News Flashing | Joe Abercrombie To Work On A New Trilogy

Feed Reader used to be my RSS feed reader of choice. I think it was the first thing Google coughed up, back when I began looking for an app to alert me to new posts from all the blogs and news sites I follow. A little while later, I moved over to Newz Crawler, and that was pretty decent as a desktop PC experience -- except, of course, for the z in the title, which annoyed me every time I remembered it. Even now, just thinking about it, it annoys me.

But we're not talking about my pet peeves. And anyway, since took the plunge on my eee Pad Transformer a few months ago, I've moved over again, and found an experience so convenient, immediate and accessible - not to mention beautiful to look at - that now I don't know if I could ever go back.

I've been using Newsr for Honeycomb, via Google Reader, and though it means I only ever see what folks have been blogging about when I'm done working for the day and I've settled down in the evening with my tablet and a nice cup of coffee, it's just such a wonderful experience that I can't bring myself to mind said shortcomings. So if any of you are looking for a better way, there you are.

Otherwise, please do excuse the digression -- I actually do have some news to share. Huge news... I think. See, yesterday evening, I was scrolling through my 300-odd feeds, and I came upon this post on the Orbit Books blog, wherein the following was said:

"Orbit US has signed for four new novels with Joe Abercrombie. The first will be a standalone and then a trilogy -- all set in the same world as The First Law trilogy."

We knew, of course, that Abercrombie was working on another standalone fantasy novel to follow The Heroes with, set in the same shared world as all his works to date, but as for afters? I know I didn't have a clue. Did you?

We all adore Joe Abercrombie, right? By the dead, we certainly should.

So is this huge news...

...or is it just news to me?

The Scotsman Abroad | The Heroes and The Hype

There are a lot of big hitters to look forward to in 2011. From my particular perspective, The Wise Man's Fear can't get here soon enough; I'm as excited about The Republic of Thieves as much as the next guy - though with certain reservations; and while to my eternal shame I'm a mile behind on A Song of Ice and Fire, the notion of new George R. R. Martin certainly sets my heart a-fluttering, so certainly A Dance With Dragons is high on my annual bookish bucket list.

But you know what? Nothing beats new Joe Abercrombie. Simply because the guy's more timely and reliable than the aforementioned array of capital fantasy names, the hype train behind his latest - and greatest - seems somewhat perversely like it lacks the momentum of the long-delayed. Which leaves me wondering just how incredibly easily marketers could manufacture the sort of pant-wetting excitement that greets and any all news about the trio up there.


Anyway.

The Heroes, out now from Gollancz in the UK and Orbit in the US, is handily Joe Abercrombie's best book, and though I'm afraid you won't be seeing a review of it here on The Speculative Scotsman, sell-out speculator that I am - and as Scotch as spring broth - I did indeed review it. In fact I reviewed it way back when, in November. But the overlords at Strange Horizons (bless them every one) have only just pressed the big red PUBLISH button on my rather lengthy piece.


Reading it over now, with a few weeks and months between me and it, to my surprise I'm pretty pleased with how it came out: so please, do pop on over and have a look at the review in full.

Quoth the Scotsman: Joe Abercrombie on The Times

A couple of caveats to bear in mind before we start. Unless otherwise indicated, none of the quotes quoted in the following article are representative of the beliefs of the person in question quoted nor those the person quoting the person in question. Additionally, any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental... or so I'm saying.

In short, Quoth the Scotsman is just a space here on TSS for me to post neat quotes as and when I come across them. Simple. As. That.

***

 

There's this book coming out in January, you might have heard of it: The Heroes, by a little-known author who calls himself Joe Abercrombie. I reviewed one of his more obscure works - Best Served Cold - back when The Speculative Scotsman was but a bittersweet twinkle in my eye. It wasn't my favourite of his fictions, but nevertheless, I did quite enjoy it.

...enough to have just about exploded when my galley of The Heroes arrived a wee while back, that is. So. Let's get us a little quote from that on the go, shall we?

From The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

Coming in January from Gollancz

"People are apt to get all misty-eyed over how things used to be. Age o' heroes and all. Well, I remember the old way. I was there, and it was no different to the new [...] It's the winners sing the songs. And they can pick what tune they please." (p.636)

Go! Go! Joe Abercrombie Excerpt

Now I don't make a habit of posting blurbs and cover art and excerpts. These things, they have their place on the blogosphere - I wouldn't question it - but by and large, those places aren't here. If you want all that jazz to factor into your daily reading, the aforementioned Aidan's got you covered, with class, concise commentary et al.

Which isn't to say I don't ever repost publicity materials: only that it takes a special case for me to make an exception. For the record, China Mieville and Brandon Sanderson (more on whom soon) are the only authors whose excerpts I've pimped out via intravenous TSS. Two excerpts in six-and-some months... not bad going.

Well, make that three. Yesterday, in their newsletter, Gollancz released an exclusive excerpt from The Heroes - Joe Abercrombie's still-a-ways-out next novel, due in the new year - to subscribers. And with everyone's favourite Uncle nodding permission from the comfy chair I set up for him in the corner, I'm reproducing it here for those of you who don't subscribe to the monthly email loveliness. Which you almost certainly should. In fact, let me introduce you to a link to ease the very thing.

Anyway. The excerpt:

Chapter 1 of The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

Splattering Brain Matter Starting January 2011

I haven't been able to read it myself yet - my pesky computer keeps choking on the URL - but, and this should come as no surprise to (love you) longtime readers, I'm something of an Abercrombie devotee. Though I was a touch disappointed by the unrelenting and often rather rote violence of Best Served Cold - the full review is here - The First Law trilogy represented a refreshingly frank and realistic new direction for fantasy at the time of its publication. I did it, too, something of a disservice, stopping and starting throughout despite having the whole saga to hand; by the time I came to read it in full, the style of storytelling Abercrombie pioneered had already been imitated ad infinitum. Despite that, I have a great deal of respect for the author, and high hopes for The Heroes, which is set to go back to the well in terms of setting and a couple of returning characters.

Here's the blurb, in case you haven't perused it yet:

"War: where the blood and dirt of the battlefield hide the dark deeds committed in the name of glory. The Heroes is about violence and ambition, gruesome deaths and betrayals; and the brutal truth that no plan survives contact with enemy. The characters are the stars, as ever, and the message is dark: when it comes to war, there are no heroes...

Meet the heroes.

Curnden Craw: a ruthless fighter who wants nothing more than to see his crew survive.

Prince Calder: a liar and a coward, he will regain his crown by any means necessary.

Bremer dan Gorst: a master swordsman, a failed bodyguard, his honor will be restored - in the blood of his enemies.

Over three days, their fates will be sealed."

Roll on January, right?

Meantime, I'm going to see if I can't get that excerpt working for myself...

Coming Attractions: The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

We've been hearing about The Heroes for a while, now - for one thing, Joe name-dropped this tremendously exciting forthcoming fantasy in a few interviews for Best Served Cold - but today, thanks to Lauren Panepinto over on the Orbit Books blog, we know that much more.

For starters, here's the blurb:

"War: where the blood and dirt of the battlefield hide the dark deeds committed in the name of glory. The Heroes is about violence and ambition, gruesome deaths and betrayals; and the brutal truth that no plan survives contact with enemy. The characters are the stars, as ever, and the message is dark: when it comes to war, there are no heroes...

Meet the Heroes.

Curnden Craw: a ruthless fighter who wants nothing more than to see his crew survive.

Prince Calder: a liar and a coward, he will regain his crown by any means necessary.

Bremer dan Gorst: a master swordsman, a failed bodyguard, his honor will be restored - in the blood of his enemies.

Over three days, their fates will be sealed."

I never did finish the First Law trilogy, though I still mean to, and while I'll admit to having had a few issues with Best Served Cold - you can read more those in The Speculative Scotsman's review here - to say I'm looking forward to Joe's next novel doesn't quite do my anticipation justice. Three primary characters and three days; from that brief tidbit alone it seems likely that The Heroes will have the focus and precision that I found lacking in Best Served Cold.

Of course, the blood, the guts, the grim and glorious - I don't doubt all that'll be present and correct in The Heroes, too. This is a new Joe Abercrombie novel we're talking about here!

Lauren, the darling, was also good enough to reveal the current state of its cover art:

Gorgeous... well, that wouldn't be the word to describe the Steve Stone art reflected in the spatters of blood which will adorn the US edition of The Heroes come March next year, but at the least I appreciate that in a general sense it matches the rather controversial Stateside cover of Best Served Cold. It's worth noting that the map in the background is only placeholder until the artist finishes his geographical rendition of the latest fantasy kingdom to emerge from Joe's imagination.

I'll be very interested to see what we can look forward to here in the UK in terms of cover art. Expect an installment of Cover Identity on that very subject forthwith!

It's still a year away - so long to wait! - but between the blurb and the cover art, you can count The Speculative Scotsman good and psyched for The Heroes' eventual release.

In the interim, perhaps I'll finally finish The First Law. Is it worth my time, readers? Bear in mind I've only read the first book in the trilogy, and though I found Best Served Cold a bit of a slog at times, by the time I turned the last page I'd enjoyed the hell out of it.