RAPID FIRE: David Guymer Talks Hamilcar: Champion of the Gods

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 David Guymer about Hamilcar: Champion of the Gods, his first Age of Sigmar novel and the first full-length adventure for the titular Hamilcar. Champion of the Gods is available to order right now, so check out the interview and then head over and grab a copy of the book!

Without further ado, let’s get straight to the questions and David’s answers.

Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for Champion of the Gods?

David Guymer: A Clans Skyre warlock captures a hero of the Stormcast Eternals and steals his soul. This is the story of what happens next. For those who are unfamiliar with my titular hero, Hamilcar Bear-Eater, ‘what happens next’ will be funnier than you might expect.

ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?

DG: The main character is Hamilcar Bear-Eater, of course, grandstanding hero of Sigmar’s Stormhost and self-proclaimed greatest of Azyr’s heroes. The story is told entirely in first person (inspired by the Ciaphas Cain books, to which this book can trace a stylistic lineage) so we get to see the Mortal Realms and the characters in it from his rather peculiar point of view.

His main adversary is the warlock engineer, Ikrit, who has been pilfering the secrets of the gods and has his sights now on Sigmar. And of course, no villain is complete without his henchman, and in this Ikrit is ably served by the Clans Eshin assassin, Malikcek, cursed by Malerion to live in shadow.

There’s a whole legion of supporting characters including an eagle, a sort-of druid, some loyal Freeguild, a demigod, and some familiar heroes from Josh Reynolds stories, but I’ll let you find out about those for yourselves.

ToW: Where and when is it set?

DG: It’s set contemporaneously (ish) with the recent slew of Age of Sigmar novels from Nick Horth, Josh Reynolds, and C.L. Werner, a few hundred years after the Realmgate Wars. It’s set in my own little corner of Ghur, around an unloved, but critical old fortress called the Seven Words.

ToW: What would you recommend fans check out before reading this? Is there a suggested reading order for the Hamilcar stories?

DG: The first Hamilcar story I wrote was Bear Eater, which has been reprinted in at least two different anthologies, but I’m not actually that big a fan of it as Hamilcar’s character has evolved quite a bit in my head since then. The first ‘proper’ Hamilcar story if you want to put it like that is The Hardest Word followed by Gods’ Gift. Both are direct prequels to Champion of the Gods but aren’t strictly necessary. My short audio drama The Palace of Memory also has some ties to this novel though mostly as an exploration of Hamilcar’s past and motivations rather than the actual story.

Force of Personality [featured in the Gods & Mortals anthology] is my most recent story, and is set during the Realmgate Wars, well before the events of this novel. That said though, I wrote it after finishing the novel so it’s probably the most ‘Hamilcar’ of Hamilcar stories – so if you want a taste of the character before jumping into a whole book then I’d probably recommend that one.

If you’re feeling extra keen then you can also go right back to the Knights of Vengeance audio series where Hamilcar first appears as an incidental character (kudos to Nick Kyme for persuading me that people would be interested in seeing more of his adventures). There are also some characters from there that turn up again here.

ToW: What were your main influences when writing it? In particular, how do you get in the mindset for writing about this sort of brash, irreverent character?

DG: As I mentioned, it was Nick who urged me to carry on writing Hamilcar Bear-Eater, though I think his initial request was for a Malus Darkblade-type character rather than the Ciaphas Cain-type character he ended up with. I hadn’t actually read the Cain novels before I started writing this novel, but I was familiar enough with the style from the two audio dramas I’d listened to to recognize that that was where Hamilcar was headed. After that, I read all the short stories and the first omnibus and that did become a major source of inspiration for me.

On top of that though, every interesting bit of Age of Sigmar lore was a potential source of inspiration. Hamilcar is brash and irreverent, as you point out, but he also has this amazing love for the Mortal Realms. He can’t get enough of the possibilities it offers and he loves having a captive audience (i.e. you guys!) to share his sense of wonder.

He’s a great viewpoint character to have, because he cuts through the airs and pretensions of more conventional heroes. He muses on things that proper heroes probably shouldn’t. He asks questions, he boasts, and he makes jokes at established characters’ expense. He’s just lots of fun!

ToW: Why this story? What made you want to write this in particular?

DG: I wanted to see what happened to a great hero brought low, particularly to a character whose heroism (and the appearance of heroism) is so central to his character. Everything else largely flowed from that.

ToW: Hamilcar is proving to be a popular character in the Age of Sigmar. What do you think makes him so appealing to read about?

DG: He’s fun, he’s uncomplicated, and I think most importantly he’s very honest. His stories are basically anecdotes in which Hamilcar himself regales a band of incredulous Freeguild soldiers (us) with his exploits. Sometimes they’re confessional, they’re probably exaggerated, he almost always has a lesser opinion of the heroes of the Mortal Realms than any Battletome you’ll read, but every word comes straight from Hamilcar’s own mouth so you believe it. At least that’s the idea!

ToW: How does the final product compare to your original concept? Has anything changed much from your first ideas?

DG: This is one of the rare books (for me) where I didn’t have much of a finished concept. I decided at the outset that, as Hamilcar is a compulsive, free-spirited character, I would tell his story in as compulsive and free-spirited a way as I could. I knew what was going to happen in the middle and I knew roughly how everything was going to end and the rest I sort of made up as I went along. My inspiration (sort of) was the film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in which the plot is consistently derailed when the ineptitude of the protagonists continue to throw in unexpected twists and complications. Essentially, I would map out the chapter ahead then figure out how it could go wrong. So a lot of stuff happens that I wasn’t planning on or expecting.

ToW: How does this story compare to the rest of your work? Is it a familiar style, or a departure?

DG: It’s pretty different from everything actually. The free-flowing, conversational, first-person style is unlike anything I’ve ever done as I think I tend more towards the analytical and the description heavy like my Iron Hands books for 40K. Even my Hamilcar short stories are more the evolutionary process that got us here rather than a direct likeness. Still, I liked it. The editors all liked it. I hope everyone else likes it too!

ToW: What’s next for Hamilcar?

DG: Anyone who’s been following the Black Library Facebook account will have noticed a new piece of Hamilcar art work. It’s for a story set directly after Champion of the Gods so I can’t say much about it except that I’m working on it right now. Hopefully there’ll be plenty more novels and short stories from him in the future.

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Thanks as always to David for taking the time to answer these questions! I hope this has got you interested in reading more about Hamilcar – keep an eye out for my review coming very soon.

Click here to order Hamilcar: Champion of the Gods.

Click here if you fancy taking a look at some other Rapid Fire interviews. If you’ve got any questions, comments or other thoughts please do let me know in the comments below, or on Facebook or Twitter.