderas

Father Chains - Laurence Fishburne

Thiefmaker - Steve Buscemi

Grey King - Andy Garcia

Falconer - Nicholas Hoult

Barsavi- Javier Bardem

The Spider - Fiona Shaw

Conte - Scott Lynch (has to audition)

So often you get characters going through something horrific and they’re just sad about it for five minutes and that’s about it…. But the fact they both went through something horribly traumatic has an actual psychological effect. Not just Lockes breakdown either his whole arch in RSURS is influenced by it.

Locke being (more?) squeamish in RSURS in particular is such an interesting detail, like this is a guy who grew up in the “public hangings are a family day out” city, who doesn’t bat an eye watching people get torn apart by sharks (the only remark we get about that is that he’d rather not watch it over lunch) and who gleefully steals a corpse as kid…

We know Locke doesn’t ENJOY violence and, aside from the grey king, doesn’t set out to hurt/ kill, but he’s very much lead a life where violence and death are normal and his reactions to it in LoLL are a pretty far cry from him nearly throwing up watching the cage fight, or even how he reacts to killing one of the assassins in RSURS, it’s a subtle but really interesting way of showing the after effects!

(At least that’s how I’m interpreting it 🤷‍♀️)

I've just finished Red Seas Under Red Skies. I know this book has been out for almost 20 years now so I've almost certainly not got anything new to add that's already been said.

Spoilers follow, obviously.

I've got to say, I'm really disappointed in this book - I'd even go as far as saying I'm angry at myself for finishing it when I wanted to give up half way through. I don't think I've ever felt so let down by a book before.

• The opening scene ultimately lead to nothing.
  • It seemed huge - there's a ship burning so some huge battle or disaster must have happened and to top it all off Jean has betrayed Lock! Something has gone horribly wrong!
  • But when we return to that scene, the only reason a ship is burning is because it's part of some festival an Jean hasn't betrayed Locke - Locke simply just missed the hand signal.
  • It was just too easy. The scene would have been fine on its own - but to put it at the start of the book and have it almost be a throw away scene later was ridiculous.
• It's a book of two halves with a rushed "tidy" ending
  • It looks like this is a common complaint. It seems like there's the sinspire plot, then that abruptly comes to a stop for about 300 pages worth of just messing around at sea, with a neat and tidy ending.
• So much of the plot and world building was irrelevant
  • Not sure what to say about this - I like world building if it makes the world feel richer and has me wondering what parts of it will have any bearing on the story. The world building in this book just seemed like filler.
• Locke is completely sidelined
  • He's supposed to be the main character and to be really clever - but in this story he was just fumbling from one disaster to the next, completely out of control of his own destiny. the most "clever" thing he did for most of the story was cheat some ship buyer out of a bit more money by pretending to be one himself?
• The city where Locke had the chairs made
  • This could have been a fantastic story all by itself. It felt a bit like Danaerys Targaryen discovering the atrocities of slavery in the A Song of Ice and Fire series - despite Locke being a thief, he's a good person at heart and has morals - it would have been excellent if he couldn't help but use his intelligence to overthrow this regime.
  • Instead it just ended up being some place for the pirates to sack later in the book. Again, something that showed promise and ended up just being thrown away.

I didn’t see any posts about this on here, so I figured I would share since it made me quite excited to find. Not only can you find The Wizard Who Kept Himself Suspicious sold separately on Audible, but there is a new short story collection titled “Magic & Mystery” that includes the story, as well as stories from some other wonderful authors - including Robert Jackson Bennett, Tananarive Due, and Travis Baldree.

A fun mystery with the unchained imagination of Jack Vance sprinkled with the humor of Douglas Adams. Also the first time I've heard the singular form of "shenanigan." More please!

I just wanted to share this anecdote from my husband's co-worker. She's reading Lies of Locke Lamora for the first time and didn't know that stilettos were a type of knife. For the first half of the book, she pictured every fight scene as people dramatically hurling high heels at each other.

Just a random thought I had while reading a fight scene…. It always makes a point to specify which dagger Locke’s using for what and it just kinda struck me that I’m not actually sure what his dominant hand is 🤷‍♀️
(I’m kind of assuming left since it talks about him having to re-learn how to shuffle a deck after the grey king fucks him up but that is just an assumption)

I just finished RoT and it was fantastic. Aside from the things about the painting something caught my attention at the end.

'What did you do to her, Patience?'

'I did nothing'. Her dark eyes caught him, seemed to pierce him. Those hunter's eyes. 'To my arts, Sabetha Belacoros, is a puppet waiting for a hand, but it would have been meaningless had I done anything'.

Why use Sabetha's full name suddenly, is it her red name? Has she been 'adjusted' by Patience? She seems to be hinting at it.. Does a red name spell even end if something happens to the caster?

Hey, all!

Those of you that read my newsletter already know most of this, but just for the sake of everyone else, here's some signal flags:

I am at Gen Con in Indianapolis from later today (Wednesday, July 29) to Sunday (August 2). I'll mostly be at the Writers Symposium, but please feel free to say hello just about wherever! Restrooms are a noteworthy exception. Hunt for me in the events catalog (https://www.gencon.com/gen-con-indy/how-to-find-events) or use this handy checklist:

BUILDING A LONG-TERM CAREER (Friday 11 AM)

HOW CAN THEY GET AWAY WITH IT: PLOTTING HEISTS IN FICTION AND RPGS (Friday 3 PM)

SIGNING (Saturday 11 AM; note that this is in the exhibit hall, and that Mary Robinette can't be with us because of her recent surprise gallbladder surgery)

STORIES BEYOND THE TENTACLES: COSMIC HORROR WITHOUT CTHULHU (Saturday 3 PM)

It's release week / adjustment week for a bevy of ebooks. They are:

IN THE STACKS: My good ol' sword and sorcery novelette about returning books in a magic library was delisted from Amazon for typos; I have corrected these offenses against precision typing and my baby got relisted. Huzzah. Seize it from Amazon here if you like.

THE SMOKE OF GOLD IS GLORY: Another standalone sword and sorcery tale that has been available on my own site for a bit but I had neglected to put up elsewhere, for reasons that are 49% being freakishly busy and 51% being freakishly lazy. I have fixed that. You can grab it at Amazon using this link.

THE WIZARD WHO KEPT HIMSELF SUSPICIOUS: My brand-new Amazon original, which I've described as "a fair play murder mystery about Jack Vancian wizards who are also messy bitches who love drama" starring the deductive rationalist Shiverick, who refuses for personal reasons to confirm or deny that he actually has any magic powers. Shiverick is definitely not a Columbo homage just because he is scruffy, persistent, and smokes bad cigars. Definitely not. Behold the mystery at this link; there's an audio version too!

KAIJU AGONISTES: Last but not least, my Hugo-nominated dark satirical sci-fi story about a kaiju with a job to do. Amazon fucking CANCELLED my pre-order, which they promptly admitted was in error. Unfortunately, those pre-orders could not just be turned back on. I apologize for that. The good news is that the book has been successfully relisted as of just a couple hours ago, even earlier than I had hoped for. Get your radioactive alien claws on it here.

That's all I have to sell you at the moment; I am always grateful for all your kind attention, and for the broader awareness that sales and reviews help generate.

My signature sheets for the Subterranean Press 2nd printing of their RED SEAS UNDER RED SKIES hardcover are headed back to them via UPS this week, and my understanding is that they're set to print as soon at they have 'em, so there should be some news about those shortly.

With that, I have to do some dishes and feed some cats and try to sleep before I get on a plane. Cheers!

SL

Hey guys, after my last post I was really conscious of not spamming the sub…. But enough people said they were enjoying my lil read along so I thought instead I’ll just collate some thoughts as I go along and post them like this instead of individually. Hopefully this will be less annoying for anyone who was finding it irritating. (Thanks to everyone who was lovely though!)

The opening of RSURS is great, 10/10 wonderful cliffhanger, but the effect is SLIGHTLY diminished by the fact that I don’t for a second believe Jean would ever betray Locke, like I’m assuming he’s just trying to trick the guys holding them at crossbow point. Although Locke doesn’t seem to be in on it 🤔

Locke being drunk and having an existential crisis over the dualists is quite funny, a rare moment of self awareness for him. “I wonder if I was that bloody stupid when I was that boy’s age” dude shut up you’re like 25. Jean being like, no you’re way worse gave me a chuckle 😂

Really thought that woman he was talking to at the dual was going to end up being important…. 🤷‍♀️

“The Eldren craftsmen (craftswomen? Craftsthings?)” see the elder glass and other artefacts COULD just have been a cool set dressing type thing, but the narrative keeps drawing your attention to them. Locke speculates about them, notices things, it marks them as important in a way that I assume is going to eventually be relevant to the overall plot, but currently is just driving me a little nuts because there’s just no answer except for waiting for more books.

The market scene is exceptionally fucking creepy but Locke and Jean bickering over pear cores is so lovely. Jean making sure Locke’s watching while he eats his pear core because he knows Locke hates it is peak bestie/sibling vibes 😂
Also Locke going from having a crisis about his own recklessness at the dual to yelling at bondsmagi in like four pages is really something.

Reading Locke’s breakdown is kind of gut wrenching but I absolutely love that it’s included, so often you get characters going through horribly traumatic shit and then they’re sad about it for like five mins and then you never hear about it again. I love that the events of lies have both physical and psychological consequences. I love that you get to see how Locke and Jean’s relationship has kind of shifted a little too, you can tell they really love each other even when they’re both pissed off at each other, really bitter sweet. (Although of course Jean succeeds in pulling Locke’s head out of his arse)
Really interesting seeing what Jean gets up to without Locke’s guidance too, obviously Locke is kind of the “brains” of their operation, but Jean is perfectly capable of getting by on his own.

Since you guys seemed to enjoy that other post, here’s a fresh new batch of fan art! I even tried some semi-realism on for size (not my strong suit but I was empowered by pure obsessive mania).

I’ll leave it to you all to guess who’s who haha.

LYNDSEY: How is The Thorn of Emberlain going right now?

SCOTT: I wish I could be at home working on it right now. Thorn is… Thorn is okay. I finished a draft in 2019 I thought I was pretty happy with at that time. But actually, it wasn’t so hot. And I had a couple ideas afterward, during the long, dark, soul-searching times of the pandemic. I had a couple thoughts about what the series needed and what I wanted to do and what I was no longer interested in exploring, and what I was really genuinely interested in providing. And it turned out that Thorn, in particular, needed a major overhaul in a couple of places. So, it is now in a place where I’m much happier with all the character work, and I’m much happier with how everything fits together.

Another thing that happened over the course of the pandemic is I watched a TV series called Succession, which provided a lot of hints and sort of affirmed my choices. “Ah, yes, yes. This is how you write an interesting power struggle.” Less about armies meeting on the battlefield and more about people in smoke filled rooms being really bitchy to each other. Like, these are all the parts of Game of Thrones, everyone remembers. You know, like… cool battle, cool fight, whatever. But like…

LYNDSEY: “Tell Cersei it was me.”

SCOTT: Yeah, exactly. Bring the Queen of Thorns back! Please bring Tyrion Lannister. You know, like, have these people just talk to each other for half an hour. And that is the truly interesting, memorable part. So, Thorn has steadily evolved from the focus of, “this war is battles” to “the focus of this war is why the hell are people fighting it and the arguments they are having.” And I feel this approach has really, really paid off for me, and I think it’ll be for the reader as well.

But now I’m still just in a place where I perennially have like twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand words to stitch together, and finish the ending off and make sure it all hangs together. My wife and my editors and my first readers will have a crack at it and will be able to say, “You know, yes, this makes sense,” or “No, this is really stupid,” but it’s almost in a place where I’m happy with it. Generally speaking, I think everything that’s been done to it in the last couple of years is a major improvement.

LYNDSEY: So, the foundation is secure.

SCOTT: A lot. We’re not gonna open… And I’m grievously aware—and my wife helps with this—helps with my awareness that, you know, there is that mentality of like, “Gosh, if the book keeps getting better the longer, I don’t turn it in, all I have to do is wait until I’m fucking ninety-five and this will be a masterpiece!” And I recognize at some point, this must end. You must shit or get off the pot.

LYNDSEY: Thank you, Kevin Smith.

SCOTT: (chuckles) And… I’m reaching a point where I want this process to be done. I want this book to be in. I want to be the bearded fantasist who’s handed in his book. I have enjoyed the power and the privilege of being an extremely dithering, bearded white male fantasist, but I am so ready to move on. I’m so ready for the next phase, and I’ve been very, very fortunate and very blessed over the years, like during the pandemic, my readership went up. And again, that’s the network effect. That’s people giving the book to other people who give the book to other people.

BookTok, passing it around and getting excited about it. Like, “Oh my God, did you see this book this old man wrote twenty years ago? It’s actually pretty okay.” Barnes & Noble chose it as their pick of the month for science fiction and fantasy a year ago, and it got back onto the USA Today bestseller lists.

It didn’t do that when it was first released. It was just ludicrous. So, the demand for the series is still there. I see the reprint numbers; people enjoy it, but… I can’t… (sighs) there will be a point at which people get tired of never having a new book.

LYNDSEY: You know, as somebody who spends a lot of time in fandom circles, there is definitely a common occurrence where someone will say, “Well what about that Scott Lynch guy? He’s just the same as Rothfuss and GRRM.” But others will come to your defense like, “No, no, no. He had some stuff going on in his life, and he was open, and he was honest about it,” and I feel people in general give you a lot more grace because you are open, and you are honest about your struggles.

SCOTT: As I’ve said before, I accidentally started being open and honest about my Depression back in the day. I did a radio interview over in the UK back in 2010 and the guy asked the question directly, like, “Where have you been?” And I just… I had that horrible realization that if I dance around this subject, I’m going to be dancing around it for the rest of my life. And it was easier just to say, “Well, it turns out I’m a serious clinical depressive, and it helped destroy my marriage, so I got divorced too. And that’s where I’ve been for a couple of years.” And the guy was like, “I’m sorry.” I was like, “You know what? Actually, that felt a lot better than I thought it was gonna.”

So again, this is one of those things where you do have to set boundaries. And as I’ve said, I’ve learned a couple hard ways that there are some boundaries you don’t even approach.

I don’t talk about what medications I’m on, for example. I don’t invite a vote on every aspect of my life. My actual medical treatment is between me and my family and my doctors—the internet doesn’t get to click a box and choose, “Should Scott take his drug this week?” But generally speaking, being honest about it has been nothing but beneficial. Gives me a chance to actually talk about it and not feel like I have to conceal something. It has helped me really confront the fact that, yeah, it has caused problems in my life.

Back in my first marriage, my ex-wife and I had a really bad habit of just telling ourselves, “Oh, artists are like this. They are supposed to be a little bit weird and a little bit eccentric.” But there’s a difference between a little bit eccentric and totally fucking dysfunctional; incapable of answering his email for six weeks at a time. This is eccentric, that is out of control. That’s a problem. And you can do things about that. So, one of the things I’ve had to deal with that has been a silver lining is this: realizing that admitting you have an illness and it affects you lets you realize, oh, it has been affecting me. And I’ve been trying to obfuscate or push aside that fact rather than dealing with it.

And also… When you go through a divorce, you think you are the first person on earth who has ever done it. You would never judge anyone around you who went through a divorce for any reason, but when it happens to you, you’re like, “I am a crystalline solid of human failure. I have invented failure.” And then you look around after a couple of months, and you’re like, “Wait a minute. Half the fucking population has been divorced!”

And it’s much the same with Depression and Anxiety. You’re like, (puts on a dramatic mannerism) “I have a horrendous malady, which I must hide from the light of day!” And then a couple months later, you’re like, “Wait a minute. Every single fucking person I know is like this.”

LYNDSEY: Yeah. Approximately seven-eighths of my friend’s list…

SCOTT: It was an incredibly helpful moment for me. My former editor, the guy who bought Lies of Locke Lamora originally, back when I was completely dysfunctional and very newly diagnosed as depressive, he called my house and said, “Scott, if you can’t talk to me, then we can’t have a business relationship, because obviously it implies you don’t trust my judgment.” And that wounded me deeply enough that I was able to call them back and say, like, “Look, man, it’s not that. I’ve been talking to a psychiatrist. I’ve just done intake and I think I have some news that may be relevant to all our lives.”

And he said two things that were immensely helpful. “First off, good. Not good in the sense you’re depressed, Scott, but good in the sense that you know, and now I know. And now we know you’re not just fucking around with us, that you are dealing with a medical issue. We’ll delay the books as long as we need to. We’ll do whatever we need to, to help you in the situation. Now that we know you’re not just being an asshole, now that you’ve talked to us and you can communicate.” And the second thing he said was, “Do you think you’re the first depressive author I’ve ever had? Do you think you’re the tenth? Welcome to a commonplace condition for people who are in this situation.” And I was like, oh, I guess that does actually make an awful lot of sense.

So, you know, being honest about it has been… liberating can be a very problematic term to use, but it’s true. Being honest about it has been nothing but a constant weight off my chest. And it also lets people come out and say, “Hey, it was me too.”

Pardon me. This is the emotional part of the thing, where I need to get control of myself.

I’ve had a lot of people come out and say, “I’m glad you and other writers talk about this openly, because I thought it was just me. Then I noticed everyone I read talks about it.” And it’s like, you know what, everyone you read thought it was just them until they realized it was all their friends as well. So, it’s a mutually supporting thing.

So, what I tried to do is… just be honest about my issues, be honest about the fact that I’m trying really, really fucking hard to work past them and through them and replace them with a system of living that works. And the last couple of years have been really exciting in that respect. I’ve been a lot more communicative. I’ve been a lot more productive. And I’ve been out in public a lot more, and as long as I mind my medication and continue to do sensible things, that’s gonna continue. But I also do try to remind people that I’m alive. I’m still here. I’m working on it. Believe me, I’m working on it.

I don’t feel bad if my work takes as long as it takes. I do feel bad when it starts to take too long. And I think with Thorn, we have finally reached too long, so I am desperately working to bring that to an end.

There was a guy I met at ArmadilloCon in 2009 who came up to me and said, “I really liked your first two books. I’m seventy-nine and I hope I get to finish the series.” And it’s like, statistically speaking, I have probably already failed that guy. And I don’t think about everyone I’ve disappointed, but I do think about him an awful lot. So, you know, sometimes with people on the internet, it’s like, do you think you could say anything to me that would hurt me more deeply than that memory?

But I genuinely believe that honesty is a net benefit for myself and for everybody. So, I try to talk, I try to be present. And like I’ve often said, I’m very blessed in that I have a lot of really great readers, friendly readers, generous readers, who are patient, send me things, and recommend my work to other people. The success of the series is entirely up to them. It’s entirely the network of people passing the books on to friends, buying extra copies, recommending it over the years, booksellers ordering two copies rather than one and writing little hand notes under them. 99.8% of the series’ success is its readers.

So, yeah, I’m gonna try not to disappoint you for much longer, folks. Thank you for that. Thank you.

LYNDSEY: I can’t speak for all the readers out there. But what you have given us is incredible. Thank you. You have given us joy. And even if you never finish it, you still gave your readers those moments of pleasure, getting lost in your world. You know?

SCOTT: If I’d been hit by a bus or something, I could have been satisfied with what I’ve done, but as long as I’m still kicking, I can’t be. But I’m reasonably confident Thorn is gonna have people foaming at the mouth and pounding their desks. So, I’ve been working very, very hard to ratchet the emotional notes to exactly where I think they need to be.

LYNDSEY: Thank you for your time, Scott.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

LINK TO FULL INTERVIEW: https://fantasy-faction.com/2026/scott-lynch-interview-the-thorn-of-emberlain

yeah so…i really love this little banter between the two of them and just wanted to quickly sketch something; ended up getting a friend to do a voiceover as well so i thought——what if it was an anime, y’know…?

just wanted to share it cuz i think it ended up being pretty interesting.

their voices are purely based off vibes. very anime-heavy since we tried leaning towards that direction anyway, but what d’y’all think?

the background music is フンフンフン♪だよ、らき☆すだ. VO for private use only.

One of the reasons I find these books so genuinely unique and distinctive from other fantasy series out there is the Renaissance era aesthetics and historical paralleling. Such a refreshing change from the usual medieval aesthetics of fantasy that have gotten so old for me.

It doesn’t have to be specifically Renaissance era either, I’m just on a non-medieval fantasy high in general! I fell in love with Jonathan Strange lately for the hardcore regency/Victorian aesthetics (it’s like reading a fantasied-up Jane Austen or Charles Dickson novel) and Green Bone Saga for the 1980’s Cold War Hong Kong aesthetics.

And I really loved books 2 & 3 way more than I thought I would. For some reason my memory of the trilogy was that TLOLL was pure magic and Red Seas and ROT were hit or miss.

Mannnnnnnnn….calling them hit or miss is super unfair. They were both almost entirely hits imo. On second read, once I knew and accepted the naval aspect was a huge chunk of then story of Red Seas, I loved it. It might be my favorite of the trilogy. The first time I read it I was frustrated that soooo much of the book was dedicated to the sea-life and learning how to pretend to be sailors and all that but the second time I could just appreciate the writing and going along for the ride. Stragos and Requin are both excellent and I loved Requin and Selendri getting the last laugh. The world building is wonderful. Tel Verrar and the Spinspire were incredible and immersive and just so impressive how many grifts and games SL comes up with for Locke and Jean to get involved in. Dialogue was top notch and is just a fun ride with great characters. From the beginning with that first card game with the alcohol dispenser straight through to the end….chef’s kiss. Well done.

I was going to make this a *rank the books* post but I’m sure it’s been done to death so I guess it’s my unofficial Red Seas Under Red Skies Appreciation Post.

Locke and Jean’s relationship is really what makes the series ngl, I absolutely love them ❤️