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When asked about the differences between the original published version of Magician and the Author's Preferred Edition, Ray had this to say:

IMHO, there's a significant different. In terms of raw word count, about 30,000 words or so more.

I think the APE is a superior version of Magician due to its expanded background information and several really nifty scenes. If you have only read the original version, I highly suggest picking up a copy of the APE. Its like revisiting the past, but with a few interesting tweaks.

An interesting new interview with Ray, conducted by J.A. Hitchcock for DragonScroll, is available here. Among the high points are an image of the cover of Krondor: The Assassins, and this bit:

Magician: Apprentice will get a special salute with a 20th Anniversary special hardcover edition and new cover art in England/Australia in 2002. Feist may write an afterward, but he couldn't confirm that yet. He also didn't know if there is going to be aUS edition or not.

'Bantam Doubleday Dell is aware of the UK edition and is going to have to talk to the publishers about doing one in the states,' he adds.

Very coolsounding. Hopefully the USA can get in on the deal, though.

John Bunting, whose name is on this site more than mine is, posted this note to the list:

I have updated the covers on my site for the Hungary and Czech editions

Some interesting new artwork from Don Maitz

Czech

MOE
POB
tKB pt1 tKB pt2
Hungary

SOADQ
ROAMP

Follow the Publication links on my site below

There have been conflicting reports about the release date of Ray's next book down under. First, Ray generalizes on the date:

This time it should be on or before the US date, perhaps as early as September.

Next, John Bunting shares his knowledge:

Harper Collins have stated that the UK edition has an official publication date of 6 September, and they are checking on the OZ version for me, but believe the same.

Angus and Robertson have said September also

so we could guess that it might be September, a bit later than Ray thought it might be.

Finally, Steven McCarthy gives a very early date:

Amazon.co.uk say July 19th and I double checked that in a local bookstore today - same date there.

In any event, we know that the book will be in stores within a couple months.

In a most uncharacteristic move, Ray posted a little bit about the opening scene of the first novel of the next series, The Conclave of Shadows. The book is still a couple years away, and these juicy bites will certainly create some anticipation:

How I start a novel?

Depends.

Often I have an image and it's 'this guys sitting on a mountain top. . . Wait, it's a kid. . . . Ok, what's he doing?

And that's how Conclave of Shadows is going to start, for example.

Other times, I have a task, such as introducing characters. Prince of the Blood, Silverthorn, Daughter of the Empire, and King's Buccaneer were all books that had openings developed around the need to introduce a character.

They end up looking the same, because in the example above of the kid on the mountain top, that's how I introduce him to the reader. He's Talon of the Silver Hawk, last of the Orosini and what he's doing on that mountain and who he is, etc. starts the entire Conclave of Shadows series.

Of course this led to several wild guesses as to the origin of Talon and who the Orosini were, to which Ray responded:

The Orosini are not Tsurani or dwarves, they are a mountain people in area of the Eastern Kingdoms.

You haven't met any of the people of the Eastern Kingdoms, though you do meet a couple in Assassins, from the Duchy of Olasko.

Anyway. . . The rest is most certainly WUTNB stuff.

Yes, it is now totally acceptably to be extremely curious about Conclave.

Amazon.co.uk has listings for Krondor: The Assassins and The Atlas of Midkemia. KtS is listed at 368 pages, while the Atlas weighs in at 256 pages, which is particularly odd considering Steve and Ray have not yet started working on it.

Hunter Nielson announced that his website has a new poll. The topic is 'What place in Midkemia would you most like to visit?'

Ray posted this note about the current status of the Atlas of Krondor:

Steve and I are under contract to Avon and Harper UK to do an 'Atlas of Krondor.' It's one that I would love to see finished within the next year and published in 2001, before the 20 year anniversary of Magician.

Also, Ray posted this about the release of Krondor: Tear of the Gods:

I will finish writing it before Christmas, but you'll probably see it in the fall of 2000.

For a while now, Ray has voiced his displeasure about certain foreign-language translations of his works. There has been quite a bit said about this during the past week, and here are the important parts. First, a summary of some of the original translation errors:

That was simply the translator not having e-mailed or mailed or called me. He assumed 'cry = 'tears,' in that case. He could have just as easily assumed it was 'shout,' which it also isn't. In other words, it's meaningless. I stuck two syllables together.
He did the same thing with LaMut, because he assumed 'Mut' meant dog, which it doesn't. That would be mutt, anyway.

Things like that. He was being very techincal, which is the heart of the problem, and without my permission, which is the major difficulty I have with this.

Later, Ray said this about dealing with the situation (and he's made similar statements several times since):

I'm having some serious conversations with Mr. Jonathan Post of the publisher this week.

Finally, Ray posted this about note about the unfortunate result of all these recent troubles:

At this time there is no news. Presently, the Holland trip is on hold. If it is reinstated, it will be the original dates in September.

There seems to always be a general interest in fan fiction, role playing games, and other fan-created works set in Midkemia (these are frequently bad things, btw). In response to a recent thread about such items, Ray posted this:

If someone calls something to my attention, then I go and investigate.

If someone is creating a game, any system of RPG, using Midkemia as a setting, my characters as NPC's, naming PC's after my characters, etc. in the privacy of their own home, that's no problem.

If they run a game via e-mail, privately, that's no problem.

As soon as they solicit players or put up a web page, things start getting murky.In general, if someone does it privately, I've got no complaint.

If they do it publicly, they're probably going to eventually be told to stop it by myself, my agent, my lawyer, etc.

This may seem harsh, but you need to realize that anything that dilutes Ray's rights to his own works is a serious matter.

There is a new website, Game Music Online, from which you can order game soundtracks, such as the Return to Krondor soundtrack.

I've finally caught up with all the news from my vacation time. If I missed anything though, please let me know. Secondly, I've added all recent submissions to the FEISTFANS-L Members Listing. Finally, the poll has been reset. The results of the previous poll, 'Which upcoming Feist project most excites you?' Are as follows:

The Conclave of Shadows
Tales of the Riftwar
Krondor: The Assasins and Tear of the Gods
The Atlas of Midkemia

There is a new poll topic: 'Did you beat Return to Krondor?'

John Bunting posted this note:

I have been advised by Harper Collins that the formal date of release will be the 6 September.

The USA and Australian editions will follow shortly after that (yes, the UK version will be released first).

John Bunting posted this about the Czech editions of The King's Buccaneer:

Just received my Czech editions

TkB is in two parts
pt 1 Crydee
pt 2 Novindus

POB has a nice cover with scantily clad keishan woman on balcony with dagger in hand.

Ray's Novels Promotes Sexual Health Maybe not, but Shards of a Broken Crown was found listed on The Sexual Health Network. Here's the original post about the listing:

Ray check this out, your book is in section 5

Everything else seems to have a medical association of sorts.

I wonder if it is something to do with the book title <g>

And Ray's response to the arousing news (sorry, couldn't pass that one up):

It may have been a donation by someone, as a fund raiser.

Uh huh :). Prince of the Blood or Rise of a Merchant Prince would probably be more appropriate, however, as they include more 'scenes of passion' than Ray's other novels.