| Joe Abercrombie | |
|---|---|
 Abercrombie at Swecon in 2012 | |
| Born | Joseph Edward Abercrombie Lancaster, Lancashire, England |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Lancaster Royal Grammar School |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester |
| Period | 2004–present |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Notable works | The First Law Shattered Sea |
| Website | |
| joeabercrombie | |
Joseph Edward Abercrombie is a British author. He is the author of The First Law trilogy, as well as other fantasy books in the same setting and a trilogy of young adult novels. His novel Half a King won the 2015 Locus Award for best young adult book.
Life and education
Abercrombie was born in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. He was educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Manchester University, where he studied psychology. He has a wife, Lou.
Abercrombie has been an avid player of video games since his childhood. In an interview with Edge magazine, Abercrombie stated that video games have been a big influence on his writing, including early interest in text-based adventure games and historically based strategy games such as Civilization and Age of Empires. Other favorite games of Abercrombie's include Elite, Dungeon Master, Street Fighter II, and Red Dead Redemption.
Career
Abercrombie had a job making tea at a television production company before taking up a career as a freelance film editor. As a freelance film editor, Abercrombie found himself with more free time than he previously had. With this time, he decided to reconsider a story plot he conceived while attending University.
Abercrombie began writing The Blade Itself in 2002, completing it in 2004. It took a year of rejection by publishing agencies before Gillian Redfearn of Gollancz accepted the book for a five-figure deal in 2005. It was published by Gollancz in 2006 and was followed in the succeeding two years by two other books in the trilogy, by the titles of Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings, respectively. In 2008, Joe Abercrombie was a finalist for the John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer. That same year Abercrombie was one of the contributors to the BBC Worlds of Fantasy series, alongside other contributors such as Michael Moorcock, Terry Pratchett and China Miéville. In 2009, Abercrombie released the novel Best Served Cold. It is set in the same world as The First Law Trilogy but is a stand-alone novel. He followed with The Heroes (2011) and Red Country (2012), both again set in the world of the First Law Trilogy. The three standalone novels were later collected into an omnibus edition under the name The Great Leveller.
In 2011, Abercrombie signed a deal with Gollancz for four more books set in the First Law world. In 2013, HarperCollins' fantasy and children's imprints acquired the rights to three books by Abercrombie, aimed at younger readers. The three standalone but interconnected novels were released as the Viking-influenced Shattered Sea trilogy.
In April 2022, Tor announced that it had acquired a new trilogy from Abercrombie at auction. The first book in the new series, The Devils, is set to release in May 2025.
Bibliography
The First Law
Main article: The First Law| Series | Book | Date |
|---|---|---|
| The First Law trilogy | The Blade Itself | May 2006 |
| Before They Are Hanged | March 2007 | |
| Last Argument of Kings | March 2008 | |
| Standalone novels | Best Served Cold | June 2009 |
| The Heroes | January 2011 | |
| Red Country | October 2012 | |
| Age of Madness trilogy | A Little Hatred | September 2019 |
| The Trouble With Peace | September 2020 | |
| The Wisdom of Crowds | September 2021 | |
| Short story collections | Sharp Ends | April 2016 |
| The Great Change (And Other Lies) | September 2023 |
The Age of Madness trilogy is set in the same fictional world as the First Law books during an industrial revolution.
Short fiction
All short fiction is collected in Sharp Ends: Stories from the World of the First Law (April 2016) and The Great Change (And Other Lies) (September 2023).
| Story | Published in | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| "The Fool Jobs" | Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery anthology (June 2010) and in Sharp Ends. | Features Curnden Craw and his dozen in events prior to The Heroes. |
| "Yesterday, Near A Village Called Barden" | As an extra in the Waterstones hardcover version of The Heroes (2012) and in Sharp Ends. | Focuses on Bremer dan Gorst on campaign prior to The Heroes. |
| "Freedom!" | As an extra in the Waterstones hardcover version of Red Country (2013) and in Sharp Ends. | Focuses on the liberation of the town of Averstock by the Company of the Gracious Hand. |
| "Skipping Town" | Legends: Stories in Honour of David Gemmell anthology (November 2013) and in Sharp Ends. | Features the couple pairing of Shevedieh (Shev) and Javre, Lioness of Hoskopp. |
| "Some Desperado" | Dangerous Women anthology (December 2013) and in Sharp Ends. | Features Shy South on the run during her outlaw days before Red Country. |
| "Tough Times All Over" | Rogues anthology (June 2014) and in Sharp Ends. | Follows courier Carcolf and the circuitous route one of her packages takes through the city of Sipani. It also features Shev and Javre. |
| "Small Kindnesses" | Unbound: Tales by Masters of Fantasy anthology (December 2015) and in Sharp Ends. | Features Shev. |
| "Two's Company" | Online on Tor.com (January 2016) and in Sharp Ends. | Features Shev and Javre, a "female Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser style thief and warrior odd couple." |
| "A Beautiful Bastard" | Original to Sharp Ends. | Features Sand dan Glokta. |
| "Hell" | Original to Sharp Ends. | Shows the fall of Dagoska through the eyes of a young acolyte. |
| "Wrong Place, Wrong Time" | Original to Sharp Ends. | Features Monzcarro Murcatto. |
| "Three's a Crowd" | Original to Sharp Ends. | Features Horald the Finger and Shevedieh. |
| "Made a Monster" | Original to Sharp Ends. | Features the chieftain Bethod. |
| "The Thread" | As an extra in the Waterstones hardcover version of A Little Hatred and in The Great Change (And Other Lies). | Follows a thread of fabric from raw material to finished product, and the lives whose hands it passes through. |
| "The Stone" | As an extra in the Waterstones hardcover version of The Trouble With Peace and in The Great Change (And Other Lies). | Follows a diamond from discovery to finished product, and the lives whose hands it passes through. |
| "The Point" | As an extra in the Waterstones hardcover version of The Wisdom Of Crowds and in The Great Change (And Other Lies). | Follows an ingot of iron from discovery to finished product, and the lives whose hands it passes through. |
| "The Great Change" | Original to The Great Change (And Other Lies). | Follows the creation and evolution of the Great Change. |
"Tough Times All Over" won a Locus Award, and "The Fool Jobs" and "Some Desperado" received nominations.
Shattered Sea trilogy
Main article: Shattered Sea| # | Book | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Half a King | July 2014 |
| 2 | Half the World | February 2015 |
| 3 | Half a War | July 2015 |
The Devils
| # | Book | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Devils | May 2025 |
Selected awards and honours
Explanatory notes
- Year of publication.
References
- "2015 Locus Awards Winners". Locus Magazine. 27 June 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
- ^ "Joe Abercrombie: Age of Madness". Locus Magazine. 13 January 2020.
- ^ "About Joe". Joe Abercrombie (official website). Retrieved 16 October 2019.
- ^ Flood, Alison (17 September 2019). "Joe Abercrombie: 'I think the combination of violence and humour wasn't an immediate easy sell'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
- "Joe Abercrombie: My Favourite Game". Edge. Archived from the original on 2 January 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
- ^ Wood, Heloise (28 November 2018). "Gollancz scoops Abercrombie's trilogy in 'significant' deal". The Bookseller.
- "John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer 2008". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. 23 May 2014.
- "BBC Four - Sleuths, Spies & Sorcerers: Andrew Marr's Paperback Heroes, Fantasy". BBC. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
- "The Great Leveller". Joe Abercrombie (official website). Retrieved 15 August 2021.
- Tor.com (4 April 2022). "A Deal For The Devils: Tor Books To Publish New Epic Fantasy From Joe Abercrombie". Reactor. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
- "Joe Abercrombie's new fantasy novel The Devils gets cover and release month!". Winter is Coming. 24 May 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
- "Shelfie with Joe Abercrombie". Waterstones. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021 – via YouTube.
- The First Law Universe series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
- Alexander, Niall (24 August 2015). "The Sharp Ends of Joe Abercrombie". Tor.com. Macmillan.
- "Sharp Ends". Joe Abercrombie (official website). 24 August 2015. Archived from the original on 31 August 2015.
- ^ Abercrombie, Joe (2016). Sharp Ends: Stories from the World of the First Law. Gollancz. Copyright page.
- Abercrombie, Joe (12 January 2016). "Two's Company". Tor.com. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
- ^ "Joe Abercrombie Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- "David Gemmell Legend Award: Shortlist Announced". British Fantasy Society. 13 April 2009.
- "Legend Awards Shortlist". Locus Magazine. 7 April 2010.
- "2009". The Kitschies. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
- "2012 Legend Award Winners". Locus Magazine. 15 June 2012.
- "Legend Award Winners". Locus Magazine. 4 November 2013.
- "Announcing the Winners of the 2015 David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy". Tor.com. Macmillan. 10 August 2015.
- Templeton, Molly (26 June 2021). "Announcing the 2021 Locus Awards Winners". Tor.com.
