Joe Abercrombie is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 writer and film editor. He is the author of The First Law

The First Law

The First Law is a fantasy series written by British author Joe Abercrombie. It consists of a trilogy and two stand-alone novels set in the same world.The trilogy is published by Gollancz in the UK and Pyr in the USA...

 trilogy.

Early life

Abercrombie was born in Lancaster

Lancaster, Lancashire

Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He was educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Manchester University, where he studied psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

.

Career

Abercrombie moved into television production

Television producer

The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 before taking up a career as a freelance film editor. During a break between jobs he began writing The Blade Itself in 2002, completing it in 2004. It was published by Gollancz

Gollancz

Gollancz often refers to the British publishing house Victor Gollancz Ltd.Gollancz, a family name originating from the Polish town Gołańcz , is mainly known as the name of a prominent British Jewish family, including:* Sir Hermann Gollancz , rabbi* Sir Israel Gollancz , scholar of...

 in 2006 and was followed by two other books in The First Law Trilogy, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings. In early 2008 Abercrombie was one of the contributors to the BBC Worlds of Fantasy series, alongside other contributors such as Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock

Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....

, Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett

Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...

 and China Miéville

China Miéville

China Tom Miéville is an award-winning English fantasy fiction writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" , and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird. He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party...

. In 2009, Abercrombie released the novel Best Served Cold. It is set in the same world as The First Law Trilogy but is a stand-alone novel. He followed with The Heroes (2011), again set in the world of the First Law Trilogy. Abercrombie lives in Bath, Somerset with his wife and three children.

In 2011, Abercrombie signed a deal with Gollancz for 4 more books set in the First Law world.

The First Law trilogy

1. The Blade Itself (May 2006) – nominated for the 2008 Campbell Award
2. Before They Are Hanged (March 2007)
3. Last Argument of Kings (March 2008)

Standalone works

• Best Served Cold (June 2009) – David Gemmell Legend Award 2010—Winner of the Ravenheart Award for best cover art sequel to The First Law
• The Heroes (January 2011)

Short stories

• The Fool Jobs – appeared in the Swords & Dark Magic compilation (published June 2010) and features Curnden Craw and his dozen in events prior to The Heroes.
• Yesterday, Near A Village Called Barden – appeared as an extra in the Waterstone's
  Waterstone's
  Waterstone's is a British book specialist established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone that employs around 4,500 staff throughout the United Kingdom and Europe....
  
   hardcover version of The Heroes and focuses on Bremer dan Gorst on campaign prior to The Heroes.

Interviews

• New Interview with Joe Abercrombie conducted by Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, April 2011
• Humorous interview with Joe Ambercrombie at SF Signal, conducted by Lucien E. G. Spelman, June 19, 2009
• Article written by Joe Abercrombie on his influences, by SFcrowsnest, 1 March 2008
• Interview with Joe Abercrombie with Aidan Moher at Dribble of Ink, 11 February 2008
• Interview with Joe Abercrombie at Neth Space, October 2007
• Interview with Joe Abercrombie with Aidan Moher at Dribble of Ink, 31 July 2007
• Interview with Joe Abercrombie conducted by SFX Magazine, 30 April 2007
• Interview with Joe Abercrombie conducted by Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, 7 December 2006