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"The Law of Nines", or what the fuck is wrong with Terry Goodkind??

RiusRius Globex CEONobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
edited October 2010 in Social Entropy++
Straight from this week's Borders email, announcing what's new in the bookstore world, comes "The Law of Nines", Terry Goodkind's new book on shelves today.
Amazon.com wrote:
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Fast paced, riveting and scary. It will leave the reader breathless.”
--Nelson DeMille

“A gripping ride”
--PW

"Astonishing”
--Kirkus

Product Description
A publishing event— #1 New York Times–bestselling author Terry Goodkind turns in a new direction and delivers a stunningly original thriller.

Turning twenty-seven may be terrifying for some, but for Alex, a struggling artist living in the midwestern United States, it is cataclysmic. Inheriting a huge expanse of land should have made him a rich and happy man; but something about this birthday, his name, and the beautiful woman whose life he just saved, has suddenly made him—and everyone he loves—into a target. A target for extreme and uncompromising violence . . . In Alex, Terry Goodkind brings to life a modern hero in a whole new kind of high-octane thriller.

Well, that doesn't sound too bad, right? I mean, sure, it sounds a little familiar, and what's all that stuff about turning 27 being terrifying? It looks like it's getting decent reviews, so maybe it's alright? Let's look around for some more information.
The Law of Nines Terry Goodkind. Putnam, $27.95 (512p) ISBN 978-0-399-15604-5

Bestseller Goodkind (Confessor) ventures into thriller territory with results sure to please fans of his fantasy fiction. In the opening pages, Alex Rahl, the book’s unwitting hero, saves the beautiful Jax from being run down on the street in Orden, Neb., by a plumbing truck flying a pirate flag. Jax, who turns out to be from an alternate reality where evildoers are attempting to seize control of her civilization, has traveled to Nebraska to seek Alex’s help in saving her people. In Jax’s world, magic takes the place of technology, but on earth she’s stripped of her powers and forced to fight armed with only her trusty dagger. The author takes his time setting all this up, but once the story gets rolling, it’s a gripping ride as the bad guys whoosh in between their world, which remains unseen, and ours. Fantasy and thriller readers alike will find themselves swept along to the final confrontation and looking forward to the next installment. (Sept.)

Oh, oh dear. Alex Rahl? Orden, Nebraska? Pirate plumbers?! This is all starting to sound terrifyingly familiar... well, except for the pirate plumbers part. Let's read the first chapter, shall we?
Amazon.com wrote:
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1.

It was the pirate flag flying atop the plumbing truck that first caught his attention. The white skull and crossbones seemed to be straining to keep from being blown off the flapping black flag as the flatbed truck, apparently trying to beat the light, cannonballed through the intersection. The truck heeled over as it cut an arc around the corner. White PVC pipe rolled across the diamond plate of the truck bed, sounding like the sharp rattle of bones. At the speed it was traveling the truck looked to be in danger of capsizing.

Alex glanced to the only other person waiting at the curb with him. With his mind adrift in distracted thoughts he hadn’t before noticed the lone woman standing just in front of him and to the right. He didn’t even remember seeing where she’d come from. He thought that he saw just a hint of vapor rising from the sides of her arms into the chill air.

Since he wasn’t able to see the woman’s face, Alex didn’t know if she saw the truck bearing down on them, but he found it difficult to believe that she wouldn’t at least hear the diesel engine roaring at full throttle.

Seeing by the truck’s trajectory that it wasn’t going to make the corner, Alex snatched the woman’s upper arm and yanked her back with him.

Tires screeched as the great white truck bounced up over the curb right where Alex and the woman had been standing. The front bumper swept past, missing them by inches. Rusty dust billowed out behind the truck. Chunks of sod and dirt flew by.

Had Alex hesitated they both would have been dead.

On the white door just above the name “Jolly Roger Plumbing” was a picture of a jovial pirate with a jaunty black patch over one eye and a sparkle painted in the corner of his smile. Alex glared back as the pirate sailed past.

When he looked up to see what kind of maniac was driving he instead met the direct, dark glare of a burly passenger. The man’s curly beard and thick mat of dark hair made him look like he really could have been a pirate. His eyes, peering out of narrow slits above plump, pockmarked cheeks, were filled with a kind of vulgar rage.

The big man appeared infuriated that Alex and the woman would dare to be in the way of their off-road excursion. As the door popped open there was no doubt as to his combative intent.

He looked like a man stepping out of a nightmare.

Alex felt a cold wave of adrenaline flood through him as he mentally choreographed his moves. The passenger, who seemed to be getting ready to leap out of the still-moving truck, would reach him before the driver could join in, making it one against one–at least for a brief time. Alex couldn’t believe that it was happening, but it was and he knew that he was going to have to deal with it.

Calm fury filled him as he prepared himself for the unavoidable. Everything slowed until each beat of his heart seemed to take an eternity. He watched the muscles in the man’s arm bulge as he held the door open. In response, Alex’s own muscles tightened, ready to meet the threat. His mind was cocooned in silence.

Just as the passenger’s stout leg swung out the open door, flashing lights and the sudden wail of a siren made the burly man turn his attention away. A police car, tires squealing, launched across the intersection in a way that suggested the cops were angered by the truck’s stunt. The police car had been parked beside a hedge to the side of the drive into the parking lot across the street. As they had sped past, the men in the truck apparently hadn’t seen the parked police car watching traffic. Lost in his own thoughts, Alex hadn’t, either.

The loudspeaker crackled to life. “Pull it over!”

The world seemed to rush back in.

The white plumbing truck, trailing a fog of dust, slowed as it rolled off the curb up ahead, the black-and-white police car right behind it. As the truck stopped, two policemen leaped out, hands resting at the ready on their guns as they approached from both sides of the truck at the same time. They yelled orders and both men carefully emerged with their hands up. In an instant the officers had them out and leaning on the front fenders of the truck.

Alex felt the tension drain out of his muscles, leaving his knees feeling weak.

As he turned his glare from the men being frisked, he found the woman’s gaze fixed on him. Her eyes were the luscious color of his finest sable artist brushes. It was clearly evident to him that behind those sensuous brown eyes she appraised the world around her with an incisive intellect.

She glanced deliberately down at his big hand still tightly gripping her upper arm. He had intended to toss her back out of harm’s way so that the passenger couldn’t hurt her, but the police had shown up first.

She looked up at him in silent command.

“Sorry,” he said, releasing her arm. “You were about to be run down by pirates.”

She said nothing.

He had meant his comment to be lighthearted, to ease the fright of what had nearly happened, but by her calm expression she didn’t appear to be the least bit amused. He hoped he hadn’t hurt her arm. He knew that sometimes he didn’t realize his own strength.

Not knowing what to do with his hands, Alex combed his fingers back through his thick hair as he stuffed his other hand in a pocket.

He cleared his throat, changed his tone to be more serious, and started over. “I’m sorry if I hurt your arm, but that truck would have hit you if I hadn’t pulled you back out of the way.”

“It matters to you?”

Her voice was as captivating as her eyes.

“Yes,” he said, a little puzzled. “I wouldn’t like to see anyone get hurt in an accident like that.”

“Perhaps it wasn’t an accident.”

Her expression was unreadable. He could only wonder at her meaning. He was at a loss as to how to respond.

The memory of the way she’d been standing at the curb still hung in the shadows in the back of his mind. Even lost in distant, dejected thoughts at the time, he had noticed that her body language hadn’t been quite right. Because he was an artist, a person’s balance, either at rest or in motion, stood out to him. There had been something out of the ordinary about the way she had been standing.

Alex wasn’t sure if, by her answer, she was simply trying to do the same as he had been doing–trying to lighten the heart-pounding scare of what had nearly happened–or if she was dismissing his chivalry as a presumptuous line. He imagined that a woman as attractive as she was had to deal with men constantly trying clever lines in order to meet her.

The satiny black dress that hugged her curves looked to be either high fashion or oddly out of time and place–he couldn’t quite decide which–as did the long, deep green wrap draped over her shoulders. Her luxuriant fall of soft, summer-blond hair could have gone either way as well.

Alex figured that she had to be on her way to the exclusive jewelry store that was the anchor of the upscale Regent Center across the street. The slanted glass facade was just visible beyond the shade of ash and linden trees spread across the broad grounds separating the upscale shops from Regent Boulevard.

He glanced over at the plumbing truck sitting at the curb. The strobing lights from the police car made the white truck look alternately blue and red.

After getting handcuffs on the passenger, the police officer pointed at the curb and told the man to sit beside the driver. The man sat and crossed his legs. Both wore dark work clothes covered with grime. While both men quietly did as they were told, neither looked to be the least bit cowed.

One of the officers started toward Alex as the other spoke into the radio clipped to his shirt at the shoulder.

“Are you two all right?” the man asked as he approached, his voice still carrying an adrenaline edge. “They didn’t hit you, did they?”

Both of the cops were young and built like weightlifters. Both had bull necks. Black, short-sleeved shirts stretched over the swell of their arms served only to emphasize the size of their muscles.

“No,” Alex said. “We’re fine.”

“Glad to hear it. That was quick thinking. For a minute I thought you two were going to be roadkill.”

Alex gestured toward the men in handcuffs. “Are they being arrested?”

With a quick glance he took in the woman, then shook his head. “No, unless they come back with warrants. With guys like this you never know what you’ve got, so we often cuff them for our own safety until they can be checked out. When my partner is finished writing up that ticket, though, I don’t think they’ll be in the mood to pull a stunt like this again for a while.”

That two cops this powerfully built would be worried about the guys in the truck to the point of cuffing them made Alex not feel so bad for being spooked when he’d looked into the dark eyes of the passenger.

He glanced at the badge and extended his hand. “Thanks for coming along when you did, Officer Slawinski.”

“Sure thing,” the man said as he shook Alex’s hand. By the force applied to the grip Alex figured that the man was still keyed up. Officer Slawinski turned away, then, eager to get back to the pirates.

The driver, still sitting on the curb, was thinner but just as mean-looking as the burly passenger. He sat stone-faced, giving brief answers as the officer standing over him asked questions while writing the ticket.

The two officers spoke briefly, apparently about the results of the warrant check, because Officer Slawinski nodded, then uncuffed the passenger and told him to get back in the truck. After climbing back in, the passenger rested a hairy arm out the side window as the other cop started uncuffing the driver.

In the truck’s big, square side mirror, Alex saw the man’s dark eyes glaring right at him. They were the kind of eyes that seemed to be out of place in a civilized world. Alex told himself that it had to be that in such a newly built, luxurious part of town the work-worn construction vehicles, despite there being a lot of them, all seemed to be out of place. In fact, Alex recalled having seen the Jolly Roger Plumbing truck before.

Alex’s small house, not far away, had once been at the outskirts of town among a cluster of other homes built in the seclusion of wooded hills and cornfields, but they had long since been swallowed by the ever-expanding city. He now lived in a desirable area, if not exactly on a desirable street or in a desirable house.

Alex stood frozen for a moment, staring at the grubby, bearded face watching him in the truck’s mirror.

Then the man grinned at him.

It was as wicked a grin as Alex had ever seen.

As the black flag atop the truck lifted in a gust of wind, the skull also gave Alex a grim grin.

He noticed then that the woman, ignoring the activity, was watching him. As the light turned green, Alex gestured.

“Would you allow me to escort you safely across the street?” he asked in a tone of exaggerated gallantry.

For the first time she smiled. It wasn’t a broad grin, or a smile that threatened to break into laughter, but rather a simple, modest curve of her lips saying that this time she got the lighthearted nature of his words.

Still, it seemed to make the world suddenly beautiful on what was otherwise a rather depressing day for him.

You had me at the first sentence, Terry. Pirate flags and plumbing trucks, my god I've never read a more intoxicating first sentence! Where can I sign up?

Also, the first five chapters are apparently available here. I'm reading now, with tremendous dread.

Surely this will be excellent writing.
"He was glad to be away from the pirate plumbers. They looked to have developed a grudge."
"When he spoke to her she met his gaze with with a focused involvement that was respectful and interested. He couldn't imagine this woman ever sending him a text message."

Reviews!
In this thriller from Goodkind, a man named Alex Rahl, hardworking artist, blameless citizen of a nice little Nebraska town, is about to turn 27 in a most memorable way. In the process, he will encounter an Alex he never would have believed possible, discovering things about himself, his lineage, the world he inhabits-and the alternative one he doesn't-that will prove dramatically transformative. Consider his name. As series buffs know, it's one to conjure with: Richard, Lord Rahl, is Seeker of Truth, puissant possessor of the eponymous Sword of Truth and, not so incidentally, Alex's antecedent, going back some thousand years. Then there's the fraught numerology of being 27, with all those evocative nines (two plus seven; three times nine). The whole astonishing business begins when Alex saves the life of a strange and, of course, beautiful lady, who undertakes his education. It's through Jax that he first learns of a co-existing world "on the other side of darkness, on the other side of nothing." And it's with her at his side that he battles an assortment of Iago-like bad guys in order to save the world(s). Goodkind departs from his hot-selling Sword of Truth series (Confessor, 2007, etc.), but not entirely.
Fans of Terry Goodkind's hugely popular fantasy series The Sword of Truth have been itching for his new stand-alone novel The Law of Ninesever since word of it leaked earlier this year. Goodkind's publisher, Putnam, is clearly hoping Nines will appeal not only to that core audience but to lovers of thrillers as well. They've even packaged the book as a thriller, complete with nondescript title and plain-Jane black-and-silver jacket.

Yet what Goodkind has delivered is an odd hybrid, a thriller with heavy doses of fantasy mixed in. On his 27th birthday, Alex Rahl, waiting at a crosswalk, notices a truck flying a pirate's flag barreling straight at him and another pedestrian, an oddly dressed but striking blond woman. He quickly yanks her to safety. Jax, as she's called, turns out to be a human from another planet — one that's embroiled in civil war. And she's come to find Alex because, unbeknownst to him, he's got powers that can help her. Does our hunky hero think she's nuts? No, he thinks she's hot. He begins to take her more seriously, though, after his grandfather hands him a mysterious birthday present: a deed to thousands of acres of land in rural Maine, where, it slowly becomes apparent, there is a gateway — a sort of superhighway between his world and Jax's.

If it takes a while for Alex — and the reader — to understand what's going on, it's because the writing is blocky and strained, especially during the high-octane scenes of carnage that occur every few pages. (Alex, an artist by trade, quickly morphs into an efficient killing machine.) Despite the rollicking plot, Goodkind just doesn't seem nearly as comfortable in the straight-thriller vein as he does with fantasy. That changes during the final scenes, when he returns to what he knows best and starts to dish up more meaty fantasy. His writing becomes nimble, clear, dimensional.

So has Goodkind managed to hook all those nonfantasy readers for a sequel that looks sure to come? That's the million-dollar question. From all indications, it looks like it will take place on Goodkind's home turf, the purely imagined world of another planet.

Watch this because it's awesome, they made a video of (presumably) a scene from the book where teleporting stealth pirate plumbers attack Alex and Jax at Alex's house. Jax flips out and breaks all the mirrors, Alex drives a shitty truck, and WOAH THIS CAR IS GOING SO FAST CAN YOU SLOW IT DOWN?

[URL="[url]http://www.terrygoodkind.com/thelawofnines.html[/url]"]Coming soon to HBO, since we're all sinners and deserve more punishment.[/URL]

The man is a cesspool of delusional thought.
The Law of Nines" ($27.95, Putnam) hits bookshelves Tuesday, and Goodkind says the novel represents nothing less than "the relaunching of my career in a new direction."

Goodkind's own plot synopsis: "This guy meets this woman and isn't quite sure if she really exists. He has his own issues because his mother went insane when she was the same age he is now. And, he's met this woman who keeps telling him weird things and turns up missing, and he isn't sure if she exists."

For Goodkind, the shift from fantasy to thriller isn't as whiplash-inducing as it might appear. That's because Goodkind never saw his "Sword of Truth" series as fantasy, even if booksellers and reviewers -- and maybe even a few readers -- insisted on categorizing it as such.

"My books have always been aimed at mainstream readers," Goodkind says, and the fantasy-related elements found in them were merely products of "the way I told that story."

"The story I was telling needed a broad landscape. It needed to be a grand epic. It needed to be that background to tell the story," Goodkind explains. "It was a sweeping epic that needed a sweeping, grand landscape, and it fit very well into the world I wrote it in."

Now, with "The Law of Nines," Goodkind says, "I'm writing stories about our world."

He laughs. "I've had enough of scaring people in another world. Now I want to scare people in this world."

Goodkind isn't worried that longtime readers may be apprehensive about what is, to him, "a natural transition." When Goodkind told his longtime agent of his desire to write a thriller, even the agent countered that many fantasy authors wish to write mainstream books don't quite know how to do it.

"He said, 'If anyone can do it, you can, but I won't believe you until you can prove it. I wrote him the beginning of two books. He said, 'Why did you write two books?' I said, 'I wanted to prove it to you.' "

Long story short: "He was really impressed. After he read the final manuscript, after we sold the book, he said to the publisher, 'You got a bargain.' "

It's "a cool book, an unusual book," Goodkind says. "It isn't the typical police story, it isn't the typical detective story. This is a very unusual story. It's very different. It really is an exciting ride."

For Goodkind, venturing into new literary territory made for a pretty exciting ride, too.

"It was like the fun of writing the first book all over again," he says, having "this bright, shiny new thing I got to create.

"It's the first time we get to meet these characters, and it's our first introduction to the dilemma they face, and it's the first time to tell the reader this entirely new story they've never heard before."

Actually, and genre switch notwithstanding, longtime fans will recognize Goodkind's voice -- as well as, in what just may be a nod to longtime readers, the protagonist's surname -- in "The Law of Nines."

"When I was writing 'The Sword of Truth,' I wasn't writing fantasy. I was writing a story about characters in great trouble and characters sharing the same kinds of problems we all have," he says.

Choosing good. Opposing evil. Making choices and living with the consequences. Overcoming obstacles. All are themes of any good story, regardless of genre, setting or, even, the medium through which they're told.

So, Goodkind says, writing "The Sword of Truth" -- in which, he says, "the magic was incidental" -- wasn't different from writing "The Law of Nines" because both, at their core, are about "intriguing characters who are in trouble."

More interviews with Terry;
Terry Goodkind didn't study creative writing in college. He's never participated in any workshops, never enrolled in a master's of fine arts program.

Goodkind isn't opposed to those sort of things; it's only that he's believes writers are born, not made.

"I'm convinced it's intuitive," says the bestselling author, who has just released a new novel, "The Law of Nines." "I never did the typical things that a lot of authors sometimes do. I've always told myself stories, and when I sat down and started writing, I was only doing an extension of the process."

...

While Goodkind's goal is to take readers on an adventure, he does not shy away from coloring his stories with his own personal philosophies. In particular, Goodkind is an advocate of technology and an admirer of Ayn Rand, the author of "The Fountainhead." Goodkind considers her to be the most important philosopher since Aristotle.

While these elements are important, they also have to complement the story.

"My purpose is not to be preachy," Goodkind says, "My purpose is to make the characters come alive for the readers.

"The philosophical outlook of a character is critical to me, because it's what makes them whole and what makes them real. To make characters believable, they have to have reasons for doing things. A bank robber has a philosophy that drives him to rob banks. They just don't do things randomly and without reasons, or the reader won't believe it. They have to be heroes or villains for valid reasons."

Rius on
«134

Posts

  • DichotomyDichotomy Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    what the hell is going on

    Dichotomy on
    0BnD8l3.gif
  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    It's been said before, and I'll repeat the sentiment

    The wrong fantasy author named Terry wound up with Alzheimer's

    Grey Ghost on
  • George Fornby GrillGeorge Fornby Grill ...Like Clockwork Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    What
    What is this. What's happening?

    George Fornby Grill on
  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    More good stuff!
    In this thriller from Goodkind, a man named Alex Rahl, hardworking artist, blameless citizen of a nice little Nebraska town, is about to turn 27 in a most memorable way. In the process, he will encounter an Alex he never would have believed possible, discovering things about himself, his lineage, the world he inhabits-and the alternative one he doesn't-that will prove dramatically transformative. Consider his name. As series buffs know, it's one to conjure with: Richard, Lord Rahl, is Seeker of Truth, puissant possessor of the eponymous Sword of Truth and, not so incidentally, Alex's antecedent, going back some thousand years. Then there's the fraught numerology of being 27, with all those evocative nines (two plus seven; three times nine). The whole astonishing business begins when Alex saves the life of a strange and, of course, beautiful lady, who undertakes his education. It's through Jax that he first learns of a co-existing world "on the other side of darkness, on the other side of nothing." And it's with her at his side that he battles an assortment of Iago-like bad guys in order to save the world(s). Goodkind departs from his hot-selling Sword of Truth series (Confessor, 2007, etc.), but not entirely.

    Also, the first five chapters are apparently available here. I'm reading now, with tremendous dread.

    Surely this will be excellent writing.
    "He was glad to be away from the pirate plumbers. They looked to have developed a grudge."
    "When he spoke to her she met his gaze with with a focused involvement that was respectful and interested. He couldn't imagine this woman ever sending him a text message."

    Also, in the fifth chapter, we're introduced to Alex's quirky and mysterious grandfather who has something to give to him that he's been destined to receive all his life.

    Rius on
  • UmaroUmaro Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Didn't Stephen King already do this.

    Umaro on
    Dogs.jpg
  • YaYaYaYa Decent. Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I think the most tragic part of this whole thing is that it's a decent idea

    but Goodkind is just the worst writer

    YaYa on
  • MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    EVIL

    CHICKEN

    Moriveth on
  • MeissnerdMeissnerd Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    how much rape is in this

    Meissnerd on
  • DruhimDruhim Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited August 2009
    YaYa wrote: »
    I think the most tragic part of this whole thing is that it's a decent idea

    but Goodkind is just the worst writer
    I think even the idea sound crap

    Druhim on
    belruelotterav-1.jpg
  • DoobhDoobh She/Her, Ace Pan/Bisexual 8-) What's up, bootlickers?Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Meissnerd wrote: »
    how much rape is in this

    a bit, if i recall correctly

    Doobh on
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  • MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    EVIL CHICKEN EVIL CHICKEN EVIL CHICKEN EVIL CHICKEN EVIL CHICKEN

    Moriveth on
  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Fans of Terry Goodkind's hugely popular fantasy series The Sword of Truth have been itching for his new stand-alone novel The Law of Ninesever since word of it leaked earlier this year. Goodkind's publisher, Putnam, is clearly hoping Nines will appeal not only to that core audience but to lovers of thrillers as well. They've even packaged the book as a thriller, complete with nondescript title and plain-Jane black-and-silver jacket.

    Yet what Goodkind has delivered is an odd hybrid, a thriller with heavy doses of fantasy mixed in. On his 27th birthday, Alex Rahl, waiting at a crosswalk, notices a truck flying a pirate's flag barreling straight at him and another pedestrian, an oddly dressed but striking blond woman. He quickly yanks her to safety. Jax, as she's called, turns out to be a human from another planet — one that's embroiled in civil war. And she's come to find Alex because, unbeknownst to him, he's got powers that can help her. Does our hunky hero think she's nuts? No, he thinks she's hot. He begins to take her more seriously, though, after his grandfather hands him a mysterious birthday present: a deed to thousands of acres of land in rural Maine, where, it slowly becomes apparent, there is a gateway — a sort of superhighway between his world and Jax's.

    If it takes a while for Alex — and the reader — to understand what's going on, it's because the writing is blocky and strained, especially during the high-octane scenes of carnage that occur every few pages. (Alex, an artist by trade, quickly morphs into an efficient killing machine.) Despite the rollicking plot, Goodkind just doesn't seem nearly as comfortable in the straight-thriller vein as he does with fantasy. That changes during the final scenes, when he returns to what he knows best and starts to dish up more meaty fantasy. His writing becomes nimble, clear, dimensional.

    So has Goodkind managed to hook all those nonfantasy readers for a sequel that looks sure to come? That's the million-dollar question. From all indications, it looks like it will take place on Goodkind's home turf, the purely imagined world of another planet.

    Awesome.

    Rius on
  • The Otaku SuppositoryThe Otaku Suppository Bawstan New EnglandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Druhim wrote: »
    YaYa wrote: »
    I think the most tragic part of this whole thing is that it's a decent idea

    but Goodkind is just the worst writer
    I think even the idea sound crap

    But it's middle america's best nightmare

    bad guys striking at the heartland of the u.s.!

    The Otaku Suppository on
  • SithDrummerSithDrummer Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    if a little girl gets kicked in the chest by a grown man over the course of three pages then I am sure as fuck buying this on day one

    SithDrummer on
  • JansonJanson Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Mori got borked

    Janson on
  • MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    EVIL CHICKEN

    EVIL CHICKEN

    EVIL

    CHICKEN

    Moriveth on
  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    It's Evil Plumbers, now, Mori; sorry to disappoint you.

    Rius on
  • MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Man that doesn't have anywhere near the same impact

    Moriveth on
  • BogeyBogey I'm back, baby! Santa Monica, CAModerator mod
    edited August 2009
    Meissnerd wrote: »
    how much rape is in this
    Not enough.

    It's never enough.

    Bogey on
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  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited August 2009
    Druhim wrote: »
    YaYa wrote: »
    I think the most tragic part of this whole thing is that it's a decent idea

    but Goodkind is just the worst writer
    I think even the idea sound crap

    But it's middle america's best nightmare

    bad guys striking at the heartland of the u.s.!

    that god damned middle america!

    DJ Eebs on
  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Watch this because it's awesome, they made a video of (presumably) a scene from the book where teleporting stealth pirate plumbers attack Alex and Jax at Alex's house. Jax flips out and breaks all the mirrors, Alex drives a shitty truck, and WOAH THIS CAR IS GOING SO FAST CAN YOU SLOW IT DOWN?

    http://www.terrygoodkind.com/thelawofnines.html

    Rius on
  • CampionCampion Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    God dammit, I can't believe I used to like Terry Goodkind.

    Campion on
    4484-7718-8470
  • The Otaku SuppositoryThe Otaku Suppository Bawstan New EnglandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Druhim wrote: »
    YaYa wrote: »
    I think the most tragic part of this whole thing is that it's a decent idea

    but Goodkind is just the worst writer
    I think even the idea sound crap

    But it's middle america's best nightmare

    bad guys striking at the heartland of the u.s.!

    that god damned middle america!

    East Moline is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

    The Otaku Suppository on
  • MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Campion wrote: »
    God dammit, I can't believe I used to like Terry Goodkind.

    It's okay

    I used to like RA Salvatore
    I actually still think the books make for some good brainless reading

    Moriveth on
  • KilljoyKilljoy __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2009
    i think this thread is built on a fundamental misunderstanding

    Killjoy on
  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    The man is a cesspool of delusional thought.
    The Law of Nines" ($27.95, Putnam) hits bookshelves Tuesday, and Goodkind says the novel represents nothing less than "the relaunching of my career in a new direction."

    Goodkind's own plot synopsis: "This guy meets this woman and isn't quite sure if she really exists. He has his own issues because his mother went insane when she was the same age he is now. And, he's met this woman who keeps telling him weird things and turns up missing, and he isn't sure if she exists."

    For Goodkind, the shift from fantasy to thriller isn't as whiplash-inducing as it might appear. That's because Goodkind never saw his "Sword of Truth" series as fantasy, even if booksellers and reviewers -- and maybe even a few readers -- insisted on categorizing it as such.

    "My books have always been aimed at mainstream readers," Goodkind says, and the fantasy-related elements found in them were merely products of "the way I told that story."

    "The story I was telling needed a broad landscape. It needed to be a grand epic. It needed to be that background to tell the story," Goodkind explains. "It was a sweeping epic that needed a sweeping, grand landscape, and it fit very well into the world I wrote it in."

    Now, with "The Law of Nines," Goodkind says, "I'm writing stories about our world."

    He laughs. "I've had enough of scaring people in another world. Now I want to scare people in this world."

    Goodkind isn't worried that longtime readers may be apprehensive about what is, to him, "a natural transition." When Goodkind told his longtime agent of his desire to write a thriller, even the agent countered that many fantasy authors wish to write mainstream books don't quite know how to do it.

    "He said, 'If anyone can do it, you can, but I won't believe you until you can prove it. I wrote him the beginning of two books. He said, 'Why did you write two books?' I said, 'I wanted to prove it to you.' "

    Long story short: "He was really impressed. After he read the final manuscript, after we sold the book, he said to the publisher, 'You got a bargain.' "

    It's "a cool book, an unusual book," Goodkind says. "It isn't the typical police story, it isn't the typical detective story. This is a very unusual story. It's very different. It really is an exciting ride."

    For Goodkind, venturing into new literary territory made for a pretty exciting ride, too.

    "It was like the fun of writing the first book all over again," he says, having "this bright, shiny new thing I got to create.

    "It's the first time we get to meet these characters, and it's our first introduction to the dilemma they face, and it's the first time to tell the reader this entirely new story they've never heard before."

    Actually, and genre switch notwithstanding, longtime fans will recognize Goodkind's voice -- as well as, in what just may be a nod to longtime readers, the protagonist's surname -- in "The Law of Nines."

    "When I was writing 'The Sword of Truth,' I wasn't writing fantasy. I was writing a story about characters in great trouble and characters sharing the same kinds of problems we all have," he says.

    Choosing good. Opposing evil. Making choices and living with the consequences. Overcoming obstacles. All are themes of any good story, regardless of genre, setting or, even, the medium through which they're told.

    So, Goodkind says, writing "The Sword of Truth" -- in which, he says, "the magic was incidental" -- wasn't different from writing "The Law of Nines" because both, at their core, are about "intriguing characters who are in trouble."

    Rius on
  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited August 2009
    Rius wrote: »
    Watch this because it's awesome, they made a video of (presumably) a scene from the book where teleporting stealth pirate plumbers attack Alex and Jax at Alex's house. Jax flips out and breaks all the mirrors, Alex drives a shitty truck, and WOAH THIS CAR IS GOING SO FAST CAN YOU SLOW IT DOWN?

    http://www.terrygoodkind.com/thelawofnines.html

    THE CAR WON'T START

    DJ Eebs on
  • KilljoyKilljoy __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2009
    i think i owe it to myself to read one of terry goodkind's books

    just gotta decide which one

    Killjoy on
  • The Lovely BastardThe Lovely Bastard Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    geebs where is my Red Rooster/Commandant Gobbledy crossover

    where

    The Lovely Bastard on
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  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited August 2009
    sorry tlb but if I wrote it now I'd just be ripping off the law of nines

    DJ Eebs on
  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    More interviews with Terry;
    Terry Goodkind didn't study creative writing in college. He's never participated in any workshops, never enrolled in a master's of fine arts program.

    Goodkind isn't opposed to those sort of things; it's only that he's believes writers are born, not made.

    "I'm convinced it's intuitive," says the bestselling author, who has just released a new novel, "The Law of Nines." "I never did the typical things that a lot of authors sometimes do. I've always told myself stories, and when I sat down and started writing, I was only doing an extension of the process."

    ...

    While Goodkind's goal is to take readers on an adventure, he does not shy away from coloring his stories with his own personal philosophies. In particular, Goodkind is an advocate of technology and an admirer of Ayn Rand, the author of "The Fountainhead." Goodkind considers her to be the most important philosopher since Aristotle.

    While these elements are important, they also have to complement the story.

    "My purpose is not to be preachy," Goodkind says, "My purpose is to make the characters come alive for the readers.

    "The philosophical outlook of a character is critical to me, because it's what makes them whole and what makes them real. To make characters believable, they have to have reasons for doing things. A bank robber has a philosophy that drives him to rob banks. They just don't do things randomly and without reasons, or the reader won't believe it. They have to be heroes or villains for valid reasons."

    Rius on
  • SithDrummerSithDrummer Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I hope that Alex Rahl has a yeard

    SithDrummer on
  • The Otaku SuppositoryThe Otaku Suppository Bawstan New EnglandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Wherein Terry Goodkind divulges he is one of the chosen ones of writing.

    The Otaku Suppository on
  • Charles KinboteCharles Kinbote Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    wow that is some terrible writing quoted in the op

    Charles Kinbote on
  • The Lovely BastardThe Lovely Bastard Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    sorry tlb but if I wrote it now I'd just be ripping off the law of nines

    damn you geebs

    also get turtles in time I wanna play it with you geebs

    The Lovely Bastard on
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  • UmaroUmaro Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    In particular, Goodkind is an advocate of technology and an admirer of Ayn Rand, the author of "The Fountainhead." Goodkind considers her to be the most important philosopher since Aristotle.

    WHY did I not know this? It all makes so much sense now.

    Umaro on
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  • Charles KinboteCharles Kinbote Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    if nutjobs like he and Dean Koontz can get published and sell books then that is a weight off my shoulders

    Charles Kinbote on
  • The Lovely BastardThe Lovely Bastard Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    oh and even though the writing is bad, I cannot deny that the first sentence makes me want to read more.

    it's just everything else that sucks hard

    The Lovely Bastard on
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  • ShortyShorty touching the meat Intergalactic Cool CourtRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    wow that is some terrible writing quoted in the op

    hey shanks did you ever put anything on ficly

    I vaguely remember you on there

    Shorty on
  • The Otaku SuppositoryThe Otaku Suppository Bawstan New EnglandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    if nutjobs like he and Dean Koontz can get published and sell books then that is a weight off my shoulders

    are you writing a book shank?

    Or are you running a program to help retarded kids get published and that interview gives you hope for the industry?

    The Otaku Suppository on
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