Children of the Sun > Reading & Writing

Chung Kuo

(1/1)

nacho:

--- Quote from: nacho on May 04, 2010, 11:02:36 AM ---
Mrjoel -- Was just thinking of failed series that started great (in addition to WoT and Ice and Fire) on the Metro, and it hit me that I was burned at a young age. 

The amazing Chung Kuo series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chung_Kuo) starts out with what is probably one of the most original and gripping stories I've ever read.  The second book followed easily, and then the third one started to get mired in bad storytelling. 

The author painted too big a picture, I think... And the series is the only one I know where the publisher actually "canceled" it without a proper conclusion.

Recently Chung Kuo has been in the news (perhaps why it came to mind) as Wingrove has won the rights back and now plans to go fantasy-gonzo with the series.  He's cut the eight books into 20 books, and will re-release them over the next five years.  Along with the re-release will be new material completing the series as originally planned in the 90's. 

While that's exciting, it doesn't change the fact that the series went to shit after the third book and was a mess for the remainder of the saga.  Though Wingrove insists that he was under undue stress from the publisher and that the re-release will right all wrongs.



--- End quote ---

Well...finally some news. A big announcement in November.

An advance peek from an interview with Wingrove reveals that he's totally lost his mind:


--- Quote ---How much is written? Up to Book Fourteen has already been corrected and reworked. That’s to the end of Book Six of the old sequence, WHITE MOON, RED DRAGON. Books Fifteen and Sixteen will receive that same treatment – which you might describe as a “ruthless polish” – in the next month or so, but in the meantime (and to the end of this year) I’ll be working on Book Nineteen, THE KING OF INFINITE SPACE, which will be an entirely new book. Four long chapters of it are already done. After that, books 17, 18 and 20 will receive a cut and paste job with at least fifty per cent of new material added to each. And the ending, LAST QUARTERS, will receive the most radical reworking of all (for a start it’ll be twenty times larger!).
--- End quote ---

The first book is actually out, with the second hitting in November.


--- Quote ---Corvus plan to release all nineteen books over a 44-month period starting on 1 September 2010 and concluding on 1 May 2014.
--- End quote ---

nacho:
Looks like trouble for the series:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/12/bgff-oh-no-a-brief-history-of-the-chung-kuo

Maybe I can make a bid!

monkey!:
I'll have one Chung Kuo with fried rice, please.

Navigation

[0] Message Index