David Guymer's Blog, page 2

Black Library ebooks - now on Kindle

If, like me, you hadn't realised that Black Library ebooks weren't already available on Amazon kindle, then you might have missed the news that Black Library ebooks are now available on Amazon kindle!

The memo said that this would be starting out with Black Library's best sellers before moving on to the rest of the range. Naturally, I was a little bit curious which of my books (if any!) could be called bestsellers.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the list includes my contributions to the Beast Arises series, Echoes of the Long War and The Last Son of Dorn, as well as my Gotrek and Felix novels, Gotrek & Felix: Kinslayer, Gotrek & Felix: Slayer, and Gotre & Felix: City of the Damned. Also in there are the Gotrek and Felix anthologies to which I've contributed, Gotrek and Felix: The Anthology, and Gotrek & Felix: Lost Tales and my Warhammer End Times short story Marienburg's Stand.

It might be a little surprising to some (but not me) to see that my Age of Sigmar stories are also all in there. If you're new to the setting and have a kindle, then I'd recommend Call of Archaon as your essential primer.

I was hoping to see some of the back catalogue like Headtaker in there, but the whole point of forgotten gems is that they don't make bestseller lists. Hopefully a few more new readers will be able to pick it up once the offering expands. I'm still willing the Total War folks will get in touch to about writing Queek for the inevitable skaven expansion, and luring in a host of new readers for me at the same time.

I mean, you never know.

Calculus of Battle

It's Day Five of the 2016 Black Library Advent Calendar and behind the door today is my audio drama, Calculus of Battle.



To quote the blurb

"The beleaguered Astra Militarum defenders of Varasine fight against the alien menace of a tyranid invasion, but their only possible salvation approaches in the form of something almost equally inhuman. Warleader Kardan Stronos of the Iron Hands, long having studied the xenos threat, now brings his fearless battle-brothers to join the war - only he can save Varasine, measuring his Chapter’s infallible logic and ruthless strategy against the cost in human lives"

If you've been living under a stone and/or are new to this blog, you might be unaware that I've also written the first novel of a Kardan Stronos trilogy, Eye of Medusa, which I believe will be out in March 2017. That series details Stronos' rise to prominence, but with this audio I wanted to give a contemporary Stronos, showing why he's awesome and thoroughly deserving of a trilogy of his own.

"Action-Packed And Brutal, Occasionally A Touch Disturbing"

One ridiculously early review is already in

Whet your appetite for more to come then with 21 minutes of Iron Hands action

Blaise Maximillian: Emancipation by Matthew Sylvester - REVIEW

Blaise Maximillian: Emancipation by Matthew Sylvester

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is the sequel to Blaise Maximillian: Bitter Defeat, and everything that I loved about that first instalment (the grit, the guts, the bit where Blaise accidentally tips off a German's head and makes me, a grimdark fantasy writer myself, feel ill) is still here. It's just better. While Bitter Defeat read as a collection of connected shorts spread across a period of time this book felt more like a single uninterrupted narrative and was stronger for that. Also, there's just the general sense that an author whose really getting to grips with his craft had moved things up a gear. A great read.






View all my reviews

Priests of Mars by Graham McNeill - REVIEW

Priests of Mars by Graham McNeill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As I get busier and busier and my resolution to review every book I read starts to look ever more silly, my reviews are getting correspondingly later and much, much shorter.

To be very brief then, this book is amazing.

This book shows us every level of society aboard a Mechanicus ark ship and every one contains fascinating, distinct, sometimes alien, but always believable and relatable characters. The Imperial Guard and Black Templars were equally well portrayed, although my personal favourite was the Rogue Trader, Roboute. I was also reminded, while reading, of something I'd read ages ago in a 'how to' book on writing SF, about how the USS Enterprise or Moya can begin to feel like characters in their own right, and I definitely felt that with the ark ship, Speranza here. If I have a minor criticism it's that the Eldar presence felt a little undercooked, but I'm sure they'll come into things as the trilogy develops.

Graham McNeil may have ousted Guy Haley from top spot in my list of Black Library authors I'm most in danger of becoming embarrassingly fanboyish over





View all my reviews

Red and Black by James Swallow - REVIEW

Red & Black by James Swallow

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I loved this story.

It does everything that 40K stories should aspire to do more of, finding some fascinating aspect of the dark millennium and spinning a fascinating story out of its exploration. Bolters here are almost entirely on standby. As I listened I was actually a little worried that the ending couldn't justify the buildup, particularly if it descended into a shoot-out, but I wasn't disappointed.



View all my reviews

Medusan Wings by Ian St... ahem... Matt Westbrook

Medusan Wings by Matt Westbrook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I saw a review that opened with the uncontroversial statement that Black Library do stories and they do commercials. That review was for my very own Cold Blood. Medusan Wings certainly falls into the former camp, but as that earlier reviewer was kind enough to note, existing for the sole purpose of selling a model doesn't mean it can't also be a great story. Medusan Wings falls into that camp too.

It involves an Iron Hands techmarine (they have techmarines now, catch up) recently returned from his training on Mars and immediately thrown into action defending a Mechanicus forgeworld from an ork invasion. This he does from the cockpit of a stormraven before upgrading to something more meaty, and the aerial combat scenes are all done well and exciting to read. They buddy with up some Vostroyans on the ground, there's some Mechanicus meddling (isn't there always!), and there's enough of a look at the Iron Hands' culture and customs to keep the fluff fans satisfies, but air combat is what this novella is all about and on that point it certainly hits its mark



View all my reviews

What's Good, And How Do I tell?

I've been wondering whether early reviewers tend to be more positive than the average (because they read it faster!) but one month after release and The Last Son of Dorn continues to stubbornly pick up positive reviews.


I'll take that

In fact it's currently the best rated of the entire series, which is nice. Weird, but nice.




It continues a trend I've recently started paying attention to whereby the work I think of as 'my favourite' consistently rates lower with readers.

For various reasons I look back on Echoes of the Long War (3.71) more favourably than Last Son of Dorn (4.17). I love world building, exploring characters and cultures, establishing a tone, and 'Echoes' has that in spades with its microscope on the Fists Exemplar and First-Captain Zerberyn. 'Dorn' is far more action-packed, lighter on character, and with most of the heavy lifting in that regard already done for me.

This is a theme for me.

I much preferred Gotrek & Felix: Kinslayer (3.91) to the universally adored and almost-award-winning, Gotrek & Felix: Slayer (4.29). Mostly because I got to play with Snorri Nosebiter, imagine what Felix's life would be like once he finally managed to settle down, and play with the love triangle between him, Kat and Ulrika. Plus, Dragon Ogre!

I told everyone that would listen that Great Red was my absolute favourite of the Realmgate Wars audios, now proud owner of a 3.30 rating while the one I wasn't so sure about, Only the Faithful, hammer porn in all its lightning-spitting glory, is sitting pretty on 4.0

And the kicker.

I still think that Gotre & Felix: City of the Damned (3.79) contains some of the most beautiful writing I've ever put down.

Yes. The value of my opinion is more-or-less on parity with the pound just now.

Time to own up to the fact that I'm just really, *really* good at bolter-porn

I've been going back over Last Son of Dorn in my mind lately, trying to figure out what's caused it to be so well-received. Aaron Dembski-Bowden has said that he can tell me in two sentences, which he'll tell me at Black Library Live. I'll look forward to that! In the mean time, if anyone has an opinion of their own to offer on the matter I'd love to hear it.



It also leads me to reconsider the old adage to 'write what you want to write' and to hell with what the markets say is popular.

Because I clearly know nothing

'Malice' by John Gwynne

Malice by John Gwynne

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Let me begin by saying that this is probably the best 4-star book that I've ever reviewed, the reasons for the absent star in what is going to be a glowing write-up hopefully becoming apparent by the end.

It follows several principle characters (young commoner, Corban, his sister, Cywen, the warriors Veradis and Kastell, classically no-good advisor to the king, Evnis, and the bandit with a heart, Camlin) across a broad and brilliantly realised world that at times I could almost reach out and touch. The post-apocalyptic fantasy setting, riven by the wars of gods and monsters, is faintly reminiscent of others, David Eddings' Belgariad springs to mind, but to my mind John Gwynne blows them all away with the complexity of his world and the plots and prophecies that weave through every page.

The basic idea is that the God-War is coming in which Asroth is finally going to finish off the world to spite the god, Elyon. A 'Bright Star' will arise to face off against Asroth's 'Dark Sun' to decide the fate of the world. The act of genius here is to keep us guessing as to the identity of the two champions, even once it becomes pretty clear who both are it's still gripping stuff, and the fact that the characters themselves can't see it just adds to the slow-boil tension.

If I have a criticism however (and obviously I do) it's that it wasn't exactly a page-turner. I found it a book best for short sittings, or when I had literally NOTHING else to do (I took it camping, for which it proved perfectly suited). I wish I could give some good explanation as to why that is because the characters were believable and compelling, the plot gripping, and the world tangible, but there it is.

Despite the fact that I may have to devote a considerable chunk of valuable reading time to books 2-4, I will absolutely be taking that two-footed plunge as soon as humanly possible. The final chapters were messy and brutal in the finest George R.R. Martin tradition, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Plus I have a solid crush on Gar. I want him to be *my* surrogate father.

(Also, this is the first book since Karen Miller's Empress and the character Hekat, where I've kept reading purely because I HATE a protagonist so much. I won't say who it is, for spoilers, but it's a rare talent on show!)



View all my reviews

Fantasycon 2016

It's been a while since I last wrote something for my blog. I've been pretty busy the last couple months, finishing up on my current (month overdue...) novel, EYE OF MEDUSA, and, of course, the Fantasycon weekend just passed.

I'm happy to say that as of yesterday Eye of Medusa is consigned to Laurie Goulding's inbox, and I'm finally free to turn a little love this way.

I've been itching to put down a few words on Fantasycon. It's the first big event of this sort that I've been to, despite promising myself to go to at least two a year for several years, and I took the plunge at the deep, carnivore-infested end by getting myself involved in numerous events throughout the weekend.

This is what editors are for

Alongside my cooler and more grizzled Black Library battle-brothers Gav Thorpe, Guy Haley, and Laurie Goulding I participated in the first live reading I've ever done. Unless you count reading Peepo! to my daughter, which really wasn't as great preparation as I thought it was.

I read the first scene from Eye of the Medusa, which was doubly nerve-wracking as my editor, Laurie, sat right there next to me, hadn't even seen it himself. It went ok, considering, but nothing exposes waffle and filler like reading your work out to an audience. Much chopping and scribbling out was carried out later that evening!


Gav Thorpe, Guy Haley, me, and Laurie Goulding

This is clearly what writing groups are for, and if the one I'm nominally a member of didn't meet on a day when I have parenting duty then I might actually start attending. Maybe I should set up my own?

Any Howden-based writers out there?

I also learned a lot from my fellow readers to take with me for next time, Guy, Laurie and Gav (Reading fromShadowsword, Slaughter at Giant's Coffin, and Corax, respectively) all used brilliant action-packed scenes. It didn't take me long after the session to realise which scene I SHOULD have used.

The Michael Bay of the short story

I also took part in my first ever panel, titled A Little's Enough, discussing the art of short story writing.


Emma Cosh, Lynda Clark, George Sandison (Chair), Ruth Booth, and me

Now I've written a lot of short stories, I know how to write a short story, but it's fair to say that I've never given great thought to the exact mechanisms of the process. It was a bit of culture shock then to find myself sat alongside three incredibly articulate, literate, and broadly read women (all women, as if to properly hammer home my neanderthal thinking) talking about stories I didn't know by writers I'd never heard of who do clever things like tell stories from the point of view of the protagonist's favourite hat. And then there was me, at the end, trying to decide whether bronze really is better than stone and thinking, I write about people that stuff happens to, preferably with a car chase and an explosion.

Let's say I grew into it. I started to find my groove after about fifteen minutes. I mean I do make a living from this, I can't be THAT bad at it.

Let's also say that I learned a lot, and I'll definitely be tuning into Emma's Storylogical podcast. She was dazzlingly insightful, and you could tell that she has a real enthusiasm for talking about short stories.

How many people can say they've lost the Gemmell Award twice?

Obviously the main event for me, and the only reason I was there at all despite that promise I was talking about earlier, was the Gemmell Award ceremony on the Saturday night.

I was the only Legend finalist present for the night, but I got to meet three of the Morningstar finalists, Peter Newman, Stephen Aryan and Lucy Hounsom. They were all lovely people and Lucy gets extra credit for driving all the way from the south-west coast to Scarborough and for coming dressed as Daenerys Targaryen. It's no surprise that these sort of awards matter so much more to the debutants that the Morningstar was set up to celebrate (I did consider attending as Felix Jaeger, briefly, but bottled it...). The Legend, alas, went to Mark Lawrence and The Liar's Key, which also took the Ravenheart for best cover, and which I will now forever remember alongside Brian McClellan and Promise of Blood who took the Morningstar overHeadtaker in 2014.

Being great books doesn't make it ok!

But it wasn't all bad

So I was a bit disappointed that night, I'm very proud of Gotrek & Felix: Slayer and Black Library did everything they could have done to mobilise the vote. But, I met Black Library newcomer Justin Hill for the first, Laurie and I had a good chat about upcoming projects and, bolstered by free wine, I managed to exchange a handful of awkward words with one of my absolute favourite authors, Scott Lynch.

Why are successful authors so charismatic in person? Tell me this!

But the highlight of the weekend for me was a chance meeting with Marie O'Regan, who I hadn't realised was going to be there beforehand. I've written before about how I took a correspondence writing course with Writers' News before I got published, for which Marie was my mentor, and sold my first story to Black Library shortly after. I've wanted to thank her for a long time and finally got the chance, which completely erased any Gemmell Award disappointment from my mind when I went to bed that night. As I said to her, I already knew most of what she told me, but I needed someone else to say it, and I doubt I'd be where I am now without her.

In Summary

Exhausting. I caught a horrible cold. It was good to get back to writing my book and be reminded of my place in the Great Author Hierarchy.

But I'll definitely do it again.

Nineworlds perhaps? EdgeLit? Or maybe Novacon, Birmingham?

Warhammer: Leeds

I always enjoy getting out and meeting fans, and last Saturday at Warhammer: Leeds (I still want to call it GW: Leeds...) was a blast.

Highlights included the star who brought a copy of what felt like everything I've ever written, the guy who would simply not accept that I hadn't been in White Dwarf play-testing Silver Tower, and the lady who'd baked a Tzeentch-themed cake.



A special mention must also go to the poor member of staff, Callum, who agreed to open the miniature's cabinet to let me look at their Alarielle model only to bring the upper levels crashing down (no miniatures were injured!). I did a least get a rather sheepish look at the model afterwards. Also the rare thrill of being called a geek inside a Warhammer store after observing that the two-tiered setup made me feel like being in the command pulpit of a warship and started giving orders to the staff

Leeds is definitely one of my favourite places to go and sign books, well run, well-staffed, and always busy even though there was (again!) a competing event elsewhere in the city. I was even persuaded to go home with a few minis to start my Age of Sigmar collection. Hopefully some updates to follow if I can finish my current novel and find a but of time to do some painting.



Oh and I sold some books.

But that's by the by.

For some more of the same, next week I'll be stopping in at Warhammer: Scarborough. For times and dates and so on, check out Gav Thorpe's blog.