Scott Lynch's GENTLEMAN BASTARD series optioned for film

Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series has been optioned for film by Phoenix Pictures, it has been announced.

Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series got off to a roaring start with The Lies of Locke Lamora in 2006. Since then, two more books have been published: Red Seas Under Red Skies (2007) and The Republic of Thieves (2013). Four more books in the series are projected, with The Thorn of Emberlain having been delayed several times but hoped for release in late 2019 or early 2020.

Phoenix Pictures have produced a number of notable movies over the years, including The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Apt Pupil (1998), The Thin Red Line (1998), Shutter Island (2010) and Black Swan (2010).

This is only an option and there is no major studio involvement, but this is a solid first step to getting the books on screen. It'll be interesting to see how this develops.

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.

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.

Video interview with Scott Lynch

Scott Lynch chews the fat with Suvudu over The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies and The Republic of Thieves, as well as dropping some big hints as to where the series goes next.

Scott Lynch auctioning REPUBLIC OF THIEVES for charity

Scott Lynch is auctioning a galley proof of The Republic of Thieves for charity. You can bid on it  here.

The auction is in a good cause, raising money for the families of the 19 firefighters who lost their lives fighting wildfires in Arizona last month. As some may be aware, Scott doubles as a volunteer firefighter when he's not writing fantasy novels. Scott talks about the situation further here.

Matt Stover interviews Scott Lynch

Matt Stover, author of the splendiferous Acts of Caine SF/fantasy series, talks to Scott Lynch, author of the also-splendiferous Gentleman Bastard series, over on the Orbit blog.

No, I haven't got one. No, you can't have it afterwards if I do get one.

Scott has also revealed that ARCs of The Republic of Thieves are being assembled at Gollancz Supreme Headquarters in preparation for distribution to the masses. Since revealing this news, Gollancz Towers have become encased in an impenetrable forcefield and ED-209s have been seen patrolling the grounds, so don't even think about it.

Cover blurb for THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES

Via A Dribble of Ink:

Locke Lamora is dying…

Locke and Jean barely escaped with their lives from what should have been the greatest heist of their career, in the port city of Tal Verrar. Now they head north, looking for sanctuary and an alchemist who can cure the poison that is slowly killing Locke. They find neither, but with their luck, money and hope exhausted, they receive an offer from a power that has never had their best interests at heart: The Bondsmagi of Karthain.

In exchange for the chance that Locke might be saved, the Bondsmagi expect the two Gentlemen Bastards to rig an election in their home city of Karthain. They will be opposed. The other side has already hired the services of Sabetha Belacoros, the one person in the world who might match Locke’s criminal skill, and the one person in the world who absolutely rules his heart.

Now it will be con artist against con artist in an election that couldn’t be more crooked, all for the benefit of the mysterious Bondsmagi, who have plans within plans and secrets they’re not telling…

The Republic of Thieves will be published by Gollancz in the UK on 10 October 2013 and Del Rey in the USA on 8 October. It should be noted that the UK hardcover is currently about half-price as a pre-order on Amazon.co.uk.

I am already planning to acquire an advance copy by putting together of team of like-minded bloggers with complimentary skill-sets to raid Gollancz HQ in a manner Locke would be proud of. Unfortunately, Gollancz have assembled their security team from the cream of SFF villains and entities, meaning that the last obstacle to getting hold of the manuscript is defeating the Shrike. This may not go well.

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).

Scott Lynch update on THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES

Scott Lynch has posted an update on The Republic of Thieves to the Fantasy Faction website, amusingly in response to the question, "What books haven't you finished?".

The Republic of Thieves.


(I am so sorry. I simply couldn't resist. In the immortal words of my grandfather: "If you can't laugh at yourself, you're an asshole.")

Cheers,

SL

P.S. It ain't the finishing that's the issue, it's the editing and the miserable damned anxiety attacks.

P.P.S. I'm working on both as you read this.

P.P.P.S. None of this is the fault of my editors or publishers. They have been patient and steadfastly helpful during a long difficult period of my life.

Based on Gollancz's prior information (in their 2013 catalogue) that Republic would be out in the summer if Scott finished before the end of January, and given that he has not finished, we can conclude that book will now not be out in the summer. In fact, at the moment a 2013 publication at all must be doubtful. Hopefully we'll have some better news soon.

A LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA TV series?

The new Gollancz catalogue reveals some interesting information about Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series.

For the obvious question, the catalogue reveals (on page 47) that the latest hand-in date for The Republic of Thieves (the third book in the series) is at the end of January. If Lynch can hit this date, the book will be published in July. Of course, after almost six years of getting hopes up, I wouldn't be too surprised if this date is not achieved.

More intriguingly, the press info also reveals that The Lies of Locke Lamora has been 'optioned for television'. I can find no information at all about that elsewhere online, which is odd as that kind of news is normally formally announced to the trade magazines before anywhere else.

More news as I get it.

Scott Lynch sets up a new blog

Scott Lynch has set up a new blog at Lynch Industries.

To kick things off, Lynch provides a mini-update on the status of The Republic of Thieves (still revising) and also comments on the current status of the film version of The Lies of Locke Lamora, which was optioned several years ago. Apparently the option has now lapsed, so there will be no further movement on that project (unless it is re-optioned, presumably).

It's worth bookmarking and keeping an eye on the site for further news about Scott and his projects.

Details of a new (old) Scott Lynch book

Or rather, details of a book we heard about more than four years ago but had since dropped off the radar. After completing Red Seas Under Red Skies back in 2007, it was announced that Scott Lynch would be writing two short stories set in the same world, The Mad Baron's Mechanical Attic and The Choir of Knives. These would be assembled into an omnibus edition, The Bastards and the Knives, for publication at a later date.

We haven't heard much about the book since, and it was assumed it would be delayed until some time after The Republic of Thieves (the third novel in the sequence) was published. According to Upcoming4.me, Gollancz have now indicated that the book will be published on 1 March 2013, with a length of approximately 100,000 words. Whilst rough cover art is provided, it's unlikely to be the final artwork as the image is a placeholder that has been used for several Lynch books in the past, and given that the art style has changed radically for the final version of The Republic of Thieves it's likely this will change as well.

As for The Republic of Thieves itself, it is still listed for a very late 2012 release but this date is - still - not finalised yet.

Note the source for the above appears to be Amazon.com, whose reliability is dubious.

Update: The release date of March 2013 is incorrect. It will follow some time after The Republic of Thieves has been published (whenever that is).

A message from Scott Lynch's publisher

Simon Spanton, deputy publishing editor at Gollancz, has released the following statement regarding the new Scott Lynch novel, The Republic of Thieves:

"We know how eagerly many of you are waiting for the publication of Scott Lynch’s third novel, The Republic of Thieves. We know how frustrating the delays have been. We know this because we share your eagerness and your frustrations. But as you may know Scott has had a very difficult couple of years and consequently the novel has been delayed. Several times. If you knew the circumstances for these delays I’m sure you’d understand why we have had to wait for the book. We’re now waiting for final delivery of the manuscript and are hoping to publish the book in March of 2012. The moment we have final delivery we will confirm a publication date.

No-one is more eager to see this book published than Scott or myself. The delays have been forced on us. The moment we can put those behind us we will let you know and then we can all start counting the days to publication. Locke Lamora will return.

Simon Spanton,
Deputy Publishing Director, Gollancz."

THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES pushed back to 2012

Okay, it was clear a few weeks ago that The Republic of Thieves was not going to be a 2011 release, but Gollancz have confirmed it by giving the book a new date of March 2012 in their online catalogue. Frustratingly (for Scott Lynch and Gollancz as much as the fans), this date is still not final or set in stone.


According to Gollancz the date is:

"Still speculative. But progressively less speculative."

Scott has been blogging more frequently recently and assures us that:

"For the curious: The instant, the microsecond I have an unchanging date for TRoT's release I will Twitter the holy bejeezus out of it."

Getting closer...hopfully! :-)

Scott Lynch & Andrzej Sapkowski news

People have been wondering where Scott Lynch's Republic of Thieves and the English translations of the remaining books in Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series have gotten to for a while now. At great personal risk, I have managed to successfully snatch some nuggets of info from the secretive masters of Gollancz.


For The Republic of Thieves, the current plan remains to publish in November 2011, although this is not set in stone and is dependent on the final delivery of the manuscript. Gollancz have been working on parts of the book already and preparing it for production (shades of Voyager and Bantam's treatment of A Dance with Dragons), but a slip to 2012 hasn't been ruled out. Personally, given how heavy 2011 is with long-awaited and eagerly-awaited releases, a slip to 2012 for this book wouldn't entirely be a disaster. Though that said, getting the long-awaited Rothfuss, Martin and Lynch books in one year would be an interesting coincidence (and, combined with Abercrombie, Morgan, Erikson and Sanderson, will make next year's Gemmell Awards a total free-for-all).

For The Witcher books, apparently the hold-up has been to extremely tedious contractual issues which are now moving towards a resolution. Apparently once everything is sorted out, Gollancz (and presumably Orbit in the USA) will issue a statement about how they plan to get the rest of the books out.

So in both cases, no firm information, but definitely signs of movement on both fronts. What is good news is that Morgan's Cold Commands is now submitted and entering production, as is Christopher Priest's The Islanders, and both are on course for publication in the autumn.

THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES is NOT coming out in February

There's been some confusion over the release date for Scott Lynch's third Gentleman Bastard novel, The Republic of Thieves, exasperated by Tor.com last night seemingly 'confirming' that the book will be out next month. This is not the case.


The confusion seems to have been caused by that most hated nemesis of book publishers, a date for publication that was indeed mooted but has somehow gotten 'locked' into the system. These problems can reach quite ridiculous levels: some sellers claim that A Dance with Dragons was actually released in November 2008 but they're just out of stock, for example. In this case the problem seems to have been caused by Gollancz offering February 2011 as a possible date in their official catalogue published last year and people taking it as read (understandably, perhaps, although catalogues have been wrong before). Gollancz themselves has been trying to change the date shown by Amazon and other sellers, but several editions remain showing the February 2011 date.

As of this time, Scott Lynch does not appear to have handed in the final draft of the manuscript for the book, obviously making publication just next month impossible. In fact, I spoke to Scott's editor in October and the MS hadn't been handed in then. If it had been turned in the very next day, it would still have been impossible for the book to come out in February (Lynch sells okay but not on a Patrick Rothfuss, publish-3-months-after-hand-in scale). Gollancz are now postulating November 2011 as the earliest-possible release date based on current info.

The situation is awkward and unfortunate, complicated by Scott Lynch's ongoing health complications. Rest assured that the moment that reviewers and bloggers get hard info, including review copies, you'll hear about it hear and on other blogs. And yes, Gollancz should have updated the incorrect info on their website a while ago. This incident just goes to show that people are increasingly relying on the Internet for their book release info and a few mistakes and problems in the system can result in misinformation being spread quite easily.

New US cover art for Scott Lynch's THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES

Both the UK and US publishers are now listing Scott Lynch's The Republic of Thieves for a February 2011 release (the US specific 22 February). In addition, the US publishers appear to have switched to using the newer UK cover art revealed earlier this year:


An interesting move. The previous US cover was a bit unexciting but the UK one is more atmospheric.

News

Scott Lynch has revealed on his blog (during a discussion on the Blizzard forum ID debacle, which I may cover in a future Countdown to Liberty post) that he is close to handing in revisions on The Republic of Thieves, suggesting that the Spring 2011 date for the book is solid. He is, "Trying to steer a certain book home, baby, home. Revisions are due."


Kate Elliott talks about the Crown of Stars fantasy series which is now coming out (with amazing cover art) in France.

Wizards of the Coast appear to be undergoing some sort of worrying convulsion at the moment, shedding employees, delaying and dropping novels and generally acting in a bizarre manner. Paul Kemp, one of their biggest-selling authors, has seen his new Erevis Cale novel, Godborn (the first in a new trilogy), pushed back all the way to mid-2012 with no explanation, whilst the Forgotten Realms book editor, Phil Athans, has been dismissed. All of this comes amid rumours that Dungeons and Dragons is severely under-performing for WotC (not making a loss, but still not hitting their targets) and questions over the game's future direction.


On Facebook and Twitter Brandon Sanderson has said he has completed the writing of Towers of Midnight, the penultimate Wheel of Time novel, and is now hard at work on revisions before the book's deadline of mid-August to get the book out in the first week of November, as planned.

At a recent book-signing in San Diego, George R.R. Martin reported that A Dance with Dragons has now passed the 1,400 manuscript-page mark. His previous blog posts had revealed that the target length of the book has dropped below the 1,500 MS page-count of A Storm of Swords, indicating that completion is, if not imminent, then at least heaving (if unpredictably lurching around) into view. There are also rumoured signs that Bantam US are targeting a Spring 2011 release date even if the book is completed imminently, which leaves it up to HarperCollins Voyager in the UK to see if they can repeat their Herculean feat of getting Swords on shelves less than ten weeks after hand-in, to ensure both a 2010 release and an influx of overseas sales.

Terry Pratchett has established a new prize. The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Hear, Anywhen But Now Prize will reward debut authors writing in the alternate history subgenre. More details here.

Recent rumours that a Doctor Who movie was in development with Johnny Depp starring have been pretty thoroughly crushed. Russell T. Davies has swatted it down as well.