Black Library Live 2012

This Saturday past saw Liz and I hurtling northwards to Nottingham, a journey where the greatest danger came not from bandits in trees but mile after mile of traffic cones on the M1 (apparently putting cones on the hard-shoulder constitutes roadworks these days, and is considered traumatic enough to warrant a 50 mph speed limit). Despite the best attempts of the Highways Agency, we arrived at Warhammer World with about 15 minutes to spare before the doors opened.

We met up with fellow BL fan Amanda Rutter and joined the queue of chilly but enthusiastic attendees and were soon shuffling through the doors under the baleful gaze of Lurtz. We collected our programmes and Chapbooks from Andy Smillie, who was on door duty (what the hell do they feed them up there?) and headed upstairs to the castle themed main hall, which had been split into the usual gaming hall and a space for the heavily laden tables of Black Library goodies on sale and the signing tables. I left Liz to collect (free) tickets for the panels we wanted to attend while I ducked into the sale area to rifle through the stacks of cool stuff that were on sale. Limited edition art prints vied for space with pre-release titles, limited edition novellas and several titles that were normally restricted to the Print-on-Demand section of the BL website. I picked up a very modest three items, but I was certainly the exception to the rule- most of the people around me were walking around with armfuls of stuff, their eyes glazed in satisfaction.

I quickly stashed the books in the boot of the car and topped up my caffeine levels with a surprisingly good coffee in Bugman’s before we headed to the first panel. Liz and Amanda headed off to the “Writing for Black Library” while I took a seat for “Space Marines”, which was headed by Gav Thorpe (who had quite a full day: he was everywhere) It was a bit of a broad description but, as it turned out, it was a discussion about understanding what made Space Marines tick, and the issues of who, and what, they were, elements which are key in writing them well and ensuring readers could connect with them without diluting the same.

We all met up for the next panel, this one on the Warhammer fantasy setting, this one again helmed by Gav Thorpe, the focus turning to what sets it apart as a fantasy world and why those traits work so well. The discussion ranged from the decline of the Dwarven empire, the classical origins of the elves and the level of despair felt by your average Imperial commoner. It was a good one, and left me wanting to do do nothing more than go grab a pint and settle down with the newly released Gotrek and Felix anthology.

We decided it was a good time for lunch, and after some crafty hovering-with-intent, we managed to snag a table in Bugman’s, which was proving as popular as ever thanks to the reasonably priced plate bending portion sizes and the sheer geektastic pleasure of sitting and having a drink in a place with a dwarven anvil over the fireplace and a mounted Ork’s head sharing the wall-space with enormous canvas maps and banners. Then it was off to a talk about Xenos in 40K, covering such things as the difficulties in writing from an alien’s perspective (and how to get around it), whether Tau were naive or manipulative gits with a darker agenda and pointers about their upcoming submissions window.

A quick break followed before we filed into the very popular panel about the Horus Heresy series, helmed by Christian Dunn and populated by HH stalwart Graham McNeill, Nick Kyme, Rob Sanders and Gav Thorpe. This was largely a Q&A session, and for me the most thrilling moment was Dunn’s reply to the question of whether there were plans afoot to expand the HH into media beyond books and audio dramas – there will be an announcement on this at the Black Library Weekender. For the rest, I was pleased to hear that there were loads of new projects in the offing, including books for the White Scars and the Salamanders. It was interesting to hear how carefully the series is being orchestrated behind the scenes and while it’s frustrating knowing that the final confrontation is years away, it’s simultaneously comforting to know that there are dozens more of these cracking novels ahead.

I left the others in Bugman’s afterwards to spend more time poring over the goodies for sale and admiring the display cases of armies and mock-up models. I also bought some tickets for the raffle to win some of their amazing posters but sadly my luck wasn’t in. Mind you, I’m not really sure what I would have done with a 12 x 6 foot poster at home, but hey, it would’ve been a nice problem to have though!

We said our farewells soon after and began the long drive home, with most of the time spent in rambling conversations about Space Marine psychology and the perils of Warp travel, an awesome side effect of being immersed in such a vibrant, friendly and shamelessly enthusiastic atmosphere. Top marks to the Black Library & Warhammer World crews!

And yes, I’ve already bought tickets for next year.

You can find out more about the Black Library and the Weekender here.

Random House Kids Blogger Event

Along with a whole bunch of other bloggers, that girl Kaz Mahoney and I went to visit Random House Kids' office in Ealing Broadway earlier today.

We were ushered through to the "secret basement meeting room" where a handful of other bloggers were already neatly ensconced. It was fab to put a face to Nayu as she and I are forever chatting on Twitter and via the blog - it was great to meet her in Real Life too. I also got to meet Caroline from Portrait of a Woman website, a new to me blogger but one I think I will be watching closely as her reviews are pretty darn cool. The lovely Bookette (Becky) was there too and a whole swathe of others - I will be updating this blog with links to everyone's blogs, as soon as I can, I promise.

Once everyone was there, Clare, the publicity director welcomed us all. I think she sensed how wildly excited we were being there and handled all our shining faces as we stared at her with open hunger very well. First up Lauren (senior press officer) chatted to us about the covers for Malorie Blackman's upcoming novel Boy's Don't Cry. Just look at these pictures! They eventually decided on the cover on the bottom to the right.

Claire chatted about the new upcoming Terry Pratchett novel and she had a very appreciative audience. It was like we were at a panto, actually - a lot of OOOOH and AAAAH went around the table.

We had Corinne talk with passion about The Necromancer by Michael Scott which really has me deeply interested. She won me over when she explained how he used a lot of mythology and legends. I need to get hold of the other books in this Nicholas Flamel series because I think it's right up my street.

Well, I think it's easier if I put this picture up and you will be able to see what we got talking about, then I'll upload more photos and give commentary about the books and such, it will make more sense.

From the names / titles of books listed on the flipchart I am particularly excited about Ring of Solomon, Dark Touch, and Long Lankin.

Corinne showing off The Necromancer by Michael Scott.

Claire enthusing about a new Terry Pratchett. Notice the Justin Bibier book and the Gleek book. I have Gleek to review. So be very afraid.

Oooh, top secret things were revealed to us. Shhh. You may not ask what was revealed. We were all given ninja lessons to guard these top secrets very well until we can share.

Of course there was some utterly delicious cake to be consumed. Books and cake and strawberries and snacks. RHCB can be glad they managed to get rid of us!

RHCB publicity team from left to right: Rosie, Claire, Kelly, Corinne, Lauren.

Loot 1 - All the Jonathan Stroud books I could lay my greedy little mitts on. Om nom nom!

Loot 2 - some books for younger readers which I am keen to review, also a teaser glimpse of the NEW John Boyne. Oh, and Michael Scott's The Necromancer.

Loot 3 - the teen / older fiction pile. Torment and Hear the Dead Cry just looks utterly amazing! Also, the new Margo Lanagan...yum!

And to round off, the teaser shot of the cake and snacks the team laid on for us bloggers. How lovely and delicious?

We were taken upstairs to their offices (some which were beautifully tidy) and we were let loose on their shelves. Muah ha ha. Little did they expect the scary locust-like process we were planning for weeks on end. Actually, it was more like an orchestrated Oceans 11 swoop and grab operation, to be honest. All of us had to beg for extra carrier bags to carry all our loot home. We left, feeling utterly spoiled and very brat-like. I fear to say: we were gloating.

We had an absolutely blast and it was so great being able to dawdle and ask questions of the team about upcoming books, content of books, storylines and such. It was a fantastic opportunity where we could see behind the scenes of the labyrinth otherwise known as the Random House offices in Ealing Broadway.

To Clare, Lauren, Corinne, Rosie and Kelly: thank you so much for taking time out from your Saturdays to invite us over to squeal over books. You have made a group of bloggers very happy indeed.

Games Day 2009

My Games Day started very early on Sunday. The last two Games Days I’ve been to, I’d travelled up with the coach organised by the local Games Workshop store; while we’d arrived on time on both occasions, we’d also been late enough to have to take up residence at the back of the queue to get in.

This year my friend Dom & I decided to avoid that particular problem.

The alarm drew me stumbling and cursing from bed at the ungodly hour of 02h20. Fortunately I’d laid out everything earlier was out of the door, fed, clothed and with my satchel in hand within 25 minutes. I charged through the empty streets of London picked Dom up en route and we eased onto the all but deserted M40, popping Heart of Rage into the CD player to set the mood for the day.

With no traffic, we pulled into the grounds of the NEC a couple of hours later. After a bit of searching, we managed to find one of the security/parking guys who directed us towards a parking lot where we could pay on the way out. We strolled down past the giant pond and towards the main entrance as the first faint blush of dawn brushed the horizon. There were a handful of other hardy souls/ fanatics there, all in good spirits, and after finding out that the Subway was already open, we grabbed the first of many coffees and sat down to leaf through the new Space Wolves codex that one of the other fan(atics) had lent us.

Soon after we were ushered to an empty hall the size of a B52 hangar, where we were settled in as the head of the queue. All we had to do now was occupy ourselves for 4 hours. The amazing thing is, the time went quickly as conversation jumped from the Space Wolves to various books, gaming anecdotes, stories from previous Games Days, hobby tips, and more. Soon enough the trickle of attendees turned into a steady stream as the coaches began arriving. The stewards were unobtrusive but effective, funnelling the new arrivals to the end of the queue (and past our increasingly smug faces) and keeping everything under control, although their job was made easier by the almost festive atmosphere.

Seeing the faces of the later arrivals as they entered the hall and saw the queue, which snaked up and down the length of over half the ‘hangar’, was almost enough to make the early start worthwhile all in its itself.

Eventually though it was time for the Day to officially start and we were escorted to the main entrance and let loose in the main hall- it was exhilarating to be there first ones across the threshold, with not another queue in sight! We raced to the Black Library stand, where I picked up two copies of Sandy Mitchell’s Ciaphas Cain chapbook and a copy of Brothers of the Snake, which I’d been thinking about doing for a while. Dom’s conviction that it was the best Space Marine novel ever and Dan’s presence tipped the balance and it was straight to the tills while those behind me made a beeline for copies of Blood Pact, Dan’s new Gaunt’s Ghosts novel (and one which would be sold out before midday!)

And here’s a tip for next year- bring cash! You can pay by card, but the connections are always painfully slow- this is what causes the bottleneck at the stand later in the day. It’s been the same story for the last few years. Fortunately, I had learned this lesson and was soon in already snaking queue for the joint Dan Abnett/ Graham McNeill signing table.

I was pleased to see that they’d separated the tables- there’s always a significant (i.e ‘huge’) demand for Dan & Graham at Games Day and splitting the signings makes everything more manageable.


Graham and I had a good chat about Empire & Heldenhammer as he signed the books for me and I really can’t wait for the third instalment now! I did a sneaky sidestep and popped up in front of Dan, who was looking well and as enthusiastic as ever. After he drew parallels between Brothers of the Snake and the Spartan ethos I was sorely tempted to simply move across to the large café in the hall and sit and read it, but fought the temptation- there was still too much to see!

I met up with Mark Newton, who was on photo duty (inter alia) and we chatted as I waited for Dom to have his books signed by Dan- it was good to see that Mark was as excited about the day as any of the fans I’d spoken to so far and we made our way over to the other signing tables where he kindly introduced me to Nick Kyme, author of Salamander. Nick who was happy to sign the copy I’d brought along in my tardis like satchel and I reckon we cold have been there for a while chatting about the next two instalments in the trilogy if it wasn’t for the dozen or so people behind me getting a bit finty eyed. I spied a gap and defected to Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s table, who was also quite happy to sign both my copies of Cadian Blood. Dom and I then besieged Sandy Mitchell, and were chuffed to hear that not only is he elbows deep in a new Ciaphas Cain novel, it’s going to be a new series featuring the eponymous hero!

I have to say that the authors and artists who were there were uniformly generous with their time, happily signing books, posters, our autograph book and, for some lucky souls, doing impromptu sketches (next year I’m camping next to Clint Langley’s table!).

Dom and I went with the flow, worming our way through the throng, gazing with naked avarice at the treasures in the Forge World displays and the ‘Eavy Metal showcases. There was something happening everywhere you looked- Bloodbowl previews, playable Dawn of War II demos for The Last Stand and Chaos Rising, dozens of games dotted with stupendously large titans, mountains of shiny new merchandise of all varieties, video previews of the awesome looking Space Marine game, bargain sales -including ‘lucky dip’ boxes, art displays, demonstrations of 3D modelling and more. It was exhausting but gooood- fortunately Subway and the cafes were there to keep everyone fuelled for the day and did a roaring trade. And yes, there are plenty of loo’s - and they’re in pretty good condition!

As the day drew to a close I drifted back to the Dan & Graham signing as I realised I’d forgotten to get Mechanicum signed, and despite the announcements that the winners of the Golden Demon were about to be announced, the queue was still quite substantial, but both Dan & Graham were still there, signing and chatting. I bumped into Mark again and we chatted about upcoming titles for the Black Library- including the intriguing Warhammer Heroes series (this giant banner is a ‘glimpse’ of the artwork for Sword of Justice), sci-fi, blogging, books, and life in general. It was gratifying to discover that he’s as much of a fanboy as anyone else and that yes, working for B.L sounds as cool I thought it would be!

By the sounds of things, next year's going to be see some awesome titles from the Black Library. I'm quite excited about Prospero Burns, the next instalment of the Horus Heresy being penned by Dan Abnett (I've heard that he & Graham have been collaborating on aspects of it..).

The cover for the second Heresy novel planned for 2010..

After toying with the idea of trying to fit one of the banners in the car, I figured it was time to make tracks and, having said our farewells we made our way back to the car park for the anticlimatic drive home.

*P.S* - gods, how did I forget to mention the new Space Marine Battles series?! Steve Parker's Rynn's World will be the first in Feb 2010..

Hobnobbing at an Author Event and other news

Because I am an incredibly fast typist on the draw and subscribe to numerous ezines and newsletters, I managed to nab tickets to an event held by Legend Press at the Phoenix Arts Club in London earlier this evening. I had a chance to meet new upcoming author Mark Liam Piggott and got him to sign my review copy of Fire Horses. I also got to meet the incredibly charming and lovely Candi Miller who wrote Salt & Honey. I will get a copy to read and review shortly, I think. It sounds an amazing book!

Kevin Chandler, a very dashing gentleman with a George Clooney chocolate-coated voice read a part of his short story which appears in the 8 Hours anthology and I was smitten. I then had to go and nag him too and managed to corner him into a bit of a chat and as luck would have it, I had my copy of 8 Hours handy which I made him autograph.

Yes, I am a happy booknerd with signed books.

It was a fantastic venue and for £50 a year you can become a member. I am, to be honest, very tempted to join. I also realised that I need to get business cards for the site...everyone I spoke with handed me their cards and I had to scribble the site's details down furiously in my Moleskine and tear pages out and hand it out - which is not ideal.

I also met a top-secret literary agent who will - I hope! - be making a guest appearance on here shortly. I'm not saying anything more as things are currently a bit up in the air for her so once she's settled in, we will get to chat to her about her life as a lit agent.

And that's me for now. I've got three books on the go and some studying to do this coming weekend. I also have an interview lined up with Scott Mariani which should go live during the course of tomorrow (Friday), if I can get blogger to format things properly. And because the girls over at Avon are the absolute best, I'm being given the opportunity to run a competition for The Alchemist's Secret by Scott Mariani, to celebrate his newest book being published in July. Yay! So keep a beady eye out for that.

Remember, three days to go for the Steve Berry competition! I have 2 books left, people! I have received some answers but again, no snail mail addresses...so check again! If you are stuck with the questions, go seek the answers over at Steve's site. Honestly, it's all there for you to find...