Progress Report October ’26
Already the nights draw in and another year rushes towards its inevitable end. So what’s been happening these last couple of months?
Been to a lot of book events lately – did one with Pierce Brown up in Birmingham a couple of weeks back, one with Garth Nix in Bath this week, and have one with John Gwynne in Bath next week. Always nice to sit down and talk with other writers. I’ll be doing some of that in the lead up to Christmas too, as I head off to Guadalajara Book Fair at the end of November, then straight to Salt Lake City for Dragonsteel Nexus at the start of December. I’ll be doing a lot more of it in May 2027 when The Heretics comes out, as the details for a UK tour 3rd-9th May and US tour 10th-22nd May are currently being worked out – I shall share the specifics as soon as I have them.
Talking of The Heretics, that book is now proof read, signed off and totally complete, the cover art by Will Staehle is largely there, and the internal art and endpapers by Joel Daniel Phillips are pretty much done. All taking shape very nicely. I believe Advance Reader Copies will be slipping out into the eager hands of booksellers and reviewers over the coming weeks. I’m currently wrestling with the next (third) book in the series. I’ve written a first part, maybe 50,000 words, but I’m not really happy with the cast as yet, and might rethink a couple of characters, see if I can find ways to make them a bit sharper and more arresting. As I said a couple of months back the plan here was to experiment with a really rough version, sit with it, rewrite, rethink, so you could say this is the plan working. We shall see how it develops.
A surprising amount of time and energy these days is going into special editions of one kind or another, with a truly crazy amount of art to review and design decisions to be made, with no sign that the hunger for these things is abating any time soon. Looks likely there’ll be as many if not more exclusive and subscription editions of The Heretics as there were of The Devils. High up the price scale Fablelistik now have their limited letterpress editions of The Devils up for preorder. These are serious books with serious paper, bindings and some very interesting internal design, along with a host of b&w illustrations and some never before seen colour plates.
The special editions of The First Law Trilogy I did via Kickstarter with Lit Escalates proved to be a big success (5th most successful book-based Kickstarter of all time, apparently, if you can believe it, and thanks to anyone who bought one), so we’re continuing on to Best Served Cold. This time we’ll be partnering with the magnificent Anthony at Curious King, responsible for the high end letterpress editions of The First Law, and should end up with a higher quality book including some 30 colour and b&w illustrations by Tyler Jacobson, acid free paper and sewn bindings, as well as wraparound cover art by Joel Daniel Phillips to match the First Law editions, with which he has truly surpassed himself…
Rather than kickstarter, we’ll be selling exclusively through Lit Escalates’ website alongside some other merch and goodies, and there’ll be a month long pre-order window from November 24th, so if you want one, make sure you order in that window. I believe there’s no upper limit on the number of signed books available, but there’ll be a limited number of signed and dedicated on a first come first served basis with (I believe) folks who bought The First Law books getting a 24 hour head start, so those may go quick.
In the lead up to Christmas, as well as taking this aforementioned trip to the North American continent, I really hope to hammer away at the first part of the next book and get the rest planned, start to feel a bit more confident with the shape of it and hopefully send a much more finished first part to my editors for discussion. You can see how far short I fall of that hope on New Year’s Eve when I return for my yearly review…
Progress Report August ’26
Delighted to say that sticky summer is now fading into the rear view mirror and the season of falling leaves, tweed and corduroy fast approaches. Much more my speed… What is UP you say? Well, holidays over the last couple of months of course. Spent a lovely two weeks with the family in Oslo, Gothenburg […]
Progress Report June ’26
Summer is upon us. Blistering heat and lots of time spent in my cold basement. May was BUSY with touring in the US and UK for the paperback release of the Devils, which ended up as a book of the month for both Barnes and Noble and Waterstones with goddamn displays and books on tables and […]
20 Years
I’m delighted, yet horrified, to announce that The Blade Itself was published on the 4th May 2006, twenty years ago today. Since then I’ve published 12 more novels, plus a novella and a collection of short stories, and written another yet to be published, around 2.5 million words of fiction, if you can believe it… […]
Progress Report April ’26
This month’s progress report, in an unprecedented and likely never to be repeated circumstance, is actually early, for the very good reason that I am heading off on tour in but a few short days in support of the mass market paperback releases of the Devils, which comes out in the US on April 28th […]
Devils Paperback US Tour
It’s taken a little while but I now have the details for my forthcoming tour in the US – only a few weeks away now folks – and it looks a little something like this: Apologies to all those places I’m NOT visiting, but the aim here is in part to hit some cities I […]
Devils Paperback UK Tour
Tour dates for the UK in May are now announced, and they look something like this: Mostly the North, which was a little ill served last time around. There may also be a London event but that is by no means confirmed at this point. Should you wish to attend you can book tickets via this […]
2025 in Review
Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear me-eee, yes indeed, 51 years old today and STILL a fresh new voice in this genre etc. etc. A YEAR IN BOOKSELLING – This was a big year for me, with The Devils coming out in May, my first new book since The Wisdom […]
The First Law Kickstarter is LIVE
Delighted to say the Kickstarter for special hardcovers of The First Law trilogy should now be up and running, and we can reveal these books in all their glory. Each has a brand new wraparound dustjacket painted using actual human hands by Joel Daniel Phillips that look a little something like this: With custom gilded […]
The First Law Special Hardcover Edition
The First Law Trilogy was first published in 2006 – nearly 20 years ago, if you can believe it – but in all that time – aside from some small format book club editions and some beautiful but highly limited editions from Subterranean Press – there has been no US hardcover. With the help of […]
