Scott Lynch releases excerpt from a new Locke Lamora story

Scott Lynch has posted a rare update on his writing, including an excerpt from his next Gentleman Bastard project, the first of three novellas set after the events of The Republic of Thieves.

A 2012 mockup cover for two of the novellas

As reported last June, Lynch has decided to deliver three novellas before releasing the next full novel in the series, The Thorn of Emberlain (which itself exists as a full draft). The first of the novellas is now called More Than Fools Fill Graves, and will be followed by The Mad Baron's Mechanical Attic and The Choir of Knives (the latter two titles have been known for well over a decade by this point, although might still be subject to change).

The three novellas form a continuous but optional narrative, starting the moment The Republic of Thieves ends and continuing through to the start of The Thorn of Emberlain. The combined length of the three novellas will be around three-quarters of a typical Gentleman Bastard novel.

We don't have any kind of release schedule for the novellas and the following novel yet, but hopefully news on that will follow soon now that the first novella is both complete and titled up.

Scott Lynch provides update on his GENTLEMAN BASTARD series

Scott Lynch has provided another update on his long-percolating Gentleman Bastard series, confirming progress on both the fourth novel and a number of long-promised novellas.

Lynch's series began with The Lies of Locke Lamora in 2006, a hugely successful debut fantasy novel that was marketed the first of seven books. It was immediately followed by Red Seas Under Red Skies in 2007. However, it was five years before the third book, The Republic of Thieves, finally hit shelves. Lynch confirmed in candid blog posts that he had been facing mental health issues which had delayed work on the series.

Lynch completed a draft of the fourth novel in the series, The Thorn of Emberlain, in 2019 (and shared a sneak peek at the map in 2016). However, additional health issues (presumably not helped by the pandemic) meant that progress on revisions proceeded very slowly. Lynch confirmed a year ago that he had switched to a new medication regime which seemed to be paying off, and was trying to speak more openly about his projects.

In today's update, Lynch confirmed that work on revising The Thorn of Emberlain continues and he hopes to have news on that front next month. In the meantime he has also completed the third of three Gentleman Bastard novellas which will serve as a nonessential bridge between The Republic of Thieves and The Thorn of Emberlain, the first exploring Locke and Jean's flight from the city of Karthain. The first novellas is as-yet untitled, but will be published by Subterranean Press before possibly seeing a wider release later on. The later novellas' titles have been known for a while, being The Mad Baron's Mechanical Attic and The Choir of Knives.

The Thorn of Emberlain is one of the most eagerly-awaited, long-gestating fantasy novels in the field, alongside George R.R. Martin's The Winds of Winter and Patrick Rothfuss's The Doors of Stone (both some eleven years in progress) and JV Jones's Endlords (twelve years). Both Martin and Jones have provided significant recent updates on making good progress, although the status of Rothfuss's novel remains unclear.

Scott Lynch provides update on his writing process

Scott Lynch, the author of the long-percolating Gentleman Bastard series which began with The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006) has provided a substantial update on his current writing situation.

As is well-known, Lynch launched his career impressively with The Lies of Locke Lamora and its immediate sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies (2007). However, his proposed seven-book series seemed to stall after that point. The third book, The Republic of Thieves, was not published until 2013. The fourth book, The Thorn of Emberlain, has been hovering around the edge of completion for well over two years, since Lynch revealed he had completed a draft of the novel in early 2019. However, updates since then have been fleeting.

Lynch has faced a public battle with mental health issues, publicly speaking about delays caused by anxiety, bereavement and other problems in his life. A few years ago he noted that he was reasonably productive as far as writers go, but had crippling problems letting go of a work and sending the final version to the publishers.

In his update, Lynch confirms that this problem has left him in a situation similar to "Prince's vault," the analogy that the musical artist Prince completed entire albums and numerous, fairly expensive music videos and then shelved them in his vault for years and years on end, refusing to release them to the world (five years after his passing, the fate of much of that material remains unclear). Lynch confirms that in his "vault" are seven short stories, a novella, a novelette, a number of essays and even a whole novel (whether this is The Thorn of Emberlain is unclear, but one assumes so since he confirmed completion of that draft), which he wants to get out to the world.

To combat his anxiety issues, Lynch confirms he is now on anti-anxiety medication for the first time in his life and he hopes this will allow him to start releasing this material to the world. Obviously we wish him the very best and hope this helps him with his health issues, before any consideration of his writing career.

Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear named in SFF misconduct allegations

Author Alexandra Rowland has accused fellow writers Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear (who are married) of abusing them, claims which they have vigorously denied. This story follows several other accusations of harassment in both the SFF lit field and in video gaming over the past two weeks.

This is a developing story and one facts are in some dispute. However, there has been enough discussion of it in the public sphere that at least a bald recounting of the events and claims is possible.

On Friday 26 June, author Alexandra Rowland wrote a blog post in which they accused fantasy author Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear, of abusing and grooming them for several years. Their full post can be read here. To summarise, Rowland contends that, in 2015 and at the age of 25 (twelve years younger than Lynch), they were propositioned by Lynch into having a relationship with him on the basis that he was talking his wife into having an open relationship. Rowland agreed but this subsequently triggered a series of hostile confrontations with Bear, who (in Rowland's contention) put the blame for the event on Rowland and not Lynch, and they subsequently walked away from the situation and cut all contact. Rowland also contends that this kind of problem has happened before with several other young writers (there have been several anonymous allegations of this type supporting Rowland's claim, but no other writer has come forward publicly).

Scott Lynch's initial response was angry and threatened legal action. A subsequent and more measured response rejected the claims in greater detail, although agreeing that he had a consensual relationship with Rowland with his wife's knowledge. Lynch rejected any notion of this being a pattern of behaviour on his part and he has had no contact with Rowland in three years.

Elizabeth Bear also gave a lengthy response (after Lynch's initial response but before his second) in which she categorised Rowland's behaviour as part of a pattern of inserting themselves, unwanted, into other people's spaces and not respecting boundaries. Writers CD Covington, Arkady Martine and Devin Singer provided some support for this assertion.

Writer Kurt Panakau also claimed that Rowland is acting in bad faith, and posted screenshots confirming a similar event happened with another married author three years before the Lynch relationship took place. It should be noted, of course, that bad things can happen to the same person twice. The other married author has not yet been identified.

An anonymous Twitter account provided support for Rowland's account of events, alleging that Lynch behaved towards the account-holder inappropriately at a convention.

Elizabeth Bear has further posted a claim that this issue has reignited long-standing Twitter feuds dating back a decade to previous clashes between SFF writers over other issues (particularly the RaceFail controversy of 2009-10), and anonymous accounts may be posting false information to further their own agenda and even scores. Other commentators have accused this of being deflection.

Many of the previous stories of abusive behaviour and taking advantage of power dynamics in the SFF field have had multiple witnesses and the alleged perpetrators have owned up to their own bad behaviour. This story is much more contentious and contended, and involves multiple allegations and denials on both sides, which is why I was more reluctant to cover it versus other allegations since the facts are in much more dispute. However, the story has become dominant in the SFF field in the last few days.

For my part, I have met Scott Lynch three times and Elizabeth Bear once (briefly on all occasions), and have had positive but brief online interactions with both. I have reviewed some of their books positively in the past. I had not heard of Alexandra Rowland prior to this story breaking.

Further developments are expected.

Scott Lynch completes THE THORN OF EMBERLAIN

Scott Lynch has confirmed that he has completed and delivered the manuscript for The Thorn of Emberlain, the fourth book in his Gentleman Bastard series.

The series began with The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006) and continued with Red Seas Over Red Skies (2007) and The Republic of Thieves (2013). The latter two books in the series have been delayed as Scott has had significant health issues.

Three more books are planned for the series: The Ministry of Necessity, The Mage and the Master Spy (title subject to change) and Inherit the Night.

With the manuscript complete, there will now be revisions, rewrites and edits before the book can be published. Due to this, I suspect we will not see the book before 2020. This is still great news, and Lynch gets bragging rights for being the first of the "Unholy Trifecta" of long-delayed fantasy novels (along with Patrick Rothfuss's Doors of Stone and George R.R. Martin's The Winds of Winter) to get to print.

When to Write: Debut Ages of Famous SF&F Authors

A few months ago, a fellow blogger announced they were writing their first novel via social media and were immediately criticised for being "too old" to start writing. This was a bizarre comment for several reasons, not least of which was that the person in question was really not that old at all, but also the idea that writing - a livelihood not dependent on fast reflexes or immense physical stamina, but one that benefits from life experience - should have any kind of appropriate age for it in the first place.
Still, I thought it would be interesting to take a snapshot of well-known SF&F authors and look at the ages they were when they debuted, and the results are surprisingly varied.

Coming in at the bottom end of the range is Catherine Webb, a British science fiction and fantasy author who has published critically-acclaimed work under her own name and under two pseudonyms: Kate Griffin and Claire North. Webb was 16 years old when she published her first novel, Mirror Dreams, 23 when she published A Madness of Angels (her first Matthew Swift urban fantasy novel) and 28 when she published arguably her best-known novel, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. She's only 32 now, with twenty novels under her belt in a career spanning sixteen years. More impressive is that Webb has attracted immense critical acclaim for her work, which is imaginative, thought-provoking, restless and constantly innovative.

Better-known, although considerably less artistically accomplished, is Christopher Paolini. His Inheritance series of fantasy novels began with Eragon, published when he was 19 years old.

Next up is that well-known young gun George R.R. Martin. His first published work was "The Hero", published in 1971 when Martin was 22 years old. His first novel, Dying of the Light, was published when he was 28, and he was 47 when his best-known novel, A Game of Thrones, was published.

Terry Pratchett got his novel-writing career off to an early start, publishing The Carpet People at the age of 23. However, he had long waits between his early books. His Discworld series kicked off with The Colour of Magic, published when he was 35.

China Mieville was 26 when he published his first novel, King Rat, but, overwhelmingly impressively, was only 27 when he published the massive, classic fantasy Perdido Street Station. He was still only 36 when The City and The City, one of his best-known novels, was published.

Robin Hobb aka Megan Lindholme was 27 when she published her first short story and 31 for her debut novel, Harpy's Flight. Her most famous novel (and debut as Robin Hobb), Assassin's Apprentice, was published when she was 43.

Arthur C. Clarke got into science fiction writing early, with numerous fanzine stories published in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but his first professional sale was "Loophole", published when he was 28. His first novel, Prelude to Space, was published when he was 33. However, his best-known novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was not published until he was 50, and his most acclaimed, Rendezvous with Rama, until he was 55.

Scott Lynch was 28 when he published The Lies of Locke Lamora, narrowly beating out Brandon Sanderson, who was 29 when he published Elantris.

Statistically, especially in SF&F, most debut authors are in their thirties when they start publishing. Falling in this bracket are Iain Banks (30 when he published The Wasp Factory, 33 when he published his first SF novel, Consider Phlebas); Robert Jordan (31 when he published The Fallon Blood and 41 when he published The Eye of the World); Joe Abercrombie (31 when he published The Blade Itself); Ursula K. Le Guin (31 for her first short story, 38 for A Wizard of Earthsea); Terry Brooks (33 for The Sword of Shannara); and Patrick Rothfuss (34 for The Name of the Wind).

For those starting publishing a bit later than the median, there's Raymond E. Feist, who published Magician when he was 37. Gene Wolfe was 39 when he published his first novel and 49 when he released his best-known novel, The Shadow of the Torturer, which opened his Book of the New Sun sequence.

Steven Erikson was 39 when he published his debut novel, This River Awakes, and 40 when he released his first Malazan novel, Gardens of the Moon. 

J.R.R. Tolkien was 44 when he published his first novel, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, and 62 when he began publishing its sequel, The Lord of the Rings.

Terry Goodkind was 46 when he published his debut novel, Wizards' First Rule.

David Eddings was an impressive 50 years old when he published Pawn of Prophecy, beginning The Belgariad.

Richard Adams was 52 when he published his debut novel, Watership Down.

Outside of SF, there are a lot of examples of famous writers who got going in middle age or later. Raymond Chandler was 45 when he published his first story and 51 when he published The Big Sleep. George Eliot aka Mary Evans was 40 when she published her first novel, but 55 when she released her masterwork, Middlemarch. Frank McCourt was 66 when he published his debut novel, Angela's Ashes, which won the Pulitzer Prize. 

The conclusion to be drawn from this is that there is no good or bad time to start writing. If you have talent and skill and good judgement, that will become apparent if you're 16 or 76.

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Scott Lynch on THE THORN OF EMBERLAIN

The Helsinki Times caught up with fantasy author Scott Lynch whilst he was at WorldCon in Finland last month. They chatted about his fantasy series, The Gentleman Bastard, and Scott's inspirations and future plans.

Scott confirmed that the fourth book in the series, The Thorn of Emberlain, should be finished before the end of the year and then published next year. He is very happy with how the book has turned out, and notes that it marks a major shift in the series. Originally Thorn of Emberlain was supposed to be where the series starts, but he couldn't make the characters work without more backstory, so The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies and The Republic of Thieves were essentially written as prequels.

The Thorn of Emberlain introduces two new factors to the series: Emberlain itself as a sort-of permanent new base for our characters, instead of each subsequent book featuring a new city, and Anton Strata as a new major character, a teenage claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of the Seven Marrows whose ascent is tested by Locke and Jean's latest scam.

Lynch also expands further on his love of Japanese RPGs and his appreciation for the mighty Matt Stover.

THE THORN OF EMBERLAIN might not be coming out in September (UPDATED)

A few months ago, Gollancz confirmed that Scott Lynch's The Thorn of Emberlain - the fourth book in his excellent Gentleman Bastard series - was a lock for release on 22 September this year. However, it is now looking less likely that the book will hit that date.

The book was recently pulled from Amazon UK and replaced by a 2018 placeholder, whilst the American edition of the novel has never been listed at all.

It might be that there has been some mix-up with the schedules, or that Bantam was unable to go to print that quickly and has now convinced Gollancz to delay until they are also ready. But so far no official explanation has been given for the book being pulled. If it has been delayed, it certainly won't be until 2018. Based on Scott's comments about how the book was coming together, I suspect (and hope) it will be more moderate delay until early 2017 at worst.

More news as soon as we get it.

UPDATE: Scott Lynch has confirmed that the book will not hit its release date, citing delays stemming from a move of house and writing space. He confirms that the current placeholder dates are not accurate and a more realistic date will be announced soon.

Scott Lynch unveils THORN OF EMBERLAIN map

Scott Lynch has unveiled his sketch map for the forthcoming Thorn of Emberlain. This map shows the Kingdom of the Seven Marrows where the book will take place, with Emberlain itself in the north-east.

Karthain (the setting of The Republic of Thieves) and the Sea of Brass in the south-east show where this map connects to the one from Red Seas Under Red Skies:

Camorr, the setting for The Lies of Locke Lamora, is located a considerable distance to the east of Tal Verrar.


The Thorn of Emberlain, the fourth volume of The Gentleman Bastard, will be released on 22 September.

Scott Lynch's THORN OF EMBERLAIN confirmed for September release

Gollancz have confirmed that they will be releasing Scott Lynch's The Thorn of Emberlain, the fourth volume of The Gentleman Bastard series, on 22 September this year.

This is a slight delay from the July 2016 date originally mooted, but Gollancz explained they made the change to better coordinate marketing activities as Scott will be in the UK that month for Fantasycon.

The previous volumes in the series were The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006), Red Seas Under Red Skies (2007) and The Republic of Thieves (2013). Three further volumes are anticipated to bring the series to a conclusion: The Ministry of Necessity, The Mage and the Master Spy (although this title may change) and Inherit the Night.

A History of Epic Fantasy - Part 30

In the mid-2000s fantasy, and epic fantasy in particular, went through a renaissance. The reasons for this are numerous and varied. The impact of Harry Potter, particularly as its fans grew up and moved onto more adult fare, is one possible explanation. The success of the Lord of the Rings movies and people wanting more is another. Fans of series like The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire moving onto other series as the waits between volumes became longer is also possible.

But for whatever reason, at the start of the century a series of new major fantasy talents debuted. All got off to a good start with works that sold well, and some went on to become major best-sellers in one territory or another.

The Magician's Guild

Trudi Canavan's debut novel was published in 2001 and focuses on Sonea, a poor girl who is (reluctantly) persuaded to join the mage's guild so she can take control of her powers before they can run amok and kill innocents. Throughout the novel and its two sequels in The Black Magician Trilogy, class issues are contrasted with issues of perspective (particularly the way differing forms and types of magic are given value-judgement names).

The Black Magician Trilogy was a big success in its native Australia but also did very well upon its publication in Britain and the United States, becoming the biggest-selling debut fantasy series since Terry Goodkind...until a certain Patrick Rothfuss published his first novel in 2007.

The Weavers of Saramyr & Retribution Falls

Published in 2003, The Weavers of Saramyr was the opening novel in The Braided Path (2003-05), a trilogy by Chris Wooding that moved away from the traditional use of Western European tropes in favour of elements drawing on Asian mythology, as well as simply using original ideas with no firm rooting in a real historical tradition. The trilogy sees the empire of Saramyr dependent on a magic-wielding elite who hold ultimate power, and they are eventually drawn into conflict with freedom fighters anxious to restore the Empire to freedom.

In 2009 Wooding began publishing his second major fantasy series, The Tales of the Ketty Jay (2009-12), with Retribution Falls. This series fuses epic fantasy tropes to steampunk, drawing inspiration from films and TV series involving aerial battles as well. Both series, although wildly different in character, setting and tone, show the author's willingness to bend genres and bring together radically different influences and inspirations to create something new, fresh and exciting.

The Blade Itself

First published in 2006, The Blade Itself was the debut novel by British film editor Joe Abercrombie. He'd been working on the book, on and off, for years and finally got it to the position where it was publishable. A chance meeting with an editor at Gollancz saw the book get to the shelves and, helped by Pyr Books in the US, became a quick cult success. With Orbit US taking over publication of Abercrombie's fourth novel, he that achieved a breakthrough in sales across the Atlantic as well.

Abercrombie's first six novels take place in his signature setting, The First Law world. The first three books (2006-08) form a coherent trilogy, the next three (2009-12) are stand-alones with some linking subplots and secondary characters but each book is primarily independent. This setting is, at first glance, a traditional fantasy secondary world focusing on the "civilised" Union, an island-nation which is expanding onto a northern continent, populated by clans of violent barbarians, and also facing opposition from a desert empire to the south. The First Law books draw together disparate heroes (if only self-appointed ones) who must join forces to defeat the enemy. However, it soon turns out that their own allies and in particular their apparently grumpy-but-friendly wizard mentor are actually viciously amoral, manipulative individuals who are out for their own advancement.

Abercrombie has been praised for his gritty moral ambiguity, his avoidance of pat or cliched endings and the employment of a dark and twisted sense of humour. His prose improves remarkably over the books, and he does unusual things in his later novels of using the epic fantasy template to riff off Mafia revenge movies, historical war stories and even spaghetti westerns.

To keep things fresh, in 2014-15 he published a YA trilogy, The Shattered Sea, set in a far future, post-apocalyptic Scandinavia, featuring morally compromised antiheroes and realistically-flavoured characters trying to get by in a crazy world. This mix of accessibility and complexity has helped make Abercrombie one of Britain's biggest-selling genre authors.

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Scott Lynch's debut novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006), was arguably the first novel to benefit from the advent of the "blogosphere" in the mid-2000s. Fantasy review sites including Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, Nethspace and the OF Blog of the Fallen had first appeared in the middle of the decade and provided platforms to review and discuss books before the arrival of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. The Lies of Locke Lamora was discussed on such sites and on book forums for a good year or so before it was finally published, and when it did arrive it was to significant critical acclaim.

Scott Lynch's debut is set in the city of Camorr, an Italian-flavoured city-state riven by classic issues and also dominated by unusual structures left behind by an ancient but enigmatic race of powerful creatures. The book focuses on a gang of thieves who are drawn into events beyond their control, with bloody, tragic and (somehow) hilarious results. The focus is on Locke Lamora, an extremely lucky, skilled and arrogant man forever getting in over his head and having to be constantly rescued by his constant friend and ally Jean. The book is well-written and brimming with verve and atmosphere, but it's key success is being a vital novel which makes the world and people feel alive. The sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies (2007), combines these elements with a pirate adventure on the high seas.

Unfortunately, health issues delayed the arrival of The Republic of Thieves, the third novel in the planned seven-volume Gentleman Bastard sequence, until 2013. However, when it was published it was to tremendous sales and critical success: the long wait had not only not damaged Lynch's reputation, but added to it. Republic darkens and complicates Locke's story by introducing his female sometimes-love interest, sometimes-nemesis, Sabetha, and also radically reconceptualises the series by making it more serialised and epic, a process which continues in The Thorn of Emberlain (2016) which moves the series into full-scale war.

The Name of the Wind

In 2007 DAW Books attracted a lot of attention by announcing that they acquired had something very special. Indeed, the last time respect editor Betsy Wollheim had made such a fuss about an epic fantasy novel it had been The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, a novel that had profoundly changed the genre forever, so a lot of fans sat up and took notice.

The Name of the Wind was an absolute monster smash hit when it was released. It sold like proverbial hot cakes on both sides of the Atlantic, smashed debut author fantasy sales records like paper and gripped the imagination like very few other books had done. It was certainly the biggest and most successful epic fantasy debut of the 2000s. The reasons for its success were clear: a marketable and charismatic narrator, a simplistic premise (essentially an adult Harry Potter story, in a secondary world) which belies a much more complex and subtle story about an unreliable narrator, and some rich and evocative prose. An incongruous climactic battle against a wyrm aside, it was a compelling and interesting debut novel.

The sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, was published in 2011 (a delay that caused some grumbles, as the author had claimed the entrie Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy was already complete before publication) to similarly rapturous popular acclaim and even stronger sales, although the critical reception was more mixed due to the novel's much greater length but a distinct dearth of major plot or character developments. Some claimed that this was part of the trilogy's appeal, its constant thwarting of expectations built up from earlier genre novels. Indeed, the series could even be described as a distinctly anti-epic fantasy, defying convention in search of something new. Whether the series will have achieved that remains to be seen in the concluding volume, The Doors of Stone, expected in 2016/17.

And Also...

Other fantasy series which appeared during this renaissance period included Karen Miller's Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology (2005), Gail Z. Martin's Chronicles of the Necromancer (2007-10) and Tom Lloyd's Twilight Reign series (2006-12).

Established authors also enjoyed renewed success during this time, with Raymond E. Feist recovering from a turn-of-the-millennium dip in form with Honoured Enemy (2001, with William Forstchen) and Talon of the Silver Hawk (2002), which both re-injected some life into his flagging Riftwar Cycle. Unfortunately, later books continued to decline in quality with the series struggling to a final resolution in Magician's End (2013).

More positive was Gregory Keyes, a reliable author of alternate-history (in the Age of Unreason series) and rural fantasy (in the Chosen of the Changeling duology) who wrote and executed a well-received epic fantasy sequence called The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone (2003-08).

Paul Kearney, author of the excellent Monarchies of God sequence, experienced a mid-decade crisis when his excellent Sea-Beggars series was cut short after two volumes (2004-06). Attempts to bring the final volume to print were thwarted by complex legal issues, leaving the series incomplete against the author's will and to the annoyance of his fans. However, he was rescued by Solaris Books who published a new, Greek-inspired fantasy series called The Macht between 2008 and 2012.

In 2001 an established, experienced author of books for children, Gillian Rubinstein, published her first novel for adults using the pen-name Lian Hearn: Across the Nightingale Floor. The novel used ancient Japanese history and mythology as the basis for an epic fantasy tale, eventually encapsulating three novels, a prequel and a sequel. The series was credited for reviving interest in Asian history and folklore as a setting for fantasy stories.

Most vividly out of this period, hard-boiled cyberpunk and science fiction author Richard Morgan moved decisively into fantasy with his Land Fit For Heroes Trilogy (2008-14), starting with The Steel Remains. Morgan's remit was simply to make a kick-ass story that brought fantasy screaming into the 21st Century. This may have been slightly redundant due to the advent of authors like Bakker, Abercrombie, Erikson and Lynch, but Morgan's work packed in enough twists to make his contribution stand out. His lead character is gay, and almost aggressively so with no punches pulled. The story is strident and angry and political, riffing off class divides and government corruption and the threats of the allure of true power. It is dark and powerful, although arguably the series took at least most of the first novel to work out what exactly it wanted to do before starting to achieve it.


This shot in the arm given to fantasy was sadly parallelled by sad news for some of the older guard. David Gemmell suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away in 2006 while writing the final novel his excellent Troy Trilogy. In 2007 Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers. He would pass away in 2015, but before then would spend the rest of his life fighting for the right to die and for treatment of the terrible disease, all the while producing further Discworld novels. In 2009 David Eddings, one of the founding figures of modern epic fantasy, also passed away at the age of 77. Robert Jordan was diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis and passed away in 2007, leaving his mammoth Wheel of Time sequence unfinished.

The task of finding an author to complete the Wheel of Time series should have been daunting for his widow and editor Harriet McDougal, and his publisher Tor Books. After all, the author they chose could well be construed to be inheriting the mantle of writing for the most ambitious epic fantasy series around. However, the choice in the end was made simple by the fact that Tor Books already had an author working for them who was already working on epic fantasy series - universe, in fact - that absolutely dwarfed even Robert Jordan's formidable ambition.

New release date for THE THORN OF EMBERLAIN

Scott Lynch has announced that the release date for his next Gentleman Bastard book, The Thorn of Emberlain, has had to drop back to early 2016.

Lynch did confirm that the book is very close to being done and might have made it out before the end of 2015 with an accelerated production process he and his publishers didn't feel comfortable with, so the book will drop back a little to the spring instead. He hopes to confirm hand-in of the manuscript shortly.

The Thorn of Emberlain is the fourth book in the series, following on from The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies and The Republic of Thieves. It will be followed by three more volumes in the series, The Ministry of Necessity, The Mage and the Master Spy (possibly to be retitled) and Inherit the Night.

Scott Lynch on overcoming depression to hit the bestseller lists

Way back in 2006, the hottest voice in fantasy was a young American author named Scott Lynch. His first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, was released to immense critical acclaim and reasonably strong sales. He followed it up in 2007 with Red Seas Under Red Skies, a well-received sequel. These were the first two books in a sequence called The Gentleman Bastard, planned to run to seven volumes, with Scott vowing to continue releasing a book a year, along with side-novellas.

In the event, the third book in the sequence, The Republic of Thieves, was not released until 2013. In the meantime Scott disappeared from view, aside from occasional mentions that he was working on the book. In 2010 he publicly admitted that he was facing a serious battle with depression. Depression affects many millions of people worldwide, and those in the creative industries seem to be disproportionately affected by it. Scott received many letters and emails of support, along with the backing of his publisher, and was able to get back into writing. The Republic of Thieves rewarded that faith by hitting the bestseller lists. The fourth novel in the series, The Thorn of Emberlain, is tentatively scheduled for the end of this year.

The Relentless Reading blog has interviewed Scott at some length here about the future books in the series, his other writing plans (interestingly, he has another novel in the works apparently not related to his core series) and how he came to grips with his situation. It is honest, forthright and very much worth a read.

THORN OF EMBERLAIN cover art revealed

Gollancz have unveiled the cover art for The Thorn of Emberlain, the fourth novel in The Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch. The artwork is by Alejandro Colucci.

The Thorn of Emberlain takes Locke Lamora and his friend Jean to the Kingdom of the Seven Marrows, where a brutal Vadran civil war is raging. Gollancz is planning to release the novel before the end of 2015.

Paul Kearney and Scott Lynch updates

Solaris Books have revealed the latest version of the cover art for their upcoming new Paul Kearney novel, The Wolf in the Attic, as well as issuing a new blurb. It sounds like Solaris are very impressed with this book and are going to be pushing it out with some fanfare.

In 1920's Oxford a little girl called Anna Francis lives in a tall old house with her father and her doll Penelope. She is a refugee, a piece of flotsam washed up in England by the tides of the Great War and the chaos that trailed in its wake. Once upon a time she had a mother and a brother, and they all lived together in the most beautiful city in the world, by the shores of Homer's wine-dark sea. Anna remembers a time when Agamemnon came to tea, and Odysseus sat her upon his knee and told her stories of Troy.

But that is all gone now, and only to her doll does she ever speak of it, because her father cannot bear to have it recalled.

She sits in the shadows of the tall house and watches the rain on the windows, and creates worlds for herself to fill out the loneliness. The house becomes her own little kingdom, an island full of dreams and half-forgotten memories.

And then one winter day, she finds an interloper in the topmost, dustiest attic of the house. A Romany boy named Luca with yellow eyes, who is as alone in the world as she is.

In this way she meets the only real friend she will ever know.

Kearney also has a Warhammer 40,000 novel, Umbra Sumus, due for release from the Black Library on 7 May 2015.

The Space Marines of the Dark Hunters, descendants of the White Scars and their savage primarch Jaghatai Kahn, are called to battle on the world of Ras Hanem, a world they thought long since liberated from the grip of heresy and returned to Imperial rule. Many years ago, the Dark Hunters defeated the traitor warband known as the Punishers on that world, in a conflict that left deep wounds in the Chapter. But now the Punishers have returned, seeking vengeance upon their would-be destroyers. Captain Jonah Kerne of Mortai Company is set to annihilate the traitors once and for all, but the cost of victory may be too high for him to bear...

Meanwhile, Scott Lynch has confirmed that, despite a slip into 2015 for The Thorn of Emberlain, there will be no more six-year waits. The novel is on track for a mid-to-late 2015 release and Lynch is promising news about some other projects between now and then as well.

Update on Scott Lynch's THE THORN OF EMBERLAIN

Scott Lynch has provided a brief update on the progress of his fourth Gentleman Bastard novel, The Thorn of Emberlain. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the novel isn't going to be out this autumn, a year after The Republic of Thieves, as had originally been hoped. However, Scott reports that the book will be completed only slightly behind schedule.

On that basis and assuming no further delays, it's likely we will see the book in the first half of 2015. After a six-and-a-half year wait for The Republic of Thieves, the next book coming out just eighteen months later is still a big improvement.

From Scott:

Yeah, at this point we're not gonna hit a 2014 publication. I'm going to scrape past the manuscript finish line well before the end of 2014, but too late to get it on the docket in a sensible fashion. At least as far as I know. So, early 2015, precise date TBA. Don't take anything in a bookstore database as meaningful, look for the announcements from me and Gollancz/Random House.

Cheers,

SL

LOCKE LAMORA TV series in the works: update

A couple of years ago, there was a rumour that Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora (and presumably the rest of the Gentleman Bastard series) was going to be adapted for television. The novel had previously been optioned for a movie before it had even been released, but after several years in development hell the rights lapsed.

At an event in Santa Fe this week, writer Ryan Condal is reported to have said he is working on a pilot script for a TV series based on the novel. Condal is the writer of the pilot for The Sixth Gun, a potential TV series based on the comic books by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt. NBC passed on the series, but the pilot has been aired in several locations and seems to have gone down well. Condal also wrote the script for the new Hercules movie starring Dwayne Johnson, due out in July.

When asked about the rumour, Scott Lynch replied:

"I can neither confirm nor deny the denial or confirmation of anything potentially requiring denial or confirmation."

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Scott Lynch on THE THORN OF EMBERLAIN

It's only been two months since The Republic of Thieves was published, but clearly Scott Lynch isn't resting on his laurels. Keen to avoid the six-year-wait between volumes, Lynch is already hoping to get the fourth book in The Gentleman Bastard series on the shelves before 2014 is done. From Fantastical Imaginations:

My next book, The Thorn of Emberlain, ought to be out in the fall of 2014.
 
The Thorn of Emberlain, the fourth book in the Gentleman Bastard sequence, picks up about half a year after The Republic of Thieves and finds Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen trying to get back on their feet with a major con. They’re trying to sell the services of a non-existent mercenary company to the besieged city-state of Emberlain, hoping to escape with the hiring fees before the chaos of the Vadran civil war overruns Emberlain. Naturally, things don’t go according to plan…

I can confirm that Scott's publishers are themselves confident that this date can be met: Scott began work on The Thorn of Emberlain some time before the final edits on Republic were done, and the novel is already in an advanced stage of writing. Whether they will hit this target remains to be seen, but all parties involved seem to be confident.

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch

Locke Lamora is dying, poisoned by an enemy during his previous con. However, he receives an offer from the least likely source imaginable: the Bondsmagi of Karthain, his sworn enemies. In return for saving his life, they want him and his stalwart companion Jean to help their allies win an election in their home city. The only problem is that the rival faction has the same idea, and has hired the one person in the world who can match Locke in a battle of wits: his former lover, Sabetha.

The Republic of Thieves has finally arrived, six and a half years after the publication of the previous book in the series, Red Seas Under Red Skies. The medical and personal problems which have afflicted Scott Lynch's writing have been well-documented elsewhere and seem to be resolved, with the next book in the series, The Thorn of Emberlain, reportedly already nearing completion and hoped for publication in late 2014. Hopefully this is the case, because The Republic of Thieves marks the end of the 'stand-alone adventure' phase of the series and the arrival of what appears to be a somewhat more serialised mode of storytelling.

Like its two predecessors, Republic is divided into two storylines. We have a present-day storyline set in Karthain and featuring Locke and Jean trying to win an election in which they are opposed by someone who knows them better than they know themselves. We also have a lengthy flashback to when the gang were teenagers and sent to work in the city of Espara, where they find themselves trying to stage a play (the Republic of Thieves of the title) despite their director being in prison. The book alternates between the two storylines as it progresses.

Both storylines are entertaining, though the flashback one is arguably the stronger of the two. The secondary characters in the theatre company and city of Espara are more strongly-defined and the escalating catastrophes of things going wrong and then getting worse is quite compelling (overcoming the weakness that we know the 'regular cast' survives because, hey, flashbacks). The current-day storyline, set in Karthain, is hampered by the fact that no-one (not the Bondsmagi, Locke or Sabetha) seems to really care who wins the election. There's some interesting (if more broadly-defined) characters featured in this section and the various vote-winning ploys are amusing, but the lack of stakes makes this storyline flag a little. The alternating structure is also not entirely successful: the chapters are quite long and involved, so you're just being absorbed into one storyline when the other resumes, and then the same problem recurs. Reading the flashback chapters as one self-contained novel and then the present-day storyline as one chunk does improve this issue and restores some pace to both narratives, which otherwise tend to bog-down mid-book. There is a large focus on the Locke/Sabetha relationship in both timelines, which tends to get a little repetitive and isn't helped by the 16-year-old Locke and Sabetha discussing relationship issues with impressive and not entirely convincing maturity, which in thankfully isolated moments threaten to the turn the novel into a fantasy version of Dawson's Creek, though Lynch manages to avoid it becoming too annoying. These discussions also later provide important groundwork for the development of their relationship in the present day storyline.

On the plus side, Lynch delves into Locke's psyche a lot more than in previous books and we get closer to finding out what makes him tick. He also lifts the veil on the Bondsmagi, and we learn more about their history, culture, beliefs and organisation. The story about how the Bondsmagi will save Locke in return for helping them out in a minor issue seems rather thin, and it's rather a relief to find that there is more going on than meets the eye. In particular, the closing chapters of the book (and the twist ending) do explain a series of oddities in three volumes to date. There are some complaints that, as a heavily-trailed character, Sabetha is disappointing but if anything this appears to be deliberate. Whilst intelligent and highly capable, Sabetha isn't the paragon Locke lionises her as, and discovering there is a plot reason why Locke is so unhealthily fixated on her is a relief. In fact, there is an argument for readers to read the last few chapters to discover the spoiler and then read the novel knowing about it, as it makes a whole bunch of decisions earlier on more comprehensible than if read cold. Fans of Jean will appreciate that he gets some very good development in the flashback chapters, but will be less impressed that he seems to be sidelined in the present-day story.

Both the twist and another subplot in the book (reports coming in of a brewing civil war in the Kingdom of the Seven Marrows) seem to mark an end to the stand-alone nature of each novel. It looks like that, from now on, the plot of each book will lead into the next (as Republic's apparently does into The Thorn of Emberlain). Those who were expecting and even hoping for this series to consist of isolated, repeated heists and capers may be disappointed by this, whilst those who have dismissed the series for being a bit lightweight for the same reason may be moved to a reappraisal. Whilst some may mourn the loss of the 'Fantasy Ocean's 11' approach to the series, I think it's interesting and healthy for an author to evolve his story and characters from book to book and not be trapped into doing the exact same thing for ten books running, and The Republic of Thieves certainly does that.

With The Republic of Thieves (****) Lynch has delivered a book packed with his trademark sharp dialogue, wit and cunning plotting, and with big improvements in worldbuilding and the portrayal of characters' emotions. It's a transformative book in the series, raising the stakes and making it more clear what the series (and the potential sequel-series Lynch has mooted) will actually be about. There are pacing issues and reading the two narratives as separate novels rather than one big intertwined one may be a better idea, whilst the stakes of the story are somewhat murky and only revealed at the end. However, this is  a step-up in quality from Red Seas Under Red Skies, even if it doesn't match the enjoyability of The Lies of Locke Lamora. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.

Lynch/Rothfuss London signing

Last night I attended a joint signing by Scott Lynch and Patrick Rothfuss at the huge Forbidden Planet store in central London. I'd met Pat before, four years ago, but this was my first time meeting Scott.

The signing table looms into sight at last, like Mount Doom after Frodo's long journey. Or something.

The signing was packed out. I mean, huge. The queue snaked around the entire store back and forth like a slow-moving conga. Fairly late in the process someone counted the number of people in the queue and came back with 300, but I think it was a fair bit more than that. Forbidden Planet is used to hosting massive signings from movie stars, but the size of this queue for two fantasy authors whose names don't have the initials 'R.R.' or 'J.K.' in them seemed to take the staff by surprise. I arrived at the store at 5.30 (the signing was due to start at 6.00) and finally got to the signing table at around 8.15pm. It turns out S.M. Stirling was also doing a signing upstairs and I contemplated getting one of his books to get signed, but he was long gone by the time the Lynchfuss signing was done.

A Gentleman Bastard and myself, yesterday.

Following the signing, we repaired to a nearby hostelry where Pat and Scott chatted with fans and did a bit of a double act discussion talking about their books and writing process. It sounds like we shouldn't be holding our breaths about seeing The Doors of Stone in the near future, but things sounded a lot more hopeful about The Thorn of Emberlain (though neither author, with wisdom born of experience, offered up potential release dates).

Myself, Pat Rothfuss and Pat Rothfuss's beard, which had its own hospitality suite. We should really be charging Tad Williams for free advertising here as well.

It was a bit of a slog to get through the signing process, but Pat and Scott were good speakers and the evening was fun. In the future, however, I think I'll make sure I get to the signing a bit earlier.

The Queue. Long will it haunt my dreams.