Locke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent

expanded short fiction 2024 The Gentleman Bastards

Record

First published	2024
Original language	EN
Work type	short fiction
Canon status	expanded

Synopsis

A prequel novella returning to Camorr when Locke Lamora is only thirteen, still apprenticed under Father Chains and on loan to a different crew for the summer to learn a rare skill for a thief: honest, hard labor. There he befriends an old mercenary known for daring drinking bets involving a lethal spirit called "bottled serpent."

Where it sits

• Universe: The Gentleman Bastards
• Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
• Author: Scott Lynch

Notes

• Published in two parts, Grimdark Magazine, Oct 2024 and Jan 2025; set during Locke's teenage years, before The Lies of Locke Lamora.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.

• Publication order, within The Gentleman Bastards (standalone work): position 4 of 4: previous The Republic of Thieves (2013)

Sources

• https://winteriscoming.net
• https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/exclusive-excerpt-of-scott-lynchs-locke-lamora-and-the-bottled-serpent/

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