Thursday 30 April 2020

A Guide to Lawrence!

It's come to my attention that I have many books published!

Increasingly I get asked by potential Lawrence-readers where they should start. The answer is: "With any book 1 of any trilogy." And: "It depends on what you're looking for."

It should be noted that my trilogies all vary considerably in character and tone - so you may love one and find another not to your taste. It's allowed! And it means that if, for example, you found Prince of Thorns too bleak and violent you might enjoy the hell out of Red Sister or One Word Kill.

(helpfully I include a grimdark rating!)

You can start with any of my trilogies - my other books are not required reading.

The Broken Empire

()

This trilogy follows Jorg: a violent, amoral young man. It's dark, it's grim, it maybe grimdark. Not for the weak-stomached or those seeking a main character they can cheer without reservation.

Grimdark rating = 4.42 / 5


The Red Queen's War

The main character, Jalan, is an idle, womanising, coward supported by a big-hearted Viking. Still dark and violent but with added humour.

Grimdark rating = 3.27 / 5


Book of the Ancestor



We follow Nona as she's trained by what have been inaccurately described as "gay murder nuns". A much nicer person than Jorg or Jalan but still with a darkish violent streak.

Grimdark rating = 3.08 / 5


Impossible Times

Set in the real world in the 1980s - we follow math genius, Nick, as he navigates life in London, D&D games, that girl, and ... a science-fiction mystery. My least violent books!

Grimdark rating = 1.50 / 5


Book of the Ice


Yaz is the closest I've come to an actual hero who looks beyond her own circle and needs. She's not a warrior but she'll fight for those that need her.

Grimdark rating = 2.87 / 5


 The Library Trilogy





 

Grimdark rating 1.57 / 5

All books, no matter their binding, will fall to dust. The stories they carry may last longer. They might outlive the paper, the library, even the language in which they were first written.

But the greatest story can reach the stars . . .

Evar has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities.

Livira has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where no one goes and nightmares stalk.

The world has never noticed them. That's about to change.


You can read more about this one here.




Note: 

The Broken Empire & The Red Queen's War are set in the same world. You can read them in either order.

The Book of the Ancestor & The Book of the Ice are set in the same world. You can read them in either order.


If you have any one-line descriptions in terms of tone, content, character etc add them in the comments - I may bring them into the post!

I also have 3 finished books (Gunlaw, Blood of the Red, & Darker Tide), some partial books, and some short stories on Wattpad - completely free!



The Book of The Ancestor & Library Trilogy both have optional short stories that are listed with the series on Goodreads and can be bought on Amazon.



Finally, don't forget my Grim Oak Press anniversary editions! You've missed out on The Broken Empire & The Red Queen's War omnibuses (which now sells on ebay at crazy prices) & the 10th anniversary Prince of Thorns, but you can still snag the deluxe signed, illustrate, leatherbound, and numbered 10th anniversary King of Thorns edition / Emperor of Thorns edition!
 

Tuesday 21 April 2020

Out TODAY!

The Girl And The Stars (or TGATS as it's known to its friends) is out today-ish.

My 13th book, released at the height of a pandemic with the bookshops shut... also, the audiobook has vanished.

STAY SAFE!



21st of April:

UK ebook released
US ebook released
US hardcover released


30th of April
UK hardback released
UK audiobook released


?? of  ??
US audiobook released (this has been ... delayed)




Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter.  #Prizes #FreeContent




Thursday 2 April 2020

The Girl And The Stars - contest!

Contest closed!
Thanks so much for all the creativity, hard work, fun and book dust.

Our tiniest foe has us holed up in our homes, feeling bored and nervous. In such trouble times books can provide a much needed distraction. Not usually as play-blocks ... but that's about to change!


Back in 2013 I ran a book-tower contest. Some mighty edifices resulted - teetering, toppling, towers built from hundreds of millions of words. I believe we can exceed even those lofty heights in 2020.

Build me a tower, oh reader! Let it reach up unto heaven!



The tallest, prettiest, luckiest, and cleverest will win prizes. Perhaps your base will be all your low fantasy books and the top all your high fantasy books. Perhaps it will be a tower of books only about towers. Perhaps it will be ten feet tall!

The tallest will definitely win a prize. I'll hand out a random prize so that every entry has a chance, and I'll hand out at least one discretionary prize.

The prizes will be signed copies of The Girl And The Stars.


Rules:

i) Build a tower.

ii) Don't hurt yourself - wear a hard hat, follow all local building regulations - Mark Lawrence Inc accepts no responsibility for injury.

iii) Use only books.

iv) It must have no additional support (i.e. your hand, a wall etc)

v) Email a photo of it to me at empire_of_thorns@yahoo.co.uk - titled TOWER CONTEST.

An estimate of its height would be useful, a measurement doubly so.


I will post all entries here.


Entries
(lots of nice messages coming in with the entries - forgive me if I don't answer, there are so many, but I am reading and appreciating them)

Note - you're all still shy of the 2013 winner at 9' or 273cm!


Height Winner: #62 @259cm / 8'6"
Random Winner: #74
Aesthetic/creative winners (I canvassed opinion on Facebook & Twitter here): #53 & #79


We had 4 entries over 2.5m tall!

#62 Jon (utilising the stairwell #protip 8'6" or 259cm)
Note - the world's tallest man could rest his chin on this!



#61 Zoe (257cm)



#60 Carina (Currently a tie for the lead!Get on your bike if you want to beat it! 254cm)



#59 Alex (curtains for the competition?  254cm)




All entries as they arrived:


#79 Lawrence (The Tower Room -On the shoulders of giants)



#78 Jonah (229cm)



#77 Ben (a tower with a fine crown!)



#76 Meggan (The Leaning Tower of Meggan)



#75 Amy (cheers)



#74 Nathan (famous towers 'to scale')



From front (low) to back (high)
Stonehenge              30 feet
The Tall Castle          “Tall castle is of course anything but tall” Jorg Ancrath
Academia Tower        >100 feet??
Green Angel Tower    300 feet
The Dark Tower.        700 feet
The Wall.                    Over 700 feet tall
Barad-dur.                  4000-5000 feet


#73 Kyla (Canadian Igloo - tower 73 is 7'3")



#72 Tom (tall as mountains!)



#71 Manu (book arch)



#70 Kerri (Totoro cage)



#69 Sadia



#68 Andrew (nice to see the Wild Cards book with my story there)



#67 Teresa (so colourful   -  " the stairway to heaven leads to somewhere over the rainbooks")



#66 John (7 foot and mostly air!)



#65 Jesper (including mug!  -  237cm)



#64 Florencia (& measuring man)



#63 Celia and Lucia (and a confused looking cat)



#62 Jon (utilising the stairwell #protip 8'6" or 259cm)



#61 Zoe (257cm)



#60 Carina (Currently a tie for the lead!Get on your bike if you want to beat it! 254cm)



#59 Alex (curtains for the competition?  254cm)



#58 Evita (crowned with a dire wolf)



#57 @so_many_books6  (fortress)



#56 Nikolay & wife!



#55 Caroline



#54 Bec (Prince of Book Mountain  -  210cm)



#53 Mark (7'9" or 236cm - remarkably we have neither exceeded the height of the tallest ever man or the high jump record yet...) 



#52 Marielle (who wouldn't want to lay siege to that? alphabetic order no less!)



#51 @notra661 (go Jorg!)



#50 Rich (~7 foot or ~213cm)



#49 Symon & Leah (shelves of books)



#48 Timo (first of the big boys! 205cm)



#47 Elizabeth (Imperial Battle Cruiser)



#46 Vivianne (I like the colour coordination!)



#45 Meny (Asimov's Foundation is part of the foundation)



#44 Scarletbea (more of a book-city)



#43 Tony (Rome used to build a tower in a day)



#42 Samantha (the tower with all the answers)



#41 @HighhFantasy (shortstack)



#40 @Jackson_porter (literally a throne)



#39 Jenny (tree-tower)




#38 Chris (big tower, small person)



#37 Nicolas and wife (husband and wife in shot for scale)



#36 Shaun (tripod - the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, they said)



#35 Steve (our shortest entry)



#34 Fiona and Fiona minor. (Tower and Fort)




#33 Jessie (Echoes of Eiffel - 175cm)



#32 Sean (the uncharitable might call it a pile rather than a tower - but it still stands a chance at a prize)



#31 Curtis (180cm)



#30 Ville (alien sculpture)



#29 Samantha (a handsome edifice)



#28 Ase (shark fin)



#27 Aurel (something new!)



#26 John (no books ... or people ... were hurt, 185cm)



#25 L.A (as high as she dared)



#24 Deb (Inuit Inukshuk)



#23 Dora (Tower of Babel)



#22 Jose (Happy Bookmas!)



#21 Michael (170cm)



#20 Nicolle (The Star Tower)



#19 Kristina (practically a whole city)



#18 Tamas (a wholly Hungarian tower of me)



#17 Morgan



#16 Erik (155cm!)



#15 Franck (from France - no relation to Mr Eiffel)



#14 Vance (excellent building materials)



#13 Johanna & Lilja (Castle Grimdark)



#12 Liz (as tall as and felled by an 8yo girl)



#11 Dorian + helpers 3 & 5 yo (The Tower of Youth)



#10 Raffael (signed and special editions)



#9 David



#8 Laura (& friend)



#7 Sarah (a castle!)



#6 Scott (a new angle)



#5 Brad (fine product placement)



#4 Juliet (artistic!)



#3 Jeremy (interesting architecture!)



#2 Knut (all my books- hooray!)



#1 Tammy (all signed grimdark!)