The steadfast Imperial Guard, millions-strong, the hammer of the Emperor. The mighty Space Marines, finest warriors in the galaxy. The pious Sisters of Battle, defenders of the Imperial Church. Together, they hold back the darkness, protecting the Imperium from the alien, the witch and the traitor.

Packed with previously unseen illustrations as well as a host of classic images, this full-colour artbook provides an unrivalled look at the fighting forces of the Imperium.

November 2012 • ISBN 9781849702478

Kanluwen wrote:Void-shields do, Gellar shields don't.

Void-shields are able to deflect/absorb impacts from stuff like that--and if you're inside the space between two emitters for a Void-shield...it'll tear you apart.

Gellar shields only "mask" a ship from the presence of Warp entities while traveling through the Empyrean.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:Void-shields do, Gellar shields don't.

Void-shields are able to deflect/absorb impacts from stuff like that--and if you're inside the space between two emitters for a Void-shield...it'll tear you apart.

Gellar shields only "mask" a ship from the presence of Warp entities while traveling through the Empyrean.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think in BFG shields don't protect you from ordinance. This isn't a case of using rules as fluff either because I believe an explanation is given that those move too slowly for the shields. That's what I recall anyway, could be wrong.

Kanluwen wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:Void-shields do, Gellar shields don't.

Void-shields are able to deflect/absorb impacts from stuff like that--and if you're inside the space between two emitters for a Void-shield...it'll tear you apart.

Gellar shields only "mask" a ship from the presence of Warp entities while traveling through the Empyrean.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think in BFG shields don't protect you from ordinance. This isn't a case of using rules as fluff either because I believe an explanation is given that those move too slowly for the shields. That's what I recall anyway, could be wrong.

You are right, but it doesn't mention that it is because of speed.

Strange though.

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Kanluwen wrote:You don't have to, I dusted it off and looked for you.

Page 25 though if you want to see for yourself.

Shadowhawk: You are one of the most prolific writers for both Games Workshop and Black Library. How did you get started with them? And, going back a bit, how did you start with your writing career in general?

Dan: I was invited to work for them when they were setting up fifteen years ago. I was already a freelance comic book writer – some work on Marvel’s “Conan” had brought me to their attention. They hired me to write comics, which led to short stories, which led to novels.

I’d always wanted to write. As a kid I’d written and drawn my own comics. Straight out of uni I got a job with Marvel UK in London, an editorial position, because of my interest in comics, and started to freelance, writing Ghostbusters, Thundercats, Care Bears… Eventually I decided I was a better writer than an editor, and went freelance.

Shadowhawk: The Tanith have featured in nearly a dozen novels and more are on their way, with the latest being Salvation’s Reach. What has this twelve-year journey been like for you? And what is the future for the Tanith?

Dan: I think it’s thirteen novels …plus Double Eagle, Titanicus, the Sabbat Worlds Anthology and the (ultra rare) Sabbat Worlds Crusade book, which are all related. I love writing the Ghosts, and I’ve written about them so much – just in terms of word count – that they’re woven into me. They’re like old friends. I am immensely involved with and engaged in their story. The story will continue for a while yet. There are two more novels to come in the current (fourth) arc, and I have a story in mind for at least one significant arc after that. So there are a few more years to go. The next book’s working title is “Warmaster”, and will follow directly from Salvation’s Reach. This fourth arc is the tightest and probably the most epic.

Shadowhawk: Eisenhorn and Ravenor are together the two most well-known Inquisitors in the Imperium. What was the impetus and the inspiration behind the two of them?

Dan: Eisenhorn existed in name when I came to the Inquisitor stuff. I’d been sent rough cuts of the Inquisitor game rules because BL thought it might be juicy inspiration for Gaunt. I asked if I could write an Inquisitor novel, and Eisenhorn (“Xenos”) came right out of that. Ravenor, who was a character in the Eisenhorn trilogy, got promoted to series lead because I felt (at the time) the Eisenhorn story was finite and needed to be open-ended. Now, after a decade, I’m coming back to him. I’m very proud of those books.

Shadowhawk: Your next Inquisition novel, Pariah, was recently announced. What can we expect from a trilogy that has the theme of Eisenhorn versus Ravenor running through it?

Dan: I thought it was time to finish – or at least continue – Eisenhorn’s story. Enough time had passed. Like Ravenor, this lifts a character out of the earlier books and makes them the lead, but it is also a return for the casts of Ravenor and Eisenhorn. Pariah will be the first of the “Bequin” trilogy. I think the book is shaping up very nicely. It’s a return to that murky world of intrigue behind the front line of war. It’s also a proper mystery: Long term fans will have fun spotting old characters and wondering why they’re doing what they’re doing and how one thing’s connected to another. There are also some incredibly engaging new characters.

Shadowhawk: Any plans concerning the return of the Iron Snakes, especially after the recent eShort Kill Hill?

Dan: I’d love to. An Iron Snake showed up in Salvation’s Reach, and there is a passing reference to them in Know No Fear too. I just need to get ahead far enough to build time into the schedule to write an ass-kicking Snakes novel. It will happen.

Shadowhawk: You have also spent a lot of time in the Old World, writing about everything from noble Empire knights to cursed dark elves and more. What attraction does the Warhammer Fantasy setting hold for you?

Dan: I feel I don’t spend enough time there, and I’d love to do more. I think there’s a whole tone and atmosphere thing I haven’t even begun to tap yet, though I got pretty close in Riders of the Dead. Gilead and Malus are old favourites and friends, and it’s great to be working with Nik on new Gilead. Gilead was the first character I wrote for BL. I have a dream of writing a huge, epic-length mass-war Warhammer novel, a kind of “Titanicus” for Warhammer.

Shadowhawk: You are an extremely prolific comics-writer and have worked with DC, Marvel, 2000 AD and other publishers. What is the attraction of the format compared to short stories and novels?

Dan: I love comics and I love the contrast in form and style. I work better when I’ve got lots to do and lots of variety. The things I’m doing for 2000AD right now – Sinister Dexter, Kingdom and Grey Area – are all series I’m very excited about. I also urge you to check out my Vertigo series The New Deadwardians, and the forthcoming DnA cosmic superhero series The Hypernaturals, from Boom! That’ll be Boom!’s Free Comic Book Day comic in May, so you can try it out for free.

Shadowhawk: What are the challenges of writing Space Marines when compared to Titan Princeps or Imperial Guardsmen or Inquisitors?

Dan: They’re tougher to write because they’re less human. There’s less to get hold of, initially. They’re very cool and powerful, but they’re bred to be the same – cloned, uniformed, controlled – so they’re harder to get a handle on as characters. I think they’re tough to write well… It is (and should be) on a par with trying to write from an alien POV.

Shadowhawk: What’s next for you in the Horus Heresy after the Battle of Calth?

Dan: Next for me is The Unremembered Empire, which is a direct sequel to Know No Fear and takes the Ultramarines (the survivors) back to Macragge. Then again, Aaron’s (Dembski-Bowden) Betrayer is also a direct sequel to KNF, so KNF is a bit of a branching book. The interweaving is getting more complex and the pace is picking up.

Shadowhawk: Malus Darkblade is another of your more famous characters, whom you worked on with Mike Lee. What was the experience like for co-writing an entire novel series?

Dan: I’ve co-written a lot in my career. It is a great relief from the solitary nature of writing work, and can be very rewarding in terms of ideas and brainstorming. It helps that Mike is a lovely bloke I get on very well with.

Shadowhawk: Ten years on, Gilead has gotten a new life and is currently being featured in a serialized novel for the Hammer & Bolter eZine. What prompted a revisit to such an old character?

Dan: “Because you demanded it”… Seriously, because Nik and I get asked about Gilead a LOT at cons and Games Days, proportionally far more than one character from one ten-year old book ought to get asked about. My three most FAQs are “Will there be more Gilead?”, “When will you ever write the sequel to Double Eagle?” and “Why did you kill Bragg?”

Shadowhawk: Once Gilead’s Curse is done, any plans for more Warhammer stories?

Dan: Yes indeed.

Shadowhawk: You have had some of your original work published recently, Triumff and Embedded. What can you tell us about them?

Dan: Both are for Angry Robot Books. It’s great to be able to explore and develop ideas that won’t fit my regular outlets like BL. Triumff is a raucous swashbuckling fantasy set in a pseudo-Elizabethan Era with magic. It’s a serious story, but it’s got a lot of very rude and silly humour in it. Writing it was like going on holiday. There will be more. Embedded is gritty combat SF, so technically more like my BL work, but it’s a very low-key, realistic SF future war, and the themes are darker. It’s a story about the media in wartime (a reporter literally gets ‘embedded’ in the head of a frontline soldier to see the war first-hand), and I couldn’t do that in, say a Gaunt novel.

Shadowhawk: Being such a prolific writer, does it ever get overwhelming for you with so many different universes and settings to consider?

Dan: I keep careful notes and leave a trail of breadcrumbs

Shadowhawk: How do you approach your writing and what helps you get in the mood?

Dan: I get up and do it. It’s a job. It’s a job I love, but if you treat it like a hobby, you’re never going to get anywhere. Sometimes it’s incredibly hard work. I read a lot and sometimes listen to music to help adjust my mood and breed inspiration, but basically there is no alternative to productivity. I get on and write. If I’m not in the mood, or don’t feel inspired, I write for fifteen minutes or half an hour to get through the dull patch. If you do that, you usually get your mojo back pretty quickly before you’ve even realised it.

Shadowhawk: What has been your most challenging project to date?

Dan: Probably re-writing Necropolis from scratch in a month after my computer crashed and fried the first draft.

Shadowhawk: What do you consider to be your most successful project, in terms of planned goals and the final execution?

Dan: The re-draft of Necropolis, which was better than the first, despite the atrocious circumstances of its creation.

Shadowhawk: In terms of both your written work and otherwise, what is going to be the highlight of 2012?

Dan: Pariah…. though the response to Know No Fear in January was SO huge, I wonder if I haven’t already had my highlight.

Shadowhawk: Anything else you would like to tell our readers?

Dan: I wouldn’t presume to tell anybody anything, but I will say hello. Hi, guys!

Shadowhawk: Finally, a request from our readers: “Some of us are quite eager to lay down our lives for the Imperium in your next novel, so, where do we enlist?”

Dan: email your name to me at my website www.danabnett.com I’ll see what I can do.

EXCLUSIVE ONLINE TRAILER! The Space Marines of the Raven Guard are the elite vanguard of the Imperium, the covert operatives who venture where other Chapters can not. When the Brazen Minotaurs' attack on a world held by the traitorous Death Guard collapses, the sons of Corax come to their aid once more. This all-new hardback novella from George Mann also contains the short story 'Helion Rain', now complete with graphic novel-style illustration from Karl Richardson, and is available only from the BlackLibrary.com website. Strictly limited to just 3000 hand-signed copies worldwide, it will be available to order from 8pm (BST) on Monday 7th May - don't miss out!

BrookM wrote:I'll pass on that one, the audio dramas have as of late been rather meh, I doubt the graphic treatment will improve things.

edit.

And you think they've learned about that limited edition gak by now..

Alpharius wrote:Neither can that sequel to LEGION Dan!

Dan, are you listening?

Please?

BrookM wrote:Guess I'm not the only one worried about Sanders doing the Legion sequel then.

Just Dave wrote:

BrookM wrote:Guess I'm not the only one worried about Sanders doing the Legion sequel then.

He's not Abnett - but then again, who is?! - but I would be happy for Sanders to do it; he seems like a fine author and as good as any to be given the reins. I'm not surprised Dan won't have time for a while...

BrookM wrote:

Just Dave wrote:

BrookM wrote:Guess I'm not the only one worried about Sanders doing the Legion sequel then.

He's not Abnett - but then again, who is?! - but I would be happy for Sanders to do it; he seems like a fine author and as good as any to be given the reins. I'm not surprised Dan won't have time for a while...

You liked Redemption Corps?

Just Dave wrote:

BrookM wrote:

Just Dave wrote:

BrookM wrote:Guess I'm not the only one worried about Sanders doing the Legion sequel then.

He's not Abnett - but then again, who is?! - but I would be happy for Sanders to do it; he seems like a fine author and as good as any to be given the reins. I'm not surprised Dan won't have time for a while...

You liked Redemption Corps?

Haven't read it.

BrookM wrote:Guess I'm not the only one worried about Sanders doing the Legion sequel then.

Just Dave wrote:

BrookM wrote:Guess I'm not the only one worried about Sanders doing the Legion sequel then.

He's not Abnett - but then again, who is?! - but I would be happy for Sanders to do it; he seems like a fine author and as good as any to be given the reins. I'm not surprised Dan won't have time for a while...