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Brian Staveley

Goodreads Author

Website

http://brianstaveley.com/index/

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brianstaveley

Genre

Fantasy, Science Fiction

Member Since

December 2011

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I live on a long dirt road in rural Vermont where I divide my time between mountain biking with my son, trying to play piano music that is far too difficult for me, running trails, doing laundry, splitting wood, thinking I really ought to wash the kitchen floor and then not, cursing at the pie crust for sticking to the surface, drinking beers with friends out by the firepit, and sometimes trying to write books.

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Can I be bold and ask some more questions? What influences from history (if any) did you draw upon when writing The Emperor's Blades? Do you undertake much research when preparing to write?

Brian Staveley Fire away.

I taught ancient world history as well as comparative religion for a bunch of years, and the influences from real-world history are legion.…moreFire away.

I taught ancient world history as well as comparative religion for a bunch of years, and the influences from real-world history are legion. Just to pick a few:
The Shin monks pull from Buddhism, Taoism, and Shinto, (though, of course, their religions is very different from any of the above).
The Annurian Empire, in terms of population, level of technology, extent of trade, etc, is similar to Tang era China. It is NOT Tang China, there are hundreds of differences, but that provided a jumping-off point.
The Kettral were my attempt to make a fantasy version of modern special forces, something I hadn't really seen done before.
The conflict between the Church of Intarra and the Unhewn Throne has myriad historical precedents all over the world.

As far as research goes, most of the initial inspiration came from the work I was doing to prepare my classes. I have, however, read plenty of books and articles while I was writing my own books to fill in some blanks and to glean more inspiration...(less)

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How would you respond to criticism of gender roles within the Emperors Blades? Specifically that the men get to go off and do their training montages, becoming future heros. And Adare stays at home, minding the store, waiting to get married. (Despite maneuvering through a sticky political situation in less 'screen time')

Brian Staveley Thanks for the question. I think it's a valid criticism of the first book, taken on its own. I'm optimistic, however, that anyone who continues with t…moreThanks for the question. I think it's a valid criticism of the first book, taken on its own. I'm optimistic, however, that anyone who continues with the story will find women -- all sorts of women -- doing a lot more than minding the store. There's a reason that Adare figures front and center on both the US and UK covers of The Providence of Fire. Wish I could say more, but almost everything is a spoiler!(less)

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Brian Staveley’s books

Average rating: 4.09 · 92,634 ratings · 6,787 reviews · 21 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #1) 4.09 avg rating — 40,227 ratings — published 2014 — 45 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Providence of Fire (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #2) 4.12 avg rating — 23,620 ratings — published 2015 — 40 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Mortal Bond (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #3) 4.06 avg rating — 17,234 ratings — published 2016 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Skullsworn (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #4) 4.09 avg rating — 5,148 ratings — published 2017 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Empire's Ruin (Ashes of the Unhewn Throne, #1) 4.44 avg rating — 2,652 ratings — published 2021 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Abbot of Ashk’lan (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #1.5) 3.95 avg rating — 776 ratings — published 2015	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Emperor's Blades: Chapters-1-7 3.94 avg rating — 363 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Log Goblin 3.51 avg rating — 365 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #1-3) 4.28 avg rating — 195 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Empire's Ruin Sneak Peek 3.86 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Brian Staveley's Blog

The Empire's Ruin

Happy New Year, folks!

A quick note to let you know that I just handed in (this morning) the author-reviewed copyedited manuscript of THE EMPIRE'S RUIN. It's big, my longest book yet, weighing in at 301,000 words.

This one's the start of a new trilogy. You might recognize a certain red-haired Kettral demolitions expert on the cover. She's one of three POV characters. There's also a whole new contin Read more of this blog post »

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Published on January 04, 2021 09:27 • Tags: epic, fantasy, sff

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Series by Brian Staveley

Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne (4 books)
by

Brian Staveley (Goodreads Author)

4.10 avg rating — 89,849 ratings

Ashes of the Unhewn Throne (1 book)
by

Brian Staveley (Goodreads Author)

4.44 avg rating — 2,651 ratings

If you love the fantasy genre, this is the season for you! Some of the biggest books out this fall promise to be epics full of magic, adventure,...

Polls

Vote for Jan-Feb Theme. Recall, this period we always have an Anthology focus for one theme. This vote would be for a possible second discussion.

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Húrin

8 votes, 23.5%

Brian Staveley's The Emperor's Blades

The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #1) by Brian Staveley

8 votes, 23.5%

Brian Lumley's Hero of Dreams

6 votes, 17.6%

Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) by Patrick Rothfuss

6 votes, 17.6%

David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus

2 votes, 5.9%

Scott Oden's A Gathering of Ravens

1 vote, 2.9%

Scott Oden's A Gathering of Ravens. However, that book will not be released until May 2017! (write-in)

1 vote, 2.9%

The Name of the Wind (write-in)

1 vote, 2.9%

Brian Staveley's The Empreror's Blades (write-in)

1 vote, 2.9%

William King's Gotrek & Felix: The First Omnibus

Gotrek & Felix The First Omnibus by William King

0 votes, 0.0%

34 total votes

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