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 his new novel Avenging Son, which was released in various formats (including special edition hardback AND standard paperback) on the 8th August 2020. This novel is the first volume in a new 40k series that’s being talked about as the ‘big new thing’, so I asked Guy to talk a little bit about the Dawn of Fire series and his role within it, as well as the new book itself.
Over to Guy…
Track of Words: Avenging Son is the first book in a brand new Warhammer 40,000 series – Dawn of Fire. Could you give us a rundown on what the series is, what it’s going to cover and what fans can expect from it?
Guy Haley: Dawn of Fire covers the beginning of the Indomitus Crusade. It is set just after the Great Rift opens, not long after Roboute Guilliman has returned to Terra. There’s a structure to how all this is going to work, but there’s not much I’m allowed to say about it yet. Suffice to say, we intend this to rival the Horus Heresy, so you’ll have lots of books, lots of characters, explorations of the lore, and shocking developments. Bear in mind though, that the Indomitus Crusade is ENORMOUS so we won’t be covering everything. We have a focus that will become apparent, but to clarify the core of the story is about the crusade.
ToW: You’re not only involved in the Dawn of Fire as a novelist, but also as ‘Lead Writer’ – what does that mean, and how is it going to be different to how you normally work?
GH: What it means is that I’m running the series along with Nick Kyme. I help formulate the story. I have the task of keeping track of everything. I get to read and offer feedback on the other books. My role is purely creative, so I get to do all the fun stuff. Nick has to do all the managerial things! He is also the main editor – he had a huge amount of really positive input into Avenging Son, for example.
The big difference between this series and the Horus Heresy is that we don’t know the end. However, every great story needs an arc to tie it all together, and I came up with that arc, or at least one of them.
I try to keep everyone in the loop with what I’m doing anyway, so the research and meetings I’m having are a development on what’s gone before with my Dark Imperium-era novels and the Horus Heresy. It’s not wildly different, though it is a lot more work!
ToW: It sounds like this series is going to tie in really closely with the ongoing 40k narrative, in collaboration with the Games Workshop design studio – what is that going to mean for fans, compared to previous BL series?
GH: That’s tough to answer. We’ll have to see how it develops. I don’t think you readers will see a massive difference, personally, you’ll just get a great series that just happens to shadow what’s happening in the game to cool effect. As with all books from Black Library, we watch what the studio is doing, we talk to them, incorporate their stories into ours and expand upon them. We join the dots and colour in the shapes, but we do also introduce a lot of our own narrative strands.
ToW: Are you and the rest of the team doing anything different when working on this project compared to similar writers room-led series like the Horus Heresy or The Beast Arises?
GH: The Beast Arises was a different kettle of fish, and we’re not following the way that worked, but cleaving much more closely to the format of the Horus Heresy, though I stress this has its own peculiarities too. At the moment, as the series is new, Nick and I are giving quite a lot of top down direction, but I’m hoping that as the series progresses, and the other writers develop their own characters and arcs, it will become far more author driven.
ToW: Bearing all that in mind, what can you tell us about Avenging Son?
GH: Avenging Son details the beginning of the Indomitus Crusade, Roboute Guilliman’s struggles with politics and the galactic situation to get it off the ground, and its first victory.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
GH: Ooh, I don’t know if I can tell you that yet. There are a lot of characters here. Those on the cover are just a handful. There are mortals of all kinds, Space Marines, primarchs and more. Avenging Son is one of the longest books I’ve ever written, so there’s plenty of space for different people! Some of them will be familiar, most are entirely new.
ToW: Where and when is it set?
GH: The time is just after Guilliman arrives at Terra, so at the conclusion of the Gathering Storm sourcebook narrative.
A lot of it is set on and around Terra, though a large segment of it is set at a few locations at the nebula of Machorta Sound, near Hydraphur.
ToW: How does this fit in with your existing Dark Imperium series?
GH: Well, partly you’ll have to wait and see. What I will say though is that the Dark Imperium series will be back, and it will be concluded. A lot of people have jumped to the conclusion that Dawn of Fire somehow invalidates that series and that it has consequently been retired, because the first two books were withdrawn from sale. That is simply not true. Why, you’ll find out, but I’ll be working on Dark Imperium 3 in the not too distant future, and the other two books will be rereleased in due course. Obviously Dawn of Fire takes place before the events of Dark Imperium.
ToW: Is this series going to tie in with any other stories, characters etc. from elsewhere in Black Library’s back catalogue?
GH: The story of Avenging Son takes place around the time of Chris Wraight’s Watchers of the Throne and Vaults of Terra books. It draws heavily on them for the flavour of the setting. They’re awesome, go and read them.
ToW: Are we going to see multiple story formats for this series, like the Heresy – audio dramas, short stories, novellas etc. – or is it solely novels?
GH: That’s another tough one. We want to make it really reader friendly. A key aim of this series is that if you read the novels, you’ll get the main beats of the story.
On saying that, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any shorts, novellas or audios, nor that if there are that they won’t be significant. Watch this space.
ToW: Can you tell us anything about the rest of the series? Who’s involved, whether you’ve written any other stories, what we can look forward to reading in book two and onwards?
GH: I can say nothing! I’m sure the line up will be announced in due course, as will the number of books and all that.
ToW: You’ve written quite a lot already about characters like Guilliman, Belisarius Cawl, the Unnumbered Sons and various Primaris Marines. Who do you enjoy writing about the most, from amongst this new(ish) cast of characters, and why?
GH: From the chaps above? I like Cawl and his crew. But there are others, like Decimus Felix, and Guilliman himself. Oh and Dante. And…ah, there’s always something to enjoy. I hope some of these new characters will find as much favour with you too.
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As always, massive thanks to Guy for taking the time to answer these questions, and let us know a bit about what to expect from both Avenging Son and the Dawn of Fire series as a whole. I really enjoyed this book – you can check out my review here.
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.