Three is the Magic Number... So Far.

As you'll already know, next year sees the launch of Black Library's new Space Marine Battle Book series - a range of books focusing on some of the biggest events in Space Marine history (outside of the Horus Heresy, that is). You probably also know that I'll be kicking things off with my novel Rynn's World, which is released in February of next year.

Well, the artwork for the two books to follow - Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Helsreach and Mitchel Scanlon's The Hunt for Voldorius - is now up on various websites. Here's what the three books look like together:



I think you'll agree, they look pretty frakkin' amazing. I'm looking forward to having them sitting on my shelf, I can tell you. The spines even have a little image of a Space Marine from each of the relevant Chapters. Very cool stuff.

Jon Sullivan, the artist responsible for all three cover paintings, really is outdoing himself, getting better and better with each piece. Check out his website HERE to see more of his phenomenal work.

Every Day is Hallowe'en

Yeah, I know I said I would try not to politicise my blog, but I'm making another exception today. I just spent an hour checking out some seriously sick web-games on the awesome site peta2.com

Be warned, most of them are grisly, not for kids at all despite the super-cute graphics and sound. They're pretty fun, though, if your connection speed is up to scratch. Despite the serious nature of the topics these games deal with, you'll probably get a chuckle out of how well they parody certain famous titles.

I really recommend Super Chick Sisters. Pamela Anderson has been kidnapped by that bastard, Colonel Sanders, after speaking out against KFC's brutal mass slaughter methods. Since the Mario Brothers have repetitive strain injury from playing too much Wii, the Super Chick Sisters jump in.

Another one, Cooking Mama Kills Animals, is particularly bloody and gross. Mama's arms get covered in gore while she pulls organs out of a turkey.

If you decide to check out peta2.com (and I know it isn't for everyone - that's your call), don't forget to check out the info pages to learn the truth. Hopefully it'll get you thinking. You might even feel compelled to sign a few petitions, too. I know I was.

Right, back to fighting Sanderbots. Pam Anderson won't rescue herself!

Eaten... and Pooped Out!

It's never happened to me before, but, just a few hours ago, a giant salamander ate me, worked me through its digestive tract, and pooped me out an orifice in its tail. Yeah, it sounds weird, which is why it was such a surprise, but I sure as hell enjoyed the ride.

I've been rocking the Lost Planet 2 demo (Playstation3 version) this week, going online with BL editor and good mate, Nick Kyme, to hose down baddies in our search for glowing globules of T-energy. It's a lot of fun, as I knew it would be (I was a huge fan of the first Lost Planet game) but I wasn't expecting anything like the surprise I got when that big, slimy beauty gobbled me up. I was bracing myself for a quick 'Game Over'.

Nick got swallowed soon after I was ejected from the beast's rear, but he didn't make it through the gastric tumult in one piece. Once his lifeless corpse lay sloshing around in the beast's guts, it really was game over for both of us. Actually, I think there was a timer on the battle and it must've run out.


It looks like the full game is set for a Dec 09/Jan 10 release and, if the full product is as good as the demo, it deserves to do damned well. Check out the demo if you can.

Help Save the... Aquila?

It turns out the Imperial Eagle is under threat. Okay, not the Warhammer 40,000 version exactly, but the Iberian Imperial Eagle.


It doesn't have two heads, but it's still awesome. I'm sure the Emperor of Mankind would approve of you all jumping in to help to protect this amazing bird. Here's the link:

http://www.care2.com/news/member/126262056/1269256

On the Frontline

If you're a Crimson Fists fan, or a Warhammer 40,000 fan in general, you should watch and listen to the video embedded above. It's a seriously cool Crimson Fist tribute by a guy calling himself DCrimsoftFist. I stumbled across this on YouTube and wish I'd discovered it sooner. Lots of great shots of Crimson Fists in action, plus an awesome song to accompany them. Nice work.

Questions have started coming in for the Rynn's World video interview, so thanks to all that have contacted me so far. If you haven't got your own questions in yet, just pop over to my Contact page (that's HERE), and drop me a line.

Let's see... any other news? Hmm... Nothing on the BL front that I can let slip for now.

Last night, Tokyo got hit by a pretty solid typhoon. I couldn't get to sleep, so watched it for a while. Between the rain and the wind, the city took a bit of a beating. It's still windy out there, but it's fairly dry and bright now.

I love extreme weather - lightning, blizzards, powerful storms, all of it. I know the damage it does to people's homes/lives isn't cool at all, but who doesn't love a storm now and then, right?

Video Nasty

That's Pedro Kantor, by the way. I got to know him pretty well over the last few months.

Not long now until Rynn's World is released. Yeah, it's officially a February release, but you Black Library readers always seem to get your mitts on things early, don't you?

Anyway, I hope you're all looking forward to it. Can't wait to see the advance copies myself - bigger than a standard BL paperback and with full colour maps to boot! They can't get here quick enough for me. Luckily, I've got about a dozen other things to be getting on with in the meantime, not least of which is a new short story for Fear the Alien, as I might have mentioned before.

I just got off 'the phone' (the computer, really) with my editor, Nick Kyme. We talked about about the pre-release run-up for Rynn's World and, of all things, a video interview I'll be doing.

I'm camera shy even on a good hair day, but there will be no escaping this one, and we're opening it up to you lot, too! If you've got a question about Rynn's World, Gunheads, Headhunted, Rebel Winter, writing in general or anything else, for that matter, then drop me a line using the form HERE. Feel free to ask as many as you like, but only the best will get picked (probably not by me, though I might have some say).

If your question does get picked, I'll answer it in the video interview (which I'm told will be shown on a nice big screen at the next BL Live event). So get your thinking caps on, people, and get those questions in. I reckon you've got until the middle of November, but I'll keep you posted on that.