Rumor

[maidenbeckah.livejournal.com]

A few people told me that when MWT wrote The King of Attolia it was twice the size it is now. The publishers decided it was too long, and had her trim it down to what we have now. So. Has anyone else heard this? It may be just a rumor, but who knows...

Comments

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard this rumor in particular, but I do remember hearing that book 5 will be 'the second half of KoA', so I suppose it could be true. We just needed a brief pause in which to catch up with dear cousin Sophos.

Now I have Adele stuck in my head. "Rumor has it, rumor has it..."

[maidenbeckah.livejournal.com]

Really? So...in book 5 we might have more Costis!! Maybe? *pleads hopefully*

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

yes please.

[lizzyazula.livejournal.com]

I have no idea, but speaking of King of Attolia...I just recently thought about buying a hard cover edition of KoA, but to buy a NEW version, which is apparently out of print, you have to pay almost $100 for it from other sellers...wtf? When did this happen? I saw the hardcover in the bookstore a few years ago, how could this happen so quickly? I'm so upset that I didn't pay the extra money for the hardcover when I had a chance!

[filkferengi]

Are you in the USA? If so, half dot com has several copies in hardcover starting at .75 [+ 4.00 shipping]. Also, over on ebay dot com, look up item number 271668414938 , which is a hardback copy in good condition for $4, including free shipping. Over on amazon dot com, you have to include the term "hardcover" and do some digging, but the used page has several starting at .04, plus 3.99 shipping [including one alleging very good condition].

Hope this helps.

[in-my-niteshirt.livejournal.com]

In April of 2010 a handful of us Sounisians attended a Megan event near Berkeley, CA and it was there that we all heard Megan tell us the following (as I recall.) The context was this: she was telling us about how she decides what to tell the reader and when to tell them, or in other words, what pieces of info to withhold from us so that later we are surprised. She said that as she was writing KoA she realized that we needed to know about Sophos' story first, before she could tell us the end of KoA. And then she realized KoA was already way too long. So she cut it in half (roughly) and then polished it up and that is what became KoA. (Notice that KoA ends somewhat abruptly, like a nice pause in a story, not an "ending.")
So I suspect this is the source of the "rumor." However I am really sure that Megan did NOT imply that the publishers had anything to do with this decision. I way I remember the story, it was more like she made this decision very early on her own, well before her editor or the publisher would have seen it.
So then we asked her if that meant that the fifth book would be coming out soonish since it was half written already. She just smiled at us. (Yep that was five years ago.)

[in-my-niteshirt.livejournal.com]

I tried to post a link to the Sounis post where we told about this but Livejournal says it is spam. I guess you can look for it yourself, it was posted May 2, 2010, and it's titled, "You're hardcore, can I worship you?"

[maidenbeckah.livejournal.com]

So then we asked her if that meant that the fifth book would be coming out soonish since it was half written already. She just smiled at us. (Yep that was five years ago.)

Yup, that sounds like her. :p
Thanks for the info! I'm going to check that post out now!

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

I remember this, too. She mentioned that we would need to know what Sophos had been up to in order to go into book 5 with all the information we needed, but it was too much for her to just summarize it, and it just didn't feel right. So she put book 5 (then book 4) on a back burner and wrote Sophos's story, which became book 4 instead.

Anyway I do distinctly remember her mentioning that the next book would be like or similar to a second half for KoA, and that Baron Erondites was not done and we would be seeing more of him.

[dehdwood.livejournal.com]

Delurking for a bit to say that all this news about book 5 makes me extremely happy since KoA is my favorite book in the series. ♥

[furem.livejournal.com]

Same, :).

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Because its awesome.

[(Anonymous)]

I can't wait!!! It's been FIVE years since CofK!!! Please, Megan, please.....