It’s interview time again!!!! Some weeks ago I stumbled upon a Wikipedia entry where the RedBrick novels are listed. And what did my tired eyes see? “A Forgotten Tomorrow – TBA”. This led me to the idea to make another interview with Hank Woon, the author of the so-far two Cathay novels, to find out what the actual state of the third novel is. So here we go:

Again I am very happy that the story of Daylen Jagaro will fill another book. In our interview about the second novel „Immortal Twilight", you told us that the idea of the sequel came when Jacques Marcotte made an offhand comment about how the story could develop. Did you need such a push again for writing the third novel “A Forgotten Tomorrow”? Or was it clear after "Immortal Twilight", that you had to write a third book?

The basis for the third book came about during the writing of the second. The complete story couldn't really be told in just the second book, and I was already writing down notes for the third while writing the second.

Will the third novel of your Cathay saga be the last? Or were you planning to make it a quadrology?

Yes, it's set to just be a trilogy.

What is the actual state of the novel?

The outline has been finished for a couple years now. Only the prologue has actually been written at this stage, however.

Assuming that the main characters of the previous two novels, like Bik-Bik, Su Shen and Bei, will still play a big part in „A Forgotten Tomorrow", who else will step on the scene?

There will be some cool new villains (as well as some old ones) that are part of a new secret society. There will be a Samurai character involved, whose own quest is  tired up with the quest of our main cast, and Bik-Bik will get to meet someone special… In addition, the Ka-Li dragon and what that represents will be explored more fully (which can, in a way, be interpreted as a character, I suppose), and another famous character from the first novel will return (there is a clear tie in with some elements that were set up in the first novel, bringing the trilogy full circle).

This third novel will be the first released since the Cathay sourcebooks are on the market too. Do you now go deeper into the land and the culture of Cathay (if even possible) or do you pick up some stories that are told in the sourcebooks?  Did the sourcebooks influence or change your writing?

The sourcebooks were written first, and in that way, I guess they influenced my novels. The novels really are just magnified moments of Daylen's life as he was writing the sourcebooks, before returning with his journals to the Great Library back in Throal.

When you look back at the two previous novels, „Dark Shadows of Yesterday" and „Immortal Twilight", is it hard to end the wonderful journey of Daylen Jagaro? Did you expect to get him that far when you started to write the first novel?

Well, there are still many tales left for Daylen Jagaro. Whether any of them will be told is a mystery, but the Cathay trilogy really only covers his adventures with Su Shen and Bei. There is a year gap between the first and second novels, and a 6-month gap between the second and third. That's a year and a half total of adventures just waiting to be told. If the Earthdawn novels ever pick up steam and go into a more widespread production, it would be fun to add some of these little tales to some anthologies, or better still, get other authors to tell some of these mini stories of Daylen and Bik-Bik (which would be a lot of fun for me to read). But unfortunately, it doesn't look like the publishing industry is heading in that direction, so it's likely “A Forgotten Tomorrow” will be Daylen's last, but you never know.

On a side note, if a Jih'Poh sourcebook is ever written, I'd like it also to be from Daylen's POV (whether or not I'm the writer on that or not). In the meantime, keep an eye out for my upcoming Earthdawn adventure Lost Dynasty, which I wrote back in 2004 and delves into the ancient human kingdom of Landis.

What can you already tell us about the story of the third novel „A Forgotten Tomorrow"? What about Yen-Li and his "comrade"?

Well, without getting too spoilerific, the third novel will be set 6 months after the events in Immortal Twilight. Yen-Li and his comrade are the main antagonists, but there are even larger powers at work behind the scenes. As I already mentioned, a new secret society with new colorful (and powerful) secondary villains will be introduced, as well as some new characters to travel alongside our heroes.

By the beginning of the novel, Daylen has become a bit of a philanthropist, traveling Cathay in hopes of learning as much as he can about Cathayan culture for the Great Library back home and trying to help those affected by the war whenever he can. Of course, the villains still have their own goals, and poor Daylen gets swept right back up in it. The story will also hearken back to events in the first novel, shedding light on events that transpired there and adding new twists to the tale.

The first two novels were released in 2008 and 2009. Considering that you had to work on the Cathay sourcebooks too, I ask myself when you could possibly finish "A Forgotten Tomorrow". And then there is RedBrick, always cautious spreading release dates, but when do you hope to get the novel published?

Well, I'm not exactly sure when I can get around to it. The Cathay sourcebooks were actually finished before the first two novels (the drafts were handed in back in August of 2005). I haven't had as much time in the past couple of years to do much writing because of my day jobs. I had worked a temporary stint with Paizo Publishing back in 2009, helping with the big launch of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, then did some contract work with Microsoft and Expedia before finally landing a permanent gig with The Pokémon Company International. During all of that I was running a Pathfinder campaign for some friends (still ongoing); freelance writing, editing, and designing for both Earthdawn and Pathfinder; and somewhere in there somehow managed to get married and write and sell a screenplay for a straight-to-DVD network movie (to start filming in June 2012—won't say for who or what network though, since that's secret!).

Nowadays, though, I'm mainly busy with family obligations and my day job. Working for Pokémon is the best career I could have hoped to have landed (I actually just made the transition from contract to full time earlier this year), and while it's a lot of fun, it's also very demanding. In what little spare time I have (and trust me, that's not a lot), I try to enjoy my hobbies (including the Pathfinder campaign I'm running and an unpublished, "just for fun" play-by-email strategy wargame I designed based on George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series), study Japanese (my wife is from Tokyo), and maintain some semblance of a social life.

It will get finished someday, though. The dust from the chaos of the last two years is still settling. Once I get some time, I'll be plugging away at it chapter by chapter, posting them up on RedBrick's developer forums for the team to dissect bit by bit. It will be much slower going than the previous two, especially since it might be a big longer as well, but in the end, it will be worth the wait. I'm already finished with the Prologue, and the team has had access to it for some time, so the process has already begun.

I thank you for for the interview and I’m looking forward to hold the third book in my hands, someday.

The Cathay pictures of this post were used with kind permission by RedBrick and can be found at their Download Section.

Well since two or three days I check the RedBrick forum and realize that no one, yes no one talks about the newly announced novel “Liferock” which will come in October 2010. No questions, no answers from fans, author nor developers, no one. So I’ll pick up the topic to talk a little bit about the novel written by Jak Koke. I think it deserves a discussion about what is new and what the novel is about.
My last post about the novel of Jak Koke was about the “old” version of the book. So is the now announced novel really a “new version” or do we just look at a new cover with old content inside? I guess not because the guys from RedBrick might have helped Jak to adjust the book to the new rules or the new setting of the Earthdawn Third Edition.
The “old” book contained a foreword which said that it was written before Denizen of Barsaive Vol. 2 came out, so there might be some differences inside comparing the rules and the traditions of Obsidimen described in the sourcebook and the novel. As Arma stated in a forum post this was only one example of many when fans asked questions like: “In the novel XY they make the spell this way but the rules say……”. That’s why I think that the novel has been reworked, so that there won’t be any differences anymore between the sourcebooks and the novel when Obsidimen lifestyles are described.
Another sign that the book has been reworked are the number of pages; the “old” version had 313 pages whereby the new one will have 288 pages.
Have a look at the announcing page at RedBrick.com to read about the story of the book. The book will be available via Lulu.com and I guess the prices will be similar to the other novels of RedBrick. For softcover $19.95 and hardcover $29.95.
All the speculations I drop here are just speculations, all of the information above about the reworking, story and prices of the book are not confirmed yet.

Yesterday RedBrick LLC announced a discount coupon code that you can use when checking out at lulu.com. The coupon code only works for the novel Scars (Hardcover) and is worth 10$. Use the code BEACHREAD305 at your checkout and you’ll receive the 15% discount. It only works once per account and you can’t combine it with other discount codes. The coupon is valid until August 15th 2010.

Well that’s the news of RedBrick LLC so far, but what is the novel of Caroline Spector about? The short book summary reads as follows:

Outcast, immortal, and alone, Aina must return to Blood Wood to gather the threads of her past which can set her free. She will use anything—and anyone—to escape her ancient pact with the Horror and his terrible gift.

If the Horror will let her...

Read the full description at Lulu.com.

I can only recommend the novel, the story about the protagonist Aina and her connection to the Horror is a must read for every Earthdawn fan. But I have to admit that I won’t buy the RedBrick version because the book was already published in German back in 1995 and is already in my possession.

On the other hand I should grab the opportunity of getting a discount (as you should too), because my Earthdawn collection needs to be complete. Hard to decide…

Today I received the long awaited Earthdawn novel “Immortal Twilight”, sequel to “Dark Shadows of Yesterday”. I ordered it on 4th October, so it took LULU 9 days to print and sent it to Germany, what is very acceptable. The quality of the book is great, but after the first look I realized that there are no illustrations inside, hey why?, ok excepting the map of Daylen Jagaro.



Even this time the right book is under the cover (?) and I gonna read the 305 pages with pleasure and a dictionary on hand. Yes, my English isn’t good enough for some special expressions Hank uses in his books, but I improve with every book. Tschaka.

Who of you ever heard of Fritz Leiber or of “Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser”? I myself have to admit that I’ve never heard of him or his two main characters since yesterday. I read an article at Spiegel online (for all my German readers I recommend to read this article.) about the Roleplay-ancestor Fritz Leiber. I thought: “Hm, never heard of him” so I started to read the first paragraph of the article and as he was described as the Anti-Tolkien, my interest awoke. Yes, yes for all of you Lord of the Ring lovers, it is the best fantasy series ever written, calm down . I never read and never will read it, I mastered to watch the movies and that’s it.

Now back to Mr. Leiber and his novels.

Some of you might know the Earthdawn novel "Liferock" from Jak Koke. I guess a real Earthdawn fan knows about it or even knows a little bit about the story. No? Well the story is described as follows:

"Set in the post-apocalyptic fantasy world of the popular role-playing game Earthdawn, "Liferock" delves into the fascinating culture of the obsidimen race. Quiet and strong, patient and brave, obsidimen have a deep kinship with each other and the earth from whence they are born. A suspenseful adventure story with rich and entertaining characters, "Liferock" illustrates the difficulties of addiction and the worth of maintaining a connection to the natural world."

Unfortunately the former homepage lostearthdawn.com of Jak Koke with informations about the novel is offline. But at JakKoke.com you can read an interview with Jak, but it's mainly about his work for Shadowrun. The "Liferock" was published in 2003 by "Per Aspera Press" and it can be ordered at their homepage for 16.95$, at Amazon you can order it for 10$ (used). Per Aspera Press describes the story as follows:

"They are birthed from the rock fully-grown, live for a thousand years, and then return to the rock once more. Reclusive and peaceful, the androgynous obsidimen of the Garen Brotherhood live and dream atop their high jungle mesa in symbiotic harmony with the earth.
But far away, from a cave on the edge of a volcanic sea, something is calling them. Something twisted and strange, a blood magic born of desperation and warped by greed, is gathering obsidimen to itself. Those who answer fall prey to a seductive addiction from which there is no escape.
For the youngest obsidiman of the Garen Brotherhood, approaching the source of the call means risking a millennium of slavery to that twisted power. But go he must, because the blood magic has ensnared his tribe's lost Elder, their last hope of protecting their liferock from the forces which would destroy it."

Well, fine......would you now want to buy or read the book? No? Or do you already own it ? No?

I got an offer for you! You can read 80 pages for free and then decide if you gonna buy it via Per Aspera Press, amazon or wherever. Agreed? Well then.

A few days ago I discovered a post of Dammi at the german fantasy forum Tanelorn wherein he announced some interesting news about an upcoming novel written by Hank Woon. So I decided to interview him about his new novel "Immortal Twilight". I hope you enjoy it.


First of all I am happy to hear about the sequel of "Dark Shadows of Yesterday" called "Immortal Twilight". When I read the first book it was clear for me that a sequel has to be made. Was it planned to write a second part? Is it actually a second part?

The option for a sequel was always there, and I had many disconnected ideas for one while writing the first (hence the foreshadowing at the end), but it really wasn’t until after the first book was published when the story for the sequel started coming together.
I can actually thank one of the editors from Dark Shadows of Yesterday, Jacques Marcotte, for speeding this process along. Though I had some ideas already, I didn’t think I would get around to writing a sequel for quite some time. Then a certain line in the novel caused Jacques to make an offhand comment about how he could imagine the Eight Immortals of the Tower of Secrets, someday in the future, calling upon Daylen Jagaro for his services and thus prompting a new adventure. Though that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, one of the seeds I had for the sequel involved the Immortals (and in particular their magic), and because of his comment I began picking at it. As I tugged on those threads, the mysteries of the plot slowly began to unravel; revealing themselves to me, and then it all sort of fell quickly into place.


How strong is the connection to the first book, could I read "Immortal Twilight" without having read Dark Shadows of Yesterday?

The connection to the first novel is very strong, but it is easy to follow the second without having read the first. Since there are many allusions to Dark Shadows of Yesterday, the reader will no doubt get more satisfaction if he or she reads the original prior, though.


Please tell us what the book will be about. Do you continue the story about the journey of Daylen Jagaro in Cathay or did choose to write about other protagonists?

The sequel takes place just over a year after the events of the first novel, and it is the continuation of Daylen and his adventures in Cathay. The story features several familiar faces (plus several new ones), both heroes and villains. More of Cathay and its history are revealed, and we even get to see some new POVs of some of the original cast.


What is the actual state of the novel?

The draft was actually turned in just over three months ago, and right now it is nearing the end of the editing phase. After that it goes to layout, a final review, and then off to FASA for approval.


The poll at earthdawn.com crowned "Dark Shadows of Yesterday" as the personal favorite of several fans (even when it was close). Did you imagine that the book would earn such a great response and what do you expect from "Immortal Twilight"?

I’m very glad the reviews have been favorable so far (I actually voted for The Longing Ring!), and I hope the novel inspires a fun session or two (and inspires people to want to explore Cathay!). I personally believe—and this has been confirmed by the opinions of the editors so far—that Immortal Twilight is an even better story than Dark Shadows of Yesterday, so I imagine that anyone who likes the original will also enjoy the sequel.


When thinking about that you now wrote two excellent novels taking place in Cathay, did you ever think about writing other novels taking place in Barsaive? What can we expect next from you?

A trilogy is planned for the Cathay novels, actually; there is still one more adventure of Daylen’s to tell. I have a title, and I have several pages of notes, but I haven’t started on it as yet. It may be a while before I get around to it, actually. And yes, I do have seeds of ideas for stories set in Barsaive and in the Theran Empire (one in Vasgothia that I have had in my mind for quite some time now, especially). But those are all on the backburner… for now…


I know you’re not stating release dates. But we can certainly dream of a Christmas present!

Haha, well, I’m not sure exactly how much more time it will take, but I think Dammi’s latest guesstimate was early ’09. It doesn’t have too much farther to go, but Christmas is just around the corner, so I’m not too sure we can make it by then… but never say never, right? =)


Thanks for the interview!

You bet, anytime!

A few days ago I grasped the opportunity to buy earthdawn novels by the sale out "The horrors ate our margins" from Red Brick. As I introduced the new novels "Anaryas Secret" and "The Dark Shadows of Yesterday" some time ago, I decided to buy them via Lulu.com.

So my books were produced as softcover by print on demand. "Sure thing" I thought and you should have seen me jumping around when they finally both arrived.


But.....................


Watch yourself:


The new books. On the left "Dark Shadows of Yesterday" on the right "Anaryas Secret".












On the right "Dark Shadows of Yesterday" and on the left, surprise surprise "Dark Shadows of Yesterday" too.











Hm let's counter-check. On the right "Anaryas Secret" and on the left "Anaryas Secret too.












I have to say that I don't mind at all about that funny mix-up, because I won't sell the books when I read them via ebay or whatever. I was just surprised when I realised that "Anarays Secret" contented "The Dark Shadows of Yesterday" and the other way round. I even didn't contact Lulu.com to tell them about that. I would say I own two unique earthdawn novels!!! Yes.......think positive.....yes.

I guess that this can't happen to you if you buy just one book and don't be deterred to order at Lulu.com, the quality of the books is extraordinary. Its just the way that I had to tell you all what I own now, two mixed-up earthdawn novels and as far as I read them by now they are worth their money.


Note: for all that haven't seen it yet, A NEW QUIZ IS OUT and I hope some of you finally manage to get 10 points at the first try.

The Earthdawn novel "Piercing a Veil" from Allen Varney was published only as the german translation "Die Geister die man ruft". It has never been published in english, but the english original version of the novel is free available at Allen Varney Homepage. Its a high magic earthdawn story that takes place in Travar. All I can say about the novel: "take a seat and read some pages, you'll love the story!". If you click the picture you'll come to the german review of "Die Geister die man ruft" made by Drosi.de.

The following interview was held between me and Hank Woon (thanks to Dammi), author of the upcoming Earthdawn Novel "Dark Shadows of Yesterday".

Would you short introduce yourself?

You bet! My name is Hank Woon, and who I am and what my relationship is with Redbrick Limited can be found on their website.

When and how did you come to write "Dark Shadows of Yesterday?"

Throughout the Cathay sourcebook, there are many legendary stories, though many are brief and simple allusions to heroes and villains past (especially in the new magical items chapter). Most such entries demand a succinct description, but I found that even when I was finished with them the stories continued on in my mind. Likewise, throughout the sourcebook there are hints of the many adventures that Daylen Jagaro went through while exploring Cathay, and though only small slices of his experiences make it into the sourcebook, I tried to envision his epic journey in detail. At first, this more in-depth, behind-the-scenes back story was merely to add weight, flavor, and consistency to the sourcebook, but as time went on, Daylen’s many trials became more and more interesting to me. Then last December, my hometown was blasted by a powerful storm with winds equivalent to a Level Three hurricane, and I found myself without electricity for eight days. During that time I read five novels that I had been putting off, which really put me in that frame of mind, and one of them was Shroud of Madness, an Earthdawn novel by Carl Sargent & Marc Gascoigne. Since it was an Earthdawn novel, I found that while reading it my mind kept wandering back to Daylen, and without any effort of my own, many of these back story ideas I had for the sourcebook began coalescing. A short time after I regained power, I jotted down a framework, and a couple days after Christmas I started writing.

What's the actual state of the novel?

I finished the novel 58 days after starting. The draft was already finished before I began, in my mind at least, so all I had to do was get it out of me and into print (it also helped that while writing it I was taking 2 literature classes at Washington State University, so I had all of these inspiring novels to draw from). After I turned it in, the talented team of editors at Redbrick read it—sometimes more than once—and offered their criticisms, then revisions ensued, and then it went into layout. I’m actually working on the sequel right now. I had no intention of writing a sequel, but just like the first, ideas kept coming, and the story fell into place too perfectly not to tell. So last week I started writing, and I’m about 20,000 words in so far.

I know that it’s hard to tell us a release date, but approximately when could it come out?

Hm…well, it could come out very soon. Redbrick doesn’t like to set dates, because that could lead to disappointment if something changes, but the novel is all done, there is an awesome cover done by the mega-talented Kathy Schad (see preview), and it’s just basically awaiting approval from the fine folks at FASA.

You already offered a small piece of information about the content in the interview about the Cathay sourcebook. It will be about the merchant Daylen Jagaro. What else can you tell us about the book?

When writing it, I realized that it would be the first glimpse of Cathay for many readers, so the story is Daylen’s first adventure in this new land. Readers will learn about Cathay as Daylen does, seeing it for the first time through the eyes of a fellow Barsaivian, as it were. (Much like the original Earthdawn setting was seen for the first time through the eyes of J’role the Honorable Thief in Christopher Kubasik’s The Longing Ring.)

Thank you very much and good luck with the novel, I can't wait to read it.

You’re welcome, and thanks for the interest. I hope you enjoy it!

On top is the cover of the newest Earthdawn Novel Anarya's Secret (324 pages) written by Tim Jones.
It is available in different types and prices:
- Ebook via Drivethru.com
- Ebook via Rpg Now
- Softcover from LULU.com
- Hardcover from LULU.com

The backcover describes the story as follows:

"Kendik Dezelek is a young Swordmaster. He's tall, strong, and well-trained. But when he leaves his home village on the road to adventure, he soon finds that those things will only get you so far. In the land between the Tylon Mountains and the Serpent River, friend and foe are not always as they appear.

In a world still recovering from the Scourge, when Horrors ravaged the land of Barsaive, Kendik is soon forced to choose between a range of evils. He travels with the surly and disreputable Turgut brothers. He encounters the bloated tyrant Lord Tesek, ruler of the growing city of Borzim. And he is ensnared in the plots of the feared and mysterious House of the Wheel.

Most of all, he meets Anarya Chezarin, who enters his life from the depths of an ancient stronghold. Who is she, and what is her secret? It may cost Kendik and Anarya more than their lives to find out."


Over HERE, a preview of a few pages.