RED COUNTRY by Joe AbercrombieStraight from the horse’s mouth:

I’m really, really gutted to report this, especially at such a late stage, but the US publication date for Red Country is dropping back three weeks to the 13th November.

UK publication remains unaffected.

The delay is unfortunate, especially at such a late point in the game, and doubly frustrating for American readers who were finally given a chance to read an Abercrombie novel just days after their UK and Canadian brethren, rather than the weeks that usually separate the releases of his novel in the different regions. Given that Gollancz was capable of publishing and releasing the novel on time, five days before the previous US release date, which cog in the great Orbit Books engine wasn’t sufficiently oiled. Abercrombie sheds some light on the delay, but it still seems like an unfortunate incident that could likely have been avoided:

[O]nce the manuscript was turned in it gradually became apparent that there had been one or more serious miscalculations or miscommunications somewhere and there wasn’t going to be enough time for proof-reading, setting, and the various necessary file jiggery-pokery to get the books printed and distributed across the US for the 23rd October publication date.

In any case, a three week wait won’t hurt anyone, and I’m sure the book will be mighty fine, regardless of the delay. Heck, it’ll likely be better, not being rush and all.

Also of note, it was recently revealed that Abercrombie has hit 1,000,000 novels sold worldwide. Impressive numbers.

Discussion
  • Doug M. September 12, 2012 at 2:50 pm

    Oh well … looks like the UK publisher will get my money. I’m not waiting even three extra hours for the return of the character I’ve been waiting 4-1/2 years for. ;)

  • Arthmail September 12, 2012 at 6:55 pm

    Is this the same for Canada? I’m hoping not.

  • Aidan Moher September 12, 2012 at 7:45 pm

    @Arthmail — Canada generally gets the Gollancz editions of Abercrombie’s novels, so I assume there won’t be a delay.

  • Arthmail September 12, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    Haha. Sweetness. Thanks.

  • Rob Mammone September 13, 2012 at 3:23 am

    I’m a bit confused (nothing changed there!). If the manuscript for the UK edition is ready to go, why is there then a delay in the US edition? Have they not heard about the internet? You don’t need to transport things by longship across the Atlantic anymore. Please help a confused Antipodean!

  • Mike September 13, 2012 at 6:46 am

    This is rather frustrating. I’d say I’m surprised but UK turnaround for publication is consistently better than US; particularly for genre authors (though the gap has closed somewhat). I still remember being in the UK when Storm of Swords came out there first, one of the highlights of that vacation (release date was August 2000 in the UK, November 2000 in the US).