On the Cover of a Grimdark Magazine

Hey, Tumblr. Long time, no tumbl.

Just wanted to mention that the first-ever Gentlemen Bastards short story, "Locke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent," will be appearing as a two-part extravaganza in Grimdark Magazine's issues 40 and 41. Issue 40, GDM's tenth anniversary celebration, is available for you to grab right now:

bit.ly/GdM_Issue40

"Locke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent" returns us to Camorr some months after Locke's 13th birthday, which was described in the "Orphan's Moon" chapter of The Republic of Thieves. Locke, working as a bar-back in a rough-and-tumble Right People tavern, deals with some issues, including the fact that his only real friend on the premises is an aging mercenary named Mazoc Szaba who has an addiction to drinking poisonous wine for contests of chance. Since there are no flashbacks in Thorn, this story was the first time in quite a while I'd "gone back" to Camorr, and I found the experience pretty emotional. The good folks at GDM were lovely enough to give me this chance to play in their pages, so if you harbor any affection for Locke, give 'em a shot. The individual issue should be about $4, and also comes with a load of fiction and non-fiction from people including Anna Smith Spark, Mark Lawrence, Christopher Buehlman, Cat Rambo, and many others!

If you missed my August updates on novellas, signed bookplates, and other matters, check it all out at: http://www.scottlynch.us/updates.html

And hey, if you didn't see my short story "Selected Scenes From the Ecologies of the Labyrinth," published in the Sunday Morning Transport in July, give it a read! No charge.

It’s time to uncork the SOON gif again.

THE THORN OF EMBERLAIN

September it is. Mark your calendars, folks.

http://www.gollancz.co.uk/2016/05/an-update-on-the-thorn-of-emberlain/

I apologize for not being able to talk about this in detail sooner, but we had to nail down some specifics on both sides of the Atlantic before we could move forward. So, this is official: It’s not July. It’s September.

Why not July? Well, I literally do not have one free day in which to do promotional work, for one thing. I am moving! That’s right, in the middle of July, I am permanently moving cross-country, from the scenic fringes of Wisconsin to the hilly majesty of the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts, where my beloved Elizabeth Bear and I have bought a house together.

If you’re wondering what the scale of the move is, it’s roughly 1300 miles.

So July isn’t great for me. 

Those of you going to GenCon or the World Science Fiction Convention in August will have a chance to see me, if you like. Those of you attending GollanczFest or FantasyCon in the UK in September will also have the chance. More specific tour dates and appearance info will be provided, as usual, as things clarify.

Another note on fanfiction...

So I received a very nice set of private messages from a reader offering to let me read their fanfic, after asking me if it was cool to do so and kindly asking me if there was anything in particular that I wanted to see in fanfic. They also asked what difference, if any, I saw in reposting fan art vs. reposting fanfic. I have decided not to make the ID of the questioner public (Hello out there! I just wasn’t sure if you wanted to stay anonymous or not ,and I figured better safe than sorry), but I am happy to answer all of these questions in detail.

• No, I do not read fanfic based on any of my fiction. The only possible exception would be for a tiny fragment/drabble of a satirical or sentimental nature (like a holiday greeting). There are no other possible exceptions.

• This does not mean I do not encourage the writing of fanfic based on my fiction. I approve of it, and heartily encourage it, but please don’t bother calling it to my attention, because I will not read it.

• One major reason for this is to cover my butt, legally and artistically. I know how my own stuff is supposed to go. I do not require or request hints, prompts, votes, or arguments on the subject. I also do not need any possible suspicion that I have plagiarized from the work of my fans and readers; a blanket refusal to read fanfic is the cheapest, most effective protection against this.

• Also, I believe it’s important to cut me out of the fanfic approval loop. When you write fanfic about my worlds or characters, you should be completely ignoring the questions of what I’d want or what I’d do. Fanfic is your chance to go happily nuts with the elements of my stuff that you like, seasoned with elements that serve your own fascinations and pleasures. I’m flattered that you might like to run your fanfic by me, but really, I am immaterial to it. Embrace the freedom to make it for yourself and your fellow readers in a canon-free environment.

• I repost visual art because it’s a medium in which I do not produce professional work of my own (just as I link to things like songs, animations, and similar shenanigans whenever I can find them). It’s really as simple as that... I can’t plagiarize someone’s paintbrush strokes, and I have none of my own for them to plagiarize, and I try to be very careful not to say things like “Oh my god, yes, this should be considered a canonical visual reference for the entire sequence!”