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Interesting interview, IMO he doesn't come across as overly engaged with the setting

You’ll find he posts his hobby on Twitter - building and painting as a minimum - so that may just add further context.

 

I’ll look forward to reading his forays into the setting in due course!

Unless shadowy deals took place behind the scenes, Tchaikovsky’s book seems to have been the direct result of him tweeting alternative commentary on a GSC vs AdMech picture and one of the BL editors replying with a suggestion he gets in touch…

Also - perhaps a bit wild of a statement to say here, given our common obsession over continuity - one doesn't really need to deep dive into the lore or canon to tell a good story in that setting. Like it doesn't matter, really, if the limits of his reading are the gsc codices and some am short stories. The story itself will be good or not, irrespective of the setting. The earliest BL books were exactly the same - and still could be brilliant, lasting contributions to the setting :)

 

It's akin to the licenced trek lit of the 70s-80s - wherein some visionary or excellent sci-fi writers came into a setting and wrote how they would, not conforming to (the admittedly smaller range of trek canon then), and being hired because of who they were and what they already published. That can lead to results that now seem eccentric, as they don't fit our idea of continuity, but it can also in the right hands (like John M Ford's) be astounding despite not fitting continuity. Or perhaps one can ask does fitting into continuity really matter?

A good story is a good story. I'm hoping Adrian Tchaikovsky can bring some serious literary chops to the BL stable.

 

There are plenty of authors who know the lore inside out but end up writing a terrible story, and we have enough of these! It'll be easier for BL editors to teach the lore to great authors than to teach lore-heads to be great authors :) 

Bringing on authors without much familiarity with the lore, even if they’re great writers, can be somewhat limiting though. Having not read Tchaikovsky’s other work I enjoyed Raised in Darkness, but it didn’t stand out to me as anything singularly brilliant. Considering the lack of Genestealer Cults fiction it felt surprisingly familiar.

 

I’m not trying to condemn authors who aren’t hyper obsessed fans, not everything needs to advance an overarching narrative or break new ground, and it makes sense from an authorial perspective. 40k’s especially dense and BL expects continuity to be maintained, so if you don’t know the universe especially well it’s easier to stick to what’s established in the codex and a few novels rather than trying to get inventive or consume the entire canon. The BL roster should ideally be a mix of knowledge and talent.

Edited by cheywood

A good story is a good story. I'm hoping Adrian Tchaikovsky can bring some serious literary chops to the BL stable.

 

There are plenty of authors who know the lore inside out but end up writing a terrible story, and we have enough of these! It'll be easier for BL editors to teach the lore to great authors than to teach lore-heads to be great authors :smile.:

 

This is a really good point; it's also a question of how much continuity is necessary for a story, which is usually not much - despite obsessive "but canon says [X]" responses from fans. Just let writers be creative and tell good stories. I'm all for Black Library doing mad things with the setting, which aren't restricted to "lore drops" or "nuggets" but rather just radical envisioning of what is possible. A kind of "author interprets the IP" take/adaptation. I'm not sure what the results would be, but it could be beyond rich.

 

Equally "naive" or "shallow lore" takes can be brilliant too - I still remember with great delight how much I loved Brian Stableford's Pawn of Chaos even if it didn't even fit 3rd edition 40K when it released. 

Good news = Chris Wraight just confirmed to me on Twitter that he expects Vaults of Terra III to be out in 2022. Yay!

 

Bad news = Watchers of the Throne III may take a bit longer. Boo!

Good news = Chris Wraight just confirmed to me on Twitter that he expects Vaults of Terra III to be out in 2022. Yay!

 

Bad news = Watchers of the Throne III may take a bit longer. Boo!

Thanks for sharing this info.  I love how genuinely helpful Chris tries to be on twitter.  A lot of people just tend to ignore questions around future releases.

 

He comes across as a top bloke in general.

Good news = Chris Wraight just confirmed to me on Twitter that he expects Vaults of Terra III to be out in 2022. Yay!

 

Bad news = Watchers of the Throne III may take a bit longer. Boo!

Can you please ask him if Lords of Silence book 2 will release in the next two years or not? I asked him three times on twitter about the follow up/book 2 for Lords of Silence and he completely ignored me. Maybe if you are a popular twitter account with lots of followers, he might give your question more importance.

 

Good news = Chris Wraight just confirmed to me on Twitter that he expects Vaults of Terra III to be out in 2022. Yay!

 

Bad news = Watchers of the Throne III may take a bit longer. Boo!

Can you please ask him if Lords of Silence book 2 will release in the next two years or not? I asked him three times on twitter about the follow up/book 2 for Lords of Silence and he completely ignored me. Maybe if you are a popular twitter account with lots of followers, he might give your question more importance.

 

I dunno man, I've asked him lots of questions over the years and 2/3 of the time he responds.  I have about minus three follows on twitter lol, so it's certainly not influenced by follower count of perceived status.  Perhaps the question you are asking isn't one he feels comfortable answering at this time?

Good news = Chris Wraight just confirmed to me on Twitter that he expects Vaults of Terra III to be out in 2022. Yay!

 

Bad news = Watchers of the Throne III may take a bit longer. Boo!

 

Very glad to hear the news about Vaults of Terra.

 

Not even bothered by the Watchers III "delay" assuming Wraight's and my definitions of "a bit" aren't too incompatible.

 

 

 

 

Good news = Chris Wraight just confirmed to me on Twitter that he expects Vaults of Terra III to be out in 2022. Yay!

 

Bad news = Watchers of the Throne III may take a bit longer. Boo!

Can you please ask him if Lords of Silence book 2 will release in the next two years or not? I asked him three times on twitter about the follow up/book 2 for Lords of Silence and he completely ignored me. Maybe if you are a popular twitter account with lots of followers, he might give your question more importance.

I dunno man, I've asked him lots of questions over the years and 2/3 of the time he responds. I have about minus three follows on twitter lol, so it's certainly not influenced by follower count of perceived status. Perhaps the question you are asking isn't one he feels comfortable answering at this time?

Can confirm. You have to be lucky to get an informative response from him. ;)

 

Though he's more open to share his thoughts than others.

Yeah, bear in mind the most open BL author got booted in part because he was too open with fans and the reportedly big mental drain awful fans are on any other author engaging too closely with the hoi poloi we kinda should be happy with any answers they can share with folks. Bear in mind they are far from the final authority on when their work might see the light of day.

Yeah, bear in mind the most open BL author got booted in part because he was too open with fans and the reportedly big mental drain awful fans are on any other author engaging too closely with the hoi poloi we kinda should be happy with any answers they can share with folks. Bear in mind they are far from the final authority on when their work might see the light of day.

 

I say this as a huge Josh Reynolds fan, I don't believe his openess had much to do with his firing.

 

This is straight up one of the biggest triggers, authors blaming their lack of production on fans being mean to them on the internet. The worst offender of this is ADB, who sits on Twitter and then is shocked people on the internet are not kind. 

 

I have emailed/messaged Graham McNeill a few times and he is always extremely nice.

 

 

 

 

 

Good news = Chris Wraight just confirmed to me on Twitter that he expects Vaults of Terra III to be out in 2022. Yay!

 

Bad news = Watchers of the Throne III may take a bit longer. Boo!

Can you please ask him if Lords of Silence book 2 will release in the next two years or not? I asked him three times on twitter about the follow up/book 2 for Lords of Silence and he completely ignored me. Maybe if you are a popular twitter account with lots of followers, he might give your question more importance.

I dunno man, I've asked him lots of questions over the years and 2/3 of the time he responds. I have about minus three follows on twitter lol, so it's certainly not influenced by follower count of perceived status. Perhaps the question you are asking isn't one he feels comfortable answering at this time?
Can confirm. You have to be lucky to get an informative response from him. ;)

 

Though he's more open to share his thoughts than others.

Always found Chris pretty open but he, like other authors, can only say so much. I have about as much influence as a grain of sand so think I just get my timing right on occasion and get answers (from several authors).

They all will have contractual obligations about when they can confirm a novel is actually happening; thus about the future there are real limits on what they can say.

 

If anyone is interested in a behind the scenes Frank discussion, this thread on trekbss is really good (and includes James Swallow's own answers to many questions), from writing processes, tools, editing to approaches to being fans, continuity and other things:

 

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/general-q-a-session-for-the-authors.308951/

 

I'm not sure if there is similar for other major IP (star wars, magic, or indeed 40k), but it would be wonderful if we could have an author- and editor- friendly space that could allow that discussion of this IP.

 

You can also see that having authors on a forum does not preclude stiff criticism of their work (see some of the novel threads in bbs, especially the coda books).

I can't believe they're doing an audiobook for a Phil Kelly novel when they could at least finally release Grim Repast in audio, or any of the other stuff they skipped without comment.

 

But hey, Warhammer Horror and Cain #7, starting the year on the right foot. These will be out on the 15th, then.

I see The Bookkeeper's Skull is in hardback (from Coming Soon page anyway, not mentioned in the article). I wish they'd either make all the Horror novels in PB or HB, not keep randomly switching between the two. BL's inconsistency sucks; as book people, they should know better.

I see The Bookkeeper's Skull is in hardback (from Coming Soon page anyway, not mentioned in the article). I wish they'd either make all the Horror novels in PB or HB, not keep randomly switching between the two. BL's inconsistency sucks; as book people, they should know better.

So I was told by a BL employee something that TO ME was nonsensical.

 

Short novels get the hardback treatment (not sure of wordcount limit) so think Sepulturum by Nick Kyme.

 

Longer novels go straight to paperback, so The Reverie by Peter Fehervari.

 

I can only think that is because a short novel in paperback would look insubstantial for the price?

 

But it sucks for the authors who wrote more words (and took longer) as their royalty is on a lower cover price!

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