Before They are Hanged - Joe Abercrombie

[Devil's Advocate]

Or like... actually, I can't say. That would ruin it.

Originally Posted by Bup

It leaves me a bit undecided whether to pickup his next series..if it's mostly like The Sword Itself, then great, if more like Last Argument of Kings, then no.

The Blade Itself.

As for series, he hasn't written one yet. His latest novel is Best Served Cold, which is a stand-alone (though set in the same world as The First Law). I've just finished reading it, and it's very good. Then again, I loved the trilogy, so I can't say whether or not you'd like it.

His next book is called The Heroes, also a stand-alone.

By the way, is that really Joe Abercrombie??

[thesoothsayer]

First Law's an enjoyable series with a nice twist, but I have one minor peeve - the dan in the names of some of the characters.

"Dan" means "and" in Malay and sometimes when I read Sand dan Glokta, I think Sand and Glokta. Don't usually have a problem with capitalised Dans, but the small dans seem to throw me off from time to time. I guess it's just one of the weird stuff that happens from time to time for non-native speakers.

[Ursa major]

To me, the dan sounded a bit like the Dutch van (which, incidentally, is the English word for a small vehicle used for commercial purposes - amongst other things - though I rarely envisage Dutch society as a form of traffic**).








** - In spite of the part some Dutch citizens play in the international trade in certain substances.

[biodroid]

I reckon "dan" like in the Dutch meaning of "van" is actually more like the place/clan you come from. "Van" in Dutch means "from" and is pronounced like the word "fun" where the v is also pronounced as an "F". South Africa has a very large Dutch heritage as it was basically discovered by them.

[Ursa major]

I've always assumed that van was the Dutch equivalent of the German von ("fon") and the French de/du.

[thesoothsayer]

Well, I assumed that "dan" meant "of" or "from" like in some of the European naming conventions, but my mind still played tricks on me while reading it.

[crooksy73]

Devil's Advocate............ good question ........... is it really Joe Abercrombie?

[Ursa major]

I've always assumed so, given the contents of the posts.


(And quite a few published authors post here, so it shouldn't be that much of a shock.)

[crooksy73]

Wow - impressed!

Are the others anyone I'll have read?

[biodroid]

I think Mark Robson is one of them and Neal Asher is also a member who responds too.

[Ursa major]

Off the top of my head:

TobyTwo is Toby Frost (of Space Captain Smith fame) and Teresa Edgerton writes under this name and has also done so as Madeline Howard. Ian Whates has two new books out at the moment (one Fantasy and one SF), plus a short story collection.


I'm sure that there are others: check the Press Releases section. (I've just seen Stephen Palmer and John Sprunk there, for instance.)

[crooksy73]

Thanks for the info Ursa, good to see writers communicating with their readers

[GOLLUM]

Indeed...there are others too...

I agree, its always good to see writers communicate with their fans.

[Ursa major]

I feel embarrassed now: I should have included Mary Hoffman in my first list; she has her own sub-forum under Books and Writing > Authors for her own works, but also posts elsewhere.



(I'm almost certain she coined the Chrons word, chutnering.)

[nixie]

also Freda Warrington posts here now and then,