Graham McNeill's Weblog

A chance to get your hands on A Thousand Sons

2010-03-08T04:36:11.2530000-06:00

I went to Cardiff this weekend, though it took a long time to get there... Thanks to some spectacular signal failage, it took me six and a half hours to get from Nottingham to Cardiff (and three hours of that was getting to Derby - via Chesterfield...). Eventually I got there, and a great time was had by all, so if you were one of the supremely patient folk who waited for me to get there, thank you very much. And thanks to Steve and his guys for keeping the baying mob placated while I was horribly delayed...

Despite the long journey, I had a great time in Cardiff, with some real good chats, lots of signing and a proper long day of back and forth with fans.

I heard a lot of positive feedback on A Thousand Sons, and there's a rather nice review of the book at MyBattalion.com, which you can read here.

And another at Civilian Reader, which you can read here.

And if these reviews fire you up for reading the book, you can potentially win a copy of A Thousand Sons by visiting Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. Click here for your chance to win.

Cheers and speak to you soon.

Look over here...

2010-03-05T03:25:27.6760000-06:00

I've hijacked the blog over at Graeme's Fantasy Book Review...

Check it out by clicking here.

Winners and Cardiff!

2010-03-04T03:35:48.3960000-06:00

Right, it’s been a long time coming, and I laughed and groaned at many of the puns, but here you are, here’s the winner of the competition I ran back in January. I asked you to mash up Black Library book titles and band names/song names etc from the world of hard rock and heavy metal, and the response was great, with everyone entering into the spirit of the thing marvellously.

So without further ado, here’s the entries I chose (and I make no apologies for them being comprised of bands I like…)

In first place is Eric Slaney with: Rynn’s World…Party Time…Excellent!

I am an unashamed fan of the first Wayne’s World film, and this tickled me.

In second place is Martin Kocajda with: Seventh Son of a Thousand Sons.

One of my favourite bands, a great record and nicely topical with my current release.

And in third place is Brendan Coleman with: Ride the Lightning King.

Again, one of my favourite bands, and a nice segue of track and title that made me smile.

I’ve e-mailed the winners to let them know, so if you haven't yet checked your e-mail, get in touch with me and let me know your address so I can get the books sent to you, post haste!

Well done to the winners and thanks to everyone who entered, you all gave me a good laugh on the train where I was reading the entries – which earned me some odd looks from passersby, but I’m used to that now.

And just a reminder that I’m at Games Workshop Cardiff (31 High Street, Cardiff, Glamorgan, CF10 1PU) this Saturday on the 6th of March, between 12 and 2pm. See you there!

Right, that’s the L cities done…

2010-03-01T03:42:11.7740000-06:00

Just a quick one to say thanks to everyone who came along to the signings at Liverpool and Leeds over the weekend. It was a great day out for me, and the traveling was made well worth it by the sheer enthusiasm and good humour of the folks who came out to play. Indeed, both signings were so busy that I almost missed my train from Liverpool to Leeds (I made it with a minute to spare) and then almost missed my train back to Nottingham at the end of the day (thirty seconds to spare).

Great to see some familiar faces (Dan and Simon, you know who you are) and nice to meet lots of new ones (Boo, Kash, Chipmunk…I kid you not). As I sat signing in Leeds, I looked up and had to smile as I saw that people were, literally, queuing out the door with their copies of A Thousand Sons, with lots of passers by looking bemusedly on. No doubt wondering what all the fuss was about. In Liverpool I signed an inordinate amount of books for people called Paul, which struck me as odd, until I realised where I was…

Anyway, if you couldn’t be at Liverpool or Leeds, I’ll be at Games Workshop Cardiff (31 High Street, Cardiff, Glamorgan, CF10 1PU) on the 6th of March, between 12 and 2pm. See you there!

Also, for your Monday morning pleasure, here’s a clip someone called Therodenne has posted on Youtube. A fan by the name of Jake Bishop sent it to me, it’s the first part of my short story Chains of Command as enacted by footage from Dawn of War. When Part II becomes available, I’ll let you know. Just to warn you, it’s in French, but has subtitles. Enjoy.

Right, off to get God King started.

Apostles take flight

2010-02-26T06:07:52.5120000-06:00

I’ve just finished and printed out the first draft of my short story to go in the forthcoming Sabbat Worlds anthology, and I’m looking at it with a measure of trepidation. Not for the fear of paper cuts, but at the thought of his Imperious Majesty of Sir Dan of Abnett casting his towering gaze upon it. In my head, Dan is leaning forward from a throne of skulls, ready to tear into my story with authorial slashes of his Red Pen of Doom.

Actually, I’m sure he’s not, but I kind of want him to be. It’s a real privilege to be asked to write a story for this book, and keeping a stern-faced Dan in mind is a good thing, as it’s making me raise my game. As anyone who’s met Dan will attest, he’s a lovely chap, but thinking like that is going to make me lazy; all too easy to compromise on the agonising between this word or that word, this sentence structure or that plot point. Keeping daemonic Dan in mind is a good driver to make this story as good as it can be, so that’s the image I’m going to keep in mind as I read through it later today.

I had a bit of a health day yesterday, going to see a physiotherapist in the morning to see about my knackered shoulder (my own fault, I pressed on in the gym when I knew something wasn’t right…and then was all blokey about it. “Ah, it’ll be alright in a few weeks...I don’t need no doctor…”). So after getting a stern ticking off from the physio, I went and gave blood, which is something I’ve been doing since a mate convinced me to join him when I was at university in Glasgow. I’ve reached forty-seven donations now, and I always enjoy going…well, as much as you can enjoy someone jabbing you with a needle and draining a pint or so of your vital fluid. I always think it’s something folk should be queuing up to do, as you never know if you’re going to be the one needing it. So in today’s Public Service Announcement, I urge you all to go to your nearest donor centre and roll up your sleeve. It doesn’t take long and you get a free cup of tea and biscuit at the end of it all.

I’m continuing my whistle stop tour of A Thousand Sons signings tomorrow (27th Feb), so if you fancy getting any of your books signed or just having a good natter, come along to GW Liverpool between 10:30 – Noon, or GW Leeds between 3:30-5.00pm. Hope to see you there!

Also, I’ve not forgotten the competition I posted towards the end of January. I’ll be taking the Book Title/Heavy Metal mash up entries with me on the train to see which ones make me laugh the most, so I’ll post the results next week.

See you in Liverpool/Leeds tomorrow (or in Cardiff the following weekend – 6th March).

A Thousand Sons stomp Vampires

2010-02-24T02:47:47.2030000-06:00

Regrettably not a future project of mine, but news that this week A Thousand Sons is the Number 1 SF and Fantasy title, knocking Charlaine Harris off the top spot. And as much as I like Sookie Stackhouse, I'm chuffed to bits at this news. Thanks to everyone who went out and bought a copy, you ROCK!

And in case you're still wondering whether to get a copy, here's some lovely reviews that might change your mind.

My Favourite Books

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

And in case you want more, here's an excerpt...

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist

Right, back to work on my Sabbat World's short story.

Not to undermine the gravitas of the Horus Heresy or anything, but...

2010-02-23T04:24:25.8689159-06:00

This is probably old news to the delvers of the interweb, but this was just forwarded to me the other day by pyroriffic, and I thought it was too good not to share.

It’s the Weekend, so what did you do?

2010-02-21T12:55:05.2110000-06:00

Well, I went to London and had a great time with everyone who came to the signing at GW Plaza on Saturday. Together with artist extraordinaire, Neil Roberts, we faced the not so huddled masses and chatted and signed for nearly three hours without letup. Lots of people had lots and lots of Horus Heresy books, which Neil and I signed and talked about how covers and books interacted, how the words influenced the art and the art coloured the words. I usually see the covers long before I get the book finished (in many cases before I even get started on it) and it’s a great touchstone to have along the way, to have it tacked to my desk and a constant reminder of what I’m writing about, what it looks like and the dynamism I’m trying to create.

Christos Reid took some pictures of the day, and he was good enough to send them to me, so here's one of me talking to him about the short story, The Last Church, while Neil sketches out pictures to give to people beside posters of his work.

And here's one featuring myself and Neil, with lots of gaming going on in the background.

It was gratifying to sign lots of Heldenhammers and Empires too, and everyone seemed pretty stoked by the news that I was starting the third book, God King. There was a good smattering of Ultramarines books, and those folk were pleased and a little unsettled by the things I was telling them about The Chapter’s Due. If you’re around in Liverpool/Leeds next weekend, I might tell them again if you’re lucky.

We were also presented with a box of cookies and a pack of jam doughnuts, which was very nice, as I was feeling very sugar-deprived that day. We didn’t eat them over the course of the day, as I always feel it’s bad manners to greet someone who’s come to a signing by spraying them with a mouthful of jam and cookie chips. In the end, Neil took the doughnuts and I took the cookies (since there were more of them and I knew I’d have to share them with Anita on the train back to Nottingham).

Anyway, at the end of the signing, I had to shoot off to Forbidden Planet to sign some more books, but before I left, Mark, the store manager of Plaza, presented Neil and I with some amazing gifts. Neil was presented with a model diorama of Leman Russ and his wolves, and I was handed an amazing model of Magnus the Red, which you can see below.

"I think you'll agree I'm far more photogenic..."

"I'm ready for my close up..."

"Okay, Russ...come and have a go if you think you're hard enough..."

Pretty good, I think you’ll agree (though the desk in my office leaves something to be desired as a photo studio, so I apologise for the quality of the pictures…). I’m told the model was made by one of the Plaza regulars, a very talented chap named Tom Payne, and painted by Cornell Kozak (apologies if the spelling of either of those names is wrong, I wrote them down on the train while holding a squirming Evan in the other hand). So if you or anyone who knows them is reading this, be sure pass on my very sincere thanks. I was very touched and absurdly pleased to get this model. Nice work, guys. I wish I’d had my camera with me yesterday, as I’d have liked to take pictures of Neil’s model, but I reckon being awake since 4am had somewhat dulled my mind to the idea of bringing it.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone who came along, you made me feel very welcome and to hear people tell you that they like your stuff is fantastic, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and that I’m doing something right. Anyone who says they don’t get a kick out of that is a dirty liar. And cheers to Mark and his lads in the store for taking care of us all day with supplies of coffee and water. Until next time.

Right, see you in Liverpool or Leeds next weekend (and Cardiff the weekend after…).

The Last Church on Terra

2010-02-18T08:00:28.4250000-06:00

Two entries in two days, aren’t you spoiled?

My good friend, Aaron, posted me a link to this piece of fan art on deviantart, and I liked it so much I thought I’d share it with you. It’s by an artist called Noldofinve, and is a representation of the building in which my story, 'The Last Church' takes place (you can find this story in Tales of Heresy). I had a dour, square-cut gothic kind of church in mind, but this perfectly captures the feeling and sense I wanted to convey; something small and isolated, with the shadow of the looming Imperium coming up in the background, ready to swallow it up. Nice work.

Here’s what the artist herself has to say:

“The entry for a fight in Warhammer fan-art LJ community “Cultic buildings of Warhammer 40 000 universe”. This is the illustration for G. McNeill’s story “The Last Church”. The story has just blown my mind. Not only because of the Emperor as a main character but because of the idea and philosophical contest. I saw not only the future Lord of the Mankind but also a bright character, who was not like an angel or somekind of good deity. That was not an icon from codexes. The conception - the Emperor has a long philosophic conversation with poor yet strong in his faith priest - is great. Though, I guess, not so original. The conversation of two men is great. And the final of the whole story is splendid. With the last church of Terra the old era dyed in flames. And, at the same time, those flames were a dawn of a new Era.”

Anyway, hope you like it. And Noldofinve, if you’re reading this. Thanks.

You can link to her gallery by clicking here.

That was the BL Live that was…

2010-02-17T04:14:03.2356466-06:00

Morning folks, just a quick note to say thanks to everyone who came along to Black Library Live! at the weekend. Looking at the pictures, I’m jealous of everyone who got to go to all the different panels and play in the themed games going on in Warhammer World. Stupidly, I didn’t bring my camera with me, so I don’t have funky pictures to show you how I spent my day, but if you were there you’ll know how you spent yours. There’s pictures over at Dan’s and Neil Roberts blogs, so if you weren’t able to get there, you’ll have a taster to entice you to next year’s event.

Thanks to everyone who came along to my Seer Council. You asked great questions and it came as something of a surprise to me to find I’m a rambler. Not in the walking though the wilderness in matching Barbour jackets and a dog in a tartan coat way, more a rambling, tangent-taking, point wandering from, looping journey around the point kind of way. So many times I got caught up in what I was saying I completely forgot the answer I was supposed to be giving. I guess quite a few of the questions I was asked could have been answered with a straight yes or no, but where’s the fun in hearing someone say that?

Afterwards it was straight into the Prospero discussion with Dan Abnett in the Rotunda, which I was expecting to be a moderately well attended discussion, but turned out to be a monstrously well attended discussion. Actually, the whole Rotunda was full and it was standing room only, which was fantastic. Again, we were asked some great questions, and I certainly took some top ideas away from the back and forth we had going on. Dan’s a great guy to have beside you on a panel, witty, energetic and someone with the innate ability to make ideas grow brighter when placed near him. Everyone’s questions made us think and forced us to properly articulate ideas we’d not given as much thought to before. For that reason alone it would have been worth doing! Lots of the questions centred on subjects we’d spoken about the day before at our latest Horus Heresy meeting, but which had to be given necessarily cryptic answers…

[On the subject of our latest Horus Heresy day, once again, it was a searing cauldron of white-hot ideas that I, of course, can’t tell you about yet. Suffice to say I came out of it with at least half a dozen great ideas burning a hole in my brain. We dived in to the themes of what’s going on with each other’s work and, to use the phrase of the day, the cross-pollination of ideas was phenomenal. From this meeting I now know what my next Heresy book is about, who’s in it and some of the revelations and twists that will happen. Not bad for an afternoon’s work. Kudos to everyone involved, as it was fun, inspiring and incredibly useful. I came away itching to get pen to paper almost instantly, though that was kind of hampered by immediately going out for dinner with the other authors present for Saturday’s extravaganza and then heading to a character-filled bar in the centre of Nottingham with Jim Swallow, Nick Kyme, Aaron Dembski-Bowden and his fiancée Katie.]

Then, with nary a breath, Dan and I headed to join Neil Roberts for our signing session, which went on solidly for several hours. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and thankfully my signing hand was well and truly limbered up for the day by spending all of Monday (and I do mean all of Monday) signing the inserts to go in the very limited, special edition hardback of Iron Warrior. What made a slightly surreal, but not unwelcome, change to a signing session was that it was all taking place to the laid back groove of the Walrus of Love himself, Barry White. Not Gladiator or Lord of the Rings, Barry White. It’s a change I heartily approve of.

Currently Reading: Just finished Double Eagle again, and thoroughly enjoyed it. More so this time around, as I think I missed lots of the cleverness first time. Also just finished reading the final manuscript of The Chapter’s Due, which was a long read, and an exhausting one – which, given the scale of what’s happening in the story, is no bad thing! I’m currently reading Jon McGregor’s If nobody speaks of remarkable things. Jon’s a founder member of the Nottingham Writers Society, and a very nice chap. I’ve met him a few times at the NWS, and he was kind enough to let me nip round to get him to sign his second novel for my mum for her Christmas. I’ve only read the first few chapters of If nobody…, but already the lyricism of his words is just blowing me away. It’s written as a novel, but reads as poetry and has so many wonderful turns of phrase that it’s taking all my willpower not to try and wholeheartedly lift them for my own work.

Currently Watching: Enjoying Being Human just now, a show that’s in its second season and had done that rare thing of expanding its mythos, while staying true to what made it great in the first place. 24 is entertaining me with its bonkers, over the top, storylines, and Annie Wersching is doing a great job of portraying how broken Renee Walker really is. Jack’s being Jack, which is exactly what I want. Also watching Caprica, which I want to be great, though I’m not loving it so far. I like how we’re seeing how a lot of what we saw in Battlestar Galactica evolved, but I think there’s a real danger of them trying to be ‘dark and adult’ so much that they forget that BSG could also be very funny too. There’s room for some great storylines in Caprica, and I just hope they don’t make it too depressing, that there’s also some entertainment going to be worked into the meatier drama.

Right, I’m off to work now. I have God King to write. To give you a taster, here’s Nick Kyme’s reaction to the synopsis: KICKS ASS!

Just a quick reminder that I’m in London this weekend (20th Feb) at GW Plaza in Oxford St, so do come along if you’re in the area. The weekend after on the 27th of Feb, I’ll be all over the place in a whistle-stop tour of Liverpool and Leeds. I’ll be at GW Liverpool (13b Central Shopping Centre, Ranelagh Street) at 10:30am until I have to rush to the train station to travel to GW Leeds (38A Lands Lane, Leeds, LS1 6LB) where I’ll be signing from 3:30pm.

See you along the way…

Ps – Just to reiterate to anyone who’s asking, I’ll be working on the concluding part of Defenders of Ulthuan later this year (around August/September), so expect some great High/Dark Elf action sometime around the middle 2011.