The Inheritance (short story collection)

[Farseer]

I've been trying to spice up the wiki articles about the Inheritance stories today, but it's so hard to write story summaries - I don't want to spoil them, and with short stories that is particularly difficult!

Very difficult ! No doubt it will be easier when the collection has been out for a while, given that spoilers are sort of expected on the wiki, or will you intend to leave them as is? Have only been wondering today how I would go about telling someone what 'The Triumph' was about, without spoiling anything !

re characters belonging to Ace...scary to think that an author can actually create a character or work and yet not wholly 'own' them...I can't imagine wanting to ever give even a portion of that power away.

Thanks for keeping us posted, Mervi...8/10 are new for me!

[Mervi]

I wish I could remember whether it was Ki & Vandien that had to be left behind or the Liavek ones... the latter makes more sense to me, as they were created by a bunch of authors, not just Megan. Someone could of course re-ask the question at the newsgroup... (Whether there will ever be more K&V, I mean.)

Re: wiki and summaries... I think we should try to keep those at minimum, even after the book is out. Or that has been how we've done it so far (it's of course up for discussion if people disagree!) Just give a basic idea of where the story takes place (both in space & time), names of the main characters, a theme - things like that. I haven't read the Triumph, but I'd say it's safe to say something like "it's about two Roman soldiers during the the First Punic War and is based on real recorded history". I wouldn't necessarily mention the you-know-what or that the other soldier has to well-you-know (I stumbled upon both facts reading reviews & interviews and considered them somewhat spoilery but then again maybe that's NOT the point of the story and I haven't been spoiled! )

Huh, went a bit off-topic there, sorry!
Looking at the stories, there are at least three that feature felines heavily: Cat's Meat, The Fifth Squashed Cat and Strays. So I think the cover is very fitting. I'm wondering if the US cover will be different since the title is too...

[Mervi]

The US cover art (or at least some sort of a proof state of it...?) is out there. What do we think?

[Albertosaurus Rex]

I don't know. I just can't work up much enthousiasm for any of Hobb's recent covers, be they US or UK. I... kinda like the yin/yang idea, but another person's comment about it resembling two squirrels doing a 69 completely ruined it for me.

I want my John Howe covers back!

[Maulkin's Tangle]

- This might not be the case for [[Words Like Coins]]. It's only a year old, the printing was very limited and the book only contained 4 stories - I can see its "value" going down if one of them is reprinted so soon elsewhere. On the other hand, it's sold out, so its value (quite literally) only interest collectors and second-hand sellers, not the publisher I think. Still, there might be a contract that says the story can't be reprinted in x years.

Hi Mervi, I'm new to the forum but a big fan of all of Robin Hobb's books. The only one I've trouble getting hold of is the short story "Words Like Coins" - I can't stretch to the £180 that's being asked for online for the collection "A Fantasy Medley". I had been hoping it would appear in "The Inheritance" (which I've pre-ordered and am looking forward to) bue was wondering if you had heard anything about whether or not this story is going to be available in a more readily accessible collection soon?

[Mervi]

Hi Maulkin's Tangle and welcome to the forums!

I'm sorry to say, but I don't have any information about Words Like Coins other than so far A Fantasy Medley IS the only publication that currently carries it and that there haven't been any reprints or even ebook editions.

[Farseer]

Yes, well met, Maulkin's Tangle !

The US cover art (or at least some sort of a proof state of it...?) is out there. What do we think?

Ah, I don't really mind it? As it is right now (black and white seems ideal, depicting yin yang, Fool's motley or even the white for the White Prophet and black for the stone which saw the rise of the Catalyst?!), or with colour to be added, it's all the same to me !

As for the squirrels, I can't see the illustration overly well but I'd have said they were actually two cats or otherwise the black one a cat (certainly looks like one to me about the nose and mouth region?) and the white one a wolf? The more I look at it, I think it is more the latter than the former. Either one is appropriate to the RotE though...squirrels aren't. They aren't appropriate to Gernia either, as I recall, though the title story is set within the RotE anyway so it would stand to reason that the illustration would be more RotE linked? The UK cover also has two cats so it's likely that at least one, if not both, of the animals on the US cover would be a cat?

Aside from the colours, yin yang would be an appropriate symbol/link given that it perfectly depicts a number of the main themes (cycles, balances, opposing but interconnected and interdependent forces, the separation and merging of the WP and Catalyst etc) of Hobb's books. The symbol, even if it does turn out to be totally unrelated to yin yang, also fits nicely with the "tangle" element of her books as well ?

[Farseer]

Hi Mervi, I'm new to the forum but a big fan of all of Robin Hobb's books. The only one I've trouble getting hold of is the short story "Words Like Coins" - I can't stretch to the £180 that's being asked for online for the collection "A Fantasy Medley".

I imagine you have already seen this but, in case you haven't, here is a WLC excerpt from Pat's Fantasy Hotlist site, if you're interested (desperate!), Maulkin's Tangle?

[Maulkin's Tangle]

Hi Maulkin's Tangle and welcome to the forums!

I'm sorry to say, but I don't have any information about Words Like Coins other than so far A Fantasy Medley IS the only publication that currently carries it and that there haven't been any reprints or even ebook editions.

Hi Mervi - thanks for the welcome!

I guess I'll trawl ebay looking for that bargain for a little while longer then ... :-)

---

I imagine you have already seen this but, in case you haven't, here is a WLC excerpt from Pat's Fantasy Hotlist site, if you're interested (desperate!), Maulkin's Tangle?

Hi Farseer - thanks also for your welcome.

I hadn't actually seen that link before - so I will check it out.

[Farseer]

Maybe some of you knew but I wasn't certain if the US illustration was definitely meant to depict yin yang (though it certainly seemed highly likely!)...Robin had this to say regarding it on her site's most recent news post:

The UK cover features lovely art by Jackie Morris, and the US one has some wonderful Yin/Yang cats.