Well I’m back from BookExpo America in New York in once piece, and it was a hell of a trip. George Mann – the head of the Black Library – and I flew with Virgin Atlantic, and were in the cabin area of a stewardess who barked orders like she was running a Space Marine boot camp. Our seats were located next to a man we dubbed ‘The Mad Georgian’, and he proved to be a character indeed. An opera singer from Georgia, who lived in London and was good friends with Katie Melua, who travelled on an Irish Passport after marrying his Irish wife at the age of fifteen. Our Georgian pal carried a wealth of bizarre items in his carry-on, the creepiest of which was a strage bejewelled mask, like something from Eyes Wide Shut. While I watched Anvil: The story of Anvil (brilliant!), the Mad Georgian delighted in winding up our domineering stewardess, asking for extra food, drinks and behaving mischievously enough to annoy her without doing anything overtly irritating.

On arrival in New York, George and I got to our hotel and took a wander around Times Square at night, which is an interesting place and looks just like it does in the movies.



Next day we headed down to the Javits Centre to meet Vince Rospond, BL’s man in the US, to help set up the booth, which, as you can see from the picture below, looked great.



Since most of the work had been done for us, all we needed to do was put out the books. After dropping Vince's bags at the hotel and getting a picture of the Naked Cowboy...



...we headed towards Madison Square Gardens, where I was going to be signing their stock of new books for the shelves, on the way passing the mist-wreathed Empire State Building, and the New Yorker Hotel – a very cool example of an art deco architecture that just oozes character.



Next up, we got a taxi down to South Ferry, hoping to see the Statue of Liberty, but as you can see from this picture, the mist defeated us – though we did see a very cool haunted-looking pier.


If you look closely, and angle your screen just right, you can see the blob that is the Statue of Liberty...

The rain was falling pretty steadily by now, so we took refuge in a bar and had a few beers before heading back to the hotel to dry out. Earlier in the day, we’d seen signs for a free gig where Taylor Swift was playing down by the NBC building, and I joked that I wanted to go see her. The idea was nixed, but turns out we got to see her anyway…

For dinner we went to Little Italy, and had a lovely pasta dish followed by a Cannoli (which I’d only had for the first time recently in Baltimore). As we were finishing dinner, a large posse of folk came into the restaurant who all looked very showbiz, and as we were looking at them, a tall blonde girl came in with them, none other than Taylor Swift herself. They went to their table, and I resisted the urge to be uncool and ask her for a photo, which, given how the rest of the trip turned out, I’m regretting.

Anyway, it was Book Expo the next day, and the event itself was really busy, with lots of folk coming over to the booth, getting their books signed and chatting about what the 40K universe was all about. It was quite an experience to talk to people who knew little or nothng about Warhammer and trying to explain it to them in a way that wouldn’t turn them off it and get them excited enough to stock BL books in their library/school/book shop. Overall, I think I succeeded, and everyone who took a book away looked very happy with their new possession. Interest in BL was high, and we could have gone through our entire stock of books on the first day. We’d brought a load of Courage and Honour, as well as The Killing Ground and Heldenhammer, but we also had Henry Zou’s novel, Emperor’s Mercy. The piles of books you saw in the picture of the booth had been severely dented by the time day one came to an end.

Inbetween signing and chatting, I took a look around the show, which was pretty damn big (though apparently it was smaller than last year) and picked up some freebies along the way, some comics, some books and some flyers. I managed to see China Miéville and get a signed copy of his latest book, The City and the City. I also managed to get down to see Julianne Moore, who was signing her latest book, Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully. Not my usual kind of book, but I figured with a wee one on the way, having a signed children’s book might be a neat little present or memory to show them one day.



I got Karin Slaughter’s audio book signed and picked up a load of novels from authors I didn’t know, but whose books looked interesting. I also talked to lots of people at various stands, who, it turned out, were all the heads of those imprints. Thankfully, I acquitted myself well (I think) and didn’t make any gross faux-pas that will come back to haunt me.

With day one over, we went for dinner at a Brazilian restaurant that brings you meat until you tell them to stop. We made it through the ten meat feast and never once turned the little red/green drum to red. Feeling suitably sated, we had a nightcap in Hurleys before turning in for the night.

The next day was just as busy for us, and we gave out virtually all of our books to a very appreciative crowd. Strangely, the Saturday didn’t seem as busy as the Friday, but it was still a full-on day. Across from us, were the Romance Writers of America and just around the corner were the ladies from Ellora’s Cave – who, I’m told, write women’s erotica. They seemed very taken with the darkness of the 40K universe (and my accent) and have promised to send me some of their books, so you may see a steamier side to the dark millennium soon! George is convinced that their next books are all going to feature a brooding Scotsman…so part of me is a bit scared of what might come through the post ☺.

George did a signing for his book, The Affinity Bridge (an instant steampunk zombie classic) which went really well and was a mightily queued indeed. Kyle, George’s publicity gal, did a great job managing the queue, getting books ready and making sure everyone got their names signed correctly. I even managed to snag a copy, signed with our word of the weekend, which we had immense, purile fun getting Americans to say as a toast. The only sour note of that day was that I missed getting a book signed by James Ellroy, who I only saw was doing a signing ten minutes after it ended. Despite that, the day was great fun and we ended on another high note.

After getting changed, we headed to the St. Andrews bar to the Osprey party, which was great fun and the folk there were really nice. Turned out the barman was Scottish too, and I was able to get a pint of heavy there, which amazed me, as it’s getting hard enough to get a pint of heavy in Scotland, let alone New York. Dinner that night was in a great barbeque place Vince knew, though it took us a while to get to it, as we had to go all the way round the block to get there, since half the streets were blocked off. Only when we got to the restaurant did we find out why. President Obama and his wife had decided to visit the theatre that night and we ate in the shadow of armoured cars and scary Secret Service man in black suits and shades.

After dinner, George and I headed to a place called Blue Fin for a couple of drinks and we had a great time there, becoming a centre of gravity for several couples who formed a big circle of conversation and laughs with us. At closing time, the barmaid gave us directions to a secret bar within the hotel, telling us to tell the doorman that she’d sent us. Following the stairs and secret elevator to the top of the building, we nervously said the barmaid sent us to the guy on the door and he let us in no problem. Inside was a bar like you see on tv shows like Dirty, Sexy, Money or Ugly Betty, filled with the beautiful people and strange men in white Stetsons. It was all quite bizarre and the drinks were ruinously priced, but its was a great night, and we ended up talking to loads of people, as George and I had our writerly-rock-star-swagger going on and, buoyed up by the success of the day, we were a force of nature – even if I do say so myself.

As you might suspect, Sunday was a little more subdued, with the day being pretty quiet. We’d given away most of our books, and spent most of the day wandering the other stalls and chatting to other exhibitors. I did a signing that morning, and we managed to go through all two hundred copies of Courage and Honour. Sunday was a shorter day than the others, so with all our books gone and a feeling of a job well done glowing in our hearts, we headed out to dinner after a few hours rest back at the hotel. This time, we headed to another New York landmark, Katz’s Diner. That name might not mean much to you until I tell you it was the setting for the famous scene in When Harry met Sally, where the old lady leans over and says, ‘I’ll have what she’s having,’ after Meg Ryan’s shown that men might not always know when a woman’s faking… The food was great and Vince then showed us around the Village, where we saw lots of cool buildings and went to Washington Square Park, where, hoping I was continuing the Famous People theme of our trip, I took a picture of this guy playing guitar to a crowd of folk. I don’t know who he was, but everyone seemed to really like him, and there were lots of people taking pictures, so if you recognise him, please let me know!



Vince left on Monday morning, so George and I headed for breakfast and Toys R Us, where he spent loads on bits and pieces for his son, and I spent money on Bobba Fett and a Storm Trooper…for research purposes…



After that, we took a trip uptown to the Flatiron Building, where George’s publisher, Tor, is based. After getting some cool pictures of the building, we went out for lunch with Liz Gorinsky, George’s editor, and spent a very pleasant afternoon with her. We also met a few of the editors at Tor, who were all really nice and it was good to chat to them about their current and forthcoming projects.

With lunch over, it was time to head home, and the voyage back across the Atlantic was thankfully a quiet one. It’s been a couple of days now, and I’m back in the groove of UK time, so it’s time to get back to work. This was a long post, but I hope you enjoyed my little travelogue…

Cheers and talk to you soon with more work-related stuff…

Graham.

Yes, it’s a cliché to begin a blog about New York with that subject, but I prefer to think of it as tradition, so sue me.

So, yeah, I’m off to New York tomorrow to go to BookExpo America, which runs from Friday May 29th to Sunday May 31st. It’s a first for me, and I’m really looking forward to the trip. I’m heading out there with George Mann, head of the Black Library, so it promises to be an interesting trip. I’m not entirely sure what to expect of the BookExpo, as I’ve never done a show like this before. It won’t be like a Games Day, with hordes of fans needing to be beaten back with pitchforks and flaming brands, apparently it’s more along the lines of book sellers, librarians and shop owners, so I expect it to be a bit quieter and rather few folk dressed up as Orks or cakes in the form of Squigs. Though who knows… I’ll bring back some photos of anything that particularly catches my eye. And if you’re planning to come to the event, be sure to drop by and say hello. We’ll be at Booth 4047, and I’m quite friendly really, and always up for a blether. And if you have a book you want a scribble on, I’ll be doing a signing on Sunday 31st at Table 6 between 10am and 11am.

New York is a city I’ve always wanted to visit, as I’ve seen it in so many tv shows, movies and news items. It’s also a city in which I set a Call of Cthulhu adventure I ran way back in the dim and distant past, so I’m keen to see if any of the locations match up to my visions of them from back then. Come to think of it, as they were part of a Cthulhu campaign, I kind of hope they don’t. There’s lots I want to see, but as we only have one day to do the tourist thing, I’m not sure how many we’ll get to see. Amongst the tourist stuff, I’ll be dropping into Borders at Union Station to sign some stock for them, and hopefully I can get a taste for the city that never sleeps; enough to have an idea for the next time…I want to see the Empire State Building, Madison Square Gardens, Times Square, Central Park. I also want to see the Flatiron building, as it was one of my favourite buildings during  my time as an architecture student, and is the set of 30 Rock (Tina Fey is my new comedy god).

There’s also Ground Zero too, but I’m not sure I really want to see that, as it feels a bit ghoulish to make a point of going to see a place where so many people lost their lives. On the other hand, it does no good to flinch from these kinds of things through squeamishness, so perhaps I should go, as it’s important to remember terrible events so they don’t happen again. I suppose that’s why we have war memorials, not just to remember the dead, but to remember how and why they died.

So, that’s New York, what else has been happening? The Manchester signing went well, and I spoke to lots of people, signed their books, and generally hung out for the afternoon with lots of very friendly people who made me feel very welcome. So, thanks to all the staff at the GW store in the Arndale Centre and all the people who brought armfuls of their books along.

My new flag
After seeing Richard Williams flag at BL Live, and not wanting me to feel left out, Vince Rospond had his hooded scriveners prepare this symbol for me, which I think has just the right edge for me. It’s like the sniper’s badge, but where they slay with bullets, I do my work with words. You have to say that in an appropriately gravely, voice-over-man way for it to work…

Fan art
Jayson Hotchkiss has done a lovely piece of art that I’d like to share with you, a picture of Uriel laying the holy smackdown on a filthy piece of xenos scum.



If you like that, check out Jayson's page at:

http://pnutink.deviantart.com

On the reading stand: I’m currently reading Future Bristol, a book of sci-fi short stories centred around the theme of, you guessed it, Bristol. Over the last year and a half, I’ve gotten to know Bristol reasonably well, so thought that would give me a leg up on it (which it has). I’m only a few stories into it, but it’s okay so far, a mixed bag with some stories stronger than others – as you’d expect. I took a break from Twelve, a vampire novel set during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. I liked the concept and the scale promised on the back of the book, and though it’s still early days yet, the story has yet to sink its fangs into me. I’ll let you know how it goes….

On the hi-fi: Too much to mention… My Brother in Metal from Austin, Texas; Aaron Spuler, hooked me up with more metal than is healthy and I’m currently wading through a host of new bands and rediscovering old ones. My current favourites are Static-X, Fear Factory and Soulfly. Right now, some ZZ Top is echoing through the house, so I’ve got my rock n’ blues head on right now, ya’ll.

Anyway, on that note, I’m off to get back to work.

Talk soon,

Graham

Ps- Don’t forget the competition on the last post if you fancy a signed copy of Mechanicum (so long as you want it signed to Bob…) and some other free goodies.

Afternoon folks,

I'm just back from Baltimore Games Day, which was a really good event, even though gremlins in the warp conspired to lose a pallet containing Courage and Honour and The Killing Ground as well as Nathan's Battle for Skull Pass. Oh well, regardless of that, it was yet another event of lovely, enthusiastic fans and lots of signing. So, thanks to everyone for coming along and saying hi and making Nathan and I feel very welcome. We enjoyed the seminar a lot, as it was a good mix of questions and discussions, and didn't get entirely hijacked by Horus Heresy stuff, so good work everyone! Also, thanks to the guy who singled me out for a question with the words, 'This question's for the guy in grey...' That made me laugh. You know when you've arrived, when you're known as the guy in grey. Or perhaps it's like a Johnny Cash thing...like the Man in Black, just not as dark. So, all in all, a great show, and here's some pics to show you what you missed if you weren't there.



The Red Orktober, which was awesomely well built and the photo doesn't really do it justice.


The Squig cake the guys at Mythic had made. It was cut up later in the day, and though I begged them to let me to 'cut' it with an axe, they said no...


The 404th Remnant Legion, who probably spent more time posing for pictures than seeing what was on show at Games Day.


Nathan and I after dinner at the Rusty Scupper and posing in one of Baltimore's picturesque fallout shelters. Anyone who finds Nathan's missing leg will be suitably rewarded...

In other signing news
I'll be in Manchester this weekend, May 16th. I'll be signing copies of Courage and Honour (or anything else of mine for that matter) on May 16th from 12-2pm at the Manchester Arndale Centre store. Hope to see you there!

And a mini competition for you...
While at Games Day Baltimore, I was signing a copy of Mechanicum for a nice man called 'The Jim', but caught a snippet of conversation from Nathan next to me and ended up signing the book to 'The Bob'. Rather than waste this copy of the book, I figured it could make a good prize, together with some other goodies I have here. So if you're called Bob and would like to win a signed copy of Mechanicum, or have some other pressing reason why you need a book signed to Bob, reply to this post with your reasoning in 50 words or less. In a couple of weeks, I'll pick a winner and send some stuff on to you. Good luck!

Cheers and speak to you soon,

Graham

Hey there,

I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself today, as it’s been a good week. Since I’m in a self-indulgent state of mind, I’m going to share a few things with you today, most of which are shamelessly self-promoting. So sue me…

This week started for me, traditionally enough, on Monday, with three chapters of Empire left to write (as of Wednesday, I have two left to write). As I sat down to work, I received an e-mail from Nick Kyme at the Black Library to tell me that The Killing Ground has been nominated for an Origins Award. This is the second book of mine to be nominated – the first was False Gods – so fingers crossed, eh? Once again, there’s stiff competition, notably from the late Gary Gygax, so I’m not breaking out the victory champagne just yet. In related Ultramarines news, Courage and Honour has just been reviewed at the rather excellent, Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review site. Check it out at:

http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com/2009/04/courage-and-honour-graham-mcneill-black.html

Not ten minutes later, Mark Newton e-mails, telling me that just over half a million English language copies of my books have been sold, which I reckon is pretty damn good whichever way you slice it. It’s a number that almost sounds surreal when you think of it, but to have sold that many gives me a great sense of pride, for which I hope you won’t think badly of me.

So, not a bad Monday. Tuesday the postie arrives with a box of comics from the US, issues 3 and 4 of Defenders of Ultramar, together with the trade paperback of the entire series. I love how these turned out and the graphic novel of the collected strip looks great, so kudos to Kev Hopgood and the other artists for making it look so great. If you haven’t seen these, but fancy checking out what happened while Uriel was away…take a look at Boom! Comic’s website and order yourselves the trade paperback or the individual issues at the following address:

http://www.boom-studios.net/warhammer-40-000-defenders-of-ultramar-tpb-1.html

Okay, enough preening already, here’s something that might actually be considered news. Nick Kyme and I recently did an interview with the guys at Shroud Films for Black Library TV, where I desperately tried not to speak too fast while avoiding ‘um’ and ‘er’ as much as possible. We talked all things BL, Ultramarines, Heresy, Dwarfs and so on – though the window cleaner and shutters opening and closing conspired to intrude on the sound quality. Check it out here if you fancy seeing my glorious screen debut:

As I mentioned earlier, I’m nearly finished Empire and if I don’t get it finished by the end of the week, then it’ll certainly get done in the early throes of next week. Then, with a smaller (kind of) project inbetween, I’ll be embarking upon A Thousand Sons, my next Horus Heresy project. Dan and I have had some initial discussions about this, and we’re very excited about this project, as I think we have some fantastic ideas that are going to melt your head in the best tradition of Horus Heresy books. I have a notebook that’s bursting with scribbled notes, which, once Empire is done, I’m going to expand and develop into a treatment I can bash around with Dan. Will let you know how that goes.

Event news: Since I’m not likely to blog between now and next week, I’ll let you know now that I'll be in Baltimore on the 9th of May for Games Day Baltimore. I’ll be there all day with Vince Rospond and I’ll be nattering away to all and sundry who come along, so bring your books (or even better, buy some shiny new ones!) and we’ll talk Heresy, Ultramarines, Time of Legends and anything else that crops up. I think I might get to an Orioles game too while I’m over there, so it promises to be a good trip.

On the Hi-Fi: Well, I’ve a whole host of new records to listen to just now, as Aaron Spuler, a regular correspondent on this website, has just furnished me with a bunch of new metal records from some bands that played in and around Austin, Texas. I’ve only listened to a couple so far, but they’re sounding good and heavy. So I’d like to thank him for sending them to me.

On the Reading Stand: I just finished The Book Thief, which was a really good read. It’s the story of a young girl in Nazi Germany during the war and her kleptomaniac tendencies towards the written word. It reads very innocently, which is surprising given that it’s narrated by Death, and is a very moving story of life in a small town of ordinary folk who are anything but ordinary. Told with great wit and warmth, this was a real gem of a book.

Then I read Peter Fehervari’s most excellent short story, Nightfall, which can be found in the Heroes of the Space Marines anthology. This is Peter’s first published story, and hopefully won’t be the last if the quality of this story is any indication. A thoroughly enjoyable read, well-written and showing a side of Space Marine recruitment we don’t often get to see. Nice work, Peter.

However, next up is Mike Lee’s Fallen Angels, which George Mann was kind enough to give me (especially so, since it was his own copy…). I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time and can’t wait to see what Mike’s done with the characters from Descent of Angels. I know many people were unhappy with how Descent of Angels ended, but when read in the context of Fallen Angels…well, let’s just say I think folk will see the first book in a different light.

And one other bit of news…
And last but certainly not least… I’m thrilled to say that Anita, my beautiful girlfriend, is pregnant. Come August, she and I will be parents, which is going to knock my writing schedule for six, I’m sure, but will be well worth it. It’s going to be amazing, scary, fantastic and worth every sleepless night. We’re both over the moon with this, and can’t wait to meet the latest recruit to the 4th Company. So I hope you’ll bear with me in the latter stages of the year if you run into me and I look like a sleep-deprived zombie.

Right, it’s roleplaying night tonight, so I’ll sign off and talk to you either at or after Games Day Baltimore.

See ya,

Graham

Hi there,

This is just a short entry to issue a profound apology to my French fans who were expecting to see me at Games Day France this weekend. Due to reasons too stupid to go into just now, I'm not going to be there, so I'm really, really sorry if you've carted your books to the event in the hope of getting me to sign them.

But Matt (of Bibliotheque Interdite fame) and I have talked about getting a signing organised for the FNAC bookstores later this year (perhaps when Mechanicum is released) so I'll be able to get over to France and make up for this weekend's absence.

Anyway, I'm really sorry for any disappointment, and I promise to make it up to those of you who were planning to get your books signed and come for a chat.

Till next time,

Graham

Easter has come and gone, and with it the triumph that was Black Library Live! Myself and a pack/library/narrative (what is the collective for writers?) of Black Library authors gathered at Warhammer World with artists editors and fans to talk, sign and generally have a thoroughly nice time. Thanks to living so close, I was able to have a leisurely breakfast and swan in at around eleven in the morning for a coffee and pre-event natter with various folk. I met a few people for the first time; stand up please, Steve Lyons, Aaron Dembski-Bowden and Richard Williams’ parents, as well as seeing a few old lags like myself. A round of applause please for Dan Abnett, Neil Roberts, Nick Kyme, James Swallow, Richard Williams, Sandy Mitchell, Gav Thorpe (or as he shall heretofore be known: Gus Thorpo) and Jon Sullivan.

As always it was great to catch up with everyone, but then the event isn’t for us to sit at the back and chat, it’s for you guys. And what a day it turned out to be. After mingling with the BL staff (Hello Caroline, Emma, Mal, Alex, Christian, George, Mark and Nick) for a while, Anita and I had look around the gaming halls, liking that there was a Skull Harvest tourney (Honsou dies?!) and a table based on a big scene from Courage and Honour. It’s still kinda weird seeing a table set up as a scene I wrote only a few months ago…

First up on my to-do list was a reading from Courage and Honour, the latest Ultramarines novel, which – though it’s hard to be sure – seemed to go down very well. I think folk enjoyed it, and I certainly enjoyed reading it (especially Lord Winterbourne’s parts). Then it was straight back upstairs for a hefty, two-hour signing session with the galactic Dan Abnett and the cosmic Neil Roberts. This was scheduled for two hours, with an hour extra for overrun. Naively, I didn’t think we’d need this, but how wrong I was, and to everyone who waited patiently while I blethered to all and sundry, a mighty thank you! It was a great few hours and it was really nice to see many familiar faces, who’ve all become part of the whole dog and pony show. Good work, everyone!

As always, thanks to Xhalax for coming down and spreading your infectious enthusiasm, and thanks to Peter for once again forcing me to raise my game. I have your story here and will drop you a line when I’m done. I promise! All in all, a fantastic day was had, and I can’t wait for the next one.

In other signing news, I should mention that I’m going to be in Paris this weekend for Games Day France. If my skills as a reader of French are up to par, then the event is being held at the Porte de Versailles (Parc des Expositions: Pavillion 5.1). I’ll be there all day at the Bibliothèque Interdite stand, so come along and we’ll fumble our way through the language barrier to have a great time.

And now to answer some questions:

Sam: Yeah, I’m looking forward to the next Slayer album, as I could use some real darkness for the project that follows Empire (featuring a certain character who apparently died in a tourney at this weekend’s BL live event…). And the HH stuff…yeah, the more we delve into the history, the more we find that the waters just get murkier and murkier. Just wait till you read the Prospero duology…

Xhalax: I saw all four issues of Defenders of Ultramar at the weekend, and very nice they look too. And it very definitely fits into the larger picture of things – which should hopefully be clear now that you’ve finally read The Killing Ground.

Stephen G: Ah, my not-so-subtle homage is undone… Yeah, loved Watchmen and now, having seen the finale of BSG, am convinced that it’s the best thing, sci-fi or otherwise, to have graced our televisions in years. The ending was perfect in every way (though it should have ended with Adama on the hillside) and I felt utterly vindicated in my commitment to watching it over the last few years.

Xisor: Glad you’re looking forward to some more Ultramarines goodness, and the WoU x 10 idea is currently percolating away in my mental back burner in a nice, explosive way. You’ll need to wait to next year to see how it turns out though. But you will get to meet lots of bigwigs in the Chapter, that’s for sure. And A Thousand Sons/Prospero Burns is going to be great…we’ve got some awesome ideas to play with, and it won’t disappoint. The Last Church was a story I really wanted to write to give some balance to the anthology, and it seems to be one that people have really responded to, which is just great.

Dju: See you in a couple of days, mate…when all will be revealed. Sort of.

Bastiaan: Thanks for the birthday wishes, and yeah, I had a great day. Thanks also for the praise for the Ultramarines novels, and now that The Killing Ground is in paperback, I hope you get a chance to read and enjoy that too. Even better…pick up Courage and Honour to get you ready for the next one…which is going to be epic in every way. Given what you’re asking, I think you’ll like it.

I knew Mechanicum wasn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea because of the lack of Astartes, but I felt it was necessary to be broadening the Heresy at this point. It may have started as an inter-Legion war, but it soon spread far beyond that, and it’s important to show that.

As to who is the loser in the Heresy…well, it all depends on your point of view ☺

Liam: Hey, missed you at BL Live! That’s high praise indeed for The Last Church, and I’m glad you liked it so much. Are Revelation’s arguments my own…well, that would be telling, but let’s put it this way…creationism is nonsense and I think the theory of evolution removes the need for a creator god.

Aaron: Cool…thanks for the link, I’ll be sure to give them a listen, since I’m always on the lookout for new heavy records!

Right, that ought to do it for now. I’ll speak to you again after Paris, with some exciting news.

Cheers,

Graham

Morning folks,

Just a short blog entry today to remind you that this weekend coming, the 11th of April, is Black Library Live! at Warhammer World in Nottingham. I’ll be there, along with a host of other Black Library authors and editors to sign books, play games and chat with all and sundry who pop along to take part in the day. There’s a series of games being run during the day, and one of them is based on The Skull Harvest, the story I did for the Heroes of the Space Marines anthology. So if you fancy fighting duels to the death on New Badab, come along loaded for bear.

You’ll be able to pick up a free copy of the paperback edition of The Killing Ground, and if you come along to a room known as The Moot between 1:30 and 2pm, you’ll be able to listen to me reading from Courage and Honour, the new Ultramarines novel (if I can figure out what part I want to read). I believe you’ll also be able to buy copies of Courage and Honour if you like. Which is nice.

And then in the Rotunda between 2pm and 4pm, I’ll be signing books alongside Dan Abnett, which is always a hoot, so be sure to bring along plenty of books! That’s all I’m timetabled for, but I’ll be hanging around for the better part of the day, so I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities to chat and swap war stories.

So that’s Black Library Live! Hope you can come along, as it’s shaping up to be an excellent day, with lots going on, plenty of authors travelling from far and wide, and a great variety of stuff to do. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of familiar faces, but let’s hope to see some new ones too, eh?

Work-wise: Empire is going well, and I’m just past the 70,000 word mark and still going strong. Enjoying this book a lot and looking forward to seeing how it all ends. I also had a meeting with Black Library’s Darius Hinks and Adrian Wood last week to talk about a new type of project I’ll tell you more about later. Suffice to say, we all went away really excited about it and it’s a book we can’t wait to get started on.

On the Hi-fi: I received a CD from Thomas Gurrath yesterday, the lead singer and driving force behind Debauchery, a metal band from Germany. Their stuff is very hard, very heavy, and not for the faint-hearted. I mention this, as a great deal of Thomas’s stuff is influenced and inspired by Games Workshop, and particularly Black Library imagery and themes – so expect dark, violent and bloody stuff! I’ve only had a chance to listen a couple of times so far, but it’s good stuff, heavy and operatic in its scale. If Death n’ Roll is your thing, check them out at www.debauchery.de

On the reading stand: I just finished Joe Hill’s Heart Shaped Box, which I enjoyed immensely. Matt Keefe pointed out to me that Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son, though there is a marked difference in style (the book is less than a thousand pages for a start…). Unlike a lot of ghost stories that unravel their story gradually to a big reveal, it lays its cards out pretty early and the haunting itself becomes the story – though there is a big reveal later on just for good measure. Joe Hill’s book is by turns funny, scary and inventive, and if you like your horror infused with some rock n’ roll humour then this is the book for you.

Okay, that’ll do it for now, so I’d better get back to work. I’ll have more to tell you next week, so talk to you then or, even better, see you at Black Library Live! this weekend.

Until then,

Graham.

It’s traditional for most writer’s blogs to begin with an apology for the gap between posts, citing busy schedules, impending deadlines, playing video games and the like (I'm guilty of all of the above...). So I’m going to dispense with any such apology and get straight to what’s been happening since last I posted. Which was just before Christmas last year…oops.

At the time I was hip-deep in writing Courage and Honour, the fifth Ultramarines novel, but I’ve since finished that and now have six lovely hardback copies of that novel sitting on my shelf. I’m very pleased with how the book turned out, as it neatly brings Uriel and Pasanius back to their Chapter with a bang. With the books that follow the events of the Ultramarines Omnibus, I wanted a definite sense of escalation between each novel. The Killing Ground only features Uriel and Pasanius, while Courage and Honour involves the whole of the 4th company. The final book in this arc…well, you’ll need to wait and see, but there’s gonna be a whole lot of Space Marines and a whole lot of action. Think Warriors of Ultramar. Times ten.

To explain that a bit more, I conceived Courage and Honour very much as a back to basics Space Marine story. I’d had a blast with Dead Sky, Black Sun and The Killing Ground, dropping Uriel and Pasanius on a daemon world and then bringing them back to a planet threatened by the ghosts of its past. They were fun novels to write and allowed me to tell stories that veered from the conventional beaten track of the Astartes, but now it was time to tell a story with Space Marines doing what they do best. Which is stomping alien butt six ways from Sunday in all manner of insanely violent ways. The decision of where to set this novel and which alien butt needed to be stomped came from a chance reading of a line in Nightbringer, where Inquisitor Barzano muses that it’s crazy for Humanity to be fighting one another when so many threats loom on the threshold – Orks, Tyranids…and the Tau. Going back over Nightbringer (a novel I wrote nearly eight years ago!) was an interesting experience as I was able to see how I’ve grown and developed as a writer since then. I have a lot of fondness for Nightbringer, partly because it’s my first novel, but also because it works a number of disparate threads into a satisfying whole – many of which I was able to revisit in Courage and Honour. Have a read of the new book for yourself and see what you think. And if you’re coming to Black Library Live! on April 11th, I’ll be doing a reading from Courage and Honour, so come along and have a listen.

Continuing the theme of all things Ultramarines, issue 3 of Defenders of Ultramar is out now. Dealing with an Ork invasion of Espandor, this series fills in some of the backstory of what’s been happening with the 4th company since Uriel’s exile, and which slots neatly into one of the key threads in Courage and Honour. Almost like I planned it, eh?

And in a seamless segue, I received my trade paperbacks (and hardbacks, which look very fine) of Fire and Honour, the first series of comics I did for Boom! Studios. I think I might bring some of them along with me to Black Library Live! and see if there’s any nice people there I can give them away to…

That’s what I’ve been working on, so what, I hear you cry, am I working on at the moment? This month, I have mostly been working on Empire, the follow up to Heldenhammer, the first novel of the Sigmar trilogy of Time of Legends novels. I handed in the first half of the manuscript on Friday, and I have to say I think it’s going really well. I’m enjoying my return to the haunted forests of Sigmar’s empire, and it’s been a breath of fresh air after the gloomy, gothic darkness of the grim darkness of the far future. It’s also refreshing to take characters we know from the well known aspects of their history and tread new ground. These are tales of Sigmar you don’t know, which makes telling them all the fresher, which can only be a good thing.

Beyond Empire, there’s a few interesting morsels in the distance - potentially another Starcraft novel with Blizzard - and my upcoming collaboration with Dan Abnett on our Prospero duology. You’ll have seen Dan’s book, ‘Prospero Burns’ on the Black Library site, but if you haven’t already heard, mine is to be called ‘A Thousand Sons’, and will focus primarily on the Legion of Magnus. It’s still early days, but the idea we’ve come up with is that each book should stand on its own merits and be enjoyable without needing the other to fulfil its narrative. However, the full scope of the story should only be really appreciated by reading them both (think of the ending to Back to the Future 2…and I promise I’ll explain that if you talk to me in person ). It’s going to be a complex project, but one that we have some fantastic ideas to develop and some fascinating revelations to play with. These novels will have all manner of ramifications, while still maintaining the existing mythos – which is going to get the conspiracy theorists scratching their heads – as if Mechanicum didn’t do that enough! All I’ll say is that everything you think you know about the razing of Prospero is simultaneously right and wrong. Depending on your point of view.

The Starcraft project is still a little nebulous, but from the conversations I’ve had with the folks at Blizzard, it sounds as though it’ll be very exciting and give me a chance to get beyond the game and go deeper into the characters that populate its universe. I’m excited by both projects, and there’s some other stuff in the pipeline that I can’t wait to get started on…Honsou…cough, cough…but they’re for later in the year – a time when I’m going to be busy with something else closer to home, but I’ll save that for another blog entry.

The early part of the year is always quiet for signings, but next month I’ll be out and about a few times, so hopefully I’ll see some of you at one of these signings. No doubt there’ll be others, but these are just the ones I know about so far... I’ll be in Paris on the 19th of April for Games Day France, which is always a great day, and one that I’m looking forward to immensely. Then in May, I’ll be at Games Day Baltimore, before returning to the USA at the end of the month for the New York Book Expo. In between those two trips on the 16th of May, I’m doing a signing in one of the Manchester stores, though I’m not sure which one or when during the day. I’ll let you know closer to the time the exact details of what’s going on.

And while I remember, be sure to drop by the David Gemmell awards to vote for Heldenhammer. Voting closes soon, so make your vote count! You can find out how at: http://gemmellaward.com/page/2323348:Page:6781

Beyond work, it’s been a busy old time at home, as my girlfriend has moved up to live with me, and we’re currently reshaping the house and trying to fit two people’s belongings into one building. That’s never an easy thing to do, but it’s proving to be (mostly) pleasingly simple and stress free.

On the reading stand: I’m just about to start a book called The Book Thief, a novel about which I’ve heard nothing but good things. I’ve just finished this month’s Empire magazine, which has successfully whetted my appetite for Terminator Salvation, despite it being helmed by McG, he of Charlie’s Angels infamy.

On the hi-fi: I recently discovered a website where the album downloads are incredibly cheap, and went on a buying binge. Twenty-eight albums later I stopped hitting the ‘Buy Entire Album’ button and have been largely listening to a lot of Rammstein. It’s great music to work to, because it satisfies my heavy rock urges, without distracting me with English words that might leech into my consciousness via rock osmosis. So if Empire seems like an unduly angry novel, you know why.

Recently seen: Watchmen, which was ace. Go see it just for Rorschach’s line of the show: “You don’t understand…I’m not locked up in here with you, you’re locked up in here with ME!”

And now responses to stuff on the last post...

Xhalax: Hope you enjoyed Fire and Honour, it was my first series for Boom! Studios, and I learned a lot from that, which stood me in good stead for Defenders of Ultramar. How's that one getting on now that you've got to episode 3...?

Matt F: Yeah, next time I get out to Oz, I'll make sure we can hook up for a blether!

Sam: From what I saw, I think you're going to like what THQ is doing with Space Marine. Hopefully by now you've had your copy of Mechanicum and that you enjoyed it. I now have my paperback copies of The Killing Ground, and very fine they look too. And thanks very much for the link, I enjoyed the new song immensely!

Shad: Some high praise indeed! Yeah, Legion is a very good book. Even though I knew the revelation Dan was planning for the novel's end, my jaw still hit the ground when I read it. Only a great storyteller can make you do that. What we've got planned for the Prospero duology will, I hope, do the same. Hope the postman didn't get away and that you've now read and enjoyed Mechanicum. And Fulgrim as a play...I think its a story well suited for it, so let me know if you get to do it, I'd certainly come and see that production...

Mike: Not a problem, I'm always happy to sign books that folk have been good enough to buy, especially in a nice place like Toronto. You will definitely be seeing more of Honsou (if you haven't already in Planetkill and Heroes of the Space Marines) and the story of Perturabo is one that I've toyed with suggesting to the editors at BL towers, but haven't had much of a chance to really get to grips with. Don't rule it out, but don't expect it any time soon.

Dju: Thanks for the timely reminder of the David Gemmell award (and hopefully I'll see you in Paris in a month or so - with some news...).

Gildor: Ah...with that wish, you're going to like one of the story threads in Courage and Honour... As to the spelling of Isstvan/Istvaan, well it swings back and forth because it appears in various guises throughout the old GW literature, and depending on which one I check (as my memory isn't what it used to be) it gets copied as the one I read last. Glad you liked Mechanicum, and if we were to see the Knights of Taranis again, I don't think that would be a bad thing. Certainly, I liked writing those two guys, so I think there's some scope for them to reappear further down the line in a 'take back Mars' kind of way.

Caleb: Glad you liked Mechanicum, and I'm sure there will be an Iron Warriors book in time, though my dance card is pretty full at the moment. As to the Emperor's plans being revealed, well, they're coming to light with every meeting we have to discuss the future of the books, and there's exciting times ahead, that's for sure. As to the Blood Angels, I'm not sure when they'll appear, though I would suspect sooner rather than later. And if I get back to Oz, I'll be sure to let everyone know where I'll be so I can sign some books for you guys.

Elenaria: That's great you enjoyed The Last Church. It was a real departure for me to do something without gunfire and chainswords, that revolves around two guys just talking. The challenge being making what could have been dry and staid into something interesting and revealing was what gave me the spur to write that story. It was a challenge to write, and hopefully it leaves some conflicting emotions in your head when you get to the end.

Matt: It was getting perilously close to being left to next Christmas, but with time on my hands in Wales...here you go, a shiny new blog entry!

Anyway, that’s all for now, so I’ll be back sooner rather than later with some updates on how Empire is getting on and where I’m going to be if you fancy getting your book scrawled with a pawprint.

Until then.

Graham