Page Fright

If you’ve ever tried to write something – and I’m sure most readers of Mechamster have – you’ll know the feeling. You have an idea for a story,  perhaps more than an idea, a whole fleshed-out plan in your head. All you have to do is write. And yet, there’s something holding you back, something that stops you despoiling that pristine white page with your ill-found words.

Procrastination, I am thee. I have found all manner of things to do rather than actually start writing this story that has been on my mental to-do pile for the last few weeks. I’ve had ample opportunities to get it written, and it’s only going to be about 4,000 words so it’s not a massive task, but can I get started?

Some folks talk about writer’s block, but I am one of those that doesn’t really believe in such a thing. Not in the ‘the muse isn’t with me’ sort of way. No, when the words aren’t flowing, it’s usually because the subconscious is pulling the strings, trying to attract the attention of the conscious about a problem or flaw in the plan or writing.

The problem is, I think the problem my subconscious is giving me hell about is a simple one, and isn’t about a detail of plot or a nuance of character. No, it’s screaming at me ‘Is this the right story at all?’

For once, I need to ignore it. The simple reason is that this story is something different, outside my comfort zone. It’s not going to see the light of day for quite a while yet so I can’t go into details, but suffice it to say that it is not a bolters blazing, guts and glory tale that I am quite used to.

I’ve done what I usually tell people to do in this situation, taking my own advice. I’ve slept on it, letting the ideas lie fallow before coming back to them, and given the story plenty of time to percolate, distil, evaporate and come back as creative condensation spattering my thoughts, and still I can’t quite bring myself to commit to an opening line.

It’s a minor crisis of confidence, nothing more. I’ve had them before, and I’d be very surprised if this was the last.

So it is time to put into practice advice nugget number two. Just damn well write something. It can be edited, rewritten, ditched altogether, but having something on the page is always better than having nothing on the page.

Which is why I must now draw this little update to a close, open up that blank page, and write something.

“I am going. I am leaving NOW. GOOD-BYE.”

[But I'll be back soon, I promise]

Early Ravenwing Reviews

As I finish my preparations for Master of Sanctity, book two for the Legacy of Caliban, the pre-release reviews of book one, Ravenwing, are hitting the net.

Here’s what The Independent Characters had to say.

And nice things too over at The Founding Fields.

The vibe on forums and from those that picked up early copies at the BL Weekender has been very positive, and fits with how I felt when I finished writing the book. When writing about Space Marines there is a balance to be found between creating interesting characters and conflicts whilst remaining true to the spirit and nature of these post-human warriors. With the Ravenwing I’ve been able to look at the more independently minded members of the Dark Angels and I’m really happy with the result – a good blend of proper Space Marineness married to some genuinely different characters.

And for those that have mentioned it, yes a lot of the dialogue was influenced by the Spartacus TV series and their ilk; the blend of near-poetic and blunt adds a lovely cadence and character to these knights in space.

Ravenwing is available for pre-order and ebook download right now!

Christmas Offering

Today my short story for the Black Library advent becomes available. Never Forgive is a spin-off from the Sundering, detailing the fate of one of the characters passed over by the cataclysmic conclusion. Also, a not-so-subtle joke about a certain fantasy trope. Find it here:

http://www.blacklibrary.com/time-of-legends/never-forgive-ebook.html

New Sample Synopses

As someone was asking on facebook about Synopses, here’s some that are fairly recent that might help some folks.

First of all, for the short story The Ninth Book.

And a novella, Catechism of Hate.

And the last novel of The Sundering, Caledor.
Older ones can be found here, here and here.

 

Are Elves Gay?

I received some time ago a comment which stopped me in my tracks. I went back and forth on this, trying to work out my own thoughts on the subject, and to be honest I’m not sure I came to any solid conclusions other than ‘it’s not been presented that way before.’ Anyway, here’s a the comment and my reply.

 

First I wish to say, that I loved your books, especially Morathi was potrayed even better than I hoped. But I also hope I dont offend you if I say that there were lot of cliches, stereotypes and predictable events.

This brings me to my question. Basically I wish to know more about Elven homosexuality in wahrammer and censorship in GW/BL. Most fans get furious when I suggest I imagine Elves as pagans with very different view on sexuality.

I find it very curious that druchii who are often compared to Sparta and Rome, are according to most too ,,macho” pseudodarwinists to tolerate homosexuality, despite huge importance of homosexuality in both those warlike cultures. In case of extremelly hedonistic Druchii and sophisticated Asur this seems even more absurd.

Fans get even more angry when I suggest I imagine Malekith (and perhaps all Elves) as being quite bisexuall. Its not just that Malekith the Great reminds me so much of Alexander the Great and Gaius Julius Caesar (both bisexuall), it also seems natural to me that a mortal with such a long lifespan would surely experience some homoerotic affairs.

Am I wrong if I see GW as being similiar to Blizzard when it comes even to mere homoerotic references? On one hand GW is not afraid to sell completely naked harpies, witches in g-strings and daemonettes with six naked breasts as well as referencing to incestuous relationship between Malekith and Morathi and cross-breeding between different species, but is reluctant to make even slightest reference to existence of homosexuality.

I am not some childish gay person who demands to have such themes in every piece of art, its just that in warhammer fiction this phenomenon really lowers the potential for depth and credibility. It is especially obvious when it comes to any lore associated with Slaanesh and your description of athartists. Trying to bring such a natural feature (with huge importance on peoples behavior and fates) out of existence is like creating a world without gravity.

Otherwise I really like your work and I just hope I shall know thanks to you what to expect from GW in the years to come regarding this matter.

Sorry for taking so long to reply – I’ve been busy with travels and deadlines and didn’t want to rattle off something short and glib. You raise a very interesting point, and one that I’ve had to think about very carefully before replying.

Are there gay elves?

Yes, would be my overall reply, but though your examples from pagan cultures would make sense in the context of elven culture, I do not see their sexual society being as close to those you cite, simply from the few examples we have to look at. While the logic of what you say stands up, I simply don’t think this was what was intended when the early background of the elves was being written. The comparison with Athens and Sparta is a rough shorthand at best, particularly to highlight Nagarythe’s militarisation compared to a mainly citizen levy from other states; and also to present the political influence of Nagarythe and Caledor over the other, ostensibly independent, elven kingdoms. In other aspects – slavery most prominently – elven society is substantially different. There seems nothing to suggest that the distinction between adult, sexually active elven males and everything else – the basis for Greek sexuality at the basic level – exists within Ulthuan’s culture.

The only real background we have regarding elf sexual politics comes via the Everqueen. We know that the Phoenix King is required to sire the next Everqueen, but after this their relationship is purely formal (Aenarion notwithstanding). The only other relationship we have to compare is Prince Tyrion as the Everqueen’s consort, which suggests a more high medieval, courtly love than the culture of classical pagans. With that said, I don’t imagine there to be any particular stigma attached to homosexuality within elven society, and it may well be prevalent as you say.

A particular difficulty is that any special emphasis on homosexuality for Warhammer elves, as opposed to any other races, would feed into the juvenile view held by some that they wear dresses, are effeminate and, in a derogatory way, are gay. To include one homosexual elf in a story might smack of tokenism, while to explore it it more depth would be difficult within the scope of a Warhammer novel – just as exploring any other facets of sexual society is difficult given the guidelines for content that exist with Black Library. Creating the correct sort of context to explore these issues is tricky unless it is to be one of the main themes of a story, and cowardly though it may seem, it is not one I feel suitably skilled to present properly. Well, not until I’ve had a chance to think on it some more.

I’ll end by saying that I don’t think Black Library has any policy against portrayal of homosexuality any more than any other type of sexuality, but we all write from our own experiences and worldview and, as far as I know, as a bunch of straight authors we’ve simply stuck close to what we know.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had to consider an answer to a question as involved as this, and it has made me think a lot about the assumptions I have made through my own writing. Thank you for that.

That Was The Weekender That Was

I must apologise first of all for the complete lack of photos in this post, as I was too busy to take any and forgot to appoint my various handlers to the role of guest photographer.

Pictures help to liven up a blog post.

With that said, there are lots of photos flooding the internet already so if you need a visual representation please refer to those.

Can we also assume that I have thanked the vast number of people who need to be thanked, including those whom I will inevitably forget, and that it’s safe to say all the authors, artists, BL staff and fans were incredible. Yes, all of you. Even Aaron.

Thank you.

A particular highlight for me was a joint-proposal put forward alongside the esteemed Bill King during the Pitch Factor event. To say that we were disappointed that the judges weren’t keen on ‘Karaz’ would be an understatement. Even with the musical conclusion. For those who would like to know more about a twenty-volume saga written by two Giants in the Field of Dwarfs concerning the machinations of Jorri, the most black-hearted dwarf who ever lived, and his noble and handsome brother Borri, as they wrangle over possession of the Ewingsson family brewery and their trademark brew ‘Black Gold’ following the mysterious disappearance of their father, Ewing Ewingsson, who may have been walled up in his own tomb by the dastardly Jorri, the most black-hearted dwarf who ever lived, and in turns features goblins, skaven, voluptuous priestesses of Valaya, skullduggery from many cousins and the Ewingsson family rune axe, involving Beards, Betrayal and Beer, then please feel free to drop one of us a line. All offers considered.

I also particularly enjoyed the Dark Angels seminar with Christian Dunn, talking in depth and exchanging views with fans of one of the most controversial Chapters in 40k. The format of the Weekender, with more time and panels for everyone, allows for a more detailed approach to these smaller subjects than might be possible at Black Library Live. Hopefully in the future we can pick on other topics; other races and factions or even individual series of books.

Lastly, Saturday night was a blast. Aside from the hi-jinks from Bill and I at Pitch Factor, I was also privileged to be included on one of the teams for the Universally Challenged panel quiz. Gutted that we didn’t win, but I believe there may have been a scoring malfunction at some point. However, congrats to the audience for their score. After the organised fun came the part that can only really happen at a Weekender-type event: drinks in the bar. It was a long night and an extra thanks goes to those who bought me drinks (even at hotel prices), so much so that I probably should apologise for my probably less-than-one-hundred-percent performance first thing on Sunday morning. It was just as well that I managed to drag myself to my bed at 3am and I am humbled by the constitution of those that continued. The informal discussions, debates and conversations around the scheduled seminars and signings were just as important as those on the programme.

The best Black Library event ever? Damn straight. Lets make 2013 even bigger and better.

Next Sighting

And a reminder that my next public engagement is at Sheffield Central Library, 1-4pm, 17th November; accompanying fellow Angry Robot authors and editors for a session on writing and getting into publishing.

Downloading Sanity… 76% complete

As you may have guessed from the complete lack of activity here on Mechanical Hamster, I have been very busy of late. I’d like to say it was because I’ve been blazing away at the keyboard but in reality most of my time has been taken up with getting out and about visiting folks, or getting ready to go out and about, or recovering from going out and about. Throw in some family visits and such, and this week is pretty much the first full week I’ve had to get my head down and work for quite some time.

All of which means that the Horus Heresy novella I’ve been working on, and failed to finish before I went to Australia, has taken nearer two months to finish rather than the 2 or 3 weeks that I had hoped. This was, for the main part, due to a somewhat drastic but necessary deletion of 10,000 words at the 15k mark. I realised the story I was writing really wasn’t going where it needed to and that a lot of nothing much at all was happening.

Usually I tell folks who want to write that they should just get down a first draft no matter what, but it became clearer as my pace slowed to a crawl that something wasn’t working and there was no point in carrying on in the direction I was going. Having to re-evaluate my plans and approach whilst trying to actually write the latest exploits of Corax and his Raven Guard hasn’t been easy with the stop-start time I’ve had but I had a good couple of days last week and another couple of good days this week should see it finished.

But enough of my passing woes, here’s what I’ve been up to.

Fantasycon

This was my first Fantasycon and it was nice to have a little trip down to Brighton. As a newbie I probably should have thrown myself into things a bit more to make the most of the event, but even so it was nice to meet up with some of my fellow Angry Robot authors as well as some familiar faces from other events, and take part in a panel on tie-in writing. It was also nice that some folks came along for my reading from The Crown of the Usurper, even though it was the very last thing on the itinerary for the event, before the BFS Awards ceremony and banquet. A nice little Q&A followed and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.

BL EXPO

Nervous smiles while tension builds in the ‘Green Room’ as Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Chris Wraight and Graham McNeill all spy the complementary cookies at the same time.

Those who read here often will know that a whole gaggle of Black Library authors descended on Chestermere, Alberta for the Black Library Expo. This was a great event and a fantastic trip all round. A HUGE thanks and hugs go to Gemma for getting everything organised, and along with all of the volunteers and the Chestermere Library board for making us feel so welcome and looking after us so tremendously. I think we are unanimous that this is one of the best events we’ve ever attended.

It was cool to see lots of fans that would otherwise not be able to meet us, and the panels and signings were lively and entertaining. I was also pleased to see some original boks from back in the day, as well as some old but gold Whirte dwarfs (cheers, Dave!) Not only that, we had a wonderful time in Calgary, Chestermere and Banff and I would recommend it to anybody. Hopefully there will be another BL Expo coming along, and it’s certainly worth a few hours on a plane if you’re in North America – it may not be local but it’s certainly closer than the UK!

Empire engineers in Calgary?

By complete coincidence, one of the highlights of the visit was an exhibition at the Glenbow museum in Calgary entitled Fairy Tales, Monsters and the Genetic Imagination. Some very idea-provoking images, and I was particularly impressed by the sculptures of Patricia Piccinini.

To finish up, we ventured into the World’s Edge Mountains (sometimes referred to as Banff National Park, but we know better). The scenery can be rightly described as epic. It certainly helped me get into the mood for one of my forthcoming projects – a new Time of Legends title featuring the Dwarfs of the Dragonback Mountains. Just look at these pictures and insert a few huge gates, ramparts and ancestor faces and you’ll be in the same place I was.

Coming Soon

There are still two more events coming up this year – the BL Weekender and an Angry Robot gathering at Sheffield Central Library. If I haven’t seen you yet, hope to see you at one of these!

And a final note. For those of you that like interesting weapons, here’s some Congolese throwing knives I spotted.

Yes, I did mean throwing knives!

Now where was I? Oh yes, Corax and some devilish Mechanicum engines…

Out and About

I’ve just returned from a busy, and all-too-short trip to Australia for Games Day, as well as a couple of Q&A sessions at the Sydney bunker and signings at the Galaxy and Kinokuniya bookstores (signed books on their selves now if you couldn’t attend one of these events). Thanks are due to Mike and Mal from Black Library for being excellent travelling companions and I had a great time meeting fellow authors Henry Zou and Matthew Farrer. Special mention to my good friend Ant ‘Nosebag’ Reynolds, it was great to catch up.

Oz was just the start of a mad couple of months of events and signings, so for those across the globe here is my upcoming itinerary.

Next up is Games Day UK in Birmingham on the 23rd September. Games Workshop’s biggest event, Games Day is usually the most hectic day in my calendar. I can’t say for definite, but I expect there will be pre-release copies of The Sundering available, as well as awesome Path of the Outcast prints (I have to snag one of these to complete my trio).

The following weekend I will be down in Brighton for Fantasycon 2012. It will be my first Fantasycon and I’m looking forward to meeting up with a whole host of folks from the genre fiction world. I’ll be there with my Angry Robot pals, taking part in the packed schedule of signings, readings and panels.

For those on the other side of the Atlantic, the Chestermere Black Library Expo will provide an impressive line-up of authors to poke, prod and question. Taking part over the first weekend in October, the BL expo is going to be one of the hottest Black Library events outside the UK, so for those that can’t make BLLive! or the BLWeekender this might be your best chance to meet and talk to your favourite writers.

Speaking of which, this period continues with the Black Library weekender, taking place in Nottingham on the 3rd & 4th November. A brand new event, this promises to be even better than Black Library Live!, and that’s impressive indeed; exclusive chapbooks, new releases, some titles months ahead of hitting the shelves and more authors than you can shake a big stick at.

Finally, there’s an Angry Robot author event at Sheffield Central library on 17 November 2012. Along with the AR editors I’ll be with David Tallerman and Adam Christopher to talk about things F, SF and WTF.

Dennis and I hope to see you at one of these events, please come and say hello.

Trilogy Winner Announced

Thank you all for keeping me entertained while I worked on rewrites for my Ravenwing novel (rewrites being an essential yet mainly thankless task). I asked you all to suggest a comedy title for the fourth book in my series The Crown of the Blood, and you delivered. Quite a few concerned hamsters and other rodents, a couple of them mechanical (though I feel the need to point out that dormouse is spelt, well, like that). Some were downright weird. Some even made me go ‘ewww…’

Okay, these aren’t the actual ones I’ll send out. One’s an ARC, as you can clearly see, and I’m not going to inflict my pre-edit typos on anybody.

In the end the biggest chuckle was garnered by…

[[[INSERT YOUR OWN DRUM ROLL HERE]]]

The Crown of the Soldier Who took an Arrow to the Knee.

Tired meme or genius, you decide. Actually, don’t. I’ve already decided, because it’s my competition. “I used to be king of Askhor but then I took an arrow to the knee,” would make a great opening line of dialogue. If you don’t get it, don’t worry you just haven’t played Skyrim, there’s no big conspiracy.

If TroubledScribe would like to get in touch via the hamstertubes – mechanicalhamster [at] gmail [dot] com – we can get the books on their merry way.

Thanks to everyone for joining in the fun. If you’re quick, you may be able to take part in the Fallen Princes blog giveaway. If you’re not quick, you can always win a copy by going to the Robot Trading Company and simply paying money (what could be easier?).

Cheerio.

Crown of the Competition

In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, volume three in The Crown of the Blood is now available. The Crown of the Usurper wraps up the exploits of Ullsaard and his friends/ enemies, but if you haven’t started the series yet here’s a great chance to get in on the (giant cat-riding, dinosaur-punching, back-stabbing) action.

It’s competition time and on offer is a set of the complete trilogy. That’s three books, more than 400,000 words for you to enjoy.

What do you have to do?

Simply reply in the comments section with your suggestion for a (purely hypothetical) fourth book in the series – “Crown of the…?” The one that makes me laugh the most gets the prize. Easy-peasy.

Addition: I should have a closing date, shouldn’t I? Entries to be judged on 17th August.