Jan 15 2014 12:15pm

More Books and Soon! The Best Bits from the Patrick Rothfuss AMA

Patrick Rothfuss Reddit AMA

The Reddit Fantasy group hosted an AMA from fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss on January 14th and aside from the usual “pants” or “no pants” debate, there were lots of nice little tidbits to share about future books and the world of his Kingkiller Chronicles series. Take a look at the highlights below!


1.) Short stories and novels will explore the history of the Kingkiller Chronicles’ world before the final book in the trilogy.

The first new story rolls out on September 9th of this year. “The Lightning Tree” is a novella that “centers around Bast” and closes out George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois’ next big anthology Rogues.

Rothfuss is also currently working on another novella that illuminates Auri’s back story, as well as a short novel “set in Modeg” telling the origin story of Laniel Young-Again. No release dates have been determined for those projects, but it seems like we could probably expect them for early 2015.

Then after that? Doors of Stone, the final book in the Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy. Then after that? Another set of books from the same world(s).


2. There were some very good questions about aspects of the world that Rothfuss couldn’t/refused to answer.

Such as:

  • Can a person learn their own true name? If so could they command it?
  • Do the Tinkers have a magical ability to give good recommendations? And if so is it inherent (like a knack) or is it gained upon becoming a Tinker?
  • Has anyone in the Four Corners ever looked at the Moon with a telescope? If so, what did they see?

And finally:


3.) Rothfuss is totally up for a peculiar collaboration with Brandon Sanderson and George R. R. Martin:

As relayed from Brandon via a fan who spoke with him at a signing:

Both Brandon and you would create a group of characters separately for one book. Each chapter would trade off between the two of you with the characters doing their own story and fighting between the two groups. When y’all got down to the last 10% of the book, it would be given over to George R.R. Martin to decide who lives, who dies, and who wins.

Rothfuss—and probably the known world—is very much game for this.


4.) The length of a day in Kvothe’s world might be longer than our own.

There’s a really cool, big discussion about how quickly language can be spoken and how folks have determined how long Kvothe’s days are in The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear, based on how much he relays. The details of that are very much worth reading in the AMA itself, but the gist of it is that unless a day in the Four-Corners World is longer than an Earth day, The Wise Man’s Fear would take 27 hours to convey through speaking.

Rothfuss’ response:

Even now, I hesitate to try to give some sort of hard, definitive answer on this question. But here are a few statements that might be informative/interesting/helpful.

  1. It is not unreasonable to think that a day in the four corners is a different length than ours.

  2. Everything in the frame story shouldn’t be included in the wordcount, obviously.

  3. Kvothe would probably tell his story much more quickly than a narrator would read it.

I know this last one to be true because I know the prologue of the book very well, so when I read it out loud, I tend to go about 50% faster than the narrator of the audio book.


5.) Other small updates:

  • The TV show is still in development.
  • Felurian isn’t blue. Though he understands why one would imagine her that way.
  • Spin-off materials such as games, etc. won’t be happening unless Rothfuss can be involved with them, which is something he doesn’t currently have time for.
  • Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn is his favorite fantasy world at the moment.
  • There’s a full verse of “Tinker Tanner” hidden in The Name of the Wind. (And a fan performance of it here.)


Jo Walton’s got a new installment of the Kingkiller Chronicles speculation series for us, so check back with us tomorrow for more Patrick Rothfuss fun! In the meantime, check out the various amazing prizes you can unlock in the current Worldbuilders’ fundraiser.

2. tito2290
Can someone geek out with me about how Rothfus favorite fantasy universe is Scadriel? This is kind of the best thing I have ever heard.
3. naupathia
All I can say is I'm extremely disappointed to learn that DOS will be EVEN FURTHER away =( Last I heard it was supposed to come out this year, and now you're telling me it probably won't be out until 2015? Jeez.

A short story about Bast is nice... but that's doesn't mean it's not a booby prize.

I try not to be one of those people who constantly complains about the length of time for novels to come out... and god knows he's not as bad as GRRM (yet). But I guess it just annoys me when I KNOW the book is done, the wait is just for tweaking, and I don't care I JUST WANT TO KNOW!!!


At least I'll have Words of Radiance to keep me company till then.
Jared Shurin
4. Jared_Shurin
What about the discussion of Fela's bra size? That seems like a top 5 moment for... something.
5. DontDriveAngry
Can't head over to Reddit to see the whole conversation, but glad to see "time" was an issue for other people as well.

Thanks to working at a job that was an hour and a half commute each way at the time, I listened to Wise Man's Fear during my drive and couldn't help but think about how long it took to tell the story, especially during the interludes that reminded me that the entire framing device was someone telling the story over the course of an evening. A nitpicky thing to be sure, but one of those that gets in your mind, and I couldn't let it go.
Dash Watson
6. DashWatson
The most important thing in this entire post seems to me that Pat's favorite fantasy world is Scadrial, from Mistborn. Mine's Roshar, though Scadrial's just about as good.
As for that collaboration with Sanderson and GRRM, we'd all love to see that happen...

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