Shattered Sea Trilogy (aka 'So much for Abercrombie's sabbatical')

[Ebenstone]

When people disparage YA, it is so obvious they've never read a word of it.

[loveboof]

Tbh I'm a little disappointed Joe's spent 80,000 words that could have gone into the next First Law book on a new trilogy aimed at kids... And the premise for Half a King sounds a bit like an alternate Tyrion story to me.

But I'm sure it'll be captivating and I'll almost certainly begrudgingly read it! lol

[red snow]

Thank you kindly for the response. As I said above, I'm fascinated by the process. I'm certainly not talented enough to make a go of writing myself, so I find these insights very... well... insightful. (See what I mean about not being very well written?!!? :P )

One thing I do wonder about though... that post Wert quoted may not have been totally off. Both Logen and Monza had some pretty strong love scenes. I think if you really put your mind to it, you could totally delve into the adult soft-core porn reading fad like the "Fifty Shades of Crap" he mentions. :lol:

:smileysex:

He maybe does his soft-core porn under a psuedonym. Best get the guy with the computer alogrithm that cracked JK Rowling to start doing some comparisons to weed Joe out. Are there any authors out there called "Jilly Fitch" ?

The synopsis sounds interesting - especially if the kid has to fight his battles with words and diplomacy rather than his kick-ass skilz.

[Bearbert Dondarrion]

Tbh I'm a little disappointed Joe's spent 80,000 words that could have gone into the next First Law book on a new trilogy aimed at kids... And the premise for Half a King sounds a bit like an alternate Tyrion story to me.

But I'm sure it'll be captivating and I'll almost certainly begrudgingly read it! lol

Aimed at kids? I believe he said it's at the border between adult and YA. Seems mostly the same to me with a young main character

Seems captivating!

[loveboof]

Aimed at kids? I believe he said it's at the border between adult and YA.

Well, this is from his blog: ' It’s aimed partly at younger readers (maybe the 12-16 range). '

He does go on to say that adults will enjoy it too tho.

[Ebenstone]

Well, this is from his blog: ' It’s aimed partly at younger readers (maybe the 12-16 range). '

He does go on to say that adults will enjoy it too tho.

I'm a 40 year old man and I read a ton of YA. You have no idea how many great books you'll miss if you DON'T read YA.

[polishgenius]

Tbh I'm a little disappointed Joe's spent 80,000 words that could have gone into the next First Law book on a new trilogy aimed at kids... And the premise for Half a King sounds a bit like an alternate Tyrion story to me.

I'd much rather he wrote 80,000 words of a YA book he wanted to write than forced himself to write 80,000 of a First Law book he wasn't feeling.

[loveboof]

I'm a 40 year old man and I read a ton of YA. You have no idea how many great books you'll miss if you DON'T read YA.

YA = young adult?

I'm sure there are loads of great books out there. I absolutely loved The Very Hungry Caterpillar when I was a kid and that is undoubtedly a great book! lol

I'd much rather he wrote 80,000 words of a YA book he wanted to write than forced himself to write 80,000 of a First Law book he wasn't feeling.

Yeah I completely agree!

[polishgenius]

I'm sure there are loads of great books out there. I absolutely loved The Very Hungry Caterpillar when I was a kid and that is undoubtedly a great book! lol

Har.

If you've never read His Dark Materials or Terry Pratchett's Tiffany books, just because they're aimed 'at kids', then you're really really missing out.

[Jaime's Wench]

His Dark Materials is still up there in my Top Five. Such a fucking good story.

I love YA. Great for me as both a writer who enjoys easy reads while working out at the gym and as a teacher who needs fresh material to give my kids now and again. I just can't imagine Abercrombie without the adult material. But then, I've only read one and one quarter of his books!

[Joe Abercrombie]

There are loads of 12-16 year olds who read my adult books. YA is potentially a very broad church. The one thing it has to have is a young adult protagonist, which is something I haven't really done before so was interested in trying. Beyond that you're looking at shorter length, probably tighter focus and quicker pace, perhaps simpler in terms of plotting and number of narrative threads. Less swearing. Less explicit on the sex and violence front (though not massively so). Other than that the gloves are off. Half a King is about power, betrayal, revenge, endurance, loyalty, family, oppression, friendship, coming of age ... the themes are universal, in other words. It is not lightweight. I wrote a book about a young adult, but I didn't change how I write or what I write about. There was some question about whether it was better suited to a YA or an adult fantasy list. Some of the children's publishers we submitted to didn't really think it fitted with their lists - too adult, too dark, too morally ambiguous. It's crossover, which is, of course, a strong and long-established tradition in fantasy, which is why it's being published in the UK as a joint venture between Harper Collins Children's and Harper Voyager (who publish GRRM, Robin Hobb, Mark Lawrence and Pete Brett). There's a similar arrangement in US, with the adult fantasy imprint taking the lead.

It doesn't read very much like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

[Luke Scull]

I confess I'm one of those close-minded fools who hasn't read YA since I was old enough to shave (i.e. about five), but I'll be checking this out. The decription so far reminds me somewhat of Prince of Thorns, which is certainly no bad thing. Vikings are awesome too.

Six great books in seven years is crazy and basically makes every other fantasy author look bad, so take your time Joe.

I'd be interested to know what those video game tie-in opportunities were too. The Leisure Suit Larry reboot...?

[Rainbow Knight]

When people disparage YA, it is so obvious they've never read a word of it.

This. I read an interview with Terry Pratchett around the time "I Shall Wear Midnight" came out, and he said that young readers like to be challenged just as much as adult readers and are not to be underestimated. Good young adult fiction is the stuff that does not fall into the pit of underestimating its audience due to their age, and being a huge fan of Abercrombie, I am pretty sure he won't coddle his new audience.

Of course it saddens me a little that the next book set in the world of The First Law isn't just around the corner, but hey, it will probably still come out before Winds of Winter :P

[polishgenius]

This. I read an interview with Terry Pratchett around the time "I Shall Wear Midnight" came out, and he said that young readers like to be challenged just as much as adult readers and are not to be underestimated. Good young adult fiction is the stuff that does not fall into the pit of underestimating its audience due to their age, and being a huge fan of Abercrombie, I am pretty sure he won't coddle his new audience.

Terry Pratchett is an interesting one in particular because, if anything, his YA books, especially the recent ones, seem to challenge readers more than his adult ones in some ways- there's less satire and winking at the audience, in general, but more asking the readers to think about things.

Also the opening of I Shall Wear Midnight is not only easily the grimmest and most heart-wrenching thing he's ever written but one of the most so I've ever read by anyone.

Basically there is no reason why YA fiction can't kick you in the teeth just as hard as 'proper grown-up' stuff.

[Rainbow Knight]

Terry Pratchett is an interesting one in particular because, if anything, his YA books, especially the recent ones, seem to challenge readers more than his adult ones in some ways- there's less satire and winking at the audience, in general, but more asking the readers to think about things.

Also the opening of I Shall Wear Midnight is not only easily the grimmest and most heart-wrenching thing he's ever written but one of the most so I've ever read by anyone.

Basically there is no reason why YA fiction can't kick you in the teeth just as hard as 'proper grown-up' stuff.

Absolutely. The first fantasy novel I read was The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren when I was 8. That novel deals with subjects like death and suicide and is probably more of a children's book than a young adult book.

[Ebenstone]

YA = young adult?

I'm sure there are loads of great books out there. I absolutely loved The Very Hungry Caterpillar when I was a kid and that is undoubtedly a great book! lol

Yeah I completely agree!

Good, just what the board needs, another d*bag troll.

There are loads of 12-16 year olds who read my adult books. YA is potentially a very broad church. The one thing it has to have is a young adult protagonist, which is something I haven't really done before so was interested in trying. Beyond that you're looking at shorter length, probably tighter focus and quicker pace, perhaps simpler in terms of plotting and number of narrative threads. Less swearing. Less explicit on the sex and violence front (though not massively so). Other than that the gloves are off. Half a King is about power, betrayal, revenge, endurance, loyalty, family, oppression, friendship, coming of age ... the themes are universal, in other words. It is not lightweight. I wrote a book about a young adult, but I didn't change how I write or what I write about. There was some question about whether it was better suited to a YA or an adult fantasy list. Some of the children's publishers we submitted to didn't really think it fitted with their lists - too adult, too dark, too morally ambiguous. It's crossover, which is, of course, a strong and long-established tradition in fantasy, which is why it's being published in the UK as a joint venture between Harper Collins Children's and Harper Voyager (who publish GRRM, Robin Hobb, Mark Lawrence and Pete Brett). There's a similar arrangement in US, with the adult fantasy imprint taking the lead.

It doesn't read very much like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

I, for one, look forward to this! Good on you, Lord Grimdark the Young.

[delete this account pls]

This sounds cool. I think it usually does an author good to stretch their wings a bit. And, i mean, it isn't like he's switching genres? I don't really get what people are worried about.

The whole YA thing is just branding to me. Most of the "adult" fantasy I grew up with would probably be called YA today. If Wheel of Time was released today you wouldn't have to tweak very much at all (virtually nothing from the first two books) and it would be categorised YA. People need to chill out. Sex and swearing don't make something "mature".

[Darth Richard]

This sounds cool. I think it usually does an author good to stretch their wings a bit. And, i mean, it isn't like he's switching genres? I don't really get what people are worried about.

The whole YA thing is just branding to me. Most of the "adult" fantasy I grew up with would probably be called YA today. If Wheel of Time was released today you wouldn't have to tweak very much at all (virtually nothing from the first two books) and it would be categorised YA. People need to chill out. Sex and swearing don't make something "mature".

This times a thousand.

And that's not a stab at Joe's work at all, I love it. Certain other authors could learn from this though. :P

[TempusFugit]

It doesn't read very much like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

More along the lines of The Very Hungry Human Centipede?

[red snow]

When it's been handled by two wings of Harper Collins does that mean the content will vary or is it just that there will be a "kid's" cover and a "adult's" cover? So insecure adults can't be spotted reading a "kid's" book?

Does YA get maps? :P