Merry Christmas!

It’s Christmas. It’s been a tricky one, with my Christmas plans and intended trip back up to Yorkshire torpedoed, but we’re having a nice day anyway. I’d like to wish you all the very best for the day and for the coming year! Thanks especially to everyone who visits this blog, reads my articles or has bought my books. My wishes of good fortune are not restricted to those listed above, however, but freely given to everyone. Season of goodwill to all men, and all that.

Now, I’ve got a duck to roast (no turkey, there’s only the three of us here).

A review of Strike and Fade

Very complimentary words on my Salamanders, Horus Heresy audio from a few days back, from Abhinav Jain here.

I can’t, Mr Hellboy!

Hellboys says “Paint Ruglud’s Armoured Orcs! You’ve had them for six years, and you’ve got them out and everything.”

I can’t Hellboy, I can’t! I’m too busy, and my desk is a mess.

Dead robots

Here’s a cool thing for a Tuesday, my very own Jim Burns illustration! Jim is one of the biggest names in traditional SF art, having painted covers for most of the genre’s leading lights at one time or another. I’m lucky enough to know Jim personally, and with whom I occasionally enjoy a pint. Quite by chance, he was commissioned to create this image for my first story in Interzone,” iRobot”. It’s in issue 244, out January. I’m very excited by Jim’s involvement, as many of his book covers adorned my shelves while I was a youth. Jim Burns, man, it’s Jim Burns!

I ride a flying dog

I put this picture on Twitter and Facebook recently, but I’m so in love with it I’ve decided to put it up on here too. Taken by my friend Jan-Erik Posth (a nice German man married to a Swedish lady. He and I spend a good deal of time arguing about his belief in the imminent collapse of Western Civilisation), it shows me and my Malamute Magnus leaping over a puddle after yet another round of surface flooding a few weeks back. We’ve had rain floods all year in the UK. Magnus and I come home caked in mud every damn day, and the poor hound has to put up with the indignity of a good hosing before he can come into the house.

Looking at this image made me realise what a pleasure it is to have such a fine dog. Sure, he’s a massive pain sometimes, but the picture made me reflect on how much he’s changed these last two years, and how much more growing he has to do before he’s fully mature. Mentally, I add, at 48 kilos he’s as big as he’ll get physically, being neither particularly large nor particularly small for a British-born Mal.

The daily walk I have with Magnus is invaluable. It gets me my exercise and gets me out of the house for an hour,  where I tend to meet other human beings. Without him I’d be home alone for six hours, and with little adult company all day. He also does a fine job of pulling things along, including me on my bike, which is very exciting. So here’s to Doctor Magnus, without him I’d be a sight crazier.

 

Coming soon to an event near you…

I’ll be appearing at a several events next year. Details to follow in good time for most, but I can say for sure that I will be attending Black Library Live in Nottingham on 2nd March, and the second day of the Sci-Fi Weekender  near Pwllheli the following day (that’s 3rd March, obviously). Tickets and information and all that business are but a click of the links away.

Come along, have a chat. If you say nice things about my books, I may give you a hug or buy you a drink. Better yet, buy me a drink. I like that idea.

Strike and Fade: Salamanders in living sound!

In the grim darkness of the 31st Millennium, there is even more war than in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium, ain’t that a fact? I’ve been lucky enough to write a piece set in this period of galactic-scale civil war, and it is published today! Friday the 14th will forever be remembered by me as a day of firsts. Strike and Fade,  my first Horus Heresy piece and my first audio drama, is story fourteen on the Black Library’s advent calendar, a war-packed countdown to Christmas penned by the brightest and best in BL’s firmament of writerly stars (and, er,  me).

There have been some fantastic pieces this year. Each story is around 1000 words long, with the occasional audio, like Strike and Fade, salted in for extra spice. This is short Warhammer and 40k fiction at its most exciting; pithily told and as sweetsome as a Christmas chocolate, and boy, are there are plenty of nice chocolates in that tin. Go and check it out!

This is the latest in a string of Black Library stories and novels you’ll be seeing from me over the coming year, some of which I have revealed earlier on this blog, others are hush-hush, top-secret, so don’t ask. The pace is picking up, and stories will be arriving thicker and faster as we go into spring.  2013 is going to be an exciting year, and I hope some of you feel inclined to join me there.

And yet, spring is a ways away, so if Strike and Fade whets your appetite, you can always try my Blood Drinkers story,  The Rite of Holos in Hammer and Bolter 24. Or perhaps I could tempt you with some of my non-BL fiction? Freebies on the drop-down “Fiction” menu at top of the site, and details of my novels down the side to the left.

The Death of Integrity

As I mentioned earlier this week, the cover for The Death of Integrity was revealed on Amazon a while back. Here it is, and very nice I think it is too. The warrior in the Terminator Armour is none other than Chapter Master Caedis of the Blood Drinkers, and yes, he’s chopping up a Genestealer.

The Death of Integrity is a Space Marines Battles book from the Black Library. It’ll be out next September (more or less), and features both the Novamarines and the Blood Drinkers. In the story, the two chapters scour a space hulk named, you guessed it, The Death of Integrity, so it’s kind of an unofficial Space Hulk book too. Cool eh? There’s plenty of goodies in there for Space Marine fans, not least the detailing of two whole chapters, low-g combat, and some other exciting elements that it would be a shame to reveal right now (and my lords and masters would send a Callidus assassin disguised as my dog to kill me).  Still, ask yourself why Caedis is not wearing red. It’s not as straightforward as you might think…

The book’s currently with the editors, so it’s close to being locked and loaded to be shot out of the big publishing lascannon for the end of next summer. It’s a long time away, no? Clever-clogs might realise that my Blood Drinkers short story, ‘The Rite of Holos’, is a prequel to the novel, so if you fancy reading about these lesser-known scions of Sanguinius taking apart a Genestealer cult in the meantime, it’s in Hammer and Bolter 24.

Another couple of columns…

Here’s a new couple of pieces I wrote for the Australian Live4 website. Enjoy.

My iPhone addiction – Live4.

Emoticons – love ‘em or loathe ‘em? – Live4.

Crash cover, Black Library short

Seasons greetings all!

Yep, snow is falling on my blog. It looks like dandruff, but it is supposed to be snow. That means Christmas approaches, and so do many deadlines… Ulp.

But I’ve been so remiss in not blogging, so here’s a short message.

For your delectation today, I have three marvellous pieces of news. First, here’s the cover of The Crash, my second book for Solaris, out next June:

It’s a work in progress right now, but it’s nearly done, I think. For a description of the book, see my previous post.

Another announcement – I’ve been fortunate enough to have been asked to write a short story for the Black Library’s advent calendar this year! I can’t tell you what it is about, because it’s Christmas and Christmas is all about surprises, but I can tell you that it will be available on 17th December. Click on the link to find out more.

Lastly, if you go here to Whatever, John Scalzi’s blog, you can see me dance like a monkey on an electric wire (figuratively speaking), trying to get people to consider  Reality 36, Omega Point, and Champion of Mars as Christmas presents. You mean you hadn’t thought of that yourself? Then think about it. It’s a great idea. Really.

Ahem, I should mention that Mr Scalzi has thrown open his blog to all authors,  other books are available, and indeed, there are many other writers in the thread talking about their own books, many of which sound pretty damn fine.

If you’re a writer yourself, I heartily advise taking advantage of Scalzi’s generosity and join in the festive PR frenzy.

Later this week, I’ll be posting the cover for my next 40k book, The Death of Integrity.  Till then, stay frosty, it’s cold enough to do so, even if it is unfashionable to say so (at least it’s not raining any more here in England. And it has been raining ALL YEAR).