Glen Cook

For the baseball player, see Glen Cook (baseball).
Glen Cook

Cook at Utopiales in 2011
Born July 9, 1944
New York, New York
Occupation Novelist
Nationality American
Period 1970–present[1]
Genre Science fiction, fantasy
Notable works The Black Company series

Glen Charles Cook (born July 9, 1944)[1] is a contemporary American science fiction and fantasy writer, best known for the Black Company fantasy series.

Biography

Cook was born in New York City.[1] His love of writing began in grade school, and in high school he wrote the occasional article for his school's newspaper. After high school, Cook spent time in the United States Navy and later worked his way through college, leaving little time for his writing endeavors. Cook began to write in earnest while working for General Motors at an auto assembly plant in a job which was "hard to learn, but [involved] almost no mental effort", writing as many as three books per year.[2]

It was during this time that Cook wrote The Black Company, a novel published by Tor Fantasy in May 1984. It inaugurated a gritty fantasy series of the same name (or Chronicles of the Black Company)[1] that follows an elite mercenary unit through several decades of its history. As of 2014, it comprises 10 novels published in three subseries 1984–85, 1989–90, and 1996–2000, plus recent shortfiction.[1] It has become something of a cult classic, especially among current and former members of the military. When asked about the series' popularity among soldiers, Cook replied: "The characters act like the guys actually behave. It doesn't glorify war; it's just people getting on with the job. The characters are real soldiers. They're not soldiers as imagined by people who've never been in the service. That's why service guys like it."[3] Cook is also well known for his Garrett P.I. series, which tells the haphazard adventures of hardboiled detective Garrett, and his Dread Empire series, which highlights Cook's earlier published work.

Cook is currently retired from his job at GM, living with his wife, Carol, and children (Justin, Chris, and Mike) in St. Louis, Missouri. Although he can now devote himself full-time to his writing career, he feels he was actually more productive while he was still employed at his old job.[3]

Published works

The Black Company

Main article: The Black Company
Cover of The Black Company, first in the Black Company series

The epic fantasy series features a band of mercenaries known as the Black Company.

  1. The Black Company (May 1984)
  2. Shadows Linger (October 1984)
  3. The White Rose (April 1985)
  1. The Silver Spike (September 1989)
  1. Shadow Games (June 1989)
  2. Dreams of Steel (April 1990)
  1. Bleak Seasons (April 1996)
  2. She Is the Darkness (September 1997)
  3. Water Sleeps (March 1999)
  4. Soldiers Live (July 2000)
  1. A Pitiless Rain (TBA)[3]
  2. Port of Shadows (TBA)[3]
  1. Annals of the Black Company (collects The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose)
  2. The Black Company Goes South (collects The Silver Spike, Shadow Games, and Dreams of Steel)
  3. The Black Company: Glittering Stone I (collects Bleak Seasons and She Is the Darkness)
  4. The Black Company: Glittering Stone II (collects Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live)
  1. The Chronicles of The Black Company (collects The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose) (November 2007)
  2. The Books of the South (collects Shadow Games, Dreams of Steel, and The Silver Spike) (June 2008)
  3. The Return of The Black Company (collects Bleak Seasons, and She Is The Darkness) (September 2009)
  4. The Many Deaths of The Black Company (collects Water Sleeps, and Soldiers Live) (January 2010)
  1. "Raker"—appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (August 1982). This was a pre-publication excerpt of chapter 3 from The Black Company, with slight editing differences to make it stand alone as a short story.
  2. "Tides Elba"—appeared in the Swords & Dark Magic compilation (June 2010)
  3. "Smelling Danger: A Black Company Story"— in the Subterranean Press anthology, Tales of Dark Fantasy 2 (2011).
  4. "Shaggy Dog Bridge"---appeared in Fearsome Journeys: The New Solaris Book of Fantasy edited by Jonathan Strahan, published by Solaris (2013)
  5. "Bone Candy" appeared in Shattered Shields anthology, published October 2014

Garrett P.I.

Main article: Garrett P.I.
Cover of Sweet Silver Blues, first in the Garrett P.I. series

The fantasy and mystery series features Garrett, a freelance private investigator in a world where magic works all too well, and where humans co-exist uneasily with numerous other intelligent species and halfbreeds.

  1. Sweet Silver Blues (1987)
  2. Bitter Gold Hearts (1988)
  3. Cold Copper Tears (1988)
  4. Old Tin Sorrows (1989)
  5. Dread Brass Shadows (1990)
  6. Red Iron Nights (1991)
  7. Deadly Quicksilver Lies (1994)
  8. Petty Pewter Gods (1995)
  9. Faded Steel Heat (1999)
  10. Angry Lead Skies (2002)
  11. Whispering Nickel Idols (2005)
  12. Cruel Zinc Melodies (2008)
  13. Gilded Latten Bones (2010)
  14. Wicked Bronze Ambition (2013)
  1. The Garrett Files (collects Sweet Silver Blues, Bitter Gold Hearts, and Cold Copper Tears; 2003)
  2. Garrett, P.I. (collects Old Tin Sorrows, Dread Brass Shadows, and Red Iron Nights; 2003)
  3. Garrett Investigates (collects Deadly Quicksilver Lies, Petty Pewter Gods, and Faded Steel Heat; 2004)
  4. Garrett On The Case (collects Angry Lead Skies, Whispering Nickel Idols; 2005)
  1. Introducing Garrett, P.I. (collects Sweet Silver Blues, Bitter Gold Hearts, and Cold Copper Tears; 2011)
  2. Garrett Takes the Case (collects Old Tin Sorrows, Dread Brass Shadows, and Red Iron Nights; 2012)
  3. Garrett For Hire (collects Deadly Quicksilver Lies, Petty Pewter Gods, and Faded Steel Heat; 2013)

Dread Empire

Replaces The Wrath of Kings, whose manuscript was stolen, and also encompasses plot from 3 more titles Cook had originally planned for the main sequence. Cook speaks extensively of this in the citation interview[4]

Instrumentalities of the Night

Epic fantasy in a reinterpreted version of 13th century Europe and Western Asia.

  1. The Tyranny of the Night (2005)
  2. Lord of the Silent Kingdom (2007)
  3. Surrender to the Will of the Night (2010)
  4. Working Gods' Mischief (March 2014)

Starfishers

Starfishers is a science fiction series drawing on elements of Norse mythology, and in the case of Passage at Arms, World War II submarine warfare.

  1. Shadowline (1982)
  2. Starfishers (1982)
  3. Star's End (1982)
  1. Passage at Arms (1985)
  1. "Sunrise"—appeared in Eternity SF (1973)

Darkwar

Marika, a meth pup, loses her mother and nearly all of her pack in an attack by rogue males. She is taken in by the silth, meth females who rule the world with their mental powers, because they have detected in her the talent to become a powerful silth herself. As she grows and develops, she proceeds to shake meth society to its very roots.

  1. Doomstalker (1985)
  2. Warlock (1985)
  3. Ceremony (1986)
  1. "Darkwar"—appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (December 1982)

Standalone novels

Standalone short stories

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Glen Cook – Summary Bibliography". ISFDB. Retrieved August 2, 2014. Select a title to see its linked publication history and general information. Select a particular edition (title) for more data at that level, such as a front cover image or linked contents
  2. ↑ "The Glen Cook Interview". Retrieved June 20, 2006.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Strange Horizons Interview". Retrieved June 20, 2006.
  4. ↑ "MileHiCon 43 - Glen Cook Interview". Retrieved Nov 2, 2011.

External links