Blood Follows

Lore & Background

Blood Follows details the story of three characters first introduced in this novella. Focusing mainly on Emancipor Reese, and the events that lead to his becoming the manservant of two mysterious travelers. Bauchelain is a mysterious traveler, a self purported scholar and a summoner of notable power. Korbal Broach is his silent partner, a necromancer and a eunuch. Emancipor Reese, called 'Mancy' for short, is a tired man with an ungrateful family to care for, who has had a run of foul luck and is in desperate need of a job.

Reader's Guide

Blood Follows is significant as an early, limited-release entry in the Malazan universe, offering a self-contained story that introduces key characters later seen in the main series. Its small print runs—300 hardcover and 500 copies per paperback edition—make it a collector's item. The novella's publication history reflects a transition from a European limited edition to a wider U.S. release in 2005, with signed copies in both printings. The introduction by Stephen R. Donaldson, an acknowledged fan of Steven Erikson's work, adds a notable endorsement. Reviews appeared in Locus, Asimov's Science Fiction, and Heliotrope between 2002 and 2006, indicating ongoing interest. The story's focus on Emancipor Reese's desperate employment and the enigmatic Bauchelain and Korbal Broach provides a darkly humorous, standalone narrative within the larger Malazan tapestry.

Did You Know?

• All first edition copies were signed by the author.
• The introduction to the original printing is by Neil Gaiman.
• The hardcover version had a run of only 300 copies.
• The novella was re-published in the United States by Night Shade Books in 2005.

Debut of the Broach Chronicles

Blood Follows (2002) marks the opening entry in The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, a collection of six novellas set within the Malazan universe. As the first of the series, it was published alongside two companion novellas in what appeared as Volume 1, with the remaining three following later as Volume 2. The full sequence spans from Blood Follows in 2002 through Time's Cursed Cartwheel, which remains unreleased at the time of this writing. The novella sits within a broader collaborative framework: Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont developed the Malazan world together in the early 1980s, and their joint storyline planning covered the entire sixteen-book project encompassing both authors' works. Blood Follows thus functions as an early window into a shared mythos that would unfold across multiple decades and numerous volumes, offering readers a focused narrative thread within the sprawling tapestry of the Malazan Empire.

A World Born at the Tabletop

The Malazan world in which Blood Follows takes shape did not emerge from a single author's imagination in isolation. Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont first constructed it in 1982 as a setting for role-playing sessions using a modified version of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. By 1986, the pair had shifted to the GURPS system, and the world had expanded considerably in scope and complexity, approaching the dimensions it would later occupy in published form. The two writers initially developed the setting into a film script titled Gardens of the Moon, but when that project failed to attract production interest, they pivoted to a literary collaboration: each would write a series of novels set in their shared creation. Erikson's first novel was drafted between 1991 and 1992, though it would not reach shelves until 1999. Blood Follows, arriving in 2002, represents one of the earliest published extensions of this tabletop-born universe into the hands of readers.

Critical Standing and Literary Comparisons

The Malazan franchise, of which Blood Follows forms a component, has drawn sustained critical praise for its epic scope, intricate plotting, and depth of characterization. Reviewers have highlighted the way the series weaves a large cast of characters across thousands of years and multiple continents, binding relatively self-contained narrative arcs into a larger interlocking structure. Fellow authors have been particularly vocal in their admiration: Glen Cook, known for The Black Company, and Stephen R. Donaldson, author of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, have both described the work as a masterwork of the imagination. In their assessments, they have drawn parallels between Erikson's prose and the literary traditions of Joseph Conrad, Henry James, William Faulkner, and Fyodor Dostoevsky—comparisons that position the fantasy series within a broader canon of serious literature rather than confining it to genre boundaries. Blood Follows, as part of this celebrated body of work, inherits that critical prestige.

Publication and the Commercial Landscape

Blood Follows was released in 2002, a period when the Malazan franchise was building momentum following the 1999 publication of Gardens of the Moon. The series is published by Bantam Books in the United Kingdom and Tor Books in the United States. The commercial significance of the franchise cannot be overstated: when Erikson sold Gardens of the Moon, he secured a contract for an additional nine volumes, with the Bantam UK deal reportedly worth £675,000—a figure described as among the largest fees ever paid for a fantasy series at the time. This financial backing provided the foundation for the expansive multi-author, multi-series project that would include both Erikson's ten-volume Malazan Book of the Fallen and Esslemont's six-novel Novels of the Malazan Empire, alongside supplementary works like the Broach novellas. Blood Follows thus arrived within a well-funded, carefully structured publishing ecosystem designed to sustain a vast shared fictional world over many years.

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