Gav Thorpe's Blog, page 16

Interview with Nerdai – August 2016

In this interview with Gar of the Nerdai podcast, we talk about Angels of Caliban, the future of The Horus Heresy, Age of Sigmar, and more. Apologies for the quality of the audio – I was dialing in from my new evil-mastermind underground cave.

Listen To The Interview

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Extracting Asurmen

Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan is now available to order in paperback (physical copies in-store on Saturday). If you’re undecided whether to buy the book, have a read of this extract to see if it whets your appetite.

You might also find the following blog posts interesting:

* Asurmen – Author’s Notes

* Asurmen – Music Playlist

* Asurmen – Interview With Cover Artist

Asurmen felt his immortal gaze drawn further and further into the globe, until he was utterly lost within it. He saw the skein for a moment as the farseers witness it – a terrifying, impossible mesh of interlocking and overlapping fates. He saw his own thread, sapphire and vibrant, unbroken for an age. For a moment he saw the lives of the others branching out from the node of the shrine, but they fell away as the rest of the skein faded, leaving only a golden trail that drew Asurmen along until it plunged him into a living nightmare.

“All is red, of fire and blood.

Screams tear the air and planets burn.

Two craftworlds, tendrils of darkness linking them together, dragging each other to destruction.

The sharp laughter of a thirsting god as it sups from the slaughter.

Ancient talons of stone, piercing a bleeding heart.

Ebon claws that break as a white flame of salvation erupts from that heart.”

The shrine was dim when Asurmen was released from the vision, lit only by the ambience that had existed when he had arrived. The other Phoenix Lords were still in their places. The globe and runes were dull and lifeless. Asurmen lifted his hand from the pedestal and the others followed his lead. He felt a moment of disconnection, of spirits parting, leaving him feeling incredibly isolated. It was his usual state of mind and Asurmen was quick to master the sensation.

‘We have seen what must be done, each to their destiny. We speak not of what the visions show us, for it is unwise to cross the threads of fate. Our spirits depart, to return to the world of mortals, at such times and in such places as we left, and in the mortal sphere our lives will meet again. Khaine is sundered once more.’

In the distance he heard fierce cries and closer at hand threatening whispers.

‘Our daemonic besiegers draw fresh strength and so we must leave before they grow bold enough to dare our wrath.’

The Phoenix Lords departed, their armoured forms swiftly swallowed by the shadows outside the sanctum archways, footfalls dwindling into silence within moments as they passed from the First Shrine back through its hidden webway connections.

Karandras paused at the threshold and looked back, raising his claw in salute. Asurmen accepted the gesture of respect with a single nod.

And then Karandras was gone and Asurmen was alone. The baying of flesh hounds was becoming louder, the thunder of brass-shod jugger­nauts growing. The noise of whetstones shrieked in the darkness.

It was not wise to remain any longer, even for a Phoenix Lord. In the real universe he was functionally immortal, but the First Shrine was far from the real universe.

Asuryan had shown him his purpose. A wrong to be avenged. There was a war to end.

Blade at the ready, Asurmen stepped back into the darkness and the daemons attacked.

You can read the full extract over at Black Library.

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

Art of Asurmen

Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan – Artwork by Mike “Daarken” Lim

With the release of Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan in paperback, I asked the cover artist, Mike “Daarken” Lim, to answer a few questions about the artwork he creates for Games Workshop.

If you like Mike’s artwork, and particularly if you play Magic: The Gathering, take a look at the Kickstarter he has just launched for playmats featuring his artwork.

I’m loving finding out more about the artists who create the masterpieces that grace my covers – if you are too, let me know in the comments and I’ll keep pestering them to answer my questions!

Gav: Looking at your portfolio you have worked on several IPs, is there anything particular in your approach for illustrating 40k?

I wouldn’t say that my artistic approach is different per se, but since 40k does have quite a bit of tech, there are things like guns, vehicles, and ships that I don’t normally paint. Games Workshop tends to like bright colors and flashy things like explosions and muzzle flares as well.

I think the biggest difference when working on Warhammer compared to another IP is the research and reference gathering phase. Games Workshop is very particular about what each faction looks like, so you have to make sure everything is in the right place. Staying on model can definitely be challenging when working on Warhammer, especially since illustrations have a different goal and purpose than say, a miniature. For example, sometimes the illustration might work better compositionally if you changed which hand the figure is holding their gun, but you can’t do that with Warhammer.

Gav: You’ve created stunning images for Adeptus Mechanicus, Space Marines, Eldar, Tau and other armies. Do you have a favourite faction from Games Workshop?

That’s a hard one because there are so many cool factions in Warhammer. I think on the 40k side of things Space Marines are always fun to paint. Tyranids are great for scratching that hideous monster itch. Orks are always fun too, especially da red wunz.

Birthing Pod – One of the playmats available from the Kickstarter

Gav: Could you briefly describe your process for creating a cover from receiving the commission to final picture.

The first thing I do after receiving my commission is gather reference. Gathering reference can take hours, so I try and do it as soon as possible. After I have all of my reference, I start doing some sketches. Usually I only do one sketch. I’ve always hated creating multiple sketches, plus it seems like art directors always end up picking the sketch I like the least. Some art directors require multiple sketches, but if they don’t, I only do one.

After I’m happy with my sketch, I turn it in for the art director to review. Usually there are several changes that need to be made to the sketch. Depending on the art director, they may want to see several works in progress before I turn in the final painting.

There are usually changes that need to be made with each work in progress I turn in. Maybe they want some of the proportions changed or maybe they want a different symbol or color. Sometimes I have to change entire figures.

Once I turn in the final, I have to wait again for it to be approved. Most of the time I end up having to do two to three rounds of changes to the final painting. After they are happy with the changes, I turn in the final painting and then wait 6 months to a year before the painting is released to the public.

Gav: What was your brief / goal for the Asurmen illustration?

“For this cover what we want to see is a well lit, highly detailed, vivid and colourful depiction of Asurmen, in an action pose. He should definitely be the main focus of the cover, so he could be poised, pointing his gun at something ‘offcamera’, or about to strike down a foe with his sword. He should have the details of the miniature included such as his mask, banner, wargear etc… Although, like all eldar, he is tall, lithe and elegant, he should also look like a warrior without equal. He is basically hard as nails! He should be armed with his Shuriken catapult and Diresword, as seen on the miniature. The other details of the piece are up to you. I’m happy for the background to be vague, with maybe the suggestion of more Dire Avengers in the background and some eldar architecture.”

My main concern with this illustration was making Asurmen look “cool.” The mask design didn’t really feel like something an elite menacing warrior would wear, so I struggled with that. It’s also hard to make someone feel deadly when they wear a bunch of big gems all over their armor.

Gav: What’s your background with GW? Do you play or collect miniatures?

Back when I was a kid I used to collect and paint the minis. I didn’t actually play the game, but I loved collecting them. Throughout my childhood I played a lot of GW games like HeroQuest, Rites of War, Mark of Chaos, Dawn of War, and several others. I was also one of the concept artists for the game Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

Huge thanks to Mike for taking the time to answer my questions. You can see more of his work on his website www.daarken.com but you can also click on the images below to see more examples of his work.

Mortis Metalikus – Artwork by Mike “Daarken” Lim

Kragma – Artwork by Mike “Daarken” Lim

Kruphix – Artwork by Mike “Daarken” Lim

If you’ve enjoyed learning more about the art for Asurmen, you might also like to read previous interviews with artists Neil Roberts, and Victor Manuel Leza.

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan Music Playlist

Here’s my music playlist for Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan, which is now available to order in paperback (with physical copies in store next Saturday).

A bit of a departure from the more bassy, rock, gothicness of my Imperial war-toons, my eldar-themed playlist draws more from fantasy and electronic soundtracks. As well as the likes of the Watchmen OST and Vangelis, I’ve also thrown in a bit of orientalism to add some more meditative, eastern themes – matching some of the eldar influences from Buddhism and Taoism, Babylonian and Indian mythology as well as Chinese and Japanese inspirations.

Watchmen, Tyler Bates
Reprise 1990-1999, Vangelis
The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers, Howard Shore
The Hobbit & Lord of The Rings, The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
The Fellowship of the Ring, Howard Shore
Game of Thrones: Season 3, Ramin Djawadi
Buddhist Temples, Chandra Vati
Last of the Mohicans, Trevor Jones

The above list is actually slightly different to what I used for Asurmen – I’m currently writing Jain Zar, the next Phoenix Lords novel, and returned to my Asurmen playlist for this second instalment. I evolved the playlist slightly, and didn’t keep a record of the original one I used. To be honest I still consider it a work-in-progress, and am looking for a more elusive soundscape for the webway in particular. I have some Celtic themed music I used for my Sylvaneth story, Wrathspring, that I might copy across to this list. I shall continue to seek out more esoteric tracks for future eldar projects, please share your suggestions in the comments.

You can listen to this Eldar toons playlist on Apple Music by following this link.

If you like listening to music while reading, you can find my other playlists here, including those I used for Angels of Caliban, Warbeast, The Emperor Expects, The Beast Must Die, and Parallax.

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan – Now In Paperback

The paperback version of Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan is available to order today, with the physical books hitting the shelves next Saturday 20th August.

The general release hardback, and eBook, are also still available to buy (the First Edition has sold out however):

Paperback: 978-1784962678

Hardback: 978-1849708869

eBook: 978-1782518075

“The Phoenix Lords are demigods of battle, warriors whose legends span the stars. They are embodiments of the warrior nature of the Eldar, and each walks his own path. The first, and greatest, is Asurmen, the Hand of Asuryan. Since he led his people from destruction at the time of the Fall, he has guided his children, the Dire Avengers, in defending the remnants of the Eldar as they plan their rise back to galactic dominance. A superlative warrior and peerless leader, Asurmen is one of the greatest hopes of the Eldar race.”

READ IT BECAUSE

For the first time, get a glimpse at the horrors of the Fall of the Eldar and find out what drove Asurmen to create the Dire Avengers and start a whole new way of waging war. You also get to see him ten thousand years later, still defending his people from the darkness, and look at what drives him to keep doing so.

“…a fantastic novel of non-linear storytelling and highly memorable hero… a solid five star rating.” 5 stars

– Alexander Draganov, Goodreads

“An excellent tale about the greatest of Eldar warriors, with insights about his life before and during the Fall.” 5 stars

– Hakan, Goodreads

“It is extremely well written and well paced. and if there are any other books coming out (which I think there are) and they are written by Gav Thorpe, then I thoroughly look forward to reading them.” 5 stars

– Rob C, Amazon

Buy The Book

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan – Author’s Notes

With the imminent release of Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan in paperback it’s given me an opportunity to revisit the novel and put down some of the thoughts that went into its creation. It’s timely, though a little confusing, that I am currently writing the follow-up volume, Jain Zar, due out next year. With my head full of the latest story, it’s a bit tricky to remember exactly what I had in mind for the first book, but let’s give it a go anyway.

I’ve mentioned in many interviews that I’ve been a big fan of the eldar – going back to the seminal update they received in White Dwarf magazine, issue 127. This was the army list and background as we know it now, introducing the Aspect Warriors and Farseers, Warlocks and Avatars of Khaine. We first saw the infinity circuit and had a real look into the craftworlds and their society. A lot has moved on and developed in those years, but the fundamental core of the race and the army has not changed.

I first got to exercise my enthusiasm through the Path of the Eldar trilogy, which only served to whet my appetite. In particular, the introduction of the Phoenix Lord Karandras in the latter parts of Path of Warrior, itself building on a piece of colour text I wrote many years ago for White Dwarf, crystallised my interest in exploring these legendary warriors.

I proposed a series to Black Library, returning to it on and off for a couple of years before there was finally an opportunity. The premise is simple – a series of books with each volume focussed on a different Phoenix Lord, all tied together by a loose narrative. The idea then, and still is now as far as I know, that the series will be out ‘as and when’ – that is to say it won’t necessarily be out on an annual basis like a lot of Black Library trilogies and series. It may also be the case that some of the books will be written by other authors. While I’ve pieced together a collective narrative to hang the series upon, it would be great to see other writers have a take on the Phoenix Lords and eldar life.

Overall each book follows two stories, as laid down in Asurmen. The first layer of narrative covers the ‘present day’, which in fact could be anywhere through the last ten thousand years and more of eldar history. These tales all take place against the backdrop of a great disaster looming at some point in the future, revolving around a disastrous conflict between the craftworlds of Ulthwe and Anuiven which will escalate into a catastrophic war. The Phoenix Lords, at various times and places across the galaxy, each have a quest to help avert this disastrous future.

Asurmen Miniature

The other tale is at the other end of the chronometric spectrum and is a thinly veiled excuse to look at the Fall of the Eldar and the founding of the Aspect Shrines. Here we will chart each Phoenix Lord’s journey onto the Path of the Eldar.

It seemed logical therefore to begin with the founder of the Path itself, Asurmen. Through his early life we see in instalments the decline of the eldar people and the cataclysm of the Fall as it engulfed eldar civilisation and wipes out all but a relative handful of the species.

In the ruins the eldar that will become Asurmen must scavenge and survive, battling his own nature and despair as well as the perils of the empire’s collapse.

In some ways this is the emotional and spiritual meat of the story – by the time we follow Asurmen in his later exploits he is a figure of legend, passed beyond mortal concerns. This is a cosmic story that examines the fates of millions, while his origins are seated in far more personal terms.

Partly because I was attempting something different (and only in 50,000 words for this first book) and partly because the commission, when it came, was pretty speedy with a tight deadline, I didn’t get a chance to prepare as much before actually starting to write. I’d had an idea for the series for some time, but nailing down the specifics of this story had to be done on a quick turnaround. That turned out to be unwise in the longer term.

The first draft wasn’t too bad, but it was to be, unusually for me, the first of quite a few. The manuscript came back with a lot of feedback, almost all of it centred on the ‘present day’ aspect of the story. One of the issues was that we didn’t spend enough time with Asurmen himself, but rather one of the other main characters, a pilot he has to escort to a stranded battleship. There were other problems too – their chaos foes were a little vague and faceless, the pacing was off, and a few other bits and pieces.

The second draft came back with another raft-load of comments, and so did the third… It took five drafts in the end, that’s about two more than I would expect, before we finally got the story into a shape that both I and the editors were happy with. The project dragged on, pressure was mounting, the mortgage still needed paying and so it was more with relief than anything else that I received the final sign off. Looking back, everything we did made it a better story, more tightly focussed on the titular character, adding an arc to his story as well as that of his companions. I got to introduce some cool concepts for pre-Fall eldar society, create a suitably mythic and cosmic enemy and explore the fun of wraithknights.

Jain Zar Miniature

A reminder of the commandment that applies to all writers, regardless of experience and project: Thou Shalt Rewrite.

Keep an eye out for more of Jain Zar in 2017, and subscribe to my newsletter to make sure you don’t miss details about the release date (you’ll also be entered into the September newsletter competition, which is for a signed paperback copy of Asurmen).

If you’ve enjoyed this blog post, you may also like to read my Author’s Notes for Angels of Caliban, Warbeast, The Emperor Expects, and The Beast Must Die.

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

I’m A Hall of Famer!

It’s looking increasingly unlikely that I’ll ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, but at least now I can say that I’m in the Black Library Hall of Fame instead.

“The very best Black Library novels, chosen by the authors. Every month, we’ll be asking a Black Library author to choose a novel they think is important, iconic, or just plain entertaining, and to tell us why.”

I will be eternally in David Annandale’s debt (which is an awful lot of biscuits) for choosing Path of the Warrior – the first book in the Path of the Eldar trilogy – as his Hall of Fame book. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“I adore Gav Thorpe’s entire Eldar trilogy, but I must choose one book, and so I’ll choose the first: Path of the Warrior.

The task of this book is not an easy one – there are no human characters here to speak of, except as antagonists, so the challenge is to give us protagonists who feel properly alien while still inviting our engagement and sympathy. Path of the Warrior does this admirably.

On top of that, we get a rich, convincing sense of the culture of Craftworld Alaitoc, and a layered sense of the majestic tragedy that is the path of the Eldar. We see this on the macro scale, in the events confronting Alaitoc, but on the personal as well, as we follow the transformation of Korlandril from artist to warrior, and the full, terrible loss that comes with that transformation.

And as if that isn’t enough, Gav pulls off a stylistic tour de force that made me gasp when I realised what was happening. The Exarchs speak in hexameter triplets. The effect is subtle, and makes the Exarchs even more alien and forbidding. Not only that, but what is more fitting than to have these legendary warriors speak in the meter of the epics of old? As a reader, I was delighted by the experience. As a writer, I am agog with envy and admiration.”

High praise indeed, and I’m honoured that Path of the Warrior was chosen as the first ever book in the Black Library Hall of Fame.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, “Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid. According to Greek mythology, hexameter was invented by the god Hermes” (taken from Wikipedia). I gave each Exarch his own meter – here are some examples:

Kenainath:

“Now to make your choice, to meet your companions, Striking Scorpion”

Morlaniath:

“It shall be an honour, to lead your warriors, to make them Hidden Death”

Guy Haley also spotted this use of language and I seem to remember he was very pleased to extend its use to his novel Valedor.

One of the Striking Scorpions from Path of the Warrior, Bechareth, garnered so much interest from readers that I wrote a short story called Dark Son, detailing his history. Dark Son is only available in the Path of the Eldar omnibus.

Let me know in the comments which Black Library books would be in your Hall of Fame, and what make them “important, iconic, or just plain entertaining”?

Buy Path of the Warrior

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

The Primarchs – Order Now in Hardback

The New York Times bestselling anthology, The Primarchs, is available to order today in hardback for the first time, and it will be hitting the shelves next Saturday.

The Primarchs contains my novella The Lion, along with The Reflection Crack’d by Graham McNeill, Feat of Iron by Nick Kyme, and The Serpent Beneath by Rob Sanders.

Hardback: 978-1784964788

Available to Order: 6th August 2016

Available in Store: 13th August 2016

About The Lion

Fighting a daemonic incursion within their fleet, the Dark Angels stumble into a conflict between the Iron Hands and Death Guard. Which side will they choose in the coming battle?

“[The Lion] is my favourite story of the collection, the Dark Angels are great and I loved the depiction of the fight on board ship which is dramatic, claustrophobic and excellently paced. The space based story makes a nice change and the author manages to weave a powerful story. ”

– Antony Jones, SF Book Reviews

About The Primarchs

Gathered within this anthology are four novellas focusing on some of the mightiest warriors and leaders that mankind has ever known – Fulgrim, Lion El’Jonson, Ferrus Manus and the twin primarchs Alpharius and Omegon – and the roles that they may have yet to play in a war which threatens to change the face of the Imperium forever.

“One of the hidden jewels of the Black Library’s dark crown is Gav Thorpe. He consistently provides firm tales told in a riveting sort of way, and has gone from strength to strength in recent years. His contribution to the anthology is The Lion, and features the leader of that most mysterious of legions, The Dark Angels. It’s a bit of a curates egg of a novella; fans will love it, those not as familiar with the setting may miss some of the finer notes. It’s always a pleasure to read Thorpe’s work, and this is him combining his growing writing skill with his love for very geeky things.”

– Ed Fortune, Starburst Magazine

You can watch a trailer for the original edition of The Primarchs here:

You can read or listen to an extract of the book here.

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

The Mortal Realms Podcast – Warbeast Review

The Mortal Realms podcast have done an in-depth look at my Age of Sigmar novel Warbeast, including some answers from me on various questions they had about the book.

Warbeast review starts at 0:28:17.

Listen to the Review

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**

I’m Such A Party Animal

Very much like the Queen, I have gifted myself two birthdays. Only a week ago I was celebrating the first birthday of my ‘new’ website and newsletter, but life as a freelancer makes you age quickly, and now I’m celebrating my 30th.

My 30th novel that is.

The Beast Must Die was my 30th novel to be published and according to the commissioned word-counts, that’s 2,915,000 words since Lieutenant Kage made his appearance in 13th Legion back in 2001 (and doesn’t include the 50,000 I’ve written so far for my next Phoenix Lords novel Jain Zar).

Or the additional world notes and gazetteer I wrote for my Empire of The Blood series.

Or the 40,000 words I had to re-write in Angels of Darkness, when my hard drive crashed and I lost half the novel…

And of course it also doesn’t include the 13 audiobooks, 6 novellas, and countless short stories that I’ve written for my various publishers.

If that wasn’t enough, I would have LOVED to have written another 50,000 words for Malekith – it’s such a rich story, and unfortunately we didn’t realise it needed to be longer until too far down the process (but it is why the remaining two books in the trilogy – Shadow King and Caledor – are 150,000 instead of 100,000). In fact, I’d still love to expand Malekith – maybe if enough of you ask Black Library, I’ll get commissioned to write it for a future re-print – email contact@blacklibrary.com!

It’s a lot of words. And a good job that I love what I do for a living.

Anyway, here’s the full novel list (they aren’t in release date order as I’ve tried to keep trilogies listed together).

13th Legion

Kill Team

Annihilation Squad

The Claws of Chaos

The Blades of Chaos

The Heart of Chaos

Grudgebearer

Path of the Warrior

Path of the Seer

Path of the Outcast

Angels of Darkness

Purging of Kadillus

Malekith

Shadow King

Caledor

Deliverance Lost

Ravenwing

Master of Sanctity

The Unforgiven

Crown of the Blood

Crown of the Conqueror

Crown of the Usurper

Space Hulk The Novel

Doom of Dragonback

The Curse of Khaine

Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan

The Emperor Expects

Warbeast

Angels of Caliban

The Beast Must Die

Now, what’s that I keep hearing people say, “gotta catch ’em all”? How many have you read?

**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**