Rob Sanders's Blog, page 7

Most Wanted: 40k Bad Guys

OUT NOW

The short story Cold Light of Day

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Bad guys are important. How can your heroes lift the heart or inspire the reader with their triumphs if their antagonists and opponents are a disappointment? Where is the dramatic tension? Conversely, bad guys can be extremely fun to write for - the author delighting in the opportunity to convincingly flesh out the monster behind the mask. Background can be interesting and models can serve as avatars on the table top but it is in fiction that bad guys truly come to life. Here are ten bad guys and their realisation in my fiction. The 40K 'Most Wanted' playing cards give you some indication of their perceived threat to the 40k universe. See if you agree.


Antagonist: Chaos Space Marines
As seen in: the novel Legion of the Damned


Antagonist: Renegade Space Marines
As seen in: the short story Bring the Night


Antagonist: Chaos Daemons
As seen in: the short story A Deeper Darkness


Antagonist: Eldar
As seen in: the novel Atlas Infernal


Antagonist: Orks
As seen in: the novel Redemption Corps


Antagonists: Necrons
As seen in: the short story Spirit War


Antagonists: Genestealers
As seen in: the short story Necessary Evil


Antagonists: Dark Eldar
As seen in: the short story Shadow Play


Antagonists: Heretics
As seen in: Army of One


Antagonist: Tyranids
As seen in: the audio drama The Path Forsaken


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' "You'll find vermin in every ship's hold from here to Tobaro," Charnoslav informed her. "The warpstone must have changed them. They grew, and they grew hungry." '
-Cold Light of Day

"Without a doubt, one of the finest fantasy novels this reviewer has ever read"

OUT NOW

The novel ATLAS INFERNAL.


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Today I'd like to look at a fantastic review for my new fantasy novel 'Archaon: Everchosen'. Lord of the Night is a veteran reviewer for The Founding Fields and Talkwargaming . He was kind enough to take the time to read and review 'Archaon: Everchosen'. There are some wonderful insights, observations and lots of delicious detail here. For those who have not read the novel yet (and you should - it can be found HERE!) you should know that the review contains SPOILERS. I have reproduced the review below but if you would like to check out the review at its original source or more reviews by Lord of the Night then they can be found by clicking the site links above or on the sidebar 'Sites Deserving of Attention'. His reviews for my novels LEGION OF THE DAMNED, ATLAS INFERNAL and the novella THE SERPENT BENEATH can be found by clicking the links. My thanks again to reviewer Lord of the Night. Enjoy!


"Lord of the Night reviews the electrifying Archaon: Everchosen by Rob Sanders.

"Without a doubt, one of the finest fantasy novels this reviewer has ever read. Filled with powerful and insane battles, complex and twisted characters and a story that takes everything we thought we knew about Archaon and turns it on it's head. A must-read for any fan of Warhammer Fantasy!" - Lord of the Night @ Talk Wargaming

I was delighted to be able to get a copy of Archaon: Everchosen from Black Library Live, though I did not attend a proxy-bought copy now sits on my shelf, signed by Rob himself no less. Archaon has always been an intriguing and controversial part of Warhammer Fantasy, the Storm of Chaos and his defeat by Grimgor Ironhide and Valten making his supposed status as Lord of the End Times rather amusing. And with the retcons of such things by recent army books and lore entries it appears as if restoring Archaon to being the anti-christ of Warhammer Fantasy is the goal for his character. And after reading this book I am quite sure they are doing a damn good job, this book and whatever follows it will hopefully turn Archaon from the Failbaddon of fantasy into a much more well-rounded and respected character.


Archaon. Lord of the End Times. Ravager of the Empire. Everchosen of Chaos. He is the one who will bring a storm of Chaos upon the realms of man and the legions of darkness shall follow in his wake, and by his blade the world shall end and all will fall to Chaos. But where did the story of the Herald of Armageddon begin? Who was the man who became Archaon the Everchosen of Chaos? What was it that made a young Templar turn his back on the God-King Sigmar and fall into darkness and insanity? From the forests of the Empire to the bizzare vistas of the Northern Wastes to the chill lands of Naggaroth and the blood-stained oceans between, this is the story of Archaon. The story of the man who will be the End.

The story in Everchosen covers the unknown events of Archaon's life prior to becoming a Chaos Warrior and the events that follow his fall, the search for the first of the Treasures of Chaos. However the story is told in a very interesting format that I won't spoil, but I will say this; When you see the Chapter numbers being repeated, remember that it isn't a typo. I very much enjoyed this interesting twist on the story because it made things unpredictable for Archaon, and added a sense of scale to his story, how important he is and the lengths that a certain someone is going to for him. I also like that the story covers years and even decades in the span of pages, chronicling Archaon's journey through the Chaos Wastes and the journey to become a Lord. But the choice to cover his early years, and yes to give him an actual name, was one that makes the majority of the book unknown territory for the reader. You may know where Archaon ends up but believe me, you don't know exactly how he gets there. Quite a few moments from the army book are presented far from what we expected, and as with all the army books somethings are are just outright wrong. (Remembering that the army books/codexes are the historical record and the books are absolute truth, at least I remember reading that once) Sanders does a fantastic job taking Archaon's story and adding much more detail to it both in what Archaon has to do to get to the Treasures and the character story that makes Archaon a far more compelling and deep character than his army book page suggests.

The characters are a vast range of madmen, sadists, abominations, liars and fanatics. One thing that I absolutely loved was the variety of Archaon's followers, some are mentioned once to note their deaths and some are with him for a few chapters, some for longer and some are still with him at the end; I found it fitting that the make-up of Archaon's army changes constantly, some die, some fail, some live and every single one is different from the Maggot-Men of Mother Fecund, Fengshen Ku and the Dreaded Wo, the Swords of Chaos whom I found the most interesting of all, Dravin Vayne and his lover Sularii, and the Great Spleen who gave us some damn good action scenes in the final third of the book; and all the others that I didn't list. The key characters of Father Dagobert and Giselle were also very interesting, both having the same goal though only one retains enough sanity to even try; though Giselle was a character whose motivations I found tricky to understand, her feelings towards Archaon being hard to understand which I think might have been the point. The standout of the book however is of course Archaon, whom we see right from the beginning of his tumultuous birth, his career as a Templar of Sigmar and his fall to Chaos; and for the first time we get to see exactly how he feels about that last part. Short answer; he isn't happy. Archaon is far from the character I expected in both his motivations and his feelings on the events that afflict him. I think the best thing that Sanders has done here is take a character who in his original lore, to me at least, felt one-dimensional and very similar to those who came before; whereas here he feels like a force never before seen in the Warhammer world and a character who I think, is ultimately a true and unequivocal victim.

The action is first-rate right from the start, there is not a single battle scene in this book that felt repetitive, stale or even anything less than epic. Sanders's battle scenes are brutal even when it's just Archaon fighting off Beastmen or Imperial Knights on his own with just the trusty blade Terminus, and when it's entire armies of Chaos monsters clashing with murderous Dark Elves or the horrors of the Northern Wastes tearing at each other for the gaze of the Gods, then it's epic. Sanders adds a lot of variety into the battle as well by giving every single one of Archaon's followers their own unique forces, and by pitting them against a nice variety of enemies that provide different tests and challenges to Archaon's burgeoning army and to the Everchosen himself. Archaon's unholy strength that makes him so unstoppable in the Warhammer game is nicely represented here, but at the same time he is not invincible and several foes in the book come close to ending the Everchosen's reign of terror before it can even begin. Without a doubt the best fight in the entire book though has to be Archaon vs The Yien-La-Long, every moment those two battled against each other or just chased after each other felt epic, it also reminded me of a somewhat similar confrontation in another fantasy, but you'll have to read the book to see for yourself. To sum it up every battle was exciting and in such a battle-filled book, that is an achievement in itself.

The pacing of the book is rather odd right from the start, but if I say why it's a big spoiler so I will just say that this book is paced likely like nothing you've read before, but that is far from a bad thing. Rather it makes many parts of the book very exciting and adds a great sense of scale to the book, it helps the reader appreciate just how much effort is being put into these events and how far someone is willing to go to make sure they happen. And as I said above the book is spread out across many years, some are told in chapters focusing on Archaon's childhood and seeing him grow up, and some of those years pass in the space of a single sentence as the more lengthy parts of Archaon's journey are told almost like a saga rather than an in-depth analysis, Sanders acknowledges these years and gives them some cover but ultimately he knows what he needs to focus on and what he doesn't, and while even just reading about Archaon kicking ass across the Chaos Wastes would have been entertaining, Sanders focuses on the more important and much more entertaining aspects of Archaon's journey. Admittedly the final quarter of the book felt a little squashed together but after thinking about it I think that the rapidity in which these events came is a consequence of what Archaon does in the book and what he fails to do, plus the background lore never actually specified the space of time between some of these events so it works out.

Another thing that I think made the novel great is that Sanders is one of the few authors whom I think truly understands how to write Chaos as an entity. The insanity, changeability and contradictions that Chaos embodies are very well portrayed here. In the treks into the Wastes, the battles that fill those chapters and the horrors that Chaos unleashes; all of them feel distinct and unpredictable, what comes next is anyone's guess and Sanders does well in using his own creations rather than relying on the already established aspects of Chaos like Bloodletters, Daemonettes, etc. It's always good to see an author attempting to make his own contributions to Chaos and when they do it makes the book(s) more exciting because you can never tell what is going to be unleashed against the protagonists, or in this case by them, until its done. Not only does Sanders give Archaon a fantastic portrayal but he also gives Chaos one as well and makes the aspects and personalities of Chaos important to the plot and to Archaon as a character, which to me greatly contributes to the book being so damn good.

Now for my favourite quote, frankly every other page has Archaon or another character saying something badass, so i'll go with this one because it was so poignant and reveals a lot about Archaon as a character (in context),

"He will not. For I am already lost to him."

The ending was great on many levels. Archaon has been put into an interesting place story-wise and the next book will not only see Archaon hunting for the rest of the Treasures but also learning how to really be a leader of monsters and men and character-wise we see that Archaon now has something that one day he must deal with if he is to become the Everchosen, but how he'll do that is a mystery for the next book. Sanders ends the story on an excellent note, Archaon has gained and lost much but he is firmly on the path and where that will take him we have some idea, but for the most part we must guess until the sequel is written and released, a date that I am very greatly anticipating.

For an enjoyable and thrilling story that surprised me at many points, characters that continually surprised me with their true motivations and their actions, battle scenes that felt like an epic movie scene and for finally giving an under-appreciated character the excellent portrayal he deserves I give Archaon: Everchosen a score of 9.2/10. This is a book that every fan of Warhammer Fantasy should try, especially those of you who don't care for Archaon or what happens to him in the Storm of Chaos because I think this book completely redeems him as a character, and it's fun to read the entire way through. I would even suggest this story to newcomers to Warhammer Fantasy, it will have you hooked, although I would not recommend the book to those who aren't familiar with Warhammer as it requires some knowledge about the lore and background of the world. That's it for this review, thanks very much for reading. Until next time,

AVE DOMINUS NOX!"

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'"Something bad is going to happen."
"This is the Eye of Terror," Torquil announced sagely. "That is a given."
-Atlas Infernal

Book Launch at the Derby Film Festival

I'm very happy to say that I will be attending the 'After the Fall' Book Launch at the Derby Film Festival on Thursday 15th May at 7pm. It promises to be an evening of readings, panel discussions and signings. My short story 'Hyperion' features in the anthology, set in a future after the failure of technology. Pre-orders for 'After the Fall' are available from Boo Books now. Check it out HERE.


After the Fall
Technology has changed the world around us over the last century, and promises even more great things for the future. But what does that future look like without the marvels of the machine age? After the fall of technology, what lies ahead for humanity?

Featuring a new story from Adam Roberts, plus tales from Allen Ashley, Mike Chinn, Caren Gussoff, Amelia Mangan, Stephen Palmer, Rob Sanders and many more.

You can find out more about Book Books HERE.

The Derby Film Festival takes place from May 9th - 18th and will feature film screenings, previews and discussions with fantastic actors like John Hurt and Phil Daniels. Going along with the dystopian theme and science-fiction setting of 'After the Fall', my selections from the festival would be 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' with John Hurt, Michael Crichton's 'Westworld' and George Miller's 'The Road Warrior'. For the full schedule of events click HERE.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Want To Play? - Horus Heresy 'Angels of Death'

OUT NOW

The novel Redemption Corps in Honour Imperialis.


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Like many of my readers, I like a good game. I think blogs should probably indulge more in such things. Reviews. Articles. Interviews... Games and puzzles. I've popped a few already on the blog, which you can find on the GAMES tab above. Today's is a Horus Heresy game called 'Angels of Death' and is a Space Marine firefight game.


Concept
The game concerns a pair of Space Marines - one loyalist and one traitor - moving through cover, exchanging boltgun fire and trying to end one another. Space Marines selected from different legions have different game advantages. The objective is to be the last Space Marine standing. You can kill your opponent with either a single kill or win by bolt-blasting attrition. Being transhuman, Space Marines can take one hell of a pounding.

Players
The game works best with two players but can be played solo. Hypothetically and with a little adaptation, it could even be played with more in some kind of team set up.

You Need
Everything that you need for the game can be found here but a pen and a hand might be useful for recording the location of hits. Six sided dice and a coin would be useful also but I have included an online version here. Hit charts are reproduced below.








Choose Your Legion

First you need to decide whether you are going to be a Loyalist or a Traitor. You can select your legion from the list below. If you are playing solo, you should nominate an opponent legion also.

Loyalist
Dark Angels
White Scar
Space Wolves
Imperial Fists
Blood Angels
Iron Hands
Ultramarines
Salamanders
Raven Guard

Traitor
Emperor's Children
Iron Warriors
Night Lords
World Eaters
Death Guard
Thousand Sons
Sons of Horus
Word Bearers
Alpha Legion


Games Sequence
The game sequence is quite simple.


1. A coin is flipped to see who fires first. This can be done on the application above.

2. It is assumed that the two Space Marines are now engaged in a firefight - using cover and blasting at each other with their boltguns. The first player rolls a single six-sided dice to determine the hit.

3. The hit charts above determine the location of the hit. 1 for a miss, 2 for weapon, 3 for legs, 4 for arms, 5 for breastplate and pack and 6 for helm. Hits should be recorded.

4. Note that each hit location can only be hit once. The arms do not need to be twice - one for each arm. The idea is that mounting damage to the plate and life-threatening injuries to these areas will eventually result in death.

5. If a location that has been designated a hit is hit again then it is counted as a glancing shot and therefore a miss. A bolt-mangled leg can't be mauled any further. A boltgun that has been hit cannot be damaged any more. It is assumed that the Space Marine has switched to a bolt pistol for the remainder of the engagement.

6. A roll of 1 means a plain miss or that cover has come between the Space Marine and his target. It results in no damage and therefore no recording of a hit. As the firefight progresses, the Space Marines sustain more damage and get more of a measure of one another. This results in a greater number of exploratory and warning blasts of bolt fire that do not result in injury or a kill.

7. Different legions have different genic, technological or strategic advantages as indicated below. A player may use their legionary advantage once during the game to change a hit outcome. They have been balanced to ensure both Loyalists and Traitor have the same selection overall.

+1 to own die outcome
Salamanders (avenging angels) and Night Lords (terror tactics)

-1 to own die outcome
White Scars (hit and run) and Word Bearers (use of cultists)

Re-roll of own die
Blood Angels (the Red Thirst) and Emperor's Children (pursuit of perfection)

Force opponent to miss their next turn
Raven Guard (stealth) and Alpha Legion (subterfuge)

Reproduce the same hit on opponent as just experienced
Ultramarines (strategy) and Sons of Horus (tradition of victory)

Eliminate the outcome of one hit taken
Iron Hands (bionics) and Iron Warriors (fortification and use of cover)

Double the outcome of own rolled die (a 1 could be counted as a 2, a 3 as a 6 etc.)
Space Wolves (executioners) and World Eaters (slaughter for its own sake)

Half the outcome of own die (a 6 can be counted as a 3, a 4 as a 2 - no halving of odd numbers)
Imperial Fists (siege masters) and Death Guard (indomitable)

Nominated invulnerability of the helm until game's end (must be the last hit taken - hits on it beforehand count as a miss)
Dark Angels (murky motivations) and Thousand Sons (psychic warfare)

Remember that a legionary advantage can only be used once in a game. Nominated invulnerability lasts the whole engagement, however.

8. If you are playing solo then you can roll a die to determine the round upon which the opponent uses their advantage. No Space Marine - Loyalist or Traitor is an idiot so some discretion will need to be exercised in making such a decision for a non-player opponent. As a simple rule the opponent will take the more damaging action or the action that takes them closest to winning. If the advantage actually yields no result at all - for example, it can only result in hitting locations that have already been hit - then playing the advantage hangs over until the next round or the next or the next, until the non-player can actually cause some damage. Remember that it can only be used once during the engagement.

9. The opponent now takes their roll of the die. If you are playing solo you roll for your opponent. These hits should be recorded in the same way.

10. Gameplay continues with the die being rolled for each combatant in turn, each Space Marine suffering more and more damage to his plate and person as the firefight continues.


Winning the Game
The game can be won in one of two ways (although it is not impossible for the circumstances of both to happen simultaneously).

Winning by Attrition
If an opponent suffers damage / injury to every location on their power armoured form, including their weapon (locations 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) then it is considered that the Space Marine's plate and enhanced physicality can take no more. Smoking and bolt-riddled, they fall and the last Space Marine standing is declared the winner of the game. Naturally, legionary advantages might have to be taken into account in respect to this (for example, the elimination of hit outcomes).

Killshot
If a player rolls the same number on their turn three times in a row (three sixes, for example) then it is assumed that their last fortunate shot blew off a head rather than, for example, shattering a helm. In the instance of a killshot, legionary advantages are not taken into account. The changing of die outcomes don't contribute. The successive outcomes must be rolled on the die. Similarly, the elimination of hits cannot negate a killshot.

And that's it. Happy gaming! Feel free to let me know in the comments or on social media how it worked or if there are any kinks in the game sequence. Don't forget that you can join me on Facebook, Twitter and/or join this site by clicking the applications on the right-hand sidebar. The more the merrier.
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'‘Blazer One, this is…’ Mortensen stalled, ‘What the hell is this bird called?’
‘Vertigo,’ Rosenkrantz enlightened him.
‘Blazer One, this is Vertigo. We have some hostiles crowding the dropzone. Would you be so good as to strafe those malingering sons-a-bitches and clear the way, so to speak.’
-Redemption Corps in Honour Imperialis

Death Guard

OUT NOW

The Horus Heresy short story Distant Echoes of Old Night.

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While I've been away I've missed a lot of reviews. The blog tends to be the place where I collect these, like some nut-crazed squirrel preparing for Winter. I'm going to get right back on with this but in no particular order. Up today is an appraisal of my Horus Heresy short story Distant Echoes of Old Nightfrom HachiSnax Reviews. The story details the dire exploits of the Death Guard legion and in particular their controversial use of units known as 'Destroyers'. Here's what HachiSnax had to say.

“Distant Echoes Of Old Night is a Horus Heresy short by the very talented Rob Sanders, which centers around the XIV Legion, the Death Guard. In Echoes, Death Guard Brother-Chaplain Morgax Murnau is charged with guaranteeing that no survivors remain on the felled Imperial Fists ship Xanthus, which has been shot out of orbit and now lays sinking in the mire of the blighted planet of Algonquis. Well, to be exact, it is a portion of the ship, however, any amount of Imperial Fists in a fortified area makes for an extremely tough nut to crack.

Purge the ship of survivors. A seemingly impossible task. But Murnau has a trick up his sleeve. In fact, it is the dirtiest trick in all the Legiones Astartes. He is set to deploy a group of Destroyers to finish off the Fists. These Destroyers bring a horrifying array of weapons to bear, most of them high-radiation, or chemical in nature. And not just your run of the mill biochemical warfare, these are tools usually deemed too harsh for most Space Marines to use, and remember, the Spaces Marines are an elite fighting force bred to bring entire systems to compliance. The game is set: the universe's greatest defensive players versus the most nefarious plague marines around. Murnau's instructions: no survivors.

Although Echoes is technically a Horus Heresy story, it, like most recent entries, can be read independently. This is, indeed, more a Warhammer 30K work than a HH tale. Now, I am not up to date on all the Heresy books, so if there are any clever Easter eggs, story arc progression, or hints about certain events, please let me know in the comments section. So yes, if you are not up to date on your Heresy reading, you can still sit down and enjoy these 21 pages of Death Guard/Imperial Fist action.

And enjoy it I did. Sanders brings a flair for vivid imagery to the fore in Echoes. A good chunk of the earlier pages give us a stark picture of the plague that has been unleashed upon the former forest planet of Algonquis by the Death Guard. Where once lush green foliage and tall trees defined the landscapes, all is swamp and insects. "Syrupy waters" lap against Mark III armor, and the buzzing of filthy fauna pervades all. Later on, the descriptive prose gives us an "in-your-face" look at the effects of the Destroyers' devious toys.

It is a good thing that The Black Library finally put this short into general release. I've been wanting to read it since it was announced for the chapbook, and I am sure many others have been champing at the bit to get a crack at it. Here's hoping he gets a crack at a full-length Heresy novel soon.

Here's what it is:
A nasty little tale of dirty deeds done dirt cheap. Space Marine specialists ask the age-old question, if an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, who will win the day? Can anyone win?

Final Score:

90/100”

You can but the short story Distant Echoes of Old Night HERE.

You can read the original piece and more of HachiSnax's fantastic reviews HERE. You can, of course, read more reviews of my work by hitting the Reviews tab on the menu above.


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'We play at perpetuity but we were not built for forever. Warmth will leave our great bodies. Our hearts will beat to empty echoes. Blood will sit stagnant in our veins and our flesh shall rot. Accept this.'
Distant Echoes of Old Night

After the Fall

OUT NOW

My short story 'Fearful Symmetries' in



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I’m happy to announce that my science-fiction short story Hyperion is released next week in the anthology ‘After the Fall’. The story is set in a world after technology has failed humanity and those who have survived have been plunged into a new age of darkness, superstition and ignorance.

I really enjoyed working on this with editor Alex Davis. ‘After the Fall’ is released from Boo Books on the 10th May. Pre-orders are available now. Check it out HERE.


After the Fall
Technology has changed the world around us over the last century, and promises even more great things for the future. But what does that future look like without the marvels of the machine age? After the fall of technology, what lies ahead for humanity?

Featuring a new story from Adam Roberts, plus tales from Allen Ashley, Mike Chinn, Caren Gussoff, Amelia Mangan, Stephen Palmer, Rob Sanders and many more.

You can find out more about Book Books HERE.
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'The Deathwatch do not fail, inquisitor?'
Fearful Symmetries in Deathwatch: Xenos Hunters

If Music Be the Food for Thought

OUT NOW

The short story 'Bring the Night' in

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How did authors ever get on without the internet? It makes instant experts of us all. Virtually everything is described and presented in images and diagrams for swift elucidation. This is an incredible boon to an author, who has all the libraries he or she is ever likely to consult at their fingertips. Images and art inspire authors in their depictions and are particularly useful in helping authors visualise people, places, objects and a million other things besides.

I like lots of stimulus when I writing. I'm not one of those go lock yourself in a silent room or spent the Summer in a remote cabin kinds of authors. I'm happy to have people around me while I'm writing. I write with my wife and children around me. I write in crowded cafes. I have even snatched an hour or two between seminars and signings at events, surrounded by authors and editors.

The one concession I make to isolating my thoughts is headphones. Music is a polite, little shower curtain I draw about myself when writing. I'm listening to music right now as I type this. I'm not saying I can't write without music but I certainly find it helps - and for more than just providing a barrier. I often try to match the feel of the music to what I am writing - in tone at least and not just content. This works particularly well with film, television, trailer and game soundtracks where an emotional architecture has already been built into the tracks. I find that great music can really help to lift the composition of a scene, description or interchange.

I recently asked around on social media for suggestions and am compiling a list of great tracks and soundtrack albums. I know that there are fantastic tracks out there that I haven't heard or perhaps just forgotten. I would welcome any further suggestions on Facebook, Twitter or in the comments section of the blog. As a reminder, you can join me on any or all of these by Liking, Following or Joining using the buttons on the side bars. The more the merrier. In return I thought I might share a few favourites of mine here. Tracks that I think are amazing for setting a certain tone of mood. Rather than go Space Marine-bombastic I thought I might present some more thoughtful tracks that build and gain a momentum in their different ways. Tracks that really carry you alone as you are writing.

So, my Top 20 thoughtful tracks, in no particular order. The trick is to ignore the context. Some are from fantastic films and some from poor ones. Try to divorce the music from its source and enjoy it as is. No analysis or information. I'll let the music speak for itself. Further great suggestions might change this selection, of course!



1. 'Song for Bob' by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis from 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'.




2. 'Journey to the Line' by Hans Zimmer from 'The Thin Red Line'.




3. 'Promontory' by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman from 'The Last of the Mohicans'.




4. 'Comptine d'un Autre Été: L'Après Midi' by Yann Tiersen from 'Amelie'.




5. 'Elegy' by Lisa Gerrard and Patrick Cassidy from the 'Man of Steel' trailer.




6. 'Wilson, I'm Sorry' by Alan Silvestri for 'Cast Away'.




7. 'Krypton's Theme' by John Williams for 'Superman: The Movie'.




8. 'Any Other Name' by Thomas Newman from 'American Beauty'.




9. 'The Departure' by Michael Nyman from 'Gattaca'.




10. 'Crossing the Atlantic' by John Williams from 'Amistad'.




Click HERE for Tracks 11-20.

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'We deal in dread...'
from Bring the Night in Renegades of the Dark Millennium.

If Music Be the Food For Thought 2

OUT NOW


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11. 'Drive Away' by Thomas Newman from 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'.




12. 'The Last Message / A particularly Beautiful Day' by John Murphy from 'Sunshine'.




13. 'London' by James Newton Howard from 'Blood Diamond'.




14. 'First Sleep' by Cliff Martinez from 'Solaris'.




15. 'Godspeed' by Klaus Badelt from 'The Time Machine'.




16. 'Good to Go' by Alan Silvestri from 'Contact'.




17. 'Chevalier de Sangreal' by Hans Zimmer from 'The Da Vinci Code'.




18. 'Trailer song' by Giles Lamb from the trailer for 'Dead Island'.




19. 'Finale' by Trevor Morris from 'The Tudors'.




20. 'Time' by Hans Zimmer from 'Inception'.




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'What must I do beyond the ease of killing, to get the attention of these daemon deities? These dogs of damnation?'
Archaon: Everchosen

Have You Seen This Man?

OUT NOW


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First off, an apology. It’s not nice when something just stops. A film. A relationship. A life support machine. I haven’t updated this blog in over a year. The year before that made I regular appearances here. The reasons for my absence are largely interrelated. There is no one thing that’s kept me away. I changed from being a teacher and author to a full time author. While this is fantastic, it meant a lot of extra hard work to ensure that my students and my department were left in a good place. At the same time I planned to move websites. I still intend to do this at some point but my neglect of this site was a little premature. The main reason I have been away, however, is simply hard work. I’ve been working on a plethora of short stories, audio dramas, novellas and novels – some that are out, some that are just coming out and some that are as yet to be released. I’ve also been hard at work creating new writing opportunities in new formats, which I look forward to telling you about.

Like a sequel that comes to be regarded as better than the original (I’m thinking The Empire Strikes Back or Aliens here), the blog has returned. My aim is to work as hard, or even harder, than I have been doing on my creative ventures but also to maintain a healthy commitment to the blog. To begin that I’ve given it a much needed streamline and overhaul, embracing clean whites and blues over the rather sombre black and orange theme I had going on before. It contains all the great material of its first incarnation – some highlights of which you’ll find still trending on the side bar list in my absence. Fairly swiftly I’ll be adding to it with news of new releases, long-standing questions answered (a special sorry to the faithful of the ‘Ask the Author’ section), reviews and features. I might also be able to make better use of social media than I have done in the past but no promises. Crawl. Walk. Run.

Finally, welcome back to friendly and familiar faces and a big hello to fresh ones. If you feel so inclined, I encourage you to follow me, my work and the blog in a number of ways. You can join this site on the right hand bar. You can Like my author Facebook page above on the right. You can follow my Twitter feed, also up on the right hand bar. Hell, do all three. Also, feel free to ask questions (as long as it's not the one about where babies come from) and comment on the blog itself. On the left hand bar I've placed my list of sites and blogs deserving of attention. These are sites maintained by readers who have usually found their way there by attracting my attention with reviews and interviews. If, on the other hand, you would like to add my blog to your own list - as many have - that would be cool too. So, let's begin...

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'What must I do beyond the ease of killing, to get the attention of these daemon deities? These dogs of damnation?'
Archaon: Everchosen

YOU ARE THE HERO Guest Blog Post: Author Jonathan Green

Today I'm very happy to turn the blog over to prolific author Jonathan Green. I've long been a fan of Jonathan's writing and was excited to discover that he was embarking on a project centred on the Fighting Fantasy phenomenon. I loved the the Fighting Fantasy books and have written about them before here. Can I encourage you to support Jonathan in this fantastic endeavour. I'll hand over to Jonathan.

"Everyone remembers their first.

Mine was The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. It was 1982 and I was ten years old at the time. Here was a book in which I – the reader – was the hero. I got to choose the course of the adventure, deciding which paths to take, which traps to risk, and which monsters to fight. I had never seen or read anything like it before – and so began a life-long love affair with Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain inspired me like no other book ever has. It’s why I’m doing what I doing now, and I know others have also been inspired to follow a career in genre writing because of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.

Earlier this year I wrote a piece about the history of Fighting Fantasy for SFX magazine. But the more I researched the story behind the creation of the world’s premier gamebook series, the more story I realised there was still to tell. To do the subject justice I needed to write a book –and so the idea that was to become YOU ARE THE HERO was born.

YOU ARE THE HERO will tell the story of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, from the early days of Games Workshop right up to the present day and beyond. I have already interviewed the creators of the Fighting Fantasy series – Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone – who are both keen to have their story told. In fact, Steve Jackson once said to me, "You are the perfect person to write this book."#

Not only will YOU ARE THE HERO tell the amazing story of how Fighting Fantasy gamebooks changed the world, it will also cover everything from spin-off novels and puzzle books, to foreign editions, board games and video games. It will even delve into such areas as the gamebooks that never were, the myths and legends surrounding the series, and how Ian Livingstone’s newest gamebook – Blood of the Zombies – almost never happened.

But I can’t do this without your support. Check out the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter page today and the unique rewards available to those people who back the project and pledge your support today.

Thank you.

You can find the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter page here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1412864360/you-are-the-hero


You will find the YOU ARE THE HERO Facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/ComicHeroes#!/pages/You-Are-The-Hero-A-History-of-Fighting-Fantasy-Gamebooks/449514028443744?fref=ts

Alternatively, visit www.JonathanGreenAuthor.com."

Thanks, Jonathan. Don't forget that Jonathan's brilliant Pax Britannia

series is available here.