First of all, a great big thank you to everyone for their congratulations to Anita and I on the birth of Evan. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support, love and best wishes we’ve had from friends, family and people we’ve never met. It means a lot to us, so be sure we’re very thankful for everyone’s kind thoughts. He’s a very lucky boy to have had such a welcome to the world. It’s been a busy two months since he arrived, as we’ve been getting into the swing of having him in the house with us, dictating when we can grab showers, eat our dinner and when we get to watch tv or a movie. Evan is now almost eight weeks old and it growing like a weed, with cute little chankles and folds in his arms. Which is a good sign, I’m reliably informed. And though I’m biased, he’s about the cutest kid you’ll ever see.

Evan doing his best Fred Durst impression.

Anyway, onto the writing stuff...

A Thousand Sons

At 1am in the wee small hours of Wednesday morning, I typed THE END at the conclusion of the biggest writing project I’ve ever undertaken. After having a nice long sleep, I read and corrected the last four chapters of A Thousand Sons and then sent the whole damn lot over to Black Library. It was a strange sensation to let it go, as I’ve been so immersed in its creation for so long. I put in a lot of time up front with this book to make sure the Thousand Sons weren’t just another legion who looked, walked and talked just like any other, and that took a bit of time to flesh out. Which meant the book looked at my planned word count and shook it’s head with a weary ain’t gonna happen expression.

It took a lot longer to write and covered a great deal of ground, with lots of things in there that surprised me and which I hadn’t intended to cover, but which felt wholly natural and necessary. I’m sure with a vicious enough carving knife, there’s plenty of darlings that could be murdered in the manuscript without compromising the core of the novel, but each section – whether it dealt with the legion, Magnus or the Remembrancers – felt as though it was a necessary adjunct to the main driver of the plot. Without the supporting cast of characters and the events that surround them, the main plot would have been all the poorer.

Now, is that just me waffling to excuse the fact that I went over my word count? Under normal circumstances, I’d maybe agree with you, but having skimmed through the manuscript with a critical eye (as opposed to the ‘what did I write six chapters ago?’ eye) I think that it’s a book that grew to the length it needed.

Is it the book I had in mind when I started out? Yes and no. Yes, it hits the milestones we need to see with the Thousand Son, but it also explores the legion in ways I hadn’t expected, since I didn’t want them to be the same Astartes as any other legion that just has a different colour of armour and shouts, ‘For Magnus!’ instead of ‘For Horus!’. I think I’ve done that, and I’ve expanded what we know about Magnus and his legion in ways that are unexpected, unusual and like you might not expect. Are they still the Thousand Sons of yore, absolutely. Are they different from anything you’ve seen of them before? Also absolutely.

It’s a story that stands alone, but which will be enriched when read in tandem (in, not on) with the other half of the Magnus/Russ duology; Dan Abnett’s Prospero Burns. Dan and I spoke often during the writing of these books, finding common ground, unifying themes and interesting ways they could connect, intertwine or otherwise reference each other. You’ll read one and perhaps glimpse a scene running alongside it in the other. Elements appearing in one book will be passed, like the baton of a relay runner, from one book to the other and back again. There’s some very cool stuff going on between them, and I can promise there will be some revelations that will please/infuriate people in equal measure. But the good thing is, the interpretation is all yours. As each book is intended to be that legion’s version of events, there are going to be scenes that wilfully contradict one another, and that’s something we knew we wanted to do from the very beginning. It’s not a mistake, we did talk to one another, we did compare notes, but we wanted you to make your own mind up.

But I think you’re going to like it. I enjoyed the writing process of this, as it’s always good to collaborate with the Awesomeness that is Dan Abnett (the capitalisation is totally justified). Every time I would come off the phone, I’d have pages of notes, ideas and things to go back and change, and it doesn’t get much better than that as far as the collaborative process goes. Inspiring just doesn’t cut it as a descriptor, but it’ll have to do for now.

So, with A Thousand Sons put to bed, I’ve a few other tasks to get my teeth into. I’ll be spending the rest of today getting a plan together for a short fiction piece for White Dwarf and drawing up some more detailed plans for The Chapter’s Due, the sixth Ultramarines novel (note I said sixth, NOT last), which I’ll be starting next week. It’s going to be a belter, full of action and adventure, with war on a scale I’ve not yet tackled. Watch this space. There’s also another project I need to get my teeth into planning, which required me to get hold of Time-Life’s ‘This Fabulous Century’ and Gangs of New York. I’ll say no more. I’ve already said too much…

TV Gold

Been watching some new tv shows since The Wire finished on BBC 2 recently, which was simultaneously sad and inspiring. Sad because it’s over, inspiring because I think I learned a lot from it in terms of pacing and characterisation. I loved how everyone on it; from the cops, drug dealers, killers, thieves to the politicians and ordinary folk were wonderfully fleshed out with real flaws and real virtues. Everyone was compelling to watch and no-one was wholly bad or good. Just like real people in fact. Aside from great drama and wonderfully realised dialogue, it was inspiring to see that the creators were willing to take their time with the story, not rushing towards any resolution and not being afraid to pull the rug out from their characters at the last moment. The last montage in the finale of season 2 was just wonderful, perfectly encapsulating what made this show so perfect.

We’re dipping our toes in Flash Forward, which is shaping up nicely in the void between seasons of Lost. I’m rewatching Generation Kill, which is much easier second time around now that I know who everyone is and don’t have to try and tell identically clad soldiers apart from a brief long shot or snatched line of dialogue. Like The Wire, it just chucks you into the characters and events with a ‘here you go, deal with it’ attitude, which I love, as I get bored with the spoon feeding attitude a lot of tv drama seems to take in underestimating its audience.

Books on the go

Reading-wise, I’m reading a lot of my H.P. Lovecraft just now (though I did pick up a copy of Gav Thorpe’s Shadow King at BL yesterday, so that might just nudge itself to the top of the reading pile alongside The Corner, one of the books written by the creators of The Wire). Sitting by the bed, like a guilty secret, is 1812, a novel about vampires set during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. Now I picked this up with such high hopes, but they’ve been cruelly dashed upon the rocks. Russian vampires. Napoleonic warfare. Should be a slam-dunk, right? I’ve never struggled with a book so much. It should be rip-roaringly exciting, but just keeps dragging its heels and I’m in that horrid position of thinking that I might not bother finishing it, even though I’m about two thirds of the way through.

Rock Baby

I’ve been listening to a lot of Planet Rock on the radio recently, as dancing around the front room with Evan in my arms has proved to be the best way to get him off to sleep. My writing playlist has swollen again with lots more albums, most notably Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces by Seether, all three albums of Shinedown (who I’m off to see at the beginning of November at Rock City) and Sci-Fi Crimes by Chevelle. Good stuff and right up my alley. I got the new Rammstein album yesterday and it’s fantastic, as hard, heavy and melodic as you’d expect, with some killer riffs.

Right, that’s enough waffle for today. With A Thousand Sons done, I should hopefully have a bit more time to ensure a more regular presence here (famous last words perhaps, but I’ll try). I think I’ll try and do a Q&A with the responses on previous posts to answer some of your questions next.

Gamesfest 4 and Thought Bubble

Oh, and before I forget, I’ll be appearing at Gamesfest 4 at the Watford Colosseum on the 24th of October. I’ll be signing books and chatting, and I’ll also be on a Horus Heresy discussion panel with the Towering Presence of Jim Swallow. So if you’re around that way be sure to stop by. And one for the diaries next month, I’ll be at Thought Bubble in Leeds on the 21st of November.

See you soon,

Graham