AUTHOR INTERVIEW: David Guymer Talks The Shield of Daqan

Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview – today I’m speaking to David Guymer about his new novel The Shield of Daqan, which is coming very soon from Aconyte Books as part of their range of Descent: Journeys in the Dark fiction. I asked David for the lowdown on the story, the characters, and his take on the Descent world. If you’re a fan of David’s Warhammer fiction and are keen to see him explore a slightly different, somewhat less grim and dark setting, this looks like being the perfect opportunity! It’s due out as a global ebook and US paperback on the 2nd February, with the UK paperback coming a little bit later on the 15th April.

Without further ado, let’s get on with the interview.

Track of Words: What can you tell us about your new novel The Shield of Daqan?

David Guymer: It’s my first full novel for Aconyte Books and (I suppose!) also my first full novel for anyone who’s not Black Library. It’s set in the world of Descent: Journeys in the Dark, which is a set of games from Fantasy Flight Games, and explores one bleak corner of the human realm of Terrinoth in its fight for survival. There’s a ton of battles, and plus there’s a dragon on the cover.

ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?

DG: There are four major characters in Shield; two of whom are existing heroes from the game, one is a character from the background lore, and the fourth is my own creation.

From the first group we’ve got Andira Runehand and Trenloe the Strong. They’re the pair on the cover! Andira is a divine warrior with some incredible powers and her own little warband of pilgrim soldiers, but not a great deal of human empathy. Trenloe, meanwhile, is a more likeable everyman, outrageous natural heroism and tremendous physical strength notwithstanding of course. The third character is Fredric, the Baron of my little patch of Terrinoth, who’s essentially a good guy, but has to balance the needs of the moment with the fact that he can’t save everyone. Which brings us to Kurt, who doesn’t have heroic powers or a magic sword, but he does have two sons that he’s raising alone, and a crappy farm, and a horde of Uthuk Y’llan pouring over the border from the East.

ToW: For anyone not familiar with the world of Descent: Journeys in the Dark, how would you describe the setting and your particular take on it?

DG: Anyone with a passing familiarity with the Tolkein-esque will recognise the fundamentals of the setting. Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes – all present and correct! Superficially, it’s similar enough to worlds like Faerun or the Warhammer Old World to get you started, but some of the familiar races, Orcs for instance, get interesting twists, and there’s a distinct magic and mythology that rewards a deeper dive.

ToW: Were you already a fan of Descent before writing this, or was it your introduction to the setting?

DG: I’m afraid to say not! Who knows though…new boxed game just out and all that.

Personally though, I’m more tempted by the Realms of Terrinoth RPG and I’d love to play a campaign set in the world of Mennara [the wider setting, of which Terrinoth is only one realm].

ToW: Where did this specific story come from? Of all the Descent stories you might have written, what made you want to write this story in particular?

DG: I essentially read Realms of Terrinoth twice through and wrote down all the ideas that came to me. Some, I filed away in the ‘sub-plot’ bin and then I made a list of favourites from what was left to send off to Lottie at Aconyte.

And then Fantasy Flight popped up and asked me to write this story with these heroes instead!

Sometimes it goes that way when you write tie-in fiction, but I really don’t mind at all. Sometimes the most creative thoughts come when you’ve been given a few constraints to narrow your wilder flights of fantasy down a little bit. Within the headline pitch of “Heroes battle to save Kell,” or whatever, there is still plenty of invention to be done and stories to tell, particularly as the pre-existing background for these heroes amounts to a couple of sentences on a game card.

Suffice to say though, I’ve got plenty of untold Descent stories still in me.

ToW: Aside from the background to the game itself, what would you say your main influences were while writing this?

DG: I was re-reading Lord of the Rings (my first read of it as an adult, and it was so much better than I remembered it) and I could definitely feel it coming through in the geography of eastern Terrinoth

ToW: How did you find the experience of writing your first non-Warhammer novel? Were there any particular challenges, or anything that was especially enjoyable?

DG: It felt like a holiday! Sure, it was work, there were tough days, but I had found my last couple of Black Library books, Court of the Blind King and Lord of the First, to be particularly tough going and I appreciated the break from those worlds and the chance to try my hand at something new. What I particularly appreciated was that (Realms of Terrinoth aside) Mennara isn’t a world that has been explored in great depth, and so there was a lot more freedom and a lot less homework than I’m usually used to.

For more Descent fiction, try Robbie MacNiven’s The Doom of Fallowhearth

ToW: For anyone familiar with your Warhammer fiction, would you say that this takes a similar tone and approach? Or is it a departure from your usual style?

DG: It’s the same guy at the wheel, so if you like what I do with Warhammer then chances are you’ll like what I do with Descent as well. Descent is a brighter world than Warhammer though, one with genuine heroes living in it, but aside from dialing my inner grimdarkometer from 11 to around 6 or 7, I don’t think most readers would notice the difference.

ToW: What do you hope readers will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?

DG: I hope they’ll have fallen in love with a few new characters and be hungry for more.

ToW: Do you think you might revisit these characters for more stories in future?

DG: It’s open. I have other ideas for the setting, but I’d love to return to Trenloe and Andira and see what they do next.

ToW: Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on with Aconyte for future release, or anything else you’ve got in the pipeline?

DG: As of right now, I’m working on a Marvel novel for Aconyte, but I can’t say too much more than that just yet. It’s already on Amazon and other bookseller websites though so if you can be sufficiently bothered and Google hard enough then you can find it! I’ve also just finished an Age of Sigmar novel for Black Library focused on the forces of Destruction and readers of White Dwarf magazine will find the first of my Chronicles of the Wanderer short stories in their magazine this month.

Ordinarily I’d be even busier than it sounds I am already, but (like a lot of people I imagine) I’ve been hit hard by the demands of home schooling a small child and have had to extend a few deadlines and turn quite a bit of work down. Hopefully, for all our sakes and sanity, we’re in the last stretch now and can look forward to a better second half to 2021.

***

Thanks as ever to David for taking the time to answer these questions, and give us an idea of what to expect from The Shield of Daqan. I’m looking forward to reading this one, so keep an eye out for a review coming soon!

See also: my review of Aconyte’s first Descent novel – The Doom of Fallowhearth by Robbie MacNiven.

If you’re in the UK and would like to support local independent bookshops, you can pre-order The Shield of Daqan from my store on Bookshop.org*

Alternatively, order The Shield of Daqan from Amazon*

*If you buy anything using one of these links, I will receive a small affiliate commission – see here for more details.

If you enjoyed this interview and would like to support Track of Words, you can leave a tip on my Ko-Fi page.