Hi all,Well, we're in a charitable mood. Or else there's something weird in the water here. Either way, we're proud to announce our latest competition, the Comp of Kings.
In honour of the releases of Paul Kearney's The Monarchies of God omnibuses (Hawkwood and the Kings, out now, and Century of the Soldier, due out next month) and Rowena Cory Daniells' The Chronicles of King Rolen's Kin trilogy (The King's Bastard and The Uncrowned King, out now, and The Usurper, due out next month), we're holding an all-kings-themed competition.
(by way of illustration, here are King Tutankhamen, The Lich King, Alison King, Stephen King, The Burger King, Martin Luther King, Jr., King Henry VIII, a King Charles Spaniel, King, and the King:)
"Very nice," I hear you cry, appreciatively, "But what exactly is this competition, David? What do we stand to win?"I'm glad you asked. The two winners will each win a complete set of one of our current monarch-related series; one will receive both The Monarchies of God omnibi (here are those gorgeous Pye Parr/Andrew Evans covers again for you):
...and the other will win all three The Chronicles of King Rolen's Kin books, complete with book-plates signed by Rowena herself! (here are those kick-ass Clint Langley covers again):
"All very well, David," you persist, "But what do I have to do?"
Nothing simpler. Just jump on here, or on our Twitter at @SolarisBooks, and tell us who your favourite fictional king is and why. We'll probably weigh in with our own favourites, purely for the sake of the debate, although, naturally, we're excluded from the competition.
We'll leave the competition open for a couple of days; probably decide on a winner next Monday or something.
Commence!
David
21 comments:
Sorry, just noticed the "fictional"... I'll come up with something else.
I have to go for King Shrewd in Robin Hobb's Assassin-trilogy. He might not be the most pleasant guy around, but I really liked him.
King Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings - there's a man who waited, worked and earned the Kingdom he would rule - and who would be a wiser and fairer ruler than ever Denethor was...
I am utterly OBSESSED with King Richard III. ^_^ He totally gets my vote.
The real man and not the tudor propoganda that has been handed down to us. The fact that we'll probably never truly know what happened to the Princes adds to the intrigue.
I could go on for a long time, but amongst other things, whilst Richard's brother, Edward IV was the first to comission a printed book, it was Richard who really backed the idea of literacy amongst the people, even passing a decree that all law should be written in the common tongue, instead of Latin, for subjects to understand. How sadly ironic that those very printed words were then used to slander him for eternity.
Anyways, yep - Diccon gets my vote ^__^
DOH! Fictional king!!! >_<
I was too eager....hahaha.
King Robert Baratheon, of A Song of Ice and Fire fame. A mighty warrior in his youth, who won his kingdom on the face of his warhammer; fattened up by the excesses of kingship and a poisonous wife. A tale of caution to us all.
Old King Cole -
He's a merry old sole.
The Pirate King, from Pirates of Penzance (because it is, it is, a glorious thing to be a Pirate King!)
"I thought, too, of the King in Yellow wrapped in the fantastic colours of his tattered mantle, and that bitter cry of Cassilda, 'Not
upon us, oh King, not upon us!'" - Robert Chambers, The Repairer of Reputations
All pretty good suggestions so far. I'm gonna weigh in with the Great Deceiver, the Lord of Lies, the Adversary, Little Horn, Beast of the Apocalypse.
Not because he's the King of Hell, but because of his lesser-known title, the King of the World.
@Emma: I'm down with Tricky Dicky. He's still ruled out of the contest, but he's a totally cool king. I blame Buckingham for the twins.
The King in Yellow. The terrible, terrible ruler of lost Carcosa, whose very image is enough to drive men insane.
And he's completely kick-ass too. After all, those who dare to read the play in which he stars are driven mad by the "irresistible truths".
Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed, it's time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
The King in Yellow still freaks me out, twenty years after I first read Robert Chalmers's book!
Well he's sort of fictional, I'd have to go for The King from Bubba Ho-Tep by Joe R Lansdale. He's an ass-whupping, kung fu fighting legend who took down a soul-sucking mummy from ancient egypt. Absolutely classic and one of the weirdest and most fun films too with the legend that is Bruce Campbell and late great Ossie Davis.
I had a look at my bookcase last night and I have surprisingly few books that have a king as their protagonist. I mean there's the Belgariad, but Garion is not quite that cool a king. Who is cool, though a supporting character, is Drustan Mab Necthana from the Kushiel books, but he's a cruarch, which is not quite a king.
So I ended up picking Zachary Hillander from Kristen Britain's Green Rider series, because he's kind, he's strong and he's just, but most importantly he's human, caught between a rock and a hard place and having to choose to do what's right instead of what he wants. and he keeps the main character of the books, Karigan, hopping :D
I'm going to have to agree with Michele and go with Aragorn. Sometimes the classics are the best. :)
I'd have to say King Arthur. How many iterations has he been through and we still seem mystified by him. Also, although he's been fictionalized so much there's some evidence suggesting his exploits might have been based on a real "king". How many fictional kings can say that they might have been real?
you forgot the Kings of Leon...
but, back on track, I'll go for Smaug - he was the real King Under the Mountain, never mind them pesky dwarves....
My primary choice would be King Jezal the First from Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law" trilogy.
We haven't seen much of his career as a ruler yet, but the progress he made from a noble selfish snob to a king actually concerned about his land and people was captivating enough. Even though he's raised to the throne by the machinations of lords and sorcerers, he finds the strength to oppose his puppeteers soon enough. That's bonus points all along. :)
If I'm allowed to add a runner-up, that would be The Crimson King from the "Dark Tower" series (and some other Stephen King books). Mainly because I have a weakness for super-cool evil forces.
Al'Lan Mandragoran the uncrowned King of Malkier for "Taming" Nynaeve.
Quick question: Will you be releasing the Kearny Omnibi on Kindle?
FitzChivalry from two of my most favorite series of books, The Farseer Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy - By Robin Hobb.
He was technically king, except he didn't want it. He should have been king, but he was always in the shadows, sacrificing everything, even the woman he loved for so many years, to keep the "farseer" name (his bloodline) on the throne to ultimately bring peace and prosperity, where there was chaos and destruction.
I don't want to go into too much detail and possibly ruin the book(s) for anyone, so I'm gonna keep it short and sweet.
It is a fine series, with many details and characters, but FitzChivalry is one I will never forget. Truly a King, but not a king.
Post a Comment