Book 7, contacting Donaldson, the lost Wards

Post by **Sandgorgon Herbst** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 4:42 am

New to the site so please be patient... It just amazes me that in today's high tech society, nobody has been able to confirm that a Third or Final Chronicles is being written and/or when a publish date is available. If we were the true fans we claim to be, we would hound the publishers, demand information, find Mr. Donaldson's home phone number and/or email address, and find out exactly what is going on instead of relying on phantom information that Mr. Donaldson read bits and pieces of book 7 back in March. Don't get me wrong, I would do just about anything to return to the Land, but we need to find some facts and until we do, book 7 is nothing more than a rumor.
Also, could someone please refresh my memory on the lost wards of power? If I remember correctly, only the first two and the final ones were found, what happened to the ones in between? Finally, for those of you looking for something to read whilke waiting for the elusive book 7, I highly recommend The Bridge Of Birds by Barry Hughart. It is by far the most fantastic self contained story I've ever read.

Post by **danlo** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 5:45 am

Cool!!--great!! I think u're right about the remaining wards!!!--welcome Sandgorgon, be welcome and true! I think we all need 2 b patient 4 a little while--at least thru Dec., b4 bugging Mr. D. Let's c if mouseglove can get any new info by then...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 6:04 am

Besides, if we bug him at his house, how can he get his work done? And I think that in the Wounded Land

Spoiler

The first three wards are in a storage room at Revelstone. So the first three and last one were found, leaving three out there somewhere. Wonder if the Sunbane could have affected them?

Post by **Vain** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 6:28 am

From a 1999 interview:

PN: Okay, you have to know what my first question is going to be-- I've been asking it since we started corresponding ten years ago. Is there going to be a third Chronicles of Thomas Covenant?

SD: It's possible that I will write the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant at some time in the future, but I spent ten years of my life writing the first two, and it was a major undertaking. I promised myself that I'd let a long time pass before I considered doing any more "Covenant". I'm probably closer to tackling that project now than I've ever been. But after seven years on the GAP books, I'm feeling a little burnt out, so it'll probably be some time before I'm up to making another major commitment like that.

Post by **Vain** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 11:18 am

I do remember reading a different interview with SRD in which he stated that if he was hounded to do a book, it would probably motivate him to do the opposite.

Instead - we hope to gently persuade him to our way of thinking

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 4:46 pm

What has 'todays high tech society' got to do with it? If SRD is writing the third chronicles or not, he wouldn't have to tell anyone. Do you actually believe you have a right to know? I can't think of anything worse than - how did you put it 'demanding information, hounding the publishers'

I'm happy to believe those that say they have been at a reading and that the work is in progress. I'll be so very happy to get a copy of the first book, I just can't wait.

Are we not true fans?

Post by **Prince of Amber** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 4:57 pm

That was me.
Mind you I was daft enough to send someone I'd met on this site, in America, a book, expecting at least the cost of the book back. To date (over a year later) I have received nothing, so perhaps I'm just a little gullable, but Hey - I like me like that.

Post by **Michael Giantfriend** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 6:49 pm

Re: The Lost Wards

The first ward was brought back by the Giants after the ritual of desecration. The second was found in the catacoombs beneath Mount Thunder and was brought back by High Lord Prothall. The third was, I seem to remember, found some time after the end of the war, by which time the Lords had chosen to find their own lore rather than blindly follow Kevin's. Amok was the 7th ward, or rather the way to the 7th ward, which was the Power of Command contained in the Earthblood under Melenkurion Skyweir.

As to the other three? That's a whole other story, which I hope will be touched on if & when a 3rd Chronicles is forthcoming.

It's not even happening, yet I'm excited about it.

Post by **kevinswatch** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 7:53 pm

Yeah, I would contact Donaldson...but I'm too scared. Heh.

And yeah, I think Giantfriend got the wards right. I can't elaborate more there. Except that I was horribly depressed when I read that they found the Third Ward, but never used it.

I think I'll probably just patiently wait for the Third/Last Chronicles.-jay

Post by **Lady Genni** » Thu Oct 31, 2002 12:17 am

Regarding the lost Wards...

I would really love it if Donaldson could write a book explaining all of the Wards and how exactly they work separately and together. That would help in understanding how

Spoiler

the Lords fail to use it to it's fullest potential due to the OoP.

Also a written history of Kevin and the "Old Lords" would be really fun. Sort of a fill in the gaps...

I have no input on contacting Donaldson. (sorry)

DEVILSPAWN · Post by **DEVILSPAWN** » Thu Oct 31, 2002 3:07 am

PERHAPS I am a heretic here, but I would also rather see novels about the Old Lords than ones about the end of that world.

Post by **Mouseglove** » Thu Oct 31, 2002 4:41 am

Confirmation has been gotten.

Check the latest few posts on the "Possible News About The 3rd Chronicle" thread. I've heard him read a section of it with my own ears last March, and someone else got confirmation from DelRay that he is writing it.

'Nuff said.

-Mouseglove

Post by **variol son** » Thu Oct 31, 2002 6:01 am

i totally agree with lady genni, a novel on the old lords would b great! theres so much extra stuff 2 find out. imagine reading about the war between the king & queen of doriendor korishev, the arrival of the unhomed, the birth of the ur viles, the vow of the haruchai, the last war between kevin and lord foul, all in the present, fully detailed and explained. theres so much history 2 fully embellish.

Post by **danlo** » Thu Nov 07, 2002 3:49 am

I dug a post in the Old discussion pages that casts an interesting light on the Wards question.

Juntel wrote:

... unless those other undiscovered Wards are some loose ends SRD gave himself - among other things, known or unknown - to give him enough room to create a 3rd trilogy.

Sure, the Land's magic is now somehow different: a new Staff - more alive than the other one could have been, yet maybe more ambiguous, because a dichotomy Findail/Vain could re-awaken; TC now as one of the Land's Dead, somehow guarding/protecting the Arch of Time; two Laws broken - LofDeath/LofLife... et j'en passe...

Who knows what those other wards could 'behave' in such conditions: they could be unusable, unimportant, dead... ; or they could be weirder, more dangerous and potent, easier to use...
The Blood of the Earth was the 7th Ward; with it alone and a single command, Elena broke a major Law. What could the 6th do, be? The Land has been patched over at the end of WGW... so underneath, there's still the old fabric, which could still react to old lore, irritate enough to loosen the seams of the New Order.

And imagine what more SRD could do with those and other unanswered/unvisited regions he has just suggested in both trilogies

...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 2:36 am

A few years ago, I searched for all email addresses belonging to anyone named Stephen Donaldson. I asked the few I found if they were The Man, and one of them was. Without my asking about more Covenant (or any other) books, he said that he absolutely was not writing any more, and that even if someone who we might expect to be in the know said that he was, he was not. He said he was in serious burnout. But that was at least a few years ago.

variol son-
The Haruchai Vow goes like this:
Ha-man rual tayba-sah carab ho-eeal neeta par-raoul.
We are the Bloodguard, the keepers of the Vow - the keepers and the kept, sanctified beyond decline and the last evil of death. Tan-Haruchai. We accept.

The events leading up to it are wonderfully described in Gilden-Fire, even if it's only given a couple pages.

Post by **Worm of Despite** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 4:22 am

Yeah, that connects... In an interview, when asked if he ever had writer's block, he answered that around 96 or so he had what he liked to call a "life block".

Post by **Bahgoon** » Thu Dec 05, 2002 3:17 am

Hello! New here so be gentle. I just (12/04/2002) got an email reply from Del Rey books regarding Donaldson's current writing status. Here it is:

"Dear Mr. Hull,

Thank you for your recent email to Del Rey, and your interest in the Thomas
Covenant series.

The rumor is true: Stephen Donaldson is writing a new Covenant novel, but
he's only about halfway through, won't venture a guess as to when he'll be
done, and hasn't sold it to a publisher yet, so I can't give you any
information on when it will be out. We'll be doing our best to buy it, of
course-wish us luck!

Best wishes,

Rebecca Badurina
Online Representative
Del Rey Books"

Thought many would like to see this.

Regards!

Mhoram · Post by **Mhoram** » Thu Dec 05, 2002 3:39 am

You da man!!! Thanks for the info.

Post by **Landwaster** » Thu Dec 05, 2002 4:37 am

Great to hear that news!

Post by **duchess of malfi** » Thu Dec 05, 2002 6:54 am

Thanks! Great news!

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Book 7, contacting Donaldson, the lost Wards

Book 7, contacting Donaldson, the lost Wards

Sandgorgan

Not logged on.

Re: Book 7, contacting Donaldson, the lost Wards

Book 7 (8 & 9?)