About a book

Can anyone help me? I've been trying to identify a book that I read many years ago, and which I have a very vivid memory of - just not enough of a vivid memory to help pin down an author or title.

It's SF, and I read it in the late seventies, or (at the very outside) the early eighties. It was probably a Gollancz book, because I borrowed it from the local mobile library, and the distinctive yellow hardback covers were a shibboleth of good SF. It was an epic book, and the part I remember (though the book was not just about this incident) was the construction of one or possibly two massive spaceships, possibly arc ships for planetary evacuation. This construction took years, perhaps generations, and then public panic and hysteria led to the ship (ships?) being stormed by mobs while they were on the launch pads. Thousands of people died and the ship (ships?) was (were?) destroyed.

Anybody got any clue what that might have been?

Suit up!

For your consideration this fine Saturday, the brand new anthology Armored, from Baen, which features brand new military SF short stories on the theme of power armour and mecha warriors. There's some serious writing firepower in this book, including Al Reynolds, Lauren Beukes, Sean Williams, Brandon Sanderson... Look, I tell you what, this is the link you need rather than me just blathering on about the book. It's a great deal more coherent and informative than me. It'll tell you about the contributors, about the content, and about how to get the book as a book or as an ebook.

I bring it to your attention because it's a cracking collection. I also mention it because, yes, I have a story in it. As with all the contributors, I was asked by John, the editor, to tackle the subject of power-armoured soldiers from an angle that interested me. And given my time on the frontline with the Adeptus Astartes, I decided to go somewhere else with the trope for a change. Hence my rather off-beat tale, Death Reported of Last Surviving Veteran of Great War.

I hope you enjoy it. I know you'll enjoy the collection. If in doubt, Keep Calm And Pack Heat.

Dead Classy

Mr I. N. J. Culbard and myself, along with colourist Patricia Mulvihill and letterer Travis Lanham, wish to thank everybody very much for the enthusiastic and positive reception that has been afforded to the first issue of our new publication - The New Deadwardians. The first issue was published this week, and it’s already prompted a very creditable reaction*

We’re simply delighted with the response, as is our editor Will Dennis and everyone at Vertigo, and we hope you’ll stay along for the ride as the series continues, and maybe even spread the good word too. If the series is a success, we’ve got other Deadwardians tales we’d very much like the opportunity to tell.

You can read about The New Deadwardians here and here and here, and also download it from Vertigo here.

To celebrate this occasion, it’s time for another blog competition, and a dead posh one it is too. Mr Culbard and I have signed, with our own fair marker pens, two copies of the first issue - the standard version and the variant cover. I will happily send them to the winner.

What do you have to do? Just post a link here to the blog (or email the site) with the most amusing or exotic place you’ve been able to place the phrase ‘The New Deadwardians’. A camera phone snap or a screengrab will do. Have you put it in your Facebook status? Have you spelled it out in magnetic letters on the side of your fridge? Have you written it on a sheet of paper and held it up in front of you on the beach in the Maldives? Have you painted it on the side of Big Ben (okay, don’t actually do that last one)? Entries will be judged on originality and amusement, and our decision will be entirely mercurial and whimsical. Good luck. Entries in by the last week in April, please (in time for the second issue!).

Now I’m off to take Mr Culbard to get the cure, as he’s been showing distinct tendencies of late and the next issue mustn’t fall behind.

Good day to you!

* I can usually tell because of the overnight bump in Twitter followers ;)

Advance notice...

Just thought I'd mention this...

Lots of fun to be had on the day, including the publication of "Stone", a comic project for Maidstone organised by the Grinning Demon, scripted by me, drawn by loads of local talent!

So...

A man walks into a book.

My book, actually. Last time it happened, it was about thirty four, thirty five books ago, and the man's name was Lijah Cuu.

I've told this story at con panels and in interviews SEVERAL times before, so I'll excuse the stifled yawns at the back. For those who haven't heard it, I'll keep the facts brief: it was writing the fourth Gaunt novel ("Honour Guard") and it was nearly done, and my computer died, ingesting the MS in its violent death throes. That was the day I learned to back up.

Not wishing to miss the print deadline, I had to rewrite the book from scratch, from memory, in a month. And I did. It should have been a disaster, but it wasn't: somehow, writing it from the memory of the first draft freed me up. It was as though it was a performance I'd rehearsed. The month went by in a blur: I was producing words at a frenzied rate, a white heat of creativity. I wasn't even thinking about it - it was almost an automatic writing exercise.

Anyway, the end product - the published version - was much better than the first. In fact, it's amongst my fave Gaunt books. It was also different to the first, lost draft. New characters had appeared in it, even though I had been diligently following the same plot outline. Maybe the spontaneous new characters and side-plots were part of an unconscious effort on my part to keep the rewrite fresh. All I know is, when these new characters turned up, they came as I surprise. I hadn't invited them. They'd just barged their way into the book, and refused to leave. I was under too much pressure to argue with them, and write them back out again, so I left them alone.

One of them was Lijah Cuu. For Gaunt aficionados, the notion that Cuu appeared by accident seems unlikely. He's such a major character, and continues to be the point man for a major plot line for the next few books. He also [does several notorious things that I won't mention as spoilers]. How could I have.... improvised him?

The way I look at it, Cuu was such a fully formed character, I had no choice in the process. I regard it as emblematic of his force and malevolence as a character. And, yes folks, I know it sounds like preposterous bollocks* when an author talks about one of their characters as having a life of their own. Trust me, you didn't have to share an office and head-space with the mad fether for several years.

Anyway, I mention it this sunday morning (I'm in a slightly baffled state, akin to minor jet-lag, because the clocks went forward last night, but I still insisted on getting up at my normal Stupid Early O'clock: the state reminds me of the way I felt during Honour Guard, which is probably what reminded me), because it just happened again.

No. Relax. I didn't lose a book. These days, my back up processes are automatic and have multiple levels of redundancy. But Pariah (which is the first of the Bequin Triology, aka the first part of the final Inquisitor trilogy, aka Eisenhorn Versus Ravenor 1: This Time It's Shooty) is a very (deliciously) creative process. As I mentioned in the blog yesterday (yesterday, eh? Get me!), novels right now are much more prepared and planned than they used to be. I fill notebooks with notes and maps, sketch things out, even write chunks of text about characters for later use (I barely recognise myself!). I'm now in the frenzied writing stage, and was slightly delighted when an unplanned, unscripted event occurred. A man walked into the book. I was mainly slightly delighted, I guess, because it seems like a flash of the good old, bad old days, the old creative process (which I glorify with the name process, but which was really just a case of forcing everything into a small space and then yelling 'bundle!'). It was a glimpse of the pre-Adventures In Epilepsy me, coming into my office, messing up my notes, stealing my glasses, and weeing in my vase, as if to say "Yeah! Deal with that, motherfether".

And I'm also delighted, because I know what happened last time. I don't know who he is yet. He's just looking at me funny and not saying much.

But, just in case, I'm going to warn Bequin.

* Actual literary term.

Journal of the Monkey Years

By rights, and with an infinite number of damn fine monkeys at my disposal, turning out word-counts to order should be easy as peas. Picture me (and I’m sure you do, having no better ways to fill your time*), and I’m certain you picture a one-man manufacturing process, like something from the peak period of the Manchester mills, streaming out vast yardage of words that are pneumatically wound onto bales and then taken to Liverpool by dray for wholesale use in a million everyday knick-knacks, such as novels, superhero comics, shopping lists and emails.

All the while making a deafening clickety-clackety noise.

Well, it’s not like that. For a start, a lot of my time is taken up with secondary but vital parts of the writer’s craft, such as hunting for tea-bags, and inventively swearing at telemarketers (“Cock the fuck off, Arse-bag!”). Also, staring out of the window with a rope of drool depending from the corner of my lip takes a fuck of a long time, okay?

It’s also worth noting. No, seriously, it is. Really useful, I’ve found.

The thing is, writing [insert stupid number] novels doesn’t hone your craft. It just multiplies the ways you can find to write books. It’s not like I got to [insert smaller, but nevertheless still stupid number] novels and thought, “that’s it, then. That’s how it’s done. That’s The Method.” Each one has been a different experience. There’s not a single trick, tip or shortcut I learned writing any one of those [insert original stupid number] that proved to be remotely helpful with the one after.

The novel writing process used to be all about productivity, and charging along, milling out words while heading for the glorious horizon. Plots were like napkins at the drive through. You take them, even though you won’t actually need them unless there’s a seriously messy upset.

Nowadays, writing is a lot more thinking up front. Thinking, and notes. For weeks, even months. Then there’s a frenzied, almost feverish period of writing. That’s how Know No Fear was. I’m wondering if that’s how Pariah will be. The me that wrote Necropolis or Riders of the Dead would in no way whatsoever recognise the me writing Pariah. Or my process. The process is like a live snake. Every time I add another book to the [insert stupid number and add one], it squirms around to find a new way to slip out, a new way to break free.

I don’t blog enough. There! I knew there was a point to this. I don’t blog enough. It ought to be really easy to put out a few hundred words every few days, especially given my mill full of monkeys. I should barely notice a blog. But it doesn’t work like that, and I’ve worked out that it’s because of the process. I think of myself as very disciplined, focused and regimented, at my desk early, working away, but in truth every book, every day is the start of an mysterious adventure. Adding in something else like Write A Short Blog Every Day to the "To Do" list, and it’s just one more thing that, at the end of the day, you can look at and sigh, “Shit, that didn’t happen.”

Nik’s managing to blog every day. It’s incredibly impressive (I’m referring to the frequency of the output, but the blog itself is also impressive and I urge you to check it out). I look at myself and see that the monkeys have written Could Do Better in red in my margin.

So I wrote this blog post to tell you that I’m absolutely not going to be writing a blog every day. Writing a blog saying I’m going to try to write a blog post every day is tantamount to failing before you even start. It’s tempting fate.

But let’s see if I can do it slightly more frequently, shall we?


*Standard irony engaged, Captain.

Magickal Mystery Tour

Not long ago, Nik and I visited the British Museum with the Cawks-Crew (Sarah, Ben and Small Son), and a grand day out was had by all. Entering the first gallery, I approached the nearest display, at random. And this is what I found:

Oh, Horus! Why you Heresy so much?

One of the main reasons I'd brought them there was to see the Best Museum Exhibit In The World, which is the small collection of objects belonging to Doctor John Dee, Elizabeth the First's court magician. Here's the caption card:

How many chances do you get to stare directly into the actual obsidian scrying mirror of the Elizabethan Era's greatest magician? I mean? Come on!

Later, someone spotted this:

For our next magical outing, I propose we go to Hogwarts and cause a crowd disturbance during a Quidditch match. We'll be the unruly hooligan element that spills onto the pitch singing, "Who's the bastard in the hat?" and "You're not spelling any more!"

*trumpet fanfare*

Feth on a stick, February is already taller than I was expecting. Time to get bloggy with it and cover a few important bits and pieces before, you know... March.

One of those bits and/or pieces is, of course, the competition (hence the trumpets). More on that in a momento.

Let's cover some ground first. There have been some good vibes around here just recently. The latest issue of Marvel's New Mutants (#37), in which we have Magma go on her long-dreaded date with the Devil, has been scooping in rave notices. The artwork of David Lopez is clearly helping (awesome job). Across the street, the latest issue of DC's Resurrection Man (issue #6), in which Mitch is confined to a murderous Arkham Asylum, has also gone down a storm. On top of that, the advance notice on the series I.N.J. Culbard and I are doing for Vertigo, The New Deadwardians, is getting a really good buzz. Witness the LA Times.

Then there's Know No Fear. I am seriously blown away by the good response this has had. If you want to see the sort of things people have been saying, try here or here. The SFX Weekender up in sunny* Prestatyn was a splendid event, and a great place to unofficially launch the book. If you came to see me there, whether you were a long-term 40K fan or a total newbie strangely drawn by the charm and debonair wit displayed by myself and ADB on the Space Opera panel, then may I say it was an unalloyed pleasure to shake you by the hand and deface your book.

We're gearing up for some major Know No Fear promotions, most particularly the awesome "And They Shall Know No Fear..." event being run in Games Workshop stores WORLDWIDE next saturday (that's the 18th of February in everyone's money). I'm very excited and flattered by this, a major in-store gaming experience where you'll be able to participate in Word Bearers versus Ultramarines shooty-death-ass-kick-stop-hitting-yourself-aggh!-aggh! 40K fun in recognition of the epic 30K event of the book (that's the horrendous Battle of Calth, if you didn't know - a treacherous sneak attack on the Ultras by the Wordy Bees during the heresy that a) brought the Ultramarines into the heresy and b) almost wiped them out too). Some come along, bring a friend, choose a side, kick some ass. I will be. I'll be at the Games Workshop Oxford Street Plaza store, London, from noon until two watching the bloodshed and working out which horse to back. Here's the official events listing for it. See you there? Not unless I sneak-attack your orbital shipyards and set fire to your armoured trousers first you won-- I mean, I hope so.

If you've unavoidably got to be somewhere other than Calth on the 18th (Colchis, maybe? Nutwood? Chigley? Somewhere where the action isn't), then never let it be said I don't work hard to provide alternatives. The following Saturday, that's the 25th of February, I will at Forbidden Planet on Shaftsbury Avenue between one and two. Here's the science part. So... two chances! Two different saturdays! I'm here for you!

Let's also all be here for Nik, who's been having a great time of her own. A scary, exciting great time. She's written a novel which was first long-listed and then - ta-mother-fething-da! - SHORTLISTED for the Mslexia Award. This is A Big Deal. If you like and read my stuff, then it's probably worth pointing out that she and I have very different target audiences: her shortlisted novel is very serious, very lit, and very controvertial. But it's also very brilliant, and whether you think you're her target audience or not, you can at least support her by visiting her blog here and maybe wishing her well. The results are announced on Wednesday. Everything is now crossed. Everything. That's why I'm typing in such a high-pitched voice.

Now, the competition. Brilliant responses, and congratulations and many to everyone who entered. Judging was very hard, but I've finally managed to narrow down a winner.

Let me say the standard was very high. I was very much drawn to the simplicity of the many variations on phrases or terms from the book itself, especially "Stay Wealthy!" (if you suggested that, or a variation on that, then you may consider yourself in honorary second place). There were also a lot of very funny or clever or both suggestions that, ultimately, didn't win because they were too long or complex, and thus would have been a slog to write over and over again at a signing. Nevertheless, give yourself a pat on the back for invention, and another for making me laugh.

The winner is just simple. It's deceptively simple. It's short, to the point and exactly what I wanted. It is... "From within". And that means the winner is Rachel Armstrong of Lancaster. Many congratulations, Rachel. I'll package up and send your prize this week.

Everyone else, thanks ever so. I'll be devising another comp with a quirky prize very soon.

Gotta go. Pariah calls.

*actually, six-hour-drive-home-through-the-snow Prestatyn but, hey!?

Year Out, Year In

Happy New Zing!

I hope Santa found you all on the right side of the Naughty/Nice event horizon. Any interesting resolutions out there?

All of us here at the haunted Fortress of Abnett had a good time, thanks for asking, but Nik and I are now plunging headlong back into work. I'll blog about what I'm doing in coming days. But yes, Duke Leto, Matthew et al, it does include Pariah.

Today, I mainly wanted to do a quick update of the competition, which is still running... so hurry and enter! More of that in a second. First, matters arising from the last post:

I've tried Tortoise - not bad at all. The Field's working out for me very nicely, as is Autechre, and Trent Reznor's soundtrack to the new Fincher 'Dragon Tattoo' movie. Thanks for all the suggestions for work soundtracks posted, or mailed to the site. Much apprecated. I'm open to others.

azizibnsaud asked if I could show a shot of the plush Inquisitorial rosette. The answer is - of course. That's mine, and Jim's. The pictures are courtesy of Vivian Lee and Triska Tsang, who got in touch after the last post to tell me their names (and submit them for future redshirt use in books). Triska is also, I'm told by Vivian, too shy to tell me she is a big Sinister Dexter fan too. Thank you again, both.

Shadowheim - Jerusalem is set in Pewsey. Very cool. This is actually the very VERY last week of the London run. It's undoubtedly sold out, but I'm so tempted to get a stand-by and see it again, it was that good.

Two pieces of fun I'd like to share that have popped up in the last couple of weeks:

Some fun fan-art.

And this, which is frankly insane/genius.

I'll be at the SFX Weekender early next month, so maybe see you there.

In the meantime, let's run over that competition again. Some good entries so far, but you've got until the end of the month.

What's the prize, Dan? I've said this once, imaginary narrator, but I'll say it again. The prize is my Games Day 2011 goodie bag.

Dan's 2011 Games Day Goodie Bag, as seen prevously.

When you go to Games Day, you get a goodie bag. Well, the prize is mine. The one I was given this year, with my name badge and parking permit and everything else in it. Including my miniatures, a tee-shirt, my (unsullied) digestive biscuits and polo mints! This isn't just A goodie bag, it's MY goodie bag. I will send it to the competition winner to do with as he or she sees fit.

To make it actually, you know, WORTH something, I'll throw in a signed book, and the following:

It might not look like much, but I found it when I was moving offices. It's the actual, original sketched map (with notes on the reverse) made by me, in my fair hand, of Vervunhive. I used this when I was writing Necropolis and the map in the book was based on it. Little bit of awesome Gaunt's Ghosts history for you to own and keep on owning.

How do I win it? HOW DO I WIN IT!?!?

Calm down, imaginary narrator! You can't even enter the competition, because you're... well... imaginary. But other, real people can enter like this: when I sign books, I like to have a stock phrase or two that works for the book in question, like "The Emperor Protects" or "Remember Tanith" for the Gaunt books, or "Repent, heretic" for Inquisitor novels, or "Blood For The Blood God" for Darkblade. My new book Embedded came out from Angry Robot this year. The winner of the comp will be the person who comes up with the best 'signing tag phrase' for use in Embedded.

You've got until the end of January. My decision will be final. Post your entries here on the comments section, AND email them (with your name and postal address) to the website email AS WELL (and that address is: info@danabnett.com). If I don't have an email with a name and address, I won't award the prize, no matter how good the entry. You can submit as many entries as you like. Atomic thinking caps to power, honorary clones.

Can I really not enter? Shhhh, imaginary narrator.

Xmas (only the names have been changed)

Or, to be fair, forgotten.

Ah, Christmas (or whatever you want to call this time of year). You've been a long time coming. I knew this year was going to be busy, but... you know. It's been REALLY busy. It's put the 'complete and utter dick' into really, RI-COMPLETE-AND-UTTER-DICK-ULOUSLY busy. Gah.

It's been so busy, I'm not even going to start this blog post with the requisite, "Sorry it's been ages since I last posted but blah deadlines blah blah lazy asshat blah blah..." I'm mean, I'm not going to even. It's so long since my last proper blog post, my last proper blog post is a dot to me (though I liked Will Wright's comment on the last mini post to the effect that it was good when I ran silent, because that meant I was furiously a-writing of stuff).

I've finished Know No Fear, so that's the main thing. There'll be more on that in future posts, but my new Horus Heresy novel (about the Battle of Calth, Word Bearers twatting Ultramarines, in case you were wondering) is done and finally dusted, much to the breathless relief of an increasingly panicking BL editorial staff. It was a monster to wrangle into words-in-the-correct-order form, but that's little excuse, as getting words in the order write is what I'm supposed to be able to do for a living. On the plus side, the actually in-house reaction to the book (ie: un-adjectivable projectile excitement) marginally outweighed the panic over the tardy delivery. I particularly enjoyed Laurie's Facebooked response where he said he had to get up and go for a little walk in the middle because he was getting too worked up.

KNF was just the busy-as-feth icing on a busy year-long cake of alternating busy and busier layers. With ganache. This time a year ago, I knew I was embarking on a year of foolhardy busy-ness, but - gosh! - I went and done it anyway. New Mutants. Resurrection Man. Doctor Who. Sinister Dexter. Grey Area. The Annihilators. Heroes AND Villains For Hire. Wonder Woman. Soldier Zero. Embedded. Salvation's Reach. Lois Lane. Other stuff. Now Christmas, the incentive carrot on the end of my schedule stick, finally hoves into view like a very, very, VERY late 155 bus home, and I'm jolly glad to see it. Take me home, Christmas bus, so that I can have a long lie down and make a premature New Year's Resolution not to be so stupid again next year.

I was oblivious of the busy-ness dangers that 2011 would hold. Now I am blivious. Fully blivious. So 2012 is going to be a bit more selective in terms of work and events. Don't fret: on January 1st, I will still be starting on the long awaited new Inquisitor trilogy ("The Bequin Trilogy" aka Eisenhorn vs Ravenor aka "Pariah"). I'm going to have to turn down a few things I would otherwise love to do in 2012, but them's the breaks. I don't want to feel quite so Know No Big Hand From The Little Hand again.

Anyway, let's talk about some of the things I never got the chance to blog about during the year. I went to a lot of places, and met some lovely people, and then lost the bits of paper I wrote their names down on. And I have the audacity to lecture on the importance of notebooks. Honestly. So I can't, for example, thank by name the two girls in Greenwich Village who brought me a home-made plush Inquisitorial rosette (now on my desk). Or the guy in the same place who made me (nay, wrought me!) a chainmail bracelet (also on my desk). I'm still very grateful , but I wish I could have printed your names here.

I can namecheck Dave Ploss for being such a great guy in Chicago, and I can thank Matthew Churchill for the lovely Christmas pressie (with my new Egon, I can do all the symmetrical book stacking I like). I can also mention Brian McGackin, who gave me a dedicated copy of his book Broetry at the New York Comic Con. I'd met Brian the year before, and signed some stuff for him, so this was his thank-you. Broetry is brilliant - poetry for guys, often in the form of parodies of famous verse. The William Carlos Williams riff on the cover is worth buying it for alone. Broetry funny, but it's also touching, and it's also real poetry. Get it here. Now.

Some places I visited this year went by so fast.

Hey, Seattle! Why you go by so fast? (Also, what was I doing there? When will I be able to tell people about it?)

Then I was in New York-- Oh. Hang on. My daughter's just given me a mini Snickers (or, "Marathon" as I still call them). Mmmnnh.

Anyway, I was in New York, and this is a photo of the full moon over New York, a photo that, I feel, doesn't do much justice to either the full moon or New York.

This does, but it's just flash-reflection-off-the-hotel-window over New York. So what have we learned? Less successful photography = more successful image.

Here's a guy at the New York Con dressed as a Ghost. Very cool. Did I lose the bit of paper with his name on? Of course I did. Of course I did.

Here's the crew from my Warhammer pirate novel Fell Cargo, all hand modeled. Very very cool. Did I lose etc? Of course I etc.

I DO however remember the name Jake Moore. I think. I think he was the guy I met at the opening of No Man's Land, the new indie gaming shop in Maidstone (a very nice place to go and game or paint, so get yourself over there). We were chatting about music to work to (I can't work to anything with significant lyrics, so it's a lot of Brian Eno and Robert Fripp for me), I recommended the fab soundtrack to the movie Monsters, which has been one of my mainstays this year. He recommended Daft Punk's soundtrack to Tron: Legacy. Thank you, Jake (if that really was your name). Most of Know No Fear should be read with Daft Punk's sound track to Tron: Legacy pumping in the background, 'cause that's how it was written.

I'm beginning to realise that this post might take some time. So take a pew.

You see what I did, there?

Here's another photo taken on the same trip Nik and I took to that same tiny old church on that same tiny bit of the windswept White Cliffs near Dover. Is that strange green blob hovering over the graveyard the return of lens flare, direct from New York? Of course. Of course it is.

Or is it something more spooky?

No, it's lens flare.

Or IS it?

No, it is.

Or IS it?

Anyway, we're now in Lille, for the comic festival. Everyone wave to Boo Cook!

I finally moved offices this year (because, you know, I didn't feel I was quite cramming things in to capacity). I now have a great new workspace, with daylight and a view. The above is a sad, view-from-the-desk farewell to my workspace of the last ten years, taken a few minutes before I started to pack it away.

Along with Broetry and my new office, there are a few other things I've really appreciated this year. The patience of Black Library editors, for a start. The latest thriller ("Truth") from Peter Temple. The first issue of the new Brian Azzarello Wonder Woman. The brilliant low budget British SF movie Monsters (soundtrack mentioned above), which I adored. Really adored. The thriller The Town. Good job, that Mr Affleck. The sublime music of Laura Marling (like this, for example). The album I, A Moon by North Sea Radio Orchestra. The charming fun of Warehouse 13. The ridiculously good pop (in the pure sense of the word) of Nicola Robert's solo album. Yes, that Nicola Roberts. The redhead from Girls Aloud. Okay, shut up. It's good. The sudden friendliness of my (sadly now only) cat. Chuck, for having Yvonne Strahovski in it. Aoenid Thiel (you'll find out why in the spring). Anna Calvi. Downton (which will no doubt return in 2013 renamed Downturn Abbey). Kent Barbers on Gabriel's Hill. Having a real fire. Luther (who is TV cop like a boss). Vicki, my bastard silly New Mini (also known as being able to drive again after my adventures in Epilepsy). The brilliant Scott and Bailey, and also Suranne Jones of the same parish for being the TARDIS too. Richard Dugher painting my shit up good. Seeing Jerusalem in the West End with Lils (the most awesome theatrical sauce ever). The limitless patience and support of Nik.

And next year? Well, the aforementioned Pariah. New New Mutants. More Gilead from me and Nik. And The New Deadwardians from me and Ian Culbard (coming from Vertigo). Just for starters...

Back to New York. Here's me and DC senior editor Eddie Berganza looking sweet in a bank vault-turned-restaurant. This private dining room was actually INSIDE the safe.

Then Todd Nauck tried to eat us.

And here's the gang: (from left) me, Brad Walker, Eddie, Fiona Meng, Andy Lanning, Todd, Tony Bedard, DC's Larry Ganem, Francis Manapul and... the girl who's name I am ashamed to admit I forgot because I lost the bit of paper...

Now, I don't like to delegate (I have people to do that for me), but it's time to get YOU involved. Yes, YOU. You there, with the mince pie crumbs in your beard/cleavage (delete as applicable - or not). It's time for my end of the year competition.

What's the prize, Dan? Good question, imaginary narrator. The prize is my Games Day 2011 goodie bag.

Dan's 2011 Games Day Goodie Bag, earlier.

When you go to Games Day, you get a goodie bag. Well, the prize is mine. The one I was given this year, with my name badge and parking permit and everything else in it. Including my miniatures, a tee-shirt, my (unsullied) digestive biscuits and polo mints! This isn't just A goodie bag, it's MY goodie bag. I will send it to the competition winner to do with as he or she sees fit.

To make it's actually, you know, WORTH something, I'll throw in a signed book, and the following:

It might not look like much, but I found it when I was moving offices. It's the actual, original sketched map (with notes on the reverse) made by me, in my fair hand, of Vervunhive. I used this when I was writing Necropolis and the map in the book was based on it. Little bit of awesome Gaunt's Ghosts history for you to own and keep on owning.

So what's the competition? Well, when I sign books, I like to have a stock phrase or two that works for the book in question, like "The Emperor Protects" or "Remember Tanith" for the Gaunt books, or "Repent, heretic" for Inquisitor novels, or "Blood For The Blood God" for Darkblade. My new book Embedded came out from Angry Robot this year. The winner of the comp will be the person who comes up with the best 'signing tag phrase' for use in Embedded.

You've got until the end of January. My decision will be final. Post your entries here on the comments section, AND email them (with your name and postal address) to the email AS WELL. If I don't have an email with a name and address, I won't award the prize, no matter how good the entry. You can submit as many entries as you like. Thinking caps on, honorary clones.

Before I go off to play with my Christmas Drashig (like you do), I'll leave you with this:

At the last Horus Heresy planning meeting, us High Lords of Terra realised we were referring to future and forthcoming books in the series by odd, euphemistic nicknames and placeholders. I thought you'd enjoy the list (and they are all, genuinely, going to be HH books... probably... just not with these names):

The Motorway into Bristol.

Twatted By A Bloodthirster.

[rude word I really can't write here on a public blog] Attack.

C*ckblocked

Hammer In The Face.

Bastards Of Evil.

Fungus And Poo.

Traitor To The Traitors.

Wobbly Rum Baba In A Big Pond Of Chaos.

Khorne Worshipping Asshats.

Big Crystal B*ner.

Make of them what you will. Happy Christmas, have fun with the competition, and may 2012 see you, like me, a LOT less ridiculously busy than the head tosser in a crap salad factory.

Peace and love!

No Man's Land

Yes, I know it's been a very, very long time since I updated the blog. Forgive me, but I've been a little busy with "Know No Fear", the story of the Battle of Calth. You'll get to read it in the spring.

This is just to say that a new gaming shop is opening in my home town of Maidstone, and, since I know Justin, the owner, I said I'd pop in for a couple of hours on opening day, Saturday 10th December. I hope to see lots of you there. I'm sure I can be persuaded to sign a book or two between 1-3pm.

As an enticement, there will be a raffle, and I'll be drawing the winning tickets. Various games will be running, there's a painting area, and a roleplay room.

Sunday 11th there will be a Talisman participation game, and chaos in the old world, so it all sounds like a great big heap of fun.

No Man's Land is at unit 3, the Corn Exchange (Market Buildings). For those not familiar, the Market Buildings run between High Street and Earl Street.

Look forward to seeing you all.

Oh, and just for good measure, here's an anticipatory 'ho ho ho'.

Due to a technical error...

... there are revised times for Games Workshop store signings at Bluewater and Thurrock Lakeside today. I will be at BLUEWATER in the morning from 11 til 1pm, and at THURROCK LAKESIDE in the afternoon from 3 til 5. I look forward to seeing you there.

Event update

Reports on the New York ComicCon (with pics) plus that competition I was talking about - all coming soon.

For now, details of the most pressing signings:

This Saturday (29th), I'll be at Games Workshop Lakeside from 11 - 1, and then Games Workshop Bluewater from 3 - 5 for some serious Salvation's Reach and other BL goodies signing action. Official details here.

The following weekend (November 5/6), I'll be a guest at the Lille Comic Festival along with some very illustrious company. See you there!

Another Games Day Bulletin - plus New York news!

The day began with some nice, informal seminar-type-things, where we sat and chatted with the first folks to fill the available seats. Good fun, with a very engaged and enthusiastic response. Here you see one of my groups trying to figure out how I made the guy in the front row vanish without leaving my chair.

Behold, the assembled writist might of Black Library and friends! Across the back row from left: Chris Wraight, Ben Cawkwell, Graham McNeill, Bill King, some clone dude, Jim Swallow and Neil Roberts. Front row from left: Sandy Mitchell, Sarah Cawkwell, and a child version of Jim Swallow sent back from the future to save humanity. Or something (actually, it's Small Son. Hi, Small Son!).

And here are some other friendly and familiar faces being enthusiastic! And daemonic!

Just wanted to publically thank GW staffers Claudia Cole and Jenny Northeast who, with Chris Bone, so brilliantly steered, managed and otherwise looked after me and my queue all day long. Thank you so much!

So tell me, Mr Abnett. how does it feel to be the older, less-hip version of Aaron Dembski-Bowden? Well, having stolen his shades, I can tell you... it feels like this:

I'll be back soon with a special competition - won't that be fun?

In the meantime, I just wanted to remind folks in the USA, espescially New York, that I'll be attending the New York ComicCon this week, and also doing a special signing at games Workshop in Greenwich village. To bring the details up to date, let me recap:

Games Workshop Greenwich Village is where you will be able to find me and Jim Swallow next Saturday afternoon (the 15th) between 1 and 3.

As for the New York Comic Con itself, I'll be signing at the DC booth with Andy on Friday between 1 and 2, and Saturday between 11 and 12. Then we'll be signing at the Marvel booth (#654) on Sunday between 2 and 3, and then participating in the X-Men: Regenesis panel in room 1A10 between 3.30and 4.30. You will also be able to find Andy and me during the Con in Artist Alley, where we will be sharing a table with the estimable Mr Todd Nauck and running a flamable dwarf juggling workshop (one of these facts is, yet again, a lie - can you spot which?). I'm told our table number is M20, and that still seems to be the case at time of going to press.

See you there!

Signings... incoming!

Just interrupting your Games Day 2011 bulletin-viewing pleasure today to bring you a public information announcement about upcoming signings:

Most immediately upon us is this Saturday's event, which involves me being at Games Workshop Maidstone between 12 and 2. This is my local store, and I'm always happy to visit. Official details can be found here, along with advance notice of the next few events.

One of which will be... Games Workshop Greenwich Village (that's New York, folks! You know, the concrete jungle where dreams are made?) where you will be able to find me and Jim Swallow next Saturday afternoon (the 15th) between 1 and 3.

I'll be in New York for the New York Comic Con. There will probably be more things to announce with regards to this, but for now I can say that I'll be signing at the DC booth with Andy on Friday between 1 and 2, and Saturday between 11 and 12. You will also be able to find Andy and me during the Con in Artist Alley, where we will be sharing a table with the estimable Mr Todd Nauck and doing ice sculpture performances (one of these facts is a lie, can you spot which?). I'm told our table number is M20, but these things change. You know how they change. They are willful and mercurial.

Hope to see you somewhere very soon!

You can't get the staff

For the second quick Games Day 2011 bulletin, I'm posting some pics of the Black Library crew members who worked tirelessly during the day to keep things running smoothly. The BL stand was a particularly fun place this year, divided into corners of activity. First up, Mr Laurie Goulding in Pitch Corner:

Though it sounds like something off Countdown, Pitch Corner was an inspired opportunity for people to come and try story ideas out. There were pencils and write-up sheets, and Laurie with his open ears and open-er mind. Ideas went up on the wall with contact details. Who knows if any will be good enough for BL to come a-knocking? Well, Laurie does. It must have been quite a gruelling day for Mr G, because the corner was very busy indeed. Here we see him early on, striking an action pose just as the enormity of what he has undertaken starts to sink in. Either that, or this is the moment I hit him with my idea, 'The House At Pitch Corner'.

Two thumbs up from the lovely Rachel Docherty, here accompanied by the equally lovely Mrs ADB, who has brought thumbs of her own. You see how I went for the "two thumbs up" newsreel commentary-style link there, rather than the more obvious "in the red corner", right? I'm not here to objectify. Anyway... Raye-Raye's job was to run a painting corner where people could ALSO listen to audio books (through the uber-cool new Black Library MP3 players - I have a Prospero Burns MP3 player! I'm living in the freakin' future!). The super-text of this corner of the stand was to demonstrate the fact that audio books are the BL treat you can enjoy between paper books without ruining your other activities, such as figure painting. Listen to a chapter while you paint a chapter. You see what I did there?

Master of Hammer and Bolter and all-round High Lord Christian Dunn takes ceremonial command of his post in the - yes, that's right, Hammer and Bolter corner. You could come and chat to him about BL's awesome on-line mag. More significantly, he had cake. He had twelve of them, actually, one for each month of H&B's existence so far, each one decorated with a cover print! In the grim darkness of the far future, there is CAKE!

Unjustly not represented here by pict, but equally deserving of praise, was Caroline Pritchard-Law, who was running the audio corner, and also BL staffers George, Nick, Rik, Chris, Lindsey, Eddie, Graeme... well, look, it's quite clear I am going to forget someone on this without-whom list, and then it'll be all awkward and tense and embarrassing next time I'm up at BL Towers, so BL was there, okay? BL. All of it. All of them. And they were great. Fething great. Take a bow, BL staffers!

Finally, Mr Goulding again, looking very happy with BL promotions maestro Andy Smillie. Why are they looking so happy, you ask? Could it have anything to do with where they're standing?

Ghosts of Games Day!

Can it be that Games Day 2011 was a whole week ago already? On the plus side, that means it's only fifty-one weeks until the next one. And I say that as a good thing.

Anyhoo, I always like to do a little post-match blog of events like Games Day, but due to the fact that deadlines are baying outside my office window like giant, baying deadline-y things, I'm going to break it down into a few bulletins this time.

First up today - where would a Games Day be without Ghosts reporting for duty? Let's take a look at some of the Tanith Finest I managed to snap this year...

Nice cape-work, sir, and I like your body armour.

In almost any 'Best Tanith Costume' competition, Connor McElligot here's gonna win by dint of his boyish cheek, and his dad's frightening attention to uniform detail. The AWESOME long las prop helps, too, because it's AWESOME. Also, did I mention it was AWESOME? Is it wrong to covet the possessions of a minor? Is it REALLY?

Do these guys want to live forever? Presenting two members of my very own answer to the 501st. Synchronised present and salute. Full fething marks!

Now, with added Commissar! This was at the seminar, first thing. Picture it - you're talking to a group of readers, and the meeting is attended by one of your fictional creations, and one of his fictional men...

The Emperor protects. The Emperor also makes those guys in the background think "crap on a stick, I wish I'd dressed up like a Tanith Ghost..." Well, that's what next year's for, fellahs!

No Con Do

A word of apology - Nik and I won't be at Fantasy Con in Brighton tomorrow after all. She fell down stairs and fethed up her ankle. Don't worry, she's okay, but it's put paid to the trip.

Sorry to anyone we may have inconvenienced as a result.

On the plus side, news of London, Bluewater, Lakeside and Greenwich Village signings soon!

For those of you who...

haven't seen the vlogs, yet, here's the full line-up of the latest batch of interviews with Addy... Don't let that put you off looking at some of the older videos too; hindsight is a magical thing.

Dan Abnett on the Horus Heresy and the Battle of Calth

Dan Abnett on the Horus Heresy and the Battle of Calth part ii

Dan Abnett on Gaunt's Ghosts and Salvation's Reach

Dan Abnett on 40K and the Sabbat Worlds

Dan Abnett on 40K Inquisition

Dan Abnett on Angry Robot and Doctor Who

Dan Abnett on Comic Books at home and abroad

Dan Abnett On the Writing Process

Outtakes, or, the stuff no one meant for you to see

Off to pack for GamesDay UK 2011. Hope to see lots of you there!

It's like a vlog-athon!

Here is the latest vlog. This one is about Gaunt's Ghosts and "Salvation's Reach". Huzzah!