Category Archive for ‘announcements’ rss

Germany on FIRE…blade

September 12th, 2007 • 13 Comments


The German language edition of Before They are Hanged is available on amazon.de – Feuerklingen (or Fireblade for the Engish-speakers amongst us). This is, of course, the breathlessly awaited sequel to Kriegsklingen (or Warblade to you and I).


You will note immediately that the German publisher, Heyne, have gone for a much more “straight ahead” fantasy approach with the covers. I actually really dig them of their type, though – lean, sharp, and graphic, and managing to remain quite classy. Plus they have my name in big letters, which never gets old. They’re actually massive books compared to the English language versions – at 800 pages a piece they have a Robert Jordan level of heftiness. Apparently you usually gain about a third in length with a translation from English, which gives them some problems when you have a book that’s already at a Robert Jordan level of heftiness, I imagine.

The slightly-abstract-titles-derived-from-quotes approach evidently doesn’t work for our cousins across the channel. The Spanish The Blade Itself has become La Voz de Las Espadas (The Voice of the Swords) and I believe the French publisher, J’ailu, are thinking of something similar for when they publish in February. The Germans have gone stripped-down and ready for battle with Kriegsklingen, Feuerklingen, and I don’t know what they’re planning to call Last Argument of Kings, but I bet it’s got Klingen on the end of it. Not enormously closely related to the content, but looking at titles and covers of current German fantasy series, there does seem to be a trend over there for these simple, punchy, repetitive series titles and these dark, graphicy covers. A linguistic thing? A cultural thing? Who knows, but one can only assume that the publishers know their own markets, and brand their products accordingly …

Hello America

August 25th, 2007 • 7 Comments

Although the US edition of The Blade Itself isn’t actually due in stores until 6th September, I’m delighted to report that amazon.com is stocking it from today, and at a generous discount. Only think, you could order that bad boy right now and crack the spine ten days before publication date. Only imagine: for those 240 hours, your friends will worship you like a god.

Simultaneously, a review from the appropriately titled Blood, Blade & Thruster, the magazine that mixes speculative fiction, satire, and self-deprecating humour (it’s like they made a magazine just for me). They say, among other things:

“A fantasy novel full of enough ironic and slightly self-deprecating humor and Scorcese-esque violence to make the average hipper than thou non-fantasy reader want to learn more about the genre (my favorite kind to convert), yet filled with enough touchstones to make your average Tolkien weaned fantasy reader quite happy indeed … This book is highly recommended by BBT Magazine!”

So any Americans out there, fantasy fans or otherwise, keen to find out what all the fuss is about?

You know what to do …

Up and Running

August 1st, 2007 • 8 Comments

Welcome one and all to joeabercrombie.com, the website of fantasy writer, film-editor and bon-vivant, Joe Abercrombie. That’d be me.

Welcome, specifically, to the blog section, the beating heart of the entire enterprise, where I will be writing and updating regularly (and not at all five times in the first week, once a week for the next five weeks, once more six months later saying “hey, I’m back, everyone!” and then never again). Apologies in advance for the inevitable examples of dodgy formatting, shoddy writing, and incomprehensible nonsense that will no doubt occur as I try to fumble my way to competence with the interface (and, indeed, with life itself).

I’ll be bringing you the latest news about my work, of course – new books, new editions, new translations, public appearances even – straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were.

I’ll be trawling the internet for those nuggets of gold and nuggets of poo that people write about me and my books, bringing them to your attention and discussing . . . how they make me feel, deep down in my rotten, shriveled little remnant of a heart.

I may well be adding my worthless opinion to the already impossibly vast amount of worthless opinions out there, when some hot topic sweeps through the blogosphere like a forest fire of fury. We will see if at a single stroke I can irritate and alienate half or more of my potential readership.

I might even discuss a few entirely unrelated topics, like food, the London underground, TV series, video games, and so on. If I happen upon anything I love, you’ll be among the first to find out. I don’t hate everything, you know.

Just 99% of everything.