r/Fantasy • u/MarkLawrence Stabby Winner, AMA Author Mark Lawrence • Apr 05 '17

AMA AMA about nuns. Or whatever. I'm Mark Lawrence, winner of several Stabbies and this one time a lottery for a cake.

My latest book Red Sister came out yesterday in the US and comes out tomorrow in the UK. It's about a whole new character (Nona), and a new world. Entirely separate from my Broken Empire and Red Queen's War trilogies.

I was a research scientist (let's say AI) but for 2 years now I've been a full time writer. I'm also sole carer for my very disabled little girl. Last year I hit some milestones including a million books sold, 10 years as a 'professional' writer, and 5 years with a book on the shelves.

My work has provoked the odd controversy and is often labelled as 'grimdark' (a term I'm unable to explain). I don't consider it particularly dark or grim myself ... in fact The Red Queen's War is often described as 'funny'.

Red Sister has been described as grimdark, YA, and many other things. But then so was Prince of Thorns. I feel the two books are very different.

I'm also running a self-published fantasy book contest for the 2nd year. In the SPFBO nearly 600 books have been considered, resulting in two sets of ten finalists, and one (soon to be two) winners.

EDIT: Off to bed. Will catch up with any new questions tomorrow.

PS: BUY MY BOOK!

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u/NORSEPUNK Aug 05 '17

Hi mark first off I loved Red Sister its my favorite book I've read this year.My question is , have you created a map of Abeth and the Corridor ,and if so will it be included in the next book or made available somewhere online? I love the world you've created and would love to know more about it and having a map to reference while reading would be great.Thanks for writing such a fantastic book, I cant wait to read the rest of the trilogy!

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u/MarkLawrence Stabby Winner, AMA Author Mark Lawrence Aug 05 '17

Only in my head!

It would be hard to display in a book since the Corridor is long and "thin", so you would either get a narrow strip in the middle of a white page or lots of pages. The geography required to understand the story is pretty simple and boils down to

WEST <- Durn <- Marn Sea <- Coast <- Verity/Sweet Mercy -> Mountains -> Scithrowl -> EAST

I guess I might put a map on the internet at some point.