The City of Splendors: The Cities - Hardcover

Greenwood, Ed; Cunningham, Elaine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786937661 ISBN 13: 9780786937660

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast, 2005

Synopsis

The fourth novel in The Cities series, set against the background
of civil strife at the heart of the Forgotten Realms setting.

This novel is set in the most important city of the Forgotten Realms setting:
Waterdeep, city of intrigue and secrets. Its authors are considered by fans to be
among the most authoritative figures writing in the Forgotten Realms
setting, and each has a legion of loyal readers. This novel is their first
collaboration.

ED GREENWOOD lives in Ontario, where he created the Forgotten Realms setting more than 30 years ago and has written hundreds of articles, novels, stories, and game products in the setting. His most recent novel is Elminster’s Daughter.

ELAINE CUNNINGHAM published her first novel, Elfshadow, in 1991. Since
then she’s written the Songs & Swords series, the Counselors & Kings series,
and the Starlight & Shadows trilogy, concluding it with Windwalker. She is
also the author of the Star Wars® novel Dark Journey.

About this title

Review:

Amazon.com Exclusive Content

Amazon.com's Significant Seven
Ed Greenwood kindly agreed to take the life quiz we like to give to all our authors: the Amazon.com Significant Seven.

Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
A: I can't possibly pick just one. The Lord of the Rings is one of them, but there have been so many. I have 80,000 of them at home right now.

Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD--what are they?
A: The book: any Discworld omnibus (Terry Pratchett), because I'm greedy. I think I'll ask him if I can pick my own selection, the next time his publishers are slapping several titles together. If it really must be just a single book: A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay.

The CD: Cheating time again. Your Hundred Best Tunes (London label, two four-CD sets, but a dearly loved and now-vanished store, the Madrigal, once sold them taped together, in a brick of glorious music). Force me to pick just one? I can't. Tubular Bells? Selling England by the Pound? Eldorado? No, I just can't.

The DVD: Jackson's complete Lord of the Rings set. If I really can only pick a single disc: The Man Who Would Be King (Connery, Caine, and Plummer). Beats The Princess Bride by a nose, some days but not others.

Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told?
A: Not telling a friend that the love of her life had just been killed, because I didn't think she should learn that from me, in that place, at that time. It hurt to do it, and I still think it was the right thing to do, but it still hurts.

Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: A Secret Place: a quiet spot where I can go off by myself to think. For me, a forest glade. That just happens to have electricity running up a handy stump, right beside a smooth stump angled to sit upon. Not just for my computer, but for kettles so I can brew endless mugs of green tea and hot chocolate.

Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
A: Here lies Ed, who tried to make people happy. Please sit down and have an easy moment. I now have plenty to share.

Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with?
A: Any of my grandfathers ("Any?" long story), because I was too young to be able to pick their brains in a candid, man-to-man fashion ere they died. Not just because I'd love to know the truth, or at least their side, of various family tales, events, and disputes. Not just because I desperately want to know more of their characters, and spend more time with them. It's also because they were gushing, articulate fonts of knowledge about times now gone, the daily customs and attitudes and aspirations of "then." The saying: "There were MEN in those days" comes to mind. And no, I'm not belittling the women of the family. They did talk to me, at eloquent length, before passing away. They knew the importance of sharing and passing lore on.

Q: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
A: The power to read people's minds, at very close range and only when I tried to. Not to read bank account numbers or anything of the sort, but to know their true feelings, so as not to offend and so I can best make them happy. Spreading happiness has to be the most heroic thing ordinary folk can daily do.

About the Author:

Ed Greenwood lives in Ontario, where he created the Forgotten Realms setting more than 30 years ago and has written hundreds of articles, novels, stories, and game products in the setting. His most recent novel is Elminster's Daughter.

Elaine Cunningham published her first novel, Elfshadow, in 1991. Since then she's written the Songs & Swords series, the Counselors & Kings series, and the Starlight & Shadows trilogy, concluding it with Windwalker. She is also the author of the Star Wars® novel Dark Journey.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0786937661
• ISBN 13: 9780786937660
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480