Joe Abercrombie biography

Joe Abercrombie portrait image

Joe Abercrombie was born in the famous English town of Lancaster, England, on the 31st of December 1974. He was educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School before studying Psychology at Manchester University. Joe Abercrombie then moved to London, finding work at a TV Post-Production company. Two years later he left to become a freelance film editor, and worked documentaries, awards shows, music videos, and concerts for artists ranging from Barry White to Coldplay.

In 2002 Joe Abercrombie began the writing of a fantasy trilogy based around the adventures of Logan Ninefingers. Completed with the help and the support of his family in 2004, and after initial rejections, The First Law trilogy was taken onboard by Gillian Redfearn at Gollancz in 2005. The Blade Itself released in 2006 and has since been published in eight countries, seven languages, and with seven different titles. The sequel, Before They Are Hanged, followed in 2007. The final part of the trilogy, Last Argument of Kings, will be published in March 2008.

Joe now lives in North London with his wife, Lou, and his daughter, Grace. He splits his time between film editing and writing fantasy novels.

Open QuoteYes, although as time goes on it does begin to seem more like work . . . just very badly paid work.  There are rare times when I get a sudden good idea and feel inspired, and can get a lot done in a short space of time.  Then there are times when I really have to grind it out.  But nothing beats that feeling of reading back a chapter you’ve just finished and actually thinking it’s good. Closing Quote

From: An interview with Joe Abercrombie

Joe Abercrombie bibliography

Joe Abercrombie interviews

An interview in September 2006 with the Hobbit on SFFWorld.com. Joe Abercrombie interview

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist interviewed Joe Abercrombie in March 2007 following the release of Before They Are Hanged - Joe Abercrombie interview

An interview in October 2007 on Fantasy Book Critic, one of the most entertaining and pleasurable interview they have ever conducted - Joe Abercrombie interview

Joe Abercrombie critical acclaim

"Dark, deeply ironic and full of character gems that will appeal to your cynical side." SFRevu

"Delightfully twisted and evil" Guardian

Abebooks.co.uk

Polls

Who is (or will be) the greatest fantasy author of all time?

View Results

News

Last Argument of Kings hits the UK

Joe Abercrombie's final book of The First Law Trilogy is slowly finding its way onto shelves in book shops all around the UK and the author himself reflects, in typically humourous fashion, how well t...

Joe Abercrombie explains the different editions of books

In an interesting post on his blog Joe Abercrombie explains in details the five different editions that are available for his book Before They Are Hanged. The editions described include trade paperbac...

Abercrombie gains critical acclaim from Publisher's Weekly

After a lukewarm reception to The Blade Itself Publisher's Weekly come out with a far more enthusiastic review of Before They Are Hanged. A starred review in the publication resulted in a typically hu...

Book review - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

FantasyBookReview.co.uk has now completed the review for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, JK Rowling's fifth book of seven. The ratings for the books improves with each release and Harry Potter...

Before they are hanged - reviewed

Joe Abercrombie's second book in his fantasy trilogy The First Law is a real cracker. http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/Joe-Abercrombie/Before-They-Are-Hanged.html This book has been awarded 8....

Eagerly anticipated books

Joe Abercrombie will be releasing The Last Argument of Kings in March 2008 and a new novel called Best Served Cold in 2009. Trudi Canavan, author of the Black Magician Trilogy will be writing both ...

Joe Abercrombie, film reviewer

If ever I wanted the low-down on a recently released film then I would go to Empire. Not any more, the Joe Abercrombie journal features far more honest and less pretentious reviews with a fine smatter...

Joe Abercrombie blog

Joe Abercrombie is a funny man, his books are full of good humour and his posts are even funnier. If you want to read a blog by a fantasy author that is self-depreciating and genuinely good fun then t...

Fantasy books to read

Unfortunately there are so many books and so little time. As my wife reads and reviews the Joe Abercrombie books I am currently re-reading The Hobbit and have Ursula Le Guin's The Other Wind, David Ge...

Last Argument of the Kings available in March 2008

The Last Argument of the Kings is available in March 2008 in the UK, if you can't wait that long there is an extract available on the official Joe Abercrombie website. Follow the link below to read fr...