Fantasies, not all, but a lot, are designed to be big, sweeping adventures. The bigger and, er, sweepier, the better. But just how big have some of these epics grown? The answer – really, really, really big. Gabe Habash over at Publishers Weekly took a stroll through Robert Jordan’s never-ever ending The Wheel of Time and found out it currently clocks in at 11,308 total pages which equates to 4,012,859 total words! (I wonder how many of those words are “the”?) As Gabe also notes for comparison, GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (you might have heard of it, but maybe not, I don’t think it has vampires or zombies 🙂 is a mere 4,304 pages. A piffle. You can read the whole article here: http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/PWxyz/?p=6069&utm_source=Publishers+Weekly%27s+PW+Daily&utm_campaign=f6a3175e8f-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email

My contribution to the genre of big sweepiness thus far, even when you include Ashes of a Black Frost not yet out, will probably be around 350,000 words all in, including the fine print on the back cover that lets you know a book about Iron Elves is, in fact, fiction.

If you want to see some folks who have done way more damage to trees than Konowa and the boys, check out this list compiled by Victor Stanciu at walkintomordor.com:

http://walkintomordor.com/the-longest-fantasy-series-and-why-we-read-them

So, the contest. Out of that massive list of huge fantasies (the sweeping is implied at this point) I’ve read exactly three of the series in their totality. If you can guess the three series I’ve read completely you will receive the complete Iron Elves series, in hardcover, signed by yours truly. In fact, I’ll pick three winners (randomly chosen) if more than one gets it right. Ashes isn’t out until October, but I’ll end the contest August 15 and announce the winners then (and you’ll get your signed copy of Ashes when it publishes). And to be sporting about it, you can submit three guesses. I’ll even give you a hint. It’s not Conan, Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire, or surprisingly, Discworld.

UPDATE! It was pointed out to me this is insanely hard, and um, yeah, you’re right. So, even if you guess and are wrong, you are still automatically entered to win a complete set of signed copies. If anyone does actually guess right I’ll come up with an even bigger prize.

So which three series could it be…