Black library news and rumours (including Horus Heresy stuff)...

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**burad**

Yes, yes it is.

Regarding the desperate need for non-human novels:

Aliens being difficult to write about, since the author is in every case human.
I thoroughly enjoyed Blood & Thunder. Though it was written from the POV of the human captive, it had a good flavor for Orks in it.

More like that would be welcome, if that's what it takes to have xenos books.

**Melissia**

That's also the issue with female characters, probably (Lindsey Priestly is their only credited female author... who has is credited for only a single story in a compilation book. They have another female author apparently... who's not given credit for contributions to any BL or GW books).

At least that particular problem can be fixed, I doubt they could convince an Eldar to write for them even if they could find one. And an Ork is right out.

**Savnock**

Melissia wrote: And an Ork is right out.

Uhm, have you _seen_ pictures of the BL staff? Large, tusked fungal beings would be less out of place there than many other workplaces. Just saying.

I bet Orks belong to unions, though. Mob Rule and all.

**warboss**

Savnock wrote:
BrookM wrote:Yes, yes it is.

Regarding the desperate need for non-human novels: Go read Path of the Warrior by Gav, it is good.

Really? Better than the Last Chancers stuff, I hope?

quite. the last chancers stuff was only one of two books in the 40k universe that i had to put down and stop reading due to literary disgust (the other being the SOB/IG book about the guy who couldn't feel any pain). his DA stuff was mediocre at best so i was very surprised that i enjoyed the eldar book.

**Melissia**

Savnock wrote:
Melissia wrote: And an Ork is right out.

Uhm, have you _seen_ pictures of the BL staff? Large, tusked fungal beings would be less out of place there than many other workplaces. Just saying.

I bet Orks belong to unions, though. Mob Rule and all.

True, and they might be better writers, too.

**Pyroriffic**

Melissia wrote:That's also the issue with female characters, probably (Lindsey Priestly is their only credited female author... who has is credited for only a single story in a compilation book. They have another female author apparently... who's not given credit for contributions to any BL or GW books).

Wait, what?

(Check out Primary Instinct in the first issue of Hammer & Bolter. Most assuredly by a female author).

And this might sound daft, because most of the things I say have a tendency to - but... why would a female author necessarily equate to writing about female characters? I am the confused. Matthew Farrer's Enforcer books have a female protagonist too - and he's most definitely not female.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ah,now I've had a caffeine injection, it occurs to me that you mean a female author has a unique perspective they could bring to female characters.

Having spent much of my life as a tomboy, I find the workings of the female of the species largely incomprehensible. And I'm one of them.

**reds8n**

Mamzel Abnett also has a story in the recent Sabbat Worlds anthology.

.. and, yeah.. there's those Silver Skulls with their..looming....space marines battles series book as well. No pressure there then.

**Pyroriffic**

No pressure at all.

*insert comedic flailing here*

**Melissia**

Then said authors aren't credited with their work on the BL website.

I only saw two listed period, and one of them had no books listed to her credit... or even any hints that she really actually produced anything for BL (there was a hint that she worked on some Batman stuff, but it didn't say she did anything as a writer for GW).

Maybe their author page is incomplete, but that's rather telling, too in a completely different sense

I never said men couldn't write a believable female character, just that people tend to write what they know, just like people said about writing a book about a Xenos character. I tend to write female characters when I roleplay, for example, or when I create a backstory for my armies.

**Pyroriffic**

I'm pretty sure only published novel authors/editors appear on the author page.

They'd run out of space if all the short story contributors were added as well.

Strange coincidence - nearly all my tabletop RP characters are male. It's nice to know it's not just me!

**reds8n**

From the BL site...

A Thousand Sons Audio - Available Now
Today’s the day – A Thousand Sons Audio is now available for download. This is the first time we’ve ever released an unabridged audio book and what better title to have chosen than Graham McNeill’s New York Times bestselling A Thousand Sons novel. Owing to author privileges, Graham received his copy of the audio book last Friday (you can listen to an extract of it here) and spent the weekend immersed in the Horus Heresy. Here’s what he thought to hearing his novel for the first time:

“It’s a funny thing writing a book, as it has many iterations along the way to becoming something I can see on a bookshelf. When the words are in front of me, they’re fluid, always changing, and I can chop and change them at will. They don’t feel like the words of a book, not yet. Then I print it out and read them, and it still feels like I’m back reading an essay at university or school (not that we had fancy things like printers when I was at school…). Then I read it at the manuscript stage, and it starts to feel real, like a proper book. It’s laid out in the proper font, with the chapter headings in place, page numbers and ISBNs. Even now, I can still make changes to it, and wield the Red Pen of Doom, so it’s still not quite there.

And up until now, it was only when I held the printed book in my hand that if was real, was a book that I had to send out into the world and hope people liked. Words read on a page have a special kind of magic, a magic that allows you to picture the scene, hear the dialogue and create your own imaginary vision space for it to come to life. That’s something special, that only books can do, but what about when you hear it read to you?

I listened to A Thousand Sons on audio book over the weekend, and that’s a whole other way to experience a novel. Martyn Ellis does a fantastic job of plunging you straight into the Heresy mindset with his rumbling tones that immediately had me feeling the heat and dust of Aghoru, and gave me chills when I heard my dialogue being spoken aloud by Ahriman, Phosis T’kar and Hathor Maat. It’s a different way to get into a story, more passive, but in some ways more immersive, as you can let the actor’s voice take you places you might not otherwise have reached on your own.

As I listened to the confrontation between Magnus and Leman Russ on Shrike, I kept picturing the scene as those two titans squared off. I could feel the tension like I was there watching two tough guys getting ready for a fight, and knowing there was nothing I could do to stop it. There’s a wonderful pressure when a professional actor reads a scene that I don’t get when I read a book myself. That’s something special, and even though I know how it all ends (obviously) I found myself thinking, just another chapter, just to see how that cool bit coming up sounds…

If you can be dragged along by a story, even when you know exactly how it’s going to play out, then you’ve got something pretty special. Even if you’ve read the book, you’ll learn something new, feel a different way about a scene and have your perceptions twisted by the new experience. And isn’t that exactly what should happen with a book about a Legion whose fate is woven by the Architect of Fate…?”

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Horus-Heresy/A-Thousand-Sons-audiobook.html

**fullheadofhair**

USA eBook pricing should come to us in early 2011 per an email from BL. Slow and strange as to why not done prior to release but coming none the less. Current exchange rate is 1.6143 which prices an eBook at $10.50 excluding foreign transaction fee in comparison to $8.99 at full retail price at Barnes and Noble ($8.09 if purchased online from them).

I still don't get why the US market was ingnored to this degree - isn't it a tad big?

**Bloodwin**

fullheadofhair wrote:USA eBook pricing should come to us in early 2011 per an email from BL. Slow and strange as to why not done prior to release but coming none the less. Current exchange rate is 1.6143 which prices an eBook at $10.50 excluding foreign transaction fee in comparison to $8.99 at full retail price at Barnes and Noble ($8.09 if purchased online from them).

I still don't get why the US market was ingnored to this degree - isn't it a tad big?

What do they mean by that? Do they really mean that they will have a price relative to the internal US economy or are they just going to slap a dollar sign on it?

As for the US market... Dear US, we don't care about you. Signed the rest of the world. I don't mean that in a harsh of flaming way. It's just a normal fact of life. The US is not at the forethought of all our thoughts.

**fullheadofhair**

Bloodwin wrote:
fullheadofhair wrote:USA eBook pricing should come to us in early 2011 per an email from BL. Slow and strange as to why not done prior to release but coming none the less. Current exchange rate is 1.6143 which prices an eBook at $10.50 excluding foreign transaction fee in comparison to $8.99 at full retail price at Barnes and Noble ($8.09 if purchased online from them).

I still don't get why the US market was ingnored to this degree - isn't it a tad big?

What do they mean by that? Do they really mean that they will have a price relative to the internal US economy or are they just going to slap a dollar sign on it?

As for the US market... Dear US, we don't care about you. Signed the rest of the world. I don't mean that in a harsh of flaming way. It's just a normal fact of life. The US is not at the forethought of all our thoughts.

Seriously? The fact that one of the largest book markets is the US shouldn't be factored into a company's business decisions? What do you do for a living coz please tell me it isn't business related.

And yes, a price relative to the US internal economy. You seriously think it is smart to do otherwise - i.e price eBooks 25% higher than it cost to by a paperback

p.s new HH novel is on the NYT best seller list I believe, as posted earlier in this thread. Just rechecked - currently number 28 for mass market paperbacks.

**Alpharius**

That new audio book version of A THOUSAND SONS... I am reading this right - £20 for it?

**Nick Ellingworth**

It is a completely unabridged version, so about 16 hours long. I think that price is fairly justifiable.

**Manchu**

Pyroriffic wrote:Strange coincidence - nearly all my tabletop RP characters are male. It's nice to know it's not just me!

Many of mine are female. But, on-topic, Melissa's opinion is at least somewhat based on the perceived ill-treatment that Sisters of Battle have received at the hands of several male authors. I share her perception on that topic, mostly.

@Melissa: As for female authors published by BL, there are a few besides Lindsey Priestly (who Kanluwen has suggested has something to do with managing their IP, something I thought Alan Merret handled). For example, Melissa, Sarah Cawkwell wrote Primary Instinct, which features the Silver Skulls chapter. She also has a Space Marine Battles novel on deck, also featuring the Silver Skulls, called Gildar Rift.

You can find a good interview with her here:

http://www.thefoundingfields.com/2010/10/author-interview-sarah-cawkwell.html

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, please don't discuss BL pricing strategies in this thread.

**Kanluwen**

My understanding was that Lindsey Priestly doesn't handle their IP, persay, but she does handle the Horus Heresy as a whole and trying to make it all "fit" together since C.S. Goto butchered the fluff earlier on.

**BrookM**

Miss Priestley is one of the main editors of BL first and foremost.

**Flachzange**

Nick Ellingworth wrote:It is a completely unabridged version, so about 16 hours long. I think that price is fairly justifiable.

So? At audible I can buy 17 hours of unabridged Star Wars goodness for 10€.
At the current exchange rate, the BL book would cost me 23.26€.

Now, that price isnt halfbad though. Its right up there with other audiobooks (even abridged versions) so the price is alright. YMMV though.
Harry Potter audiobooks are 35-65€ even on amazon.

Manchu reminds you that this thread is not for discussing BL pricing strategies.

**reds8n**

BrookM wrote:Miss Priestley is one of the main editors of BL first and foremost.

And very nice she is too. She's been at GW , in one way or another now, for over two decades.

In certain circles there is talk with regards to a certain pair of trousers but there are things mortal man is not supposed to speak of in daylight hours.

**BrookM**

From what I understand miss Priestley is the head honcho of Black Library really. She is behind most of the stuff happening there and she's the one you pitch your stories to, deciding whether or not you can go ahead with it.

Is she by any chance related to Rick?

**reds8n**

She is his wife.

I believe George Mann is the head of BL, with Marc Gascoigne having been his predecessor, with Mamzel Priestley being (senior ?) editor.

But they all pretty much leap in and "do" a few different jobs if needs be.

**Pyroriffic**

Has anybody downloaded and listened to 'A Thousand Sons' yet? How's it working out for people?

I'm hoping to get around to it very shortly as a carrot for reaching my current target.

**BrookM**

I found the narrator a bit hammy.

**Kanluwen**

They always are, imo.

And the sound effects...lol.

**Manchu**

You have to consider the material.

Can't speak to Thousand Sons but Throne of Lies and Heart of Rage had worthy production values. Is the Thousand Sons audio a drama like those or just a reading?

**Kanluwen**

Not saying the stories are bad. Just saying that more often than not the narrator hams it up real bad.

**Manchu**

No, I meant that the actors/narrators are working with what they have. This kind of overblown space mythology requires a certain degree of overacting. At least this is true of the two BL audio . . . plays? I have read.

**Kanluwen**

"Raven's Flight" was fantastic, as was "Aenarion"+"Throne of Lies" and they weren't really big on the overacting.

"Waiting Death" and "Fireborn" though...my God.

I've heard less overly dramatic phrases from Paris Hilton.