New York Times…

It’s been hollered from the Black Library website (which is nice) but I thought I’d better mention on my own site that A Thousand Sons was on the New York Times best sellers list for mass market paperbacks. After hitting the number one spot in the UK, I’m incredibly pleased with this and am already thinking of how I can top that with my next Horus Heresy novel (or any other novel for that matter…). So thanks again to everyone who bought a copy and spread the good word of mouth online or in the stores.

 

The day I was in BL to receive the news (and a surprise cake and party) I also got a copy of The Chapter’s Due, which looks rather funky I think you’ll agree. This is the finale of this arc, though not the last we’ll see of the Ultramarines, and I’m really pleased how this one turned out, full of action, mayhem and nice character moments that have progressed nicely since The Killing Ground.

 

Iron Warrior

But before The Chapter’s Due comes out, you’ve got Iron Warrior to look forward to. It’s now appeared on the BL site, so you can look forward to a full novella based on the further exploits of the Warsmith Honsou in a hardcover, illustrated, signed, colour plate including slice of goodness. Though it’s strictly limited to 1000 copies, so you’ll need to get your skates on if you want one when the release comes…

 

Mum’s the word

It was mother’s day on Sunday, so I hope you all treated your mums to a nice meal and flowers. I had my folks visiting at the weekend to see our little boy, and the five of us went out for a lovely Sunday lunch, though I think Evan was less than impressed that he couldn’t yet have sliced beef, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.

 

SFX dinner

Prior to that, myself, Gav Thorpe, Nick Kyme, Mark Newton and George Mann went out for dinner with some of the guys from SFX magazine, which was great fun, and good to put names to faces. T’was an enjoyable evening, though I left around ten as I knew I was going to get woken up a few times in the night by the little man. It’s always good to meet the folk who work in the same industry, but upon different paths, as it gives you a good insight to how the market works from other perspectives.

 

God King

I’m working on God King just now, though the progress took a little hit with my mum and dad being down. As much as they said I should keep working, it would have felt a little odd to be up here in my shiny new office while they were downstairs. My dad helped my move my behemoth desk and bookshelves from the tiny office to the spare room so that Evan could have his own room. Anyway, when we showed Evan his new room, he seemed to like it...

Anyway, my desk is great to work at, and I love having all my reference material close at hand, but it’s a complete pain to try and move anywhere. Its dimensions exist outside the normal three and the gestalt consciousness of its parts seems designed to bend the laws of physics in a gravity well around its mass. In any case, I’m writing this with a new view out my window (what little I can see through the mass of desk…) and will see how this new space affects my writing.

 

Signing this weekend!

I’ll be at Warhammer World this weekend (20th March) between 11:30 and 2pm. I’ll be there as a guest of The Great Crusade’s Path of the Traitor event, so if you’re playing in that event or are in the area, pop by and say hello.

Right, back to work… 

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.

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

Check it out by clicking here.

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!

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.

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).

 

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.

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.