418 replies to this topic

[Topher]

Joe updated his blog today with news of his 6th book, A Red Country.  It's the fantasy western he's been hinting at for a while.  He released some vague details about it - it will take place near the dilapidated western continent of the old empire and it should be released next fall.  Woohoo!

"August 15th, 2011

So I’ve finished the first draft of the second part of my latest masterwork, workingly titled, ‘A Red Country,’ or possibly just, ‘Red Country,’ we will see on that score.  For those who have failed to follow this blog religiously for the past few months (shame on you faithless scum), it is another semi-standalone set in the world of The First Law, and fusing fantasy elements with western elements, in the same way that The Heroes was a fantasy/war story and Best Served Cold fantasy/thriller-ish.  That puts me about 40% of the way through a first draft, though I suspect there’ll be a fair bit of work to do once the first draft is complete.  Isn’t there always?  Now the terrifying wait for feedback from my editor and readers while I try and sort out what exactly I’m going to do with my next part.  I guess one could say that if Part I was a little bit Searchers then Part II rolled into Lonesome Dove territory and Part III has something of a Deadwood/Fistful of Dollars motif.

I feel a fair bit more comfortable with this second part than I did with the first, as you’d expect or at least hope.  One generally aims to get a better and better handle on the plot, settings and characters as one goes through a draft, until by the time you’re finishing your first draft you know pretty much exactly what you’re aiming at, and editing becomes largely a case of bringing earlier parts into line with that final one.

I’ve made quite a significant change to the personality of one of my two central characters – or perhaps not a change but a clarification, a shift of emphasis and a refinement of style – and he seems to be working quite a bit better now.  In essence, I’ve made him a bit more of a shit than he was before, which tends to be a fruitful direction for me to go in with characters on the whole.  Who knew?

It’s taken me a little longer to get this part together than I’d hoped, what with one thing and another, but if I can up the pace a little from here on in we should still be looking at delivery early next year and publication somewhere around late summer early autumn 2012.  Such is the hope.  But you know what they say about hopes.

Don’t make a parachute out of ’em."



Who's fired up?

Edited by Topher, 15 August 2011 - 08:57 PM.

[SkynJay]

AHHHHHH.  Why is there not a leg-humping emoticon?  None of these are good enough.

Will have to do.

[jagilki]

Just take my money.

[unJon]

Cannot wait!

Let's kill time seeing if "red country" fits into any famous quotations since Joe seems to like doing that kind of thing with his titles.

"To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. The plows crossed and recrossed and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the roads so that the gray country and the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover." The Grapes of Wrath

[Topher]

Nice.  Also probably a reference to Blood Meridian.

[Topher]

I'm pretty excited about the prospect of guns in this world now that gun powder has been invented and all...

[SkynJay]

It's Joe's world, but cannons were used for centuries before guns came around. Think they will show up this quick in the process?  

I like the thought, but I dont see it.

[nickg]

Aside from the last Dread Empire novel, I honestly can not think of a book I want in my grubby hands more than this. CAN'T WAIT. ( yes I said that last bit out loud in my best imitation of Bart Scott ).

[Twelve Angry Nonmen]

So long as he puts in a reference to Red Dead Redemption somewhere in there, I will be pleased.

[Brady]

You can still have a western feel without having sixshooters and so on.

Really really looking forward to this. Joe hasn't let me down yet. And he mentioned a bunch of my favourite westerns right there, which makes me even more interested.

[TheBigTEA]

This fella is moving quickly onto my "must read" list.

Everything from him has been great so far.

EDIT spelling

Edited by TheBigTEA, 15 August 2011 - 11:57 PM.

[Grack21]

But will there be awkward gross sex?

[Lyanna Stark]

Sounds great as the only other Fantasty/Western fusion is one of my faves: The Iron Council (yes yes, I know, it has commies and gays in it which makes it A Bit Unpopular And Stuff)

Grack21, on 15 August 2011 - 11:58 PM, said:

But will there be awkward gross sex?

Hahaha. Don't remember there being any in The Heroes tho, but I haven't finished it since it's too large to bring in my bag on the commute. True story. I'm stuck reading crime fiction and urban fantasy until I buy a bigger bag. Smaller books plz Joe.

Edited by Lyanna Stark, 16 August 2011 - 12:54 AM.

[Grack21]

The Heroes didn't have any, from what I recall.

And that reminds me, I need to read War of Kings and the last Shadowmarch book before school starts.

[bw-]

sweeet, thx for the news. usually catch his updates but missed this one

[red snow]

An al swearangen type character would fit like a glove in Abercrombie's world. Now there would be a rival for Bayaz!
There's bound to be a red dead redemption "homage" (as Joe himself jokingly calls "stealing other people's ideas") in there as it appears to be one of his favourite games from the last 2 years (I heartily agree).

We should play a game of guessing which 3rd tier characters may reappear in this book for a cynical shine. I'm thinking the annoying little guide from the first trilogy might appear for some odd reason. My love of Shivers makes me wish there'd be a way to slip him into this one too as he'd make an excellent Clint Eastwood style wild westerner but i doubt it would make sense for him to be there.
It looks like the general rule of the standalones is that POV characters from the first trilogy only guest star and don't get POVs in the standalones. Maybe someone from BSC could turn up again though?

The cannons still seemed to be a little unreliable, which would make guns even more dangerous. Then again who knows whether the old empire has some better tech in there? Maybe it will just be a sole gun, like some remnant from one of the magi (maybe the first one) giving the owner a magical status. Bullets might be rare though

EDIT: I was reading the comments on Joe's website and he says there is an old character filling a very similar role to Al swearangen. Who could that be? A sober Cosca setting up a shop?

Edited by red snow, 16 August 2011 - 01:39 AM.

[Twelve Angry Nonmen]

Dunno, what was Al?  He was a corrupt man, ruthless man, a man intent on maintaining his power and control in the Wild West.  But he was also willing to accommodate civilization as it crept in Deadwood.  I imagine that the equivalent character in his new book has to be in similar sort of boom-town.  The Old Empire has been largely depopulated thanks to massive civil wars.  If it's suddenly stable-ish again, and a shit ton of people are moving in, I'd wager that it's mining like in Deadwood.  What else could possibly fuel a boom-town in a country that's millenia old?  


I mean shit, Joe could make it a salt-peter mine or something, the gunpowder industry is booming and suddenly people need the stuff.  Maybe massive bat-guano deposits?  


It could be a Magi, Zacharias?  He's certainly old.  But dude seemed like he was more intent on establishing the nation than on being a tavern-owner/crimelord.  Vitari?  Dunno, she doesn't seem like she has the necessary force of character.  One of the Northmen?  They're grizzled and ruthless, but I don't really see them as the Al Swearingen type.  It'd be someone from the Union, I think. Hmm.  A Styrian wouldn't work either imo. Never heard of any Italians in the West.  No, I believe it has to be a Union-man.  OR someone from the other parts of the North, but not the North-proper.  Those guys with the weird names and what not.

Edited by The Horns of Jurbgotterath, 16 August 2011 - 01:55 AM.

[Maia]

nickg, on 15 August 2011 - 10:44 PM, said:

Aside from the last Dread Empire novel, I honestly can not think of a book I want in my grubby hands more than this.

Is Dread Empire actually getting finished? I'd be ecstatic if it is the case!

Can't wait for Red Country - IMHO fantasy western is a great idea!  I only hope that it doesn't have guns - I mean, Seven Samurais managed great  without guns, right? It took centuries iRL to progress from first cannon to truly functional personal firearms due to legitimate technical problems and reducing it to just a few years will severely tax my suspension of disbelief. Yes, magic, demons, etc. notwithstanding.
WoT already does that with there being only months between invention of cannon and soldiers being able to do 3 salvos in 2 minutes (Which Hornblower and Aubrey struggled with) and actually hitting human-sized targets ,  and it bothers me a lot.

[Paxter]

Wait, he drew parallels with Deadwood? I'm sold .

[Caligula_K]

Why is Joe Abercrombie so fantastically amazing? I can't wait for this... Western fantasy is pretty much the best idea ever.