On October 6, 2026, Tad Williams released the 10th volume in his iconic fantasy world of Osten Ard. Titled The Splintered Sun, this latest book is a prequel that serves as a new entry point into Williams' long-running fantasy world, kickstarting a fresh series, Flann's Crows. Following the titular exiled noble Flann and his band of rebels, this new novel is a shift in tone from the sweeping epic style of the previous Osten Ard books, which Williams compared to the tighter style of George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas during a rare panel-style conversation between the two authors released this week by his publisher DAW Books to celebrate the release of The Splintered Sun.
Osten Ard is a name which holds a great amount of meaning in the fantasy genre. Williams' first novel in this setting, The Dragonbone Chair, was published in 1988 and solidified his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series as highly influential to many other authors, thanks to its intricate worldbuilding that was steeped in realism, memorable characters, and grand yet unpredictable story.
One such reader who was greatly influenced by Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn was none other than George R.R. Martin. Martin was already well established by this point, but as a science fiction writer who specialized in short fiction and standalone novels. He had never written an epic fantasy, though he deeply loved the works of authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard. But during their discussion, Martin reflected on how discovering The Dragonbone Chair convinced him that he could take that leap himself.
How Tad Williams' The Dragonbone Chair influenced George R.R. Martin
"When your book came along, The Dragonbone Chair, it did have a huge influence. I said, this guy knows. He writes a good book," Martin recalled. "You weren't just copying Middle-earth. You were doing your own thing and there was a sense of history in it. There was a sense of realism. There were characters that I cared about and identified with and that was one of the things that made me think maybe I could do it."
In the 1970s and '80s, the fantasy genre was primarily rife with two types of stories: "Tolkien imitators," as Martin calls them, which reused many of the elements from Lord of the Rings but in a shallower way; and sword & sorcery tales like Conan the Barbarian, which often featured swashbuckling adventures in worlds that weren't necessarily developed as richly as Middle-earth. While both Williams and Martin have books they love that came out of this era, there were far more that they deemed to fall short of the sort of promise Tolkien's epic fantasy had shown readers. Martin credits The Dragonbone Chair with beginning to shift that status quo.
"What you were doing with Dragonbone Chair seemed to make the point that there was room for really good epic, high fantasy," he said.
Tad Williams on the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien
Williams himself was also deeply influenced by Tolkien, enough that this era of imitators left him with plenty of food for thought for how he wanted to approach his own fantasy story — and what made Tolkien's work so uniquely well.
"It wasn't just that they were derivative or that the books were kind of pastiche-ish, it was also that they just kind of absorbed all of the tropes that Tolkien had carefully chosen, like what elves were supposed to be like or dwarves or whatever, and they had made them wholly writ," Williams said. "So yeah, I had that kind of feeling that I wanted to do that in a different way."
Williams digs into the idea that many of this specific choices Tolkien made were "idosyncratic to him, which is one of the reasons the books are so emotionally resonant." He knew that his own life experiences were different enough that following too closely in those footsteps simply wouldn't have given him the space to create something authentic to his own tastes. So he didn't.
"Thank you for noticing way back in the day, George, yes exactly, I tried to go into it and say: 'How do I make something that helps me...that I would like to read because of loving fantasy?'" Williams said.
Part of the entrance into this new path that Williams charted is another love he and Martin share: historical fiction. This colored his approach with Osten Ard in ways that led to it being dubbed "hard fantasy," on account of its more realistic imagining of a secondary fantasy world.
"I did not invent [the term], I don't always know what it means, but there is a certain sense of grit and realism, and you know...real historical complexity in certain fantasy books," Williams explained. "Obviously, I think very strongly that you brought that into Westeros, and I tried to bring that into Osten Ard."
According to Williams, most of his favorite fantasy novels utilize this method, not simply to overwhelm readers with little details, but to reassure them that they won't have to suspend their disbelief — something he claims is the "most important thing for a fantasy writer," in order to draw in readers and convince them they can "trust this journey" they're about to go in on the novel.
"Even if this place is crazy, even if it has magic and dragons...it's real," Williams said. "While you're visiting here, you will always feel it's real. And that's what all the best fantasy [does]."
If you're at all interested in the fantasy genre, I cannot recommend watching the full video of Williams and Martin's discussion above. This is the first time that these two authors have spoken like this in a panel-style setting since 2011, and it is fascinating to hear them dig into the history of the genre and how it shaped their respective works.
The Splintered Sun is available now from DAW. In addition, they've also released a brand new deluxe hardcover edition of The Dragonbone Chair, so whether you want to jump into the latest Osten Ard book or start right from the beginning, there are some wonderful avenues out there to experience this incredibly influential fantasy saga.
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