You ever had one of those weeks? I daresay we all have. I was geared up to give a nice little optimistic progress report, then my wife got a bit ill, and before you know it she’s been in hospital for a week with an impacted gall stone. Ouch. Three children under five? With my parenting skills? What were they thinking? So my brother and his wife came down to help. Overnight she started feeling ill, and before you know it, she’s in hospital as well! The veritable bed next door! Ridiculous. Then there’s been a veritable cornucopia of delayed joinery, urgent packages stopped by customs and levies charged, contractual wranglings and other such to distract me. Then two members of my extended family died.
Unbelievable.
Luckily my wife came out of hospital this morning, so hopefully things can return to a normal level of panic. But work somewhat delayed. Perhaps we’ll have an optimistic progress report next week.
ON THE SUBJECT OF ENHANCED EBOOKS – some folks have been asking whatever happened to the enhanced e-book of The Heroes that I announced would be coming in January and … hasn’t. Well, it is coming, but has been delayed by various design and retailer related issues. Hopefully it will be released alongside the trade paperback of The Heroes in the next coupla months. Watch this space.
33 comments so far
Wow… that’s a lot of things.
I hope it turns around for you soon.
[Extends glowing ET finger of well-wishing and goodness]
Aaargh! Get that weird finger away from me you alien bastard!
(stabs wildly with kitchen knife)
Good grief! – tough week!
Hope all gets better and back on track soon.
(Have some words of encouragement to cheer you up:
Loved all your books – and they keep getting better, can’t wait for the next)
Bad things come in groups, like the group of teenagers that tried to get my bag off me in whitechapel yesterday.
It’ll pass, and if it doesn’t you can always look for ET or Michael Clarke Duncan
[Extends awkwardly long neck and emits weird ET shriek before quickly waddling/running away on improbably short legs]
Yo Joe,
Wow, that is one stinker of a week right there! Glad to hear things are looking up though! Anyway just a quick note to thank you for getting me back into fantasy, I used to be a big David Gemmell fan back in the day, and other fantasy novels I’ve read since have seemed formulaic and a bit childish in comparison. I’ve actually only started reading Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice since you mentioned him a few times – how had I not heard of him before?!! This is what fantasy should be like I reckon, gritty, mean, nasty and dirty – a bit like real life I guess. And by the way The First Law and Best Served Cold really deliver that kind of story – see nothing like a bit of praise to top off a bad week! Must get my hands on a copy of this Heroes thing! Anyway keep up the good work – as in don’t let real life get in the way of those words man!
And by the way, what’s problem with ET huh?
“my wife ” .C’mon lets have names , we’re all friends here….don’t you think it’s time we were introduced.
Careful Joe, I reckon Derek and his wife are swingers, before you know it you will find yourself meeting them in an unnamed layby near Slough…..
Believe me, it will all end in tears
Oh! and is it me or does ET look like a giant turd monster
Sometimes life just likes to stomp you in the nuts with both feet.
Here’s hoping a swift recovery for Lady Abercrombie and Sister-In-Law Abercrombie.
Earlier this year I was hospitalised with pancreaitis that was caused by gall stones and I had to have my gall bladder removed, so all my sympathies go to your wife, Joe. I hope things improve for you and your family soon.
Hey Joe, That’s rough. I hope things are once more down to a mere “Pandemonium” level on the DEFCON scale. On the bright side, I was on the iTunes Store the other day, looking at Audiobooks and I saw a box titled “Fantasy Best Sellers” I clicked and saw your name! Right up there with all your books, right beneath Tolkien and Peake for God’s sake! Congrats man, that’s really impressive.
Feel free to have a look, I forget whether its the UK store, the Australian Store or the US one (I tend to browse them all) but it was visible on the landing/home and books page, so it should be easy to find in 5-10 minutes.
If I could hug you I would. I will, instead, type out “Things will turn around soon, don’t you worry!” and send positive energy at you with my brain.
One of those weeks that if you had to write a story based on the actual events people would simply not believe it was true. We’ve all been there, unfortunately.However, in the best British tradition you have to say, ‘it could be worse’.
My sympathies, Mr. Abercrombie. Hopefully you’ve crested the Hill of Woe and are now freewheeling down the Decline of, er, Easily Met Daily Word Count Targets. Ahem.
My Mum always used to say “there is always some one worse off so stop bloody crying” (lovely woman my mum)
Earlier this year her house burnt down, she had THREE heat attacks and got diagnosed with cancer. She still thinks there is some one worse off, just be glad you that person.
Hope everything works out okay, keep your chin up.
Wow, that really is a lousy week.
Hope everyone feels better and things look up soon!
Due to the onset of the hilarity caused by the first post and second reply, I must now officially declare that Lord Abercrombie needs a strange “pet sidekick” in one of his future novels.
Make sure Glokta has one. Haha.
And my condolences Joe. I’ve been there before. Trust me.
A series of unfortunate events and a bit too extreme too be brushed away as simply being one of those weeks. You sound like you’re back on course though so carry on doing your thing and I’ll keep supporting your work
Wow. That…that just sucks, Joe. Glad to hear your wife’s okay. Hope things are on the up and up and up from this point on.
What an utterly crap time for you guys! Having had two emergency hospital admissions myself for gallstone-related issues, I can quite literally say I’ve felt poor Lou’s pain. I trust she’s feeling better now, and your sis-in-law too. Hope you all get smoother sailing from here on.
Best wishes, sounds like you’ve all had an absolutely shite time. Looking forward to the enhanced ebook though 🙂
I sympathise.
A week before leaving my house in Brighton I was clearing out the cupboards. Attempting to make sure that the last packets of instant noodles and forlorn, unused stock cubes had been cleared from the top shelf, which lay beyond my sight, I jumped into the air- and promptly smashed my head into the light fixture, sending shards of glass flying both across the floor and deep into my skull.
On the thursday I broke my foot doing a sport.
Come the weekend I decided hard drugs were the answer and, egged on by so-called friends, tucked into a ketamine dinner, whereupon my mother phoned to say the family cat was dead. I spent the remainder of that evening crouched in a corner watching phantom images of dead felines crawl across the window of my soul, while my flatmates sat in the airing cupboard singing ‘Gold’ by Spandau Ballet.
I’ve had better weeks. Thank christ I wasn’t also writing a book.
Yikes Joe thats a really crappy week, anyway good to see its all looking up now though!
I always find that whenever things go wrong, they all happen at the same time. It’s almost as if one bad thing sets off a chain reaction of shit, like the shoes of fate can’t help but keep kick you when you’re down.
Wishing everyone a speedy recovery and very good week to help even things out 🙂
oh and in answer to Anthony’s question on what’s wrong with E.T, the question should really be ‘What’s right with ET?’
Anything that resembles a wrinkled turd should have a weary eye cast upon it. Nobody truly knows much about ET and his alien race. For all we know that glowing finger of his could be what he uses to inflict anal probes upon unsuspecting humans. When he uses the line, “It hurts”, he could very well be referring to his glowing digit being inserted up a wrinkled pie hole.
I was abducted by ET once. Damn that little brown alien…
So sorry to hear about your miserable week, hope it all goes back to normal sooner rather than later. It confirms that theory about bad things coming in pairs, all at once and at really the most inconvenient times… seems like a story or a chapter from your books, actually.
And E.T. proves that Spielberg has to have a pact with the devil, making mothers believe that freaky thing was “cute” goes beyond reason. Go and try to drink beer and belch like “he” does in the movie and see what reaction you get…
Perhaps I can bring a little ray of sunshine to you though (and dunno if you have covered this) but you are listed for voting in the top 100 SF,Fantasy titles at NPR.
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/02/138894873/vote-for-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-titles
And hope things are well with the Abercrombie clan.
Maybe something to lift you up:
“The Blade Itself” poses in front of the beauty of wales (from my little trip last week)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/–TtT3QHX5u0/TjhYurHIV2I/AAAAAAAAAH8/bkmV1VQkkhQ/s1600/P7260115.JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dAGeTI0fGuI/TjWjvcwOTWI/AAAAAAAAAHA/9LdeapHwVnQ/s1600/P7250030.JPG
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f0OdmS13jYA/TjWkAt3Y6TI/AAAAAAAAAHI/QKQLtqzQ9l0/s1600/P7260116.JPG
Hey Joe. Was wondering if there will ever be a world map of your books so we can see the layout how you imagine it. Can’t wait for your next masterpiece, keep up the great work. We eagerly await…