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 Guy Haley about his latest 40k novel Dark Imperium: Plague War, one of three releases from the always-busy Guy due in October, which is available to order right now.
As usual, let’s get straight to Guy’s answers.
Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for Dark Imperium: Plague War?
Guy Haley: Book two of Dark Imperium. The war moves to Parmenio, and Guilliman wrestles with ontological dilemmas. (Um, it’s way cooler than that makes it sound).
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
GH: Roboute Guilliman, Primarch; Ku’Gath the Plaguefather, Greater Daemon of Nurgle; Mortarion, Daemon Primarch; Justinian, Primaris Novamarine; and Frater Mathieu, that most dangerous of all people – a true believer. There are more. The book has quite a lot of characters!
ToW: Where and when is it set?
GH: It’s just before the present day, toward the conclusion of Guilliman and Mortarion’s first struggle over Macragge.
ToW: Is there anything that you’d recommend readers check out before reading this?
GH: Dark Imperium! This is very much a part two of a trilogy kind of book. It would be wise to read the first.
ToW: Why this story? What made you want to write this in particular?
GH: I was asked! (Sound familiar?) That, naturally, was a big boost for me; these are important books for Black Library. There were certain strands I really wanted to explore though, like how the Primaris fit in with the Space Marines, and how Guilliman views his father’s ‘godhood’.
ToW: What were your main influences when writing it?
GH: The Horus Heresy novels, in particular Know No Fear by Dan Abnett.
ToW: How has writing the Dark Imperium books changed the way you view Guilliman and the Ultramarines?
GH: It hasn’t changed the way I see him at all, but I hope it’s changed other people’s ideas! I think it has, to be honest, as I’ve had a few messages now saying “I thought Guilliman was so boring, it turns out he is not!”
ToW: How does the final product compare to your original concept? Has anything changed much from your first ideas?
GH: What went in which book and where changed with writing. Originally, I was going to write one book, but it became blindingly obvious about halfway into Dark Imperium that I could never hope to get it all in. Hence, the trilogy. In point of fact, I originally wrote a lot of the Galatan scenes in Plague War as part of book one. That’s how far I got before I knew it would never all fit. It’s for the best, as it allowed space for all the different themes to unfold.
ToW: How does this story compare to the rest of your work? Is it a familiar style, or a departure?
GH: Familiar style.
ToW: Can you tell us anything about what to expect in the next instalment of this series?
GH: Well, I’ll be writing it soon, an it’ll take us to the end of the Plague War, though it doesn’t include Mortarion’s later return and attack on Konor. There’s a couple of big surprises coming, mind. That’s all I’ll say.
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Huge thanks as always to Guy for taking the time to answer these questions. Keep an eye out for a review of Plague War just as soon as I can get hold of a copy!
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.