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 Darius Hinks about his latest 40k novel Blackstone Fortress, which is currently available to pre-order alongside the brand new boxed game of the same name. It’s even available as a beautiful special edition hardback, if you fancy an extra special edition.
As usual, let’s get straight to the questions and Darius’ answers.
Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for Blackstone Fortress?
Darius Hinks: Rogue Trader, Janus Draik, is determined to regain his rightful place as heir to the Draik family empire. The biggest prize in the galaxy, a newly discovered Blackstone Fortress, is almost in his grasp, but his time in Precipice is about to run out. With the clock ticking, he decides to make one final, desperate attempt to reach the Blackstone’s heart and unearth its secrets. However, the deeper he goes into the mind-bendingly insane fortress, the more he starts to wonder if, rather than finding the Blackstone, he has been summoned to it.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
DH: Draik’s the hero of the novel. He’s a proud, erudite aristocrat, but he’s also a skilled fighter and battle-hardened pragmatist. He’s been sidelined by his powerful Terran family and he’s utterly determined to prove his worth and regain his position in the Draik dynasty – to the extent that he’ll risk almost anything to crack the secrets of the fortress. He’s accompanied by a ragtag collection of adventurers from Precipice. They all have agendas of their own, but it would spoil the fun to say more on that. Most of the characters from the board game appear in a greater or lesser role. Ecclesiarchy hard-liners, Taddeus the Purifier and Pious Vorne, both have very prominent roles in the story, as does Dahyak Grekh, the kroot character.
ToW: Where and when is it set?
DH: This is ‘current day’ in 40k terms. The warp storms of the Great Rift have unearthed a Blackstone Fortress at the far edge of Segmentum Pacificus, in the Imperium’s Western Reaches. Most of the action takes place in Precipice, a kind of Wild West shantytown in orbit around the Blackstone Fortress, and on the fortress itself. However, as the adventurers get deeper into the fortress, things start to get weird and the story jumps to some unexpected places.
ToW: Is there anything that you’d recommend fans check out before reading this?
DH: The game! I’ve been a fan of GW’s games since the 1980s but this is one of the coolest things they’ve ever made. I was lucky enough to get sneak previews of the miniatures and the rulebooks and the level of creativity and invention is staggering. Everything from the miniatures to the background lore, artwork and graphic design just gives me a big, cheesy grin.
ToW: Why this story? What made you want to write this in particular?
DH: I would have sold a kidney to write this book (luckily, not required). These weird, disparate, peripheral characters are my favourite part of the 40k lore and the Blackstone itself is my dream setting – a brutally strange, surrealist nightmare where I could really mess with my characters’ heads. That was particularly good fun with Janus Draik. He’s a debonair, civilised, educated aristocrat and I enjoyed dumping him somewhere so hellish that none of those things could help him.
ToW: What were the main influences that you drew upon when writing it?
DH: Absinthe, roller-coasters and sensory deprivation chambers.
ToW: How does the final product compare to your original concept? Has anything changed much from your first ideas?
DH: I actually stayed pretty true to my plan for this one *looks around to check his editor isn’t hearing such blatant lies*. I knew I’d want things to get pretty odd as I went deeper into the fortress though, so I left myself plenty of wriggle room in the synopsis to ‘add weird stuff here’.
ToW: What were the challenges or satisfactions in writing about characters and locations so different to the usual 40k archetypes and battlefields?
DH: In Precipice, there’s a wonderful and unique situation where mutually antagonistic races are forced to live side-by-side and even work together. That was a great opportunity to show a situation that doesn’t usually occur elsewhere in the galaxy. It was also great fun trying to capture the ‘feel’ of the Blackstone Fortress. From the (wonderful) artwork I got a sense that it’s both dauntingly vast and crushingly claustrophobic at the same time. Capturing that in prose was a fun challenge.
ToW: How does this story compare to the rest of your work? Is it a familiar style, or a departure?
DH: I don’t think my writing style is a departure but, as I mentioned above, the location and the mix of characters is very different from a ‘normal’ 40k novel.
ToW: Do you have plans to continue any aspects of this story, or is it a standalone piece?
DH: I loved writing about these characters. I even resisted the urge to kill everyone off, so it’s a possibility I could come back to them. I think it would be great if Black Library turned Blackstone Fortress and Precipice into a regular setting for their fiction. It seems to me that it could treated in the same way as something like Necromunda, with a whole host of authors having fun with this quirky part of the 40k lore.
ToW: Lastly, who’s your favourite character from the cast of the story?
DH: Predictable of me, I know, but I think it would have to be Janus Draik. He’s built in the classic adventurer, explorer, mountaineer, hunter kind of mould, which is great fun to write for someone like me (a bookish introvert who runs away from moths) but he has also enough flaws and quirks to keep him interesting away from the derring-do.
***
Huge thanks to Darius for taking the time to answer these questions. Keep an eye out for a review of Blackstone Fortress coming once I 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.