It’s Games Day weekend in Birmingham on Sunday, so I hope I’m going to get to meet a bunch of you in the “Authotorium” (which sounds an appropriately 40K term…). Black Library have organised things slightly differently this year so that, instead of hour long slots for each author, we’ll be sat upon our jewelled thrones for the better part of the day, so hopefully we’ll get the chance to chat to people instead of just signing their books and moving on to the next person patiently queuing behind them. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the day, signing lots of books and chatting to lots of people. Hope to see you there.

Things you might want to check out.

I’ve recently been doing some work for Boom! Studios, who’ve just released the first of the comics I’ve written for them. Fire and Honour #1 has just hit the shelves and I’m told was getting a lot of love at Games Day LA recently. It’s a gritty story of Blazer Company, a hard-fightin’ Cadian unit that’s smack in the middle of a ferocious war between the Imperium and the Tau. I was really pleased with how this turned out, so if you’ve a comic store nearby that stocks 40K comic, pick up a copy (or order one in!) and let me know your thoughts. We’re also in the early stages of artwork for Defenders of Ultramar, a four-part strip based on the adventures of Learchus and the 4th Company in Uriel’s absence. I don’t want to say too much more beyond that, as it’s not out for a while, but from what I’ve seen of Kev Hopgood’s artwork, I think you’re in for a treat…

Stuff other people have done.

One of the things that’s really rewarding about this job is seeing how people who read my books have gone on to take my characters onwards and do their own things with them. After Storm of Iron came out, I remember loads of GW store managers telling me – with varying degrees of frustration and/or glee – that the number of Iron Warriors armies in their stores had shot up. That’s just one example, but in recent times I’ve had contact with a couple of guys who’ve done some really amazing things that I’d like to share with you.

Many moons ago I was at Conflict: Scotland, where I met a guy called Jamie Farquhar, who was thinking about going to the Glasgow College of Building and Printing to do a model-making course. We chatted at the event and he showed me his Iron Warriors army, which was very nicely made and had lots of very cool conversions. Anyway, many years later I got an e-mail from Jamie through the website where he told me that he was indeed on his model-making course and that he was going to build part of the fortress from Storm of Iron for his end of year show and could I help him out with the background (where I got my ideas and inspiration from etc). We chatted many times over e-mail and, long story short, Jamie had his end of year show and if you’d like to see some exceptionally cool models of the fortress then follow the links below and you’ll see what I mean:

The first link is to a forum topic on the Iron Warriors 4th Grand Company website:

http://z4.invisionfree.com:80/ironwarriors/index.php?s=41564dc632e3a6f7d53516770cbf5ee7&showtopic=3547&view=getnewpost

The second one is to a Photobucket album that shows the construction of the fortress itself:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v473/ironwarriors/insane%20psycopath/College%20finial%20year%20Pro/?start=all

And in a more virtual world, a 3D artist by the name of David James Curtis contacted me to show me some work he’d done to render the Lord of the Unfleshed on the computer. I loved this, and the link below will take you to the gallery pages of his website so you can have a look at the grossly misshapen leader of the Unfleshed.

http://www.dcdesigns.me.uk/gallery_unfleshed.html

Answers to questions.

Xhalax 1: Yes. Yes we are bad men and though it was never openly said, people always assumed that our next books would be about Prospero just because it was what we wanted to write about next. And hopefully you haven’t spontaneously combusted yet. Save that for after Games Day. We’re trying to sort out a date for London, but between Forbidden Planet’s hectic schedule and my comings and goings, it’s proving tricky. I’ll let you know when we get something sorted.

Sam: Yeah, it’s been a while since you posted…where have you been? Mechanicum was indeed a beast, and I wish someone had told me it was going to be such a hard job before I started, though I think the gruelling write has given it a tougher edge than it might otherwise have had. And no matter what you write or how long it ends up being, you should always be proud that you’ve managed to write something. It’s more than most folk manage. Yeah, once I get The Skull Harvest finished, I’ll be embarking on the next Uriel adventure, a back to basics war story full of Space Marine goodness. The next HH one won’t be for some time yet, but ideas and discussions are already being had to make sure it’s a belter. And I think you hit the nail on the head with the HH series. Some folk want to jump right to the Emperor’s Palace, while others want to take a meandering wander through the mythos. While the story does need to move forward, it needs to take its time doing so, exploring unknown areas of the Heresy and building up to what is surely the biggest, most important battle in the history of the Imperium. You don’t rush stuff like that.

As to getting updates on the website, I’m trying to find time to write Author Commentaries for the newer books and get more photos up. Hopefully soon. And the jungle drums are beating with news, eh? Yeah, I do indeed have a girlfriend. Sorry to all those nubile models hoping to date me, but I’m taken. I bet you’re all gutted…☺ And “All Hope is Gone” truly does rock. I’m loving Psychosocial and Vendetta, but Snuff has to rank as one of the most pain-filled songs I’ve ever heard (and I mean that in a good way…).

Lijah_Cuu: Yeah, the first picture I saw of him looked like the worst cliché of a Sci-fi writer, so it’s good to hear he’s updated it. And Deirdre Barlow…that made me laugh.

Rene Rodriguez: Yes, it’s true, we have been contracted to death and beyond to write for Black Library. Oh well, there’s worse fates to be had, eh? And Nathan and Mike have been forced to exchange their souls in return for blood-tipped quills (the must-have accessory for any self-respecting BL author). Though it’s too early to say where I’ll be next year, I hope to be over to the US a few times in 09 (LA, LA, LA, LA…) so hope to see you there.

Xisor: You and me both. I’ve been chatting with Dan about the project and I want to get working on it now! Too bad I have other work to get done first. But it’s going to be good. As to the Bear Joke…It’s not the joke you mention, but that’s a good one, I think I’ll steal it. The Bear Joke does exist, but it’s only one person ever tells it over beers in the sunshine at one of the barbeques we have in the summer each year. Every year, the joke gets told with new embellishments, new actions and new details added and refined. No matter that I’ve heard the joke a dozen times over, it’s the delivery that makes it so good. Actually, it’s a rubbish joke, the delivery is what makes it.

Xhalax 2: Hehehe…Once again Fulgrim snares you in its web. That’s exactly what happened to the Remembrancers, so be warned…you’re now on the path of Slaaneshi worship.

Sam 2: Thanks again for the Fulgrim love, man. It was one of those books that took a lot of planning and a lot of soul-searching to decide how to depict Slaanesh and do him/her justice without going over the edge into gratuitous perversion. Hopefully I managed to revolt, disgust, and intrigue in equal measure, which is exactly what Slaanesh should do to his/her victims/devotees…

Xhalax 3: Don’t worry, I won’t tell him if you won’t.

On the Reading Stand: At the moment I’m reading The Lucifer Effect: Understanding how good people turn evil, which is an illuminating read as to how any one of us could do terrible things in the right (or should that be wrong?) circumstances. Throughout the book, the author keeps getting the reader to ask how they would behave in given situations and the answers aren’t always comforting. We all think we’re basically good people, but this peels back the layer of self-imposed civilised behaviour and shows that even the most virtuous of us can do bad things. Not, in itself, a revelation, but showing how easily it can happen to the best of us is grimly fascinating. But it’s not all doom and gloom, there’s sections that celebrate the better angels of our natures and shows us how we can be, in the author’s words, ‘everyday heroes’.

On the Hi-Fi: It’s all Slipknot these days, baby! All Hope is Gone is a blistering album that I’m really getting into and loving the development in their sound. From full-blown assaults on the senses to melodic meditations on loss and pain, it’s a brilliantly layered record with some killer hooks and pounding riffage. And the new Metallica album should be coming through my letterbox today, so guess what I’ll be listening to over the next few days…

Right, I’m off to get some work done, so I’ll hopefully see a lot of you at Games Day on Sunday.

See ya,

Graham