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

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**reds8n**

news from Mr. Thorpe's blog

I have plenty of projects lined up for 2011, I’m just not starting the first one yet. That will be Deliverance Lost, my first full-length Horus Heresy novel. In preperation for writing the synopsis and to get my head around things, I am embarking on a complete read-through of the HH series to date. That includes all the short stories and audiobooks too. I’m taking notes as I go along, on certain characters, plot points, elements of style and background, and sketching out my ideas for Deliverance Lost as they occur to me.

It’s an interesting experience. Mostly my research for a new Black Library novel will revolve around brushing up on the various gaming books containing related background – I don’t read other BL novels as preparation. I’m intrigued to see how the HH series unfolds back-to-back. It’s a bit like the difference between watching a TV series week-by-week and watching it as a DVD boxset, or perhaps reading a collected graphic novel of a comic series. You get a different sense of pacing when you don’t have to wait between installments, which sometimes is for the better and sometimes doesn’t work as well.

I have some rewrites coming up too. The Crown of the Conqueror for Angry Robot and Path of the Seer, second installment of The Eldar Path are both with the editors at the moment.

Further into the year will be some audiobooks, probably, as well as Path of the Outcast. I’ve also been talking with BL about my next trilogy for the Time of Legends series. Look out for further announcements, I think it’s one that will cause a bit of a stir and no doubt some will feel it a somewhat contraversial choice, but that’s all for the better as far as I’m concerned.

One of the best things about being a writer, workwise, is that now and then you get money for old rope! In my case, Grudgebearer is being packaged up with two of Nick Kyme’s dwarfs novels in an omnibus edition, along with background material we wrore for the Grudgelore book. It’ll be nice to see Grudgebearer available again, bringing bawdy dwarf drinking songs to a new generation… Plus the money always comes in handy.

Before the end of the year I will also have written The Crown of the Usurper, most likely the concluding part of the series, though that’s not yet been finalised. My mind is wandering onto what to do next for non-BL writing, so we’ll have to see what happens with that.

I’m going to have to be a bit canny with my deadlines this year – with some friends I am heading off to New Zealand in the autumn for the Rugby World Cup, so that will be a big chunk of time (and money!) I have to bear in mind.

As I mentioned earlier I have a signing in Amsterdam at the end of January, plus we have Black Library Live! to look forwards to. There’s also talk of double-teaming with Nick Kyme for the Warhammer Doubles tournament to celebrate the release of the Dwarfs omnibus. Come and say hello at any of these if you get the chance.

Enough waffling. Time to read more about Space Marines, Remembrancers and Primarchs…

Happy New Year to all my lovely Hamsterites!

http://mechanicalhamster.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/hello-2011/

Should be good nes for RG fans then eh ?

Looking forward to the second "Crown of.." book a lot as well.

**1hadhq**

Good news? IDK.
Isn't the title Deliverance lost ?

I am not sure if I WANT Mr thorpe write about the Raven Guard, as positive as a HH book is.

It better goes 'ravens and their use in mythology' then 'poe'...

**BrookM**

Deliverance Lost could refer to the clones.

And he's signing in Amsterdam at the end of the month? Huh, I wonder if they are having a new country-wide event or just a signing session in the GW store.

**Just Dave**

Ah, Deliverance lost could be good. As anyone who's read my Primarch Thread knows, I'm a big fan of Corax. I haven't read many of Gav Thorpes books though so I hope if it is about the Raven Guard that he can do them justice...

On a similar note I just finished Gav Thorpe's Path of The Warrior Eldar novel; found it to be a good read. Ultimately I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who's a fan of the Eldar, but I wouldn't really recommend it if you're not.
I thought the plot was quite good, the action and realism (for 40K) good too. My only real complaint is some of the stuff about war-masks being a bit confusing and that it seemed to all go a bit quickly and miss bits out.
Otherwise though, it seemed like a good novel with a fairly surprising twist and a great insight into the Eldar.

**Kanluwen**

1hadhq wrote:Good news? IDK.
Isn't the title Deliverance lost ?

I am not sure if I WANT Mr thorpe write about the Raven Guard, as positive as a HH book is.

It better goes 'ravens and their use in mythology' then 'poe'...

He's already written about the Raven Guard. He did the audiobook "Raven's Flight", which is quite exceptional.

**Just Dave**

God I've been meaning to get that but I struggle to find any first-hand copies around the place...

Could be just me, I admit, I haven't tried that hard...

**Kanluwen**

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Horus-Heresy/Ravens-Flight.html

There ya go

You can get it as an MP3 also.

**Just Dave**

See, more expensive than I'd like but the MP3 version sounds good! Cheers Kan.

**ranger1977**

All the Audio Books are worth a listen, only issue is they are quite short about 1H Each but other than that its all good.

**1hadhq**

Kanluwen wrote:
1hadhq wrote:Good news? IDK.
Isn't the title Deliverance lost ?

I am not sure if I WANT Mr thorpe write about the Raven Guard, as positive as a HH book is.

It better goes 'ravens and their use in mythology' then 'poe'...

He's already written about the Raven Guard. He did the audiobook "Raven's Flight", which is quite exceptional.

A few minutes of an audio book doesn't contain the same risk as a whole HH book. Yes, risk.
His work with Eldar lately may be good ( but I didn't read those books, so? ). Did he not some DA book (s)?

**Kanluwen**

1hadhq wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
1hadhq wrote:Good news? IDK.
Isn't the title Deliverance lost ?

I am not sure if I WANT Mr thorpe write about the Raven Guard, as positive as a HH book is.

It better goes 'ravens and their use in mythology' then 'poe'...

He's already written about the Raven Guard. He did the audiobook "Raven's Flight", which is quite exceptional.

A few minutes of an audio book doesn't contain the same risk as a whole HH book. Yes, risk.
His work with Eldar lately may be good ( but I didn't read those books, so? ). Did he not some DA book (s)?

He did a Dark Angels book some years ago. "Angels of Darkness". He's also got a new Dark Angels book, "Purging of Kadillus" coming out next month.

Other than the Eldar and "Purging of Kadillus" he's been doing the High Elf "Sundering" series for Time of Legends.

Of which, I highly suggest "Shadow King".

**Alpharius**

"Raven's Flight" is good - but I too am nervous about a book with that title.

Still, we'll see - and I'll give Mr. Thorpe the benefit of the doubt for now!

And really, anything that gets more RG stories out there is OK, right?

**Just Dave**

YES.

Hopefully...

**1hadhq**

So his only installment of Space Marines was AngelsofDarkness?
Not the best example of SM fluff.

Agreed, he's fine for elves of different eras.

Deliverance Lost should be a bit off, if he has to work through the HH series tough.
Maybe a review of this kadillus purge gves a hint what to expect.

**Kanluwen**

1hadhq wrote:So his only installment of Space Marines was AngelsofDarkness?
Not the best example of SM fluff.

Agreed. He also did The Last Chancers books, which again were hit and miss.

He's also done some short stories within 40k which were steadily an improvement from his earliest works.

Agreed, he's fine for elves of different eras.

But at the same time, it's also a good way to look at how the themes carry through. If there's any individual in any of the GW worlds out there that comes close to Corax's mannerisms...it's Alith-Anar.
The fact that he could do the Shadow King as well as he did bodes extremely well for "Deliverance Lost".

Deliverance Lost should be a bit off, if he has to work through the HH series tough.
Maybe a review of this kadillus purge gves a hint what to expect.

They wouldn't let him near it at this point if they didn't feel he wasn't right for it. "Battle for the Abyss" and a few of the other duds cemented their "If you feth up once, you don't get another chance" stance that was slowly creeping up following Goto's dismissal.

**reds8n**

http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-01-16/mass-market-paperback/list.html

16 PROSPERO BURNS (THE HORUS HERESY), by Dan Abnett. (Games Workshop, $8.99.) Tales from the mythical civil war that sets up the universe of Warhammer 40,000.

..and that's the mass market lists, which is pretty cool and, apparently, a new HH series record sales wise.

**BrookM**

In regards to Gav Thorpe signing in Amsterdam at the end of the month, here's the official Amsterdam store comment on the event:

"Gav Thorpe will be in stores from 11 am till 4 pm signing “purging of Kadillus”, you are more then welcome of course to bring other titles done by Gav Thorpe such as Path of the Warrior, Malekith and Shadow King."

**Lord of battles**

Gav's going to the rugby world cup LUCKY!!!!!!!
All I get to do is go on a rugby tour in wales this spring

lol

IMHO Deliverance lost will probably be about what happens to Corax after the Dropsite massacre and the clones. I can't wait to see how he portrays the Raven Guard (his Sundering books were extremely good, Although I haven't read Angels of Darkness and everybody seems to dislike it)

**BrookM**

Yeah well, writing good elves and Eldar does not automatically compute into good Heresy era Space Marine fiction. I did enjoy Angels of Darkness a lot, especially the interrogation scenes.

**Asgeirr Darkwolf**

Any more HH and Raven Guard books sound good... especially if it's more about the clones; that would be nice- I'm a fan of mutations and fallen heroes.

**reds8n**

Bl have added a few more books to their "coming soon" section http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/coming-soon?filter_action=3&filter_value=2 which at least gives us soem dates to cling onto.

**BrookM**

It's probably too much to hope that one of those titles without an author name next to it is the next instalment in the Dark Heresy novel series.

**reds8n**

..yeah, wish that'd hurry up and finish.

let's see..

Thanquol's Doom -- that'll be CL Werner with another kick ass Grey Seer/skaven novel.

Outcast Dead, The -- Mr. McNeil's HH novel on Terra.

Nocturne --Mr. Kyme's 3rd Salamander book.

Red Duke, The -- CL Werner again -- vampire count story. Should kick ass.

Gildar Rift, The --Space Marine battles book about the Silver Skulls -- by a Dakka member too !

Keeler Image, The -- IIRC this is an audio drama about Eisenhorn.

Age of Legends -- compilation of ToL type stories I think

Deliverance Lost -- Mr. Thorpe's HH RG novel.

**BrookM**

What is Dan's novel "Salvation's Reach" going to be about? I do hope it is not a Ghosts novel.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and Keeler is the Remembrancer from the Horus Heresy series with the holy powers and the such.

**reds8n**

BrookM wrote:What is Dan's novel "Salvation's Reach" going to be about? I do hope it is not a Ghosts novel.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and Keeler is the Remembrancer from the Horus Heresy series with the holy powers and the such.

It is a GG book.. "sorry".

I believe that's who it is, seeing as it's a Eisnenhorn tale I'd imagine she'll only feature posthumously.

**BrookM**

Gah, how much longer are they going to drag it on? Wasn't Gaunt supposed to die at the end of the previous arc?

Oh well, one less title to look forward to now. I was a bit excited about Savage Scars, which is something of a sequel to Rogue Star and Star of Damocles, but after hearing how gak Hunt for Voldorius was, I am less than excited.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
One more annoying question: Black & Red, what's that one about?

**chaplaingrabthar**

Black & Red was rumored to be a SoB novel.

**reds8n**

It's a SoB audiobook in fact.

**Alpharius**

I love the GG stories and I hope that he lives... FOREVER!

Or, you know, gets to retire and settle on a planet with the rest of the Tanith survivors.

I mean really, they deserve it!

**BrookM**

I'm sure they deserve such a fate, but I kinda stopped caring after the excellent Traitor General. Sometimes a series just gets a tad too long and sometimes things are a bit too predictable.