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.
This time around I spoke to Black Library author David Annandale about his new Warhammer 40,000 audio drama Saga of the Wolf, an epic four-hour-plus story featuring the legendary Ragnar Blackmane and Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka! It’s available to order now either in MP3 or as a five-disc boxed set, so if you’ve ever wondered what a battle between Space Wolves and Orks would sound like…now’s your chance to find out!
Without further ado, over to David and his answers to the questions…
Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for Saga of the Beast?
David Annandale: Destiny calls Ragnar to what he very well knows might be his final battle. But destiny is calling Ghazghkull too…
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
DA: On the side of the Space Wolves, the lead is, of course Ragnar. He has been uneasy of late, trying to find what his place is in the Space Wolves in the new realities of the Imperium. He greets the call of destiny with eagerness, but the problem with Ragnar is that the line between courage and recklessness is a blurry one. Two of his comrades on the journey are Alrydd the Bard, who is tasked with recounting the saga, and Sigurd, a Wolf Priest, who will follow Ragnar faithfully, but also worries about how wise Ragnar’s choices are.
On the other side, we have Ghazghkull, who is just as eager to embrace his destiny as Ragnar is, and may know more about what is ahead than anyone else.
ToW: Is it primarily from the Space Wolves’ perspective, or will we get to hear the orks’ side of the story too?
DA: The story is entirely from the Space Wolves’ perspective for the first two parts. Ghazghkull makes his first appearance in Part 3, and we get a bit more from the orks’ side as we go on. The primary focus, though, is on the Space Wolves.
ToW: Where and when is it set?
DA: It begins on Fenris, during mopping up actions in the aftermath of the War Zone Fenris events, though the main action of Part 1 takes place in the Underverse. Thereafter, Ragnar and his brothers head off in the strike cruiser Stormwolf, bound on an odyssey that will eventually bring them face-to-face with Ghazghkull on the planet Krongar, on the other side of the Cicatrix Maledictum.
ToW: Is there anything that you’d recommend fans make sure they’re familiar with before listening to this?
DA: The intention was for this to stand alone, though very much as a lead-in to where the characters are for the events of the Psychic Awakening.
ToW: Why have you told this particular story via the audio medium? What made that the right choice, as opposed to the written medium?
DA: This was the mission I was asked to take on, as it were, and I like to think this would be the ideal audio accompaniment to assembling the new Ragnar and Ghazghkull figures, and so actually hearing the heroes (of either side) having at each other would add another dimension to that experience.
ToW: This is the first longer-form audio drama you’ve written for Black Library – did you find any interesting challenges in writing this? Or was there anything especially enjoyable?
DA: It was really interesting to work on a structure for something that was essentially long enough to be a novel, but would also be clearly demarcated into separate parts. The usual challenges of the audio form applied of course — how to conjure a mental image using only sound. The bigger-than-life qualities of the Space Wolves and the Orks made them fun for me to write dialogue for, and I was overjoyed when I found a reference to Alrydd the Bard as one of Ragnar’s Wolf Guard in a Codex from a couple of editions back. That gave me a character who was a natural choice for a narrator, but who would, I hope, add poignance to the very fact that there was a narrator.
ToW: Is there a particular scene, moment or theme that you’re particularly happy with in the final story?
DA: Back when I first wrote about Ghazghkull, in Chains of Golgotha, there’s a bit where he speaks to Yarrick, and he speaks in High Gothic. I wanted an equivalent moment here, but how to convey that in audio form? I hope listeners will like what I came up with.
ToW: What do you hope 40k fans will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?
DA: I hope the tale lives up to its title. My biggest wish is for fans to feel that they’ve listened to a proper saga.
ToW: Has writing this left you keen to work on more projects featuring one or both of these factions? Anything you’d particularly like to write for either of them?
DA: It’s probably no secret that Ghazghkull is one of my very favourite characters in 40k, so getting to spend this much time with him was a hell of a treat. And I would dearly love to do more with him down the road.
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As always, huge thanks to David for taking the time to answer these questions. I’ll do my best to sort out a review of Saga of the Beast as soon as I can, and in the meantime if you’d like to check out my reviews of some of David’s other Black Library stories (and other interviews like this one) you can find them all here.
Click this link to order Saga of the Beast on Audible.
Click here if you fancy taking a look at some other Rapid Fire interviews. If you have any questions, comments or other thoughts please do let me know in the comments below, or find me on Twitter.