Well...I've Gone and Done a Sequel

Having only written one-off novels I usually step into things with the intent of leaving nothing on the table. Sure, there might be the occasional plot thread or greater conflict looming; but I certainly didn’t set out to write Tahlia’s adventures as a multi-book series.

Honestly, I’m honored and humbled. I think it’s fair to say Age of Sigmar is definitely the smaller property when it comes to Warhammer, so it was a rare pleasure to hear Lioness had sold well enough to warrant another book.

It’s always difficult to continue a character book-to-book. On one hand, Tahlia’s arc in Lioness of the Parch saw her come to terms with the necessity of diplomacy (however much she might dislike politicking); so I definitely wanted to begin the novel with a more measured, more mature character. On the other, I need her to be recognizable to readers just coming into the series. Although she still retains the rough-and-tumble attitude she had in Lioness, I tried to complicate both her loyalties and resentments as Tahlia’s perspective continues to broaden.

Then there were the Helsmiths.

While I very much enjoyed working with the Zharrdron, including a faction that was being developed as I was writing the novel presented both freedoms and challenges. Since literally nothing had been written about the Helsmiths, I had more space to interpret backstory and add my own spin. Both the Studio and my editors were incredibly communicative; but in the beginning we were all working off just a few pages of notes. Although this led to quite a few rewrites as the Helsmith lore was hammered out, it let the novel tie into a really cool new faction only a few months after their Battletome dropped.

For me, the most fun part was foregrounding and complicating their arrogance. Pride is a fundamentally human flaw (one from which Tahlia definitely suffers), but Helsmiths are not human. On some level they need to be alien to our experience; otherwise we run the risk of them reading as short, tusked humans with a penchant for big guns and environmental exploitation. I wanted them to be motivated not only by pride, but hubris in the Classical Greek sense--an arrogance so consuming it offends the gods. This worked with the Helsmiths’ lore, and it felt particularly germane to Age of Sigmar, where gods are a literal presence in the Mortal Realms.    

And then there was Ghyra.

Touching back on themes of complicating Tahlia’s beliefs and motivations, I wanted to toss her in a situation where she was forced to adopt an uncomfortable role. For all her devil-may-care attitude and clever stratagems, Tahlia is used to being an underdog. She views Hammerhal’s entrenched Azyrite interests as unwanted guests at best, and occupiers at worst. While the truth is far more complicated, in a very real sense Azyrites occupy a privileged position in Hammerhal (and in the Cities of Sigmar). By sending Tahlia to Ghyra, a city she initially views as Aqsha’s lesser half, I hoped to challenge her understanding of her place in the Mortal Realms.

In First Marshal Tahlia finds herself in the role of an unwanted guest. While she nominally commands the Ghyran forces, in reality she must face the same sort of friction, challenges, and insubordination that she frequently employs on the other side of the Stormrift. Granted, it takes a much different form given the culture of Ghyra. Add to that an existential threat, unreliable allies, and a sprinkling of Azyrite manipulation. Although Tahlia stays true to who she is, these challenges force her to broaden her views and accept that, just maybe, the situation in Hammerhal (and the Cities of Sigmar) is more complex than she assumed.

As you can probably tell, I had an absolutely delightful time diving back into Tahlia’s chequered story. Hopefully that came through on the page, and even more hopefully First Marshal will do well enough I can spend more time with everyone’s favorite monophthalmic marshal.

Autumn Folk

One of the benefits of writing IP fiction is that I've got more work than I can handle. One of the drawbacks of writing IP fiction is that I've got more work than I can handle. It's a weird, privileged position for an author to be able to write every single day and know that every story and novel is going to find a home. Most times, I feel lucky as hell to have escaped the submissions grind--stalking markets, tweaking stories, rejection, rejection, rejection.

That isn't the case for Autumn.

When October comes around, the leaves variegate, and the sky turns to wet slate, I get an itch to write horror. Something about the autumnal color always sings to my cold, gray midwestern heart. I started out writing horror, and I still revisit it from time-to-time. But alas, I have work to do.

Still it's a dark pleasure when one of my earlier pieces sees the light of day. The long-haul nature of publishing means despite the fact I haven't written more than a handful of non-IP pieces in the last five years, occasionally one I submitted an age ago will burst from the cold literary loam, snapping and clawing.

Which brings me to the Cryptonaturalist.

I'll hazard a guess that he's probably the one who brought you here. If so, much obliged.

I'm lucky to be able to say that Jarod Anderson and I have been friends for some time. We first crossed paths when he popped into a seminar on fantasy maps I was giving at the dearly departed Context Convention in Columbus, Ohio. And well, we hit it off.

I'd sing Jarod's praises, but you already know how clever and kind and fey he is. I love his work. I love him.  So do you, I suppose. So when he asked me to write something for the Cryptonaturalist, I couldn't pass it up. The idea was to veer a bit more into horror territory while retaining a bit of the naturalistic whimsy the Cryptonaturalist does so well. I also wanted to give listeners a hint of how terrifying it might be to encounter one of Jarod's cryptids in real life.

So I threw some poor fool to the metaphorical werewolves, and let the Cryptonaturalist fish them out.

In any case, I'm glad you liked (or hated) the piece enough to seek me out. If you're interested in listening to more of my work, there's plenty to be had. If Autumn gets you in a spooky mood, here's some horror and weird fiction in a similar vein to my Cryptonaturalist piece, all for free:

"Second to Last Stop" (story starts around 3:30) A light horror piece that I wrote years ago. I've always been fascinated by liminal spaces in horror fiction--the point where the characters move from real to surreal. Before "Cabin in the Woods" came out, editors rejected this story for being "too meta". Afterwards, it was "too derivative". Which, to be honest, delighted me.

"All that Moves Us" (story starts around 18:35) In which someone goes looking for a missing friend and ends up finding more than she bargained for. A more traditional horror piece with some (very) light body horror.

"Every House, a Home" Not really horror, per se, although it include both ghosts and a haunted house. Although I can't compare to Jarod's prose-poetry, I feel like this is probably closest to the Cryptonaturalist vibe, although in a very urban setting.

"The Parlor" (story starts around 36:10) Pizza? Elder gods? What's not to love?

That represents a pretty good cross-section of my work. If you enjoyed any of those, there are plenty more in the Audio Fiction link at the top of the page. If you hated them all, thanks for giving me a chance. I know I'm not everyone's cuppa.

Lastly, I'd like to thank the Cryptonaturalist for letting me unearth some of my horror roots. It did me a world of good.

Lioness of the Parch

While I'm fond of Duardin, an enjoyer of Grots and Orruks, and largely tolerant of the various flavors of aelf; I make no secret of my love for the Freeguilds (and The Empire before them). Something about the desperate, gritty, and often short lives of humans in the Mortal Realms has always appealed to me. So it was a rare delight when the fine folks at Black Library reached out to see if I'd be willing to take a stab (or several) at Tahlia Vedra.

Seeing that this was the first novel I'd written about an established character, there was quite a bit more history to take in. Add to that the fact this was before the release of the Dawnbringer Campaign Books, many of which featured Tahlia quite prominently. This meant I not only had to work within established lore, but all the new character beats that were happening as I was writing the novel.

That's the nature of IP work, though; and honestly it only increased my desire to dig into Tahlia's motivations and backstory. It was particularly fun to thread her character arc around the framework of loyalty and pragmatism that the incredible writers at GW have so expertly constructed.

Also, Tahlia is a lot of fun. When writing Age of Sigmar fiction, its easy to be seduced by the grim, self-serious aspects of the setting. If you need proof, look no further than my first novel, which is as grim as they come.  Granted, Tahlia is capable of being just as stern and somber as her Freeguild fellows; but there's also a streak of fatalistic humor that underpins her outlook. I tried to convey this not only for Tahlia, but also the people around her--friend and foe, alike. And from the first fistful of reviews, it seems like that effort is coming across in the text.

Which, I'm not ashamed to admit, is a huge relief.

In any case, I am honestly proud of Lioness of the Parch. And grateful to the editors at Black Library who trusted me with a character so important to The Cities of Sigmar.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I am humbled by the amazing art of Anna Lakisova (who made Tahlia and Infernadice look incredible) and Remi Milner (who brought my characters to life). 

Marcon 59!

Origins and Gencon will always have a special place in my heart, but it's been years since I've been to a proper fan con. Partly, that's due to the pandemic, and partly to the demands of juggling job, writing, parenthood, and various flavors of social obligation.

I'd long been chatting with writerly friends about dipping our toes back in the F/SF con circuit, so you can imagine my excitement when:

1) The oldest fan-run convention in Ohio was held literally a ten-minute drive from my house;

2) They reached out to ask if I wanted to be a guest of honor (yes, me, unbelievable), and;

3) My partner bravely offered to shoulder the childcare duties for the weekend.

Even without the various enticements Marcon had to offer, I would've been a fool to pass up the opportunity. And I must say, it was a true delight.

I forgot how much I enjoyed panels. There's a real thrill to sit down with a group of folks who share your passion and explore a topic of interest. I was lucky enough to sit on panels concerning taxonomies of fantasy novels and TTRPGs, but also some intro to writing/publishing panels where I got to share a bunch of things I wish I had known when I started out all those many years ago.

Although they kept me pretty busy, I was able to squeeze in a writing challenge, a fascinating talk on podcasting, and concerts by The Harp Twins and nerdcore virtuousos 2D6.

As always, my favorite part was the connections--not only with fans, but with my fellow authors. Writing can feel like such a singular pursuit at times, so it was truly wonderful to talk craft with folks whose work I admire (or picked up soon after leaving the convention).

Although none of them waved a book in my face (or perhaps because of it), I came away wanting to read work by: Geoffrey Landis, Marie Vibbert, and Jarod Anderson simply because of how thoughtful and fun they all were.

The con staff were incredible--communicative, friendly, and always ready to tackle the inevitable difficulties that come from trying to wrangle so many creatives. It was truly a labor of love, and I could feel that in every aspect of the convention.

I can't really convey how lucky I felt to be even a small part of the magic, and I certainly intend to attend Marcon 60 (if they'll have me). 

LORDS OF LIGHT!

Despite having only played perhaps six games of Warhammer: Fantasy Battles in my life, I really can't remember a time when the Games Workshop ouevre did not figure heavily into my fantastical accounting. My parents read me Tolkien, Feist, and LeGuin from basically the cradle on--so I never really had much of a chance to be anything other than a fantasy kid.

I think I was seven or so when I saw the ad for Heroquest.My father held out for a few months, but I could tell his heart wasn't in it. Soon, my barbarian was neck deep in orks, skeletons, and fimir, battling through a double-fistful of dungeons. Of course, dad played the Evil Wizard Zargon, and he NEVER went easy on us.

I remember once, my barbarian (Gholar the Impressive) charged ahead of the party and ended up mind controlled. I couldn't seem to roll high enough to break the spell. After dad had me slaughter my brother's elf, he forced me to watch, horrified, as my beloved Gholar chased the rest of the party from the dungeon. I learned a hard, yet important lesson that day. One, Scooby Doo reruns had very much NOT prepared me for.

Never split up the party.

After that came Battle Masters, sort of Warhammer light. Again, Dad mopped the floor with us; but I definitely remember the joy of firing that great cannon and watching the bouncing cannon ball obliterate his beloved Chaos Warriors.

This was roughly the time Games Workshop released these little green pamphlets, one for each army, that gave you a brief rundown of the faction and a sample army list (with points). They were free, so I grabbed an armload from my local hobby store (the dearly departed "Breastplate Hobbies"). I must have spent weeks poring over those little guys, drafting army lists and fighting pretend battles. The pamphlets didn't include actual rules, of course; but that didn't stop me.

My first unit was the old High Elf blue box (five spears, five archers), costing several weeks of allowance and paper route money. I couldn't afford Citadel paints, so I settled for some Testors enamels that I'd gotten for Christmas. 

Bad choice.

Suffice it to say, my poor High Elves turned into goopy messes. I did learn another lesson however--acrylics and inks are worth the price. After that, I was done for. Warhammer Fantasy (Elves), 40K (Eldar and Orks), Necromunda (Redemption, Orlocks), Mordheim (Ostlanders), even a brief foray into Gorkamorka. I didn't actually play the games very often, but I certainly spent quite a bit of time and money collecting (and painting) tiny warriors.

My true love was the lore, though. I wore the bindings of my High Elf and Empire army books, not to mention the dog-eared copies of WIlliam King's 'Slayer novels I managed to unearth in a used book store. Over the years my relationship with Warhammer has waxed and waned (mostly depending on real world pressures), but I've never fallen out of love with it. Even when I couldn't find the time to base and paint a warband, I still managed to carve out a few hours for a game of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or (rarely) Dark Heresy.

When Hasbro re-released Heroquest last year, I snatched up one of the initial run. Now, it's my 6-year old and friends who delve deep into dungeons. I, of course, am Zargon--a harsh, but fair villain in the style of my dear departed dad.

Oh dear, I've gone and buried the lead again...

I meant to write a post about my first Black Library novel Children of Teclis, and how honored and excited I am to be holding an ACTUAL BLACK LIBRARY BOOK WITH MY NAME ON IT. But I started talking about Warhammer and the thread sort of got away from me.

So...uh...thank you for wading through my fantastical recollections. Also, if you've got some spare time and a few bucks, why not give Children of Teclis a read? Or failing that, a listen. I'm going to write another post about it when the hardback comes out.

This time, I'll try to stay on topic, I promise: