The Sword and Laser discussion

Trudi Canavan beams in from Melbourne, Australia to talk her upcoming Millennium's Rule trilogy, why she's a fan of fan works, and why three is the mot powerful number in publishing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay_RGh...

Enjoy!

Seems like a nice woman. I have had her first novel on my shelf for a while will have to get round to reading it.

Is she the first author that has actually joined the S&L Goodreads forum? Hi Trudi!

Another great authors show...I have learned more about authors I didn't know about in some detail from this feature...keep them coming!...and Aaron adds sound effects!

I'm curious to know what's blurred out in the top left corner of Trudi's screen.

I'm soooo tempted to google that spoiler-scene they keep referencing, but know I will hate myself if I look it up. Looks like I know what my next fantasy-trilogy purchase is going to be. I'm so glad S&L interviewed Trudi, I may not have come across her books otherwise.

Great show again! Love the author interviews, but I gotta tell you, I think I love the whiteboard vids more. I've lemmed the first of Trudi Canavans books a couple years ago, now I'll have to dig it out again and see if I just didn't get to the exploding part back then.

Am I the only one who couldn't help but be reminded of Philip Pulemans His Dark Materials series when she was talking about her new trilogy?

I just wonder if the main character will be another healer magician.

It's amazing how Aaron has read every author on the S&L show.

Mr. Noah wrote: "Is she the first author that has actually joined the S&L Goodreads forum? Hi Trudi!"

I'm pretty sure Scott Lynch did as well.

Tamahome wrote: "It's amazing how Aaron has read every author on the S&L show."

I cheat: I married a librarian. She can get ahold of anything.

Tamahome wrote: "It's amazing how Aaron has read every author on the S&L show."

This. Fantastic Aaron. I can see you had fun with this one.

I just notice her fist book is on Audible for $4.95 + $0.99c for the kindle version if you use whispersync. I'm not too sure if I liked the narrator's voice from the sample though. But its still a cheaper way to go than just getting the kindle version only.

David Sven wrote: "This. Fantastic Aaron. I can see you had fun with this one."

I have fun with all of these. Sooooo much better than my real job (which is already a pretty cool job). From comments, some people thought this one was spoileriffic. I thought it was pretty vague, but I hope I don't dissuade anyone from giving Ms. Canavan's books a try. I put them squarely in the Harry-Potter, Name-of-the-Wind, Charlie-Bone, Magician-Kings family of 'wizards at school' tales. If you liked any of the above, you'll likely find much to enjoy here.

Good show. Certainly makes me want to check out her books.

I think they pointed somthing great out.
My copy of The Daylight War just came and I had a hard time remembering how the last book ended and where I would start now. The story arcs on wiki weren't that great either, it helped me remember a lot though.
Do you guys know any pages where I could find whole plot summaries of long epics? So when a new book in a series comes out I don't have to reread the book to refresh my memory.
Or should authors maybe do that at the beginning of their books or on their blogs? "Previously on ASoIaF ... "

I seem to recall the Thomas Covenant books having a synopsis of the story so far at the beginning of each book. I read them mostly back to back (no longer a guarantee I'll know what's going on but my memory was better then) and I used to like seeing whether my interpretation of events matched the author's.

I read Game of Thrones and enjoyed it but I may wait until the series is complete before going on to the other books.

I didn't think the whiteboard review was spoilery on the first viewing, but after reading comments here just now I figured I'd better have another look.

I can see that the comparison to the Harry Potter books would seem spoilery. Aaron suggests it's a familiar set up, but then tells you it isn't. You won't know which ways it's different. It's a bit like a reviewer saying a book contains a humble young goat herder who goes on a quest. You know the trope, but you have no idea how this particular story is going to unfold, or even if it's really the trope you thought it was.

The rest isn't spoilery - well in that anything in back cover blurb or the first quarter of a book is fine to discuss in a review. There are lots of characters that could be the ones he describes. I wasn't certain who every character was that he referred to until the second viewing - and I wrote the books!

I hope that reassures everyone. And Aaron... you're awesome! I hope your head grows back quickly and it doesn't itch too much.

And yet another stack of books to add to my wish list! An early reviewer of mine compared my style to Trudi's and after seeing this wonderful interview, I'm flattered beyond belief. The S&L videos are terrific and it's so nice to meet some of today's outstanding writers and see their personalities shine through.

It was interesting to hear the comments about the covers. At the time the full series was released I was over in the UK on holidays. I was looking for a few new books to read and those stark white covers really stood out on the shelf so I bought all three. Devoured them all in the space of a week and had to go buy some more books.

I'm pretty new to the online SnL community, so sadly I'd not heard about Trudi Canavan until I saw the video this morning. (Sorry Trudi). As soon as the video was over I added The Magicians Guild to my wish list, to be honest I'm considering temporarily lemming my current (reread) book to start.
The whiteboard animation just peaked my interest even more, I love brain exploding twists.

Trudi, thank you for being awesome, I have loved your books since the first trilogy.

I also wasn't familiar with her books, but they are on my to-read list now. They sound right up my alley!

Man. Why can't they interview bad authors with boring sounding books? I don't have time for all these new books! o.O

Another great white board Aaron, though I agree as someone who hasn't read the books it felt a bit spoilery. Glad to hear from author that it's not!

And thanks a lot for interacting with everyone here Trudi, that's really excellent.

David Sven wrote: "I just notice her fist book is on Audible for $4.95 + $0.99c for the kindle version if you use whispersync. I'm not too sure if I liked the narrator's voice from the sample though. But its still a cheaper way to go than just getting the kindle version only. "

I bought just the Kindle version of The Magicians' Guild and it was only $0.99. It let me do that without having purchased the Audible version first.

As it turns out, the Audible/whispersync deal isn't available in Australia :( - On the bright side, it gives me something to complain about to Audible which means - FREE CREDIT!

Trudi Canavan wrote: "I didn't think the whiteboard review was spoilery on the first viewing, but after reading comments here just now I figured I'd better have another look...."

Thank you. I'll take that as the (literally) authoritative answer. I'm heartened by the fact that the one person who pm'ed me to check and see if I was thinking of the same details they were was wrong on every count. Your writing really is all about surprising your readers (in the nicest possible way, explosive books notwithstanding).

Now everybody go pick up Trudi's books.

Ian wrote: "I'm curious to know what's blurred out in the top left corner of Trudi's screen."

I'm betting something hanging (off a lamp?) closer to the screen and therefore blurred.

library_jim wrote: "Ian wrote: "I'm curious to know what's blurred out in the top left corner of Trudi's screen."

I'm betting something hanging (off a lamp?) closer to the screen and therefore blurred."

I noticed it on some of the other author interviews. My guess is it's a Skype logo or something related to the recording.

It must be a poltergeist.

Tamahome wrote: "It must be a poltergeist."

Eeek!

Fantastic interview! I was completely unfamiliar with Trudi before but now I want to read her books (good thing I have an amazon gift card coming my way).

Aaron, your whiteboard was absolutely delightful. That made me want to read her works even more.

I have to admit that though I love Tom & Veronica's author guides, it was the white-board review that made me add Magician's Guild to my to-read list (which I try to keep populated only by books I actually EXPECT to read). It's likely to float to the top of that list the next time I visit my local book store and give them all of my shiny rocks in exchange for their goods.

FWIW, I've been tracking the episodes of Sword and Laser and posting links to all the books/authors that get mentioned in any particular episode. You can find this week's recap here (Treacherous Spies, Trilogies, and Trudi Canavan! – Sword & Laser ep. 27).

Just wanted to jump in here, totally late to the party, but thank Tom and Veronica and most especially Trudi for this episode. I'd never heard of Trudi prior to the episode, and now have the first in each trilogy added to my "to read" list. I'm taking advantage of being on travel to catch up on older episodes...though I think I've found the time when all the businessmen in this hotel either call home or do....other things....on the internet. Either that or this hotel's wi-fi is determined not to have my head asplode like Aaron's. :p

I have been suggesting Trudi to new fantasy readers for years and now i can use this video as part of my pitch.