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- Hello!
- Crown of the Blood
- Q&A - Eldar Coming of Age
- Upcoming Events
- Blog Round-Up
- Submissions Alert - Apex Magazine
- Kickstarter - Assembly
- Hard Drive Hot List (or, My Current Projects)
- Bi-Monthly Competition - Winner
Hello!
First off I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to see me at an event this month. I had a great night at Leicester Writer's Club - I always love attending events specifically for writers as although I'm usually there as a speaker, it's a chance for me to discuss the craft of writing with others, something that doesn't happen very often as a freelancer.
I also attended WarhammerFest in Coventry. I was asked to sign a pleasing amount of Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah, as well as some of my older novels that people had brought along for me.
I attended with my buddy Dave, who was grinning like a chesire cat after winning a Silver Goldon Demon in the Warhammer 40,000 Large Model category (I could have used a picture of his winning entry, but this photo will embarass him more).
The final event I attended was the London Grand Tournament. I spent a brilliant day at the Inquisitor tables chatting to the dedicated followers of this much-missed game.
I'm still working on Our Martyred Lady - it's going to be released as four episodes, and because of earlier delays and having to redraft more than usual, the edits are coming back to me for previous episodes while I'm still finishing later ones. This is unusual as edits are usually done on a completed manuscript, and the interuption of edits has slowed my natural flow of writing somewhat. I managed to send off the final episode a few hours ago, just waiting on rewrites for that.
I've also been sent the proof copy for Wild Rider (book two in my Rise of the Ynnari series), so will take a look at that next week. There shouldn't be any major changes at this point, so hopefully it won't take too long to go through.
And then I'll be straight onto the research and synopsis for my next Age of Sigmar novel, which is due for delivery this summer. I can't reveal too much about that project yet, but will let you know in due course.
This week saw one of the proudest moments of my life so far - both Nanny Plum and the Go Jetters replied to me on Twitter! I'm still hoping to hear back from Duggee, and then my life will be complete. You can read the exchange here (I appreciate this will probably only make sense to fellow parents (or stoners in the case of Nanny Plum).
Finally, I was completely amazed by how many of you actually clicked through to my new privacy policy - clearly I'm not writing enough books if you have that much time to spare!
Gav
The Crown of the Blood
As I don't have any new books for imminent release I thought I'd talk about my first series published outside of Black Library - Empire of the Blood - which was first published in 2010. If you don't know anything about the the series, here's the blurb from the press release:
"Tipping a helmet to the decline of the Roman empire and the conquests of Alexander the Great, this sweeping tale looks at what happens when a great general realizes that he’s conquered all there is to conquer, and sets his sights on returning home – only to discover that the empire he has helped found is rotten to its very core. Massed battles, political mayhem and some truly startling priests, it’s a genuinely original retooling of what makes fantasy great."
My opportunity to write an original series came when Marc Gascoigne, Managing Editor at Black Library, left to head a new publishing imprint called Angry Robot. He asked if I wanted to pitch him a story, so of course I said yes.
“Fantastic characterisation, intriguing world-building and an ending that makes your jaw drop, Crown of The Blood is an excellent novel that is a must-read for any fantasy fan.”
~ The Founding Fields
The creation of what was to become my Empire of the Blood trilogy was different to anything I was used to at Black Library - I had been steeped in the world of Warhammer and Warhammer 40K for years, and now I had to create a world from scratch. I had a lot of fun coming up with the story, but the process wasn't an easy one. If you want to read about how I went from a blank piece of paper to 450,000 words, I dissected the journey in this blog post (I wrote the post to help me clarify and understand the process I went through, so I could learn from it for future projects).
You can read the beginning of The Crown of the Blood, book one in the trilogy, here.
Newsletter Q&A
Eunice asked: Heya Gav! Recently been relistening to Asurmen: The Darker Road and in it Asurmen mentions meeting and then teaching Eldrad when the latter had come of age. In your mind what is the concept of 'coming of age' like to the Asuryani? Given their extremely long lifespans and what not, I presume it isn't something as simple as "Well, happy birthday, you're X now. Have fun drinking."
I have a fairly nebulous concept of Craftworld Eldar 'coming of age' but I assume it is something to do with being in control of their psychic potential and being mentally prepared to set upon their first Path. I imagine it to be somewhere around thirty human years to reach that point, though obviously Eldar think of time very differently.
If you want to ask a question, just reply to the newsletter and I'll get back to you as soon as my schedule allows.
Upcoming Events
I'm also hoping to take Big Stompy Robots to a few more gaming shows later in the year, so let me know if there's a particular event you think I should attend.
If you are coming to any of these events, do come and say hello.
! Submissions Alert !
Apex Magazine is a well established magazine, which recently launched a print version together with its regular eZine.
"Apex Magazine is a monthly science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazine featuring original, mind-bending short fiction from many of the top pros of the field. New issues are released the first Tuesday of every month."
They are currently looking for short fiction, with a maximum of 7,500 words. They pay $.06 a word, with a minimum payment of $60. Make sure you take a look at some of their past issues to see if your story fits with their style.
Kickstarter - Assembly
This month's Kickstarter is for a "light yet addictive puzzle card game with a sci-fi twist".
"You are on an orbital platform that assembles luxury spaceships. All was going well until a deadly virus emerged and wiped out the entire staff, except you. The computer has quarantined the station and is venting the air. To survive you must escape.Quickly thinking, you realise there's a half-built spaceship on the assembly line. Using a limited set of commands, you must assemble it to make your escape. Unfortunately, the controls keep malfunctioning. Does the computer know what you are trying to do? Will you escape in time?
The project is well on its way to funding, and there are currently 20 days to go. You can find out more by clicking the link below.
One of the most common questions I get asked is "What are you working on?", so here's my (sorry, sometimes cryptic) list of works in progress, plus future releases.
Hard Drive Hot List
- Frontier Worlds - Hostile Takeover (Snowbooks)
- Strontium Dog (Warlord Games)
- Big Stompy Robots (Original Game)
- Sword In Ritual Splendor (Original Fiction)
- Our Martyred Lady (Black Library)
- Wild Rider (Black Library)
- Awful Orphanage (Workhouse Games)
- Carnevale (TT Combat)
- Very Exciting But I Can't Tell You! (Black Library)
Bi-Monthly Competition
All subscribers to my mailing list are entered into the bi-monthly draw to win a personalised, signed copy of one of my books. The May winner of Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah is Danny Roberts from the UK. The winner of the July prize will receive a signed copy of Empire of the Blood.
