Glen Cook to publish four new BLACK COMPANY novels

Glen Cook is returning to the world of his seminal Black Company military fantasy series with a new arc, A Pitiless Rain, consisting of four books. The first, Lies Weeping, will be published on 4 November 2025. Cook has completed the first three books in the arc and is working on the fourth.

Lies Weeping will be followed by They Cry, Summer Grass and Darkness Knows.

Cook published The Black Company in 1984, about a band of war-weary mercenaries fighting for various shades of evil during a bleak war, before discovering a new purpose. It was followed by Shadows Linger (1984) and The White Rose (1985), completing the Books of the North trilogy. A semi-standalone, The Silver Spike (1989), followed, along with the Books of the South duology: Shadow Games (1989) and Dreams of Steel (1990). The Books of Glittering Stone quartet then completed the initial batch of releases: Bleak Seasons (1996), She is the Darkness (1997), Water Sleeps (1999) and Soldiers Live (2000).

The saga was later collected in four omnibus editions: The Chronicles of the Black Company, The Books of the South, The Return of the Black Company and The Many Deaths of the Black Company. A stand-alone interquel, Port of Shadows, followed in 2018.

Also in 2018, actress Eliza Dushku and producer David Goyer optioned the books as a TV series, but sadly failed to find interest from a production company.

Cook has also confirmed that he has a completed new Garrett, PI novel with his agent, under the tittle Last Metal Romance, and has a further book in that series planned, Deadly Diamond Daydreams. A new Black Company roleplaying game is also in the planning stages from Arcdream.

The Black Company has been hailed as a classic of fantasy and was hugely influential on George R.R. Martin and (especially) Steven Erikson.