Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with 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 Black Library author Chris Wraight about his new Warhammer 40,000 novel The Hollow Mountain, the second book in the excellent Vaults of Terra series, which is available to pre-order right now in ebook, hardback and audiobook.
Without further ado, let’s get straight to the questions and Chris’ answers.
Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for your new novel The Hollow Mountain?
Chris Wraight: It’s the direct sequel to The Carrion Throne. Want to know what happened to Crowl, Spinoza and the rest after the events of Book I? The Hollow Mountain takes up the story, leading the investigators into even darker corners of Holy Terra.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
CW: The main characters are Erasmus Crowl, an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor, and his Interrogator Luce Spinoza. They act as part of a small retinue/warband centred on an old citadel called Courvain. They’re contrasting characters – Crowl is at the end of his life, and has a cynical, weary attitude to the Imperium. Spinoza is young, full of zeal, and venerates Imperial institutions. As you’d expect, these different outlooks lead to some tension as the story develops.
ToW: Where and when is it set?
CW: It’s set right before the Great Rift hits, so end of M41. As before, Terra is the setting, and plays a major role in giving the story its flavour. I think of the planet as one of the characters 🙂
ToW: What would you recommend fans check out before reading this to get the most out of it? Do they need to have read The Carrion Throne, any of the accompanying stories, or The Emperor’s Legion?
CW: It would be really good to read Book I first! The Vaults of Terra series is very much a single, multi-episode story, and so everything in The Hollow Mountain really presupposes some familiarity with what went on in the first outing. The Emperor’s Legion is part of a different series, but takes place at the same time and on the same planet, so there are some links and shared characters that interweave with those in Vaults. There are two shorter pieces, Argent and The Interrogation of Salvor Lermentov, which would also be good to read to get a fuller picture of the characters.
ToW: How would you compare this to The Carrion Throne and where you left the characters at the end of that book – is it more of the same sort of thing? A shift in tone and feel?
CW: It’s intended to be very much the same tone and feel. As ever with 40K, things are always generally deteriorating, so there may be a slightly darker tinge to the events, but generally I’ve tried to write a book in the same mould and style as the first one. The characters are, I hope, developing in terms of their relationships and their beliefs. The work they do is so all-consuming and so dangerous that it’s impossible not to be changed by it, and we do see how this takes place. This instalment also ties a bit more closely into the state of Terra itself as the Rift takes effect, and we see just how catastrophic some of that fallout is.
ToW: What appeals to you about inquisitors (and their entourages) as characters to write about?
CW: The freedom to create memorable characters, wholly grounded in 40K, but with quirks and idiosyncrasies that, say, Space Marines don’t have. Inquisitors know a lot more about the terrible truths of the galaxy than the average human, but they’re still very ignorant compared to their ancestors of the Heresy era. They’re also (sometimes, to some degree) aware of this ignorance, so despite their pride and their arrogance, they have to battle some horrific fears, too. They’re feeling their way almost blindly, and every step they take could lead to death (or worse). That enormous pressure, all the time, creates both monsters and heroes, and it’s fascinating to flesh out how those processes work.
ToW: The series is set on Terra, which has a really strong impact on the tone of the stories. When you set out to write an Inquisition series was the plan always to explore Terra?
CW: Yes, it was. I’ve always loved the concept of this crumbling, mad but still magnificent world, one that really dominates the entire Imperium despite being rotten from within and barely functioning. Most inquisitors operate far away from it, hunting heresy in all corners of the void (for a great example of this kind of saga, you must read John French’s wonderful Horusian Wars series), but I thought it would be cool to show an operative working right under the nose of the Palace itself. It’s 40K, after all – nowhere is safe, not even the ancestral home of the species.
ToW: What influences do you draw upon when you’re writing about Terra, whether in terms of physical locations or the influence it has upon its inhabitants?
CW: Most of the influences come from the long tradition of 40K depictions – John Blanche artwork, Ian Watson’s Inquisitor novels, the stuff that’s coming out right now as part of the Siege of Terra series. There’s a sense of accumulated history about Terra that really mirrors the way 40K has evolved and grown over the years. Whole civilisations are buried there that we’ll never hear about, and that the current inhabitants are wholly ignorant of.
ToW: What do you hope 40k fans will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?
CW: I hope they enjoy another slice of Terran action and mystery, adding more layers of complexity to what’s already a very detailed part of the background. I also hope that readers find the central mystery gripping, since it taps into the very heart of what makes 40k special. The stakes get pretty high by the end of this one.
ToW: Is the Vaults of Terra likely to be a trilogy, or an ongoing series? Can you tell us anything about what we can expect next?
CW: It’s part of a series. Right now I’m thinking it’s a trilogy, but you never know – it might extend beyond that in some shape or form. There will certainly be more to come 🙂
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As ever I’d like to say a huge thanks to Chris for taking the time to answer these questions. If you enjoyed The Carrion Throne then I’m confident you’ll want to check this book out as well, so do make sure to put your order in soon! In the meantime, you can check out my review of The Hollow Mountain right here.
Click here to buy The Hollow Mountain.
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.