# Ian C. Esslemont

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.

## 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.

## Works

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.
| Title | Published | Approximate Word Count | Pages |
| Night of Knives | 1 September 2004 | 104,000 | 304 |
| Return of the Crimson Guard | 15 August 2008 | 272,000 | 702 |
| Stonewielder | 25 November 2010 | 198,000 | 634 |
| Orb Sceptre Throne | 20 February 2012 | 188,000 | 605 |
| Blood and Bone | 22 November 2012 | 183,000 | 586 |
| Assail | 5 August 2014 | 168,000 | 544 |
| Approximate Total: | Approximate Total: | 1,120,000 | 3375 |

### Path to Ascendancy

The Path to Ascendancy is a prequel series set in the world of Malazan, written by Ian Cameron Esslemont. 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.
| Title | Published | Approximate Word Count | Pages |
| Dancer's Lament | 25 February 2016 (UK), 31 May 2016 (US) | 145,000 | 416 |
| Deadhouse Landing | 15 November 2017 | 136,000 | 400 |
| Kellanved's Reach | 21 February 2019 (UK), 2 April 2019 (US) | n/a | 352 |
| Forge of the High Mage | 6 April 2023 (UK) | n/a | 460 |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Jones, Jeremly L. C. (2009). "The Minimal and Finely Focused Fantasy of Ian C. Esslemont". Clarkesworld Magazine. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
* ↑ "Ian C Esslemont Biography". Penguin Books. Archived from the original on 23 July 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
* ↑ "Dancer's Lament | Ian C. Esslemont | Macmillan". Macmillan. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
* ↑ Erikson, Steven. "Steven Erikson's Reddit AMA reveals New Trilogy titles". Reddit. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
* ↑ Esslemont, Ian (14 April 2016). "Esslemont interview". Retrieved 23 June 2016.
* ↑ Esslemont, Ian. "Esslemont interview". Retrieved 6 December 2017.
* ↑ "Conversation with Ian Cameron Esslemont" (Podcast). Ten Very Big Books. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.