Nick Kyme

…I’ve been putting the final touches to my first Horus Heresy short story, ‘Forgotten Sons’. It’s done now, first draft anyway, and resides with my editor for his perusal. It weighed in at an impressive 18,000+ words. For some reason, I’m whacking more words on the page at the mo, which is fine, because I’m on to Fall of Damnos next. At a mighty 100,000 words (and then some – maybe…), I’ll regard the long-shorts as training.

Tough experience writing the Heresy piece. I enjoyed it. It’s also a different type of story for me. Main issue is the feeling that I don’t quite have carte blanche to do what I want within the milieu. It’s daunting, being in a collection alongside some of BL’s heavyweights. These guys have got frightening creativity and intelligence, and know how and where to bend the envelope (or push it, or whatever).

Still, that’s said, it’s given me a taste for it and I’d like to delve into the series on a deeper level if I can just bypass all the flaming hoops I’m having to jump through. There’s a story scripted already, and it’s a biggy – I just hope I get to tell it.

Anywho, lots of printed product coming out with my name on it or thereabouts recently.

First up is Sabbat Worlds, Dan’s awesome anthology on the aforementioned eponymous theme. My story is called ‘Blueblood’ and is another bloater at over 20k. That’s around 40,000 words in short story mileage of late – almost half a novel. Sheesh! I’ll be joining some of the other luminaries (okay, so they’re a little bit more luminous than me) at Forbidden Planet in London on the 9th of September for a signing. Details are in a previous post, but if you like this sort of thing get your asses over there as it’s a rare opportunity to get all of these great authors in a room together.

Also through the printer’s pipe was Grimblades – now released and getting some decent reviews. Still need to do my BL blog on this one, but have been a little snowed under to get around to it just yet (you’ll probably have noticed my own website’s blog has been a little quiet lately too…). I’ve had a copy of Fear the Alien, and a big thanks to the fans who’ve got in touch via Facebook to tell me how much they enjoyed my story ‘Prometheus Requiem’.

Finally, and I’ve really saved the best until last. Firedrake has landed in all its flaming glory!

It’s not out until November or UK Games Day at the end of September if you’re lucky enough to get it on pre-release at that event. I’m also doing two signings in early October at Oxford and Uxbridge GW (apparently, Aylesbury won’t be open or ready in time, so I’ve had to nix that date – sorry ). There’ll also be signed copies heading over to GW King’s Lynne in limited numbers, so if you just want a daubing and no face time then that’s the place to be.

One quick addition to all of this Firedrake fun. For some unfathomable reason (I suspect the influence of Chaos or something…), a rather important acknowledgement was missed out of the first printing. It’ll be on subsequent printings, but the first few won’t have it. Anywho, as it name checks a lot of good people who really helped me during the completion of this novel, I wanted to put it here. You guys are awesome and my appreciation to your efforts and counsel is vast. From my heart, a sincere thanks…

‘A sincere nod of thanks to Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Dan Abnett, Steve Parker, George Mann and Caroline Law for going above and beyond. Also to Christian Dunn for letting me write this thing.’

I’m sat at home ill today. I’m nursing a bloody annoying cold (yeah, it’s man-flu – shut up, okay), thanks to my plague-ridden desk editor at BL.

I wish crush you, Davis. Crush. You.

I watched Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths again (and the DC Showcase: The Spectre – both of which are awesome), have eaten breakfast, lolled about feeling sorry for myself, taken max-strength flu tablets and am Lemsipped up to the freakin’ eyeballs – now I’m bored.

So to the blog cave, Blog Man, for some bloggage – o’h yes…

So, what’s new?

Well – he says between sniffles and coughs – again, Davis I will snap you in two for this (I’m Best Man at a best mate’s wedding at the weekend and really need to write my speech…) – I’m officially past my word count on ‘Forgotten Sons’ (that’s the Heresy short I’m doing for Age of Darkness). It’s gonna be a mite longer than 12,000 words, methinks (sorry eds, but that’s the way I’m rolling at the mo – sometimes you write short; sometimes long – I’m on ‘long’ right about now, so suck it up ‘kay). I’m chuffed with the way it’s panning out; part legal drama (but in a cool way), part thriller – I think/hope you’ll all likey.

Fretting over Fall of Damnos (though there was a saweeeet looking dps in our latest trade catalogue of this bad boy, complete with quote about how someone really liked my writing and characters – woot!), not because it’ll be tough to do; yeah, it’ll be tough but that’s not why – I just need to get this Heresy short nailed and my speech written and my health back in order so I’ll be able to get somewhere in the ball park of the deadline. Arggh!

Okies, so I’ve been watching a few films lately, taking advantage of my membership to Lovefilm.

Most recently, Youth in Revolt and Edge of Darkness. The former was very funny, quirky and odd (a typical Michael Cera movie of an independent bent); whilst the latter was Mel Gibson dullness, dressed up as political thriller – yawn.

On the silver screen, I watched Inception (a separate post on that is in order, given it’s sheer awesomeness) and Shrek Forever After (yes, I’m still a sucker for 3D, and yes I will be going to watch Toy Story 3 in the same medium – do one).

Culturally, I had my first ever experience of Cirque du Soleil (my girlfriend informed me, a few weeks prior to the performance, that there was more than one type – ignorant beast that I am, I had no idea), the Saltimbanco show. It had a real street festival feel to it, apparently a little smaller in scale and grandiosity than some of the other shows, but was charming, mischievous and wonderful all in the same colourful, flashy hat. Recommended.

Last week I was out with the BL posse (the entire gang, barring Davis who was busy brewing up his lurgy to infect us all with – Crush. You.) on an ‘away day’. Lot’s of team bonding and crazy-ass antics ensued – photos headed to the blog in the next day or so.

Got some signings coming up. There’s UKGD, of course in September (27th, methinks?), but I’ll also be doing a mini-tour for the release of Firedrake - that’s going to be in early October in Oxford, Aylesbury and Uxbridge. If you’re around or can be around and can’t make GD then I hope to see you then. Oh, and don’t forget that in early September (see previous post of the exact date – I will update the events diary soon, I promise…) that I’ll be crossing signs pens with the big dogs: Abnett, McNeill, Swallow,Vincent and Mitchell (and possibly more besides) at the Forbidden Planet mega-signing of Sabbat Worlds - that there big anthology with Mr Dan’s name on it. Banzai!

That’s about it for the non-specifics. I may be back later with some other guff; for now, I’m going to make lunch and have a little sleep in the vain hope that when I wake up my head won’t feel like it’s filled with play dough.

PS Grimblades is now officially released and just want to give it a quick shout out. As I was saying to the missus the other day, I am very proud of this book and while it won’t get the same attention as a Salamanders novel I still hope that folks go out and get a copy. I’m supposed to be writing a guest blog spot about it for BL, so if you’re still undecided, take a look at that and see the light…

Yesterday was the last leg of the Salamander UK signing tour. Before I tell you all how I got on at Uxbridge, I just wanted to say that I’ve had a blast doing these few dates signing the new book. It’s been great meeting and talking to folks. You’ve all been very kind, each and every one. Your interest, questions and enthusiasm will give me the impetus I need to get cracking with Firedrake in a few months.

It was also really nice to see quite a few of my backlist novels like Oathbreaker and Assault on Black Reach getting the signing treatment (no Back from the Deads, though, which was a shame). Even Grudgelore got a look in – how about that.

This is actually the first time I’ve done a signing tour like this. I’ve signed at Games Day and the odd GW store but never done a month 0f touring. It’s been great but tiring (all that talking and travelling really knackers you out), and I will definitely do it again. If you live in Oxford, by the way, and were disappointed at my no-show, I can only apologise. That was the only regret in an otherwise really excellent signing tour. All I can say is I would have loved to have been there with you (I had a bunch of family coming over to see me sign too), but my flu was really bad and I couldn’t come over with good conscience knowing my germs (really quite serious and nasty ones at that) would be passed on to others. What I will say is this: when Firedrake is done, GW Oxford with be top of my signing tour list.

Well then, cutting a short story long, how was Uxbridge?

In a word: awesome (and I know this gets banded about a bit, but it is totally true – in fact, Alex and I once considered changing the word ‘awesome’ for something new like ‘umbongo’ as the original word has lost all of its meaning and weight in modern parlance – in this instance, though, it is justified).

It was a long trip down south with a two hour train journey from Nottingham to St Pancras International in London and then from there another hour (ish – it was just less) on the tube to get me to Uxbridge (I was able to do some writing and synopsis planning as a result – so not all bad). Thankfully, the store itself was in a shopping centre very close to the tube station – huzzah.

Quiet initially, I liken GW Uxbridge to a sleeping giant. You see, after being greeted by Zak, Pali and Alex (all totally sound guys who I will buy a beer for some time for their kindness, professionalism and hospitality – I was very well looked after – thank you guys, so much), I was handed a few copies to sign for folks who couldn’t make it. ‘Cool’, I thought, at least it wasn’t a wasted trip. The shop actually felt fairly quiet with a few hobbyists just getting on with painting, gaming or whatever, then, all of a sudden, a queue sprang up out of nowhere! Loads of people had turned up, eagerly clutching stacks of books for me to sign. It was very flattering and humbling.

The two hour slot I’d pegged for the signing was fairly steady after that initial rush. There was time to play a quick demo of Space Hulk (which I won – I was the Terminators, can you believe that – thanks to Alex for the tips) and I even had the honour of judging the store painting competition (prize was a signed Salamander poster for all the winners) – well done to all.

Like all good things, the signing eventually came to an end and I was hot-footing it out of the store to catch my tube train back to Notts. I had a really good time and was made to feel extremely welcome by everyone I spoke to.

As I’ve said, this is the last date on the Salamander UK tour but I will be at Games Day with a bunch of other authors, so if you missed out I shall hopefully see you there…

Had a great time at Games Workshop Milton Keynes today. Thanks to Nathan, Richard and Martin for looking after me so well – I even got a cup of tea to wet my whistle before the signing commenced. Ta very much!

Feeling the love for Salamander, which was very nice. My humble appreciation to everyone who came to the store to get their books signed and chat to me. Glad to hear that ‘Fires of War’ had been floating a lot of folks’ boats too.

Not much more to add, save that I did a reading of an excerpt from ‘Hell Night’ that’s going to appear in Legends of the Space Marines and it went down very well. Cheers to everyone in the store for their attentiveness and the round of applause at the end (very flattering). As a little fringe benefit, I also got to see the new Space Hulk in action. Wow! This looks totally awesome. The miniatures are so characterful and the indented game board sections are very cool indeed. I was very pleased to see it in the ‘flesh’ (looking forward to getting my hands on a copy very soon…).

Oh, I did do a bit of shopping in CMK once done with the signing. Manage to pick up a copy of Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest,which I was reading in a Costa Coffee (worst cup of joe ever – it tasted like warm water siphoned through milk – bleurgh!). Loving a bit of classic Noir (and, coincidentally, there was a show on BBC4 tonight called ’The Rules of Film Noir’ celebrating that great, pessimistic era of post-war film making – very dark, very interesting). I also bought The Long Halloween, a Batman graphic novel  by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale I’ve been planning to get hold of for a while. Once I’m done with Final Crisis, that’s the next book I’m reading.

Finished The Lovers, by the way. Did that a few nights ago and have taken up Ross MacDonald’s The Chill. I’m definitely in a classic Noir mood right now. The Lovers was totally great, incidentally – I’ll be doing a blog post about the man and legend that is John Connolly in a bit.

Okay, that’s your lot. It’s gone 11pm and time for beddy-byes. Nighty nite!

Yes, yes, I know – it’s taken me a dog’s age to get around to my post about Games Day Chicago. My bad, I had flu you know.

Well, it was that and the fact that all my photographs from the trip were either on the phone and refusing to Bluetooth over to my PC (still the case – I think I need a new phone) or stuck on a transfer server at work (where I haven’t been for weeks and when I did come in, I was surrounded by a cloud of post-flu vagueness).

So, Chicago (focus Kyme, focus).

Before I go on, I think it’s worth pointing out that I’ve never visited the US before. Well, that’s not strictly true: I visited Detroit airport during a stop over before heading to Canada (man, that was one scary and intense airport) and have seen America across the Rainbow Bridge when at Niagara Falls, but they don’t really count.

So it was all new and shiny for me. Plus, I’d not been on a plane for a fair few years, there were tons of regulations I’d never heard of before and I as packing it a little bit about the flight.

It all began early on Thursday morning. A car picked us (and by us I mean, me, Coops and Steve & Si from Forge World – very nice chaps those two) and because of some error/breakdown in communication, we got an estate instead of a people mover. Three big blokes, plus driver, me and luggage meant for a very cramped two hour drive to the airport. Not fun.

After all the hoo-har getting through security at Heathrow and what-not,it eventually came to boarding and on we got. First thing I noticed about the plane was the individual TV screen on the back of the chair in front. Nice! Then I discovered it had a shed-load of films, documentaries and TV shows that I could watch at my leisure – even better!

Let’s just say my anxiety about flying was ebbing in the face of on-demand entertainment (and, yes, I really enjoyed Monsters vs Aliens - even if it wasn’t in 3D – and I Love You, Man).

It was a good flight with passable food (quite long, though, at about 9 hours, plus a one hour delay before take-off) and we arrived at O’Hare airport in Chicago feeling knackered but elated we were in the US.

There was a bit of a wait for the mini-bus that would take us to the hotel, but once we got there it was very nice and a chance for a few beers and an early-ish night was appreciated. Day One over already.

Friday began with set up in the convention centre. It had a similar vibe to Games Day in the UK, just not quite as big. The giant, inflatable Ultramarine was a bit of a surprise, though…

Flee! Flee! It's attack of the fifty-foot Space Marine!

One thing I will say, all the American guys (plus the Brit ex-pats who were there too, of course) we so nice. I’ve never met a friendlier bunch of people, who were so open and welcoming. It really made me feel good.

Big shout outs to Steve, Elliot, Ogre, Steve’s wife (sorry, I have the memory of a fish sometimes…), Arica, Darius, Josh and the guy who sounds like Seth Rogan (see, there’s that memory again), and everyone else who made the trip such good fun and was so welcoming. I luvs ya all!

Okies, so we did set-up and got to know the lay of the land a bit. There was a brief staff sales period in the afternoon (which was very nice, as I got to sign a bunch of books in advance – mainly Salamander, but some of my back-list too – and pick up a GD T-shirt for my brother) and then it was back to the hotel bar to await Mike Lee who was flying in from Tennessee.

Once Mike got in it was quite late but we ordered some food from the bar and had a bunch of beers (Mike on his whisky, I believe). It was nice to just kick back, chat and look forward to the prospect of Games Day tomorrow.

On to the event itself then… It was Saturday, a sensible hour in the morning (not like when we head to Birmingham for the UK event and it’s still dark and cold… brr!), and the convention centre was buzzing with the last minute preparations for the day. Pretty soon, Mike and I were installed at our signing tables and ready for action.

I remember, as we sat down, Mike turning around to me and saying I should keep an eye on the doors as they opened. He had a bit of wink going on, so I assumed he knew something I didn’t. Let’s just say the floodgates opened and the hordes poured in. I mean screaming and hollering – it was like a mob of greenskins had been let loose on Chicago and they were coming for us! Quite a sight.

Mike and I were soon very busy, up to our necks talking to folks and signing their books. I’ve never experienced anything like it. The sheer number of people who came to sign was staggering for me – I’m not used to this sort of thing (being a humble newbie and all that). It was great, a real ego boost and actually quite humbling, but to see queues of people wanting my book. Bizarre. Awesome. Amazing. All of the above and more.

The American fans travelled far and wide to get to the event (I think sometimes we forget how little our great country is sometimes) and we incredibly friendly and enthusiastic. I was talking to several people for quite some time, discussing everything from writing, to computer games – it was really nice to be around folks who I had such a lot of common interests with.

Best of all, I managed to sell out of Salamander with three hours of the event still to go! In all honestly, the day went incredibly fast. It’s hard to remember that much of it, now, in hindsight. I remember doing a reading with Mike (this was unplanned) in one of the lavish conference rooms and the microphone on the podium being so loud that we both decided just to project our voices a little more. I also recall buying a couple of hot dogs for a late lunch, but the rest just went by in a huge storm of excitement and activity.

The day wound down and off we sloped back to the hotel (once we’d packed up and helped out the Forge World guys a bit), for more shits and giggles. The after party was really cool. The beer was flowing. Our new friends from the US were all there and it was just a great time had by all. It felt like one of those fabled summers, a little out of time, where you just wish that time would stop for a bit so you’d have longer to enjoy it.

Sunday was when we were due to fly back (I’ve missed a whole bunch of details out like the hell Whirly Ball was, a long discussion about a show called Never Where – still haven’t tracked that down, Arica, yes, I’m a bad bunny, Darius and his random outbursts that had me howling with laughter, Mike Lee’s superb banter, the awesome power of Ogre, the secret message written in a copy of Salamander to Elliot’s wife – the list goes on and on) . It was a day of mixed emotions for me. It was sad to say goodbye to Mike, who was heading back to Tennessee (we really did have a good laugh over there – it would’ve been nicely for a few days more), and also the guys we’d met at the event who were off back to their respective states too. It felt like leaving family behind or something. But I was also pretty stoked about getting to go into the city for the first time since we’d arrived.

You see, the convention centre was actually a fair few miles out of Chicago itself in a fairly nice but nondescript area. We’d have to ride the L-train to get into the city itself and sample it’s delights. Thanks to an evening take-off (returning to Blighty on the red-eye), we had a few hours of the morning/early afternoon to spend in Chicago.

I think, as I have a bunch of photographs associated with that part of the trip and it’s a whole other adventure, I’ll write this as a separate post. Needless to say, I totally loved the city but then you’ll read all about that pretty soon…