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Over the weekend Ray posted several announcements and other juicy bits of news. First, some news on Ray's next novel:

1) Krondor: the Assassins, FINAL DRAFT, was handed in yesterday, so it's now officially done.Publication dates in Australia, UK, and US should be somewhere close to the original July, September, and Novermber, respectively.

2) the Tales of the Riftwar project is starting to firm up.

3) I'm tired. . . <g>

Yes, you read that correctly - the Aussies are getting KaS before the US and UK. Ray clarified this in a subsequent post:
South Africa, like New Zealand, gets the export editions from HarperCollins UK, so if you get he hardcovers, you'll get them about the same time as Oz.

Second, Ray posted information on an upcoming Croation edition of Faerie Tale:

For those of you who must have a copy of everything, we just sold the rights to Faerie Tale to a croatian publisher, KZ-Zagrebcks Naklads in Zagreb, Croatia. I'm notifying you because it looks to be a short printrun, about 800 copies. Also it's in an anthology, so they may be abridging it, though there's nothing in the contract about that.

It's handled by Intercontinental in Chelse, but through another of their agent in Budapest Hungary.

The address for KZ-Zagrebcka Naklads is

Lhotkina 6
10000 Zagreb
Croatia

Don't start bugging them until I agree to terms and sign the contract, OK? <g>

Jason Martin has a new Feist poll on his website.

There is a new Dutch Feist website, with information on several of the Dutch translations of his novels. I can't read any of it, but I'm sure its good stuff.

Just wanted to say thanks to Desslock's RPG News for posting a note about the site. If you are looking for information on all the RPG happenings, be sure to check Desslock's first.

Due to problems with lag, RiftMUSH has changed servers. The new address is pug.leenux.org:4202. Remember that you need a telnet client to connect. If you are having router DNS problems, try connecting by the IP address, 150.135.88.235:4202 . For more information, check out the RiftMUSH Status and News Page .

Ray posted this message today which clarifies his thoughts on working with Janny again:

BTW, just to make it crystal clear (and some of you will screw this up anyway when you post it on other boards or tell your friends), I never said I would not write with Janny again (she was one of the writers I talked to about this project; she's just too busy. If we do a second bunch, she may be in that group). What I said was Janny and I would never do another Empire book again. Big difference.

So, if the first set of Tales of the Riftwar novels are successful, apparently we can expect more. This second message discusses the possible settings of the Tales novels:

Most of the fantasy work I'm going to do will be in Midkemia. I say 'most,' because I don't know when I'm going to go for a little jaunt to a place for a bit, like I did with the Saaur homeworld or Timmery (or however the hell Neal spelled that place in Betrayal). But the heart of the action will be Midkemia.

If any of the Tales series is from the Tsraunni point of view it will be because the other author convinces me it's a good story idea.

For the record, I think Neal spelled it Timmiriannia, but that's coming from memory and probably not accurate. Anyway, this final bit further clarifies the publishing schedule for the next few years:

I'm going to be working on Tear of the Gods next (Return to Krondor's story), then Conclave of Shadows I. At the same time, I'll be setting up this series, so they'll both be underway at the same time.

Yes, this is way late, but for the sake of being complete, there is (and has been) a preview of Return to Krondor posted on GameSpot UK. Enjoy!

The Adrenaline Vault has posted an article Game Music Gets Official Grammy Nod. Here is an excerpt:

It has been a long, winding trail to Grammy recognition for game music, but the growing community of gaming composers can at last trumpet sweet victory. This afternoon, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences issued a press release announcing their decision to allow music from interactive games to compete in the annual Grammy Awards competition.

Chuck Mitchell's Return to Krondor Soundtrack has widely been considered as one of the best scores for a game, and may just qualify for such an award.

As previously mentioned, a UK publisher for the Tales of the Riftwar series has been signed, HarperCollins. This does not mean the book will be published first in the UK, however, as Ray explains in this post:

In the case, the UK publisher bought rights before an American publisher. This is not to say they will publish the books first.

As for which comes first, usually the US edition comes out first.

Here are two more posts by Ray describing the publishing details and structure of the new novels:

They will be published in theUK by HarperCollins. No US publisher yet. As for when, I suspect the first book will probably be a late 2000, early 2001 publication.

Nothing firm yet.

These dates show that the Riftwar Legacy will be completed before the first Tales of the Riftwar release, with Conclave of Shadows following later. Ray's current US publisher is Avon (under the EOS label), and I would suspect they will continue the relationship. The second post was in response to a question about the structure of the novel, whether they would be collections of short stories:

These will be novels, actually. Stand alone novels, but obviously part of the Riftwar continuity, so connected in that sense. I'm looking at stories that take place in other locations during the time of the novel, so while Arutha's fighting the siege of Crydee, what's his dad doing over on the west side of the mountain, that kind of stuff.

I was innocently browsing when my email client alerted me that a new message had arrived. It was from Ray and the subject was 'Announcement.' This got me very excited. Here is the message:

As I've said before, when there's something to tell you, we'll tell you.

This is to announce, that I've agreed in principle to begin work on a new series, TALES OF THE RIFTWAR.

Tales will begin with three books, each to be co-authored by myself and another writer. The first three writers who have come aboard (tentatively; you never know if last minute stuff will screw up a deal) are:

William R. Forstchen, author of several fantasy novels as well as the Lost Regiment Series (one of my personal favorites).

S. M. Stirling, author of some of the best SF being written today, including the Draka series as well as Island in the Sea of Time and Against the Tide of Years.

Joel Rosenberg, author of more SF/F than I can shake a stick at, including the Guardian of the Flame series.

These will be full on collaborations, similar to the ones I did with Janny.

No characters or subject matter has been decided upon, so don't ask (and PLEASE don't suggest), save the stories will take place during the events of the Riftwar and immediately thereafter.

I don't read much, so I don't know anything about the three authors mentioned, but rest assured that Ray would not write with anyone who would compromise the quality of his work, so we can expect (at least) three really great books. Note that they are set during the Riftwar, which is generally more popular than the Serpentwar novels. I am not sure if these will be written before or after the Conclave of the Shadows or other Riftwar Legacy novels.

Ray posted this today about the release schedule for his next two books:

No, Asassin's just finished with rewrites this week (then into production), and Tear is staring right after that, with an eye towards finishing before the end of the year.

Avon needed the cover art for Tear because it's one of their big books for a huge Year 2000 promotion they're doing.

Covers don't always come last.

As I've said before, when there's something to tell you, we'll tell you.

This is to announce, that I've agreed in principle to begin work on a new
series, TALES OF THE RIFTWAR.

Tales will begin with three books, each to be co-authored by myself and
another writer. The first three writers who have come aboard (tentatively;
you never know if last minute stuff will screw up a deal) are:

William R. Forstchen, author of several fantasy novels as well as the Lost
Regiment Series (one of my personal favorites).

S. M. Stirling, author of some of the best SF being written today, including
the Draka series as well as Island in the Sea of Time and Against the Tide
of Years.

Joel Rosenberg, author of more SF/F than I can shake a stick at, including
the Guardian of the Flame series.

These will be full on collaborations, similar to the ones I did with Janny.

No characters or subject matter has been decided upon, so don't ask (and
PLEASE don't suggest), save the stories will take place during the events
of the Riftwar and immediately thereafter.

Best, R.E.F.

Jason Martin has added a Feist quiz to his website.

Although the cover art has not been posted on the internet, here's Ray's description of the look of Krondor: The Assassins and Tear of the Gods:

Solid colors, metalic type. Foreground art a lighter variant of background color, ala KtB.Assassins is black with a sword motif, and Tear is blue with a gem on a pedestal.