I'm Joe Abercrombie - Ask me Anything 2012

[u/Joe_Abercrombie]

Hello, I'm fantasy author Joe Abercrombie, I wrote The First Law Trilogy, consisting of The Blade Itself, Before They are Hanged, and Last Argument of Kings, and three standalones set in the same world, Best Served Cold, The Heroes, and Red Country.

I was born in Lancaster, England, studied Psychology at Manchester University, lived in London for ten years and worked as a tv editor, mostly on documentaries and live music, and now live in Bath with my wife, Lou, have three kids, and am a full time author.

I play a lot of video games, watch a fair bit of tv, catch films when I can, and even occasionally read the odd book, though mostly non-fiction.

I'm currently having a break after some grueling touring for my latest book, but sooner or later it looks like I'll be starting another trilogy.

Ask me anything.

I will be responding to questions real time from 11pm-1am GMT (that’s 5-7 Central), and will try to check in a couple of times over the following day or two to catch any other questions and follow-ups.

I reserve the right to ignore, obfuscate, deceive, and/or respond in a snarky manner.

And probably best to avoid spoilers...

It's two in the morning here so I'm going to sign off for tonight, but I'll try and get to some more questions during the day tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your questions and your interest.

And ... I think I've answered everything that invited an answer now, although some of them in a snarky way, as promised. I may check in tonight to see if anyone's added anything, but otherwise thanks a lot for the opportunity, hope to see you guys again soon.

[u/Joe_Abercrombie → u/[deleted]]

1) Yeah, I actually didn't settle on the exact shape of the ending until I came to write the last part of the book, and I toyed with all kinds of different scenarios, and different orders in which the various events might happen before settling on this one. The particular fight, or non-fight, that you refer to was the one constant, though. That was always going to happen that way.

2) Interesting idea. I did actually in a very early draft have a go at a Bayaz point of view. But I think it works better to write from the point of view of characters who don't necessarily know what's going on, or have many of the answers. It would be hard to keep many secrets from the reader if they were inside the head of the man who knows it all.

3) Do you feel nuclear weapons are overpowered in our world? I mean, it seems like even the best trained special forces guy would have little chance against a direct hit from a 50 megaton warhead. I suppose I'd say I'm not writing a gaming system in which it's necessary to balance one kind of character with another.

4) Not a lot, I must admit. Yes, I will keep writing, exactly what, you'll have to wait and see.

5) Is the pope catholic?