Perks

No, not the kind of perks you might choose prior to an online session of Call of Duty (4 or 5), but the kind of perks you might enjoy as a side-benefit of the work you do. In my case, one of these perks is the 'care packages' that Black Library occasionally ship to me.

One of these packages arrived at my door just a few hours ago. They're always welcome. Apart from getting to read BL books that won't be out in the shops for a while yet, I always get a little motivational boost from seeing the latest efforts of my fellow BL authors and friends.

This time, the books in question are particularly spiffy, in fact, they're bloody gorgeous. Black Library's artists and in-house design team really did a number on them. The books I'm talking about are Empire by Graham McNeill, the second part of the Sigmar legend, and Salamander by none other than Nick Kyme. Here are some pics:

Of course, the pics can't do the covers justice. There's a very special feel to the paper used for the covers that I haven't seen in a previous BL release. Salamander also has a super-sexy embossed title. I tell you, that is a good-looking book. Congrats to both Graham and Nick on knocking out these babies. I can't wait to read them.

They'll have to wait a while yet, though. So much to do, so little time...

Watching: The Lost Boys on Blu-ray (awesomeness!)
Reading: The Clone Republic by Steven L. Kent (almost done with this one)
Listening to: nothing special right now

Drive Me Closer!

As I write, work continues apace on Rynn's World. I'm into the final act now, and have to put all my energies into pulling off a suitably explosive climax. As some 40k readers have noted, the events that occurred on Rynn's World are known, but only in the very vaguest terms. My aim with this novel is to personalise those events, to show them through the eyes of those who endured them, and bring them to life.

To be honest, I think Rynn's World could have been a trilogy. The events that take place in the narrative fall quite naturally into three very distinct acts. Alas, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but not all that useful. Rynn's World was commissioned as a single novel, and that, too, has its plus points. At least there's no waiting between volumes to find out what happens next. :)

Changing topic, below you'll find a piece of artwork by the talented Dan Scott. I stumbled across this while bumming around the web one day, and got a good laugh out of it. Not sure if the caption is Dan's, but I thought Gunheads fans might get a kick out of it, so here it is:

Heh! Nice one, right?

Not much else to report at the moment. Everything is Rynn's World right now. My deadline looms ever closer, bleeding over into all other aspects of my life and utterly dominating them. It will all be worth it in the end, though. There's nothing like finishing off a new book.

Watching: X-Files Season Two (having enjoyed a nostalgic trip through Season One recently)
Reading: Meg by Steve Alten, The Clone Republic by Steven L. Kent (what is it with Steves?)
Listening to: nothing special until Nick Kyme's new audiobook comes out
Playing: (actually, I'm going to drop this category!)

The Warp Threatens Earth!

Here's a link to an interesting little article on the Discovery Channel website regarding how the warp will totally obliterate us if we try to achieve faster-than-light travel. It's short and leaves things pretty open, but I find myself fervently hoping the Italian researcher quoted in the article is wrong (and that, as suggested by some string theorists, we actually live in a universe where 1+1=3, not 2. Take that, so-called maths teachers! Hah!). If the Italian team are right, we will never achieve warp travel... and, absolute destruction aside, that would be a total bummer.


I tell you, I'm fascinated with stuff like this. Over the last two yeas or so, I've watched a whole bunch of great documentaries on string theory, 'M' theory, dark matter, dark energy, anti-matter, gravity, big bang theory and more. I won't pretend I understand all of it, of course, but it really gets the old cogs turning.

I hope I'm still around in some kind of conscious form when (optimism mode) we do break the speed of light. And, yes, if it comes down to it, I'll happily switch out my aging body-parts for cold mechanical substitutes just to ensure my longevity at the sacrifice of all that makes me human.

Bzzzt! Fzzak! All praise the Omnissiah!

Great Indeed!

Hold on a second while I pick my jaw up off the floor. I just finished watching Sir David Attenborough's latest documentary masterpiece, Nature's Great Events, and, frankly, I was blown away. Hardly surprising. More than anything else, incredible works like this make me glad I own a TV at all.


Sir David's voice has been educating me about the natural world since as far back as I can remember, and educating others since long before that. He was always a weekly fixture in my childhood living room, and I doubt I will ever be able to repay the debt I owe him (and the BBC) for a lifetime of absolute wonder and awe. I've got to tip my hat, too, to my dad, who sent the DVD collection over to Japan from the U.K. Thanks, Dad!

Nature's Great Events spans six episodes, covering everything from the seasonal melting of the polar ice caps to the unbelievable transformation of the Okavango Delta from hostile desert to lush wetland paradise in just hours.

My words can't do this series justice. Not by a mile. You have to actually see it for yourselves.

Reading: Gotrek and Felix: The Third Omnibus
Watching: Hmm... nothing now that Nature's Great Events is finished.
Listening to: Heart of Rage again (trust me on this one, people)
Playing: need you even ask? ;)

Heart of Rage

Time for a quick one (a blog post, that is - get your minds out of the gutter!).

I just finished listening to James Swallow's Heart of Rage, the latest Warhammer 40,000 audiobook, and I have to tell you, it's bloody brilliant. Read (more like 'performed' actually) by Toby Longworth, whose work on all the different voices is truly standout, Heart of Rage tells the story of a small detachment of Blood Angels Space Marines temporarily sequested into the service of the Adeptus Mechanicus for a special operation filled with particularly nasty, gooey surprises. I'm not going to give any more away, suffice to say that, at about 75 minutes in length, it's got more packed into it than a Tokyo subway train at rush hour.


Like I said, it's bloody brilliant. Check it out when it's released this summer.

One More Thing...

...because it's important to me personally, though I do try to keep my politics out of the blog.

My hard-rockin' brother, Kev, just sent me this link to the website for the documentary film The End of the Line, which opens in cinemas on June 8th (World Ocean Day). You can see the trailer at the website, but I've also embedded the Youtube video below for convenience:




I tell you, I'm living in the wrong damned country (as anyone who has read Starfish probably guessed). I've killed friendships over this. If I had a heavy-bolter and some Mk VII power-armour for real... well, the less said the better.

Incidentally, today is the twentieth anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square. Here's the video our brutal future communist overlords don't want you to watch today:



Right, that's enough of that. I'm off back to the raw escapism of Rynn's World before I get too worked up! Sometimes, the grim darkness of the 41st millennium is a welcome break. ;)

What? They're Still Coming In?

Colour me pleased. (According to Nick Kyme, that means green, but then he is under a lot of pressure, so we mustn't scoff.)

Earlier this week, I received an e-mail alerting me to a new online review of Rebel Winter, and it's cracking - probably the kindest and most eloquent review that any of my work has enjoyed so far (and that's saying something, you kind, eloquent people!).


The picture above is my Xbox avatar jumping for joy at the good review. The next one is a furious Steve raging over how much noise there is here in Tokyo. No writer should live here. Hell, they shouldn't even visit!


Anyway, if you're interested in said review, head on over to Red Rook Review. There's a great piece on Gav Thorpe's Malekith, too, written by the same guy - a Texan poet and novelist by the name of Keith Harvey. He certainly seems to love his Black Library books.

Let's see. What else is going on? Last week, I found myself halfway up the side of Japan's third largest volcano. The scenery was pretty amazing and bizarre. There are sharp black rocks all over the place, jutting up at every possible angle. Looking at them, you can't help but see twisted figures and animal shapes. One in particular reminded me of a massive wolf howling at the moon. There was also a pretty large ash cloud drifting up and out of the caldera at the top. Here's a pic that's a bit better than the ones I took:


The volcano, Mt. Asama, erupted most explosively in 1783 and really did a number on the whole region. Now, though, there are trees sprouting from the rocks, and greenery has returned, even though the volcano is still highly active. I'm definitely glad I checked it out. It was practically deserted. I even took the opportunity to 'visit' an abandoned museum/visitor centre halfway up the slope that seemed to have been struck and ruined by airborne rocks from a more recent eruption.

I generally don't recommend ignoring signs that say 'Danger! Keep out!'. It's not something I do on a weekly basis (sadly), but it was worth the small risk of death from falling masonry and collapsing floors. The atmosphere was intense, like a spooky old hotel. I guess no one had used the place in about twenty years, but I could really envisage what it had been like in its heyday. The photos on the wall were so old and sun-bleached that I could hardly see the detail, and the glasses left on the bar were covered with dust and ash. The wind blowing in through the smashed windows topped it all off, and there was a hell of a view. If only there had been a thunderstorm!

I love places like that... Sometimes, I wish I was the last human on the planet. (No, doctor, I was just joking. Honestly.)

Reading: Horus Heresy: The Collected Visions (just finished it today, actually)
Watching: Nature: Unforgettable Elephants (which really is unforgettable)
Listening to: Jim Swallow's Heart of Rage (okay, so I still haven't started it yet, but soon!)
Playing: Nothing, I tell you! Nothing!