Okay, okay, fine. This is what I’m writing.
August 28, 2015 - Posted by Aaron Dembski-Bowden | Uncategorized
86 Comments »
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
-
Recent Posts
- Siege of Terra Interview!
- I totally have a website now…
- Spear of the Emperor! (Totes on sale)
- Spear of the Emperor – The Intro
- League of Legends: ‘From the Ashes’ and ‘Ryze: The Burning Lands’
- Spear of the Emperor – Cover Art
- The Shittiest Anniversary
- My Deathwatch Comic!
- New Hobby Blog – Tales from the Aaronorium
- Reddit AMA on r/Warhammer
My Facebook Page
Goodreads
Twitter
- RT @wraightc: The Lords of Silence audio is half price this week! Why not give it a try? blacklibrary.com/all-products/m…... 1 day ago
- [Insert heart emoji here.] https://t.co/PUGIfC0sSj... 3 days ago
- RT @emotionalpedant: Can we just https://t.co/43HE7rWmkU... 4 days ago
- You know when you instantly and completely fall in love with a character as soon as you meet them?… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…... 4 days ago
- I keep a hair-tie or two on my wrist in case I need to put my 5 y/o daughter's hair up. Today I woke up with a col… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…... 5 days ago
Tag Cloud
40K 40K Column 40K Radio 80s Cartoons Adepticon Age of Darkness Alexander Angron Argel Tal Arrested Artwork Aurelian Baby Betrayer Birthday Black Legion Black Library Black Library Live Blood Reaver Butcher's Nails Cat Chaos Marines Chicago Cobra Covers Cyrene Dear Alexander Dear Fuchsia Deathwatch Dragons Fatherhood First Claw Fuchsia Games Day Grey Knights Hobby Horoscopes Horus Heresy Kargos Katie Kharn Loken Muppets New York New York Times Bestseller Night Lords Novellas Office prologue Ranting Road to Jove RtJ Sevatar SFX Weekender Shadow Knight Skyrim Slurry Soul Hunter Talos Terminator Salvation The Core The Emperor's Gift The First Heretic The Lord Inquisitor The Prince of Crows The Talon of Horus Trailer Travel Video Void Stalker Wedding World Eaters WoW writing Writing AdviceSearch
alright. should be a good read. been waiting for some emperor porn for a while
He’ll keep his clothes on the entire time.
But will the Fab Custodes keep their armour on?
Only about five years late, but thank god, I’m so impossibly grateful the filler is ending.
And I am incredibly happy that it’s Aaron that’s writing it. That way you know it’s going to be quality!
OH, NO PRESSURE.
Ohhhhhh you big tease
I do what I can, sir.
Well I’m struggling to sum up my excitement without seeming cloyingly sycophantic/creepily stalkerish. Guess I’ll just pretend to be laconically cool about the whole business and then sit awake with feverish enthusiasm until this bad boy gets published…
Enthusiasm is never a bad thing. You should have seen my joy-convulsions when they announced the new WoW expansion.
Actually, that was pretty tragic. I almost killed my cat with a hammer. Maybe you have a point.
Take all my money!
“But… you’ll die.” — Luke Skywalker.
I thought this had been delayed till never cos of deadlines ‘n’ shit (or at least, someone posted that on a corner of the internet after one of the Weekenders).
Much as I love your Heresy contributions (well, your Everything!) thus far, I cannot help but feel a little put out that this means we probably won’t be seeing Black Legion till at least 2017… 😦
If I re-read Talon any more than I have I’ll end up forgetting who I am
That’s a fair point. It’s taken me about a year to write my last three novels (Talon, Ragnar, and MoM; which I’ve been writing in secret since January). That said, I’ve sped up a lot since getting my office on the go, so I’m pretty optimistic about 2016.
That has genuinely cheered me up.
And anyway, after Talon I think I speak for your whole readership when I say that, for that level of quality, you can take as long as you fucking like to write the sequel 😉
I have vivid memories last year of my parents dropping me off on Warwick Uni campus on the morning of Fresher’s, and then catching a bus to GW Leamington to bag their final copy of Talon and spending most of the day reading it in one fell swoop before my very first Uni club night.
Best. Day. Ever.
My reaction.
That’s fair. That’s totally fair.
What’s this? Plot advancement? You giant sexy beast, you.
HEY, NOW. NO GUARANTEES, MAN.
Yay! Can’t wait for more stuff from you 🙂
Likewise, My Lady. I’m glued to your Twitter feed everyday.
Any way whilst we can all agree the possibility of an emperor novel is quite exciting, I’m sure I’m not alone in asking what’s happening to archmage zorbulon? Your not going to do a ravenor vs eisenhorn and keep us waiting years I hope
Monday. I promise.
For shame…Monday is now over. Zorbulon would be displeased. He might even have to lay waste to a motherfucker.
Wait, I thought you and Abnett were the Masters of Mankind…
Almost isn’t good enough. Next time you kill that cat!
I would, too. Fucking loathe cats.
i love your work so much.i am going to rewrite all your books in BLOOD.ha!ha!Ha!ha!ha!Ha!ha!ha!Ha!ha!ha!Ha! cough,sorry.where was i.oh yes.ha!ha!Ha!ha!ha!Ha!ha!ha!Ha!ha!ha!Ha!ha!ha!Ha!ha!ha!Ha!.not my blood you freak my dogs;}
I hope it pleases you to know I read every single “Ha!” in that bombastic screed.
I’m pumped for this just like everyone else, but what I’m really looking for is the 4th Zorbulon story….seriously…
Good point. That seems to have more legs to it than I realised, so I’ll keep it going.
Oh you big tease you, been working on it in secret all year, no doubt giggling at the fanboys dissing BL for having nothing on the stocks for the HH series, ooh get you LOL. Great news to know you have been working on this. One question….is this from the POV of the Big E or is there another protagonist?
Definitely not from the Emperor’s POV. I think that would seriously kill the mystery. Besides, on a personal level, I don’t want to see inside his head – I want to see what effects his actions have on everyone else. He’s almost a force of nature in that regard.
Cool and totally agree…personally want the Emp to remain a bit of an enigma with just teasing hints at his possible origin and motivation but nothing concrete.
Oh and to echo other comments across the inter web, this is a bit of a double edged sword cos we so want this book but we also so want The Black Legion. Time to clone yourself or do a touch typing course!!!!
I hear you. When I finished Ragnar it was a tough call about whether to start The Black Legion or Master of Mankind next. Luckily, my editors and the schedule decided for me.
The previous Horus heresy books you have written were about chaos legions, and it felt kinda of like you were bias towards them, in Betrayer you gave me that feeling.
My worry in ‘MoM’, is that somehow, you will end up making the Emperor looking little bit (or lot) like a bad guy, sort of, and all that. I’m a huge fan of the Emperor, and with a chance like this where you are allowed to craft bits of the Emperor’s past and secrets, please try not to make the readers (specifically loyalist fans) have doubts and second thoughts about the Emprah. I’ll be quite unhappy if you use a chance like this to spread demoralization to the readers (specifically loyalist fans).
But anyway, keep up the good work, and I don’t suppose you care to share some information on ‘Nightfall’? Or have you not even started it yet.
Making the Emperor look dumb is the last thing I intend. Just like any novel, you want the characters represented to shine without being unnecessarily “better” and reducing the other side to fools.
I think you’d have a pretty hard case of showing any bias in my work, but people sometimes assume because I write more Traitor fiction that I dislike loyalists (completely untrue), and people that dislike Traitor fiction occasionally consider books where the bad guys win to be biased. It’s easy to make assumptions.
I’ll give you an example of how much effort I go to in order to counter that. In the Night Lords Series, you have Talos, Malcharion, and First Claw managing to kill an equal number of Blood Angels, only losing 2 characters compared to the Blood Angels losing 6. But that’s a fight on the Night Lords’ home turf, they’re the Company’s best squad, they have a legitimate Legion hero with them… and then you still see that while they were congratulating themselves for managing to kill those 6 Blood Angels, the rest of the Blood Angel boarding parties went through the ship like a knife through butter, killing hundreds of crew and other Night Lords. And, most of all, the fight literally begins with the Night Lords ships trying to run away because of the incoming Blood Angels ships. They don’t want to fight. They want to flee. Y’know, like cowards.
That’s not bias towards the bad guys.
Let’s take Betrayer as another convenient example. The Ultramarines, with a fraction of the numbers of the World Eaters and Word Bearers, are constantly thwarting the Traitors in the Armatura battle, and consistently mentioned as being better disciplined, attacking with better tactics, and inflicting far heavier casualties than they take. They lose, because they had no hope of winning. But the 300 Spartans lost. Losing isn’t bias. It’s how you fight that counts.
Or look at the Night of the Wolf. You have World Eater fans saying they punked the Wolves. You have Wolf fans saying they punked the World Eaters. That’s fine. It’s balanced! But look at the actual interaction:
1. Leman Russ tells Angron that his Legion is broken and failing, and that everything Angron is doing with the World Eaters is wrong. He has a fair point, too. Legion smack-talk, making the damaged proto-Chaos guys look bad. Space Wolves 1, World Eaters 0.
2. Angron accuses Russ of coming on his own to administer punishment, when he’s not really “the Emperor’s executioner” at all. Casting doubt on the Wolves’ ideology and beliefs. Space Wolves 1, World Eaters 1.
3. They all fight. The World Eaters are apparently (according to Angron) beating the Wolves (which makes sense, since the World Eaters’ implants takes away any hesitation or revulsion from Space Marines killing other Space Marines; they’re too blood-maddened to care, whereas it’s a huge deal for other Space Marines to fight each other at this point in time). Even without the psychological advantage, it’s not really unfair or biased for one Legion to be doing slightly better than the other in a fight. That’s war. Space Wolves 1, World Eaters 2.
4. Angron gets Russ on the ground, standing over him like he’s won. Angron “wins” the duel. Space Wolves 1, World Eaters 3.
5. While Angron’s men are too blood-crazy to care whether their primarch lives or dies, the Wolves are fighting with loyalty and tactics. They have Angron surrounded. Leman Russ gets back up, pointing out that this is evidence of how deformed Angron’s Legion has become. Leman Russ points out that his Wolves could now easily kill Angron if he just gave the order – the World Eaters won the battle and lost the war. That’s where the duel ends. Space Wolves 2, World Eaters 3.
6. Lorgar literally spells all of this out word for word, pointing out that Angron was just soundly defeated by superior tactics and that Leman Russ was right. Angron is plainly too stubborn and lost in his own codes of honour to think it matters, and Lorgar eventually gives up, stunned that Angron can’t admit he was beaten. Space Wolves 3, World Eaters 3.
And I’m being generous to the World Eaters there by giving them 3 points, because their primarch (who, let’s remember, is literally ‘The 1v1 Gladiator Primarch’) may have won the duel, and his Legion may have been slowly beating the Wolves… but it was all irrelevant. Leman Russ and the Wolves had him dead to rights within minutes. The World Eaters lost the war, almost instantly. Russ was literally proven right with his accusations that the World Eaters were broken. “My men are winning” and “I beat you in a duel” doesn’t mean shit when the reply is “I could kill you now but I’m letting you live. I hope you learn from your mistakes.” Lorgar even points out that Russ could have killed Angron and that Russ was merciful, letting Angron live. Lorgar literally says that Russ was right and that Angron is too blind/stubborn to understand it.
You see what I mean? A lot of thought and effort goes into this stuff. Bias isn’t part of it.
I’ve talked about it a little more over here: https://aarondembskibowden.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/hydras-and-wolves/
Spoiler alert… I would also add to that, a lot of Aaron’s characters, first claw for example all end up ganked ( thanks for that by the way, every time I walk past my 3 ltd edition prints of the covers I sob a little, and don’t even start me on why the omnibus cover wasn’t in that amazing style…) argel tal bites the dust, it would make a pretty short novel if all the main characters are a bit shit and die straight away and in my opinion they have to do some cool stuff before you can become invested in the characters. I was a loyalist ( imp fists) before the night Lord trilogy, but the way they were written made me want to play a flawed legion and liked the idea of being able to play in their style, be a butt hole and get away with it. After 2000 points of forge world night lords I really wish you hadn’t written those books. So in summary I disagree about bias against loyalists, simply the traitors flaws make for much more favourable narratives, and I want my prints signed next time I see you at a signing please
Oh my… Mr. ADB, I see what you mean there. And all that, I completely understand, the Hound and Wolves and all that. Man you make me feel like an arse, but that’s fines, and boy, that’s a long reply. The main part where I mean bias, was not in the territory you have covered, which you do not have to explain further more, I pity you for writing so much. The part that I felt you was bias, was when: If you look at the Ultramarines, finally arriving at Nuceria. They were pissed, pissed beyond sanity, they were like the Russians in WW2, they lost so much, too much. And I though it’ll be fair if you could – even though they couldn’t achieve victory – have them beat the grox-arse out of the traitors a lot more. They need vengeance, and a lot of it. I was hoping the Conqueror would’ve followed the Lex down onto the planet, in pieces, and the embarrassing capture of the Imperator titan was…
I rest my case for Betrayer.
………. To my shame, Mr. ADB and I really do feel shameful, but I can’t be blamed. I have not read the Night Lords trilogy. Please don’t hit me. I have been wanting to read them for a long time, but I couldn’t find any of ’em in any bookstore.
And just to let you know, not that it matters, cause you are a godling, and we mere weasels. I do like chaos stuff a lot. I am a mostly a loyalist …mostly, but a lot of times I like traitor stuff as well. But I just really do not like the Word Bearers.
I have to say you are completely full of crap in regards to Talos and your beloved Night Lords versus Blood Angels… I remember the scene where Talos single handedly beat a venerated Blood Angels dreadnaught with only a power sword… You have your biases like everybody else and sometimes it shows. I only continued to read that novel as it was the only thing available to do at the time.
Read that scene again. Literally everything you’re saying happens… never happens. It’s a squad of Night Lords and a dreadnought against a squad of Blood Angels and a dreadnought. Talos doesn’t even touch the dreadnought until it’s broken and dead, on the floor. The dreadnoughts literally kill each other. They both die from their fight.
Good try, though! Maybe have at least a vague idea of what you’re talking about next time?
If I can find the book I’ll read that part again. I’ve been wrong like everybody else but I sure remember it how I described it.
You’re dead wrong. Talos never “takes on a Blood Angel dreadnought with just a power sword”. He and his squad (who are all unable to face it) hide from it until their own dreadnought shows up, and the two dreadnoughts fight. Once Malcharion has beaten the other dreadnought to death (and been killed himself) Talos executes the crippled, near-dead husk in the coffin. Like the cowardly thief in Conan, who stabs the already dead enemy.
That’s some powerful misremembering. No wonder you thought it was bias – if it had been anything like the scene you’re describing, I’d have agreed with you.
Good spin control… Well played sir !
^^|^
A pleasure, O large, dark, fiendish one!
Speaking about bad guys getting their faces kicked in, Aaron, how badly was Abaddon mauled at Crythe? True, the Vengeful Spirit is a fleet-killer in its own right, but with the Night Lords legging it instead of fighting, more Imperial reinforcements arriving all the time and with most of his own forces trying to get back to orbit…
Can’t recall If you’ve ever mentioned how ol’ Ezekyle did after the Covenant of Blood and Hunter’s Premonition ran for it.
ADB now faces his greatest challenge. The man who made Lorgar, Angron, Abbadon, Night Lords, and Possessed Chaos Marines into sympathetic character must now try to make the Emperor into one as well!
Can’t wait to read the new Ragnar novel. I want you to continue to be successful !!!
Hi, it’s Ishagu from the B&C forum…
I didn’t realise we had a black library author in our midst.
It’s nice to see you guys are actual fans as well.
Just wanted to say the first Heretic is one of my most liked books in the HH series, and was a particularly well written Warhammer novel.
I was just wondering if the novel writers had much imput or communication with the Forgeworld game design guys – I’m aware a lot of characters from the books have since been represented with rules in some of the Legion army books.
Also, I remember the disagreement we had on this forum – it was a while back! It’s funny, I’ve actually drastically changed my stance on that subject and am now featuring FW units in all of my army lists, and am also in the process of building two Heresy forces.
Anyways, all the best!
I can’t wait to read the new Ragnar novel !!! ❤️
Keep keeping it real Aaron.
Sir, you and Abnett gave me my hopes back about WH40k books. You are able to depict nuanced characters, who have depth, who have motivations besides frothing in the mouth, who can be understood and sympathized with, even when they say “off to the skinning pits”.
I salute you. Thank you for these books.
That’s an incredibly nice thing to say, darn it. Many thanks!
I’m reading Talon of Horus for about the 5th time. And I’m not a fanboy who would throw his bra at you or anything (OK, that was a very disturbing picture)… It’s just an amazing book.
SQUEEEEE
Etc, etc, and so on and so forth.
Will we ever find out the lost archeo tech used in the construction is really duck tape?
Joking aside I want a sequel to Talon!
1. …no. Maybe? But probably no.
2. As do I. Soon. Ish.
I love your books, if you are ever the the desolate middle of Canada let me know lol
It’s a date!
Cool, finally. Also, did you like Khayon’s cameo in Ahriman: Unchanged?
Ah, how could I not? Though admittedly I’d read it in Facebook chat, then Word, long before it hit the printed page. John was keen to test it on me beforehand.
I sell my car for this book if you put Sigismund in it. That Last scene in the talon of horus was raw.
Sigismund doesn’t have much to do with the Webway War, but rest assured he’ll have a huge part to play in the next Black Legion novel.
Fucking Great news !
I’m from the US, and we do acronyms. Master of Mankind = MoM. Totally weird man. Totally weird.
Really good news. Been waiting to hear about this one for yonks; great to know it’s en route!
A quick HH/BL question Mr Dembski-Bowden, if I may;
Slowly putting together my ‘personal’ HH collection; Hardbacks, FW books etc, omitting some for reasons of my own depending on the book in question, and so on. I recently discovered the advent of two upcoming omnibuses (‘omnibii’? Not according to spellcheck, at least…); Crusade’s End and The Last Phoenix. Great news. I then decided I was willing to bet my mum on a future HH Word Bearers omnibus; for example (and most obviously) The First Heretic and Betrayer, with or without say Butcher’s Nails and/or Aurelian. Then it occurred to me that I might be able to find simply for the asking.
Would I be anywhere near the mark of something that may or will happen? Are you allowed to say? Am I going to have to ring my mum and explain to her that I have to package her up and take her into my local Ladbrokes?
Many Thanks,
Karl
Hey, Karl. True blue, here: I have literally no idea. Sorry about that, old bean.
Hi Aaron,
So you feel confident that Master of Mankind will be out next year, even if Black Legion won’t?
Cheers
Pretty much, yep.
98% sure.
This is awesome. I’ve always wanted to know more about the havoc unleashed on the Webway Project due to Magnus’ warning. In my head I always imagined machinery sparking and exploding with warp-infested wisps of poop. I digress. Really looking forward to this, as I have thoroughly enjoyed all your previous works. Will be waiting patiently…in the shadows…watching you sleep…poking you so you wake up and keep writing.
Just kidding.
Why aren’t you writing…
It’s a damning indictment that I find that more reassuring than threatening. Though if you’re going to spy on me, the least you could do is make us both some tea.
I fear the level of sugar added to the only tea I know how to make would induce premature cardiovascular complications, or just make you sick. Neither will assist in your word production. So…ok I wont spy on you anymore.
How about chilli-dogs instead of tea? I make a mean chili-dog. Just sayin.
Hey Aaron
Just a quick question is there any chance that you might write some more on the horus heresy wolves in future? I am single legion fan who enjoys reading anything I can find about the wolves and I really enjoyed Howl of the Hearthworld with the interaction of Russ with his men. I understand why there is so little written about the sixth but I would be extremely excited for even a short story about the Lord of Winter and War talking/thinking about interactions with his brothers and how he perceives them.
Regards
Aaron
Tough call! I’d love to, honestly, but they’re a Legion (and, indeed, a Chapter) that have been licked and touched so many times, and have interpretations so beloved by certain authors, that it’s something of a trial to bring any originality or new aspects to them.
That said, sure, I’d love to. And I’m glad you dug Howl of the Hearthworld. It was a risk doing that one, because it’s written more in the tones of Slaine and the original Conan stories (i.e. classic Fantasy barbarism) and their conventions are far more tribal and clannish than anything else the Wolves had have so far. So I was pretty worried about how it would be received, overall, since it was so different.
Fair call about different interpretations on the wolves or any legion for that matter but that is to be expected with different writers picking up on aspects/thoughts on characters or events. Also it must be said how could putting a bit of conan barbarism in the wolves be a risk? If anything it made it that little more awesome and makes me think of conan the movie with the great answer to the question: “What is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and to hear the lamentation of their women!”……….rich and compelling.
Also as a compromise maybe at the horus heresy writers get together you could just pitch to write the a short story on the start of Wolf and Lion feud/rivalry(btw t your book about ragnar made me think of this…..so really you know you want to write it). That way it doesn’t get in the way anyone’s current story arch and wouldnt matter when it was completed.
On a last unrelated note thanks for The First Heretic that book will always be one of my favorites from the series and I look forward to when the master of mankind is released.
Can we please fast forward to something that’s been the bane of my WH LIFE? I need a spoiler before I lose it. Who’s going to fill in the blanks on our primarch gaps? We have two primarchs gone, expunged, and though it’s all over the galaxy about the swell in ultramarines numbers…what about their memetic legacies? There is the flesh change, the red thirst, and more in the way of gene-seed problems. Will your BL or HH novels ever touch on the lost sons of the lost sons? There just has to be a way to drop me some easter eggs in this Emprah-forsaken story arc. And if we do get any news in the HH time span, can you be the bearer of it?
I think all that needs to be said of them has been said. And far more than needed, even. The truth would never be as interesting as the mystery, and a lot of damage has been done to the mystery already. That said, a few uninformed Word Bearers saying something we canonically know isn’t true didn’t feel like too much, but there have been hints like the Space Wolves destroying the Lost Legions, which is obviously untrue and a no-no.
Aaron-You mentioned at one point how you had written some more kick ass custodes scenes in “the first heretic” but had not included them in the novel becasue you wanted to save all the cool custodes action for the seige of terra, but that you regretted that move somewhat….CAN YOU PLEASE RELEASE THOSE??????? p.s. Oh yeah and the next legion you write about better be loyalist and the better kick some ass. im sick of all the good writers doing bad legions and if someone fucks up the angel fighting demon of korne scene over palace ill shoot myself
Oh yeah. Hopefully u can go ahead and off a major traitor character, the loyalists really need some props, and it seems like 40k fluff has every damn traitor big wig still alive n well in the future.–maybe kelbor hal can get it, hes only one important not mentioned later it seems(unless im wrong)
I’ve said the same thing a few times on various forums, too. Betrayer has a major Traitor character dying, f’rex.
First, thanks for existing guy. Thanks for creating a body of work that hasn’t failed to deliver a goosebumps-inducing level of epicness upon this reader. I hope were both equally uncomfortable now. I was wondering if a certain vampiric legion would be getting the ADB treatment. I’d love nothing more than than to see you put to task fleshing out Sanguinius as well. Any such thing in the BL pipes ?
I wonder if theres any chance the emperor,between asking mal to sit in his chair and actually teleporting up to fight horus, can just go out to palace walls super quick-like and just fucking clean house on the hords of chaos.just for a second. I mean if he can make a whole legion drop to their knees, just imagine what else he could do unrestrained…
I’ve always believed that the Emperor was planning to use the webway to vault himself to actual godhood, like the chaos gods are actual ‘gods’. Cannot wait to read this!
Any chance this will be completed and released prior to Xmas this year? I’m planning on killing myself around that time and would love to read it before I go into the sea of souls!
My Warhammer interest started with the Night Lords omnibus. I’m about halfway through the Heresy novels. So, while not an expert by any means, I am a big fan of Aaron’s work and Talos remains one of my favorite characters along with Loken. I’ve recently picked up the Emperor’s Gift to take a break from the Heresy novels and I’m already liking Hyperion quite a lot. Thanks for the great reads! TK
Hey Aaron im giving u permission to have leman russ kill alpharius RIGHT NOW, in your next novel of course. I mean, theres fucking two of him right? that still leaves one for guilliman to clean house on later, and the good guys really need some real props. Id still prefer a “real” traitor of course, but after reading that black legion book (Awsome) you kinda sealed the deal as far as the rest go, and id b so pissed off to have a traitor go down just for Erebus to bring them back or whatever. uhhhh 😦
If you read a lot of the realeased fluff, you gone See that guilliman alone killed a lot of the Chaos advantage (he Is maybe not the best one on one fighte) but strategically he Is Worth more like 3 or 4 Chaos primarchs…