From EW.com re America-based Jamaican writer Marlon James’ follow-up to his redefining, multi-award winning A Brief History of Seven Killings (p.s. read my review here) which followed on the critically acclaimed The Book of Night Women (read my review of that here) and John Crow’s Devil (which I haven’t yet read):
‘Here at EW, we’ve been eagerly anticipating Marlon James’ epic new fantasy series Dark Star, which he describes as an “African Game of Thrones.” At long last, we have some news to report: The first book, Black Leopard, Red Wolf has a release date, as well as a tantalizing story line.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: ‘He has a nose,’ people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.’
– The synopsis sounds more Lord of the Rings and less Game of Thrones to me but READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE and get as stoked as other fans of fantasy and James fans anticipating his take on fantasy are.
My favourite bit is this bit of writerly insight:
‘“I really believe you should write the books you want to read,” James tells EW of Black Leopard, Red Wolf. “And the fantasy nerd in me would have given an eye tooth to geek out on a sword and sorcery book with people like me in it. But to write this book I had to unlearn everything — about how language works, character works, story works, even how truth works. The trade-off is that I also ended up with Werehyenas, children made of air and dust, and vampires who have no problem hunting you in broad daylight.”’
As with all content (words, images, other) on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, and Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure). All Rights Reserved. You can also subscribe to and/or follow the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks. And remember while linking and sharing the links, referencing and excerpting, with credit, are okay, lifting whole content (articles, images, other) from the site without asking is not cool. Respect copyright.
