Want To Play Some More: Solution

These really are popular features. Wouldn't be much fun if I left you hanging, so here is the solution to the puzzle left on the blog yesterday.





For those who have yet to check out the Horus Heresy short story The Iron WIthin, it can be found here. Here's a short extract to whet the appetite.

Want To Play Some More?

Earlier in the month we played some games on the blog and they were well received. I decided to take another shot. Something a little more difficult this time: a puzzle relating to my Horus Heresy short story The Iron Within.


The Iron Warriors are masters of siege warfare and fortification. Check out the Iron Warriors construction below. See if you can use the clues to fill in the blanks.

THE IRON WITHIN



ANSWERS

Paint it Black

Painting. When I initially took up the Warhammer 40k hobby - in my younger days - I was struck by how involving it is. There’s the time and imaginative energy it takes to assemble and collect the miniatures and lend your army/armies character; to get together with friends who had done the same and devise battle scenarios and background; to read the wealth of background books and codexes that accompany the different factions; to create scenery and objectives; to paint your glorious miniatures and finally, to play the game. Entire summers of my childhood zoomed by in a haze of rulebooks, tape measures and multi-sided dice.

I was a passable painter but again it was the creative element that appealed to me rather than the technical aptitude. I really have respect for painters who can do both. Recently I discovered this miniature on the internet by a painter-gamer called QiaoZhong. It is Barabas Dantioch - a Loyalist Iron Warrior – from my Horus heresy short story called The Iron Within. The Iron Within can be found here or as part of the Horus Heresy anthology Age of Darkness here. I’m very fond of Dantioch’s character and he’s also proved popular with reader meaning that it is especially nice to see him represented in miniature form. An excellent paint job, I’m sure you’ll agree. Thanks QiaoZhong.

Role Model

'Captain Convertion' has been busy both reading my Horus Heresy short The Iron Within from The Age of Darkness and crafting a representation of Tauro Nicodemus, one of the story’s main characters. Brother Nicodemus is a legionary champion of the Ultramarines, Tetrarch of Ultramar and a member of Primarch Roboute Guilliman’s Honour Guard and has bad news for the Iron Warriors garrison on Lesser Damantyne. I am, of course, honoured that Captain Conversion has brought Brother Nicodemus to life on the battlefield. Excellent conversion. I hope that he brings his Ultramarines (or Iron Warriors!) luck with the dice. Perhaps the title should be ‘Roll Model’. 'Captain Convertion’s work is showcased on his new blog 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."

‘Age of Darkness’ Reviews

I have long enjoyed the reviews of Stefan Fergus on the blog Civilian Reader. His reviews are always thoughtful and fair, demonstrating a wealth of literary experience and an eye for detail. He has recently posted a review on the Horus Heresy short story anthology Age of Darkness. Age of Darkness contains my story, The Iron Within, and Civilian Reader has many nice things to say about it. Follow the link below to check out Civilian Reader and the review. Below that is Civilian Reader’s review of my first novel, Redemption Corps.

http://civilian-reader.blogspot.com/2011/04/age-of-darkness-edited-by-christian.html

http://civilian-reader.blogspot.com/2010/06/redemption-corps-by-rob-sanders-black.html

The 'Age of Darkness' Approaches

The Horus Heresy anthology Age of Darkness just got its own book trailer, showcasing the various authors contained within its covers. I am one of those authors I am delighted to say, and not just because it is pleasure and a privilege to share pages with these fantastic guys. Age of Darkness is the latest release in the million-selling and New York Times Bestseller List charting Horus Heresy series. Something special indeed. The anthology contains the following stories by the following authors:

• 'Rules of Engagement' by Graham McNeill
• 'Liar's Due' by James Swallow
• 'Forgotten Sons' by Nick Kyme
• 'The Last Remembrancer' by John French
• 'Rebirth' by Chris Wraight
• 'The Face of Treachery' by Gav Thorpe
• 'Little Horus' by Dan Abnett
• 'The Iron Within' by Rob Sanders
• 'Savage Weapons' by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Age of Darkness is released in May but is already doing great business on Amazon and direct from Black Library. I am also thrilled about an extract from my story The Iron Within being used to advertise the anthology. The extract can be found here.

Check out the trailer. Thanks to the guys at Shroud Films for their technical and creative wizardry. Oh, and I get the prize for the most ‘erms’ in one sentence.

Where The Hell Have I Been?

You know you have been neglecting your blog when you’ve forgotten which buttons do what on the posting Dashboard. Have been busy with a whole myriad of things, many creative, some horrifying and some simply required. Among the horrifying was an ‘Ofsted’ inspection: teachers just love those, I can tell you. Clearing out my garage was just required. It could hold no more and something had to be done about it. A something that basically amounted to three full days transporting junk to the local dump.

I promised more Review highlights and since many people have been saying many nice things about ‘Redemption Corps’ I should really get on that, but other forthcoming projects demand the attention. The fantastic folks at Black Library have posted my next novel on their ‘Coming Soon’ section. It is called ‘Atlas Infernal’ and the appropriately epic sounding blurb is as follows:

Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak is a hunted man. Escaping from the Black Library of the eldar, Czevak steals the Atlas Infernal – a living map of the Webway. With this fabled artefact and his supreme intellect, Czevak foils the predations of the Harlequins sent to apprehend him and thwarts his enemies within the Inquisition who want to kill him. Czevak’s deadliest foe, however, is Ahriman – arch-sorcerer of the Thousand Sons. He desires the knowledge within the Black Library, knowledge that can exalt him to godhood, and is willing to destroy the inquisitor to obtain it. A desperate chase that will bend the fabric of reality ensues, where Czevak’s only hope of survival is to outwit the chosen of Tzeentch, Lord of Chaos and Architect of Fate. Failure is unconscionable, the very cost to the Imperium unimaginable.

Thanks to the blurb writer on that one. Good job! It’s a little known fact that authors do not tend to write their own blurbs – but do write their own books, you’ll be relieved to discover. We don’t farm that responsibility out. ‘Atlas Infernal’ is out in July so more on Bronislaw Czevak and his adventures later.

What else? I’m usually pretty cagey about future projects, but since other authors identified their contributions at ‘Games Day’, I can confirm that I too have a short story in ‘Victories of the Space Marines’, edited by Christian Dunn and out in April. Christian published my first work, so it’s always a pleasure to work with him and continuing that theme I can also announce that I have a short story in the forthcoming ‘Horus Heresy’ anthology ‘Age of Darkness’, out in May. Could I tell you more about these stories? Probably, but I won’t. Don’t want to ruin the surprise. You’ll see what I mean when you read them. You are going to read them, aren’t you?