Not that I've heard, though IIRC what a friend who've read it told me long ago, you could feel his interest in anthropology.

It sounds like a fairly transparent fishline from Bantam, to see if now that Erikson is a critically acclaimed Fantasy writer he could attract more attention from mainstream media with his mainstream novels than he did in his early career as an unknown. I doubt it's really aimed at Malazan fans, most of which might never become aware of the book unless some bookstores place it by mistake with his Malazan books in the fantasy section.