As I’m sure a lot of you know, it was Games Day on the 14th of September, and what a day it was. My Games Day weekend began on the Saturday, when we drove to a little place called Hazeley to stay the night, since we were meeting up with Dan Abnett and Nik Vincent for dinner and didn’t fancy a late night followed by a long drive back to Nottingham followed by a long drive back to Birmingham the next day. And what a difference it made to have only a ten-minute drive to the NEC as opposed to the crack of dawn journey I used to have to make with the Design Studio (though there was an enjoyable ‘brothers in adversity’ camaraderie shared by everyone getting up that early I kind of liked). Anyway, we got to the NEC and made our way into the building through the staff entrance and headed towards the Black Library stand. Upon reaching the stairs to the area, we were stopped by burly security guards who told us that we couldn’t go any further, since we didn’t have staff bands on our wrists.

I explained that I was here for a signing and was met with sceptical looks that said, ‘Sure you are, mate…’ I resisted the urge to swoon and cry, “Don’t you know who I am?!” as I’m sure the answer would have been a resounding, “No.”. However, after a quick radio call to the BL stand we were admitted. This years BL area was a bit of a change from normal and, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t entirely convinced that it would work, though anything had to be better than the ‘conveyer belt’ system we’ve had before now, where you feel like you’re just signing books on an assembly line and you don’t have the chance to talk to anyone without holding up the queue. Suffice to say, I’ve had my slice of humble pie and eaten my hat, as the new arrangement worked fantastically well and made the day so much more enjoyable and personal.

Anyway, once the BL area opened it was quickly very busy and I had loads of people standing in orderly fashion before me to get their books signed and have a natter. And have a natter we most definitely did. I love Games Days, as it gives me the chance to talk to the people who’ve been good enough to buy my books and read them and come to get them signed. It’s great to hear what people are reading, what they like, what they’re not so keen on and what kinds of thing they’re hoping to see in the future. Of course, the Horus Heresy books were getting a lot of love and I was overjoyed to hear how much people are looking forward to the Prospero books. Just as well we have such cool plans for them…

I chatted with loads of very cool people and it was an amazing day, really busy and hectic, but then that’s the way Games Days are supposed to be isn’t it? I saw loads of familiar faces and got to sign pretty much all the books I’ve written, which was very gratifying. As the day went on, I kept getting signs from the BL staff to wrap things up, but I didn’t like the idea of giving the folk who’d waited for the longest in the queue less time to chat, and though that meant the sessions were a good bit longer than intended (and I had a croaky voice for days afterwards) it was all worth it. So, to all the many, many people I talked to over the course of the day, thank you so much for being so patient, gracious and passionate about this hobby we all love. It was great to meet you all and I hope you enjoyed your day as much as I did.

The day after Games Day is always a bit quiet, as the day itself is tiring and the after-party more so, but I bravely hauled myself into GW the next day for a Time of Legends chat with Mike Lee (a true gent), Nathan Long (my LA compadre) and Gav Thorpe (no Dennis though…) where we talked about all kinds of stories and links we want to draw together to make the series really fly. Hearing what Mike’s got planned for the next couple of Nagash books, as well as what Gav’s thinking of for his Sundering novels was very interesting and I know you’re going to like them. Nathan was talking of his plans and there’s one in there of which I’m insanely jealous, as it’s one I had my eye on. But since I’m telling the story of Sigmar, and I’ve got loads of great stories to tell, I guess I can’t be too downhearted, eh? The Time of Legends has, I think, got off to a great start and from the sound of what else is planned it’s only going to go from strength to strength.

Work-wise, I’ve just finished a short story for the Heroes of the Space Marines anthology, called The Skull Harvest, which features everyone’s favourite Iron Warrior badass. It’s in at BL now and only just this week I started the next Ultramarines novel, the title of which I’ll let you know soon… Going well so far, and I’m enjoying the real ‘back-to-basics’ of it.

Free Stuff

I’ve been talking recently about the work I’ve done for Boom! Studios, but in case you missed it, my Imperial Guard vs Tau comic strip, Fire and Honour #1 is out now and available from all good comic shops (and probably a few disreputable ones…). In addition to that, I recently got my hardback copies of the Warhammer: Age of Reckoning graphic novel I wrote for the special edition of the game. I’m enormously pleased with how these have turned out and to show you how much, I’ve three copies of the graphic novel and three copies of the comic strip sitting on my desk that I want to give away to you.

How can you get your hands on these wonderful items I hear you ask? Simple, really. Just post a reply to this blog entry and tell my why you should be the one to get them in no more than fifty words. Be as direct, funny, inventive or downright odd as you like, but remember anyone could be reading this, so try and keep it at least vaguely above the belt. The last date for posts will be end of play Tuesday 7th of October, so good luck and I’ll let you know the identities of the three winners who’ll be getting these goodies within a few days of that date.

Talk to you soon,

Graham.