Electric Shoeboxing #7

OUT NOW

The short story HANDS OF THE EMPEROR in 'The Imperial Truth'

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That's right. Electric Shoeboxing is back. Haven't touched this one for a while. The general idea is that I'm trying to sift the internet (the whole of it, pretty much) for topical feedback to my work. My feeling is that if someone has been kind enough to read one of my novels or short stories and taken the time to write a little about it then the least I can do is acknowledge the kindness. I do this by collecting them here. I have a 'Reviews' section for formal critiques and casual comments tend to go in the 'From the Web' - although I struggle to keep up! Shorter reviews and extended observations tend to go in 'Electronic Shoeboxing' - a blog version of a shoebox containing cuttings and clippings etc. Here is today's. Thanks to Tarl Hoch for this one.

'The Serpent Beneath' by Rob Sanders was a fun story about the Alpha Legion. I have to say, this story surprised me the most. What seems like a standard mission of the Alpha Legion's preference, there is a whole lot more going on in this story. I can't even talk about it for fear or wrecking it for anyone who reads it. Even the ending left me impressed at Sanders' writing and ability to weave more than one surprise into this story. Highly enjoyable, and I can't wait to see what happens with the plot lines set forth from this story!'


For more ELECTRONIC SHOEBOXING click HERE.

Electronic Shoeboxing #6

As I traverse the expanse of the internet like a digital hawk, I often spot snippets of discussions regarding Warhammer 40,000 literature. They are often part of larger conversations on social media, forums or in the comments sections of blogs. Sometimes they are even about little, old me. When I find such material, I use my digital claws to rend extracts from their locations and carry them back to my nest here. Today I have some insights from fellow teacher JD Dunsany on Legion of the Damned. JD also loves to write about the 40k setting and can be found shooting the breeze on The Black Library Bolthole.

“Legion of the Damned is just... epic.

Now, on to dour fatalism. Legion of the Damned is, the works of Dembski-Bowden notwithstanding, perhaps the closest I've come to my 'ideal' 40K SM literature - it's brutally inventive, steeped in the baroque culture of Space Marine Chapters (which consequently means that the central characters - Kersh, Ezrachi and Skase, in particular - feel both comprehensible and suitably removed from 'normal' human experience) and, perhaps most importantly of all, intelligently and imaginatively written. Sanders is the king of the compound neologism. I've just read, for example, of Kersh's bolters turning cultists into "a celebratory display of gore-spritz and screams"; earlier on, a downed Thunderhawk is a "crash-mangled mess". Slain daemons return to the warp in "corkscrew[s] of hate-spitting flame". Arguably, Sanders at times overdoes it (the sentence containing "torso-punching, head-blasting, limb-shearing broadside of bolts, bullets, light and devastation" made me smile wryly) but this is 40K, for crying out loud - the setting demands a literature of gothic excess and this is what Sanders delivers in spades. It is, indisputably, profoundly impressive.

And like all good 40K writers, his pacing is almost preternaturally precise - the character beats interspersed between swathes of brutal violence are exceptionally well done, Kersh's first person present tense inserts being particularly impressive and immediate. Arguably, there's nothing too new here - we've seen Space Marines having to cope with the burden of failure before, and we've certainly seen the Rourke's Drift scenario played out on numerous 40K battlefields, but it's Sanders' attention to detail, his willingness to explore the politics between the Imperium's disparate factions in a logical and entertainingly imaginative way (Chapter Five is perhaps my favourite of the book's first half) and his control of both the pacing and description of hardcore huge-scale slaughter that make this novel so damned... ahem... delightful.

Throw in echoes of a conventional ghost story and you've got something really quite special. I'm enjoying it immensely. Legion of the Damned has been finished. And it's been a profoundly satisfying read. *raises a metaphorical glass to a man who manages not only to run an English Department but also produce fiction of outstanding creativity and excitement while he does it* Here's to you, Mr Sanders.”

Thanks JD. Here’s to you, too!

A Chink In The Armour

It's interesting the things you find on the internet (ha, ha!) Sometimes you find nice little details and projects based upon your own work. It's always encouraging to find that others have put in creative work in response to your own. This is an image I discovered depicting the plate of an Excoriators Space Marine from my novel Legion of the Damned. I love it. I supply it here with a description from the novel that might have inspired it.

" ‘Approbator Quast?’ the Adeptus Astartes rumbled. When Quast didn’t answer, the Excoriator removed his helmet. He peered down at the acolyte over his chestplate, revealing his mangled features - a patchwork of ugly stitching cutting his ancient face into quarters.
Quast couldn’t quite find his words in the presence of the Angel. Neither could he hold the intensity of the Excoriator’s dark eyes and found his own drift down the detail of the scarred battle plate. Unconsciously leaning in, Quast saw that adorning each nick, each sword slash and bullet hole was an inscription, scratched in High Gothic lettering. The battleplate was covered in such markings, each gouge and lasburn bearing its own notation. Dates and locations: 221751.M41 Gethsemane; 435405.M41 Delleria Secundus; 997640.M41 MallastabergIII . From the dun sheen of the ivory armour worn by the Excoriators beyond, Quast assumed their plate bore the same mixture of script and scarring. "
Legion of the Damned A Space Marine Battles Novel

Electronic Shoeboxing #5

This time the scissors – like internet diving rods – zeroed in on a nice review for my first novel Redemption Corps. I found it on a reading community called Cafe Libri and the kind reviewer was a man called Kendall Fontenot. Part of the idea behind Electronic Shoeboxing is to help me keep track of responses to my work - building up a collection in one place – and also to recognize the effort readers go to when not only buying and enjoying a book but also posting their thoughts online. Anyway, thanks Kendall!

'Rob Sanders' "Redemption Corps" adds a wonderful character to Warhammer 40K's Imperial Guard Novel series in Major Zane Mortensen. Having read a number of the Warhammer books, I can honestly say that few characters have been as fleshed out in one tale as much as Mortensen.

"Redemption Corps" centers on Mortensen and his loyally lethal band of storm-troopers as they take on one suicidal mission after another. The Redemption Corps open the book by taking on a Volscian uprising aboard the "Deliverance." From there, they take on a planet seemingly hungry for rebellion and then tackle a rescue mission on a deathworld. These missions eventually culminate in a final face-off with a surprising enemy on a world literally facing complete destruction.

As the Redemption Corps cuts their way through each mission (losing many of their own along the way), it becomes obvious to Mortensen that these missions all have one point to them: to have him killed.

Preceding every chapter of the book is a glimpse into future events that does somewhat throw off the flow of the book. While these drop a number of clues and introduce numerous characters that do not appear until later in the tale, they don't ruin the enjoyment of the story at all.

Fans of Warhammer might not like the treatment of a particular group of warriors in this book, but their portrayal isn't that big of a stretch. You can find a similar portrayal of this particular group in one of the short stories in "Legends of the Space Marines."

As already stated, Mortensen is a fully developed character. Coming in with almost as much growth and description is Cadet-Commissar Koulick Krieg. He plays a very important role in this tale. Sanders develops this particular character slower, but it's this slow development that allows the reader to appreciate Krieg that much more.

A few members of the Redemption Corps (as well as a few strays they pick up along the way) do get some development. Vedette and Sarakota are two very interesting characters who I'd love to see in their own adventures down the road. I hope that Mortensen and Krieg return in more stories as well.

If you enjoy other Black Library titles that feature the Imperial Guard like "Cadian Blood" or even titles featuring the Astartes, you'll probably enjoy "Redemption Corps." It's an action-packed adventure full of page after page of violence, adventure, and suspense. Highly recommended.'

Electronic Shoeboxing #4

The scissors are out again and I've reached for the Electronic Shoebox. This time my attentions have fallen on a great blog called 'Kaughnor's Cave', where I discovered a nice review for Atlas Infernal. I have copied the review here but if you wish to check out 'Kaughnor's Cave', and why wouldn't you, then follow this link.


"I picked up this book solely becasue the cover intrigued me. What the heck was this human doing wearing Harlequin gear I thought. Now, I'm not one to do book reviews, but I really enjoyed this one. I had just finished reading Path of the Seer (which was good as well) and was hungry for more Eldar fluff. I'm not going to go into the substance of the novel; rather just touch on what I liked about the book.

For starters, the Harlequins, as portrayed in the Infernal Atlas, kick ass! They manhandled Space Marines, Iconic Chaos Space Marines and even Deamons. I liked that a lot. All too often it seems that the Eldar are always being portrayed as the 40k whipping boy. I mean how many times has the Avatar bit the dust to a generic space marine hero. Anyway, the Harlequins are a force to be reckoned with in the book which was nice.

What stood out to me was the fact that the novel did not portray the GW war torn universe in the cardboard black or white manner which seems to be the norm. The protagonist is one crazy character that adventures in the grey areas of the fluff. I found it refreshing.

Finally, if your like me and starved for Eldar fluff, the book does touch on the Black Library and the interactions between Harlequins and Craftworld Eldar. I realize not cannon, but its nice to read a story that fleshes out the Eldar background.

Anyway, if you want a fun light read, I recommend giving Atlas Infernal a try."

Electronic Shoeboxing #3

Some nice comments here about Atlas Infernal from a reviewer called Glitnir on Goodreads, which I promptly snipped from the interweb with my digital scissors. The cutting now finds a new home in my Electronic Shoebox.

"Four out of five stars. I really enjoyed this book-that's 2 in a row from recent BL publishing! The protagonist is both likeable and frustrating, and the travels through the Eye of Terror were wonderfully depicted. The brutality of Ahriman and the chaos realm were no less icy than the haunting footsteps of the Harlequins. There was some description of the Black Library, though I would've liked to seen more (simply because it's so mysterious and been shrouded in the 40k mythos for so long). The intricacy of the plot was also appealing, and the layout of the chapters (in theatrical format) was a nice touch. Sanders really produced a good work here."

Happy to oblige, Glitnir.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Just read a fantastic review by a gentleman called CrusherJoe on the site Bell of Lost Souls. Since I’m having a tidy up of the entire internet and trying to put all Atlas Infernal related material all in one place, I thought it deserved coverage here on the blog. The website Bell of Lost Souls or BOLS can be found here.

“Inquisitor Czevak leads a ragtag, fugitive fleet across the galaxy for the future
of all humankind in this new novel by Rob Sanders.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'll admit I'm fascinated by the Holy Ordos. Having said that, when given the chance I jumped at the opportunity to give this new book a read. I wanted a novel that would provide an expansion on the world of the Inquisition, and Atlas Infernal did not disappoint.

When I read a Black Library book, I like to think in terms of how the world and characters expand on the game ideas and themes. For example, it's one thing to play an inquisitor, it's another to imagine what they represent in the "real world". The true strength of Atlas Infernal is its depiction of an Inquisitor and his retinue. Allow me to explain: when you see an Inquisitor in an army list, he or she was more often than not accompanied by an Inquisitorial henchman warband. Sure, you can see why that would be in terms of the game -- they amplify the combat prowess of the Inquisitor and/or multiply his usefulness by the effect he has on the game. But why would a member of the Holy Ordos have a gaggle of folks around them? After reading this book, you know -- because henchmen are like the inquisitor's Swiss army knife, each one of them is a resource, a tool for the Inquisitor to exploit to accomplish his goals. Czevak's retinue of "tools" consists of a junior (in terms of rank) Inquisitor, a drug-addicted psychic and her servo-skull, a Relictors Techmarine, a Rogue Trader and her ship, some Guardsmen, and a Daemonhost. The way this ragtag group works together -- sometimes willingly, sometimes deluded by Czevak -- gives a great deal of insight into what makes these bands of henchmen work. To me, it was quite fascinating.

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Czevak has some very lofty goals indeed, and some very powerful enemies. As perhaps the only human "invited" to visit the Eldar's Black Library (and subsequently escape the Harlequins that guard it), he possesses some very unique knowledge -- namely, how to actually get to the Black Library -- and there are certain entities that would do pretty much anything to gain that knowledge, not the least of which is Ahriman of the Thousand Sons. Needless to say, having knowledge that Ahriman desperately wants to possess doesn't exactly extend your life expectancy.

Fortunately, Czevak is extremely resourceful and just intelligent enough to be a worthy adversary to the Thousand Sons sorcerer, because the main thread of story involves Czevak's desperate attempt to thwart one of Ahriman's more involved, apocalyptic plots. I won't reveal what the plot is nor its goals, but it is suitably epic in scope, nature and complexity -- Tzeentch would be proud. The kicker is, Czevak is forced to work against this plot while being relentlessly pursued by his former Harlequin jailers, which as presented here are far more formidable than Eldar story-telling dancers. Also, did I mention that Czevak's own Ordo Xenos isn't exactly happy with his more "radical" approach to his duties? Nor the other Ordos and Grey Knights? He is definitely a wanted man -- good thing he has his retinue to help him out.

And that's the strength of this story, really. Yes, there is definitely some exposition on the inner goings-on of the Inquisition. The plot jumps back and forth in time and the once the full extent of Ahriman's plot is revealed, take a moment to soak it up. But amongst all the fate-of-the-galaxy stuff going on, it is really the way Czevak and his merry band work together that saves both themselves, and countless others.

The only real issue I have with Atlas Infernal is what I will call the "final escape", in the last chapter prior to the epilogue.. It felt...rushed. Tacked on. It smacked of deus ex machina to me and while, yes, considering the subject matter that may not be too far-fetched, but I wish some other way of resolving that plot-line had been devised.

But even that gripe doesn't take away from the overall strength of the work. Atlas Infernal has been my favorite Black Library book in quite a while -- yes, to me, it was that good. I recommend it.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

What do you think of the Inquisition being fleshed out? Isn't it interesting that Rob Sanders chose the Ordo Xenos, perhaps the order we know least about, to write a novel about? Wouldn't it be great to have your own retinue of henchmen to carry out your orders?”

As a side note, there is a sneaky clue contained in this post relating to my next published project, which you might be able to identify. It's not The Da Vinci Code or anything but it is there. : )

Electronic Shoeboxing #2

Continuing with my feverish collection of all things relevant and interesting, I came across this review of Atlas Infernal by Anne Marie at an online Warhammer Community called ‘the Astronomican’. She had some nice things to say about the novel: here is the review, warts and all.

“Finished reading the Atlas Infernal by Rob Sanders, and while I could gnash my teeth on the fact of typos and simple spelling errors, they were only a handful in comparison to some blatant errors I have read in other Black Library books. It was an entertaining read and certainly a book capable of holding its own in the Inquisitorial series already published, but one flaw I felt it had was there was too much crammed into one novel.Sanders writes about everything from daemonhosts to rogue traders to the Harlequin masque to the crone worlds in the Eye of Terror. The book suffers from having too much content placed in its pages, when it could stand to be unveiled over a series of novels. Even a trilogy of Czevak novels would have been a good bet, not a sudden information dump where I had to go back and skim the last few pages to ensure I hadn't missed something of importance. I was hoping for the time line to advance but the reader is still firmly entrenched in M.41 as the 13th Black Crusade is underway. Then again, Sanders may have something else in the works for this eccentric cast of characters in the future...

The characters were all wonderful in their own way. Ahriman is mostly written through a series of flashbacks taking place during the 13th Black Crusade, but he is as cold, aloof and as in control as he was in A Thousand Sons, though much darker in thought and deed. He was the main reason I bought the book and though Sanders' take of Ahriman's character is different to McNeill's, I enjoyed both portrayals of a pre- and post-Heresy Ahzek Ahriman. Czevak comes across as a delightful character and makes me think of the 11th Doctor. A Living Saint is involved, a warp-seer with no training who has a pet/sibling relationship with a daemonhost, a Relictors Space Marine Tech-Priest, and Klute - Czevak's apprentice - is the most level-headed in the whole bunch.

I think the times when Sanders writing truly shines is when he writes about the Eldar developments - Czevak in the Black Library, the Harlequins hunting him and how they simply seem to be everywhere at once. He sheds light on why the Harlequins are the best of all the Eldar race.I commend Sanders for giving the reader a further look into the dark lore of 40K and the daily habits of the people onboard the rogue trader vessel to the worlds inside the Eye. The book Czevak runs around with, the Atlas Infernal, is going to be one of those items which causes a butterfly effect across the entire galaxy. Something so small yet holding so much potential for mischief to be managed.

Cons: Too much sudden information, a tendency for run-on sentences, the usual BL editing errors, the Pariah gene used as a conventional tool too often.
Pros: Harlequins demonstrating why they are some of the greatest Eldar warriors and powers in 40K, Grey Knights, Ahriman, rogue traders, the Eye of Terror, daemons actually manipulating people, the Black Library, etc. etc. etc.

A worthwhile read. I would give it an 8/10.”

Thanks for the critique and the time you spent on the novel, Anne-Marie. I’m going back to the novel now with a magnifying glass to see if I can spot any of those pesky typos. : )

The ‘Astronomican Warhammer Community’ can he found here.

Electronic Shoeboxing

Like sportspeople and actors, writers try to keep track of reportage and responses to their works / performances. They cut out reviews from magazines and profiles / interviews from newspapers and keep them in a folder or shoebox. The internet complicates this rather old-fashioned process, simply because of the sheer number of responses there might be to a particular text on any one day. It is also difficult to cut responses out of the internet. It occurred to me that this blog might be an appropriate place to set up an ‘Electronic Shoebox’ – a place where relevant snippets can be stored and enjoyed.

Like many Black Library writers I am a sporadic haunter of discussion boards and forums relating to speculative fiction and the specific setting / sub-genre in which I write. Heresy Online is one such hang out, where a range of opinions - both positive and negative - are exchanged in relation to Black Library books. Forums are a mixed bag for all writers. There are no authors, BL or otherwise, that receive universally good or bad feedback on such sites. Apart from the ‘Ask the Author’ section at the Black Library Bolt Hole, I tend not to intrude on such conversations (largely due to time constraints), but in fairness, I know authors that do and enjoy debating the merits of specific opinions with friendly forumites. The best thing about discussion boards for any writer, regardless of their genre, is the almost immediate nature of feedback. Before the advent and popularity of the internet, writers and publishing companies had much less of an idea regarding the specifics of what their readers thought and wanted.

Anyway, I digress. Here is a review from Heresy Online on Age of Darkness – the Horus Heresy anthology in which my short story The Iron Within can be found. I’ve reproduced the snippet regarding The Iron Within below but the remainder of the review, detailing responses to all the fantastic stories contained within Age of Darkness can be found here.


“The Iron Within – Rob Sanders

Finally, Iron Warriors!! We have waited long enough (I’m a fan as you can see). This story addresses the loyalties of the Iron Warriors left to garrison the compliant planets, and how they view their now traitorous primarch. The stage is set for an awesome siege with a fortress of unusual characteristics. The main Warsmith is brilliantly portrayed (having been a victim of the Hrud campaign), and the devious tactics he has up his sleeve provide an outstanding climax.

A ten out of ten for Rob Sanders, I hope much more from him going forward."