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 popularised by his friend and collaborator, Steven Erikson. Esslemont is the co-creator of the Malazan world.
Ian Cameron Esslemont was born in Winnipeg, Canada. He earned an archaeology degree from the University of Manitoba[1] and met Erikson at an archeological dig at the site of Mud Portage, Ontario, Canada.[2]
Later, Esslemont pursued a creative writing degree from the University of Victoria in British Columbia.[1] In 1989, he continued his creative writing study at the University of Alaska.[1] He has lived and worked in South-East Asia, including four years spent in Thailand and Japan. He pursued a Ph.D in Literature from the University of Minnesota and now lives in Alaska with his wife, novelist Gerri Brightwell, and their three sons.[1]
Works
Ian C. Esslemont
Esslemont and Erikson co-created the Malazan world in 1982 as a backdrop for role-playing games. 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 greatly expanded the story and turned it into a novel. The two writers agreed to both write books set in the same world. However, it took a further eight years before Gardens of the Moon was published by Bantam UK and Erikson agreed to write a further nine novels set in the same world.
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 were 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. Esslemont published three more novels by 2014 to complete the Novels of the Malazan Empire series.
Ian C. Esslemont (left) and Steven Erikson (right), Mud Portage, NW Ontario in about 1983. This was the archeological dig they first met on
In 2016, Esslemont began a new prequel trilogy, called the Path to Ascendancy, detailing the origins of the Malazan Empire.
Bibliography
Novels of the Malazan Empire series
- Night of Knives (2004)
ISBN 9780765363497 - Return of the Crimson Guard (2008)
ISBN 9780553818529 - Stonewielder (2010)
ISBN 9780593064443 - Orb Sceptre Throne (2012)
ISBN 9780593064504 - Blood and Bone (2012)
ISBN 9780593064474 - Assail (2014)
ISBN 9780593064481
Path to Ascendancy series
- Dancer's Lament (2016)
ISBN 9780765379443 - Deadhouse Landing (2017)
ISBN 9780593074343 - Kellanved's Reach (2019)
ISBN 9780765379481
Non-Malazan
- Writing Fantasy Heroes: Powerful Advice from the Pros (2013) - contributor
ISBN 9780982053683 - Violence in Epics Ancient and Fantastic: A Primer (February 2015) The New York Review of Science Fiction
External links
Interviews
- Interview at The OF Blog - September 2005
- Interview Pat's Fantasy Hotlist part 1 - May 2006
- Interview Pat's Fantasy Hotlist part 2 - June 2006
- Interview at Boomtron.com - May 2008
- Interview Pat's Fantasy Hotlist - October 2008
- Interview Clarkesworldmagazine - August 2009
- Interview at Tor.com Discussion with Ian Esslemont and Steven Erikson - October 2010
- Interview at Elitist Book Reviews - March 2011
- Interview Clarkesworldmagazine Discussion by authors, including Ian C. Esslemont on Epic Fantasy part 1 - July 2011
- Interview Clarkesworldmagazine Discussion by authors, including Ian C. Esslemont on Epic Fantasy part 2 - August 2011
- Interview at The Breathless Quills - June 2012
- Return of the Crimson Guard Q&A at Tor.com - April 2013
- Interview at Nerds of a Feather - May 2013
- Interview at The Book Plank - September 2014
- Orb Sceptre Throne Q&A at Tor.com - June 2015
- Profile at newsminer.com - October 2015
- Interview at The Critical Dragon - April 2016
- Interview at The Crippled Blog (scroll down for English version) - June 2016
- Interview at Tor.com - June 2016
- Interview at Fantasy Book Review - November 2017
The Tor re-read
Public appearances
- Guest at the 2015 World Fantasy Convention