Sunday, July 10, 2011

Salvation Reached and other Exciting Stuff

Look! Look what arrived in the post the other day!




Yup, that's my first advance comp of the new Gaunt novel that is, which is due out very soon. God, I'm proud of this book, and if it doesn't delight Gaunt's Ghosts readers out there, I'll sulk, or eat my hat, or... what the funt... both. There's a LOT of character stuff in it, plus the usual shooty death kill in space, plus ACTUAL shooty death kill IN SPACE (ship to ship action). Out soon. I said that, right?

Also out around about now is this:




Legion Lost is a hardback collection of a Legion of Superheroes run Andy and I did a while back, collected for the first time. It features the first major US work of artist and genius Olivier Coipel. I'm delighted to report that not only has this series inspired the name of the new Legion book being released this September as part of DC's new universe, it also got into the New York Times Best sellers list. Go us!

Also out now and recommended (by me at least, but then, I would, wouldn't I?) is the first trade compilation of Heroes For Hire:





Many worlds away from the cosmic craziness prevailing in our other books, Andy and I get down to street level in H4H for some old-school vigilante superhero fun. I like this series a lot, and other people seem to like it too. Are you for hire. hero?

Can I also remind US readers that the 2000AD series I did with Richard Elson - Kingdom - is now available in the States in handy trade form? Richard's a great artist, so that's reason enough to buy it, but it also rocks in a post-apocalyptic way. Get whet with Kingdom: The Promised Land.... and click here for the promo.

Finally, would you like to know what the opening of Propsero Burns looks like in Maltese? You would? Well, thanks to Mark-Anthony Fenech, you can!

Mark says:

"I am translating the first chapter of Prospero Burns into Maltese for my MA thesis. It's a joy to translate :) Of all the 40K books I chose, this will be the most challenging by far, but the translation is going on well. I had to make certain changes: for instance "The cutting of threads" can't be literally translated, so I tweaked it to "Taħsad l-għeruq" (The reaping of roots).

Death had them surrounded.
It had come to cut threads, and today, it wore four faces.
A burning death for those too hurt or too afraid to flee the settlement as the firestorm swept through it. A freezing death for those who ran away up the scarp to escape the murder-make: even in spring, the wind came in off the ice flats with a death-edge that sucked an exposed man’s life-heat out through his lungs, and rotted his hands and feet into black twigs, and left him as a stiff, stone-hard bundle covered in rime.
For others, a drowning death, if they attempted to flee across the blue-ice around the spit. Spring’s touch was already working the sea ice loose against the shore, like a tooth in a gum. The ice would no longer take a man’s weight, not reliably. If the ice broke under you, down you went: fast and straight if you plunged through, slow and screaming if an ice plate tipped and slid you in. Either way, the water was oil black, and so cold it would freeze the thoughts in your brain before your lungs were even empty.
For the rest, for those who had remained to fight, a bloody death, the death of the murder-make. This was the death that knocked you down hard onto the ice with an axe or a maul, so you felt nothing except the cold burn of the ice, and the hot burn of your own blood, and the pain-scream of your crippling wound. This was the death that stood over you and knocked you again, and again, and as many times as necessary until you would not rise again, or until you were so disfigured that death could no longer bear to look at you, and moved off in disgust to find another soul to knock.

Any of those four faces would cut your thread as soon as look at you. And those were the faces the Balt were wearing.



~


"Il-mewt kienet daret magħhom dawra mejt.

Kienet ġiet biex taħsad l-għeruq, u llum kienet xhieda ta’ erbgħa uċuħ.

Mewta ta’ ħruq għal dawk wisq midruba jew wisq beżgħana biex jaħarbu l-villaġġ hekk kif it-tempesta tan-nar kinset kull ma sabet. Mewta ta’ kesħa kbira għal dawk li ħarbu lejn l-għaram lil hinn mill-Qatla. Anke fir-rebbiegħa, ir-riħ kien jiġi minn fuq l-uċuħ tas-silġ b’xafra li kienet terdgħa s-sħana ta’ bniedem espost minn ġol-pulmun, u timmufalu jdejh u ssaqajh, iġġibhomlu bħal zkuk suwed, u tħallih bħala gozz iebes ġebla miksi kisja silġ.

Għall-oħrajn, mewt permezz t’għarqa, li kieku ppruvaw jaħarbu tul is-silġ kaħlani madwar il-peniżola. Ir-rebbiegħa kienet diġa qed tħoll is-silġa tal-baħar, tħaddmu u tagħġnu bil-mod max-xatt, bħal sinna fil-ħanek. Is-silġ ma jkunx jiflaħ il-piż ta’ xi ħadd fuqu. Jekk tkun fuq is-silġ u jċedi bik, l-isfel kont tinżel: dritt u ħesrem jekk kont taqa mal-ewwel, bil-mod u tgħajjat u tnewwaħ jekk xi biċċa silġa kienet tirbula u kont tiżżerżaq. Jiġri x’jiġri, l-ilma kien iswed żift, u tant kiesaħ, li ħsibijietek jinġazzaw saħansitra qabel mal-pulmun ikun żvojta min-nifs.

Għall-bqija, għal dawk li jkunu baqgħu lura biex jiġġieldu, mewta mdemmija, il-mewt tal-Qatla. Din kienet il-mewta li kienet issabtek għal tulek fuq is-silġ b’mannara jew mazza, għalhekk ma kont tħoss xejn ħlief il-ħarqa kiesħa tas-silġ, u l-ħarqa sħuna ta’ demmek stess, and l-uġigħ mwerżaq tal-ferita tiegħek. Din kienet il-mewt li kienet toqgħod fuqek u terġa ssabtek, u terġa, għal kemm il-darba hemm bżonn sakemm ma tqumx aktar, jew sakemm tant tkun sfigurat li l-mewt ma tkunx tiflaħ tħares lejn il-bixra tiegħek, u mqalla, kienet tfittex lil xi ħadd ieħor biex ittih tisbita.

Kull wieħed minn dawn l-uċuħ kien jaħsdulek għeruqek hekk kif jilmħuk. U dawn kienu l-uċuħ li l-Balt kien jixhdu."



See? Now you know. Thanks, Mark! That's a little bit awesome.

36 comments:

Xhalax said...

Please excuse me while I have a giggle of glee and delight in the corner.

Azrael said...

Hehehe thanks a lot Dan for featuring my work on your blog! Truly, this is momentous! :D

Blitzspear said...

Great googley moogles I dont think i can contain my excitment. So i assume your already working away at the next GG novel forus MR Abnett :)

Duke_Leto said...

Shooty death kill in SPACE!!!!!!! Ok I forgive you for delaying The Keeler Image...for now!

Will Wright said...

Dan can I borrow your copy of Salvation Reach
I'll return it when finished,promise :p

Anonymous said...

Cant wait! Ocotber is so far away from now!

James said...

Already pre-ordered the new ghost book. I WANT IT NOW, FETH IT!

James said...

While I remember when is Lone Wolves 2 coming out

Big said...

More Lone Wolves brilliant...October release?? will ther ebe any releases at Games Day?

Drayke said...

Just last night I read the chapter of Salvation's Reach that was released in Hammer and Bolter and I am incredibly excited. I can't wait to read it!

James said...

Also not a fan of dr. who (in fact I can't stand it!) but I'm thinking I may give your dr. who book a go, simply because you wrote it. If nothing else my friends who are all Dr. Who nuts will be happy I gave Dr. Who a go(and then talk to me non stop about every Dr. Who TV show, book, comic, stamp, bedsheet, toy, convo, etc ever...hmmm... it better be good!)

TheSGC said...

Coooool.

Jason Meyers said...

Really looking forward to the new book. Thanks Dan!

Joshep said...

Are you try to write a new version for the New Warriors?

I ´m sure that both will make an excelent comic book!!

Nova, Firestar, Justice, Namorita, Silhouette, Ultragirl...

It would be amazing with you and Andy!!

Anonymous said...

Cant wait for this one, my only complaint Mr Abnett is that other than Sandy Mitchell you seem to be the only author to write an amazing novel heavily featuring the Guard as anything other than cannon fodder. Maybe you stole all the other authors mojo through arcane and mystical means, probably involving the Hardon Collider a Goldfish and two members of steps.

Gavin Schofield said...

It's even better when you put it in a Maltese to English translator and translate it back! My favourite line was:

"For others, death by t'għarqa, had tried to escape over the blue ice around the peninsula. The spring was already dissolving thanks!"

Will Wright said...

Wow been a while since the last entry.
That makes me very happy however because that means Dan is hard a work ;)

Hopefully on the Eisenhorn short stories but I think other projects keep bumping him :(

Duke_Leto said...

Right come on Mr Abnett spill the beans - what is Thorn & Talon announced on BL website for Dec 2012 release? Could this be the anthology of short stories about Eisenhorn & Ravenor? Hmmm could it?

Big said...

Good Question Duke...Dan come on now. dont be silent??..LOL

Thomas said...

Hey Dan, Thorn and Talon in dec is NOT in my BL catalogue for oct-jan (i'm a bookseller) is this last minute?? SO excited!

b-tribe said...

Dan, I just wanted to tell you that you are brilliant! I am a games workshop\black library freak, have been from way back when. I have almost every space marines novel. You make the Space Wolves into something they have quite never been, and I have read Prospero Burns over 20 times now...I love it! "I recognize my failing, and will be sure to correct it" is now one of my favorite sayings, Kasper Hawser is one of my favorite characters ever, and I will never look at the Vylka Fenryka the same again. Encore! Encore! Bravo!!!

Will Wright said...

Well that's just friken great.
Eisenhorn and Friends comes out in the UK in Dec and it will not be out in the US until Jan.
The World Will be Over by Then Dammit.
:p

Justin said...

Just picked up my early copy of Salvation's Reach a few days ago, courtesy of the US Games Day. I can't wait to read it (if I can pry it out of my wife's hands). We're both huge fans.

Will Wright said...

I saw Thorne and Talon are due out for the end of this year not next yippie.
An audio drama to boot,cool beans.
all a year before the Apocalpyse :)

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Will Wright said...

Dan call the Inquisition and Mechanicus right away,your blog is infected with the ancient Viagra/Cialis Scrapcode

ROB SANDERS said...

Looking forward to 'Salvation's Reach'. Good title - as always!

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Baldrick 1975 said...

Hi Dan
that damned scrapcode is getting worse
what happened to the keeler image? its been taken of BL website and the little info i could find on Thorn and Talon tells us its three stories but The keeler image is not one of them

from simonandschuster.com
Description
The Inquisition is the most powerful and secretive organisation within the Imperium. Its agents, the Inquisitors, are the last line of defence for mankind. Gregor Eisenhorn, dedicated servant of the Inquisition, takes to the field again in three audio dramas. Regia Occulta finds him on a world wracked by ethereal storms and haunted by a terrifying beast. In Master Imus's Transgression, the Inquisitor investigates the mysterious affair of a mild-mannered clerk who confesses to a crime. Gideon Ravenor, once Eisenhorn's pupil, is now crippled and confined to a life support chair. He uses his powerful psychic talents to enact the Emperor's will. When he receives a mysterious message, Ravenor and his loyal followers travel to a distant world where they battle fierce cultists. But what are the cultists looking for? And what is the meaning of the message: Thorn Wishes Talon?
cheers

Will Wright said...

Dan is the audio drama taking the place of Eisenhorn and Friends or is that something else?

Anonymous said...

Mr Abnett!! Please! Do not allow that Bendis should destroy Century!

Use it in the cosmic saga!

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Heros for hire to Hitlers

Swede said...

I apparently missed one other mistake in my errata list for the Eisenhorn Omnibus.

p763 Under orders from Battlefleet Scarus, under the command of Lord Admiral Olm Madorthene, annihilated the planet in 392.M41.

The three first words in the above sentence should probably be eliminated as it otherwise reads as if "Under orders" is what did the annihilation.

Screenplay in the works. Slowly. Gimme a few years.

David Andrews said...

Hey Dan, like your blog a lot, it suits you sir.

When you have a bit of time to spare, I would be grateful if you could check out my blog - http://www.comicbookandmoviereviews.com/2011/09/heroes-for-hire-11.html - and my heroes for hire review.

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