Any Questions?
With Void Stalker behind me, and getting achingly close to wrapping up The Prince of Crows (for The Primarchs next year), it’s time to bring The Emperor’s Gift home into its second draft.
Well, there that is.
Any questions? If there are any, I’ll answer them in a follow-up blog post tonight or tomorrow.
Aaron Dembski-Bowden 
My question is this:
What have you found hardest about writing for the Grey Knights?
What’s the news about you doing a 2-parters about Abaddons rising as new Warmaster? And will Void Stalker be the definite ending to the Night Lords series or is there some potential to sequals? Those are my only reasonable questions I got, all others would be directed at the HH which you already answered or I know you cant answer.
Putting the existing lore aside, which references (especially historical) did you look up? For the Night Lords you referred to the Mafia, in this case the Grey Knights may have something in common with the Knightly orders of the Medieval age. Was it difficult to make them distinct from the Black Templars, even if they have something in common (heraldry etc) ?
Like the cover art more there than when I first saw it. Looking forward to TEG!
What will you bring to the table writing Grey Knights that is different from the previous Grey Knights novels with Justicar Alaric?
Argh that is epic sick artwork! I fucking love it!
Did you get headaches writing for Grey Knights?
We are coming up on 6 years since the first Horus Heresy book was published, I know the series is very popular, but being in the know, any idea how much longer it will stretch out before they get to the end? 🙂
How did recent fluff regarding the Grey Knights exterminating Daemons on their home-turf ( inside the warp) and Draigo making the Dark Gods cry like pristine Japanese schoolgirls with his Chuck Norrisian round-kick, affect your work and do you agree with the changes?
Also, don’t you think that making the Grey Knights unbeatable kinda makes them ridiculous ?
Do you have much freedom to play around with the established canon or does the Ordo Black Librarius keep a close eye on such things?
Your Dark Angel short story “Savage Weapons” was epic in the latest HH anthology. Have you considered writing a “contemporary” Dark Angel novel/short story, set in the 41st Millennium – or are the Dark Angels given over to Gav Thorpe?
And Merry Christimas!
Yes please, write more Dark Angels stories! You’re the first writer to do the Lion any real justice. Your characterization of him was perfect.
Who is your favourite character that you have written.
Are they planning to do an audio version of this book? And did the cyber mastiff really make it into the cast list?
Yeah, it’s two questions, I’m a rebel that way!
You are SUCH a trouble-maker, Xhalax.
Damn straight! Always rocking the boat in the hope it’ll tip over and everyone will get wet!
She is making him a dragon. She gets to be all the trouble she wants. *Sage Nod*
A dragon? I am very impressed.
Well I’m busy knitting the hind legs for yours Katie….so your dragon is approaching the half way mark (body and head done and stuffed, forelimbs knitted but not attached). Aaron’s will be last and probably take longer than the others. 😀
You’ve written short stories for the Flesh Tearers and Crimson Fists, would you ever consider writing more with them (single novel or series)?
Is that Grey Knigth holding the the psy staff of Eisenhorn?
It’s a Nemesis Warding Stave which is very reminiscent of Eisenhorn’s psy-staff.
How hard is or to buy for the invalid immortal god-emperor of mankind who has everything (or at least a really shiny chair)?
Is it wise to keep the reciept for any gifts for the Emperor?
Will your Grey Knights like you other 40k era loyalist astartes be defined/identified by the hate they embody and if so is there anything a Grey Knight loves?
You seem to like finding the empathetic, likable element to the traditional 40K “bad guys,” even as their evil is undeniable. With the Grey Knights being about as “good guys” as they get, how are you looking to give us an emotional hook into them? Are you going to do the revere and dirty them up a bit, or do you have somethin more devious in mind?
So with Void Stalker in the bag and The Emperor’s Gift being all shiny with it’s cover art, are there any other Astartes Chapters or Legions that you’d like to write about?
As a writer do you find it challenging at times to keep in tune with the IP, of all the authors for BL/GW you seem in my opinion to be one of the few authors who ‘gets’ 40k. I know that is of course subjective but from my perspective if we look at the IP say from the ‘gaming’ point of view, reading Codices or White Dwarf there appears to be an angle which is, make the army we have just released utterly awesome-skyrim+9-to-the-max even if it goes against current lore or seems completley out of character based on existing lore. Do you just try and avoid or ignore work that has an air of marketting to the teenage demograph, or do you try and incorporate the new lore and make it work within the context of existing BL work.
Although there are a number of reasons I say this (im sure you have heard the rage before) the one that set me off was the Grey Knight Dreadknight, which on a personal level I feel looks like a giant baby carrier, something my local GW Manager will not let me say out loud in his shop (I hate those Deomcracies of one). But the justification for the model and concept was ‘wouldnt it be great for Astartes to go toe to toe with a Demon, when all previous lore, and I think a fairly central theme to 40k is the idea that humanity isnt going toe to toe with anyone, everything prior to this model is the one guy, normally with a massive hammer holding out against impossible odds against things bigger, meaner and probably way better in bed that he has ever been.
IIRC, ADB previously mentioned that they’ll be no Dreadknight charging in to save the day. So unless he changes his mind we can all rejoice!
Will you finish it on time? 😉
This made me laugh. Out loud. Your a funny man, Mister Alex. 🙂
Grey Knights are usually shown as greatest of the great, while (in my humble opinion) your strenght lies in showing that even demigods have human flaws at their very core. Why did you choose to write about them when there is a possibility of agro-ing either your readers with a bolter porn novel or GW cause you are breaking lore from their current Grey Knights Codex (in which Lord Draigo is shown to remain pure in warp while it was obviously stated before that such thing is unpossible, etc.) I have read your Loose Canon article and i know i sound just like it but it still interests me.
Will you write about IG any time soon? Cadian Blood was good, but that short story in Sabbat worlds Crusade was awesome. Sorry for my bad English – it is such a blunt language, somewhat like a cudgel.
Keep up the good work, and many thanks for hours of fun reading you provided already.
All Grey Knights can survive the harsh environment of the Warp thanks to their Aegis – see the Grey Knight interceptors. Of course, this does not automatically mean that they are protected by the beings that inhabit the warp…
Yes – but indefinitely? While fighting hordes of daemons? And reforging your blade with daemonic supstance? And after all that staying alive,healthy and pure?
Hehehe, you’d be really worried if it wasn’t just Draigo, huh?
Are you going to remember the words “Titan” on the crotchplate of the Dreadknight?
Will you get to explain how Zso Sahaal was a favorite of Kurze and how it went to succed Sevatar? Or would you rather leave that story to Simon Spurrier to tell?
Have you finished Void Stalker then?
Will there be Baby Carrier knights in your grey knight new story?
Will there be more Night Lords 10th company books/stories? or is it classified?
And Merry christmas!!! P.S. has your daughter kicked while you listened to her gentle heartbeats?
She has kicked him. But that was because he shouted ”Hello” really close to her. You know, to remind him she’s not deaf. Then she kicked me for a farther two hours for letting him do it in the first place. 😛
What do I have to do to get you to come to Arlington TX to do a book signing/lunch with me?
Hello
What is ‘The Emperor’s Gift’?
Did you collaborate with the artist on the cover art?
Ideologically are your Grey Knights defenders from Chaos or pro-active attackers?
What, if anything, do you want to get across about daemonhunters with this novel?
How good is ‘heretically good’?
How much leeway have you been given to “play” with the history of the characters background and still stay within already established stuff?
Is this a story arc likely to turn into a series?
Are we going to see many (if any) characters appearing from other established books (yours or other authors) or codexes?
– Previous questions ref Emporers Gift btw.
What’s next on the distant horizon?
Ta! and looking forward to many more stories to come.
(And hope the throat isn’t stopping you at least singing in your mind!) \m/
I second the question about Abaddon ! A rise of the warmaster dualogy would be great ! By the way, when does prince of crows take place ? Will it feature the dark angels and the Lion again also and the tsagualsa battles between night lords and dark angels or will it be about another event / time ? I loved the short story in age of darkness, one of the best stories in that book ! Loved dark angels vs night lords, curze and lion. I really would like to know what they said to one another when they ( curze and lion ) went away …..
I think the best thing about this comments section is that the author hasn’t responded, but his wife has several times. This is bueno.
The artist for this cover has a gift. Truly, incredible work! Looking forward to the book.
If given the choice, would you make the Grey Knights fall to Chaos in a horribly lore-breaking but somehow justifiable manner? Or would you have your Grey Knights conquer an entire system of Chaos all for the sake of the Emperor, by using only a q-tip?
Really hope grey knights could kill a chaos Primarh permanently! Its not fare that all the bastards are alive and happy!
Sevatar? Sevatar? How he will die?
Does the armor on the cover art say Tofu on his left breast?
You once stated that you are an “unashamed fan of the Primogenitor Chapters”. Any reason why, and any particular favorites?
Also, any chapters/legions you might write about after Grey Knights & World Eaters? The Prince of Crows sounds like it’s about Corax.
Thanks!
Can I keep Hyperion?
I’ll take him for walks and play with him and feed him every day….honest mister!
I can’t find my Age of Darkness book, any idea where I’ve put it?
I hate putting you on the spot, because I know you have a lot going on with BL anyway. But has there been any talk about the next villain type novel? Like The Luna Wolves trilogy, The First Heretic, A Thousand Sons, Fulgrim, and Legion?
Not to good at navigation so this is probably in the wrong bit. So apologies, what’s the nostraman for ‘in midnight clad’ having it tatooed to match the legion symbol and ‘ave dominus nox’ I already have…. Also I’m writing a night lords novella , wheb its done can I send it to you for review, if it is shite I want you an no one else to tell me. Ta
What’s the nostraman for ‘in midnight clad’?, fancy it as a tattoo to match the legion symbol and ‘ave dominus nox’ your fault entirely . Also I’m writing a short night lords story , when its done can you read it if you have time and tell me how shite it is? . Ta
Will the Grey Knights tolerate “Radical” behavior from the Inquisitors they work with, or will they turn on their allies at the first sign that they’re less than above-board when it comes to using daemons against themselves?
You’re sort of cutting to the quick, there. That massive distinction in the new Codex is why this book caused me so much trouble, and why I’ve had to rewrite it from scratch.
I mean, I prefer the second version of the novel, but joking aside, it’s been tough going.