Nick Kyme

Welcome one and all, welcome back and hello 2012!

Normally, I provide some sort of retrospective on 2011 but as I am busier than a busy thing I’m going to forego that tradition in favour of a short blog (with pictures) and then get on with The Great Betrayal. What I will say, just briefly, is this is the year I finished a trilogy! Bwoop!

Yep, Nocturne is the last book in the Tome of Fire trilogy (sort of…) and I am heartily pleased by A) the fan reaction and B) that I finished this epic story. Some bloggers, Facebookers, Tweeters (etc, etc) have commented that it still has some loose ends a la Lost. That’s deliberate, folks. I am returning to the Salamanders this year/next year (that’s 2012/2013 now) for the Circle of Fire trilogy where some of those threads will be taken up and run with.

I’ve actually just finished writing and scripting my fourth (I thik that’s right…) audio drama for BL, Perfection, which has some connective tissue in it to the upcoming new series.

This was also the year that I wrote my second Horus Heresy novella, Feat of Iron (which is to be released in June in The Primarchs collection). Together with another new short story (’At the Gates of Terra’) and my previous works in the series, a novel is on the cards in the near future.

Going back to the Sallies, I mentioned that the Tome of Fire trilogy wasn’t completely done with. That’s because there’s going to be a fourth volume that will come out between Nocturne and the next book in the new trilogy (tentatively titled Rebirth at the moment, which may change if the sales and marketing daemons don’t like it…). It’s actually going to be a collection of all the short stories (including the audio) that tie-in to the series and include some of the main characters (oh, The Burning will be in there too – I know a few people have contacted me on FB about how to get hold of that one).

Contents (but not running order) looks something like this, I believe:

Vulkan’s Shield
Hell Night
Fires of War
Fireborn
Prometheus Requiem
The Burning

I’ll also be writing an exclusive novella for the book. Hopefully, this will come as welcome news to fans of the series who want a complete collection for their bookshelves. It’ll have the same artwork style as previous volumes and fit in nicely with the three main books of the series.

So, what was supposed to be a fairly short retrospective turned into a rather long one.

In really brief, brief then, Christmas was awesome (hope yours was too) and although I’ve eaten more than I usually would (and not as healthily) and not been running, I still feel pretty trim. This is the year I will run round Silverstone and, hopefully, do the Great North Run in Newcastle. Training begins in earnest on Tuesday when I’m back in the office (oh, that’s tomorrow…).

And finally, finally, in 2011 I joined Twitter and have sent a bunch of tweets. Follow me @NickKyme for my various comings and goings. I’m now part of a bowling league too. I also met my wonderful lady, Stef. Here we are at New Year looking all swanky pants.

I went clay pigeon shooting for the first time too, and here’s the pix (if you follow me on Twitter and have been waiting for these, some technical difficulties prevented me putting them up but here they are now…).

So, now I can wield a shotgun with deadly force. Bring on the zombie apocalypse!

It’s been a packed and eventful 2011 then. Here’s hoping that 2012 will be even better.

Love, life and happines to everyone who comes to the blog, friends and messages me on Facebook, reads my tweets or who simply just like reading my novels and stories. Keep up the support, spread the word. There’s much more to come in 2012 and beyond.

And come back, y’hear. I know I don’t blog as much (busy writing) but let’s see some comments gang…

Bwoop!

Holy crap, has it been that long?

Wow… sorry folks, I have been the most rubbish blogger every. My bad.

To be fair, though, I have been busy. Extremely busy.

Not only has the editorial side of my life taken something of a hike in terms of what I’m doing day to day, my superhero job (aka writer) by night is also rammed to the gunwhales.

I finished a short story for the Horus Heresy recently, so that was a good win for me. It was only 5k but I needed it. You know, that little buzz you get from a sense of achievement, a task complete? It was that feeling I needed, because this bad boy is seriously busting my balls right now…

Yep, you guessed it (which, let’s face it, wasn’t that hard was it…), it’s Time of Legends The Great Betrayal. It’s book one in a six part series about the War of Vengeance (that’s when the elves and dwarfs knockedf seven shades of shinola out of each other to dominate the Old World, the fools…) that I am writing with fellow author and all round good egg, Chris Wraight.

I have been writing the synopsis for what seems like eons. There is so much to consider, though. I should be writing it now but I needed to blog, damn it! Phew! That’s better. Can’t beat a bit of a vent now and then.

So, yeah, I’ve been working on the synopsis, trying to set up plenty of story to come in the next books, while being faithful to the established canon as written in the various Dwarf and High Elf Army Books down the years (oh, and Grudgelore that modest background book as penned by yours truly and Mr Gav Thorpe). Not an easy task I tells ya. Nope. Nope.

Anyway, having wrestled with the timeline, figuring out what I’m doing in the rather large twenty-odd year gap, I think I have it licked. But it has taken ages. This book, thus far has been a beast and I’m not even writing it.

With Nocturne it was the weight of the previous two novels that gave me trouble; with this one, it’s the fact that it’s part one of six and the opening is based heavily on established lore and lore that was written for a gaming setting, not a narrative one. See where I’m coming from here???

Okay, so synopsis nailed and here’s a cheeky snippet of an extract that I submitted today. You’ll have to pick up an upcoming Previews Catalogue to get the rest…

Cacophonous thunder rolled across the slopes of Karag Vlak. Earth trembled for miles. Fire wreathed the darkling sky. It warred with the furnace at the mountain peak, glowing hot and angry through swathes of pyroclastic cloud. Shadows lurked within it, drifting against the wind on thin, membranous wings…

Thurgin Ironhand eyed the enemy racing at his throng across the hellish plain and scowled.

‘They are swift,’ he said, feeling the tremor of their hoof beats through his iron wrought armour. Runes of warding fashioned into its breastplate began to ignite in a chain of forge-bright flares that painted the metal like parchment.

Never before had the dwarfs waged war against such a foe. All of the urk and grobi festering beneath the Worlds Edge could not come close in number to the glistening horde riding down upon them now.

Two hundred feet away from bloodying his axe and Thurgin gave an order, growled through the mouthpiece of his war helm and carried to every warrior of his throng through its runecraft.

‘Lock shields!’

Across the slopes of Karak Vlak, ten thousand dwarfs obeyed.

That was but the first rank.

Deep into the valley, standing upon the Fist of Agrin, Thrugin knew the High King fought alone. It was said of him that he could break the stars. To witness that rune blade he bore, gripped two handed and splitting heads as effortlessly as barrels, Thurgin could believe it.

The enemy closed, coming fast and hard on hooves of silver flame.

Thurgin, thane-king, felt the solidity of his clan brothers at either shoulder and smiled.

This would be a good day for the dwarfs.

Vengeance would be won.

He bellowed, his voice louder than a hundred war horns, ‘Khazuk!’

The throng answered, its many ranks adding to the fury of their reply, ‘KHAZUK!’

Axes and hammers began to beat shields, rising in tempo as the riders closed.

‘Khazuk!’

Thurgin slid the ornate faceplate over his eyes and nose until it clanked and the world became a slit of honed anger.

His brothers’ chorus resonated through his helm, chiming with the clash of arms.

‘KHAZUK!’

It meant death.

Death to the enemies of the dwarfs.

Glarondril the Silven spurred his riders to greater effort. The enemy was close, a thick wedge of mailed warriors clutching blades and shields.

Twenty thousand noble lords at his command, armour glittering with the falling sun, lowered their lances.

They had ridden hard and far to reach this hellish plain. Glarondril would not be found wanting on the slopes of the mountain. He would see it through to the end, even if that meant his death. Whispering words of command to his mount, he drew the riders into a spear tip of glittering silver.

‘In the name of the Phoenix King,’ he roared, unable to keep his battle lust sheathed any longer. A sword of blue flame slid soundlessly from his scabbard. ‘For the glory of Ulthuan!’

So close… Glarondril saw their hooded eyes, shimmering like moist gemstones, and smelled the reek of their foul breath, all metal and earth.

‘None shall live!’

The blue fire sword was held aloft as a thicket of lance heads drew down upon the enemy.

Totally need to get a new PC (or, preferably, a Mac). I’m currently on this dinky little ASUS with an ‘ickle screen that makes my eyes hurt. After 100,000 words, they’ll probably bleed. Told myself I had to sort out my office first (which I totally will) and then my reward will be a spanky new, massive screened iMac of justice. Yeah!

Basically, I just need to throw out all the crap that’s in there already (junk, charity shop or EBay) and rip up the carpet, get a new desk, move some stuff around, lay down laminate (which is awesome), get some rugs and a new chair and I is done. Booyah!

So, New Year then right? :S

Doubtful. Reckon I’ll do it in stages.

*pauses to dish up dinner*

It’s chicken breast, generously seasoned with black pepper, Italian herbs and Cajun spices, plus sugar snap peas, carrots, broccoli and miniature potatoes. Slap a bit of pseudo-butter on the taties and you’re good to go. Hmm, tastes good in my belly.

Been working on the running and even joined this scheme called Park Run, where you basically rock up to a total park (one that’s covered by the scheme, not just at random) after having signed up online and do a timed 5k run with a bunch of other like-minded folks. Did my first one a couple of weeks back, missed the start but still clocked a 22:34 time. Bonus!

Since then I’ve been hitting the gym and can do 5k in under 20 minutes. Those are laboratory conditions, though (i.e. treadmill) so I’ll be interested to see how my newfound super powers holds up against the outdoors…

Also joined a bowling league (ten pin not crown) and had my second game last night. Currently sitting on a 191 average (actually that’ll be higher as I hit over a 600 series last night), which ain’t too shabby and that’s with a blinkin’ house brick, y’all.

Got my new ball but need to get it drilled and can only do that on Friday on account of the the dude who runs the pro-shop not being in until them. Inconvenient, but hey-ho…

Went to London last weekend and saw The Lion King amongst other things (the musical, btw, not the film). It was awesome (as is the film).

And here’s me and my gorgeous lady about to head in…

We went to London to see it, and stayed with Stef’s sister and her husband (who also went to show), and enjoyed the crap out of it. Brilliant, I’d say. Mad armatures representing leopards, elephants and rhinos. Also, the natty way the actors playing the lion characters could pull down their marks when in a confrontation. Stage craft was excellent and the music, everything was spot on. I would totally recommend. *****

Oh, I also started tweeting. Yup, I have succumbed to this oh-so modern way of keeping people updated on my comings and goings, and I love it!

Ha, ha – it’s like writing loads of odd little mini-blogs about all sorts of random stuff. Come and follow me @NickKyme and pay heed to my ramblings if you dare. Latest updates include BL Hat Day and the skinny of The Great Betrayal.

I’ll be updating and tweeting on a regular basis, so if you fancy having a quick hit of Kyme action then get signed up and add me to the list.

Other than all that, looking forward to Crimbo in a big way. Lord Shakespeare is well too (though, he did do a massive do-do on my kitchen floor today that needed a certain amount of scraping to lift…). He’s going to the vets tomorrow for a cheeky bum clean but am trying to keep that quiet…

Okies, time for me to sign off. I’ve not bothered spell checking this (too long, and on this crappy machine…), so apologies for typos etc. It’s all pretty much stream of consciousness anyway. Updates to come on the progress of The Great Betrayal as well as my novella projects.

Keep it real, folks.

Catch ya later. Ooh, and don’t forget to follow me on twitter. It’s @NickKyme, remember. Bwoop!

Went for a five mile run at lunchtime today and for the first time in blinkin’ ages, my foot/ankle doesn’t hurt and I’m not limping. Woo hoo!

This is good news as I’m signed up for the Silverstone half marathon in March and am going to sign up (soon as they let me) for the Great North in September.

I’ve been going to the gym pretty much everyday for the last few months (with only the odd day off here and there) and am feeling pretty fit and healthy, but there’s no substitute for some actually running time.

Previously, I’d be sticking to low impact exercise like the cross trainer and rower, in fear of my ligaments, Achilles tendon (*insert injury prone body part here*) going ‘twang’ and that being it for six months. Thankfully, after a bit of an earlier return post-Robin Hood marathon that set me back a bit, I am back in the saddle and kicking ass.

I really want to build on my time from the previous half, which was just under 1 hour, 42 minutes. I’m aiming for a sub-1 hour, 40 minute time (so, looking for any digit that begins 30-something when I near the finish line – if it’s a 9, I shall spring like the proverbial bastard methinks… apologies for the expletive; felt it was warranted on this occasion). But I reckon, all thing’s being equal, that I’ll be satisfied with 1 hou, 42 minutes. We shall see – training starts here…

I’ve also been adding push-ups to my routine, three reps of 18 each (and counting – gonna move to 20 next week, I think). None of these girly, on your knees ‘push-ups’ (note, the ironic use of quotation marks), but proper legs extended ones. It’s actually bulked me out a bit and given me some useful upper body strength, which is handy for stamina and on more long distance, endurance runs.

Anywho, that’s the running. It’s picking up and I’m feeling fairly fit. Good times.

On to the writing.

Nocturne was released unto the wide world after a slew of advance copy signings and seems to be being met with much joy and satisfaction by you good people, my fans – so, thank you for that. It’s been a long journey for me and I am heartened by this response to the trilogy. Rest assured, you won’t have to weep too long once the book is over; the Salamanders will return (much sooner than I thought, too).

Took a bit of a breather after ‘Feat of Iron’, my novella for the Primarchs and I’m just starting to get going on The Great Betrayal for Time of Legends now. I say ‘getting going’, I’ve not actually finished writing the synopsis yet. This is a new and trickier prospect than the other books I’ve done, not least of which because of the subject matter (the War of the Beard/Vengeance between the dwarfs and elves). The main reason I’m taking my time is that a lot of what I do in the first book will influence what happens in the subsequent five volumes, so I’ve kinda got to get it right and leave plenty of threads, set plenty of cool stuff to pay-off later as well as write a great opening story in the saga in its own right.

I’m also not flying solo on this project either; I’ll be very ably abetted by none other than the gentleman’s gentleman of authors, Mr Chris Wraight (I have honestly never met a finer fellow). Chris and I have been exchanging numerous emails and phone calls about the project, but I think we’re closing in on the story for the opening volume now. Once I’m done of this, I hand the reins to Chris for book two (I’ll be back again in books three and five), while I think about novellas and more Salamanders (see, told you they weren’t far away).

That’ll have to be your lot for now. Shakespeare’s fine, by the way. I’m going roller skating tonight (how retro, I know) and need to do some crunches before I go.

Salut!

Yesterday was a day of endings. It was the end of my Nocturne signing tour (and many thanks to everyone who came to chat and get their books signed – you’re all very welcome any time) and it was the end of ‘Feat of Iron’.

Woot!

Yup, finally nailed the first draft of my novella for The Primarchs. It came in at just a little over the 30k mark but I am pretty pleased with the result. A bit like the last couple of miles in a half marathon, the last 2,ooo words in the Ferrus Manus novella were the toughest.

Today (well the next hour or so, at least) is going to be spent going back over what I’ve done and honing and tweaking, but the story is in. Beers all round.

No much else going on the moment. Writing-wise, once the novella is in with Christian on Monday, I’ll be working on my synopsis to The Great Betrayal (Time of Legends War of Vengeance book 1), oh and I’ve got a short, short story to write for the Horus Heresy (an ‘ickle 5k one).

Got myself a copy of Gears of War 3 but have yet to play it with any real gusto. I actually need to set it up for HD on my TV as it looks a bit rough otherwise. I paid 30-odd squids for this and I want it to look the business.

In other gaming news, I am very much looking forward to getting hold of Arkham City towards the end of this month. Man alive, this is going to be the game of the year for me. Then I’ll likely shell out some spondooliks for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Yeah! That’s me sorted for the next 6-12 months (it takes me ages to get through games – just because I don’t have a lot of time to play them at length).

Oh, I read that Space Marine is getting a co-op DLC very soon (October 26th or thereabouts). Honestly, can’t believe this wasn’t in the package to begin with but I guess memory budget can be a beast sometimes. I’ll be uploaded to my PS3, o’ho yes.

Thinking about ditching my PS3 Move. I barely use it and even when I do I’d rather play the game on the controller. The only reason I’m thinking about hanging onto it is for Kill Zone 3 and the natty little gun controller I’ve got for it. Otherwise, that gimmick item would be gone.

Okies, I really need to get cracking for the self edits for ‘Feat of Iron’ so I shall see you peeps later.

PS For those who follow my running exploits, my ankle/foot is loads better (convinced it was ligaments) and I’m going to get back in the game on Monday after a three week hiatus. Can’t wait. This year I’d like to do the Great North Run and the Adidas half marathon (I think that’s the correct distance) around Silverstone. Yeah!

PPS Whilst finishing off the novella the other week I was writing in my kitchen with Shakespeare laid next to me. I was sitting on my bar stool at the breakfast bar and when I moved my seat I accidentally snagged the fluff on the little fella’s tail without realising. Deep into the novella, I freaked when I heard this commotion below me, Shakespeare scratching like a mad to get loose. He did, but at the expense of his tail fluff (please note, his actual tail was fine). Here’s the evidence and the little man’s response afterwards…

Think he’s forgiven me… :/

Morning all, and happy weekend.

As well as cracking on with Nocturne over the intervening weeks (just over 12,000 words and counting – going slow, but well) and suffering from an annoying cold, I’ve been doing some training (well, very little in fact on account of that f!xking cold) for a 10k run called the ‘Farmyard Frolics’.

Today’s the day and while I still feel a bit rough-ish, I’m going to go for it and do the business – yeah! :/ Apparently, it’s a 10k race over grassland, farm tracks and through woodland – a bit of a cross country style affair then. Doesn’t sound too bad… Oh yeah, it’s also got hay bales, tyre runs, horse jumps (I am a man, not a horse) and various brooks that I’ll be required to cross.

Hopefully, I’ll emerged unscathed and reasonably healthy. I’m actually heading off in about twenty minutes or so but just wanted to share.

Wish me luck (even if it’s belatedly). If I’m up to it, I’ll blog later or maybe Monday with some of more substance.

Oh, and check out my first gaming blog post on IGN.com. It’s about narratives in gaming, focusing specifically on the Call of Duty franchise. Ta, ta!