Thank you for signing up to my newsletter at gavthorpe.co.uk. If you have received this email in error you can unsubscribe with the link at the bottom of the mail. In this newsletter:
- Hello!
- Angels of Caliban Round-Up
- Kickstarter (Cards and Essential Home Furnishings)
- Newsletter Q&A
- The Beast Must Die
- Blog Post Round-Up
- Podcasts
- Upcoming Events
- Bi-Monthly Competition Winner Announced
Hello!
It’s been another busy month of book releases, signings and whatnot, so I’m going to talk about games instead!
Like a little asteroid caught in a gas giant’s gravity well, I am gradually getting drawn back into the toy soldiers side of Games Workshop. This started with my purchase of Betrayal at Calth a few months back, which I have now started to assemble. The kits are really nice, but there are so many parts! I’ve been used to single and two- or three-piece castings for most of my figures over the last few years. It’ll take as long to assemble them as to paint them (which incidentally I’ll be doing as Ultramarines and Word Bearers as I intend to use them for playing the game, no grander plans for getting back into 40K at the moment).
As well as that, I caught up with an old friend at Warhammer World and was introduced to the actual game of Age of Sigmar. It was fun – as much for catching up as anything else – and I’ll need another game or two to finesse and compile my thoughts.
I was so unbelievably lucky that I had pretty much won after two combat phases so it was hard to see the nuances of the sequencing and other rules coming into effect. I shall share when I have a bit more experience.
Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower is also calling to me like a dungeon-based siren... Oh, and the coming returns of Blood Bowl and Adeptus Titanicus may have caught my eye too. I also ordered a subscription of the new-look monthly White Dwarf magazine! That’s the first I've bought in 22 years (I had a complimentary staff copy each month until leaving GW eight years ago)!
Please buy more books to fund this renewed interest.
Part of this increased activity on the painting front has been spurred by the imminent arrival of several Kickstarter pledges. I’ve got a bit of a backlog to clear already (don’t we all?). If you follow me on Facebook you’ll see my updates for my World of Twilight painting, which has been progressing well, to the point I am taking a break from Anyaral at the moment. Next from the Kickstarter queue are some great anthropomorphic animal adventurers from Oathsworn miniatures’ Burrows & Badgers range. Kez has even expressed interest in these - a chance to paint her first ever miniatures!
And there has been other tabletop gaming activity too. I’ve played a bit of Cthulhu Wars, some Mistfall and Machina Arcana, and had my first run of Scythe this week.
As with the miniatures, there are a few Kickstarted games coming in the next few months... All of which has caused me to pause on my pledging for the time being (except for this Battle of Britain remake which is clearly an essential purchase).
Keep an eye out on my social media links, and I’ll try to squeeze in some more hobby updates on the blog if people are interested in that kinda thing. (Let me know!)
If you follow my blog, you'll know that I posted quite a lot of resources for Angels of Caliban. Here's a handy summary in case you missed any:
- Homework! Books To Read Before Angels of Caliban
- The Story So Far (spoilers)
- What is Angels of Caliban About - An In-Depth Look
- Five Teasers (originally published on Black Library website)
- Author Notes
- Interview with Artist Neil Roberts
- Music Playlist
- Angels of Caliban Q&A
The book now has 18 five-star reviews on Goodreads, and the feedback I'm getting at book signings and on email is great. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to get in touch or leave a review.
Kickstarter (Cards & Essential home Furnishings)
If, like me, the cupboards are creaking under the strain of game boxes and figure cases, perhaps share your geek fun another way with these greetings cards currently on Kickstarter.
And a special mention to Meepillows – a fun Kickstarter I backed last year for Christmas prezzies, available in retail from their website Top Shelf Fun or onThinkGeek.
Newsletter Q&A
Carlos asked via email: Thanks for the newsletter and the almost 20 years of fun through games and books :) Question: How do you break in to writing for 40k or WHF/Age or Sigmar?
If you are a published author you could try contacting Black Library directly - contact@blacklibrary.comIf you are – as yet! – unpublished, you will need to either get published somewhere else (not an avenue to be overlooked) or wait for a submissions window. This is when Black Library puts out a call to budding authors for submissions on a particular theme – typically they ask for a synopsis of a 10,000 word story and a 500 words sample of your writing. Keep an eye out on the Black Library Facebook page, website blog and the Warhammer app.You might also want to look at the 'Getting published' tag on my website.
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. I'll pick a question to go in the next newsletter, and combine them all into a blog post for the website. Click the button below for the full Q&A round-up for July.
The Beast Must Die
This month saw the release of The Beast Must Die, book eight inThe Beast Arisesseries. It has already had some great reviews which I'm really pleased with.
"The Imperium has been brought to the edge of extinction by an ork invasion of unprecedented scale and depth. Piecemeal strikes against the invaders prove ineffective – for every ork fleet destroyed, five more appear. The only solution is to find and kill the orks’ warlord – the Great Beast."
I've published a few related blogs including:
I also ran #thebeastmust competition to win a signed copy of the book. The winning entry from Jon in Alaska was: "#thebeastmust REALLY regret allowing da boyz to vote on the so called "wrecksit". Nice and topical. There were some really funny entries - you can see them all here.
Blog Post Round-Up
As well as the blogs already mentioned, you may also have missed:
- It's Party Time! (celebration of my newsletter and website being 1 year old)
- Want To Read More About The Dark Angels? (some suggestions)
- Hobby Goodness - 30k Dark Angels (truly awesome painted minis)
- Self-contained Narrative in Series Fiction (how to do it)
- How To Love Your Author (basically, biscuits)
Also Published This Month
Hardback (978-1784964863)
Paperback (978-1784962869)
Paperback (978-1784963705)
Podcasts
Apologies if you can't find a hobby podcast that doesn't feature me this month! I had lots of requests after putting out a 'press call' for Angels of Caliban, and have been clogging up the airwaves (or cables) ever since.
As well as chatting about Angels of Caliban, you can hear me discuss writing in a multi-author series, my history with Games Workshop, and cryptids. I also impersonate Farith Redloss. No, really.
Upcoming Events
Do come and say 'hello' if you're attending any of these events.
Bi-Monthly Competition Winner
One of the perks of subscribing to my mailing list is that you get entered into the bi-monthly draw to win a personalised, signed copy of one of my books. This month's winner is Leslie Langhorn from the UK, who will be receiving a signed hardback copy of Deliverance Lost. The next draw will take place in September, and the winner will receive a signed copy of the new paperback edition of Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan, which is due for release in August.
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