Thursday 14 March 2013

Publication date confirmed for THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES

Gollancz has confirmed a publication date for The Republic of Thieves, the long, long-awaited third book in The Gentleman Bastard sequence. It will be published on 8 October 2013 in the USA and 10 October in the UK.

Tyrion Lannister approves this news.

Gollancz's Deputy Publishing Director, Simon Spanton, commented:

"Some of you will know about the real difficulties that gathered around this novel for Scott. I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank Scott for sticking with it. I know that he was always painfully aware of the delays and what those meant both for his publishers and his fans. So I’d also like to thank Scott’s readers for their patience and for the immense support and the profound goodwill towards Scott that they have shown during this time. It’s been a long wait but I have every faith that their patience will now be rewarded with The Republic of Thieves."

HUZZAH!

UPDATE

Scott Lynch has posted his own take on the news at Fantasy Faction. He confirms that work is already underway on Book 4 of the series, The Thorn of Emberlain, and he hopes to return to a sane production rate and not have to get Brandon Sanderson to finish the series. Lynch has also formally surrendered his 'Crown of Lateness' (which, arguably, he never had in the first place, cough cough Melanie Rawn/David Gerrold/Patrick Tilley/Diane Duane/Harlan Ellison cough).

16 comments:

Andrew Leonard said...

Cant.Wait!!!!
What was the long hold up for, anyway?

Elaine said...

Allow me to join you in that. Huzzah! Funny, I was only checking up on release date news for the book last night. And well done to Scott.

Garneac said...

Hell fucking yes.

(But a part of me wonders if TRoT won't turn out to be a dud like Martin's A Dance with Dragons. I mean, sure, it won't be—it can't be, I refuse to believe!—but the devil's advocate is ever busy.)

Anywho. Yes. This news made my week. Thank you.

Adam Whitehead said...

Scott's been ill a fair bit during it's writing, it's fair to say.

Ben said...

Great news

alabrava said...

ADwD is hardly a dud. I think it's about as good as a middle book can be, given that middle books can be extremely problematic (see The Daylight War or any Malazan book between Midnight Tides and The Crippled God).

Elfy said...

This is wonderful news, and I absolutely love the pic you chose for this, very Gentleman Bastardlike.

Geof said...

Fantastic. Can't wait.I have fond memories of reading Read Skies on a pebbly beach in France while my wife, then girlfriend became increasingly annoyed by my lack of attentiveness.

JohnB said...

Yeah good news, really liked the first two books. Hopefully it will live up to those. More importantly let's hope Mr Lynch can manage his condition for his own peace of mind.

Garneac said...

@alabrava:

I don't read Erikson because I found his Gardens of the Moon to be horribly written and and stuffed with nonsense. =P

And ADwD did very little by way of progressing plot, I feel, and despite some of the more beloved characters finally being present, I realized I didn't much care for most of them anymore. Sure, I'm still a fan, but whatever books may come I'll borrow from the library. ADwD just wasn't worth it. (I realize some of my distaste comes from reading a book that didn't live up to the hype; but even still, all that writing and all I see is the story starting to burst at the seams.)

TRoT, on the other hand, I'm going to buy the day it's available. It's been way too long, and I hope Lynch can finally shrug off the immense stress that was this third book. Man seemed to be living in some personal hell. (I'd hoped he would take a break before getting started on the fourth book.)

Alex said...

Talking of "late", I thought I'd have a lot at Martin's Ice & Fire update page on his site. Last update almost two years ago announcing the last book was DONE.

Sigh.

Adam Whitehead said...

Yeah, Martin should really update that page more often. He talks about it a bit more on his blog, though even there he hasn't given us a really comprehensive update on progress for a while.

Scott Lynch said...

Hey, all--

Thank you for the kind thoughts and hopeful comments!

Andrew: I have a more in-depth LJ post on the subject, but the short version is: After putting off seeking help for -years,- I was diagnosed as clinically depressed and commenced treatment. Then my wife left me. Hijinks ensued. Several years passed. Divorce now suits us both much better, my treatment has, after a few hard setbacks, borne real fruit, and hey, handing in manuscripts no longer cripples me with asthma-like panic attacks as it once did.

Garneac: I have always felt that ADwD suffered more from the split that was forced upon it for publication than from its actual contents; I think that if GRRM had intentionally written from the start knowing it would have to be chopped into two volumes, the aesthetics would have been very different. For what it's worth, REPUBLIC is one volume and has no dragons. ;)

As for taking a break... it feels like I've had one, though it wasn't any fun. My illness stole several years of my life and career. I am not eager to rest, I am eager to take them both back as forcefully as I can. For what it's worth, I feel better about the series than I have in five years, and in recent months it's felt like Locke and Co. are alive in my head in ways they haven't been in... god knows how long.

Cheers!

SL
scott@scottlynch.us

Prankster said...

Oh goodie, the chorus of moans for The Winds of Winter to be finished is starting already. (And hey, do you think that the flak Martin got for promising ADWD was almost done and then taking years to release it might be contributing to a reticence to announce his progress on TWOW?)

It's kind of amusing, though: I only started reading ASoIaF a year or so before ADWD came out, so the wait for me was quite reasonable. And I just finished Red Seas Under Red Skies a month ago.

Apparently the trick to getting fantasy authors to finish (or, well, move forward on) their book series is to get me to read them.

Garneac said...

@Lynch:

Good point on the split. (As for TRoT: maybe it'll have more bondsmagi? [Although I'm not really expecting an answer to that! I'm staying away from anything possibly spoilerish about this third book. I want the full experience, if that makes sense].)

And I'm excited, too, to see where you take Locke and everyone else. I've been promoting this series almost as much as I do K. J. Parker's The Folding Knife (and, well, Parker in general).

It's not often I think about the author behind the novel, beyond his/her capability to deliver a great story, but you're one of those whose well-being I actually do fret about at times.

On that note, then: best of luck, Lynch, in everything you do!

Garneac said...

@Prankster:

When I think of some unfinished series, I'll be sure to ask you to start reading some select books. =)

As for Martin's pace. I don't want to come across as looking down on him or anything. I love his world, his characters, etc.

Anywho. He can take as long as he wants to write TWoW. Years. Decades. I just want the man to be able to write to the best of his ability is all. (Can't imagine the stress that comes with being an author...)