Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear me-eee, and bloody hell but I am 50 years old today, my friends. 5 decades. Half a century. Where did it all go? I still feel young and exciting, but I must now accept that it’s eighteen years since The Blade Itself was published. I have an adult child, on the cusp of leaving home, and two others not far behind. When did that happen? Truly, we all will slide into the grave with a plaintive whimper of, ‘but I was just getting started . . .’ My wife Lou has done some new author photos to commemorate this vital milestone, as I inevitably transition from dangerous bad boy of British fantasy, subverting tropes with my every breath, to tedious dinosaur blocking up the publishing schedule with another overlong, self-indulgent tome just like the last overlong, self-indulgent tome, and droning away on panels at conventions about how influential I’ve been, and that time I had dinner with George RR Martin.
With the right lighting, I can still pass for 49! Ah, well. As someone young and exciting once wrote: Still alive . . .
A YEAR IN BOOKSELLING –When you negotiate a publishing deal, it includes dates for the publication of the books in question, and though no one takes those dates extremely seriously, they can take on a life of their own. So it is that, though I finished the writing on The Devils in 2023, and the last bits of editing at the start of 2024, and advance reader copies have been going out, being read, and in some cases even reviewed, for quite a while already, the book won’t actually be OUT until May 6th (in the UK) or 13th (in the US), 2025 (in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook read by the incomparable Steven Pacey). That’ll be the longest gap ever in my publishing schedule, as it goes, 3 and a half years since The Wisdom of Crowds came out in September 2021, when the book world was still very much affected by Covid restrictions. We could’ve pushed it through faster, but my new US publisher wanted plenty of time to prepare the ground for a new series, and I didn’t want to rush the editing or the art, and it would have meant a longer wait for the next book (which hopefully now will come out maybe 15 months or so after the Devils, which feels a much more comfortable gap).
No new book from me in 2024, therefore, but there will of course be much more bookselling going on next year, around the publication of The Devils in May. Subscription models and special editions continue to become a bigger and bigger thing, especially in the genre world, so we’re going to end up with a few different editions of the book, and these won’t just be a sprayed edge or a numbered signature page these will be totally different art styles and bindings. The standard US and UK hardcovers from Tor and Gollancz respectively will have a map and set of sumptuous internal illustrations of the central characters from Joel Daniel Phillips of Lit Escalates (4 colour on the endpapers, 4 monochrome internally). Really pleased with how these have come out, based around Byzantine icons very appropriate to the book, and think they’ll make the whole thing feel that bit more special:
We’re hoping there’s going to be some merchandise available based around these as the time draws nearer. Then there are also going to be at least two signed limited editions with totally different art and cover approaches, one tending towards classic epic fantasy and another with more of a gothic horror vibe, both of which will have their own custom endpapers. I’ve already signed some 12000 sig sheets for those, each one lovingly pored over, of course. There may even be some super duper special fine press letterpress editions coming later in the year. More on all of that nearer publication date. Looks like I’ll be touring bookshops in the UK for a week at the start of May and then very likely will be doing some bookshop events in the US for the first time in, what, 10 years, when Half a King came out? I’m also gonna be in Spain for Celsius festival in July (along with quite the list of international guests this year including Robin Hobb, Brandon Sanderson, NK Jemisin, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Catriona Ward and Jay Kristoff).
A YEAR IN BOOK WRITING – It’s been a reasonable year on the writing front as I started drafting the sequel to The Devils just before year end and I’ve now done a really rubbish first draft of 2 parts out of 3 – about 125,000 words (though not necessarily in quite the right order yet). The overall plot shape is more or less there but the characters are still working out what they need to be. I’ve been flailing around somewhat with this one, trying to work out what it is as I’m writing it. I’ve been taking this – let’s dignify it by calling it a gardening approach – more as I’ve got older, and especially with these books which are more self-consciously wild and chaotic than my First Law stuff. Bang out a first draft, see what you’ve got, then revise it, pare it back and impose some structure on it once you’ve worked out what it needs to be (with help from a couple of very good editors). Having done this a few times now I have faith that it’ll come together, but it certainly can be worrying feeling like you’re working on an out of control pile of shit for a lot of the drafting process. Still, it was ever thus, really. Love the books you’ve written, hate the one you’re writing. I felt much the same way about the Devils when I was writing it, or indeed Best Served Cold or Red Country, and they came out fine in the long run (if not to say magisterial works that shall resound through history). My hope is in the next month or so I’ll be able to sharpen up the second part, rewrite the first a bit, confer with my editors on what I’ve got, then plan the last part, and by that point I’ll hopefully feel more confident about the whole thing and can finish up a first draft relatively quickly. That should give me a good few months to edit and revise with a view to being largely finished towards the end of 2025, and publishing August/September 2026. We shall see.
TV AND FILM – These days I do spend maybe a third to a half of my time working on various film and TV projects, and though there’s frustratingly little I can say about those, and frustratingly few of them have actually made it to the screen as yet, it does make it a little awkward to hammer other people’s work, so I’ll just pick out a few things from the year that I’ve particularly enjoyed. In film, the standouts would be Dune II – just a brilliant adaptation of some really difficult source material with some incredible sound and visual design. Hard to think of many things that have brought a truly alien culture so convincingly to life. Then there’s Wicked, which wouldn’t normally be my cup of tea but I just found to be a real riot. Cracking central performances and every detail meticulously polished.
On the TV side, Slow Horses started a little slow but gets better and better with each season, The Bear started amazing but though I liked this third season it didn’t reach the highs of the second. Day of the Jackal was good but went off at the end and perhaps took itself a bit too seriously by comparison with Black Doves which I thought covered similar ground and benefited from a bit of wit and warmth, and Ben Whishaw, who’s just great in everything. Shogun was lavish, atmospheric, powerful stuff. The second season of Arcane was at times a bit too packed, but when it slowed down and took its time it could be truly outstanding. Interview With the Vampire is just a brilliantly acted and arranged adaptation jam packed with awesome moments. It’s a tough call but I’d say my favourite TV of the year was probably Industry, which is really coming of age now in its third season. A sharp, ruthless, shocking meditation on class and wealth and greed.
GAMES – Honestly a bit of a muted year on the gaming front. Dragon Age: The Veilguard was kinda … fine, I guess? The settings were great and there were certainly some cool sequences but a lot of the dialogue felt exceedingly on the nose and I found the gameplay became pretty repetitive over time. All a bit too ‘gamey’, if that makes sense – sometimes you felt you were looking at a barely disguised flowchart of location design and dialogue options. It was one of those where my interest flagged and I slightly limped over the finish line with more a whimper than a bang. I enjoyed both the Hellblade games as short, intense experiences. Very filmic, original, high concept fare and stunning to look at. I was an enormous fan of Frostpunk so I’d been greatly looking forward to Frostpunk 2, and it was good, really interesting in places and I applaud the developer’s efforts to take it somewhere slightly new, but in the end it wasn’t as raw and impactful as the first instalment. Shadow of the Erdtree, the DLC for Elden Ring certainly had some amazing moments but a lot of it felt weirdly empty and undeveloped by comparison with the main game. So though I’ve only started playing it in the last few weeks, I’d say my personal game of the year has been Helldivers 2. It’s really not my sort of game in the main, but it does exactly what it says on the tin with much sense of humour, and I’ve been very much enjoying bringing democracy to the galaxy at gunpoint along with some friends, and in fact my son (don’t you dare suggest that he’s better at it than me, though).
THE YEAR AHEAD – Various Film and TV projects bubble away on the back burner and may need further attention as they move towards getting made – or more likely not – and there are a couple of new ones I’m likely to be taking on, but the publication of The Devils in May will of course be the big professional thing on my horizon. Fingers crossed that it will be an earth shattering sensation. Let me leave you with what Tamsyn Muir, author of Gideon the Ninth had to say about the book:
“The Devils is just an incredibly fun, incredibly action-packed and, by the end, incredibly affecting book. It slammed the living shit out of me.”
And who among us, after all, doesn’t want their living shit slammed out? Happy New Year, you beautiful bastards, and (for yet another time) let’s hope this one is better than the last…
45 comments so far
Auguri da Firenze mitico Joe !
Happy Birthday, Joe. Those five decades… I know the feeling. Still 25 in my head. Ah well, getting older beats the alternative. Happy New Year and all that stuff, and thanks again for interesting insights into the whole process. And interesting that you’ll be sharing the bill in Spain in 2025 with one of the Adrian Tchaikovsky clones (he must have ’em, right, locked away in his shed, writing 3-4 books a year. Try to find out, will you?).
Hey Joe
Looking forward to 2025 and your work
Particularly these special editions you have mentioned. Something to stay forever proudly on my bookshelf
All the best ,
“Summers past love company. Seems every time you turn around there’s more o’ the bastards at your back”, as someone Lamb said in “Red Country”, who was also about 50 at the time.
Happy Birthday!
As always Joe, thanks for the update. I knew things were going to be slow these last couple of years for your fanbase but that only means things are busy and progressive for you.
Looking forward to the first book of the new trilogy and hopefully get to see you at a book signing again.
Happy Birthday Joe, hope you and yours have a great New Year.
By the dead you’re one handsome bastard. Happy birthday, Joe. Hope to see you at your UK book tour in early 2025! Looking forward to The Devils and the next series. Here’s to 2025.
Happy birthday, Joe!
Thanks for including the Byzantine icon image. Obviously I’ve screen grabbed it and it’s now the wallpaper on my ‘phone. It’s gorgeous.
Happy New Year to you and the family when it arrives.
Happy birthday, mate!
Thanks for sharing your creativity and imagination with us and giving us some of the best (anti?)heroes in fantasy!
“Death waits for us all” but I’d say even at fifty it’s waiting quite a ways away for you. We share a birthday and I just turned 31 myself, and I’m not quite feeling old yet, let’s hope that lasts.
I’ve finally gotten around to reading the Shattered Sea trilogy and I have to say they are quite fun! Love seeing the ‘shadows’ of First Law characters in the cast, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, hope you have a great new year and birthday! Here’s to getting our shit slammed out in 2025!
Here’s to another year of enduring the misery we have to endure between disappointments—Cheers!
Can you tell us in detail about what you talk about with George rr Martin?
Happy Birthday, Mr. Abercrombie (insert 50 balloon emojis).
Don’t sweat your fifties and beyond, it keeps getting better. Then you explode.
Well, happy birthday!
Thanks for sharing this with us and hopefully 2025 will be another great year for you 🙂
I can’t wait for the new book, this time I also think I will read it directly in english (German native speaker here) – one of the illustrated editions habe to be mine 😉
Happy new year and … keep spreading democracy, Helldiver!
Happy Birthday, Joe!
Keep on writing and we`ll keep on reading. Wish you a good and productive 2025!
Cakes and candles my dude!
Can’t wait to get my living shit slammed out, May 13th.
Congratulations on another trip around the sun Joe! As you say, may this next trip be better yet.
May can’t come soon enough, and so we will just have to struggle to stay present in the meantime. I hate waiting like Glokta hates stairs!
If and when you do come to tour the states, what are the chances you make it to Texas? I know we aren’t looked at as the most… well read and educated state in the nation, but I assure you that the Abercrombie fandom is alive and well here.
Also, greatly appreciate your year end review for TV, film and gaming. I’ve found that generally our tastes run similar paths and the takes you offer match my own for what we’ve both experienced. For what I’ve yet to try, your list is always a trusted source.
Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he has a keen eye for shit media.
Cheers!
Happy birthday, Joe. Read any good books or do you eschew acknowledging mortal enemies?
I started reading the First Law around August this year and am currently ploughing through The Wisdom of Crowds.
I’ve absolutely loved reading them and cannot wait for The Devils.
Frostpunk is brilliant and you should watch The Curse.
Happy birthday Joe! Several years ago, TBI brought me back to reading for pleasure for the first time since college, and I can’t thank you enough for re-igniting my passion for all things fantastical. Cannot wait for The Devils and whatever else you have in store for us. Cheers!
As an indie gamedev focusing on narrative-driven experiences it’s always so satisfying to see real, actual badass writers such as yourself pay attention to vidya games. Always looking forward to that part of your annual round up blog post. Have a great 2025!
PS: You don’t look a year over 53. 😛
Happy birthday your awesomeness!
Great to hear new stuff coming around nicely. I met you in Nottingham in 2019 and I forgot to mention that I once tried to get my Tolkien-fan Dad to read Game of Thrones. He did not get on well with it which I found odd but he mentioned The Blade Itself and how much he’d enjoyed reading that! So my Dad, who was an English teacher for 40 years, chose you over George RR Martin 🙂
He passed away in September at 78 and that story got a mention in my eulogy as part of his love of literature.
Have a great 2025 !
Happy birthday Joe. In a couple more years I’ll have spent more than half my life enjoying your books, and I look forward to many more after that. Cheers and happy new year.
Happy birthday to the GOAT! Papa Joe!! A named (old-ish) man. 🙂
Joe, very entertaining update and especially enjoyed that opening paragraph 🙂
One question: These special editions you mentioned, they will be by publishers other than TOR/Gollancz? If so, which ones, and do you expect it to release around the same time as the standard hardcovers?
Nice that even the standard hardcovers have illustrations by the way, that is a real step up.
Hey Mr. Abercrombie, i was wondering if the draft you’re talking about is a bit short? Im not absolutely sure how lengthy each part of the books you plan, but are you planning on the sequel to The Devils being shorter? Only asking because its unusual of you and you usually write sequels a bit longer than the first.
Happy birthday!
Hey Joe
Happy birthday! Hope you enjoyed Christmas too. Really looking forward to The Devils, been too long without a new book from you! Are you going to be visiting anywhere near Hull next year?
From the far east of Japan, Happy new Year to you too, you talented bastard!
2025 looks like the year I can start reading again!! I hope I remember how. May can’t come fast enough. Fifty ain’t that old! Happy birthday, Joe!!
Hey Joe,
I’ve no doubt that this book will be a sensation, and regardless of it, I want to say thank you for all your hard work and endured toil in bringing us such thrilling entertainment with every publication.
Good health and fortune to you and your family, merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Happy Birthday and happy new year!
Still very glad that many (many!) years ago the lady from the bookstore pulled out the Blade itself with the immortal words “well, this ones pretty good…”
Say one thing for Joe, say he is my favorite author. Happy birthday and I look forward to having my shit slammed out once again by you!
Happy birthday you old fart.
Surely some of your gold can be turned into TV or film. You of course can’t possibly comment but the recent output of fantasy has been awful. I sometimes wonder if those producing these projects actually understand fantasy.
Happy Birthday. Excited for Devils. Check out Secret Level if you have not. Shorts set in Video game worlds. Quite Excellent.
Belated happy birthday and Happy New Year Joe! Can’t wait for May and “The Devils” to arrive. Currently rereading “The Trouble With Peace”, a great yarn and the character arcs of Savine, Leo and Orso are brilliant. Even so, “The Heroes” is still my favourite all time yarn (and I’ve read a few!). Black Dow is still my fave!
Hope to see you on tour (I’ve had the pleasure to enjoy your company on a number of these), hope you’ve still got the same PA!
Don’t worry about the big five-oh mate, it’s just a number…………………………..until it isn’t. By the dead!
Happy birthday and happy new year, maestro! As always, thanks for the recommendations on TV, films and games. Can’t wait to start reading the new trilogy! And as I said before about the positive expectations for the next year: let’s just stay realistic.
Congrats on making it to 50 years old! Really looking forward to the Devils books. One question. Do you ever see yourself going back to Bayaz in a novel. It feels like his story had more to it. Would love to see where he is these days. Keep up the amazing work.
Hey! Nice to hear that the Devils are coming this year. Also if you want to play a good PvPvE you should try Hunt Showdown 1896. This is a truly unique game.
Happy birthday Joe, and don’t stress too much over the number, the Great Leveler comes for us all eventually.
Thanks for the next book. May is a long time away.
Appreciate you sir! You and Mr. Pacey have been getting me through cancer treatments. Welcome to the 50’s club, get your prostate checked on the reg. Really looking forward to The Devils.
We NEED more Bloody Nine !
Belated happy birthday wishes, Joe! I started backward on your series and am just finishing Last Argument of Kings. CanNOT get enough of your writing, so I’m thrilled about the next release! I also second your choice of Hellblade and as a companion (and for the same reasons), I recommend A Plague Tale. Bloody brilliant, and it will eat at you long after you finish playing. Thanks for the updates, and here’s to the second Half a Century!
Joe, back in 2013 you wrote about your first draft of ‘The Blade Itself’ and described it as ‘pretty darn sweet’ while acknowledging the extensive revision process. Now that it’s 2025 and you’ve written many more books, would you change anything about how you described that early draft or your writing process? You mentioned that The Devils sequel was a bit chaotic – has your perspective on the messiness of first drafts evolved since then?