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 Josh Reynolds about his latest Age of Sigmar audio drama War-Claw, the latest instalment in his Eight Lamentations series, which is available to order right now.
As usual, let’s get straight to the questions and Josh’s answers.
Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for Eight Lamentations: War-Claw?
Josh Reynolds: In search of one of the Eight Lamentations, Owain Volker and Zana Mathos find themselves trapped in a snowbound outpost, hunted by a pack of deadly creatures.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
JR: Owain Volker and Zana Mathos, from Eight Lamentations: Spear of Shadows. Everything you need to know about them is in that book.
ToW: Where and when is it set?
JR: After Spear of Shadows, around the same time that the short story, The Tainted Axe, is taking place. So prior to Soul Wars, give or take a few weeks.
ToW: How does this tie in with the wider Eight Lamentations story arc?
JR: It’s the next part of the ongoing narrative. It’s literally a condensed version of what I had planned for the second novel.
ToW: Why this story? What made you want to write this in particular?
JR: As I said, I wanted to write a sequel to Spear of Shadows. This is what there was room in the schedule for, so I condensed the concept for the novel into an audio script.
ToW: When you were writing these characters for the audio, did you have any particular voices or actors in your mind?
JR: Not really. My brain doesn’t tend to work that way.
ToW: What were your main influences when writing this?
JR: Too many to list! And I won’t even try, for fear of spoiling the story.
ToW: How does the final product compare to your original concept? Has anything changed much from your first ideas?
JR: Not much has changed from the original pitch, or the first draft. A bit more dialogue is about the extent of it.
ToW: How does this story compare to the rest of your work? Is it a familiar style, or a departure?
JR: If you liked my other stuff, you’ll like this. If you didn’t, you won’t.
ToW: Do you have more audio dramas planned for the Eight Lamentations series?
JR: I’d like to write more, certainly. And short stories, as well. But only time will tell whether I get to do it.
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Thanks as always to Josh for taking the time to answer these questions. Keep an eye out for a review of War-Claw coming soon!
Click here to pre-order War-Claw.
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.