Honourkeeper extract

In celebration of Honourkeeper's release, I wanted to share an extract from one of my favourite scenes in the novel. Enjoy!

Death… Death was everywhere. It was the reek on the breeze. It was the screaming in his ears. It was the hot red haze in his eyes. Death was redolent, it permeated everything, soaked every pore. Death revelled with the savage ecstasy that filled Haggar’s thumping heart as he killed.

The elf knights were pinned and had lost the advantage of the charge, but they were still fearsome foes. Well-armoured, high up on their steeds, they would be no pushovers. Even still, Haggar dragged one from his saddle by the boot and applied the death blow with his axe. One of the beasts rammed its muscled flank into him, but it obviously hadn’t reckoned on dwarf tenacity and Haggar pushed back with his armoured shoulder making the steed rear up, unhorsing its rider. Skengi, fighting just ahead of the thane, was quick to dispatch the fallen elf with a blow from his hammer.

It was hard fighting. Probably the hardest that Haggar had ever fought. The elves were skilled, disciplined and phenomenally fast. Dragon knights jabbed down with swords and lances in a crimson blur, piercing dwarf armour with their accurate blade thrusts. Steeds kicked and trampled. It could go either way. Though the dwarfs fought for all they were worth, the arrival of the spearmen and limb-reaping sword masters had dented their resolve pushing them to the edge. Haggar could feel the warriors hanging on the brink of retreat. Only the banner of Karak Ungor, the shame of fleeing from it and allowing it to be taken by the enemy, held them… at least for now.

‘I’ll be damned if I see you put us to flight,’ Haggar snarled under his breath at the nearest elf in his eye-line.

With some satisfaction, he watched as the dragon knight was brought down. Another figure loomed out of the battle haze behind him, cutting at either flank with his shimmering, gore-slicked blade. Carving a path through a band of clan warriors, he found the dwarf he was looking for. The noble, he who had led the charge of the dragon knights with such ferocity and skill, levelled his long sword at Haggar. A ruby of blood peeled along the edge and fell ominously onto the ground in front of him.

The dwarf thane bellowed a challenge, thumping his chestplate and then brandishing the banner of Karak Ungor meaningfully.

‘Try and take it you pointy-eared swine,’ he cursed, ‘I dare you.’

Haggar recognised the warrior. A black mane issued from beneath his stylised dragon helm. He even maintained the cocky swagger in the way he approached the dwarf on his steed. This was the raven-haired blade-master, the elf called Lethralmir.

A shrieking war cry tore from the noble’s lips, sounding tinny through his helmet. Lethralmir stirred his barded horse and charged. Though it was only a short distance through the melee, Lethralmir’s first blow struck with all the force of an avalanche. At least that’s how it felt to Haggar, as he was battered, barely able to turn the blade aside from his neck.

The smallest of gaps had developed in the bloody struggle for the centre. It was through this that the elf noble brought his steed around for a second pass. Though he couldn’t see the elf’s face hidden by the snarling visage of his dragon helm, Haggar was sure he would be smiling.

Bastard, he thought working the tension out of his axe-arm where Lethralmir had managed to strike him on the pauldron, step down off that bloody horse and we’ll see what’s what.

Three short strides and Lethralmir was upon him again, angling his blade in a vicious downward thrust intended to find the gap between the dwarf’s gorget and battle helm. But Haggar was equal to it. He fended off the elf’s attack, turning the sword with the flat blade of his rune axe. The impact jarred Lethralmir’s arm, forcing the elf to take a tighter reign on his steed. As he pulled up, Haggar was able to stay on his feet and whirled his axe around, raking it down the beast’s barded flank as it sped past. Armour chinks cascaded like red rain and the dwarf was rewarded with a whinny of pain from the elven horse. Haggar looked down at the freshly reddened edge to his axe blade and smiled.

Lethralmir’s steed staggered and nearly fell. The ragged wound in its side was making its barding and armoured rider an intolerable burden. Even so, the elf hauled on its reigns to bring it around. Despite loud protests, the steed obeyed. Blood was running freely down its flank now, the enforced exertions tearing its wound ever wider. Suddenly its forelegs bunched beneath it, fetlocks collapsing under the weight it could no longer bear, and Lethralmir was dumped onto the ground in front of it.

The elf blade-master rose swiftly, in spite of his heavy armour, dispatching a pair of clan warriors that came at him out of the melee axes swinging. Two expert blows, the first whilst he was still on one knee striking the groin and the second rising to his full right, preceded by a deft pirouette that make the dwarf’s axe strike seem slow and clumsy, followed by a brutal arcing slash that took the warrior’s helmeted head from his shoulders.

Haggar blanched when he saw it – the elf’s long sword had sheared straight through the decapitated dwarf’s chainmail coif.

‘You’ll find me a sterner test,’ he promised, growling beneath his breath as the elf stalked towards him.

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...

Honourkeeper Nottingham signing photos

It's a few hours after a hard day's signings in Nottingham for the release of Honourkeeper, my second novel about the hardy race of dwarfs.

First stop was Games Workshop Nottingham at Friar Lane. Admittedly, it was a slow start, but I signed the odd few copies of Honourkeeper as well as the recently released Tales of Heresy (which I was editor, alongside Lindsey Priestley). Dan, the GW Nottingham manager, was very amiable and kept me company for most of the hour I was there.


After that, and a little lunch to keep me going, it was over to Warhammer World. Here, I as invited to participate in a game of Warhammer recreating one of the battles (albeit very loosely) in Honourkeeper. I'll be honest, it's been a while since I played Warhammer and I found the experience every bit as fun as I remember.


I was joined by a bunch of other games and I just want to give a shout out to all my fellow gamers, especially to the Dwarf/High Elf alliance that emerged triumphant with me at the end of the battle (you all know who you are).


Special props goes to Jim from Warhammer World, who ran the game expertly well and reminded me of the Warhammer rules at the start of the battle until the old mojo kicked in and all those years of gaming came flooding back - it's just like riding a bike; a bike, spiky bike that launches fireballs and spits lightning bolts. ;-)

As well a couple of hours of enjoyable (and sometimes random) gaming, I also signed a fair few Honourkeepers and Tales of Heresy. Thanks to everyone for coming, especially to a chap called Nick (great name, great name :-)), who had travelled all the way from Leighton Buzzard (I hope that's right, Nick).


I had a lot of fun and thanks too to Rich Packer, the Warhammer World manager, for a well organised and great event. Much appreciated!

Enjoy the snaps of both signings. Hope to be back again soon.

Interviewed for BL TV

I had the great pleasure of sitting down for a dual interview with Graham McNeill today for BLTV. This new venture from the Black Library is available to watch on You Tube (see the earlier blog post for details on this) and consists of author, interviews, readings (eventually), signing footage and so on.

This morning, Graham and I were whisked over to Warhammer World and, sat upon their nice leather couches, discussed our forthcoming books: Graham for his Ultramarines series and latest hard back, Courage and Honour, and me for Honourkeeper, which is released next week in Games Workshop stores and in book stores a couple of weeks after that.

The joint interview (which even had Graham and I asking each other questions, plus a bit of a discussion about the Horus Heresy series, as well as the interviewer) was a lot of fun and went down very well. I'll post again when it's been edited and is up on You Tube to be viewed.

Let's hope it all looks good (and that it's not too cringeworthy for me to watch...).

The signing that never was...

My sincere apologies to anyone who made it over to Games Workshop Grimsby expecting to get a copy of Honourkeeper signed by yours truly.

I can assure that I was there at the agreed signing time, ready, with pen in hand, to meet folks, chat to them and sign their books.

Imagine my horror and disappointment then upon discovering that the store in question didn't actually have any of my books in stock - no Honourkeeper, not even any backlist titles.

Without going into detail, it was an odd experience for me to say the least. Needless to say, I did not stay for too long - the guys in the store were busy with gaming events and my role was fairly redundant due to the fact that they didn't have any books.

Annoyed? Yes, I certainly was, and there'll be some 'inquiries' made come Monday morning. If anyone did go to the signing and was disappointed not to get a book or have a chance to get it signed then my sincere apologies again - it's you guys I feel annoyed for. I'm probably not going to return to the store but I will try and see what else I can do to alleviate this bad situation that has arisen for some unfathomable reason (I suspect a severe break down in communication that I arrived slap-bang in the middle of). I might try and get a batch of signed books sent to the store, so at least you can purchase a signed copy if you want to. Once again, my apologies - no one is more miffed than I.

There is, however, another signing planned for next weekend at Nottingham. It's detailed in an earlier post but is set to take place at Games Workshop Nottingham at Friar Lane (that's the store in the town centre) and at Warhammer World/Bugman's Bar at Games Workshop HQ in Lenton (that's the one on the industrial estate - you can't miss it, it's down Willow Road and there's a giant Space Marine out front with a huge Imperial Eagle plastered above the door to reception; just head to the car park around the left hand side and you should see signs of Warhammer World and Bugman's).

I'm at Friar Lane at 11am-12pm and Warhammer World/Bugman's at 1.30-2.30pm.

Really hope to see you there (I promise there'll be some books too!).

Honourkeeper early release!

In keeping with Games Workshop stores receiving books slightly earlier than in the generic book trade, Honourkeeper will be released in Games Workshops a few weeks earlier than anywhere else.

This means that you'll be able to get Honourkeeper on the 14th March from Games Workshop.

It's released everywhere else on the 6th April.

There's an extract of the novel online right now on the Black Library website.

I'll also be at the Black Library Live! event on the 11th April to sign copies of Honourkeeper (or anything else you put my way) and chat about the book.

I'll also reliably informed that there'll be a small signing tour for the book in both Nottingham (likely to be in Bugman's Bar itself) and my home town Grimsby (again, likely to be at the Games Workshop store). As soon as I get dates and details I'll post them up on the blog.

Check out your local Games Workshop store around the time of the release as they may be running participation games based on some of the battles in the novel and then immortalised on the tabletop.

Khazuk!

Salamanders - 60,000 words + done

Quick update, folks. As you can see from the subject line, I'm now over halfway through Salamander and things are hotting up in a big way. Obviously, I can't reveal the ins and outs, but I can say the last half (or just under, depending on how things pan out) is going to be packed with action and pay-offs aplenty.

Oh, and remember that I'll be at Black Library Live! on April 11th signing Honourkeeper, but I'm also available to chat about all things Salamander too...

Tickets are available in five days, on the 9th of February.

Hope to see you there...

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'.

Honourkeeper is printed!

I was very pleasantly surprised at work yesterday when two copies of the newly printed Honourkeeper arrived on my desk!

For those not in the know, this is my second dwarf novel (after Oathbreaker) and is a stand-alone story set just before the War of Vengeance and in and around the hold of Karak Ungor.



It's always a great thrill to see one of your books come back from the printers and with this one it was no different. It looks great, the cover has come out awesome and it's my biggest dwarf book to date at 416 pages long (oh, and there's even a small glossary in the back for all you hardcore fans and Khazalid nuts...).

These are only the initial printer's proof copies (though, they are exactly like the ones that appear in the shops), so you'll have to wait a few months before this is available to buy. April this year in fact. Hope you enjoy it!

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...

Honourkeeper gets a cover!

First of all a little fanfare - this is the 100th post on NickKyme.com.

Woo-hoo!

Ahem... okay, so on to business. My apologies for leaving it so long until this post, but I have been neck-deep in Salamanders. More on that subject in a subsequent post (number 101, no less...).

Sorry to short change you a little again (especially after such a long absence), but this post is going to be quite short. Suffice it to say, I recently received the cover flat for my forthcoming dwarf novel, Honourkeeper, and thought I'd share it with you...



For those not in the know, cover flats are basically the front and back cover of a novel that's used for marketing and promotional purposes. I'm actually quite lucky with the cover flats I get, as I get to see and approve the text on the back of the them (the 'blurb' as it's known), before they go out to print. And, as my esteemed friend Mr Parker pointed out in a similar post to this one a few months ago, not all authors are afforded that luxury.

Anyway, enjoy an advance look at this. Hopefully, next time you see it it'll be wrapped around a book.

Honourkeeper is released in April 2009, by the way. Fans of Oathbreaker and Grudgelore (and even Grudgebearer, Gav Thorpe's dwarf novel), should check it out.