Joe Abercrombie reports the sale of two new novels to Gollancz. The stand-alone books will be “set in the same world as The First Law” trilogy, which includes The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and Last Argument of Kings.
Abercrombie says of the new sale: “Seems strange to be talking about it, what with the release of Last Argument of Kings still a good six months away, and The Blade Itself only just about to appear in the US, but a couple of people have been asking what’s coming next.” The two new books will probably have “a faster pace and some simpler, more focused plots. They’ll feature some new settings, some new characters, and a few well-loved (by me anyway) minor characters from the trilogy in more central roles. Can’t tell you who of course, that’d be spoiling.
“The first is going to be called Best Served Cold, is set in the warring city-states of Styria, and, in case you hadn’t guessed, is about revenge. It’s largely planned out and the first couple of chapters drafted. If forced to sum it up I’d probably call it a fantasy thriller, light on the magic and heavy on the blood, treachery and poison, with the usual hefty portions of dark grey characters and black humour. And there’ll be elves. An awful lot of elves.
“Only kidding.”
Best Served Cold is already scheduled for an April 2009 release “and, believe it or not, is listed on amazon.co.uk already. I note that, at the time of writing, it has reached a heady amazon sales rank of 1,549,626. Which I don’t reckon is bad for something that won’t be published for 20 months. By my estimate, it means I must already have shifted at least one unit.”