Ian C. Esslemont

{{short description|Canadian writer|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Ian Cameron Esslemont

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| caption = Ian Cameron Esslemont, March 2016

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| pseudonym = Ian C. Esslemont

| birth_name = Ian Cameron Esslemont

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1962}}

| birth_place = Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

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| occupation = Author

| language = English

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| genre = High fantasy

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| notableworks = {{Plainlist|

  • Novels of the Malazan Empire
  • Path to Ascendancy

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| spouse = Gerri Brightwell

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Ian Cameron Esslemont (born 1962) is a Canadian writer. He was trained and has worked as an archaeologist. He is best known for his series Novels of the Malazan Empire, which is set in the same world as the Malazan Book of the Fallen epic fantasy series written by his friend and collaborator, Steven Erikson. Esslemont is the co-creator of the Malazan world.{{cite web|last=Jones|first=Jeremly L. C.|title=The Minimal and Finely Focused Fantasy of Ian C. Esslemont|url=http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/esslemont_interview/|year=2009|publisher=Clarkesworld Magazine|access-date=11 November 2014}}

Biography

Esslemont was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He has lived and worked in Southeast Asia, including four years spent in Thailand and Japan. He is currently working on a new trilogy set in the Malaz world. He lives in Alaska with his wife, novelist Gerri Brightwell, and their three sons.{{cite web|title=Ian C Esslemont Biography|url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/ian-c-esslemont/1050676/|publisher=Penguin Books|access-date=2 March 2016|archive-date=23 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723140520/https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/ian-c-esslemont/1050676/|url-status=dead}}

Works

{{nofootnotes|section|date=May 2020}}

Esslemont and Erikson co-created the Malazan world in 1982 as a setting for a tabletop role-playing game campaign. In 1991 they collaborated on a feature film script set in the same world entitled Gardens of the Moon. When the script did not sell, Erikson expanded the story and turned it into a novel. The two writers agreed to then both write books set in the same world. Eight years later, Gardens of the Moon was published by Bantam UK and Erikson agreed to continue the story. Life and work commitments delayed Esslemont's own entries to the series until 2004, when his first novel, Night of Knives, was published as a limited edition by PS Publishing (a mass-market release by Bantam UK followed in 2007). This book was a prequel to the main Malazan sequence. His second novel, Return of the Crimson Guard, takes place within the main Malazan sequence, shortly after the events of the sixth book, The Bonehunters. It was published by PS Publishing in May 2008 and by Bantam UK later that year. Both Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard have now been bought by Tor for publication in the United States. His third novel, Stonewielder, was published by Bantam UK in 2010 and Tor in the US. His fourth novel, Orb Sceptre Throne was published in 2012. In spring 2014 he signed a contract with Bantam for three more novels set in the Malazan world.

Books

=Novels of the Malazan Empire=

This six-part series covers events roughly simultaneous with Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, and features the Crimson Guard, the succession of the Malazan Empire, events in Korel and Jacuruku and the mystery of Assail. A number of these events are hinted at during the course of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Characters include Kyle, Greymane and such members of the Crimson Guard like Shimmer, Blues, K'azz, Skinner and Cowl.

class="wikitable sortable"
Title

! Published

! Approximate Word Count

! Pages

Night of Knives1 September 2004104,000304
Return of the Crimson Guard15 August 2008272,000702
Stonewielder25 November 2010198,000634
Orb Sceptre Throne20 February 2012188,000605
Blood and Bone22 November 2012183,000586
Assail5 August 2014168,000544
colspan=2|Approximate Total:1,120,0003375

=Path to Ascendancy=

The Path to Ascendancy is a prequel series set in the world of Malazan, written by Ian Cameron Esslemont.{{Cite web|title = Dancer's Lament {{!}} Ian C. Esslemont {{!}} Macmillan|url = http://us.macmillan.com/dancerslament/iancesslemont|website = Macmillan|access-date = 2015-12-01|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160109064937/http://us.macmillan.com/dancerslament/iancesslemont|archive-date = 9 January 2016|url-status = dead|df = dmy-all}} The stories deal with the early adventures of Dancer and Kellanved (Dorin and Wu, in this series) and their eventual rise to power on Quon Tali.

class="wikitable sortable"
TitlePublishedApproximate Word Count || Pages
Dancer's Lament25 February 2016 (UK), 31 May 2016 (US){{cite web|last=Erikson|first=Steven|title=Steven Erikson's Reddit AMA reveals New Trilogy titles|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/q8zyv/hello_reddit_i_am_steven_erikson_please_ask_me/c3w00nr/|work=Reddit |access-date=27 Feb 2012}}145,000416
Deadhouse Landing{{cite web|last=Esslemont|first=Ian|title=Esslemont interview|url=https://thecriticaldragon.com/2016/04/14/in-the-dragons-den-ian-c-esslemont-interview/|access-date=23 Jun 2016|date=2016-04-14}}15 November 2017136,000400
Kellanved's Reach{{cite web|last=Esslemont|first=Ian|title=Esslemont interview|url=http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/interview/2017/ian-c-esslemont/|access-date=6 December 2017}}21 February 2019 (UK), 2 April 2019 (US)n/a352
Forge of the High Mage{{cite podcast|url=https://share.transistor.fm/s/819ffdb2|title= Conversation with Ian Cameron Esslemont|publisher=Ten Very Big Books|date=18 March 2022|access-date=28 July 2022}}6 April 2023 (UK)n/a460

Footnotes

{{Reflist}}