Nick Kyme

Just picked up a thread on Bolter & Chainsword regarding my announcement that I’ll be working on Fall of Damnos as my next novel after Firedrake. Have to say, I’m not usually much for forums – I tend to find them a little damaging and full of personal agenda, so they don’t interest me at all but B&C is one of the better ones.

It’s interesting to read how territorial fans are about ‘their’ Chapter. For the uninitiated, I’m talking Space Marines here – specifically, the Ultramarines.

I know what you mean, though. I get all buttock-clenchy whenever someone mentions they want to do something with the Salamanders. There’s a false sense of ownership, I think, that comes with devoting yourself to something. ‘Cause, let’s face it folks – it is devotion we’re talking about here.

Phrases like ‘our boys in blue’ and ‘our Chapter’ – it’s not only individuals you’re under the microscope of but a whole collective, a whole frigging community even!

I like it. I’m glad you care and want these books, the stories about your favourite characters to be good and surprising and everything you ever wanted and didn’t knew you wanted but when you read about it you did – phew!

That’s cool by me. I won’t be dictated to by fan pressure – that way lies madness. You’re going to have to trust me, but at the end of the day I’ll tell the story I want to tell in the way I want to tell it – that’s authors prerogative, right?

I am looking forward to this challenge, though. The Ultramarines are completely different beasts to the Salamanders – even though they are both loyalist Space Marine Chapters. There’s a little more freedom (oddly) with the UMs than the Sallies. I have less invested in them as a Chapter. The Salamanders feel like mine, even though that’s nuts; they’re not mine, they belong to GW, I’m just the guy that gts to write about them and maybe contributes something to the everlasting canon – that’d be nice.

I see Graham McNeill as Mr Ultramarines. Oh, and I know a lot of folks want to see Macragge first, well that’ll likely be that New York Times best-selling fella I just mentioned, and not little old me. I want to return to the characters I established in Assault on Black Reach. I enjoyed that book. I really did. But I always felt that 30,000 words just wasn’t enough to do what I wanted to with the characters. It was a challenge, too – how do I make the Ultramarines come across as cool and not the ‘vanilla’ Chapter most people think they are? What makes these boys in blue tick? Graham has done an awesome job of establishing Uriel Ventris in his part of the Ultramarines mythology. Jeez, just wait until you read The Chapter’s Due – it is phenomenal. Seriously, the book fookin’ rocks.

Backslapping aside, though, my challenge with AoBR was how to make my Ultras stand out. What was it that singled out 2nd Company from the rest. Part of the answer to that lies with its captain – Sicarius (who might be a twat, Xhalax…) can’t be ignored. He’s awesome. He’s a poster boy. Yes, he’s also a bit of an arrogant nob. But he’s damn cool too. Who else has the balls to do the things he can do? Sicarius is the 2nd Company and everything it stands for. These guys think they are more special than the veterans for Guilliman’s sake!

In stepped challenge number two then… I wanted to tell the story from a PoV other than Sicarius’s. He was too big, too much. I wanted to play with him, but at arms length – someone else’s arm in fact. So, I invented three sergeants: Scipio, Iulus and Praxor. These would be my eyes and ears on Black Reach, so too will it be the case for Damnos.

I’m going to introduce some new elements to this story too. I want to give the humans, the native Damnosians (or whatever), a face, a voice. This will also allow me to explore the relationship between the human and Space Marine characters. The synopsis for the story is already in – I kinda know what challenges my heroes will face, the tough moral decisions they’re going to have to make, just how much ass they will kick through the course of the story.

It’s exciting. I can’t get too excited, though. Firedrake is still not finished. I’m a Salamander until that’s done. I’m against the anvil as we speak, being tempered in Vulkan’s forge.

So, yea, isn’t it funny how territorial we get over the things we love. It might not be Macragge, but it’s Ultramarines. I’ve been waiting to return to the ranks of the 2nd Company for a while. I may not feel like I have the ‘ownership’ of this Chapter in the same way I do for the Salamanders but, man, am I stoked that I’m getting an opportunity to revisit the three characters I created. Over a hundred years have passed since Black Reach, some things have changed, but one thing remains true: the Ultramarines still kick a whole lot of ass.

Exeunt!

Figured it was high time for an update as to the status of Kyme.

So, I guess limbo would describe it pretty well at the mo but at least it’s limbo with a rudder and paddle (and at least the creek isn’t full of smelly brown stuff anymore, so that’s good).

Seriously, it has been the maddest six months in my life. Bonkers. Utter bollocks, most it, too.

As I sit here in a towel (sorry, bad mental image I’m sure but it’s my blog so I’ll say what I like, plus I’ve just got out of the shower and I usually find I’m more creative and prone to want to write something after having just emerged – must be the water flow or something; I’ve heard Graham say he’s more creative after having been swimming. Water = Creativity – is that a scientific fact? Calling all those with writer’s block or some such malady, get yourselves in the tub, pronto!), I’m pondering where I’m at right now with life, the universe and writing.

First up, can I say: thank you to all the blog fans who have supported me during this time of bloggage and writing paucity. You have my sincere apologies for my lack of interaction with you through the medium of my site. I hope that will change in the coming weeks. Also, dear friends, I have noted the absence from the blog (and I’m thinking comments here, people – is anybody listening… I mean anybody? Show me your love by posting comments, peeps) of certain folks who used to be regulars. I shall do my best, crestfallen and dejected once-believers, to drag you back into the fold. It’s nice and warm and cosy here, the cold winds are receding and summer is poking through the grey clouds (sort of reminds me of the opening lyrics to the theme tune to Happy Days…).

Randomness aside, there’s a lot to be cheerful about of late. Number one (but not necessarily the most important thing, and understand that the following list has no order as such, it’s just a list that has to come in some sort of order, usually as I think of the thing going into the list…), my laptop has been returned to me! Yes, that’s right, after a dodgy motherboard and £200 later, my beast is back and all-singing, all-dancing again. Crap excuse though it is, I actually blogged a lot less because I was on my tiny, ‘ickle netbook and that little fella, despite being awesome for train, plane and automobile journeys, just couldn’t cut the mustard (or the cheese) in the blog stakes – too slow, you see and with a screen too small. Pah!

Still, with the return of my 17″ beauty, I’m back in the blogging business… and how.

The lack of ‘puter didn’t impact on my writing too much, which brings me neatly to number two on the list of all things cheerful on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Yup, it seems after several weeks (nay, months) of wading through a mire of ineffectual writing and simple work lackage (and I’m coining that term, along with Bowdenian – i.e. something having the characteristics or manner of a certain Aaron Dembski-Bowden – and crimminy – say it with me people, ‘crimminy’ – thanks!), I have finally got back – or least ways am approaching a place where it’ll be back – my mojo.

Sweet baby Moses, it has taken its time but I can start to think again, whereas before I was merely acting. Going through the motions sucks in almost every circumstance (there are, of course, notable exceptions that I shan’t delve into here…), and this was no different. As a result of my newfound ‘writerlyness’, I have reached the midway point of Firedrake. Yeah, yeah, I know, I was pretty damn close to that a few weeks back. Shut it. This is different. I have got to the 50,000 word mark and I can now see forward to the other 50,000 words. This, dear readers, is nothing short of miraculous for me.

I’ve now started to have some fun with the story again and am adding little bits of character development here and there, weaving in new plot threads (only little ones, oh mighty editor of mine – nothing that’s going to make you cry or shout or… twist, I guess). The dark eldar are the antagonists for this one and it struck me as I was writing a scene with Tsu’gan in that I needed to show exactly who these guys were – what makes them tick (nasty, perverse and debased stuff, actually). After adding a few scenes to inject a bit of much needed personality into the dark eldar, as well as establish – or suggest – a relationship that exists between them and the Salamanders, I felt a lot more connected to them and it even resulted in a spinning story thread that won’t get resolved until Nocturne. Coo!

Looking to write another couple of thousand words today for Firedrake too and while I’m going to miss my deadline, it won’t be by a country mile as I had originally feared. Phew!

Just as well, really, as I’ve got a lot of work that’s recently landed on my slightly over-sized plate.

I’ll keep disclosure brief as some of this has yet to be ratified and should be considered speculative, but I’ve been commissioned to write a short story for a forthcoming Horus Heresy anthology. At present, it’s called ‘Forgotten Sons’ (the short story, NOT the anthology) and features an Ultramarine and a Salamander who are on a special mission as the two protagonists. It’s also set post-Dropsite Massacre. Let the speculation begin!

I’m trying out for Dan Abnett’s Sabbat Worlds anthology, too. I have a few ideas for this but haven’t exactly settled on one just yet. In any case, I need to float it by the great man himself first, but I will say that it’s very flattening and humbling to potentially be a part of this book. I’ve been a fan of the Ghosts for years (every since Gaunt said the word ‘balls’ in First and Only, I’ve been hooked) and to add to that world in some small way is a great thing indeed. Now I just need to come up with something awesome (already feeling the pressure…).

It’s really nice to be thinking about some short stories again. I honestly love writing them, and I guess that’s why there’s so many for the Tome of Fire saga and the Salamanders. Fresh, or should that really be ‘hot’, on the heels of Fireborn I also have a hankering to write another Salamanders audio. This one, I think, will be slightly out of time, but shall feature none-other than Forgemaster Argos, possibly when Kadai was still captain. Details yet to be worked out but I have the central story conceit in mind and it’s very cool.

Moving swiftly back to the realm of novels, I have my eye on the book between Firedrake and Nocturne to be a Space Marine Battles novel. Again, nothing has been ratified yet, but if it comes off (i.e. I’m allowed to write it), it’ll signal a return for the Ultramarines of 2nd Company – a sort of unofficial sequel to Assault on Black Reach. Watch this space for more in due course.

The upshot of all that is, the pipe is pretty full at the moment, which is great. I’ll definitely need to apply myself over the next few weeks and months, especially concerning getting Firedrake in the bag but it’s nice to be busy and in demand.

Oh, as far as my upcoming releases go, I have a short story in an anthology, an audio book and a new Warhammer novel all recently released or coming soon. Here are the linkys, which will take you to the spanky new Black Library website – can I get a woot!?

Legends of the Space Marines (anthology – May)

Fireborn (audio CD – June)

Grimblades (novel – August)

Ooh, and I almost forget, another short in another anthology…

Fear the Alien (anthology – September)

Shameless plug over, but as folks do ask about my upcoming releases I thought I’d oblige.

Right, that’s it for the mo. I’m off to clean the bathroom, put on some pants and get a cup of coffee (and in that order).

Exeunt!

I mentioned a few days back about the fact that I tend to write my novels and short stories to a soundtrack. It’s the one or so albums that I listen to over and over whilst I’m writing to help inspire me and provoke a mood.

For Salamander and ‘Fires of War’ it was The Dark Knight, a really superlative score full of power and menace. I also threw in a little Batman Begins for the sake of being comprehensive. Both albums are courtesy of a Hans Zimmer/James Newton Howard collaboration and some of the composers’ best work in my humble opinion.

In Batman Begins ‘Vespertilio’ (which actually refers to a genus of bats in the Vespertilionidae family) opens proceedings superbly with verve and drama, and I totally love this track. Both ‘Artibeus‘ and ‘Tadarida’ (also both a genus of bats, the former within the Stenodermatinaeare subfamily and the latter having eight separate species spread throughout the world) are harrowing, but of all the tracks ‘Molossus’ (another genus – see the pattern? – but also he son of Neoptolemus and Andromache) is my favourite. It has such power and dynamism – it is great to write an action sequence too and really gets the creative juices racing, especially when I’m already in the flow. I actually find myself looking forward to that track in the listing and revelling in its drama and pace when it comes around.

The Dark Knight has a slightly different flavour, although it is the work of the same excellent composers. For me, there’s an immediacy and a sense of dark bombast to the proceedings here. It’s edgy and hugely dramatic, possessed of euphoric highs and desperate lows. ‘Why So Serious?’ is very much the Joker’s theme in the movie, a rush of anarchic, poised violins, suggesting imminent violence and a calm before the storm. The ‘Batman theme’ plays under most of the tracks in this score with its tonality firmly established in ‘I’m Not A Hero’, which also possesses an undercurrent of threat but also a sense of resolve in the face of chaos and moral disintegration. Much like ‘Molossus’ in Batman Begins, ‘Introduce A Little Anarchy’ has pace and drama in abundance, full with heroic violins, pseudo-police sirens and a wonderful heart-racing, invigorating flavour that dips and peaks, and dips and peaks. There are a host of great tracks on this album and to analyse them all with any measure of doing them justice would take pages, but suffice it to say that this is probably my favourite of The Dark Knight tracks.

For earlier novels from the Warhammer fantasy genre, I was inspired aurally by fantasy or historical movie soundtracks. Gladiator (again composed by the excellent Hans Zimmer with Lisa Gerrard) is a favourite that I listen to a lot, even if it has been co-opted at various gaming conventions and events to the point of overkill – I try to shut my areas so it doesn’t become passe and only listen to it if I feel the need when I’m writing. Obviously ‘The Battle’ stands out in this score for all its power and urgency, but I’m also a huge fan of ‘The Might of Rome’, a track of great grandeur, hope and civility, but my favourite is ‘Barbarian Horde’, which has elements of ‘The Battle’ and really builds to a relentless, heart-pounding crescendo – stirring stuff, indeed.

During Oathbreaker, my first dwarf novel and the first novel I wrote after a long break since my debut, Back from the Dead, I listened to two OSTs: The 13th Warrior and Pathfinder – Legend of the Ghost Warrior. Unsurprisingly, both albums – by Jerry Goldsmith and Jonathan Elias, respectively – deal with a strong Nordic theme that I felt was entirely in keeping with the dwarf mindset and cultural inspiration. Dour choirs mix with rampant and bombastic drums and trumpets. They’re both very strong scores and I remember them guiding me through the underground caverns of Karak Varn and across the grassy plains near to Black Water. Courageous and redoubtable, the tracks on both scores seemed to emulate the dwarf spirit and I revisited them both during the writing of Honourkeeper, too. If I ever write another dwarf tale (likely, I hope), I’ll be digging these scores out again. There was a mystery and slight sense of otherworldliness about them, too, that seemed to fit with the undiscovered country of a dwarf hold, long abandoned and given in to ruin.

Of the other soundtracks in my collection (I’ve got a few, to be fair), I listen to Howard Shore’s wonderful The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Who, that has listened to it, could possibly forget ‘The Bridge of Khazad Dum’, from The Fellowship of the Ring, for its bombastic opening and desperate, danger-filled flavour. I find it rousing and terrifying at the same time. The Last Samurai is another of my favourites, (Zimmer again; man, that guy is good) with some wonderfully stirring battle music that is, in part, oddly wistful, even supernatural. Special mention must go to Band of Brothers, a score composed by Michael Kamen from the superb mini-series by HBO. This score, for me, has a lot of drama and action, but also heart and a rousing core of defiance that seems to echo the plight and resolve of the men depicted in the series’ ten, unforgettable episodes.

As a last little nod to my works, Assault on Black Reach: The Novel was written to the striking tones of both The Dark Knight and Iron Man by Ramin Djawadi. There’s a wonderful blend of strong music and machine tones to a lot of tracks on this score, which I really connected with whilst writing about the Ultramarines, though if I ever revisit this Chapter I might go down the 300 route with its echoes of the classical world.

So, onto the next novel then. Truth be told, it’s actually an Empire army book called Grimblades about a band of halberdiers from Reikland who get caught up in a desperate war, set about eighty years from the present day and the reign of Karl Franz. Honestly, I’ve not pegged a soundtrack for this yet , so I’d better get to thinking about it. Maybe I’ll shop around and see if I can find something new? Though I might see how Gladiator and Band of Brothers inspire. There’s the right emotional blend of pulse-pounding drama and camaraderie there…

One I forget to mention, and bringing me neatly back onto the Salamanders, was ‘Hell Night’, the short for Legends of the Space Marines. In a break in form, I actually listened to a Thunderstorm track for the entire project. Just rain and thunder, the imagined cracks of lightning – it proved to be an excellent choice. Certainly, it was atmospheric and wholly appropriate given that the entire story takes place of the monsoon world of Vaporis, where it is always raining.

I said I was bringing the matter back to the Salamanders and the next novel (maybe the next two), Firedrake, will have the OST for 300 ringing in my ears (by Tyler Bates, who also did the excellent Watchmen). I purchased this on a whim from iTunes and totally loved it. During my extremely fruitful sojourn to Waterstones, it really inspired me, a curious blend of the antiquated and the modern, which sort of sums up Zack Snyder’s vision for the movie. ‘Returns a King’ is so dramatic with its deep-voiced choirs and sense of impending majesty and event. ‘Message for a Queen’ is wonderfully understated and moving, but full of hope and promise for the future. The haunting vocals give me goosebumps everytime, a warbling lament that takes your heartstrings and breaks them. I think this soundtrack will be a very good fit for both books, it has tragedy and drama; there is fire and passion; hope and honour; a sense of lost days and uncertain futures. It’s the emotional inspiration I will draw upon and try to tap into for the novels.

Well, I hope that was interesting and perhaps offered an insight into my musical tastes if nothing else. I know a lot of authors can only write in total silence, and sometimes I need that too, but more often than not I had music to stir my emotions…

A Happy New Year to one and all! I hope all your festivities went well and you saw the New Year in with style. I had a fairly quiet affair, with a few friends over, one or two beverages and a bit of Jools Holland’s Hootenanny to count us all down. Good stuff.

Benefits of a quiet-ish New Year? No hang over, of course – bonus. It means I’m back at the keyboard (relatively) bright and early for the continuation of chapter three of Salamander. By way of a very brief preview, this chapter is titled ‘Malevolence’ and introduces a certain Space Marine Chapter that has had, let’s say, a ‘run in’ with the Salamanders in the established history. As this story is actually set prior to the campaign when this altercation takes place I wanted to throw in some potential clues to explain and deepen the rift between them. All very cryptic, I know, but those blog readers who know the background will probably (hopefully) catch on.

It’s actually quite interesting writing secondary/peripheral characters like this as in background terms there’s not a whole lot written about them. This basically meant I had to come up with an identity for them, something that made them stand out but still rooted them firmly in the lore of Space Marines. In the end, my imagination was stirred by the circumstances the characters found themselves in and their motives. I was very pleased that it all happened kind of organically. They also serve as a wonderful foil for the Salamanders themselves who, up until this point, have only been viewed in isolation to give me a chance to establish a bit of character for them too.

Work beckons on Monday (the editorial day job), and I’m planning to have a fairly modest 30,000 words down by then. I’ve deliberately given myself a relatively easy/short target to hit as I find if you try to overreach yourself or set up a mountain to climb you inevitably won’t do it – and that never feels good. As a writer, I’m buoyed along by my sense of achievement at the end of each writing day and if I thought I wasn’t hitting my deadlines then that would affect my morale, I think. I always set a minimum of 2,000 words for a full day (again, very modest) as this might incorporate some reading and research too, or the odd spot of re-writing. I suppose it adheres to the old adage of ‘under promise, over deliver’ – if I manage to write more then I’m really pumped about it and it’ll spur on the next day. It’s a kind of weird psychological strategy, but I’ve found it works just fine for me.

So resolutions then, since it’s the New Year and that’s the somewhat erroneous title of this post. I’ll stick to the writing ones I think, as that’s directly relevant. I have two books released this year and a short story, so that’s one in the bag already. With Honourkeeper in April and Salamander in September (plus the short in Heroes of the Space Marines in July), I have things pretty well covered. In terms of what I’m actually writing, I’d like to give myself a little more time for projects. Last year (and the first part of this incidentally, but I’m not counting that as it’s a tail back from 2008) I found myself rushed on too many occasions when finishing novels/stories etc. This year I’m going to take the time I need, through a combination of getting synopses in earlier (and approved) and giving myself realistic deadlines to hit, so I’m not too pushed. A good writer has to be prolific, I think – well, if they want to be successful at least – but I want to do that whilst taking the time I need to develop and hone. Saying that, I’m pretty darn pleased with both Honourkeeper and Fires of War (and Salamander so far too) – I hope you feel the same.

Two books again would suit me just fine. I have a couple of things in the pipe, but need to firm some details up so I can’t really disclose anything here. I’d also like to spread my wings a little, too. Something I started but didn’t finish last year was Wyrd Dreams. Necromunda fans, I WILL finish this, I’m just having a hard time finding some time to do it. The plan is in place, I just need to write it. I think possibly a blitz and then posting the whole thing up as a PDF is the way to go. I also have a hankering to write some more mainstream crime fiction. I’m a huge fan of the genre (my favourite author at present is John Connolly – I’ve just finished Bad Men [excellent, and truly chilling in places] and am about halfway through Dark Hollow) and have, for some time, had a plan to write a full crime novel. I think given my BL commitments that might be stretching it a bit (remember what I was saying about ‘under promise, over deliver…), so I going to write a couple of short stories instead and submit them to a couple of crime anthologies and see how I go. I actually started one last year (it sounds weird saying that on only the first day of the New Year) called Death by Seven Samurai (working title). I got about 5,000 words in (halfway, I reckon) and then Fires of War came along. So I hope to pick that up again (I still have all my notes safely enshrined in my moleskin), and write another crime story I’ve got buzzing around my head.

All in all, a great 2008 – Assault on Black Reach the Novel was released (my first foray into 40K); earlier in the year I had Oathbreaker, my first novel about dwarfs and my first novel since Back from the Dead. I’m very proud of Grudgelore, written together with Gav Thorpe, which was released alongside Oathbreaker; my website was born (soon to be undergoing a bit of a revamp – the remit: more stuff on it); Games Day UK was awesome for me as I actually got to sign something that wasn’t just old White Dwarf magazines (though I do appreciate your support, Dwarfer fans), plus I got my first gift from a fan – a wonderful dwarf illustration that was blogged in September; and I had my first signing trip overseas to Holland. Phew! A busy old year in many respects. Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that 2009 will be even busier…

Onwards and upwards…