Martha Wells
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Crosspost From the Blog: Raksura Week
🕑 Added 2016-04-04 16:21:34 +0000 UTC (Since this is the release week for The Edge of Worlds, I'm cross-posting this. I'll be posting new eleventh story snippet here tomorrow, April 5.)(Raksura week: It's like Shark Week, but not as commercially successful.)
This is the official release week for The Edge of Worlds (as opposed to the unofficial release week we had when the hardcover shipped early). The ebook will drop tomorrow, April 5, on the official release day.
Good News:
I just found out this morning that it will be an audiobook! I don't know the release date yet, but I'm very relieved. The whole series including the novella collections have all been in audio so far, and I'd hate for the audio-only people to miss out.
Here's our schedule for Raksura Week:
Tuesday, April 5: official release day, when the ebook drops. The hardcover has been showing up in bookstores and shipping from online retailers already, so it should be available everywhere it's going to be now. I'll have a "My Favorite Bit" post on Mary Robinette Kowal's journal. There will also be a special Moon and Stone story for the Raksura Patreon People. And the GoodReads Giveaway will be over and I'll mail the books to the winners.
Wednesday I collapse from stress.
Thursday, April 7 I'll be doing an Ask Me Anything day on Reddit Fantasy
Saturday, April 9: if you want a complete-so-far signed Raksura set, I have a signing for The Edge of Worlds at Murder by the Book in Houston, TX, on Saturday April 9 at 4:30, where I'll be co-signing with J. Kathleen Cheney whose new fantasy is Dreaming Death. You can preorder our books (including all the previous Raksura books and Kathleen's Shores of Spain trilogy) at that link and get them signed and personalized, and then shipped to you.
For today:
Raksura Questions Answers
* Darrell asked: Can you explain why the crossbreeds at Opal Night didn't have the same destructive effects on the colony as the mentor daktis had on Indigo Cloud?
I mentioned this briefly in a previous question, but it's because the pressure of Fell influence comes from the mental control and connections from the progenitor and the strongest rulers in a flight. Raksura can't hear the mental communication from/between the members of a Fell flight, but it is similar to the mental connections a reigning queen has with her court. While the Raksura might not be able to hear Fell communication directed at them, they would be able to sense it without being aware of it, and it would have a bad effect on them. (For example, if you ever encountered a ceiling fan with a broken gear, where it was still trying to turn the fan blades even when you thought it was off, it can emit a sound that you aren't aware of hearing. That sound can give some people headaches, make them sick or upset, upset animals, etc. PSA for people with old overhead fans.)
The half-Fell Raksura can't be connected to a progenitor or a flight, so they aren't broadcasting Fell communication, though they could be adversely affected by it just like other Raksura if it was directed at them.
* subversivegrrl asked: I'm currently reading Stories of the Raksura, and I was struck by something (which you might have addressed elsewhere): Chime plainly misses the abilities he's lost in his shift from Arbora to warrior, but the one thing I haven't seen any mention of is the loss of his fertility. Is that intentional? Or is it perhaps something yet to be addressed?
It’s not something he’s talked to Moon about, but it’s mentioned in Adaptation, the only story (so far) that’s from Chime’s perspective. It takes place right after Chime was changed into a warrior. That story is in Stories of the Raksura: Volume I: The Falling World and The Tale of Indigo and Cloud
I was reminded of some Raksura series trivia the other day that I wanted to write about. Originally, "The Falling World" in Stories of the Raksura I was intended to be a novel instead of a novella. In the story, Jade, Chime, Balm, Song, Root, and Coil go missing while on a trip to another court, and Moon, Stone, and a group of warriors and Arbora go looking for them. In the novel version, instead of finding them where they find them in the novella (trying to be non-spoilery here) they discover Jade's group has been transported out of the Reaches, and have to try to follow them where they've been taken. I turned it into a novella because at that point I didn't think there would ever be another chance to do another novel.
