Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The secret's out

Well, hurrah. Seems I can finally mention that Big Secret Project in public.

This summer I was approached by the Beeb to write one of the first tie-in novels to the (Dr Who spin-off) TV show Torchwood. My book - Border Princes - is one of three that are going to be released early in the New Year. It was huge fun to write, and made all the more fun by the fact I got to read scripts, see the pilot in advance, and visit the set, all so I could arm myself with enough data to write a novel.

I’m pleased with the result (and the other two novels - by Andy Lane and Peter Anghelides - are positively jim dandy too), so come and see what I do when I’m plunked down in a contemporary setting for a change, without the scenery of the Imperium to hide behind.

Oh, and big thank you to all the posters - regular, semi-regular and newbie - who’ve been commenting on these blogs. Quite a dialogue, and I thank you for it. Keep the comments rolling in.

Joke of the week

Q: How many salesmen does it take to change a light bulb?
A: I’m just working the figures out now, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm too highly jealous to make an intelligence comment on this blog entry.

*pouts at not being able to read scripts and visit the set of Torchwood and make a complete fool of myself in front of John Barrowman*

Booooooo!

Anonymous said...

WOOOO!! Torchwood rocks.
I'll definatly pick up the books, But mainly i'm waiting for the
Tactica Imperium Which seeing as i have a large guard army, inspired byt he Sabbat Crusades.

And love the guard fluff anyway.

Anonymous said...

Hey, as owner of a Sabbat Worlds Crusade Collector's Edition I say: waiting with twitching fingers and aye-lids for Tactica an "The Inquisition"!

Love that stuff, Dan! An waiting for Ravenor Rogue, over-anxious, too! Ravenor's one of the darkest stories ever read, even dark for 40k. And what I love: you manage it to show the civil life, like you did with Eisenhorn, and that's the stuff, you know!

I hope, The Inquisition gives a goog look at the Ordo Xenos. The codices for the Demon Hunters and Witch Hunters have given a great amount of data about these two ordi, but Xenos, the one you always write about, stays behind. The codex for the Alien Hunters will take its time, or even be released in an Inquisition bundle some long time in the future, so we have to wait...

Love your stuff, Dan. Keep Going, please :)

Anonymous said...

Hmm, Torchwood books? may have to make that a future purchase...

This is just a little hello to you Dan, and one ginormous thank you for all the happy hours submurged in the rip-roaring worlds you create!

Like the sound of... well, all the future projects to be honest. I should imagine a new round of cloning is in order.

The Emperor Protects!

Toymachine said...

...... Now this is what i call dignified silence.

*Dignified silence*

Anonymous said...

At least the books can't be any worse than the TV show. Gods almighty it's a disapointment.

Maybe they'll let you have a shot at writing an episode or two? What with you actually being able to write "serious" sci-fi without throwing in lesbians/alien rape monsters to make it "adult".

The man who wrote the Eisenhorn trilogy could easily do better than the trash they've come up with.

Anonymous said...

@Stuart
That would be amazing - I'd actually watch it again.

Mark Richard said...

I’m not really a fan of torchwood, or Doctor Who for that matter. I shall be diving for cover after I’ve finished making this statement from the angry glares and shouts of “heretic, burn him!” by Doctor Who fans everywhere. I watched a couple of episodes because it was something new, but if I had to use a widely recognized universal word to describe this program, it would have to be “meh.”

I feel I should explain the reason I’ve posted here in the first place. I imagine you may even be tired of hearing it by now, but I have recently purchased the very first Gaunt’s Ghost novel recommended to me by a friend, and simply couldn’t put the thing down. It’s by far one of the best books I’ve ever read, so much so that I just had to order more immediately. It was also my first book in Warhammer literature apart from a codex or two so in some ways you could say the book has expanded my interest onto other works in The Black Library, My personal thanks.

Toymachine said...

Im with you, "Mark richard" -
In case nobody realised, my dignified silence was because of shock, not awe. I should have, perhaps, made that clearer.
Im just not into Torchwood. And if that out-laws me as a heretic, so be it! I prefer the dark gods to the emperor anyway.

(Gasp!!!)

What? He lives on his own toilet, after all. That can't be hygenic.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to your Torchwood book Dan.

Just wanted to drop a note about how much I love your Horus Heresy novel. I have no knowledge whatsoever about Warhammer 40K, but someone handed me the book to review for an Aussie SF mag and while I admit I had reservations, I thought the book was fantastic. So much so that I'm hunting down most of your other Warhammer books and the other books in the Horus Heresy series.

So you've found a new fan.

Just as an aside, we appeared side by side in the same Doctor Who Short Trips Collection: A Day in the Life.

Thanks again,

Ian Mond

Anonymous said...

As for suggestions on your next Horus Heresy novel...

Have you considered the Adeptus Custodes?

Backstabbing and court intrigue plus really big halberds...

Toymachine said...

Forget adeptus Custodes -
Why not word bearers?

The chaos codex says itself that the emperor (before sentenced to lifetime on a toilet) abused and mocked them, saying he wanted warriors, not preists.

That would make an awsome scene in a book! (You could totally spin it and cheese it up so that it looks like a "Kiss of Death" scene from a godfather films).

P.s the jokes not THAT funny.
:(

Anonymous said...

I've got to say, I love the Gaunt series and have read each one at least (I insist on the at least) twice... I just finished AoC, and I really liked it, and a looking forward to its consequences, so I have to ask, when can an eager reader of the Gaunt series expect to be reading it ?

I'll use this opportuniity to thank you, thanks for all these hours I could spend dreaming, thanks for creating a fabulous croud of characters...

Am looking forward to reading more of your books as soon as I can...

Thanks

Anonymous said...

I've just found out that my local comic store is actually going to be stocking Damnation Crusade (previously they said they weren't) so I'll be getting that on the morrow.

Woopee.

Anonymous said...

Went into the bookstore to buy the set of 3 books (Torchwood was brilliant) and was overjoyed to find one of them was written by you.

I'll be reading it as soon as I finish His Last Command, lol. Had a very book heavy christmas, and most of them were written by you! Eisenhorn omnibus, Traitor General, His Last Command, along with a bunch of Doctor Who books. haha.