Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, in which I spoke to Black Library author David Guymer about his new novel Lion El’Jonson: Lord of the First, his second contribution to the Horus Heresy Primarchs series. It was available to order in Limited Edition hardback format as part of the 2020 Black Library Celebration, and while the standard edition was delayed for a few months over the summer, it’s now available to order at last. If you’re a Dark Angels fan, or have been looking forward to finding out more about the Lion, this is going to be the book for you.
Without further ado, over to David…
Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for Lion El’Jonson: Lord of the First?
David Guymer: We all know that the Lion and the Dark Angels can be a bit ‘secretive’ at times so rather than just retread that I wanted to write a story showing why they are the way that they are, and why that’s an asset to them.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters joining the Lion in this story, and what do we need to know about them?
DG: The other major characters are a Dark Angels Techmarine called Duriel; a young Librarian, Aravain, whose membership of a secret order is about to pit him against a xenos conspiracy, and a remembrancer called Savine who is finding the Invincible Reason to be something less than the dream posting she had thought it would be.
ToW: Where and when is it set?
DG: The Ullanor Crusade is raging towards its conclusion as this story opens and a lot of senior Dark Angels clearly think that is where they should be rather than quelling some minor rebellion on the Northern Fringe.
ToW: How important would you say it is to have read previous Heresy-era Dark Angels stories before starting this? Is there anything that you’d recommend reading first?
DG: Not at all really, except for flavour. Longtime fans will probably enjoy the odd sighting of Redloss, Holguin, or Alajos.
ToW: How much of a fan of the Lion and the Dark Angels were you before you started work on this book? Can you tell us a bit about how you see this legion and their Primarch, and what appeals to you about them?
DG: I wasn’t so much of a fan before I wrote Dreadwing, but I absolutely became one. That’s often the way it goes after engrossing yourself in everything that’s cool about a faction. My former editor, Laurie Goulding, once described 40k to me as essentially a fantasy setting with the Space Marines as the knight types. It’s a conversation I remind myself of whenever I start work in the setting and the Dark Angels in particular epitomise it.
My favourite portrayal of them as a Legion is probably in Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Savage Weapons where the dark Arthurian vibe really fits with how I see them. The Lion I see as one of the exemplars of his kind, but lacking the ambitions or the insecurities of some others to have to prove it all the time. He’s self-reliant, quite closed, and generally prefers to go about things efficiently and without fuss.
ToW: Why this story in particular? How did you settle on this one, as the Lion’s definitive story for the Primarchs series?
DG: I’d originally persuaded Nick Kyme to let me write Alpharius, but as I mentioned in the last question I did become a bit of a Dark Angels fan after writing Dreadwing and we both agreed that it made sense for me to swap and tackle the Lion instead.
ToW: How did you feel when you set out to write this? You talked in your interview about the Ferrus Manus novel about how you weren’t that nervous, as there was so little written about him. The Lion, by contrast, has had many more depictions in the Heresy so far…
DG: And each with its own exclusive fan club, you’d sometimes think!
When you write in a shared universe like the Horus Heresy, you always strive for consistency, but as Aaron and Gav and Dan and Nick are different, so will their interpretations of the Lion differ. In a way that is itself an observation on the Lion – five people can look at him and come away with five different ideas of who he is.
I wonder who he gets that from…?
ToW: How did you find the writing process for this book – did it throw up any interesting challenges, or require you to do anything different to usual?
DG: Writing a little-seen and mysterious alien race was a real challenge. I enjoyed it though, and I’d really like to see more of them some day.
ToW: What do you hope Horus Heresy fans will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it? Are there any key themes that you’d like readers to take away from it?
DG: If nothing else, the Lion’s own counter to the suggestion of many that he’s essentially a passive traitor.
ToW: Finally, have you got any plans to write further Dark Angels stories, in any time period?
DG: I’d love to do something with the Dark Angels in M42, or in the Scouring if Black Library ever decide to cover it after concluding the Heresy. There are obviously some big events for them there, though I’m sure I’d have to fight Gav for them!
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Thanks as always to David for taking the time to answer these questions. Keep an eye out for a review of Lion El’Jonson: Lord of the First as soon as I can get hold of a copy! If you’d like to check out my reviews of some of David’s other Black Library stories you can find them all here.
Check out the main Horus Heresy reviews page on Track of Words.
Click this link to pre-order the standard hardback edition of Lion El’Jonson: Lord of the First.
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