Nick Kyme

Physically and mentally knackered. That’s pretty much what I’m going with if anyone asks me how I’m feeling right now.

I went on a training course last week. It’s probably the toughest thing, professionally speaking, that I’ve ever had to do. We’re talking sixteen hour days, unrelenting pressure and a constantly changing brief.

Consider then that after said course of doom (which, in retrospect was awesome and I honestly think has changed me as a human fricking being – and I’m usually very cynical about this kind of stuff) I managed to put the finishing touches to Nocturne and I’ve had a pretty good week.

I’m still spellchecking the manuscript on my new netbook (had to fork out for this when bastard, f*!king trojan virus put the kibosh on my old one – I’d love to string that particular little scumbag hacker up by the balls but hey-ho, I’m over it) but it’s pretty much there. I wish I had an extra week to go over it some more but I’ve been reading and honing as I went along and now I just want to hand this mutha in to my editor. Christian will be pleased/relieved I think.

With the completion of Nocturne it brings the Tome of Fire to a triumphant but slightly sad end. These books have been part of my life for well over three years and Salamander (the first book in the series) launched my Black Library career in a way I could never have expected or dreamed (7th printing and counting…). During that time, I’ve seen relationships end (some longer than others) and weathered an emotional storm that threatened to derail the whole thing. I’ve had doubts, the odd crisis of purpose and confidence but I’ve come through and this is the culmination. It may only be a tie-in fiction line but it has meaning for me, this story. It’s the saga that I always wanted to tell and I’ve grown as a writer during the telling of it.

Don’t worry if you’re a fan as I’ll be returning to the Salamanders again. From the Chapter that nobody wanted, they’ve suddenly become the one that everyone wants to read about and that’s extremely gratifying. I want to go back to the Horus Heresy with them next and write a novel to follow up on Promethean Sun. It feels like a natural step and a good fit to do that. I have a plot in mind and signs are positive that I’ll get to write it. More on that at another juncture, though.

For now, I’d like to focus on Nocturne and a collective body of work (including short stories and the like) that spans well over 350,000 words. Pretty good going, I think. When I’ve written a million words on the Salamanders, I might stop then but who knows. Another trilogy is to come for sure, and I have a mind to write a Space Marine Battles novel that ties-in and maybe even a prequel novel if I can convince Christian to let me write it.

I want to say thank you. I want to pass on my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who has discussed the novels and the Chapter with me over the years, that has passed on their encouragement and kind wishes, their comments and enthusiasm, their knowledge. You are all part of the reason I finished this trilogy and without wanting to go into Oscar-mode, I just want to say: ”preciate it’.

Nocturne is released at Games Day this year a couple of months before it’s official release in November. I’ll be doing a bunch of signings for it but dates and locations are still tbc.

So, a tiring but productive week.

Easy now.