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 Guy Haley about The Lost and the Damned, the second book in the Siege of Terra miniseries which is closing off the long-running Horus Heresy. It was first released back in July as a high-end Limited Edition hardback, but the ‘standard’ hardback, ebook and audiobook editions are now available to order as well – so if you’ve been waiting with bated breath since finishing The Solar War, you don’t have much longer to wait. In the meantime, here are a few more details of what to expect.
Without further ado then, let’s get straight to the questions and Guy’s answers.
Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for The Lost and the Damned?
Guy Haley: Book Two of the Siege of Terra! Do you really need any more than that?
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
GH: The main character is a baseline human conscript called Katsuhiro. I knew that later down the line we’d be getting lots and lots of primarch action, so I thought it important that we saw the siege from a normal person’s point of view, but there are lots of other characters in this, many transhumans, including the primarchs, well known and well loved Space Marines, and more besides.
ToW: Can you talk a little about whereabouts on and around Terra the book takes place?
GH: Sure. This book is all about the enemy testing the walls and the Aegis, which is an incredibly sophisticated void shield array built using Dark Age Technology that protects the Palace. It nearly all takes place on the wall near Helios Gate, and in the outworks that Dorn has built beyond the wall upon the Katabatic Plain.
ToW: Aside from The Solar War, what are the key Heresy stories/arcs that you’d recommend readers be familiar with before starting this?
GH: Tough one. The more recent books, Slaves to Darkness and Titandeath I think set it up well. But you’ll find all kinds of stories coming to their ends in the Siege.
ToW: Were you able to continue any of the threads that you’d set up in your own previous Heresy stories?
GH: Absolutely. A certain Night Lord follows his destiny, while I also revisit some of my Legio Solaria characters from Titandeath.
ToW: What was your preparation for this book like? How much research did you have to do in order to make sure you had all of the details right?
GH: Harrowing. So much rides on these books. So many people have waited so long to read them. The amount of research was considerable, reading the last few books I had not yet read. As we’ve done each book, we’ve had to zoom in on different bits of the warzone. John detailed the Solar System, I provided an outline of the Palace c M31, we’ve gone deeper since. And the meetings! Oh, the meetings. Really exciting, but you look around that room and think, ‘Should I even be in here?’ There is some serious talent involved. Terrifying.
ToW: How was writing this in comparison with your previous Heresy stories?
GH: Harrowing. Terrifying. I said that already. It’s always been daunting, writing Heresy; this is that times ten. We’re a few books in now. Every single one of us that has been through this process has come out the other side with a particular look, sort of traumatised, and broken. Very white faced we’ve been. We had a meeting yesterday, actually, and in that one of us (whose name I won’t reveal, as it’ll give away the order), said “You go into this and everyone says, ‘it’s really hard’, and you’re like ‘yeah, yeah, whatever, of course it’s going to be hard” but f**k me, it’s hard!”
ToW: Did you find there was a greater need for cohesive writing styles during the Siege, across the 8-book mini-series?
GH: The amount of thought that has gone into this whole project has been staggering. I don’t know about style, as we all write differently, but the way we’ve tried to structure the stories hopefully makes it hang together well.
ToW: This must have been a challenging book to write, but do you have a favourite element of the novel? Something you really enjoyed writing, or are particularly proud of?
GH: I enjoyed the bits with Khârn, who’ve I’ve never written before, and taking the aforementioned Night Lord to his natural conclusion. But there were so many scenes that made me go ‘Yeah, that is cool’, when I was doing my very last read through. I cringe about my own work, but there were a few that almost made me stop weeping.
ToW: Looking back on the Horus Heresy series, how do you feel now that we’re on the home straight?
GH: Dazed!
ToW: What do you hope Horus Heresy fans will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?
GH: I hope they love it. We’ve all been so excited. Honestly, the planning sessions are the most thrilling creative moments I’ve ever had. It’s such a privilege. I really think most people are going to be as excited as we were writing it. You can’t please everyone, but we’re trying.
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Massive thanks as always to Guy for providing these answers. I hope you’re as excited as I am to read about the next stage of the Siege – get your pre-orders going asap, and keep an eye out for a review coming soon!
Click here to buy The Lost and the Damned (or here for the audiobook version).
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.