We’re excited to share the cover for Glen Cook’s Port of Shadows, a new novel of the Black Company, coming this September!
The soldiers of the Black Company don’t ask questions, they get paid. But being “The Lady’s favored” is attracting the wrong kind of attention and has put a target on their backs, and the Company’s historian, Croaker, has the biggest target of all.
The one person who was taken into The Lady’s Tower and returned unchanged has earned the special interest of the court of sorcerers known as The Ten Who Were Taken. Now, he and the company are being asked to seek the aid of their newest member, Mischievous Rain, to break a rebel army. However, Croaker doesn’t trust any of the Taken, especially not ones that look so much like The Lady and her sister…
Port of Shadows publishes this September with Tor Books. Check out the full cover below, along with a brief excerpt from the novel that inspired its design!
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Port of Shadows: A Novel of the Black Company (Chronicles of The Black Company)
The chimes turned orchestral as she stepped down from the carpet. A gust tossed her hair in streamers as black as her clothing, but shining. Her hair included several intensely scarlet streaks. A silver and lapis lazuli butterfly clip sat at the root of the boldest red stripe. She was as slim as a maiden but her face suggested past strains beyond those of any maiden’s years.
So, truth absolute. She was Taken. She had gone to the Tower. She had come out of the Tower a bespoke servant of shadow.
Nobody moved to greet her. Nobody doubted what she was, either, though no Taken had visited us in months. The Limper had been the last.
She turned my way, frowned slightly, then smiled just as the sun sneaked out from behind a cloud. Its light kissed her. Her face suddenly seemed coated with white makeup on which thin blue lines had been sketched. The light faded before I got a good look. Then I got distracted by the cat that ambled out of her shadow.
It was a three-eyed cat. You do not see many of those. It was as black as her hair. The rationally placed eyes were yellow, except when they looked straight at you. Then they became a pale lilac rose, and glowed. The third eye, above and between, was a slit visible only from straight ahead. It shone crimson for a moment, then purple.
Excerpted from Port of Shadows, copyright © 2018 by Glen Cook.
Ooo!
OK, I do believe I’ll have to be rereading the Black Company books come September.
Love that cover, too.
Wow. Where does this novel fall in the Black Company timeline?
@3 Marcello:
This one falls between The Black Company and Shadows Linger.
http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2017/12/new-black-company-novel-confirmed-for.html
One to add to my must buy pile
Oh, hell yes. Finally. (Also, another Senjak sister???)
So yeah…kinda excited.
Ooooh! The excitement for this kinda gives me the collywobbles…
I’m hopeful, though confused as to how this one will get slotted in without having references in the “later” books. I suspect The Eye will be used as an explanation.
I’m more worried about next year’s release. I just looked up his Wiki entry, and damn, he’s 73. I will get it, but I’m hoping he doesn’t start something that he doesn’t finish. *sigh*
I read all ten Black Company novels last year. This one will definitely be read as well!
I’m just now finishing my second re-read of the nine volumes and finally thought to look up Cook. So glad I did! Two new Black Company books, yum!
Been a longggggggggggggggggggggg time waiting for this – hope it reads just as great as the others have – in between the years I’ve read Malazans Book of the Fallen – Cook called that series the ‘high water mark’ of fantasy – I submit the Black Company Novels ARE the high water mark of fantasy… this guy set the stage for ‘grey’… brilliant – and with it being back in time a bit we get One-Eye and Goblin too……..
Please tell me it’s being released in hardback!
Yay! Been waiting years for Cook to continue this series! I’ve read the entire series at least 3 times through.
FYI- the closest in comparable style to him, for others with the same itch as me- try reading Steven Erickson’s The Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Currently ripping through book 3 of 10- great stuff!
For 40 years I’ve haunted bookstores waiting for the next Glen Cook novel. I hope I get a couple more decades of it.
Available on iBooks but not for Kindle? Seriously? Do you actually want this book to be pirated?
@16: The book is available for Kindle–you can pre-order it by following the link for Amazon in the post above, or by clicking here.
The Black Company first came out when I was in high school. I make it a point to read the entire series every seven years, and I take away something new each time. I understand more what legacy means. Thank you, Glen Cook. Any more books you make, I value.
Wonderful read. I loved to go back to the days of Croaker, One Eye, Goblin, Captain, etc. Whole chapters flashed back to the Dominator/Senjak days. Croaker’s dry sarcasm was as exquisite as ever. Thanks for another great Cookbook.
@Eric
So far the closest thing I’ve found is actually the powder mage series by an author named Brian McClellan. He quickly became my #2 author behind Cook.
I can’t express enough how excited I am about these books. Black company is what got me into the darker more gritty side of fantasy. Got port of shadows yesterday and I’m super tempted to read it now but I’m still reading book 5 of powder mage.