Dawn of Fire - the series

[Knockagh]

Can’t see it being Thorpe, I’m sure he will come into it at some stage but my bet is Annandale, he’s been quiet recently. Bar Ephrael Stern he hasn’t delivered much I can think of. He also ends up with a lot of contributions to these running series’s. He’s far from my favourite but I would put money on it. Second guess is John French

[DukeLeto69]

Annandale has been quiet so good call! Just got it into my head he would focus on WH Horror now.

 

French - hmmmm I hope he is writing third Horusian Wars novel personally. Plus, it is (in my head) still a toss ip between French & Haley re the other SoT book but now with Haley being lead author on DoF my money is now on French for a 2nd SoT book.

 

Also - isn’t John French now running Forgeworld (or at least the HH BB team)? That is gonna impact on writing capacity!

[Bobss]

Annandale has been quiet so good call! Just got it into my head he would focus on WH Horror now.

 

French - hmmmm I hope he is writing third Horusian Wars novel personally. Plus, it is (in my head) still a toss ip between French & Haley re the other SoT book but now with Haley being lead author on DoF my money is now on French for a 2nd SoT book.

 

Also - isn’t John French now running Forgeworld (or at least the HH BB team)? That is gonna impact on writing capacity!

 

Didn't John French say in the special author afterword of The Solar War that his role in the Horus Heresy was now complete?

[DukeLeto69]

Ah did he? I only buy standard HB so have not seem that.

 

Doh! Ignore me std has afterword too! Just looking at it now as didn’t remember that!

 

Ok read it and cannot see any reference like that. The afterword has a tone of finality for sure but nothing explicitly saying French is done (unless I missed it)

Edited August 3, 2020 by DukeLeto69

[DarkChaplain]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/08/07/avenging-son-an-interview-with-guy-haley/

 

Another interview with Haley for Warhammer Community. Some encouraging excerpts:

 

 

Guy:

This is an original narrative largely written by the Black Library but guided by events and ideas being continuously created by the studio. Both these areas of Games Workshop have slightly different needs and both have to accommodate the other, so there’s all manner of things that need to be taken into account.

 

 

It’s my personal preference, when writing this kind of fiction, to make everything that has been written ‘true’. Sometimes in other big, shared universes, you’ll see divergence between the various different media but, for me, the Warhammer 40,000 universe is all one place. Key to my preparation was reading everything that has been or is being written about this period of the Imperium’s history, and putting events into a rough, though not definitive, order of occurrence.

 

 

The other major thing we had to do was to come up with an overall arc for this period. [...] Here, we’ve had to come up with something suitably mind-blowing that fits the tone and story of the universe, as well as its primary existence as a game world, while being a satisfying narrative arc. I think the endpoint is pretty awesome. Only I and a select few others know what will happen

 

 

We want there to be lots and lots of characters, just like in the Horus Heresy. We want a new generation of heroes like Garviel Loken, Sevatar, Garro and all the rest, those characters that writers can follow through this grand undertaking. [...]

The likes of Roboute Guilliman and Belisarius Cawl also make appearances – Guilliman has a large role – but we made a stylistic choice to only see them through the eyes of others, at least in the early books.

 

 

Although Dawn of Fire will be a separate series, and we’ve made a noticeable effort to make it accessible and understandable to all readers, it has ties into all manner of current Warhammer 40,000 fiction.

 

 

There was a bit of a top-down direction coming from me and Nick Kyme to begin with, so the plot hooks and narrative strands are kind of built into that. But I’ve left plenty of little ones in Avenging Son as well.

 

 

This is the ongoing story of the Imperium of Man, tied into current events and ancient history both. It’s a series for old and new Warhammer 40,000 fans alike. It picks up themes laid down in the Horus Heresy, and strands of deep-time history, and will take them in unexpected directions.

[DukeLeto69]

That IS starting to sound really good. Will defo give first book a go and see.

[DarkChaplain]

I wonder if we'll see this series in particular spawning new heroes that'll get character models in this coming edition. Honestly, I think it's just what the setting and game need right now, to be able to retire oldtimer characters - or rather, to allow them to just die gloriously in the narrative without leaving a massive gap in Chapters' characterization.

[b1soul]

Did he just describe Sevatar as a hero?

[DarkChaplain]

In the same way that Lucius, Fabius, Abaddon or Luther are heroes of their own narratives, yes.

[Triszin]

Did he just describe Sevatar as a hero?

:D

[cheywood]

I think I described myself as ‘mildly excited at best’ about this series, but I’m starting to come around. Haley’s selling it well and it seems broader in scope than I first imagined.

[Kelborn]

That sounds pretty good!

Hopefully, I can get my hands on the LE. Seems like it might be worth it. :D

 

Maybe they'll implement some of the new Primaris characters we got with the Psychic Awakening series.

[Lucerne]

I'll wait for if it's another Ultramarine-centric nothing of a series before getting worked up. Guillimanspawn are consistently failing to carry an interesting narrative and a set of novels that follows the pacing and author juggling of the late Heresy is unlikely to fix that.

 

This sounds depressingly Guillimanspawn-centered, and Imperium-centric, and honestly sounds like it'll be less compelling than, say, the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.

Edited August 7, 2020 by Lucerne

[Knockagh]

He says he knows what happens at the end. So there is an end and it’s obviously got a big reveal. And I can’t wait.

Imagine if we had embarked on the Horus Heresy and we didn’t know the ending. Crazy. Part of the appeal of the heresy was a familiar legend given flesh. I doubt this will develop that sort of appeal but it is bloomin exciting.

The ending must be tied into the psychic awakening but with hopefully some solid dramatic endings.

I do hope though the whole rift/crusade/awakening is the end of big plots moving forward for at least a decade or so. Let’s finish this and then return to wallowing in 40k misery again.

[DarkChaplain]

I'll wait for if it's another Ultramarine-centric nothing of a series before getting worked up. Guillimanspawn are consistently failing to carry an interesting narrative and a set of novels that follows the pacing and author juggling of the late Heresy is unlikely to fix that.

 

This sounds depressingly Guillimanspawn-centered, and Imperium-centric, and honestly sounds like it'll be less compelling than, say, the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.

 

Even Avenging Son doesn't focus solely on the Ultramarines. Heck, there's a White Consul on the cover, too, and in his interview Haley names various "normal" humans specifically - including a Historitor. This harkens back all the way to ancient times of 40k fluff.

 

That it at the very least starts with the Ultramarines is a given, considering Guilliman starts this Crusade after making sure Terra is okay (as shown in Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor's Legion). Cawl, too, makes an appearance, which also makes sense, considering this is probably close enough to the Primaris-rollout for the Indomitus Crusade to be relevant - and Haley also mentioned a "newly-awoken Primaris".

 

And as for Guilliman-centered, besides him being the literal reason why this entire galaxy-wide Crusade even happens.... the interview even clearly states that they tried to keep Guilliman as a more distant figure as perceived by others rather than making him front and center. He's the central figure of the narrative in a way, but he's not the novel's protagonist.

 

It's also pretty opposed to what the Heresy did for the most part. This time, there's an actual overseeing author, an established narrative arc, apparently more firm commissions for participating authors, and direct oversight on making sure they gel well. Whether that works out 100% is to be seen - none of us are clairvoyant, I'd wager - but it's a far cry from having an author do his thing while disregarding established character continuity. The series also has a limited scope for the story it wants to tell.

 

As for Psychic Awakening, I'm still not entirely clear on when the events actually take place; I'm out of the loop on those narrative books. To my understanding, they were already at least in part a bit of a dial-back in the chronology, so we might see some of the events addressed / referenced throughout. We'll see.

[Lucerne]

Guilliman's spawn-centric. So it'll be Yet More Ultramarines and the bootlegs rather than, say, the real characters of 40k in these setting-changing events, or even some nice Chaos POVs.

 

I'm really not optimistic about this, but at least the Beast set the bar low enough that this might clear it, narratively.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Lucerne

[Felix Antipodes]

Read the new Haley interview this morning and went straight to the GW website and ordered a copy. Fingers crossed they get this right.

 

Recently read all the PA books. They are all set in the immediate aftermath of the rift opening (give or take any timey-whimmy stuff I may have missed) so may or may not have happened at book one. While I'm happy to see some backgrounding for the characters introduced in PA, Vigilis or Indomitus I think I'd be happy with the events themselves to stay as mentions rather than retellings.

[USNCenturion]

Eh, I can’t take anything away from that interview other than hollow marketing speak.

 

This thing has all the feelings of a lame attempt to prop up the miniature side, and not produce its own rich narratives using the setting.

 

My opinion, obviously. Give me early Gaunts Ghosts, mid HH, and Eisenhorn.

[DarkChaplain]

...whut? Did we read the same interview? He's quite clear about establishing new characters and there's various classic fluff pieces being addressed and featured prominently. He also says it's a new narrative that we don't even know how it'll end - we just know the approximate timespan of the series, being the Indomitus Crusade, and that it'll feature Primaris because said Crusade is why we've got Primaris all over the galaxy in the first place.

 

The only part where the miniature side is even addressed is in that Guy considers it easier (though not effortless) to integrate studio works into the ongoing narrative, compared with actually managing the narrative itself, and the authors involved. It's a collaborative effort with the studio, yes, but if anything, it looks like Guy is firmly in charge of the novel series, rather than getting big mandates from the studio. They'll obviously be pushing ideas and reference material back and forth, but this seems to be putting narrative first across the board.

[Knockagh]

Limited ed prices have shot up to £45. I’m sure that will be a new standard. That a 12% increase which is just stupid. Hopefully won’t sell out and they will get plenty of feedback on that.....but that’s prettt unlikely!

[Matcap86]

And it's gone...

[Fire Golem]

Limited ed prices have shot up to £45. I’m sure that will be a new standard. That a 12% increase which is just stupid. Hopefully won’t sell out and they will get plenty of feedback on that.....but that’s prettt unlikely!

I’m surprised it was less than the SoT ones, seeing as it’s pretty much the same format. 

[Knockagh]

 

 

Limited ed prices have shot up to £45. I’m sure that will be a new standard. That a 12% increase which is just stupid. Hopefully won’t sell out and they will get plenty of feedback on that.....but that’s prettt unlikely!

I’m surprised it was less than the SoT ones, seeing as it’s pretty much the same format.

The extra in the SoT books was for the maps and additional art. The SoT books are fabulous. They have a fold out map, busts of main characters and also portraits of the primarchs. Edited August 8, 2020 by Knockagh

[klisof]

Limited ed prices have shot up to £45. I’m sure that will be a new standard. That a 12% increase which is just stupid. Hopefully won’t sell out and they will get plenty of feedback on that.....but that’s prettt unlikely!

The siege of terra limited editions clock in at £50, I hope those don't go up to £55 for the rest of the series :(

[aa.logan]

The fact that it was *only* £45 and not the £50 I’d anticipated *almost* (almost) tempted me to break my self-imposed decision not to buy it. But I’ve just not got the space for another 9 bulky hardbarks and the inevitable novellas, so digital it is for me...