Radio at the World's End...

Unbeknownst to me, out in the farthest reaches of Western Australia there lurks a hobby radio station. And the fine gentlemen who run wanted to chat to me about my books and writing. Who was I to refuse?

A couple of weeks back, I was contacted by a nice Aussie chap called Luke Retallack who runs World's End Radio, a hobby podcast station that operates in Western Australia and covers all the Games Workshop hobby games (whom I write novels and short stories about), amongst a host of other things.

Luke and his partner in crime (not literally, I hasten to add - just a figure of speech), John 'JJ' Layfield called me up on a bleary Sunday morning and to wax lyrical about Honourkeeper, Salamander and writing in general.

A huge hats off to both of them, who made the experience enjoyable and gave me some probing and testing questions. Hopefully, I was reasonably interesting too.

Contained within the mammoth two-part interview are a number of exclusives that I'll leave to the boys and not mention here. Suffice to say, if you'd like to listen to it just head over to World's End Radio. Your looking for Episode 16 'Down the Rabbit Hole' (I wonder if that's in homage to my house rabbit, Shakespeare). The link is embedded above, if seeking it out proves tricky.

I think Salamander fans will find it particularly interesting (I hope), as there's quite a lot on that especially given the imminent release of Heroes of the Space Marines with the tie-in story 'Fires of War' in it, and then of course the novel itself.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the show. The interview is in with a bunch of other stuff, so all you need do is skip forward on the progress by once you've clicked on the audio link (unless you want to hear the rest of the podcast, of course, and why wouldn't you - it's all good hobby stuff).

Would love to know your thoughts on it...

Salamander is finished!

After a long, hard slog I finished the first draft of Salamander last night.

There's still a little honing and editing to do, plus incorporating any feedback/comments that my editor makes, but the words are in the bag and I am one relieved writer.

I was only saying to Louise last night that this has been the toughest book I've ever had to write - it also feels like the longest it terms of the time it's taken me to get it done. By the end, I like to think that everything came together very satisfyingly and sets things up for a sequel, which I'm already planning (my moleskine notebook is literally crammed with material on volumes two and three of what is going to be called 'The Tome of Fire' trilogy).

At this point, I just want to thank again everyone who has posted on the blog or spoken to me at conventions etc about the book, offering their advice, support and general good will - it is all very much appreciated. I don't think I good have gone on and written this book in the way I have if it weren't for all of you.

A special shout out must go to Brother Argos and Brother Pyriel, who were there with me right from the start as devoted and highly knowledgeable Salamander fans and gamers - you I want to impress most of all. You will both be honoured in the novel as characters within the Third Company.

Now, I just have to wait and see what the fan reaction will be to Fires of War, the Salamander short story/novella which features in Heroes of the Space Marines. I've heard some nice rumblings from the Games Workshop Design Studio about the story, so I'm hoping it'll go down well.

Salamander - the final week...

I've reached the 105,000 word mark on Salamander (just over) and I'm still going. This is my last week on the book (hopefully) and I reckon I'm only about 5-10,000 words away from crossing the finishing line and ending this first milestone on what will be an epic journey for the sons of Vulkan.

There are some pretty serious revelations and reveals to wrap up in the last few thousand words, not to mention the odd absolute shock that I hope will have readers reeling. Several dangling threads will be left deliberately that I plan to eventually pick up in book two (assuming this one does well enough to justify a sequel).

Nearing the end, as I am, I really feel like I've invested heart and soul, plus no small amount of intellectual sweat on this novel. It has been such a hard journey, but a great one. It almost feels a little sad to be leaving the warriors of Third Company behind - they will be together again, but never in the same way.

I have lots of plans for the sequel, not least of which the ongoing character arcs for the main protagonists.

Heroes of the Space Marines is out soon, so that'll give fans a good taster of what the Salamanders are all about in this novel. Fingers crossed, the story will get a favourable reception.

Now, on to those last few thousand words...

Salamander update: 90,000 words and counting...

I know some blog readers think this is a bit of a tease, me telling you 10,000 words by 10,000 how far along I am with Salamander, well... yeah, it is a bit.

It's actually really good for me too, as it helps give me the extra impetus I need to get over that finish line and complete the novel. Nearing the end of this, somewhat marathon-like novel, I can safely say it's probably the toughest book I've ever had to write. I've loved it, don't get me wrong, and am already looking forward to getting stuck into a sequel once I've had a bit of a break and tackled a couple of other projects, but it's been a real test of my writerly skills.

I think, I hope, that I've pulled it off.

Looking over the chapter breakdown/synopsis, I reckon there's about another 10-15,000 words in this yet as I'm well into the final act but still have a few reveals and a fairly hefty epilogue to get in. Not to mention the explosive denouement...

Finishing a novel, totally unlike starting one, is probably the hardest bit of the entire process. Yes, inevitably, in my experience at least, there's a moment half way through (ish) where a crisis point hits you and you're left questioning where the heck to go next and 'does all that stuff I wrote earlier actually work' and even 'it all needs a bit of a rewrite' - it's healthy; it just means you care.

And I care. I really do. People sometimes ask me how I came to write a book about the Salamanders Chapter (I've even had some folks saying that I'm brave to even tackle it). Honestly, I can't remember now. It had something to do with wanting to write a short story with Space Marines in it for Heroes of the Space Marines (the anthology with said story, Fires of War, is released in May by the way) and sort of spiralled from there.

I have to say, I've really taken the Salamanders to my heart. The more I read about them (and re-read), the more their noble spirit, humanity and earthiness shine through. Not all of the characters in my book are noble, though. There is one in particular who's pretty ignoble. Most are damaged in one way or another, but then part of the story deals with what happens to a Company that loses its inspirational captain. There's grief, anger, even retribution. Ultimately, brotherhood comes through in the end, but not all wounds are totally healed.

I wanted to give the story some emotional heart and not just play the Space Marines as fairly dull, uber-warriors that 'Hulk-smash' their way through every obstacle. Oh, don't get me wrong , there's some serious butt-kicking action in this tale but, I hope, there's some deeper content too.

The way I saw it, the Salamanders are in touch with their humanity, or at least they empathise with ordinary humans and recognise their role in protecting them from the evils of the galaxy. Expect plenty of trauma within and without the Company focused on in the novel and some heartbreak too.

I reckon that's probably enough for now. I do like a good blog in the morning; mixed in with a cup of coffee, it's what I need to get the creative juices flowing.

Okay, off to write the next few thousand words. Hoping to get finished in a couple of weeks, so fingers crossed and power on through! :-)

Heroes of the Space Marines is in!

Literally hot off the presses is Heroes of the Space Marines, landing on the editorial desk of the Black Library not two hours ago.

Doubtless, the other authors in the anthology will be posting soon enough but I in a semi-privileged position to be at the frontline where all the action is as books comes in.


What can I say? This anthology that focuses on the Space Marines (both loyal and Chaotic) looks fantastic. From the awesome cover by new artist Hardy Fowler (you'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future) to the whopping 416 pages, crammed with great stories. Never has there been a more pointy anthology from the Black Library than this.


Due to the broad subject matter, expect a lot of variety in the tales within, too. You'll find epic tragedies, missions of vengeance, half-grasped salvation, embraced damnation, arena of death, heart-stopping chases, kill-teams performing the nigh-on impossible and much more besides. It's actually a real privilege to be part of this anthology as both editor and, more importantly, author.

There are several stories in here that presage forthcoming anthologies or showcase the talents of new authors you'll be seeing a lot of in the future. Plus, of course, there are the fan favourites who already have a wealth of fantastic material to their names and are building on their established characters/narratives.

For me, it's Salamanders. Heroes of the Space Marines contains the story Fires of War, which in many ways is an introduction to characters and an action-packed (hopefully thought-provoking) lead in to the novel I'm writing right now (and adding to in about another twenty minutes or so), Salamander. As I've said before: you don't need to read Fires of War to enjoy and appreciate Salamander, but I think the story does give it an extra little something for the die-hards.


Looking forward to the fan reaction to this. I've pumped a lot into the Salamanders, both research and innovation, here's hoping it's well received...

Heroes of the Space Marines is released in stores in May but is available to preorder from the Black Library right now.

Signing at Black Library Live!

The Black Library have recently announced a new event to add to the pantheon of conventions, signing tours and other gatherings of note for their authorial glitterati (okay, so that's going a little bit far).

Black Library Live! is, hopefully, the first of many events devoted to the novels and authors of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 fiction as published by the eponymous named house, under the auspice of tabletop games giant, Games Workshop.

For anyone who has ever attended one of Games Workshop's Games Days and Golden Demon events, this is akin to the novel version of that (although, the Black Library will be at the aforementioned events, too, of course). It's really a celebration of the authors and novels that make BLP so great and a HUGE 'thank you' to the legions of fans that have made them so successful over the last few years.

At Black Library Live! there promises to be a host of author talent, including the likes of Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill, James Swallow and Gav Thorpe.

You'll also get a chance to grill new BLP author Aaron Demski-Bowden.

Rounding off the talent list is my good self. I'll be there on the day, mainly in my capacity as an author to chat about Salamander, Fires of War (I am led to believe that Heroes of the Space Marines will be there to sign on the day, too) and Honourkeeper (which I'll be signing, an extract for which is now online and available through the Black Library website...).

The shape of the day comprises exclusive signings, Q+A sessions (where I will be putting my editor's hat on again, briefly), themed games and much more besides.

The event takes place at Warhammer World on the 11th of April, but tickets to it are limited and only available through the Black Library webstore and Games Workshop stores, so act soon or risk missing out.

Tickets are available to purchase from the 9th of February and even include a free novel into the price with a choice of either The Killing Ground (soft back), by Graham McNeill or Reiksguard, by Richard Williams.

For more details and various other gubbins, check out the Black Library website and go to the 'Latest News'.

Heroes of the Space Marines is moved forward

Anyone who read the Black Library news posts will be well aware of this, but for those who don't - my forthcoming short story Fires of War, as featured in Heroes of the Space Marines, will be released a whole two months early. So you're now looking at a May 2009 release date, rather than July.

This is great news for me, as it gets my first foray with the Salamanders out in the wide world just that little bit sooner. Looking forward to what folks think when it hits the shelves...

Salamander - halfway there!

As of writing this latest post, I am just over 50,000 words into Salamander, which is roughly the halfway point. Looking at what I've got left to tell in the story, I reckon this novel might run a bit over the 100,000 word mark, so my earlier celebration might be a little premature.

I seem to find myself writing exceedingly long chapters for this one. Not sure why - possibly, it's down to the complex character dynamics that I'm going for in this novel. Not only do I have to think about the Salamanders as a Chapter and their background, culture etc; I also want to establish a group of characters with some personality, motivations and reality.

To offset the fairly monstrous chapters sizes, I'm breaking them into two parts each. This is actually working rather well and is a technique I've seen used to good effect in several novels. The endings of sections (so far) are occurring quite naturally, which is enabling me to maintain a nice even pace. I pleased with the first 50,000 words; they're definitely shaping up as I wanted them to. I must admit though, it's not all bang-bang, kill-kill. I've taken a bit more of cerebral approach to the novel, in order to develop my cast of characters and establish some key subplots that will be born out later in this book and the two sequels that I'm planning to write.

I think one of the key things that's on my mind is Fires of War, the short story that features in Heroes of the Space Marines. There's actually a lot of useful material in here for someone reading Salamander and the events within it are referred to quite a bit. I must stress (again) that you don't need to have read this story to read Salamander, I'd just recommend it as it'll make the whole experience that bit more immersive. That's actually part of the challenge: to maintain the integrity of the short story but also provide enough background in the novel to reference it sufficiently.

I guess the way to look at it is: the characters in the novel are at a certain point in their development; they are in a certain 'place' emotionally and in terms of their relationships with other characters. Fires of War merely tells you how they got there in the first instance, as well as being a great story of course :-).

I'll be back with more updates as I have them.

Salamander Chapter Three & New Year's Resolutions

A Happy New Year to one and all! I hope all your festivities went well and you saw the New Year in with style. I had a fairly quiet affair, with a few friends over, one or two beverages and a bit of Jools Holland's Hootenanny to count us all down. Good stuff.

Benefits of a quiet-ish New Year? No hang over, of course - bonus. It means I'm back at the keyboard (relatively) bright and early for the continuation of chapter three of Salamander. By way of a very brief preview, this chapter is titled 'Malevolence' and introduces a certain Space Marine Chapter that has had, let's say, a 'run in' with the Salamanders in the established history. As this story is actually set prior to the campaign when this altercation takes place I wanted to throw in some potential clues to explain and deepen the rift between them. All very cryptic, I know, but those blog readers who know the background will probably (hopefully) catch on.

It's actually quite interesting writing secondary/peripheral characters like this as in background terms there's not a whole lot written about them. This basically meant I had to come up with an identity for them, something that made them stand out but still rooted them firmly in the lore of Space Marines. In the end, my imagination was stirred by the circumstances the characters found themselves in and their motives. I was very pleased that it all happened kind of organically. They also serve as a wonderful foil for the Salamanders themselves who, up until this point, have only been viewed in isolation to give me a chance to establish a bit of character for them too.

Work beckons on Monday (the editorial day job), and I'm planning to have a fairly modest 30,000 words down by then. I've deliberately given myself a relatively easy/short target to hit as I find if you try to overreach yourself or set up a mountain to climb you inevitably won't do it - and that never feels good. As a writer, I'm buoyed along by my sense of achievement at the end of each writing day and if I thought I wasn't hitting my deadlines then that would affect my morale, I think. I always set a minimum of 2,000 words for a full day (again, very modest) as this might incorporate some reading and research too, or the odd spot of re-writing. I suppose it adheres to the old adage of 'under promise, over deliver' - if I manage to write more then I'm really pumped about it and it'll spur on the next day. It's a kind of weird psychological strategy, but I've found it works just fine for me.

So resolutions then, since it's the New Year and that's the somewhat erroneous title of this post. I'll stick to the writing ones I think, as that's directly relevant. I have two books released this year and a short story, so that's one in the bag already. With Honourkeeper in April and Salamander in September (plus the short in Heroes of the Space Marines in July), I have things pretty well covered. In terms of what I'm actually writing, I'd like to give myself a little more time for projects. Last year (and the first part of this incidentally, but I'm not counting that as it's a tail back from 2008) I found myself rushed on too many occasions when finishing novels/stories etc. This year I'm going to take the time I need, through a combination of getting synopses in earlier (and approved) and giving myself realistic deadlines to hit, so I'm not too pushed. A good writer has to be prolific, I think - well, if they want to be successful at least - but I want to do that whilst taking the time I need to develop and hone. Saying that, I'm pretty darn pleased with both Honourkeeper and Fires of War (and Salamander so far too) - I hope you feel the same.

Two books again would suit me just fine. I have a couple of things in the pipe, but need to firm some details up so I can't really disclose anything here. I'd also like to spread my wings a little, too. Something I started but didn't finish last year was Wyrd Dreams. Necromunda fans, I WILL finish this, I'm just having a hard time finding some time to do it. The plan is in place, I just need to write it. I think possibly a blitz and then posting the whole thing up as a PDF is the way to go. I also have a hankering to write some more mainstream crime fiction. I'm a huge fan of the genre (my favourite author at present is John Connolly - I've just finished Bad Men [excellent, and truly chilling in places] and am about halfway through Dark Hollow) and have, for some time, had a plan to write a full crime novel. I think given my BL commitments that might be stretching it a bit (remember what I was saying about 'under promise, over deliver...), so I going to write a couple of short stories instead and submit them to a couple of crime anthologies and see how I go. I actually started one last year (it sounds weird saying that on only the first day of the New Year) called Death by Seven Samurai (working title). I got about 5,000 words in (halfway, I reckon) and then Fires of War came along. So I hope to pick that up again (I still have all my notes safely enshrined in my moleskin), and write another crime story I've got buzzing around my head.

All in all, a great 2008 - Assault on Black Reach the Novel was released (my first foray into 40K); earlier in the year I had Oathbreaker, my first novel about dwarfs and my first novel since Back from the Dead. I'm very proud of Grudgelore, written together with Gav Thorpe, which was released alongside Oathbreaker; my website was born (soon to be undergoing a bit of a revamp - the remit: more stuff on it); Games Day UK was awesome for me as I actually got to sign something that wasn't just old White Dwarf magazines (though I do appreciate your support, Dwarfer fans), plus I got my first gift from a fan - a wonderful dwarf illustration that was blogged in September; and I had my first signing trip overseas to Holland. Phew! A busy old year in many respects. Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that 2009 will be even busier...

Onwards and upwards...

Salamander - approved

Just a quick note today folks to say that my synopsis for Salamander was approved last week and I'm now into starting the novel proper.

I will also be updating the published works section soon with both Salamander and Heroes of the Space Marines, including their approximate release dates in the UK.

I am actually really fired up to be finally getting going on the novel. Truthfully, it's a little behind schedule (what with the Fires of War short taking up so much of my time), but I'll be working hard to get it back on track.

I'll blog with regular updates as and when I get chapters finished.

Salamanders and Fires of War

It's true, I've been conspicuous by my absence of late on the blog.

The reason for it, specifically, is the Salamanders short story I'm still writing for the Heroes of the Space Marines anthology.

Incidentally, this book is something of two firsts for me (if that actually makes sense...) as it'll be the first time my name as author has appeared on an anthology (very proud of that fact I am too) and the first time that my name has appeared on a novel twice (as editor and author). Crazy, but cool. It's genuinely quite humbling to share a byline with such talented guys like Graham McNeill, Steve Parker and Chris Roberson. My hat is off to you both.

Still digressing, this is going to be something of packed anthology. It's looking like a hefty 320-416 pages depending on typesetting and the final word count, and there are a LOT of different Chapters covered, too (some which haven't had literary treatment before). It's a pretty eclectic mix with Traitors appearing alongside Loyalists. And I must also mentioned the cover. A chap called Hardy Fowler illustrated this. He's a new cover artist for the Black Library. I'm sure everyone will have their opinions on this, but I absolutely love it. So dynamic and just screaming WAR! at the top of it's voice.

So, back on track and back to the short story I've been slaving over...

Fires of War has taken up a lot of my time as I tune, fine tune and then tune some more (hopefully to perfection). It has certainly been a challenge for me as well as being a pretty meaty tale, too. I reckon, once it is done, it'll weigh in at around 20,000 words. Lots of Salamander action for all Space Marine fans there then.

I'm nearing the final hurdle now, with about 2,000 words to go (I think - it's never easy to be that sure about these things). Cheekily, I've name checked a couple of folks in the story (well, their Salamander alter-egos anyway) - Brother Argos and Librarian Pyriel, you know who you are.

Contrary to some reports I read, this story won't be set on Nocturne or even Prometheus. I actually want to save that for the novel that comes after (now called Salamander - as in singular - by the way. To digress again, I wanted to call the novel Fire Born but this was poo-pooed as it didn't have the same cache and name recognition as Salamanders. In the end, I capitulated on the condition that we dropped the 's' making it plural, so that it at least didn't sound like a codex. I figured Salamander - although there are a fair few in the book, one of them is the main protagonist, so it kind of fits - had slightly more gravitas). The tale does contain some scenes, by way of a memory dream, of Nocturne and a few places/landmarks I've devised as part of the world building necessary to visualise and realise the Salamanders' homeworld. Incidentally, this conceptualisation was helped immeasurably by scouring what crumbs of background I could about this death world and through Vulkan's Forge, which is an excellent site run and devised by a distinguished gentleman called David Johnston (again, hope I got the name right, David - I don't know because you never post a comment... hint :-)).

By way of a sneak preview, Fires of War takes place on an Imperial World called Stratos, which consists of a series of loft-cities (floating cities, buoyed up on huge plasma-fuelled, gravitic engines) suspended on a roiling oceanic maelstrom. The planet is blighted by an internecine cult uprising that the native Imperial Guard stationed on the world, the Stratosan Aircorps, are woefully ill-equipped to deal with (as the cultists are getting help from an outside source...). Essentially, the Salamanders respond to their astropathic distress call and make landfall on the planet intending to cleanse and burn the cultists out of their urban occupation in short order. Sadly, all does not go according to plan and what seems like a very simple mission, through a series of misfortunes, turns into a nightmare for the Salamanders.

In this tale their courage and sense of humanity is tested to the absolute limit. They'll face some very hard moral decisions and their tenacious refusal to never give up and always fight on to the bitter end will be sorely pressed to breaking point. I don't want to go into too much detail here as I probably won't do it justice, and will just go and spoil it for all you readers.

Suffice it to say that the story introduces several major and minor players that will appear in the novel, not least of which the two rival sergeants Dak'ir and Tsu'gan - these two have very differing ideas about how the campaign against the cultists should be fought and offer a little insight into how the hierarchical structure of the Sanctuary Cities on Nocturne operates (thanks to David for that term - it's perfect). And before you ask, no they are not all the same, nor are the cultures/peoples on the planet. But again, more of that in the novel proper. Perhaps most intriguing (well, it was for me to write them anyway) is the appearance of what will become a recurring nemesis of the Salamanders. Something I guarantee has not been seen before.

I have deliberately written this tale so that it does not have to be read to appreciate and enjoy the novel, but it will add texture and a little background to reward those who have read it.

Anywho, that's enough for now - I have a short story to finish!