Bath Lives Bath lives Joe Abercrombie
THE BEST-SELLING FANTASY WRITER – HIS BOOKS LIGHT ON MAGIC AND HEAVY ON GRIT – TALKS SCANDI CHAIRS AND ‘LITERARY SEWERS’
Epic fantasy, that crazy-successful subgenre of sci-fi that’s a little bit historical, a little bit magical – think The Lord of the Rings – is going through an enjoyably ‘cynical’ stage at the mo, heavy on the meaningless sacrifice of real-world military campaigns, and with dragons and wizards low in the mix. The smash TV show Game of
Thrones is one high-profile example of this, but coming up fast on the inside is Bath resident Joe Abercrombie, whose The First Law Trilogy sent ripples through the fantasy community and into the wider world beyond. With his more recent stand-alone novels, set in the same fantasy world, now troubling the Sunday Times best-seller lists, Joe’s fame can only grow…
Q. Does writing come easy to you, or hard? A. Some days, when I’m feeling inspired – and particularly as I’m getting towards the end of a book – it can flow pretty smoothly. Other days it’s a real effort. All potential distractions are dangerous, but endlessly searching for opinions about my own work is particularly pointless. I see time playing
106 Bath Life
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video games as pretty well spent in comparison. Q. You’re a genuine best-seller now, in the UK at least. How did that happen? A. The Heroes, my most recent stand-alone novel, made #3 on the UK hardcover list; the one before it, Best Served Cold, had come in at a frustrating #11, but it was surprising to chart so high, between Jo Nesbo and Clive Cussler, as I recall. It’s pretty much impossible to get a representative sample of who’s buying the books without spending hours loitering in the SF&F section, watching to see who picks them up – which I would never do, of course (ahem) – but anecdotally I’d say it’s a broad selection of ages, and a male/ female split of something like 3:1. Which surprises me, as they are very ‘male’ books. Q. The First Law series had its share of violence, of course, but then came Best Served Cold, and it took things too far for some… A. I’d spent a lot of The First Law pushing at the boundary of how unpleasant you could make characters and still create sympathy with the
Top: Dyrham Park, nice grounds and gardens for a walk Middle: Joe’s most recent novel, The Heroes Bottom: The Bear – great for food and for kids
reader, trying to blur the line between good and evil until you really weren’t sure which was which. With Best Served Cold I went a little further, and it’s probably my most divisive book. I think that’s one thing I’m quite proud of, actually – that there doesn’t seem to be broad agreement about which book is my best. Q. You helped cause an internet squabble not long ago: some seemed to think stories like yours were taking ‘cynical’ too far, leaving the ‘fun’ of the genre behind… A. Ah, the old ‘jaded literary sewer’ accusation. Whatever the rhetoric, these aren’t opposing camps and you don’t have to pick one and spurn the other, either as a reader or as a writer. Who knows? I may tire of the burden of cynicism myself, and produce something more idealistic in due course. I’d hate to become predictable! Q. Where do you live, and why? A. We’re in Southdown, near Bear Flat. It’s a vibrant area, a lot of young families and good variety in the housing. Bath is famous for its 18th-century architecture, but my own taste tends to be a bit more modern, and there are a lot of interesting ’30s and ’60s houses about. Also, it’s a bit more affordable than the other side of town. Q. What’s your favourite pub, and why? A. The one I visit most is The Bear, which I guess is my local, transformed in the last couple of years and a great place to take your kids in the day. The food’s not bad either, and it saves me the long walk home up the hill. (Hills, surely, are the curse of the Bath resident, but without them you’d have no views.) Q. Anything around Bath particularly catch your eye? A. I’m a big enthusiast for Scandinavian design, furniture especially, so I’d have to say my favourite shop is Shannon on Walcot Street: an Aladdin’s cave of fabrics, crockery and chairs. We like the rooftop pool at the Spa when we can get away from the kids, and – when we can’t – we visit Dyrham Park. Nice grounds and gardens in which to take a walk. BL
Joe’s novels are widely available at local bookshops;
joeabercrombie.com
Photograph © Lou Abercrombie
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