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[Casual Heresy]

4 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

@Casual Heresy

 

A few books got leaked early, I'm thinking in particular of the leather bound version of Era of Ruin that was found monthsbin advance. As someone who knows more about the indusrty, what do you think happened there?

My guess that was down to thieving gitz. 
 

It happens, people see a chance and swipe some like in any other industry. And there is a market for early copies of popular books. Hell when the last few Harry Potter books were going to press, they hired private security to patrol the building and search bags of people leaving. 
 

Warhammer is much better known now so plenty of people will know what they’re seeing and that someone will buy it. 

[grailkeeper]

20 minutes ago, Casual Heresy said:

My guess that was down to thieving gitz. 
 

It happens, people see a chance and swipe some like in any other industry. And there is a market for early copies of popular books. Hell when the last few Harry Potter books were going to press, they hired private security to patrol the building and search bags of people leaving. 
 

Warhammer is much better known now so plenty of people will know what they’re seeing and that someone will buy it. 

Makes sense. I had thought about the Harry Potter thing. 

 

I remember the seller saying they found the book in a charity shop, but maybe I'm mistaken or they were lying.

[Casual Heresy]

Interview up on WarCom today with Rhuairidh James for his upcoming debut novel Death Rider. 

 

Can a Commissar really restrain the Death Korps? Ask the author of Death Rider

 

Sounds like this will be a very interesting book.

[grailkeeper]

I'm pretty sure Rhu was the one who came up with the Regimental Standard.

[wecanhaveallthree]

Quote

...What follows is a brutal journey where Valian has to confront the nature of both the Death Korps of Krieg, and himself. 

 

Quote

I think sometimes there’s temptation, when you have a Commissar as a main character, to shy away from the grisly realities of their job. There’s a sequence in Death Rider where Valian, our Commissar, has to decide if he’s going to be a ‘Commissar’ or not, and makes his decision. I think what happens next is going to stick with people who read the book for a long time. 

 

I don't want to sound trite or snippy, but nor do I really want to couch my reaction as anything but 'so like every other Krieg novel, then?' and 'so like every other Commissar in every other novel, then?'. One of the best things about Honourbound (and Imperial Creed) is the discussion around the type of Commissar they are, they've seen and what ideals they believe in and want to aspire to. What 'do you want to be a Commissar or not' always boils down to is 'is the character nice or not', and usually always features the conflict between their duties, their beliefs and the situation they're required to face. What, exactly, is the conflict within a Krieg regiment? If the Death Korps are broken, no amount of executions are going to bring them back to the line. Krieg is literally 'executions: the planet', where every failure is met either with direct death or being sent out into the radioactive wasteland to be training for the people who got it right. They're not called the DEATH KORPS because they have such a premium on life, after all. 

 

I appreciate the work James does, but this is pitched like the most paint-by-numbers small-scale story possible. Maybe I'm just still mad about Straight Silver, but this interview hasn't told me anything about what this book is trying to say or do. Valian wants to get his regiment to the evacuation. They don't want to go. I guess if I wanted to read Dead Men Walking again I'd probably just read Dead Men Walking. 

 

Happy to be proven entirely wrong, but James won't be the first to falter on taking the step from high-concept high-octane shorts to full-length novel.

 

Let's hope it's a megabanger and I have to come back and eat crow and admit that 'what if WW1 cavalry officer IN SPACE' was actually a good idea and that I need to get over Straight Silver (NEVER).