Joe Abercrombie

Joe Abercrombie
Abercrombie at Eurocon in 2012
Born	(1974-12-31) 31 December 1974 Lancaster, England
Occupation	Novelist
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.com

Joe Abercrombie (born 31 December 1974) is a British fantasy writer and film editor. He is the author of The First Law trilogy and other related works of fantasy. In 2014 he published Half a King, the first book in his new Shattered Sea series, which won the 2015 Locus Award for best Young Adult book.^[1]

Biography

Abercrombie was born in Lancaster, England. He was educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Manchester University, where he studied psychology.

Abercrombie had a job making tea at a television production company before taking up a career as a freelance film editor.^[2] 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 had dreamed up in his University days that had once been scrapped. The idea had started out six years prior as a result of Abercrombie's dream of "single-handedly redefining the fantasy genre".^[2] He 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 ("a seven-figure deal if you count the pence columns").^[2] 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";^[2] 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.^[3] 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. Abercrombie lives in Bath, Somerset with his wife and three children.

In 2011, Abercrombie signed a deal with Gollancz for 4 more books set in the First Law world.^[4] In 2013, HarperCollins' fantasy and children's imprints announced that they had acquired the rights to three books by Abercrombie, aimed at younger readers. The three standalone but interconnected novels form a "classic coming-of-age tale", with the first volume, Half a King, published in summer 2014 (The Shattered Sea Trilogy).^[5]

Bibliography

The First Law trilogy

• The Blade Itself (2006)
• Before They Are Hanged (2007)
• Last Argument of Kings (2008)

Standalone novels

• Best Served Cold (2009)^[6]
• The Heroes (2011)^[7]
• Red Country (2012)^[8]

Short story anthology

• Sharp Ends: Stories from the World of the First Law (2016), collecting 13 new and previously published stories from the First Law continuity

Short stories

• "The Fool Jobs" – appeared in the Swords & Dark Magic compilation (published June 2010) and features Curnden Craw and his dozen in events prior to The Heroes.
• "Yesterday, Near A Village Called Barden" – appeared as an extra in the Waterstones hardcover version of The Heroes and focuses on Bremer dan Gorst on campaign prior to The Heroes.
• "Freedom!" - appeared as an extra in the Waterstones hardcover version of Red Country and focuses on the liberation of the town of Averstock by the Company of the Gracious Hand.
• "Skipping Town" - appeared in the Legends: Stories in Honour of David Gemmell anthology (published November 2013) and features the couple pairing of Shev and Javre, Lioness of Hoskopp.
• "Some Desperado" - appeared in the Dangerous Women anthology (published December 2013) and features Shy South on the run during her outlaw days before Red Country. Nominated for a 2014 Locus Award.^[9]
• "Tough Times All Over" - appeared in the Rogues anthology (June 2014) and follows courier Carcolf and the circuitous route one of her packages takes through the city of Sipani.

Shattered Sea trilogy

• Half a King (2014)^[10]
• Half the World (2015)^[11]
• Half a War (2015)^[12]

Awards

• 2015 Locus Award for best Young Adult Novel for Half a King

References

External links

• Official website
• Joe Abercrombie at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Joe Abercrombie at Library of Congress Authorities, with 9 catalogue records