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 David Annandale about his new novel The Heretic Saint, which revisits a character who made her first Black Library appearance over 20 years ago – Ephrael Stern, the Daemonifuge. It was initially only available in a very nice but very expensive limited edition boxed set, before the ‘standard’ editions were published a few months down the line. If you’re interested in knowing more about this most unusual of Battle Sisters and her role in the new Warhammer 40,000 narrative, read on!
Without further ado, over to David…
ToW: How would you describe your new novel Ephrael Stern: The Heretic Saint?
David Annandale: Ephrael Stern: The Heretic Saint is a fusion of the Gothic and the war story that brings Ephrael Stern into the current continuity of the 40k universe and to a crucial turning point in her life.
ToW Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
DA: The main character is, of course, Ephrael Stern. She is an extraordinarily powerful Sister of Battle, and utterly ferocious in her faith, yet her very powers have led many, including herself, to see her as tainted. Her companion through the long years of her quest to find the Black Library is the Harlequin Kyganil, and we find them at a point where what had been their driving purpose is no longer possible.
Finally, there is Lord Inquisitor Otto Dagover. He is a radical, and has been searching for Ephrael Stern for his own reasons. He previously appeared in my Deathwatch story The Vorago Fastness, where he put together a team essentially composed of Cursed Founding Space Marines, so he’s more than a little unorthodox in his methods and goals.
ToW: Where and when is it set?
DA: The novel begins on a planet in the Imperium Nihilus, long after the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum, where Stern and Kyganil are dealing with what is, as far as they know, the destruction of the Imperium. From there it moves toward the events of the Pariah continuity [part of the wider Psychic Awakening narrative that Games Workshop is taking 40k through].
ToW: Were you a fan of Daemonifuge from back in the day? If not, how and when did you first encounter Ephrael Stern?
DA: I’ve been a Sisters of Battle fan since I started writing 40K (which is probably pretty obvious from my Canoness Setheno character), but Daemonifuge was before my entry into the Games Workshop universes. So this was my first chance to read it, and encounter Ephrael Stern. It was, for me, an exciting first meeting, to put it mildly.
ToW: How important is it for fans to have read Daemonifuge before starting on this?
DA: This is primarily a new adventure for Stern. Other than Stern herself and Kyganil, there aren’t any characters carried over. I would certainly recommend reading Daemonifuge, because it’s a damn fine story. But I don’t think you’ll be lost if you haven’t read it.
ToW: What appeals to you about Stern as a character to write about?
DA: She’s a wonderfully Gothic character, tormented by the very fact of her identity. The strength of her faith forces her to question the extraordinary means she has of defending it. I also love her fearsome quality. She can be an utterly terrifying figure, not just for her enemies, but for the people and warriors of the Imperium as well.
ToW: It’s been over 20 years since these characters were first introduced (in Warhammer Monthly) – did you have to do much work to bring them up to date with the current 40k style and background?
DA: That was, essentially, the brief for this project. I was asked to get her from Daemonifuge to Pariah. There was also some new lore provided for her, covering some very specific events in the current universe, which the novel obviously follows. One of the challenges, then, was to figure out where she has been all this time, what she has been doing, how the upheavals in the 40k universe would have affected her, and how to get to where the new lore showed she had to be. In many ways, the opening of the Great Rift and the particular conditions of the Imperium Nihilus were very helpful in this regard, providing both traumatic events and a way of setting up the new direction.
The new, fully-colourised edition of the classic graphic novel
ToW: Are there any key themes or ideas that you’ve focused on in this book, and which you can talk about without giving any spoilers?
DA: Faith and identity are crucial aspects, with Stern wrestling with the question of who (or what) she is, not to mention what it means that, given which side of the Cicatrix Maledictum she is on, the Emperor appears to be gone. With Inquisitor Dagover present, there are also questions of means and ends.
ToW: What did you enjoy the most about the process of working on this novel?
DA: Have I mentioned that there are daemons in the book? There are lots of daemons. And that means that Stern cuts loose. I think what I had the most fun with was aiming for a fearsome majesty in the character.
ToW: What do you hope 40k fans will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?
DA: I hope they find Ephrael Stern’s journey into the mainstream of the current continuity to be suitably dark and grandiose. That’s what I think the character deserves, and what I tried to give her.
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Thanks as always to David for taking the time to answer these questions. If you didn’t see the swanky Limited Edition boxed set, here’s what it looked like!
Order Ephrael Stern: The Heretic Saint on Amazon* – also available as an audiobook*
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