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That cover is downright beautiful. I really like the direction the cover art has been trending recently. They've got some talented artists.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Blog/Pawns-of-Chaos-POD.html

relevant bits...

On the plus side, the snow has put us in a festive mood. Every day, from now until Christmas (well, weekdays – we like to sleep and eat cake at the weekend), we’ll be posting a little treat for you here on the blog; starting today with a selection of wallpapers for December.




As an extra treat, we’ve just made Brain Craig’s Pawns of Chaos available as a Print on Demand title. It’s been out of print for aaages, but at long last, those of you who have been pestering us to reprint this warped view of the Warhammer 40,000 universe can now stop sending us emails and go order a copy.

MunkeyKungFu wrote:I must say I have now become a huge fan of Mr Dembski-Bowden, I though the bok was absoloutely fantastic and I literally have been struggling to put it down during my lunch breaks.

This has definately made me want to check out his other stuff

Helsreach was very well done, IMHO.

Kanluwen wrote:

BrookM wrote:

Thing I'm curious about: who is John French?

Likely a new author. He's not listed under the "View All", and the only Google hits I could find were for a drummer from Australia, a "First Earl", and the manager of a planetarium.

Jeez, you guys need to work on your public datacore manipulation skills. None of you will ever make Interrogator rank at this rate. Lemme query my ancient caffeine-powered data servitor. QiNCy224-beta, get over here!

{bzzzzt CLANK CLANK CLANK bzzzt}
"Searching for John. L. French, scriptor-minoris, Munitorum entertainment division. Please hold. Though of the Day: The Emperor protects, But You had Probably Better watch your Own Ass Anyways. Searching. Accessing Munitorum crystalline data stacks. Accessing Mechanicum haptic data web. Accessing misplaced parchment reports bin. Accessing side of cereal box... Data located in multiple sources, multiple formats. Composing report. Intiating scribe device. Report printing. Blessed is the Mind too Small for Heresy or Useless Mathhammer. Report Complete."
{bzzzzzzt whirrrrr CLANK whirrr BANG! whiirrrr...}


--BEGIN REPORT--

John French, associated with Games Workshop or Black Library:

Taken from his bio in the Dark Heresy RPG Designer's Diary (available at http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=148):

"John French is a freelance writer and games designer who has written for Dark Heresy since 2006. Working in collaboration with Alan Bligh and alongside many other talented writers and developers, his work can be found in the Dark Heresy Rulebook, Inquisitor’s Handbook, Games Master’s Screen, Disciples of the Dark Gods and the forthcoming Haarlock Legacy series of books that begins with Tattered Fates. In times past and days remote he also contributed to Necromunda Magazine, Town Cryer and Fanatic and has been involved in table top wargaming and roleplaying games since the beginning of the nineties. When he is not thinking of ways that dark and corrupting beings can destroy realty and space, John enjoys talking about why it would be a good idea, and making it so with his own traitor legions on the gaming table …that and drinking good wine."

French plays a Blood Angels successor chapter of his own devising, the Red Seraphs. Here's a page with some of his models: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=9900061a

Also, a dreadnought he painted:

"John French sits only a few feet from me and he's recently spent a lot of time painting things red in preparation for the forthcoming Codex: Blood Angels. John has a very particular style of painting and likes his models to look gritty, gothic and battle-worn. After undercoating the model with Skull White, he used the Spray Gun to basecoat it with Red Gore. To weather the Dreadnought he used a Stippling Brush to apply patches of Scorched Brown and Chainmail. Finally, he washed the model with Devlan Mud. Notice the scorched effect on the assault cannon that John achieved by stippling Chaos Black over Chainmail."
Link: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=9200017a

And he plays Chaos too apparently: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=6500025a

----

Looks like John French has written for the Call of Cthulhu RPG as well, alongside Alan Bligh. They gave a seminar on writing for the RPG industry. More info: http://www.yog-sothoth.com/content/922-Continuum-2010-Seminar-Recordings

----

Non-GW/BL-associated author links:

There also seems to be a John L. French who writes crime stories and is interested in crime scene investigation. He may or may not be the same person. It would certianly seems complementary interest to have if one were writing Dark Heresy.

Mention of two non-GW publications on this page:
http://lukereviews.webs.com/inthemail.htm

"8/25/10 - Bad Cop, No Donut edited by John L. French (from Padwolf Publishing)"

8/25/10 - Past Sins by John L. French (from Padwolf Publishing)"

Looks like those books have not been reviewed yet.

Amazon link for "Bad Cop, No Donut": http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Cop-No-Donut-Behaving/dp/1890096458/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291244106&sr=1-11

Also, Amazon lists an Encyclopedia of Crime Scene Investigation. John L. French is one of the two authors/editors. Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Crime-Scene-Investigation/dp/0816068151/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291244106&sr=1-6

Same fellow seems to write something in an occult-crimes setting that includes demon-possesed serial killers. Link to more info: http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/12110647/used/Dead%20to%20Rites%3A%20The%20Dma%20Casefiles%20of%20Agent%20Karver

Finally, the same fellow contributed to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery, Volume 40, number 4: April Apr 1995. Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/ALFRED-HITCHCOCKS-MYSTERY-Copperhead-Gangsters/dp/B000ICDPA2/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291244453&sr=1-2

Followed that up with a "Padwolf Publishing" search and found a blog (http://damcphail.livejournal.com/tag/new blood) mentioning a John L. French appearing at a fantasy/sci-fi convention called Balticon, apparently as a presenting author. He also apparently did some sort of CSI-style presentation there, involving the blog poster as a corpse in his presentation.

----

Aaaaand finally, given the common interests of militaria it'snot unlikely that GW's John French also wrote "The British In India 1826-59"
For more info see http://wargamesfoundry.com/books/military_book/any/any/the_british_in_india_fp009/

--END REPORT--


[Well, that's my bit of heavily-caffeinated internet timewasting for the day. I mean, my servitor's.]

Awesome - thanks for the info!

Last Chance for free eBooks; Atlas Inferno Cover Art
Today is your last chance to download some free Ebooks. So if you haven't downladed all five of them yet, go get them before they disappear. We’ve just finalised the cover for the forthcoming Inquisitor Czevak novel, Atlas Inferno*, and we thought you should be the first ones to see it. Click on the image for a closer look at Stef Kopinski's artwork.

Oh, and make sure you don't miss tomorrow's post - we've something extra-special in store for you.

*Does anyone else think it’s an ironic time of year to be featuring the cover art from a book with’ ‘inferno’ in the title?

It's Grimdark Elton John!

Let's hope that the book is far better than the cover....

Although, gotta love the mo.

I see that he's adopted the look of those most Fashion Forward of all the Eldar...

Maybe its mandatory for entrance into the Black Library?

I'm not a fan of the author so far, sorry. I still need to finish the "ultra hardcore balls hard" Redemption Corps, which is frankly, hard to get through.

I am hoping that the Inferno thing implies something good for the old mag.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Right, they've removed the Inferno! references from their blog post..

I was wondering.

.. didn't one of the Inquisition guys in the old Draco series wear a coat like that ....?

Probably not.

But then again Draco is full of weird crap, so maybe.

reds8n wrote: I was wondering.

.. didn't one of the Inquisition guys in the old Draco series wear a coat like that ....?

Yes, I know who you mean, can't remember his name though. The guy who survived daemonic possession.

"The Harlequin man" Zephro Carnelian, he's the one I'm thinking of, but I'm not sure if he had a coat like that or not.

The way he was described I always imagined him more as a pimp with his feathered fedora. But it could be that Czevak wears such a coat as a mark of honour from the Harlequin. Zephro wore something similar outlandish.

The blurb about the above...

Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak is a hunted man. Escaping from the Black Library of the eldar, Czevak steals the Atlas Infernal – a living map of the Webway. With this fabled artefact and his supreme intellect, Czevak foils the predations of the Harlequins sent to apprehend him and thwarts his enemies within the Inquisition who want to kill him. Czevak’s deadliest foe, however, is Ahriman – arch-sorcerer of the Thousand Sons. He desires the knowledge within the Black Library, knowledge that can exalt him to godhood, and is willing to destroy the inquisitor to obtain it. A desperate chase that will bend the fabric of reality ensues, where Czevak’s only hope of survival is to outwit the chosen of Tzeentch, Lord of Chaos and Architect of Fate. Failure is unconscionable, the very cost to the Imperium unimaginable.

If his intellect was as supreme as he claims he would have made committed the book to memory. And I really hope that 'Atlas Infernal' is the Imperial name for the book, because the Eldar naming their 'Atlas' after a part of Greek mythology makes no sense...


And the coat he's wearing is quite reminiscent of the cloaks the Adeptus Astra Telepathica models GW made a million years ago.

Heh, come to think of it, the novel reminds me a bit of the 13th Black Crusade, where the Thousand Sons had the hunt for the Black Library as their interest in the conflict. By then they had already captured Czevak though. How was this resolved at the end of the conflict?

As promised yesterday, we’ve something extra-special for you today - an extract from the forthcoming Prospero Burns audio book.


On the subject of Dan, he and Graham have just confirmed that they’ll be touring the UK, signing copies of Propsero Burns and God King respectively. So, whatever plans you had for January, cancel them. We’ll post the full details of the tour on Monday, so make sure you check back then.

Remember last week when we asked to you to tell us which novels you’d like as eBooks? Well, we listened, and have added two more Horus Heresy titles (Nemesis and False Gods), and two Time of Legends titles (Heldenhammer and Empire), to our eBook range. Enjoy.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Blog/Prospero-Audio-Extract-God-King-Tour-More-eBooks.html

At the end of this video:




Dan mentions that he's already mentioned the title of his next HH series book... but he won't do it again, for fear of doing something he wasn't supposed to!

Even though he already has!

Anyone know what he's talking about?

He also mentions that it is going to be unexpected, surprising and, yes, Awesomesauce!

Help me out!

Pfah. You don't know about his secret project, Alph? I mean your name relates to it and all.

*pokes the bear*

I can't remember.

It happens.

Especially when you get... older.

I do love all the references to WANTING to write another Alpha Legion book, as well as books better (fully?) explaining the Emperor's plans and motivations, as well as the Lost Legions, and... all that!

And a nice competition too

New Horus Heresy Book – let the speculation begin.
Here's a look at Neil Roberts’ rough sketch of the cover for Graham McNeill’s forthcoming Horus Heresy title. If you're the first person to guess the title, we'll send you a signed copy of the book well before it's official release date. We might even thrown in a couple of extras. Post your answer by commenting on this post* or on our Facebook page.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Default.aspx

..hmm.. ideas then folks ? Looks to me like some scouts, some one in some old, old OLD armour.... and an Astropath.

Interesting pic.
Now Mk I was outdated in pre-heresy times....

Unification war?

A plan to jump back to the early stages of the IoM and tell us about ???

Why do you think its an Astropath?
Background for other organizations than marines wouldn't be bad.

Looks more like a Navigator to me, with the third eye on the forehead.

I don't think this book goes backwards, timeline wise.... Prospero Burns is more your baby there, there's quite big chunks about the crusade era Imperium really.. but that's a whol other conversation and I haven't finsihed it yet either so..

Could be a Navigator I guess, I suggest it's an astropath as IIRC the author in question stated a while back he had plans to do a book about them and Astartes of uncertain/undecided loyalties on Terra.


And it looks kind of greenish to me in regards to it's robes.

reds8n wrote: I don't think this book goes backwards, timeline wise.... Prospero Burns is more your baby there, there's quite big chunks about the crusade era Imperium really.. but that's a whol other conversation and I haven't finsihed it yet either so..

Awesome news there!

It isn't out until 12/28 here, but I cannot wait now!

I love anything we can get about the Crusade Era stuff... I'd kill for some Unification War stories!

reds8n wrote:And a nice competition too

New Horus Heresy Book – let the speculation begin.
Here's a look at Neil Roberts’ rough sketch of the cover for Graham McNeill’s forthcoming Horus Heresy title. If you're the first person to guess the title, we'll send you a signed copy of the book well before it's official release date. We might even thrown in a couple of extras. Post your answer by commenting on this post* or on our Facebook page.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Default.aspx

..hmm.. ideas then folks ? Looks to me like some scouts, some one in some old, old OLD armour.... and an Astropath.

It looks to me like it's minders for an Astropath hiding their charge on board a ship.

Todays' update...

More storming Space Marine artwork for you, courtesy of Mr Hardy Fowler. This mean-looking character will be gracing the cover of The Madness Within – an audio drama from Steve Lyons, released next summer. None of us here can remember exactly what a ‘summer’ is, but we’re sure it’s the perfect time to read about Crimson Fists, daemons and lunatic Librarians.

info about that...

Desperate and isolated, Sergeant Estabann and Brother Cordoba of the Crimson Fists Space Marines are hunting the daemon that destroyed their battle-brothers. Their only hope remains with a Librarian on the edge of sanity, a potentially tainted Astartes who they are forced to trust. His psychic abilities can lead them to the daemon, where Estabann and Cordoba can avenge their brothers’ deaths. But is the greatest threat a foul denizen of the warp, or the power contained within a psyker’s mind?