Gav Thorpe's Blog, page 3

The Desert Scorpions – October 2017

Read my interview on The Desert Scorpions blog, in which I discuss my history with gaming, games design, and Inquisitor among much else.

Desert Scorpions: When I wrote some thoughts on out of print games, one of the responses I got was that a lot of the rules created back in the day are by now surpassed by better game mechanics. (A much heard complaint is that older GW game systems tend to be bloated and involve a lot of waiting for your turn.) Do you feel that game design has evolved so much that rule systems like the original Necromunda and Inquisitor have become somewhat obsolete?

Gav: Game enjoyment depends on your personal preferences, so there’s no ‘one perfect rule set for everyone’. People like quickfire games such as Exploding Kittens, right up to the more complex games such as Advance Squad Leader, where there’s a lot of strategy and planning required (and therefore a lot of waiting for your opponent to decide their turn). Personally I like the entire spectrum, with each level of complexity and strategy suiting different recreational situations and different playing buddies. There are certainly some rules conventions now that are in vogue – integrated turns with unit activations rather than I-Go- U-Go and so forth, but what counts is a good vision for a game and a decent core mechanic. The older games still have those, which is why they remain popular.

Read The Full Interview

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Eye of Horus – October 2017

When I was first interviewed by the Eye of Horus podcast, we discovered a shared love of cryptids. With the release of my novella Conquest of the Nu World, the second installment in the Cryptid Clash! series, I chat to the Eye of Horus folks again, about all things cryptozoological.

We also talked about the Horus Heresy Seige of Terra meeting, but I’m sure no-one is interested in that…

Listen To The Interview

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Track of Words – September 2017 (Lorgar)

As part of the Track of Words Rapid Fire series, I talk about my novel Lorgar: Bearer of the Word

“ToW: Why this story? What made you want to write about Lorgar in particular?

GT: I like stories about faith and power, and Lorgar is both of those things in one body. Also, the idea of going right to the roots of what will eventually set the galaxy ablaze with the Horus Heresy. We may never know what the Emperor intended for Lorgar, but it is here, during these events, that the Bearer of the Word becomes corrupted, and everything that comes afterwards stems from these times.”

Read The Full Interview

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Left Lion Magazine – October 2017

Anyone living in Nottinghamshire will be familiar with the iconic Left Lion magazine, so I’m chuffed to bits to be gracing the pages of the latest issue, talking about my writing, and winning the David Gemmell Legend Award.

“How was the transition from traditional Warhammer to Age of Sigmar?

It took a while to settle into it, but I think I’m getting there now. It was a bit strange at first; as I’ve said, I’ve been entrenched in this world since I was a child, so it was weird being just as much of a newbie as everyone else. When it first started, everyone was very strict about what could and couldn’t be done, but once we’d got over the hurdle of it not being the old Warhammer, we found ourselves able to embrace what was there while coming up with new interpretations on classic themes.”

Read The Article

As an aside, you can also read this great Left Lion interview with John Blanche.

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Jain Zar: La Tempête du Silence & Jain Zar: Der Sturm Der Stille

In case you missed it, my second Phoenix Lords novel, Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence, is now available to purchase in both French and German.

Jain Zar: La Tempête du Silence

L’antique peuple eldar sait compenser la faiblesse de ses nombres par un art de la guerre unique: l’harmonieux mélange de la spiritualité et de la technologie. En cas de besoin, tous les eldars s’arment pour la guerre, guidés par de terrifiants héros presque mythiques: les Seigneurs Phénix. Ces êtres immortels incarnent, chacun à leur manière, la nature guerrière des eldars. Jain Zar, la Tempête Silencieuse, se révélera être une combattante agile, rapide, et mortelle, capable de dompter la rage de son cri pour massacrer quiconque oserait s’opposer à elle.

Quand un empire ork en devenir menace les eldars, Jain Zar se rend sur le vaisseau-monde Ulthwé pour l’avertir du danger. Pourtant, son plan visant à prévenir le désastre se heurte à l’opposition d’un des prophètes du lieu, Eldrad. Parmi tous les futurs possibles, quelle voie doivent suivre les eldars pour empêcher la destruction de leurs mondes et mettre fin au péril à peau verte?

Buy Jain Zar

Jain Zar: Der Sturm Der Stille

Die Eldar sind eine alte Spezies, die kriegerisches Geschick mit einzigartigen technischen Fertigkeiten verknüpfen. In Zeiten der Not erhebt sich die gesamte Bevölkerung der Weltenschiffe, angeführt von schrecklichen, nahezu mythischen Gestalten – den Phönixlords, unsterblichen Verkörperungen der Kriegernatur ihres Volkes. Jain Zar ist eine flinke und tödliche Kämpferin und die Wut ihres Schreis zwingt jeden in die Knie, der sich ihr entgegenstellt.

Als ein aufstrebendes Reich der Orks die Eldar bedroht, versucht Jain Zar das Weltenschiff Ulthwé vor der Gefahr zu warnen. Doch ein Seher stellt sich ihren Plänen, das Weltenschiff zu retten, entgegen – Eldrad Ulthran. Welchen Pfad sollen die Eldar beschreiten, um die Zerstörung ihrer Weltenschiffe zu verhindern und die Gefahr der Grünhäute zu bannen, wenn die Zukunft so viele Gestalten annehmen kann?

Buy Jain Zar

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Lorgar: Bearer of the Word

Today sees the general release of my Horus Heresy Primarchs novel, Lorgar: Bearer of the Word. You can now order it in hardback, eBook and MP3, and there are also some of the swanky limited editions left too.

“In cahoots with (former) series editor Laurie Goulding I pitched a story that took everything right back to its roots, to the world of Colchis where Lorgar was found and raised by the fanatical priest Kor Phaeron. This was the origin of the Word Bearer and, by extension, the very start of the seeds of the Horus Heresy itself. If the approach proves popular hopefully it will open up the possibilities of other novels yet to come.”

You can read more about the book in my Author’s Notes blog.

Read the Blog

“On the world of Colchis, mighty religions rule a decaying society in the name of absent gods – until the arrival of Lorgar. Primarch, prophet, leader of destiny, the Golden One is raised by Kor Phaeron, priest of the Covenant, to be his weapon in a quest for power. As religious war spreads across the planet, spearheaded by the Brotherhood of Lorgar, the primarch is plagued by visions of the future and the coming of the Emperor. To find his place in this new order, he must reach balance between the teachings of his adopted father Kor Phaeron, and the fate that he knows awaits him among the stars.”

“Gav Thorpe deftly takes what we presume to know of Lorgar and his upbringing, of Kor Phaeron, Colchis and the Covenant, and turns elements of it on its head.”

– Marc, Goodreads

“Sadistic and abusive priest meets impressionable little boy. What could go wrong? ”

– Marco, Goodreads

Buy Lorgar: Bearer of the Word

**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.**

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Birth of a Legend

September 2017 is a special occasion for me, as it marks 20 years since my first published story – Birth of a Legend – appeared in issue two of Inferno! magazine, back in 1997.

If you’ve read the recent interview I gave to Track of Words, you’ll know I mentioned that I still had the original marked up copy of Birth of a Legend, with all the red-pen edits from Black Library founder Andy Jones. If you haven’t seen the interview, you can read the two parts here: part one / part two.

As there have been a few new authors joining the Black Library stable recently, some of whom will be working with an editor for the first time, I thought it might be useful to share some of those edits. Of course edits these days are more likely going to be digital rather than on paper…

As you can imagine, receiving eleven pages of that much red pen dents even the hardest of egos. Fortunately Andy took pity on me, and saved himself the time, and sat me down to explain the edits on that first paragraph then sent me off to apply that new knowledge to the rest of the manuscript. My own critique was just as thorough.

Learning from your editor is really important in improving your writing – not just making the suggested edits, but actually thinking about why it makes your story better so you can apply that knowledge next time. Twenty years later on, and with 30+ novels and a David Gemmell Legend Award under my belt, I still open the edits emails with trepidation. Imposter syndrome is alive and kicking, even if there is much less red pen these days.

With that said, I’ve built up a good relationship with my editors over the years, and I’m much more comfortable at pushing back on changes I don’t agree with – something else that’s important to learn how to do as an author, and something I’m hoping to blog further about soon.

Don’t be discouraged by the feedback you receive from your editors, they are there to work with you to mould your draft work into a finished product, and will want it to be a masterpiece just as much as you do. I hope the above may reassure some of the new writers that are taking their first ‘authorly’ steps.

“Gav Thorpe’s first ever Black Library story, first published twenty years ago, Birth of a Legend is an old-school Warhammer story featuring an early incarnation of one of the setting’s greatest characters. When King Kurgan and his retainers are captured by the Orc warlord Vagraz Head-Stomper, things look bleak for the Dwarfs. That is, until the local human huntsmen arrive to investigate the intrusion into their territory, led by a young man with a powerful destiny. Determined to drive them off and free the Dwarf captives, he leads his men into battle against the Orcs…and the rest is history.”

-Track of Words

If you want to find out more about Birth of a Legend, Track of Words did a review as part of their Forgotten Texts series – you can read it in full 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.**

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Track of Words – September 2017 (Part Two)

September 2017 marks the twentieth anniversary of my first ever published story, Birth of a Legend. In the second part of my interview with Michael Dodd of Track of Words I talk about my more recent works, writing for the audio format, and what is on the horizon, amongst much else.

If you haven’t read part one, you can do so here.

Read The Interview

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Track of Words – September 2017 (Part One)

September marks the twentieth anniversary of my first ever published story, Birth of a Legend. You can read my reflections on the last 20 years as a professional writer in the first part of my interview with Michael Dodd of Track of Words. Part two will be published soon.

Read The interview

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Shadows of Aradryan

Yesterday saw the publication of my short story Shadows of Heaven, which continues the story of Aradryan from my Path of the Eldar series (he’s the protagonist in Path of the Outcast).

“Fighting alongside the Guardians of Craftworld Alaitoc, Aradryan hopes that he can atone for past misdeeds and forge a new path with his people. In doing so he must confront not only Chaos renegades of the Black Legion, but his own conflicted attitudes to life and death.”

I really enjoyed Aradryan’s character when writing Path of the Outcast, and have been looking for a suitable way to return to his story for a while now. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that Shadows of Heaven is billed as a “Rise of the Ynnari” short story – the series title for my new Aeldari trilogy. So yes, Aradryan may be making a more significant return later in the series. The first novel Ghost Warrior will be published in October.

I did manage to sneak Aradryan into another short story – The Rewards of Tolerance – which gives the Space Marine perspective of a battle that happens in Path of the Outcast. The Rewards of Tolerance is still available to buy as an eBook.

‘If you are so concerned by danger, why did you answer the call to arms?’ asked Diamedin, sensing Aradryan’s unease as he scanned the horizon across the river and fidgeted with the shuriken catapult in his hands.

‘I am no stranger to bloodshed,’ Aradryan replied quietly. ‘I am not afraid of death.’

You can buy Shadows of Heaven now at Black Library, iTunes and Amazon.

Buy Shadows of Heaven

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