- Hello!
- Frostgrave: Tales of the Lost Isles
- Reddit AMA - Squats!
- The Rise of Ynnead
- Kickstarter - Tripods and Triplanes
- Blog Round-Up
- Upcoming Events
- Submissions Alert - StarShipSofa
- Hard Drive Hot List (or, My Current Projects)
- Bi-Monthly Competition Winner
Hello!
One of the best things about working for the Games Workshop Design Studio, aside from playing games being part of my day job, was being around such a diverse and creative team who could inspire with their ideas, visions, and enthusiasm.
Writing however is a lonely business. Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining, the solitary nature of being a freelance writer is one of the reasons I love what I do, but nonetheless, it is a lonely business. Which is why events like the Black Library Weekender, which took place last weekend, are a welcome 'actual-real-life-people' link back to the work I do.
Josh Reynolds, David Guymer, David Annandale and Clint Werner have all been bringing Age of Sigmar to life, so it was great to have the opportunity to talk to them in person and share ideas about how we can feed off each other's stories and world-building to help the fiction feel coherent in the same way that 40K stories and novels are (I'll be writing my second Age of Sigmar novel next year).
There were many such conversations with the other authors this weekend, squeezed into quick conversations between signings, panels, and pints of beer.
It's that sparking of ideas that really re-charges my creative batteries when I go to these sorts of events, and chatting with fans that tops up my enthusiasm levels.
Now I'm all fired up to write about Age of Sigmar, Harlequins, Last Chancers and lots more stuff that I'll probably never get to fit into my schedule. It's the same when I've been to a gaming convention - when I get home I just want to work on Big Stompy Robots or one of the many other games I have half-cooked. Not to mention genre events such as Nine Worlds and EdgeLit which leave me wanting to write more original fiction.
Too many ideas, and not enough time - not a bad place to be really.
Gav
Frostgrave - Tales of the Lost Isles
Earlier this year I was invited to contribute to an anthology of stories set in the new Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago.
I've always liked the look of Frostgrave, the miniatures are characterful and the gaming tables I've seen at events really stand out, so of course I said yes.
Tales of the Lost Isles is now available to buy and includes stories from Ben Counter, Mark Latham and Matthew Ward amongst others.
"The Ghost Archipelago has returned. A vast island chain, covered in the ruins of ancient and otherworldly civilizations, the Archipelago appears every few centuries, far out in the southern ocean. At such times, pirates, adventurers, wizards, and legendary heroes all descend upon the islands in the hopes of finding lost treasures and powerful artefacts."
My short story - The Journal - follows the adventure of Marianne Amontill, a magic-gifted Heritor questing with a ragtag band using her ancestor's journal as a guide. If the terrain and denizens of the Ghost Archipelago were not obstacles enough, the pursuit of the relentless Amanuel adds extra peril to her mission.
Reddit AMA
In case you missed it, I did an 'Ask Me Anything' on r/warhammer earlier this month. I was a bit worried about it being mostly tumbleweed, but there were so many questions I only got to answer about half of them.
bjornbjornsen asked: I’d be interested to know what your reaction was to the small but loyal Squat fanbase that still exists out there? Converting AoS models to use in 40k, keeping the old lead model circulating on the second hand market, etc.
I think it’s very Squattish. Resilient, you might say. I notice this with other fandoms – Sisters players are very devout in their attention to their army, Dark Angels players love arguing amongst themselves about the Fallen, and orks players… Well, they’re just here for the dakka.
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. Click the button below for the full AMA.
The Rise of Ynnead
With the release of Ghost Warrior, I wrote a blog about how ideas can lay dormant within 40K for many years, before bearing fruit in unexpected ways.
"One of the early lessons in background-writing was that a mystery is worth ten facts when it comes to describing the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The lore has always been intended as small spotlights in the darkness, illuminating just a tiny portion of the shadowed whole. The parts we show serve to hint at what lies in the gloom beyond, perhaps even guide players and readers and painters into their own explorations, but never fully reveal the workings of the universe."
Kickstarter - Tripods and Triplanes
This game caught my eye because it's from Ares Games, the people behind Sails of Glory, which I backed on Kickstarter and have really enjoyed playing. The Kickstarter is launching on 28th November.
"The new stand-alone game, fully compatible with WW1 Wings of Glory, will merge the Martian invasion described by H.G. Wells in his novel "War of the Worlds" with the historical background of the Great War."
Blog Round-Up
The cover for Ghost Warrior is one of my favourites, so I was really pleased that artist Anna Lakisova took the time to answer my questions in this blog.
You can also listen to an interview with Combat Phase about Lorgar: Bearer of the Word.
Upcoming Events
If you are coming to any of these events, do come and say hello.
! Submissions Alert !
StarShipSofa is a long running science-fiction podcast that is currently looking for stories up to 10,000 words.
"What We're Looking ForIn a word: science-fiction. From the soft, social science fiction to the weird pulpy stuff to the vigorous hard SF and YA adventure. We welcome all sub-genres and all variety of punks in all their colours. From high-octane action to quiet philosophical stories, we’re after it all.Science fiction is a rich and diverse genre, push it’s boundaries as far as you can go."
There's no closing date advertised, so you'll need to submit as soon as possible.
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)
- Ashes of Prospero (Black Library)
- Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah (Black Library)
- Strontium Dog (Warlord Games)
- Big Stompy Robots (Original Game)
- A Deadly Wit (Black Library)
- Sword In Ritual Splendor (Original Fiction)
- Wild Rider (Black Library)
- Very Exciting But I Can't Tell You! (Black Library)
- The Board is Set (Black Library)
- Fireheart (Black Library)
Bi-Monthly Competition Winner
All subscribers to my mailing list are entered into the bi-monthly draw to win a personalised, signed copy of one of my books. This month's winner is Jamie McKendry from Australia who will receive a signed copy of my audio drama Heirs of the Laughing God: A Deadly Wit. The next winner will be picked in January, and will receive a signed copy of The Sundering, which is being re-released as part of the Warhammer Chronicles series.
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