Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Don't worry. None of this blood is mine.

The Talon of Horus… and an FSOG Interview

It’s real. It’s actually real. And it’s looking bloody lovely too, though you’ll have to excuse the weird light glare as this was under my painting lamp.

For a zoomed-in look, you can press your face against the screen so the pixels squoosh over your eyeballs – that way the raw data bypasses your tongue, kidney stones, and bile ducts, to filter directly into the brain. Or maybe you could print the picture out and liquefy the paper as a key ingredient in some new and exciting energy drink.

You can do what you like, okay? I don’t care. That’s the point, here. I’m not your boss. I won’t judge you.

 

photo (26) photo (27)

“Book I of the Black Legion Series.”

And so it begins. Series. Not “trilogy”. Series.

OH GOD THE PRESSURE.

I’m not exaggerating when I say I couldn’t be happier. It’s flawless, and I’m immensely grateful to everyone at BL who worked at the finish line to make it come out looking like this. I think the artwork just went on sale, by the way.

I’ll just head off one particular question now: “Why is it The Talon of Horus? Didn’t it used to be Abaddon: Talon of Horus“?

Nope. It was always The Talon of Horus. Look back at the 800 times I’ve mentioned it on Facebook, Twitter, any forum ever, and indeed this blog, and you’ll see that it’s always been The Talon of Horus. There’s a conflicting image on Amazon that has a mock-up of a cover, but that was an error. Amazon just took an age to update it (it still shows as A:TToH in a few places, but is mostly corrected on the various national Amazon sites). I’ve said on a few forums and on my blog that the Amazon piccy was a flub, but it’s worth reiterating because I’m sure a few people won’t have caught any of those mentions. In most places it is – and always was – The Talon of Horus. 

This thrilling update was brought to you by the letters A, D, and B.

For the record, as gratifying as it will be for various folks to run to Amazon and pre-order it from everyone’s favourite tax-avoiding mega-company, I’ll just note that the more zealous and hardcore among you might want to wait until August, when there’ll be a fairly lush announcement regarding the novel. An announcement that, sadly, I’m not allowed to say a word about just yet. I asked! I swear! But the messianic overlords that stand astride BL Towers poured boiling oil down upon my hopes, using words like “marketing” and “when the time is right” and “in accordance with the prophecy”.

For now, enjoy its terrible and lovely beauty. Or don’t. That’s fine, too. Like I said, I’m not your boss. And if I was your boss, you can bet I’d tell you to stop screwing around with plastic spacemen and focus on business things, like money and dollars and perhaps even Canadian dollars too, which are apparently a real thing.

Also, if you’re interested, check out this podcast interview I did with Fifty Shades of Geek only last night, which might just be worth your time. If it’s not up right away, check back in a few hours. There’s a fair bit about current/upcoming projects, many spoilers about past novels, and incredibly features only 2* swear words.

 

 

* — I think it’s only 2. I can’t actually remember.

June 15, 2014 - Posted by | Uncategorized | , , , ,

17 Comments »

  1. It is beautiful!!

    Comment by Forkmaster | June 15, 2014 | Reply

  2. Can’t decide if his facial expression is less “LET THE GALAXY BURN” and more “OH SHIT AXIMAND I STUBBED MY TOE ON THE BLOODY COFFEE TABLE AGAIN, SERIOUSLY THESE PAULDRONS GIVE ME LIKE ZERO PERIPHERAL VISION.”
    And Aximand just sighs and wishes Ezzy would stop shouting all the time.

    Comment by triceratopping | June 15, 2014 | Reply

  3. LMFAO “which are apparently a real thing.” Omg. Priceless. Sexy cover too.

    Comment by Jonathan Frederick | June 15, 2014 | Reply

  4. I have argentinian pesos to throw on plastic spacemen ….they dont worth a damn so i will stick to the space men 🙂 Congrats on the book, will get it “when the prophesy demands it”

    Comment by Marcelo Touza | June 16, 2014 | Reply

  5. There is a blank space, without sound at 16:06-16:30 point.
    ‘The Lord Inquisitor’ project is awesome, can’t wait for you script coming to life 🙂
    Master of Mankind hasn’t been started at all?????? Omg
    Cyrene – really? Why have you resurrected her at all 😦 Her death was fantastic – you destroyed the miracle scene with her resurrection 😦
    ‘I love SW and Blood Angels. So, I try to avoid them’ – really 🙂 Your SW or Blood Angels sprang, at your every book 🙂

    Comment by HeritorA | June 16, 2014 | Reply

    • Cyrene’s rebirth was over a year ago! It’s old news!

      And in over five years of writing, I only mentioned the Blood Angels briefly at the end of one novel, and the Space Wolves in my 6th book). I’d avoided them pretty damn well – especially the Wolves – who I’d not touched for half a decade until then. So that definitely counts as avoiding them until now.

      Comment by Aaron Dembski-Bowden | June 16, 2014 | Reply

  6. Ahem – ‘The Emperor’s Gift’, BL codex 🙂 Well it seems the dreams of buying ‘The Master of Mankind’ at BL Weekender are pretty much shattered 🙂

    Comment by HeritorA | June 16, 2014 | Reply

    • BL Codex?

      And The Emperor’s Gift was, I think, my 6th book, like I said above. I’d avoided the Wolves until it was no longer possible.

      Comment by Aaron Dembski-Bowden | June 16, 2014 | Reply

  7. ooooh shinyy

    Comment by Jimmy To | June 16, 2014 | Reply

  8. Aaron – no smug or something bad was intended. We just know – you love SW 🙂 Great Podcast anyway. Story with Sevatar and little girl would be lovely 🙂 My friend Andrew – can’t wait for ‘The Master of Mankind’ – he is still waiting for the subsector named after him 🙂

    Comment by HeritorA | June 17, 2014 | Reply

    • No, I get you, but what do you mean about the BL Codex? I didn’t write that. I asked them to make a few changes in details and tone, but that was it.

      I don’t love the Space Wolves any more than the Blood Angels. I love all of the license enough to make it my lifelong ambition and my career – I’m always amazed, honestly, that people can ever choose one Chapter/Legion as their favourite.

      Comment by Aaron Dembski-Bowden | June 17, 2014 | Reply

      • Ah, BL codex – i mean: Black Legion Codex supplement. You have a BA company where 🙂

        Comment by HeritorA | June 17, 2014 | Reply

      • That’s what I mean. I don’t have a BA company there. That’s old lore from several Chaos codexes ago that has nothing to do with me. I didn’t write the BL supplement.

        Comment by Aaron Dembski-Bowden | June 17, 2014 | Reply

  9. So can we take this as confirmation that Talon of Horus will be for sale at BL.com in August? Or is the announcement a prelude to it being sold later on?

    Comment by Alex Walker | June 17, 2014 | Reply

  10. please…..please for the love that all that is holy….please write a heresy era ultramarines novel…REMUS VENTANUS NEEDS YOU (tho dan did an incredible job with know no fear!)

    Comment by Canadian bacon | June 19, 2014 | Reply

  11. Nope Alex – ADB is da best with traitors 🙂 So much awesome from him to come, hope till i die from old age 🙂 Master of Mankind; Nightfall; Sevatar stories

    Comment by HeritorA | June 20, 2014 | Reply

  12. A nice as the artwork is, we make nicer ones ;). *sigh* Need to get David a copy then. One must keep up with the 40K fluff, even though the Library here is running short of space.

    Comment by Semivivus | June 23, 2014 | Reply


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