Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian – leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies. Nobleman Captain Jezal dan Luthar, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it. Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glokta a whole lot more difficult. Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood.

Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick. Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem – he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world. And Bayaz, the First of the Magi, is leading a party of bold adventurers on a perilous mission through the ruins of the past. The most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union make a strange alliance, but a deadly one. They might even stand a chance of saving mankind from the Eaters. If they didn’t hate each other quite so much. Ancient secrets will be uncovered. Bloody battles will be won and lost. Bitter enemies will be forgiven – but not before they are hanged.

The end is coming. Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him but it's going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the King of the Northmen still stands firm, and there's only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy. It's past time for the Bloody-Nine to come home. With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no one is safe, and no one can be trusted. His days with a sword are far behind him. It's a good thing blackmail, threats and torture still work well enough. Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is far too painful, and turned his back on soldiering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too, and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it. While the King of the Union lies on his deathbead, the peasants revolt and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No one believes that the shadow of war is falling across the very heart of the Union. The First of the Magi has a plan to save the world, as he always does. But there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, after all, than to break the First Law...

Springtime in Styria. And that means war. Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge. There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king. War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die. Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started... Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.

They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbor, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them. THE HEROES For glory, for victory, for staying alive.

They burned her home. They stole her brother and sister. But vengeance is following. Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried. Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into an alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust . . . RED COUNTRY takes place in the same world as the First Law trilogy, Best Served Cold, and The Heroes. This novel also sees the return of one of Abercrombie's most beloved characters.

From New York Times bestselling author, Joe Abercrombie, comes a collection of award-winning short fiction set in the world of the First Law. A Beautiful Bastard: The Union army may be full of bastards, but there’s only one big enough to think he can save the day single-handed when the Gurkish come calling: the incomparable Colonel Sand dan Glokta. Made a Monster: After years of bloodshed, the idealistic chieftain Bethod is desperate to bring peace to the North. There’s only one obstacle left – his own lunatic champion. Small Kindnesses: The hopes of Shevedieh, the best thief in Westport, to turn her back on crime, come crashing down when she finds a huge drunkard sleeping in her doorway. Doing the right thing always comes at a price… The Fool Jobs: Curnden Craw has been sent with his dozen to recover a thing from beyond the Crinna. One small problem. No one seems to know what the thing is. Skipping Town: Shevedieh and Javre, ill-matched adventurers, find themselves forced to flee yet another self-made disaster. Hell: ‘I have seen hell, and it is a great city under siege.’ The fall of Dagoska through the eyes of a young acolyte. Two’s Company: Javre, Lioness of Hoskopp, runs into Cracknut Whirrun on a bridge over a remote canyon. Can Shevedieh persuade either of these proud heroes to step aside? Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Three not entirely innocent bystanders are sucked into the chaos of Monzcarro Murcatto’s vengeance. Some Desperado: There is no honour among thieves when the outlaw Smoke finds herself being hunted down by her own comrades. Yesterday, Near a Village Called Barden: Royal Observer Bremer dan Gorst reports to the king on another ugly little skirmish as summer dies in the North. Three’s a Crowd: It’s a foolish man who steals from the best thief in Styria, and when Horald the Finger steals her lover, it’s time for Shevedieh to stop running and start fighting. For those who work in the shadows, though, few things are ever quite as they seem… Freedom: Being an absolutely true account of the liberation of the town of Averstock from the grip of the incorrigible rebel menace by the famous Nicomo Cosca. Tough Times all Over: All Carcolf wants is to take her package from here to there, but in the city of fogs and whispers, there are always a dozen other rogues with their own ideas. Sharp Ends combines previously published, award-winning tales with exclusive new short stories. Violence explodes, treachery abounds, and the words are as deadly as the weapons in this rogue's gallery of side-shows, back-stories, and sharp endings from the world of the First Law. For more from Joe Abercrombie, check out: The First Law Trilogy _The Blade Itself Before They Are Hanged Last Argument of Kings_ Novels in the First Law World _Best Served Cold The Heroes Red Country_

The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever. On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal's son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specializes in disappointments. Savine dan Glokta - socialite, investor, and daughter of the most feared man in the Union - plans to claw her way to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control. The age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses to die. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail, Rikke struggles to control the blessing, or the curse, of the Long Eye. Glimpsing the future is one thing, but with the guiding hand of the First of the Magi still pulling the strings, changing it will be quite another...

Conspiracy. Betrayal. Rebellion. Peace is just another kind of battlefield... Savine dan Glokta, once Adua’s most powerful investor, finds her judgement, fortune and reputation in tatters. But she still has all her ambitions, and no scruple will be permitted to stand in her way. For heroes like Leo dan Brock and Stour Nightfall, only happy with swords drawn, peace is an ordeal to end as soon as possible. But grievances must be nursed, power seized and allies gathered first, while Rikke must master the power of the Long Eye . . . before it kills her. The Breakers still lurk in the shadows, plotting to free the common man from his shackles, while noblemen bicker for their own advantage. Orso struggles to find a safe path through the maze of knives that is politics, only for his enemies, and his debts, to multiply. The old ways are swept aside, and the old leaders with them, but those who would seize the reins of power will find no alliance, no friendship, and no peace, lasts forever.

Chaos. Fury. Destruction. The Great Change is upon us... Some say that to change the world you must first burn it down. Now that belief will be tested in the crucible of revolution: the Breakers and Burners have seized the levers of power, the smoke of riots has replaced the smog of industry, and all must submit to the wisdom of crowds. With nothing left to lose, Citizen Brock is determined to become a new hero for the new age, while Citizeness Savine must turn her talents from profit to survival before she can claw her way to redemption. Orso will find that when the world is turned upside down, no one is lower than a monarch. And in the bloody North, Rikke and her fragile Protectorate are running out of allies... while Black Calder gathers his forces and plots his vengeance. The banks have fallen, the sun of the Union has been torn down, and in the darkness behind the scenes, the threads of the Weaver’s ruthless plan are slowly being drawn together...

Seventeen original tales of sword and sorcery penned by masters old and new Elric ... the Black Company ... Majipoor. For years, these have been some of the names that have captured the hearts of generations of readers and embodied the sword and sorcery genre. And now some of the most beloved and bestselling fantasy writers working today deliver stunning all-new sword and sorcery stories in an anthology of small stakes but high action, grim humor mixed with gritty violence, fierce monsters and fabulous treasures, and, of course, swordplay. Don't miss the adventure of the decade! Contents: \- Introduction: Check Your Dark Lord at the Door by Lou Anders & Jonathan Strahan \- Goats of Glory by Steven Erikson \- Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company by Glen Cook \- Bloodsport by Gene Wolfe \- The Singing Spear by James Enge \- A Wizard in Wiscezan by C.J. Cherryh \- A Rich Full Week by K.J. Parker \- A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet by Garth Nix \- Red Pearls: An Elric Story by Michael Moorcock \- The Deification of Dal Bamore: A Tale from Echo City by Tim Lebbon \- Dark Times at the Midnight Market by Robert Silverberg \- The Undefiled by Greg Keyes \- Hew the Tintmaster by Michael Shea \- In the Stacks by Scott Lynch \- Two Lions, a Witch, and the War-Robe by Tanith Lee \- The Sea Troll's Daughter by Caitlín R. Kiernan \- Thieves of Daring by Bill Willingham \- The Fool Jobs by Joe Abercrombie

Jonathan Strahan, the award-winning and much lauded editor of many of genre’s best known anthologies is back with his 11th volume in this fascinating series, featuring the best science fiction and fantasy. With established names and new talent this diverse and ground-breaking collection will take the reader to the outer-reaches of space and the inner realms of humanity with stories of fantastical worlds and worlds that may still come to pass. Contents Introduction by Jonathan Strahan The Future Is Blue / Catherynne M. Valente Mika Model / Paolo Bacigalupi Spinning Silver / Naomi Novik Two's Company (The First Law Universe) / Joe Abercrombie You Make Pattaya / Rich Larson You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay / Alyssa Wong A Salvaging of Ghosts (Universe of Xuya) / Aliette de Bodard Even the Crumbs Were Delicious / Daryl Gregory Number Nine Moon / Alex Irvine Things with Beards / Sam J. Miller Successor, Usurper, Replacement / Alice Sola Kim Laws of Night and Silk / Seth Dickinson Touring with the Alien / Carolyn Ives Gilman The Great Detective (Cwmlech Manor #2) / Delia Sherman Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home / Genevieve Valentine Those Shadows Laugh / Geoff Ryman Seasons of Glass and Iron / Amal El-Mohtar The Art of Space Travel / Nina Allan Whisper Road (Murder Ballad No. 9) / Caitlín R. Kiernan Red Dirt Witch / N. K. Jemisin Red as Blood and White as Bone / Theodora Goss Terminal / Lavie Tidhar Foxfire, Foxfire / Yoon Ha Lee Elves of Antarctica / Paul J. McAuley The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight / E. Lily Yu Seven Birthdays / Ken Liu The Visitor from Taured / Ian R. MacLeod Fable / Charles Yu Honorable Mentions: 2016 — essay

Here are the first six books set in the world of THE FIRST LAW, Joe Abercrombie's hugely successful fantasy creation. Join Logen Ninefingers, Jezal dan luthar and Inquisitor Glokta as war rages across the North in the first trilogy, and then enjoy three self-contained novels and discover more of the remarkable imagination of the UK's most prominent fantasy author. Contains THE BLADE ITSELF, BEFORE THEY ARE HANGED, LAST ARGUMENT OF KINGS, BEST SERVED COLD, THE HEROES and RED COUNTRY

LOGEN NOVEDITA È UN GUERRIERO IN FUGA dal Nord di cui è stato il campione idolatrato tanto dai nemici che lo vorrebbero morto come dagli amici che farebbero meglio a crederlo tale. Perché dentro di lui si annida il Sanguinario, un’ombra per cui orrore, fuoco e morte sono un banchetto al quale invitare tutto e tutti. Glokta l’Inquisitore trascina il proprio corpo torturato nei palazzi del potere, investigando su una cospirazione in grado di ribaltare l’ordine costituito. Il giovane Jezal dan Luthar, che forse si accontenterebbe della propria bellezza, sfacciataggine e abilità nella scherma, scoprirà che qualcuno nutre grandi e pericolosi progetti per lui. Il Maggiore West deve lottare contro la propria sorella, l’idiozia delle gerarchie militari, e la costante feroce emicrania. Nelle vene della misteriosa e intrattabile Ferro Maljinn scorre sangue di demone, e una sete di vendetta che minaccia di travolgere un Impero. I loro cammini sono destinati a incrociarsi nella guerra che chiude le sue fauci sull’Unione da Nord a Sud, mentre alle ombre del passato e ai sortilegi si sommano le nuove, devastanti forze dell’oro e della tecnologia. Con questo grandioso affresco, ricco di pathos e umorismo nero, che comprende rovine ciclopiche e bettole, schermaglie politiche e duelli brutali in un cerchio di scudi, mercenari e prostitute, regine e banchieri, Joe Abercrombie ha portato il fantasy verso nuovi confini, capaci di fondere J.R.R. Tolkien e i noir americani, il realismo di G.R.R. Martin e l’ironia citazionista di Tarantino. Un pilastro della narrativa fantastica contemporanea, dopo il quale niente è stato più come prima.