Category Archive for ‘appearances’
Madrid, Aviles, London, Harrogate
Posted on July 12th, 2016 in appearances
A few appearances coming up over the next few months.
19th July, 19.00 – Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Madrid – I’m going to be talking about my books and stuff with Spanish author Juan Gomez-Jurado. I’ve been told to expect some other hijinks but my Spanish is nowhere near good enough to decipher the further details which are to be found here.
20th-23rd July – Celsius232 Festival, Aviles, Spain – yes, after a year’s absence, I’m going to be back at my regular haunt in spain, the Celsius festival in Aviles, where I’ll be talking about books, signing books, writing books, maybe even reading the bastards.
17th-18th September – Gollanczfest, London – Once again my UK publisher Gollancz will be bringing some of the finest writers in sci-fi and fantasy together with the finest readers in a cornucopia of panels, talks, workshops, signings, and etc. Further details here.
23rd October – Harrogate History Festival – Once again talking about my books and stuff and perhaps even signing them. Details here. I believe there may be a panel about Game of Thrones in which I am involved as well, but no details right now on that one…
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Sharp Ends UK Tour
Posted on March 14th, 2016 in announcements, appearances, news
I’m going to be doing a quick 5 day tour in the UK in April for the release of Sharp Ends. We shall be visiting London, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bristol and Bath.
Daytime events tend to be just the quick meet and greet, shake of hands, sign the book. Evening events come with reading and Q&A as well. Unless time is really tight (which it usually isn’t) I’ll try to sign anything of mine you bring, though it would only be good manners to buy something from the store who are hosting the event, and I know you all have impeccable manners.
Full schedule in the attached picture. By all means get in touch with the stores for tickets and further information, and hopefully I’ll see some of you out there…
For those I won’t be visiting – apologies, I go where my publicist directs me, and she works out a schedule based on the logistics of travel, the stores that she knows have a good track record with events, and the stores that make a particular enthusiastic pitch for an event with me personally. There’s a certain beaten track of bigger stores in bigger cities that you can move between relatively easily, and who are used to hosting events and therefore have a pool of customers who are used to coming to events. On the one hand you’d love to travel more widely and visit some places rarely visited, but on the other hand that puts pressure on the travelling and can lead to some really badly attended events, which are no fun for me or for those folks who turn up. So it’s a bit of a self-reinforcing cycle of visiting the same stores…
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Progress Report September ’15
Posted on September 17th, 2015 in appearances, progress
It’s been a bit of a whirlwind of a past few months, but a lot of overseas trips are now behind me. Half a War is out in English with many more languages to follow, and The First Law trilogy has been republished in the US by Orbit, so I’ve entered a brief period of (relative) calm.
I’ve finished the last short story for my collection, Sharp Ends (you’ll find further details including the table of contents in the post below this one) so apart from compiling and giving them a final edit it’s pretty much ready for publication in the UK and US in April next year in hardcover and e-book and with an audiobook read (I very much hope) by Steven Pacey. I expect it will be available in some other languages not too long afterward but I’ve got no solid information on that yet. Cover art is well underway and I’ll probably have something to show in the next couple of months, but for the time being let’s just say that it will be a development of the parchment theme and feature a map of the entire Circle of the World…
Looking to the future – got a few events over the next month or two including Titan Con near Belfast, Gollancz Fest in Manchester and London, and an interview at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival but then I’m aiming to keep the rest of the year free to start thinking about my next project. This, as has often been said, is intended to be another trilogy in the world of the First Law. Most likely it will take place a few years after the end of Red Country, most likely it will pick up the threads of the original trilogy a bit more directly than the standalone books have done, most likely it will again feature a new central cast but with many familiar faces appearing in key supporting roles.
Since about 2001 I’ve always had a novel on the go, starting the next one well before the last came out. This time around, I’ve scarcely begun on the thinking-about-it stage. Furthermore, I haven’t written an adult trilogy since the First Law, which was under very different circumstances, as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed hobbyist with a lifetime of ideas to put into practice. So the thinking-about-it stage might be quite long and involved this time. In an ideal world I’d also like to produce a rough draft of the whole series before thinking about getting that first one ready for publication, to make sure the trilogy as a whole is as good as it can be.
Bottom line, you won’t see these books on your bookstore shelves for quite some time to come. I shall keep you updated, however…
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One Week until Half a War…
Posted on July 9th, 2015 in appearances, news
Half a War comes out in the UK in hardcover, e-book and audiobook in but 7 short days. Here be its cover…
And here be its blurb…
Words are weapons
Princess Skara has seen all she loved made blood and ashes. She is left with only words. But the right words can be as deadly as any blade. She must conquer her fears and sharpen her wits to a lethal edge if she is to reclaim her birthright.
Only half a war is fought with swords
The deep-cunning Father Yarvi has walked a long road from crippled slave to king’s minister. He has made allies of old foes and stitched together an uneasy peace. But now the ruthless Grandmother Wexen has raised the greatest army since the elves made war on God, and put Bright Yilling at its head – a man who worships no god but Death.
Sometimes one must fight evil with evil
Some – like Thorn Bathu and the sword-bearer Raith – are born to fight, perhaps to die. Others – like Brand the smith and Koll the wood-carver – would rather stand in the light. But when Mother War spreads her iron wings, she may cast the whole Shattered Sea into darkness.
And here be some early reviews…
“The final instalment in the Shattered Sea series is the perfect ending to an outstanding YA trilogy … Joe Abercrombie has long been the master of grim and gritty fantasy, but Half a War proves that he’s got all the skills of a master romance writer. The battles are bloody, the twists are shocking, and the deaths are heartbreaking.”
– SFX
“War reaches the boiling point in the impressive conclusion … Abercrombie piles on shocking betrayals and charges his characters a high price for vengeance in this powerful and fitting final volume.”
– Publishers Weekly
“The narrative, well-sprinkled with gory action and impelled by characters at this stage not just familiar, but gratifying, moves along at a brisk clip. Best of all, the relentless intrigues, plots, and schemes bubble just below the surface.”
– Kirkus
“In his Shattered Sea saga, Abercrombie has created a series that is by shades engaging, mesmerising and jaw-dropping, possessing themes and complex characters so rarely interrogated by YA fiction.”
– Sci Fi Now
Here are the times and dates for my UK events next week, with visits to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, York, Nottingham, Ely, Colchester, London, Reading, Bristol, and the YA Literature Convention…
And over here you can find further information, the first three chapters as a sample and, oh, look at that, information on where you can preorder…
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Konigsschwur and German Events
Posted on May 27th, 2015 in appearances
I’m going to be visiting Germany for the first time (other than a lightning overnight visit to the Frankfurt book fair last year) in June. Only a couple of events in Berlin and Stuttgart this time around, I’m afraid, at the Otherland Bookstore in Berlin and at the Dragon Days Festival in Stuttgart, but I will be in Germany…
Wednesday 17th June
7.30PM – Reading, Talk and Signing (probably in English), with Otherland Buchhandlung, Tel: 030-69505117, www.otherland-berlin.de, at DTK-Wasserturm, Kopischstraße 7, 10965 Berlin-Kreuzberg
Thursday 18th June
8.00PM – Dragon Days Festival award ceremony, with Reading, Talk and Signing (probably in German and English), Literaturhaus Stuttgart, Großer Saal, Breitscheidstraße 4, 70174 Stuttgart, http://www.dragondays.de/
I’ll be reading from Half a King, which is the book most recently translated into German (as Konigsschwur), but as far as question and answer goes, I’ll talk about whatever you like, and I’ll try to sign anything you bring (with the usual proviso that it’s only good manners to buy something at the shop who’s hosting the event). Hope to see some of you there…
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Half a War UK Tour
Posted on May 8th, 2015 in announcements, appearances
Half a War is out in the UK on the 16th July, and I will be a-touring in Scotland and England once again that week. We’re trying to take in a few places we didn’t reach last time, including Preston, just down the road from Lancaster where I grew up…
Sunday 12th July
1.00PM – Signing at Waterstones, 128 Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AD. For more information please contact the store on 0131 226 2666
6.30PM – Talk at Waterstones, Glasgow Newton Mearns, 38 Avenue Centre, Newton Mearns, G77 6EY. Tickets are free but do need to be reserved in advance through Waterstones Newton Mearns or on 0141 6163933
Monday 13th July
1.00PM – Signing at Waterstones, Unit 1.23A, Metrocentre, Gateshead, NE11 9YG. For more information please contact the store on 0191 460 5910
7.00PM – Talk at Waterstones, 15 Coney Street, York YO1 9QL. Tickets are £3 for loyalty card holders and available in store or by telephone on 01904 620784
Tuesday 14th July
12.30PM – Signing at Waterstones 93-97 Albion Street, Leeds, LS1 5JS. For more information please contact the store on 0113 244 4588
6.30PM – Talk with Waterstones 3-5 Fishergate, Preston, PR1 3LJ at Foster Building, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Corporation Street, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 2HE. Tickets are £5/£3 for loyalty card holders and available from Waterstones Preston or by telephone on 01772 555766
Wednesday 15th July
12.30PM – Signing with Waterstones, 1/5 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, NG1 2GR. For more information please contact the store on 0115 9470069
7.30PM – Talk with Toppings, 9 High Street, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4LJ at St Peters Church Ely. Tickets are £6/7 (redeemable against the book) and available in store or by telephone on 01353 645005
Thursday 16th July
12.30PM – Signing at Waterstones 12-13 High Street, Colchester, CO1 1DA. For more information please contact the store on 01206 561307
7.00PM – Talk with Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0DT. For tickets and more information please contact the store on 020 7437 5660
Friday 17th July
12.30PM – Signing at Waterstones, 12 Holy Brook Mall, The Oracle, Reading, RG1 2AQ. For more information please contact the store on 0118 950 3400
6.00PM – Signing at Forbidden Planet, Clifton Heights Triangle West, Bristol, BS8 1EJ.
Sunday 19th July
The Young Adult Literature Convention, Olympia, Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UX
2.30PM – Writing for Stage and Screen with Joe Abercrombie
3.15PM – Book Signing at YALC
Early hardcover copies of Half a War will, of course, be available at all these events along with all my other books. I’ll also be appearing at the YA Lit. Con at London Film and Comic Con, but I’m not sure yet exactly when. When we do know there may also be an extra event or two, we shall see…
Lunchtime events tend to be signings of a queue up and get your book signed variety, evening events tend to be ticketed and follow a short talk, reading, Q&A style format, followed by signing. It would be only good manners to buy something from the store that’s hosting, but if you bring other books of mine to sign I’ll do my very best to oblige you. If you bring a lot of books (typically meaning you’re a dealer and are going to sell them) or have extravagant requests above and beyond simple signing and dedication, you might have to join the back of the queue and wait for the end. We are somewhat at the mercy of the various shops’ staffing policies, so can’t absolutely promise to get to everything, but we certainly will try.
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Forbidden Planet, Australia, Dubai
Posted on January 29th, 2015 in appearances
Details for a few forthcoming events. The UK tour for Half a King was but seven months ago, so we’re not doing a full tour this time around, just the one UK event at Forbidden Planet London, who have supported me with every book I’ve brought out, right back to The Blade Itself:
Sunday 8th February, 13.00-14.00, Forbidden Planet London, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8JR
I may read and talk a little beforehand, but the space isn’t ideal so we’ll see how it goes. I can’t promise to sign anything you don’t buy on the day, but I will try to as long as you buy something, and given that it’s a lunchtime event I expect I’ll fit everything in.
If you can’t make the event, I believe you can also order signed stock from Forbidden Planet at the bargain price of £9.99. You could probably even arrange a dedication…
THEN, shortly thereafter in February I will be touring Australia, with events in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Perth. Details:
Sydney
Friday 13th February, 16.30-18.00, Dymocks 424-430 George St
Sunday 15th February, 14.00-15.30, Galaxy Bookshop 1/131-137 York St.
Canberra
Monday 16th February, 18.30-20.00, Harry Hartog Bookstore, Westfield Woden
Melbourne
Tuesday 17th February, 18.00-20.00, Dymocks 234 Collins Street.
Thursday 19th February, 9.45-10.30, School’s Day Session – Keeping the Story Alive for ages 12-15, Murdoch Lecture Theatre
Friday 20th February, 13.00-14.00, The Hero’s Journey, Dolphin Theatre
Saturday 21st February, 13.00-14.00, In Conversation on Half a King, University Club Theatre
Sunday February 22nd, 16.00-17.00, Drawing from History, Woolnough Lecture Theatre
For further information on exactly what’s happening, you’re best off contacting the venues or events.
THEN, I’ll then be at the Emirates Festival of Literature in Dubai from the 3rd-7th March. You can find what I’m scheduled to be doing over here.
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ConFusion Detroit 2015
Posted on January 12th, 2015 in appearances
So I’m going to be over in the US of A later this week at ConFusion in Detroit as a guest of the wonderful Subterranean Press. I think it was 3 years ago I was last there, and it’s a great small con with an informal atmosphere and a lot of writers around. Plus there’s Peter V. Brett’s annual author D&D session, which I last attended three years back. I have a feeling elven thief Darque Shadeaux will be sowing chaos once again…
My itinerary:
Afraid I have no further details, but I’m sure there’ll be more information on site. Usual rules apply, I’m signing on the Saturday afternoon, but feel free to ask me at other times, I will do my best to oblige.
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2014 in Review
Posted on December 31st, 2014 in announcements, appearances, film and tv, games, news, reading, reviews, whisky deathmatch
New Year’s Eve, my friends, and you know what that means? Yes, indeed, I am 40 years old today. You would never think I used to be young. Truly horrifyingly, this is my 6th yearly review post. I’ll have to have a review of my best yearly review posts one of these new year’s eves…
A YEAR IN BOOKSELLING – Again, in spite of all my complaints, I really can’t complain. Partly due to the ongoing success of Game of Thrones, I’m sure, The First Law books continue to chug along very, very nicely. I had a short story in Martin and Dozois’ highly successful Rogues anthology in June. Then Half a King came out in July and made no. 3 on the Sunday Times hardcover list, which matches the ranking of The Heroes way back in 2010 but at a much more competitive time of year. I toured more extensively than I ever have before, with some 15 events in the UK, all of them pretty well attended, and I did a few bookshop events down the west coast of the US for the first time too and made it to Comic Con in San Diego, to Sicily, to Lucca, and a third visit to my old friends in Aviles, Spain.
A YEAR IN BOOK WRITING – The heavy touring schedule through July and August got in the way somewhat, but even so it was a good year in the writing department too, if a pretty demanding one. I wrote the last quarter of Half the World, revised and edited it, then wrote a first draft of Half a War, and gave it a fair hammering this month to produce a second draft that I’m starting to get happy with. I’ve a few more things to do and another pass through focusing on the secondary characters to get to a decent third draft which I can hand in to my editors mid January, but the book’s mostly there. Seems like only yesterday I was pitching this series to publishers and now it’s nearly done…
BOOKS – I really am hardly reading at all these days, it’s a disgrace. When I finish Half a War I desperately need to take my foot off the gas and start reading again, hoover up some ideas and inspiration, catch up on the truly massive backlog I’ve got sitting in tottering heaps all around me. But two things I read this year that I’d certainly recommend are Kameron Hurley’s God’s War, and Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation. Neither the kind of thing I write, particularly, but then who wants to piss where they eat…?
TV and FILM – Boy, the cinema has barely registered this year. I think the only film I reviewed was Fury, which was OK but ultimately a gritty wrapper around a rather traditional, sentimental war movie. Guardians of the Galaxy was good fun but I was a little underwhelmed after all the nerdgasms I’d seen about it – seemed like more of the Marvel same in the end, if with a few more laughs. Gone Girl was a very well-made film but seemed a bit hamstrung by a really odd casting choice in Ben Affleck – the guy just comes across as too much of a likeable lunkhead and I felt they needed someone much darker and more dangerous to really balance the central relationship and make us unsure what was going on. Rather than equally evil couple of bastards reap the whirlwind they sow for each other, we got mildly unpleasant idiot is totally screwed over by his psychopathic wife, and that’s a lot less interesting in all kinds of ways. For me the TV standout was the searing climax of Breaking Bad, which has to be one of the greatest pieces of TV I’ve ever seen, about as close as you’ll get to a single 5 season story arc with novelistic coherence of theme and character. Highly honourable mentions to a bloody, strange and gritty second season of Vikings and the punishing 3rd and 4th seasons of The Walking Dead after its slightly limited 2nd season. Justified continues to be elevated way above its rather banal set-up by great script and acting in which every character overflows with Elmore Leonard-y detail. Orphan Black was good largely thanks to its brilliant central multiple performance. Suits is entertaining if a little lightweight. The Good Wife continues to be highly watchable and always that little bit darker than you expect. Arrow was enjoyable enough superhero hokum but fell short of its gritty ambitions. Black Sails was enjoyable enough pirate hokum, good when it put to sea but too often foundering on land. The 1st season of House of Cards was very strong, with a great mood and super central performances from Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, but I felt the 2nd season was a lot less believable. Hell on Wheels sadly crashed off the rails for me in its 3rd season after an action-packed 2nd.
GAMES – Last year had some splendiferous stuff in the form of The Last of Us, Bioshock, Tomb Raider, Telltale’s Walking Dead etc. as developers pushed the last generation of consoles to their limits and stretched unused storytelling muscles while doing it. This year began on a high with Dark Souls II, more ultra dark, ultra hard Japanese/Western hybrid roleplaying but with the difficulty softened just a little this time around. Moving over to PS4, the results have been a little more pedestrian than last year. Destiny was pretty and compelling and did give me a hell of a lot of gaming hours but ultimately was a slightly empty experience. Diablo III I found rather by-the-yard-y. Far Cry 4 good, but very much like Far Cry 3. Which leaves Dragon Age: Inquisition as my personal game of the year. One could criticise the gameplay, the voice acting, and the somewhat vanilla plot line, but the world, characters, detail and sense of immersion were top class.
WHISKY – Lack of time meant my planned Whisky Deathmatch: Islay Bloodfeud never happened. Well, it happened in the sense that I drunk the whisky, I just didn’t get round to writing about it. In brief, though, bottles I’ve particularly enjoyed this year: Lagavulin 12yo cask strength (smashed in the face with a sack of burned lemons), Ardbeg Supernova 2014 (Ardbeg, only more so, and with a touch of sweetness to it), Laphroaig Triple Wood (salty medicinal goodness with a sherry-wood softening), Amrut Fusion (awesome whisky distilled in India from Scottish and Himalayan barley), Talisker 30yo cask strength (full fathom five thy father lies).
CONTROVERSIES – I noted last year that after 7 or 8 years in the business I’m getting less and less interested in the cyclical nature of genre commentary. I’ve already expressed my opinion one way or another on most issues of note, and when they come up again, I find a world weary sigh gets across most of what I feel, an attitude reflected in my post on this year’s controversial Hugo Awards. That’s part of the reason for the greatly reduced blog presence of late, though that’s also a function of the sheer amount of stuff I’ve got going on. I’m finding twitter (@LordGrimdark) a better medium for general conversation, and I’m tending to use the blog only for more considerable announcements and reviews. This relatively thin level of posting may well continue next year, because…
THE YEAR AHEAD – My, oh, my, but 2015 is shaping up to be a busy one. I’ve already got visits confirmed to Detroit in Jan, Australia in Feb, Dubai in March and St. Petersburg in April. I’ve got not one but TWO books coming out: Half the World in February and Half a War in July, the first time I’ve done a publishing schedule anything like so densely packed. Since I toured in the UK and US only a few months back there probably won’t be a lot of events for Half the World, but expect another full-on tour in July for Half a War. Writing-wise, I’m going to be kept fully busy until the end of February with edits and revision on Half a War, then I’ve got a few short stories to write to complete a collection which will hopefully come out some time in 2016. It’s looking as if the main part of next year may be given over to some exciting non-book projects, of which more in due course, but I also need to lay the groundwork and do some thinking for another trilogy in the First Law world, although the publication of that looks like it will be some way off…
Happy new year, readers!
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More UK Events, plus Worldcon
Posted on August 7th, 2014 in appearances, news
More events? Are you insane? Well, yes, I very well might be, but there is no rest for the grimdark, my friends. Here’s my appearance schedule for the next couple of months…
Tuesday 12th August
11.30 – Google Hangout for the Gollancz Online Festival.
18.00 – Fantasy in the Court, Goldsboro Books, alongside a whole host of other writers including but by no means limited to Ben Aaronovitch, James Barclay, Lauren Beukes, Paul Cornell, Peter F. Hamilton, Joanne Harris, Adam Nevill, Sarah Pinborough, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and those are just some of the ones I know well myself.
Wednesday 13th August
18.30 – Fantasy Faction’s Grim Gathering, Waterstones Kensington, 193 Kensington High Street, London, alongside authors Peter V. Brett, Myke Cole, and Mark Lawrence.
Thursday 14th – Sunday 17th August
LONCON, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention where I will be hanging out and haunting the bar, but specifically can be found:
Friday 15th August
12.00 Kaffeeklatsch, London Suite 4 (1hr)
Saturday 16th August
11.00 – Panel: Moving Shelves: Famous Adult Writers Who Have Written YA with Carrie Vaughn, Kelley Armstrong, Ian Macdonald and Peter F Hamilton in Capital Suite 15 (1hr)
13.30 – Signing: Big Autographing Space (90mins)
18.00 – Panel: Writing 101: Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction with Ruth Frances Long, Amy H Sturgis, Laure Eve and Sanna Lehtonen in Capital Suite 5 (1hr)
19.00 – Panel: Meet the New King, Same As The Old King with Juliet E McKenna, Peter V Brett, Rjurik Davidson and Delia Sherman in Capital Suite 14 (1hr)
Sunday 17th August
12.30 – Reading: London Suite 1 (30mins) – and this will probably be from the forthcoming Half the World.
16.30 – Panel: Book Covers: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly with John Picacio, Bella Pagan, Greg Manchess, Maurizio Manzieri and Irene Gallo in Capital Suite 4.
Sunday 28th September
18.00 – Bath Children’s Literature Festival, The Guildhall, High Street, Bath BA1 5AW. An event with Garth Nix, chaired by John McLay
Friday 10th October
20.30 – Cheltenham Literary Festival. An event with Sarah Pinborough, Ben Aaronovitch, David Barnett and Mitch Benn.
So that’s me taken care of for the next couple of months…
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