Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.
In this instalment I spoke to Ian St. Martin about his new 40k novel Of Honour and Iron, which is available to order right now!
As usual, let’s get straight to the questions and Ian’s answers.
Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for Of Honour and Iron?
Ian St. Martin: Of Honour and Iron is an Ultramarines novel for the Space Marine Conquests series, taking place in the early days of Guilliman’s Indomitus Crusade at the beginning of the Dark Imperium timeline.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
ISM: The main character is Helios, a veteran Ultramarines Chaplain who is entrusted with a special mission as part of the Indomitus Crusade. There are some newer additions as well, but in the interest of spoilers I won’t go into detail on them.
ToW: Where and when is it set?
ISM: It is set in the current, Dark Imperium timeline for 40k, but at the start of Guilliman’s crusade, rather then the end of it as seen in things like the recent Guy Haley books. This way I was able to delve into the early, shaky days when Guilliman and the Imperium are just trying to take in what is happening and how – or if – they can stop it.
ToW: Is there anything that you’d recommend readers check out before reading this?
ISM: Not particularly. Guy’s Dark Imperium is excellent but since it takes place after Of Honour and Iron, maybe just the historical/Codex lore about the beginning of the Dark Imperium timeline.
ToW: The Ultramarines have had so much written about them before – were you worried about how to balance being respectful to other depictions and showing your own interpretation?
ISM: When working in a shared universe, you want to make sure that you don’t contradict what has come before and risk invalidating it, but at the same time you don’t want to be beholden to it either. Besides, with all that has come with the new timeline, there were plenty of things to work with without having to dig through the past for inspiration.
ToW: What were your main influences when writing it? Did you draw upon any real-life experience to help you plan or write it?
ISM: I’m not sure if I had any influences for this book really, other than the usual research and back-reading done to get grounded in a character/faction/culture.
ToW: How does the final product compare to your original concept? Has anything changed much from your first ideas?
ISM: Honestly at this point I can’t even say for sure. It has definitely gone through its share of adjustments, which is to be expected with new lore and all.
ToW: A lot of your writing tends to be on the…darker side, let’s say. Have you had to adapt that, to write about Ultramarines, or have you been able to incorporate the usual darkness into this story as well?
ISM: At the end of the day, I’m going to write how I write. Plus with the current timeline, with the Imperium split and Chaos run amok everywhere, there’s more than enough darkness to suit me.
ToW: Do you have plans to continue any aspects of this story, or is it a standalone piece?
ISM: This is a one and done.
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Thanks once again to Ian for taking the time to answer these questions. Keep an eye out for a review of Of Honour and Iron coming sometime soon.
Click here to buy Of Honour and Iron.
If you fancy taking a look at some other Rapid Fire interviews, just click here. If you’ve got any questions, comments or other thoughts please do let me know in the comments below, on Facebook or Twitter, or by emailing me at michael@trackofwords.com.