Spotlight on Andy Clark

With three novels, two novellas and a handful of short stories to his name, and a very exciting novel currently in development, Andy Clark is probably at the point where it’s not really appropriate to think of him as a new Black Library author any more. With that in mind, and considering that I’ve read and reviewed almost everything he’s written for Black Library (the exception so far being Knightsblade), I thought it might be fun to take a closer look at his stories and writing style, and talk a little about what you can expect if you pick up something with his name on it.

A little bit further down in this article I’ve listed out all of Andy’s releases, with links to my reviews so that you can (if you’d like) read a bit more about each of them. What you’ll see when you read those reviews is a lot of references to the word fun, which isn’t something you’ll necessarily see in many of my reviews for other authors. Let’s face it – the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 aren’t always conducive to fun, being pretty dark and unpleasant places for the most part. What Andy manages to do quite consistently, however, is find ways to inject a little lightness to his stories, whether that’s through the simple but effective application of the rule of cool, or through plots which don’t worry about trying to be too clever…and just entertain.

The way I see it, there’s room in Black Library fiction for all kinds of stories. You want horror stories? Brutal grimdark? Complex, twisty mind-benders? Elegant lore-heavy epics? No problem – there will be a book somewhere which covers pretty much everything. What that means, is that every book doesn’t need to be The Talon of Horus – while LOTS of people (myself included) enjoy the work of authors like Aaron Dembski-Bowden, John French or Chris Wraight, those authors’ styles shouldn’t have to be the dominant styles in Black Library.

Why am I rambling on about this? Because I think Andy’s writing style exemplifies that point. I think you can tell one of Andy’s stories because, whether it’s intentional or not (you’ll have to ask Andy for an answer to that), his stories just don’t try to be like anyone else. I’ll say it again – they’re often just fun. I mean, why did we all get into Black Library books in the first place? Because Space Marines and elves and orcs (and orks and orruks) are cool! There are different ways to emphasise that, but one of them is by focusing on simple, satisfying stories crammed full of awesome things happening that make us – as readers – smile.

Here are a few examples of my favourites from Andy:

Knights in castles
A Space Marine drop pod is a cool way of getting from space to ground, right? Ever considered how Imperial Knights would do it? Andy clearly did, and he came up with something awesome. Imperial Knights are heavily influenced by the sort of medieval knights that we all know from films and books, and what’s more knightly than a castle? How about a DROP POD CASTLE?! Yep, in Kingsblade Andy’s Imperial Knights deploy in drop keeps – they literally fall from the sky in castles.

That’s the sort of stupidly awesome little detail that makes me laugh out loud with delight at how ridiculously, awesomely COOL it is.

 

Khârn takes a tumble
In Andy’s Alpha Legion novel Shroud of Night Khârn the Betrayer is like a force of nature, who sweeps through the story reaping a brutal tally as everyone else pretty much just has to get out of his way. I’d say it’s easily one of the best depictions of the Betrayer in 40k-era Black Library fiction, but that’s not all that’s cool. His introduction to the story sees him deploying via Dreadclaw (a Chaos drop pod, if you’re not familiar), only to find his conveyance quickly develops something of a hole mid-drop. What does he do? Chop his way out and jump the rest of the way, before landing in the sea and swimming ashore.

Now THAT is how you make an entrance!

What’s a Primaris Space Marine?
Again in Shroud of Night, Andy has a little fun by incorporating a real-world question into the narrative of his novel. When preparing to infiltrate the Imperial hive city, the various members of the Unsung, a small group of Alpha Legion, are discussing the defenders’ forces when one of them says “I’d prefer to know about what a Primaris Space Marine is.” That’s right, these Alpha Legionnaires haven’t yet met any of Cawl’s new creations. When they do? “Do they look…bigger…to anyone else?” It’s done with a light touch, and the point isn’t laboured, but it just injects a little extra humour.

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It’s not just about cool moments, though. Something else I really enjoyed when reading Kingsblade especially was the overall tone and style of Andy’s writing, which reminded me of loads of the classic sci-fi and fantasy adventure stories that I grew up reading. Books like the Belgariad series by David Eddings or the Wheel of Time series from Robert Jordan, populated with young characters who visibly learn and grow as their adventures progress. I’m not suggesting Kingsblade is tangibly similar to those books, but rather that there’s a shared tone – you can still see all the usual 40k elements, but there’s a bit less of the grimdark in evidence, which allows for a lighter feel to proceedings.

So in my opinion what you get when you read something by Andy is a simple (I mean that in a positive way) proposition – a story that concentrates on being a good story, rather than worrying about being clever. You can expect excitement, entertainment, relatable characters, a strong sense of whatever setting the story’s in (this is a guy who also writes GW background text in codexes etc. so no surprise there!), and generally just a reliable sense of enjoyment.

What you maybe don’t (yet) get is the sophistication of writing or depth of lore that you see from writers like Abnett, Dembski-Bowden, French and so on. Partially I think that’s down to Andy recognising that there’s virtue in writing a different type of story to what lots of the other authors produce, but I also think we’ll see some elements of those things coming into future books simply by virtue of greater experience in writing.

To me, that all contributes to a positive sense of identity. Look to Dembski-Bowden for deep explorations of the lore, Annandale for gothic horror, French for complex plotting, Reynolds for dark humour (I’m generalising here but you get the picture)…and look to Clark for straight-up fun.

Right, I’ve rambled enough. Let’s quickly break down the different stories available, and link out to some reviews…

Warhammer 40,000

So far we can split these out into two sections – standalone stories, and Andy’s burgeoning Imperial Knights series. Of the three standalone stories one is a short story, another is a novella, and the third is a novel – we’re just missing an audio drama for the full suite (in fact audio dramas are, so far, conspicuous by their absence in Andy’s portfolio). Click on the titles or images to check out the reviews.

Whiteout: a Deathwatch short story, available as a standalone e-short or in the massive Deathwatch: The Omnibus alongside loads of other tales. It’s Andy’s debut Black Library story, but already it was possible to see hints of something a little different in his style to what we usually see in 40k stories.

Crusade: a Warhammer 40,000 primer novella, only available in the Crusade + Other Stories anthology at present. It’s clearly designed as an introductory story to hook new readers into 40k fiction, but there’s plenty to enjoy for existing readers too – just bear in mind that it’s not going to be as complex and developed as some of his other work.

Shroud of Night: an Alpha Legion novel set in the Dark Imperium, with some brilliant main characters, a couple of big names in there as supporting cast, and a whole lot of fun. Don’t expect Horus Heresy-style Alpha Legion twists and turns, but if you fancy something a bit more like the A-Team in 40k then this should be right up your street!

Now let’s move on to the Imperial Knights series, which (as of the day I publish this) includes one short story and two novels, which I would suggest reading in exactly that order. Start with the short, then onto Kingsblade before going onto Knightsblade.

Becoming: an enjoyable prequel story in its own right, this also has the added benefit of introducing concepts that will come up lots in the novels, to give you a headstart. Things like the Knighly houses, and the interesting patterns of titles that the Knights hold.

Kingsblade: Andy’s first Black Library novel, and also the first BL novel (as opposed to Knights of the Imperium by Graham McNeill, which is a novella) to focus exclusively on Imperial Knights. A great story, fun characters, lots of awesome stompy robot fun, loads of characterful background for the Knightly houses and how everything works…this really is a great fun book, and a cracking introduction to Imperial Knights as a full faction in 40k.

Defiant: An Imperial Knights short story that sits between Kingsblade and Knightsblade, this focuses on Jennika Tan Draconis – sister of Danial, the main protagonist of the series – leading Knights into battle against necrons. It’s more of a character study than an action story, exploring Jennika’s role in the traditionally male-oriented Knightly Houses of Adrastapol.

Knightsblade: the sequel to Kingsblade, this follows the same characters a few years down the line, more mature and comfortable in their skins. There’s plenty more of everything that was fun in Kingsblade, but with a different type of antagonist and a slightly different type of narrative, it’s a nice progression and another hugely entertaining read.

Age of Sigmar

It’s still early days (relatively speaking) for the Age of Sigmar setting, but so far Andy’s contributed a short story and a novella, both connected to cool standalone games that Games Workshop has released, set within the Mortal Realms. From what I can gather through Twitter investigation, Andy’s first Age of Sigmar novel is in the pipeline, and it sounds like a bit of a cracker, too!

Gorechosen: you can probably guess what game this one’s connected to…yep, Gorechosen. Released in the 2015 Advent Calendar, it’s a small-scale story but one that’s as full of action as you’d expect for something based on a game of gladiatorial combat! Only Andy’s second BL story, but again you can see signs of his developing style in amongst the bloodshed here.

Labyrinth of the Lost: a novella this time, running with the story to Silver Tower, the new version of the brilliant Warhammer Quest. Every bit the classic dungeon crawl story, it’s a nice little book that offers pretty much what you’d expect but also a few knowing references that gently send up the tropes that it’s playing with.

Blacktalon: First Mark (coming September 2018): yep, an Age of Sigmar novel featuring the awesome Neave Blacktalon, Knight-Zephyros and as far as I’m aware the first female Stormcast to be the protagonist in an Age of Sigmar novel. I’m really, really looking forward to this one! More news as and when I get it.

So there you have it. Just to recap, among Andy’s Black Library fiction you’ll find all manner of fun, hugely entertaining stories – you won’t necessarily find the sort of styles that you’ll see elsewhere in BL’s pool of authors, but rather something a little different. I can honestly recommend any of the aforementioned stories – check them out, and let me know what you think!