Joe Abercrombie Confirms Speculated 4 Book Deal!

Thanks to the Mad Hatter, I learned that Joe Abercrombie has finally announced the signing of 4 more books in his First Law universe, more humorously referred to as "The Song of the Sword of Time of the Fallen."

I'm glad somebody let him know, I've been talking about it for months now. While I was wrong about it being a quadrilogy, I was right about the quantity of books and the time frame. I guess this proves scrounging around on Amazon isn't completely worthless. Here's what Joe had to say to confirm my suspicions:

"Therefore stand amazed as I announce that I last year signed a contract with my doughty UK publisher, Gollancz, for four more books set in the world of The First Law. That’s right. FOUR MORE BOOKS. Twice two. Or more accurately, one plus three, since at the moment, those books are looking like they’ll be another semi-standalone in the style of Best Served Cold and The Heroes, followed by another trilogy, though obviously I reserve the right to be coy and change my mind, possibly while flouncing out of a meeting. It’s a lady’s privilege, don’t you know.


In terms of timescale things are still a little hazy. I’ve been writing at the rate of about a book every 18 months or so, so one might reasonably expect the first of these books to appear on shelves sometime around the summer 2012 sort of a mark, but obviously I reserve the right to be coy and completely miss a date even that vague. I’ve barely started writing it, so we shall see whether, now I am installed in my new abode, the words fly from my fingertips like lightning or … not. As for the books after, there’s no point in even being vague at this stage. If they do end up as a trilogy, I might well aim to draft the whole thing before publishing the first book, which would leave something of a gap between the standalone and the first of the trilogy, but would hopefully ensure that the books of the trilogy could come out no more than a year apart, possibly less, and that they would form a coherent and cohesive whole. Or as coherent and cohesive as I am capable of producing. We shall see. It’s a long way off. Far enough for me to safely pretend that it’ll never happen."

While summer 2012 is a long way off, it's hard not to be excited by the promise of 4 more books in Abercrombie's First Law universe. Joe didn't say anything about the content of either project but my money stills on the return of the Bloody Nine.

As I've said in the past, Abercrombie is the reigning king of blood-soaked fantasy. Or at least the prince-in-waiting with a pile of gold, a hidden dagger, and an eye on the throne. Abercrombie's next book, The Heroes, comes out later this month in the UK and February in the US.