Season's Greetings!

Wishing all the best for the season and an action-packed yule for all you cool folks out there!
 

Christmas Bundles!

You can stay bundled up this Christmas - digitally, that is - with a bunch of mega-package offers from Black Library's Warhammer 40,000 and Horus Heresy ranges, available over the next week or so. These huge collections all feature some stuff by me, and you certainly get a lot of bolter for your buck...

The Sons of Sanguinius collection features over a dozen of my Blood Angels novels and short stories; you can check out 6 of my audio dramas in the The Horus Heresy Audio Drama Bundle 2015, and audio or ebook versions of my Horus Heresy fiction in the Unabridged Audiobook Collections and the massive Horus Heresy So Far... bundle.

Click on the covers to order, or visit the Bundles page at the Black Library website Here.

The Official Horus Heresy Reading Order

With the epic scope of the Horus Heresy fiction, it's sometimes daunting to new readers who want to come into the saga and enjoy the various novels, novellas, short stories and audio dramas.

So in direct response to audience requests, the gang over at Black Library have compiled an official Reading Order to act as a useful guide.

You can check it out Here, complete with links to each publication, and the list will continue to be updated as the saga progresses toward the final climax at the Siege of Terra.

And if you look carefully, you may also notice this teaser...

 

More on that in the new year...

I Speak Games

In what has now become something of an annual pre-Christmas tradition, Siobhán Thomas of the London South Bank University - she's Senior Lecturer and Course Director of the BA (Hons) Game Cultures course there - has wrangled together myself and a group of games writers to talk about what it is we do.

Under the banner of the LSBU and in association with the International Games Developers Association London and The Writer's Guild of Great Britain, I'll be joining a bunch of industry veterans to talk about this year's theme of combining narrative with gameplay; here's the event blurb...

Playing the Story – how to marry gameplay with narrative without divorcing the player.

With narrative-driven and narrative-heavy games getting 9/10 and 10/10 reviews, has the era of story in games arrived, or is plot still ‘gameplay’s bitch’?

Join Rhianna (Tomb Raider) Pratchett, James (Deus Ex) Swallow, Andrew (Fable: Legends) Walsh, Ed (Brink) Stern and Tom (Subnautica) Jubert for a panel on the tricks, traps and travails of making stories work in games. After the event we’ll be heading over to The Albert Arms pub for further chat and networking.

The panel will take place at the Keyworth Centre, London South Bank University on Wednesday, December 9th from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM. Tickets are free but limited in number; to register for one, click Here.

DEUS EX gets AUGed

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is due out next year, and the anticipation has been high since we first busted out our reveal trailer; but one thing a decade and a half of working in the games industry had taught me is that everything takes longer than you expect it to. Modern videogames are massive projects with a myriad of moving parts, and getting them right is as much art as it is science.

 

We were due to see DXMD arriving on PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4 in a couple of months time, but a recent announcement from Eidos Montreal has pushed that release date back to August 23rd 2016 - the month of "aug" seems very fitting indeed.  Why the delay? Simply put, it's to make sure that Mankind Divided is the best it can possibly be, and as my boss at EM David Anfossi said "This game is a huge part of our lives and we don't want to compromise on its quality."

Of course, delaying the game also has a knock-on effect of delaying the release of Deus Ex: Black Light, the original tie-in novel I've written for Titan Books which covers the gap between the end of the previous game Human Revolution and the start of Mankind Divided. The plan is for Black Light to hit bookstores for a day-and-date with the game on the 23rd; we're also planning more original fiction content in the form of an exclusive ebook novella (just like Deus Ex: Fallen Angel, which was released with the Human Revolution Director's Cut), as well as a series of comics.

Black Light is available for pre-order now, and while you wait for it and Mankind Divided, my previous Deus Ex novel Icarus Effect is still in print, and Fallen Angel is available as a free PDF download Here.

 

The Blood Angels Collection

Another week and another re-release from out of the blue (or maybe red, in this case); Black Library have compiled all four of my Warhammer 40,000 Blood Angels novels - Deus Encarmine, Deus Sanguinius, Red Fury and Black Tide - into a single ebook edition called The Blood Angels Collection, which is available now from their website.

Now out of print, these books were previously only available individually in digital format, or on dead trees as The Blood Angels Omnibus and Blood Angels: The Second Omnibus, and this collection at a penny shy of £20 saves you just under £8.

Also, if you want to pick up the short stories that were included in the Omnibus editions - Blood Debt, Redeemed, Bloodline and the prose version of the audio drama Heart of Rage - you can find ebook editions of them on the BL site too for £2.49 each.

Click on any of the titles to visit the Black Library website.

SCI FI Bromley on Saturday

Ah, Bromley; you might not think it, but this leafy London suburb has always a dash of science fiction running through its streets. HG Wells spent a troubled childhood there before going on to write The Time Machine and War of the Worlds. Ziggy Stardust himself, David Bowie, lived there in the 50's. And if you want to stretch the definition, even children's author and local lass Enid Blyton flirted with SF concepts in some of her novels.

So it's kinda cool that this Saturday, a couple of time machines (specifically a TARDIS and the one from the 1960's movie of the same name) will be materializing there, along with me and a bunch of other folks for the inaugural SCI FI Bromley show; there's also a concert planned for the evening, where the Lewisham Concert Band will play a set of famous SF themes.

The event runs from 11:00am to 6:00pm at the Great Hall in the Bromley Civic Centre.

As well as a display of props, sales stands and cosplay stuff going on, I'll be there signing books and taking part in Q&A panels with fellow authors Graham Guy and Graham Austin-King at 12:15pm and 3:15pm.

Also appearing at the show are Jami Reid-Quarrell from Doctor Who and Star Wars alumni Nick Joseph, Ted Western, Alan Flyng, Barrie Holland, Laurie Goode, Brian Muir and Stephanie English.

Entry to the show is free and tickets for the concert are £18, with proceeds going to charities Connect and the The National Brain Appeal.

For more information about the event, check out the website Here.

 

 

Hear THE VOICE

Like John Farnham once said, we can write what we wanna write, and a few years back I wrote "The Voice", a short story for the Horus Heresy anthology Tales of Heresy. 

 

Featuring characters from my novel The Flight of the Eisenstein, the story centres around the Sisters of Silence, the pariah witch-hunters who track down and neutralize deadly renegade pskyers in the age of the Heresy. 

 

At the time, I thought it was a pretty cool idea to write a piece of fiction about characters who have taken a vow of silence, and I was able to open out the lore of the Silent Sisterhood in some interesting ways.

And now today, as part of Black Library's Horus Heresy Audio Week, an spoken word reading of "The Voice" by Emma Gregory is available for digital download - you can click Here for more information or to listen to a excerpt.

The Black Ships are a mysterious and fearful sight – unmarked vessels that scour the distant reaches of the galaxy, ever watchful for latent psykers and witchbreeds for the monolithic Astra Telepathica.

When one such ship, the Validus, is found drifting unpowered in the nightmare realm of the warp, it falls to the Sisters of Silence to uncover the reason behind it.

As pariahs capable of blocking even the most potent psychic energy, Amendera Kendel and young Leilani Mollitas ready themselves for the worst…

You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Cloud City Casino

Earlier this month I was pleased to be interviewed by Michael and Bruce over at the Cloud City Casino podcast, which is part of The Star Wars Report and dedicated to all things gaming-related in the Star Wars universe.

I'm on the show talking in-depth about my writing for the Disney Infinity 3.0 toys-to-life videogame (specifially the Twilight of the Republic playset, and the Clone Wars and Rebels characters I worked on) and much more besides!

To visit the Cloud City Casino podcast site, click Here.

STAR TREK: THE LATTER FIRE cover

It's only been a couple of weeks since my Star Trek: Titan novel Sight Unseen hit the stores, but now I can reveal Tony Mauro's amazing art for my next work of Star Trek fiction, a novel set during the original TV series called The Latter Fire...

The five-year mission of the Starship Enterprise has brought the vessel and her crew to the forefront of an important first contact operation. 

Under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, the ship is heading to the planet Syhaar Prime in the Beta Quadrant—the homeworld of an alien civilization preparing to take its first steps onto the galactic stage. 

One year earlier, the Enterprise came across a badly damaged Syhaari explorer vessel drifting in deep space. In collaboration with the explorer’s captain, Kirk and his crew were able to restore the ship to full function and send it on its way. 

And now, as the Syhaari display rapid technological progress in the past year, hard questions must be asked. Is it possible that the Enterprise crew leaked advanced technology or information to the Syhaari during their first encounter, in violation of the Prime Directive?

Star Trek - The Latter Fire will be on sale from March 23rd next year, and will be part of Pocket Books' celebration of 'classic' Star Trek's 50th Anniversary.

 

GARRO RETURNS!

Over at Warhammer World this weekend a whole bunch of new Horus Heresy stuff is being shown as part of Games Workshop's Open Day event - and among those things was the first official announcement of the return of Nathaniel Garro, Knight Errant and Agentia Primus, the hero of my novel Flight of the Eisenstein and an ongoing series of audio dramas.

We're keeping full details under wraps for the moment, but here's a pic of the moody cover of Vow of Faith (thanks to the guys at The Imperial Truth podcast), Garro's first prose outing since Flight. 

 

And Garro's not just returning in paper form; at long last, Forge World will be releasing a resin figure of him as well; check out these sneak peek shots of this fantastic sculpt by Israel Gonzalez (thanks to the Battle Bunnies blog). 

 

In addition, another announcement at the event was War Without End, a new Horus Heresy anthology which will also feature fiction from me.

 

I'll reveal more about Vow of Faith and War Without End in the weeks ahead...

 

You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Literary Treks

Top chaps Dan Gunther and Matt Rushing, the genial hosts of Trek.FM's Literary Treks podcast, have put up their new show this week - and it features me talking about my newest Star Trek: Titan novel, Sight Unseen...

 

You can stream or download the podcast Here - and be warned, if you haven't read Sight Unseen yet, the conversation is very spoiler-y...

 

 

You Are Hearing Me Talk....About DISNEY INFINITY & STAR WARS

So Disney Infinity 3.0 has been out for a couple of weeks now, and the Star Wars prequel-era Twilight of the Republic playset I worked on has been joined by the Rise of the Empire playset from the 'classic' trilogy, with another release coming at Christmas to synch up with The Force Awakens - and m'colleague Adam Rosser at BBC Radio 5 Live had me on his show Game On this week to discuss the toys-to-life genre, Star Wars and more...

You can stream the show or download it as a podcast right Here.

DEUS EX & DARK FUTURE interviews

Recently I chatted to the Game Debate website about a couple of futuristic game projects I've been working on - Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Dark Future: Blood Red States - and they've now posted both parts of an interview with me over on their website.

Part one, where I enthuse about Deus Ex and drop some hints about my tie-in novel Black Light, can be found Here.

Part two, in which I speak about the concepts and intentions for Blood Red States, can be found Here.

You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Forge The Narrative

Once more, Chris and Paul from the Forge The Narrative podcast have had me on their show to talk about stuff...

 

While FtN is primarily a Warhammer 40,000-themed podcast, they also do episodes that "take a deep dive into nerdom" - and this is one of them! In this edition, I'm discussing the work I did on the Disney Infinity 3.0 video game, specifically the Star Wars Twilight of the Republic playset...and I drop a few hints about some of my other upcoming projects as well.

To visit Forge the Narrative's website and listen to the show, click Here. (The interview starts at the 26.33 minute mark)

 

 

STAR TREK: TITAN - SIGHT UNSEEN is out this month!

I'm pleased to announce that in just over two weeks time on September 29th, my 4th full-length Star Trek novel Sight Unseen will be hitting all good bookstores from here to the Gamma Quadrant...

Sight Unseen is the newest adventure in the Star Trek: Titan series, which is set aboard the titular ship, Starfleet's most species-diverse vessel under the command of Star Trek: The Next Generation's William Riker. The crew also includes TNG's Deanna Troi and Star Trek: Voyager's Tuvok, as well as all-new characters from the world of Trek Lit. For those interested in continuity, Sight Unseen picks up after the events of John Jackson Miller's novel Takedown and pulls in narrative threads from The Fall miniseries.

This is my 3rd excursion with the crew of the USS Titan after 2009's Synthesis and 2013's New York Times bestseller The Poisoned Chalice, and it's great to be back with them. 

Readers are going to see a few changes in this novel - there will be new faces, old enemies, life and death, hard questions and fresh challenges...

Here's the back cover blurb:

In the wake of political upheaval across the United Federation of Planets, Admiral William Riker and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan find themselves in uncertain waters as roles aboard the ship change to reflect a new mandate and a new mission.

On orders from Starfleet, Titan sets out toward the edge of Federation space to tackle its latest assignment: to work with an alien species known as the Dinac, who are taking their first steps into the galaxy at large as a newly warp-capable civilization.But when disaster befalls the Dinac, the Titan crew discovers they have unknowingly drawn the attention of a deadly, merciless enemy—a nightmare from Riker’s past lurking in the darkness.

Friendships will be tested to the limit as familiar faces and new allies must risk everything in a fight against an unstoppable invader—or a horrific threat will be unleashed on the galaxy!

Star Trek: Titan - Sight Unseen will be available in eBook and mass-market paperback editions from Simon & Schuster on September 29th.

For more information - and an excerpt from the novel! - click Here.

DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED arrives February 2016

Start the clock - Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the next blockbuster game in the Deus Ex saga, will be arriving on PC, XBox One and Playstation 4 platforms on February 23rd 2016.

 

The 23rd is going to be a busy date for me - I have a new novel coming out that day too! Keep an eye on the official Deus Ex website (and this blog!) in the months ahead as the launch date approaches; I'll be talking more about my work on the game in the near future....

You are seeing me talk... To SBOC

This week sees the release of Disney Infinity 3.0, along with a whole bunch of Star Wars themed materials - including the Twilight of the Republic playset, Clone Wars and Rebels figures I worked on as scriptwriter.

Reviews are looking good - the gamer community is liking what we've done - and I've been able to talk a little bit about the game (and also the other big project I'm working on, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided) with the gang from the SBOC video podcast.

 

 Check out episode #6 of SBOC's Weekly Show and find me from the 26.32 mark...

DISNEY INFINITY 3.0 - STAR WARS is out this month!

A Galaxy Far Far Away is finally coming to the worlds of Disney Infinity with the release of the 3.0 version of the game at the end of the month, and I'm pleased to say that the launch playset is Star Wars: Twilight of the Republic, which I worked on with the top folks at Lucasfilm and game developers Ninja Theory and Disney Intertactive. Check out our trailer!
 

 

 

 We've created a cool action-adventure in the style of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series - in the trailer above you'll see Cat Taber, Sam Witwer and Matt Lanter reprising their roles as Padme Amidala, Darth Maul and Anakin Skywalker, and they're joined by the rest of the Clone Wars cast in the game.

Of all the fictional worlds I've enjoyed and wanted to tell a story in, Star Wars is one that's always eluded me - but now that's changed! Writing the storyline and script for Twilight of the Republic (as well as character scripts for all the prequel trilogy figures and Star Wars: Rebels figures too) has been a great experience - and it's just the start...

Let The Games Begin!

Today is publication day for GAME OVER, the new anthology of horror fiction inspired by classic arcade games from Snowbooks, featuring my original short story "Screen Burn"...

In the cavern-like darkness of the arcade, the neon phosphor-glow of the screen beckons you close. Drawn to the dancing pixels like a moth to a flame, digging deep in your pocket you pull out a shiny coin and thumb it into the slot as the electronic siren sings the fanfare that marks your arrival. One hand on the joystick, the other splayed across the control buttons, your pulse begins to quicken.

You’ve barely begun but suddenly the discordant bleeps are trumpeting your failure as your 8-bit adventure comes to an abrupt end. At least in the world of the video arcade you get a second chance. But what is the true price you pay when you make a pact with the digital demon? There’s always another coin, an extra life to be earned, a second chance… Isn’t there?

GAME OVER: A dozen stories of creeping dread and savage horror inspired by the humble amusement arcade and the classic coin-ops of yesteryear. Twelve tales to chill your blood by twelve masters of the malevolent and the macabre.
Just keep reminding yourself, it’s only a game… Isn’t it?

As well as me, the GAME OVER anthology also features stories by James Wallis, Sarah Peploe, Jonathan Oliver, Simon Bestwick, Gav Thorpe, Laurel Sills, Alexandra Peel, Tim Major, Adam Chillman, George Pickett, and Michael Carroll, all ably edited by Jonathan Green - and right now, if you buy it direct from publishers Snowbooks you can get 50% off by quoting the discount code 'GO' for the ebook edition, and 'GO-PRINT' for the paperback. (The offer's good for the next 24 hours so act quickly, mwah hah hah, Space Cadet).

Click Here to visit the Snowbooks website, or go check out the official GAME OVER Facebook page Here.

All These (Nine) Worlds Are Yours...

Just a quick reminder that the Nine Worlds Geekfest event is taking place this weekend from the 7th-9th August, at the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel across from London's Heathrow airport, and I'll be along there on Saturday 8th to talk about Star Trek, tie-in fiction and more...

 

You can find out more about the event by visiting the website Here.

GAME OVER, man, GAME OVER

In the darkness of the arcade, the neon phosphor glow of the screen beckons you close. Attract mode flickering like dancing fire, you're drawn in, digging deep in your pocket for that shiny coin, thumbing it into the slot as the chiptune siren sings the fanfare for your arrival.
One hand around the joystick, the other splayed open to rest across the control buttons. Get Ready. 1-Up. Prepare to Qualify. Avoid Missing Ball For High Score. I Hunger...

When I was a kid, I barely made it out of the era of Disco with my sanity intact, and if I hadn't been bitten by the videogames bug (thanks to Space Invaders, Galaxian, Asteroids, Gorf, Tempest and a million more) I probably would have grown up well-adjusted.
Lucky for me, that bug laid eggs in my brain that later hatched and turned me into the writer of stuff that I am today.

I'm a gamer through and through, from my Binatone TV Master Mk.IV to my bleeding-edge octal-core PC, and so when I heard about m'colleague Jonathan Green's call for a horror fiction anthology inspired by classic videogames, I had to sign up.

Game Over hits on August 12th from the good people at Snowbooks, and features a dozen tales of gaming made to chill your blood; my contribution is a story called "Screen Burn", a speculation about the dark truth behind an unsolved mystery dating back to the height of the arcade era.

For more about Game Over, stay tuned to the anthology's official Facebook page Here and the Snowbooks site Here.

A new DEUS EX novel!

The biggest geekathon on the planet took place over the weekend at San Diego Comic Con, and many cool things were revealed there; among them was this:

Also in the works: a new novel written by @jmswallow, which will will be set between the events of Human Revolution and Mankind Divided!

— Deus Ex (@DeusEx) July 11, 2015

And indeed it is so. I've been writing for the Deus Ex franchise since 2008, with my work on the Human Revolution videogame, the Icarus Effect novel, The Fall for mobile platforms, the Fallen Angel novella (still available for free right Here) and most recently the forthcoming Mankind Divided game. 

Those are going to be joined by a new full-length novel I'm writing - the working title is Black Light - that will take the character of Adam Jensen from the explosive ending of Human Revolution and into the narrative of Mankind Divided two years later.

Familiar faces will return, new mysteries will be revealed, and more - look for the book next year around the same time as the release for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and keep an eye on this blog for more details in the coming months...

MECH: AGE OF STEEL is coming...

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that i freaking <3 giant robots.

I've been a mecha-head since I was a little lad, and that love of cool hardware truly blossomed when I discovered anime in my teens. Thanks to shows like Robotech, Mobile Suit Gundam, Metal Armor Dragonar (and later Patlabor, Martian Successor Nadesico, Neon Genesis Evangelion and others) I've kept alive that heavy metal thrill, kindling the flame anew when Pacific Rim rolled out.

So, naturally, when I heard that the gang over at Ragnarok Publications were assembling a new anthology dedicated to such things, I could not sign up fast enough.

I worked with Ragnarok on their previous short story collection about gigantic destructive things, Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters, and now I'm stoked to be joining an all-star crew of authors for Mech: Age of Steel - an anthology dedicated to giant robots of all kinds. Check out the awesome cover art by Victor Adame below...

 

Edited by Tim Marqutiz and Nick Sharps, along with me M:AoS will feature stories by Kevin J. Anderson & David Boop, Jody Lynn Nye, Graham McNeill, Peter Clines, Jeremy Robinson, Martha Wells, Jeffrey J. Mariotte & Marsheila Rockwell, Ramez Naam & Jason M. Hough, J.C. Koch, Jeff Somers, Matt Forbeck, Anton Strout, Bill Fawcett, C.L. Werner, James Ray Tuck, Jr.,  M.L. Brennan, Timothy W. Long, Jennifer Brozek, J.M. Martin, Kane Gilmour, Paul Genesse, Patrick M. Tracy, Andrew Liptak, Steve Diamond, Shawn Speakman, Mark Teppo and Mallory Reaves.

Mech: Age of Steel powers up later this year as a Kickstarter project, and there will be a bunch of neat perks and stuff for backers to get their hands on.

Check out the official Ragnarok Publications page Here and watch the skies for more info in the weeks to come...

Mecha! Hasshin!

NINE WORLDS 2015

So the delightful folks over at the Nine Worlds Geekfest event have been kind enough to invite me along to their convention this year, which is being held over the weekend of the 7th-9th August, at the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel across from London's Heathrow airport.

As they describe it, "It’s about gaming, film, cosplay, fandom, literature, science, geek culture, meeting people and having a really big party" and you can find out more about the event by visiting the website Here.

I'll be along to talk about stuff - currently I'm on the dedicated Star Trek track but there may be more of me depending on how things shake out - and joining me will be a whole bunch of other interesting people, including my fellow Trek novelist Una McCormack and top gaming chap James Wallis. The current guest line-up is listed Here.

DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED hits E3!

This week is the big E3 videogames trade show over in sunny Los Angeles, and as part of the hype extravaganza, m'colleagues at Eidos Montreal have been showing off new footage from Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, our new game and sequel to 2011's blockbuster hit Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Rather than waste time with words, I'll just let the game do the talking with a video dump...

You can also check out the amazing high def power of the Dawn Engine - the tech behind DXMD - in this brief demo showing the Golem City ghetto...

And lastly, here's producer Jean-Francois Dugas showing off a couple of live play-throughs of the Golem City environment from early in the DXMD story...

...A Great Adventure Begins...

Last month I announced with a (20th Century Fox) fanfare that I've been working with games studio Ninja Theory on the latest iteration of the Disney Infinity toys-to-life videogame - specifically the Disney Infinity 3.0 Star Wars playset Twilight of the Republic; you can see more about that by clicking Here.

But as well as writing the story and scripts for the TotR playset and Clone Wars era-characters (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Yoda and Darth Maul), I also worked on something else that we've been keeping under wraps until today...

 I got to write for Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren and Zeb Orrelios, four of the main cast from the Star Wars Rebels cartoon series, helping to bring them into the world of Disney Infinity! They'll join the Clone Wars characters in Twilight of the Republic and the characters from the original Star Wars trilogy in the Rise of the Empire playset.

For more pictures and information, check out the Infinity Inquirer site fansite.

You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Geek Apocalypse

A couple of weekends ago, I got to round out my merry month of May with three days of relaxing nerdery at the UK Games Expo convention in Birmingham, a massive board gaming event packed with interesting folks, cool games and lots of to indulge my cardboard and dice habit...

While I was there, Steven Hesse of the ace Geek Apocalypse podcast/YouTube/Twitch channel sat down with me at my signing table for a chat to talk about such things as my love of games, how I got my start as a writer and the challenges of writing in a shared universe. You can find me Here on Episode 80 (from the 26.17 mark), or also via iTunes if you'd like to subscribe to Steven's show.

This episode also features a whole bunch of other folks, including Librium Games, Dice Sports, The Next Great American Board Game, Andrew Harmen of Frankenstein's Bodies, Chris Birch of Modiphius, Dave Cousins of North And South Games and Rob Burnham, editor of the new Tabletop Magazine.

FIRST CONTACT DAY 2016

After I had such a great time there this year, it wasn't a a hard choice for me to say yes to an invite to 2016's First Contact Day event; a Star Trek and Sci-Fi TV convention taking place in Leicester over the weekend of 1st-3rd April, FCD 2016 already has Star Trek Voyager's Garret Wang, Babylon 5's Claudia Christian and Patrica Tallman and Trek experts Larry Nemecek and Doug Drexler on the guest list, and I'll be joining them along with my fellow Star Trek writer Una McCormack.

For more information about the event, check out the official site Here.

The CRIMSON NIGHT falls again...

Once again this month, Black Library's Quick Reads eBook series features a reprint of one of my Warhammer 40,000 short stories, and this time it's "Crimson Night".

Previously seen in the pages of What Price Victory and later the print-on-demand anthology The Book of Blood, "Crimson Night" was in fact the very first thing I wrote for Black Library waaaay back in 2003, before my Blood Angels, Sisters of Battle and Horus Heresy novels hit the stores.

Rich in iridium deposits, the mining world of Merron is a valuable resource for the Imperium. When a company of Doom Eagles arrives to take over garrison duties from the Flesh Tearers, they find the locals completely traumatised by their contact with these savage warriors. As civil unrest spreads and rumours fly, the Doom Eagles are forced to investigate exactly what manner of evil is preying on the people of Merron.

In many ways, "Crimson Night" was my audition piece for BL, and I wrote it for initial publication in the pages of Games Workshop's late, lamented short fiction & comics anthology magazine Inferno!; the focal character of the Doom Eagle Brother Tarikus would return in "Relics", Black Tide and "The Returned", along with warriors from the Blood Angel successor chapter the Flesh Tearers*.

To read this early work of mine, visit the Black Library website Here, or download an excerpt in Mobi or Epub formats.

* Just FYI; the new cover describes this as 'A Flesh Tearers Story'; and while they do play an important role, this much more a Doom Eagles tale...

BLOOD DEBT is back in print

Back when I started writing for Black Library's Warhammer 40,000 tie-in series, My first novels were the Blood Angels duology Deus Encarmine and Deus Sanguinius (later collected in The Blood Angels Omnibus); one of the key characters on those books was the manipulative Inquisitor Ramius Stele, and as part of the project I wrote "Blood Debt", a short story prequel detailing Stele's fall from grace and guest-starring the notorious Blood Angel captain Erasmus Tycho.

"Blood Debt" was originally going to appear in the pages of Inferno!, BL's short fiction & comics anthology magazine, but when Inferno! was cancelled the story was stuck in limbo for a time, first popping up in the print-on-demand anthology The Book of Blood and then later included in The Blood Angels Omnibus.

This week, as part of their Quick Reads digital eBook program, BL has re-released "Blood Debt" as a stand-alone short, and you can download it Here to check out this 'missing link'...

UK GAMES EXPO this weekend!

It's the UK Games Expo event in Birmingham this weekend, the largest convention of its kind in the country, and I'm going to be along as a guest, as well as giving my dice a workout...

UK Games Expo takes place at the NEC Hilton Metropole, just across from Birmingham International train station, and there's a full weekend going on of tabletop gaming, seminars, tournaments and more.

I'l be along to sign and sell my books; you should be able to find me (when not spending ££ in the dealers room or gaming at the free tables in the evening) with the New Writers UK team at Stand K35 in the King's Annex -  so come along and say hello!

Click on the banner to learn more about the event...

DARK FUTURE: BLOOD RED STATES reveal trailer

Back in the late 80's, the wastelands of a shattered America were haunted by the roar of engines and the rattle of gunfire across the asphalt; Dark Future was a cyberpunk post-apocalypse vehicle combat board game from Games Workshop that enjoyed a cult following, spawning a series of novels including Jade Dragon written by me. And now, Dark Future is back from the dead...

Auroch Digital are following in the footsteps of their earlier hit boardgame-to-videogame Chainsaw Warrior with Dark Future: Blood Red States, and I'm in the gunner seat working on the storyline.

Check out exclusive coverage over at Game Debate for more info Here and Here - and don't forget your road safety rules: Mirror, Signal, Massacre.

24: DEADLINE is a Scribe Award Nominee!

I'm very pleased to announce that the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (IAMTW) have put forth their nominations list for the 2015 Scribe Awards, and my 24 novel Deadline has made the cut as a nominee for the Best Original Novel - General category!

As the press release states:

Acknowledging excellence in this very competitive field, IAMTW’s Scribe Awards honor licensed works that tie in with other media such as television, movies, gaming, or comic books. They include original works set in established universes, and adaptations of stories that have appeared in other formats and cross all genres. Tie-in works run the gamut from westerns to mysteries to procedurals, from science fiction to fantasy to horror, from action and adventure to superheroes.

This is my third time in the mix for the Scribes - I was nominated for Best Originial Novel - Speculative for my Warhammer 40,000 novel Faith & Fire back in 2007, and later won that category in 2009 for my Star Trek: Terok Nor novel Day of the Vipers, but this the first time I've been in the General category and I'm alongside a group of talented folks and veterans of the industry; I'm very proud to be there!

To check out the full list of nominees, click Here.

Cover art for Star Trek: Titan - Sight Unseen

The cover art for my next Star Trek: Titan novel Sight Unseen is has been officially released...

 

 

You Are Hearing Me Talk... about Warhammer 40,000: Regicide

Another day, another podcast - and here's me joining my pal Adam Rosser from BBC Radio 5 Live and Eurogamer's Christian Donlan to talk about videogames, specifically Hammerfall Publishing's new Warhammer 40,000 chess-strategy-action title Regicide - now available via Steam Early Access - on the newest episode of Game On.

Click Here to download the episode.

You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Forge The Narrative

I was invited on to chat with the folks from Forge The Narrative this week - an in-depth podcast show about the worlds of Warhammer 40,000 and the Horus Heresy - and you can check out what I had to say on Episode 95 of the show right Here from the 49 mins mark... 

The audio from my end gets a little choppy in places (which is either a result of my sucky internet connection or interference from the warp) but stick with it, as we have some great discusssions on the Blood Angels, the Heresy and more. Thanks to Paul Murphy and Chris Morgan for being great hosts!

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...In A Galaxy Far, Far Away..

*Cue the 20th Century Fox fanfare*

So, for those of you who couldn't read the Aurabesh in the last blog post, here's the thing: I am writing Star Wars.

Some specifics - no, I haven't been tapped to pen a script for one of the spin-off Anthology movies as some folks suggested (but hey, Lucasfilm? *makes "call-me" gesture*); no, I'm not writing a Star Wars novel (yet), although that remains firmly at the top of my nerd bucket list, ten years on and still hoping; and no, technically this isn't my first work in the GFFA, because back in the day I wrote dozens of articles for Star Wars Magazine, Star Wars Insider, Star Wars Gamer and The Star Wars Fact Files... But it is my first time writing an original narrative for characters from that mythos.

And the first you will see of that work is Twilight of the Republic, the launch playset that will be released with Disney Infinity 3.0: Star Wars – the newest iteration of the blockbuster ‘toys-to-life’ videogame series. Featuring the heroes, villains and locations of the saga, gamers will be able to cross the stars on a high-stakes mission to expose a deadly threat to the Galactic Republic...

Set at the height of the Clone Wars, between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the plotline of Twilight of the Republic follows the Jedi as they fight to discover who is behind the rise of a new army of Battle Droids that threatens the stability of the galaxy; the characters of Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano are packed with the playset, and players can also pick up Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Darth Maul as seperate figures..

 

 

Disney Infinity 3.0 is also going to feature Rise of the Empire, a 'classic trilogy' Star Wars playset (featuring Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and Darth Vader as playable characters). There will also be a Force Awakens playset, as well as new Marvel Universe and Disney Originals content for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out and more.

To say that I'm enthused about being part of this is a bit of an understatement - in a "that's no moon" kind of way.

Here I am, a 40-something geek born and bred in the Star Wars generation, who still remembers that moment of awe at the Dominion Theatre in 1978, as the Star Destroyer thundered over my young head. That nearly four decades later, I am once again metaphorically caught in the wake of that engine roar, is just too damn cool.

I have had an absolute blast working with the talented crews at Ninja Theory and Disney Interactive on Twilight of the Republic, and together we've built something that is not just neat figures and virtual toyboxes  - it's a true Star Wars story that I hope will play out like a lost episode of The Clone Wars series, with all the action and thrills, fun and high adventure of the best of the saga. Young and old alike, I hope you'll come and play.

 

A Long Time Ago...

If you're keeping an eye on the internet today, you may have seen this reveal of a cool new thing...

I am pleased to say one of the people who made that cool thing happen is me! Together with a team of very talented folks, I've been working on it for over a year, and rest assured I'll be talking about it in a lot more detail in the days ahead.

But for now, finally, officially, I get to say:

 

 

Coming Soon - The Horus Heresy: Fear To Tread Collector's Edition

As part of the ongoing plan to re-release the entire Horus Heresy saga in glorious doorstop-sized hardbacks, Black Library have rolled around to bringing my Blood Angels adventure Fear To Tread into the 'Collector's Edition' format.

Like the other books in the hardcover series, this new version of Fear To Tread comes with a author's afterword written by me and a bunch of new internal art by Wayne England to join Neil Roberts's awesome death-metal cover, and the book will be on sale very soon...

Since the earliest days of the Great Crusade, Sanguinius – angelic primarch of the IX Legion – was ever among the closest and most loyal of Horus’s brothers.

 

But the Blood Angels have long kept their true nature hidden from the rest of the Imperium, and when the Warmaster hints that the key to their salvation may lie in the ruins of a conquered world, the sons of Sanguinius race to claim it.

Now, as the revelation of their betrayal dawns and the traitors’ hand is revealed, the Blood Angels must face all the warp-spawned armies of Chaos, as well their own personal daemons, upon the blasted plains of Signus Prime...

To visit the Black Library website and pre-order a copy of the Fear To Tread collector's edition in either dead-tree or digital form, Click Here.

Out Now - The Horus Heresy: Nemesis Unabridged Audiobook Edition

Nemesis is a novel that will forever have a special place in my heart; first and foremost, because it was the first thing I wrote that ever made it to proper "bestseller" status, breaking on to the New York Times book chart in August of 2010; but also because it's one of the most experimental novels in the Horus Heresy series and a work that represented a genuine challenge for me.

 
Set against the backdrop of a galactic insurrection, Nemesis a mix of black ops action-thriller and serial killer murder mystery, and it remains the most off-tempo of the books I've written for Black Library - and now if you so please, you can sit back and listen to just under fifteen hours of plot and counter-plot in this new unabridged audiobook version read by Jonathan Keeble.

After the horrors of Istvaan V, Horus declares outright war against the Imperium. In the shadows of the Emperor's Palace, powerful figures convene.

Their plan is to send a team of assassins to execute the arch-traitor Horus and end the war for the galaxy of mankind before it's even begun.

But what they cannot know is that another assassin is abroad already, with his sights firmly set on killing the Emperor.

To visit the Black Library website, listen to an extract and get a digital copy of Nemesis, Click Here.

You Are Hearing Me Talk...about Sisters of Battle with The Independent Characters

The folks over at The Indpendent Characters podcast talk in-depth and on-target about the worlds of Warhammer 40,000 and the Horus Heresy, and this week they invited me on to discuss one of my favorite 40K factions, the steadfast Sisters of Battle known as the Adepta Sororitas...

As part of my fiction for the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, I've written two novels and an audio drama featuring the Battle Sisters - Faith & Fire, Hammer & Anvil, Red & Black - and I have a lot of love for the nuns with guns.

Click Here to check out this episode of Show Of Force, where The Indpendent Characters crew unpack a 40K army in great detail, and you can listen to host Carl Tuttle interviewing me at the 2:47 mark

Incidentally; that awesome piece of Sororitas artwork I've used as a companion to this posting is the work of Nicholas Kay, and you shoud totally check out his portfoilo Here, or just click on the smaller image to see the full magnificence of "Massacre At Sanctuary 101" on his DeviantArt page.

You Are Hearing Me Talk... About STAR WARS on BBC Radio 5 Live

My buddy Adam Rosser presents a show about videogames and other cool stuff as part of BBC Radio 5 Live's Joy Of Tech, and with all the news about the Star Wars saga breaking big it would have been remiss of him not to cover the Galaxy Far Far Away...

 

And so, Adam recruited Gav Murphy - games journalist and co-host of IGN's Star Wars webshow Rebel Base - and myself - a writer of stuff, some of which has been about the GFFA - to spend some 20 minutes picking over the trailers for The Force Awakens, season two of the Rebels animated series, Rogue One, the new Battlefront game and talking about the future of the saga. 

 

Despite being on cold meds, I nevertheless joined Gav and Adam to enthuse greatly about Star Wars, and you can hear us Here.

Get Deus Ex: Fallen Angel For Free!

A big thank-you to everyone out there for your enthusiasm following the announcement of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided! If you haven't already seen the awesome announcement trailer, take a look Here!

To reiterate, I am indeed involved once again in the writing on this blockbuster game, and very proud to be so. I've also had a lot of people asking me if I'll be writing another Deus Ex tie-in novel as I did with Icarus Effect back in 2011 (which, I hasten to add, is still available in all good bookstores in UK, US, Hungarian, Italian and German editions...)

But to answer the question - I can't confirm anything right now; however, I will say we are in discussions about future fiction ideas under the Deus Ex Universe banner, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, you can click Here to download a free digital ebook of my novella Deus Ex: Fallen Angel directly from Eidos Montreal!

Fallen Angel is a short prequel centred on the popular character of Faridah Malik, who acts as Adam Jensen's VTOL pilot in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and this story tells how she came to be in the employ of Sarif Industries at the start of DX:HR; the story also ties into the "Shanghai Justice" mission from later in the game.