Look forward to much more Geralt of Rivia in the near future, folks!
Gollancz, who published Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, and Baptism of Fire, announced on Monday morning that they’d acquired a further three books in The Witcher Saga by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.
The first book, The Sword of Destiny, will be published in May 2015 alongside the blockbusting new computer game The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, which won the Award for Most Anticipated Game during The Game Awards 2014. Sales for the previous two games in The Witcher franchise have totalled over 8 million copies worldwide. The Sword of Destiny is a collection of linked short stories which fills in some of the gaps in the Witcher’s legend.
Interestingly, The Sword of Destiny—published in Poland in 1992, fully two years before Blood of Elves began the saga dealing with Ciri—is the book in which the Witcher was initially introduced, though the short stories in The Last Wish, which has been available in the UK since 2008, take place before the six collected in The Sword of Destiny.
Two further books—The Swallow’s Tower and Lady of the Lake—will be released in 2016 and 2017 and will conclude the main story of Geralt the Witcher. All three books will be translated by David French, whose translation of the previous two volumes in the series was widely acclaimed.
Commissioning Editor Marcus Gipps expressed both pleasure and relief in the press release announcing the news:
We’re thrilled to be continuing our association with Andrzej and his magnificent Witcher series. The question we get asked most—across any medium, be it Twitter, email or face-to-face at conventions—is when we will be continuing Geralt’s saga. We’re delighted to finally be able to answer that question, and hope the fans are pleased that they won’t have to wait too long for the next instalment!
It’s worth noting that the deal does not include Season of Storms, the prequel Sapkowski penned in 2013, more than a decade since the original saga ended by way of Lady of the Lake.
Niall Alexander is an extra-curricular English teacher who reads and writes about all things weird and wonderful for The Speculative Scotsman, Strange Horizons, and Tor.com. He’s been known to tweet, twoo.
