Dan Abnett
-The Magos is set 5-10 years prior to Pariah and will explore why Eisenhorn has ended up the way he has. It is NOT an optional novel, there will be an event in it that is pivotal to the Bequin trilogy. A big part of The Magos will be turning Cherubael into an actual character rather than the malevolent deus ex machina that he was in the original trilogy.
-The Magos actually was an accidental creation. Dan originally was asked to write a new short story about Eisenhorn and a new short about Ravenor for an anthology collection. He started work on the Eisenhorn one and found that he'd written a novella, so the Ravenor story was cut, and he kept writing without looking at the word count. By the end he'd written 97,000 words! So it is actually possible to accidentally write a book.
-One story confirmed to be in the anthology is the Strange Demise of Titus Endor, Dan also said he'd love to write more stories about the retinues of both Inquisitors like Harlon Nayl, etc. His favourite however is Kara Swole.
-Thinks Mark Strong would be a good Eisenhorn, definitely has the presence.
-Dan is working on Penitent as his first priority. The third Bequin novel also has a title, Pandemonium.
-Penitent will explore the new members of both Inquisitors retinues like Deathrow, but also ones we haven't seen yet. Both are working with people they'd rather not.
-By the end Dan wants us, maybe, to feel sorry for Cherubael who he described as "irrevocably bound to Eisenhorn in more ways than one".
-Dan did not rule out a Sabbat Crusade type anthology for Eisenhorn, Ravenor and Bequin in the future, i.e an anthology where the other authors contribute all the stories.
Andy Clark
-Is currently working on a Neave Blacktalon novel that will be the first female led Age of Sigmar novel. He told me that Neave, and the Vanguards as a whole, while not being completely anomalous are not the best representation of their Stormhosts, in the same way that a Space Marine Scout isn't necessarily a typical example of his Chapter.
-Confirmed that Alicia Kar Manticos would return in Knightsblade and says he wants to introduce more female characters into 40k, plans to include them in as many novels as he can.
-Said he would like to do more with Kassar and the Unsung from Shroud of Night.
Chris Dows
-Is currently working on an audio sequel to The Red Path about the Angels Eradicant to show what happened to them as the Salandraxis Slaughter went on, and how it ended for them.
-Specifically wrote Lozepath to be as nasty as possible, wanted readers to hate him and make him out as worse than Kharn, who while on the side of evil has a martial code of honour that Lozepath does not.
-Said he would love to do more Kharn in the future.
-Apparently has a few more audios in the pipeline.
CL Werner
-Would like to get back to the Skaven in AoS and see them fleshed out more in the new setting beyond Clan Pestilens.
-Says that the Kharadron Overlords are primarily financially driven, and enough so that they would work with Chaos if the profit potential was good enough. But also they are much more forward thinking than traditional Dwarves, for example if it had been Kharadron at the end of his novel Thanquol's Doom they would not have locked away the newly invented machine-gun turrets, but instead mass produced them. An inventor screwing up doesn't mean his inventions are worthless.
-Agreed that the original Dwarves were doomed from the start because they refused to innovate. Their Ancestors were great because they themselves had no Ancestors to venerate, so they had to innovate. The succeeding generations forgot that.
-Is currently working on an Order of Azyr novel, the new Witch Hunters. Said they are very different from Thulmann.
Phil Kelly
-Working on the sequel to Farsight that will cover Arthas Moloch and the Tau meeting Chaos for the first time.
-Says he sees the Ethereals as ultimately having good intentions, but aren't necessarily nice guys about it. Agreed that despite that, Aun'va is a d**k, albeit one whose on the side of good, just authoritarian. Aun'shi is a nice guy though. The Ethereals ultimately don't think the Tau could handle the truth of the universe, but agreed that Farsight and Shadowsun at least would have been able to had the Ethereals trusted them with that knowledge, it might even have meant Farsight wouldn't have left.
-Confirmed Farsight doesn't know exactly what the Dawn Blade does to him, he has suspicions as does Shadowsun, but if he learned exactly how it keeps him alive he would kill himself. But he would do it ritually with the blade which would then keep him alive, so supreme irony. Also since he's killed Daemons with the blade, he's functionally immortal. Age can never kill him.
-Talked a bit about Kais, the third part of the triad of Tau heroes. He will be the antagonist of his upcoming Space Marine Conquests novel War of Secrets, and told me that when he and Shadowsun were cryogenically frozen his pod malfunctioned and he was awake in stasis for three-hundred years, and did nothing but run battle simulations and calculations in his head. As a result is he "scary" and very capable. Monat means Army of One and Kelly described him as an extremely dangerous warrior. I compared Farsight and Shadowsun to commanders and Kais to a commando and he agreed that the analogy worked. Also wanted to infer that Kais is indeed O'Kais from Dawn of War; Dark Crusade, but not outright state it.
Gav Thorpe
-Currently working on the sequel to Ghost Warrior, titled Wild Rider. The novel will feature Saim-Hann and the Ynnari teaming up to fight Necrons.
-Talked a bit about Saim-Hann, it was one of the last Craftworlds that Asurmen and the PLs visited, so it had already built a culture for itself, i.e the clans and riders, etc. They also don't trust seers as a rule and their own often have to go behind everyones backs to get stuff done.
-Aradryan will be returning as a member of the Ynnari and will serve as the "noob" POV.
-Also working on Imperator, the sequel to Warlord: Fury of the God-Machine.
-Says that a Necron series is definitely possible given both the increased freedom the authors have now and the fact that the Necrons actually have a personality now as opposed to their previous lore.
-Lesser Xenos like Hrud and Rak'gol would need fan support, but he sees no reason why they couldn't appear as supporting villains in novels with more recognisable big bads (like the Lotaxl working for Chaos in Gaunt's Ghosts), and that could be the gateway to getting them top billing in future novels.
-Also says that he doesn't know if he will be writing the next Phoenix Lords novel, or that it is definitely about Maugan Ra. The series may jump around a bit.
Robbie MacNiven
-Working on Outer Dark, sequel to Red Tithe. Where the sequel featured a Red Tithe, a Carcharodons recruiting drive, the sequel will feature a Great Tithe, a good example of one being when the Carcharodons stripped the Mantis Warrior worlds of every resource they could. Tyberos will also appear and fight a bit, Hunger and Slake confirmed to be appearing!
-We will also learn a bit about the Carcharodons connections with the Mechanicus.
-Says there IS an actual answer on who the Carcharodons came from, unlike the Missing Primarchs, and that some have guessed it correctly, but wouldn't confirm. Also wasn't sure if it would ever be confirmed. (Also Aaron DB said he and Alan Bligh actually wrote that part so he knows the answer.)
-Would like to pitch an AoS series based around Archaon and the Varanguard, explore the Varanspire and what goes on there. He and I agreed that Archaon is one of the few, if not the only one, who would remember Warhammer, it's not a myth to him but rather his childhood and early years.
-The fourth Space Marine Conquests book is one of Robbie's and is titled Blood of Iax, it will be about two Ultramarines who are blood brothers and feature lots of Primaris (as will the entire series).
David Annandale
-Has just finished the first draft of Vulkan: Lord of Drakes, and says part of it is about the Nocturnean and Terran Salamanders meeting for the first time.
-Has also finished a short novel about Neferata in AoS. Says that while it is shorter than the average novel, think around City of Secrets sized, if it sells well there is a plan for a full trilogy that would be closer to the average BL page count.
-I asked him if he thinks Josh's theory that the Mortarchs are just pieces of Nagash given form and will based on the Death God's memories is true, said that it wouldn't inform the book since he never wrote Warhammer fantasy in the first place and just wants to focus on AoS.
-Will be starting the third Crowe novel soon. Castellan will be out early 2018 and will be about Crowe and the GKs adapting to the new galactic situation. With Daemon invasions happening everywhere the secret about Chaos is out and the GK's modus operandi is going to have to change. He also said that he was writing this book as the Dark Millennium was being written and only learned about it halfway through, fortunately the novel needed a big background event to drive it and thus Annandale didn't have to rewrite any of the book.
-Canoness Setheno will return in Castellan.
Chris Wraight
-Currently working on a 40k Death Guard series, the first novel is called The Lords of Silence. He couldn't tell me anything about it though except it might, emphasis on might, be out in 2018.
-Talked a lot about Terra and said that despite it's decrepit state, if many of the characters in the books learned what it was really like they wouldn't care in the long run because Terra's symbolism is more important than its actual reality.
Aaron Dembski-Bowden
-Hard at work on The Emperor's Spears, which he went into very nice detail on. They are an Ultramarines successor that he compared to the British Celts after the romanisation of them failed. They don't give a damn about the Ultramarines or Guilliman (they don't believe he's back and apparently their reaction to learning that it's true is to ask if he's coming to help them, otherwise they don't care). They've been in Imperium Nihilus for one-hundred years without reinforcements, their Primaris Marines all died trying to cross the Great Rift and the Custodes escort was only able to give them the formula to create more, which didn't go smoothly at first.
-They aren't great fans of the Imperium at the minute, and they don't like the Mentor Legion having the colours of their dead brother-chapter the Star Scorpions. They frequently worked with the fallen Scorpions and the rebuilding Celestial Lions, and have a custom that if a brother serves a long period of time with one of those Chapters he adds their iconography onto part of his armour.
-The Lions are still rebuilding but the Rift has made it much harder. They however aren't pissed at the Imperium like the Spears are because of the reinforcement issues.
-Has no plans for Age of Sigmar and though he loves the Stormcast figures, admitted he doesn't know much about their background.
John French
-The next HH novel is one of John's and is titled Slaves to Darkness (he was very happy with getting such an iconic title) and will be a primarily Traitors novel. It will be set just after Horus has taken Beta-Garmon and will revolve around him marshalling his forces and bringing the wayward Primarchs back into the fold and readying his forces for Terra. The other Traitor Primarchs are all off doing their own thing and Horus needs to put a stop to it as things are beginning to unravel.
-Also working on the second Covenant novel, Horusian Wars: Incarnation, and says part of the novel will be about other Radicals opposing the Horusians. Also said that the trilogy, despite having his name, is not really about Covenant but rather the people who follow him.
-Also says that Horusianism has been eradicated in the past but as an idea it is impossible to actually destroy. A 40k Horusian could be unrecognisable to a 30k Horusian though as the idea will have changed down the millennia. Agreed that Abaddon could be a good example of the Horusian ideal achieved, but in-universe not all would agree. Also some of them may have known about Bile and his Clone Horus.
-Posited the idea that Covenant's Thorianism is not actually different from Horusianism, both revolve around a powerful being with command of the Warp. Said that if the Emperor were resurrected as Covenant wants, what is brought back may be vastly different to what they expect given that the Emperor wasn't a nice guy when he was alive, and after 10,000 years of pain and misery, what remains of him may not be to anyone's liking.
James Swallow
-Working on more Rogue Trader audios and agreed with me that they deserve more stories written about them, they are such a big part of the wider 40k universe (the first to get an RPG) and yet they've only ever had three novels written about them.
-Would like to return to Rafen as he feels the Blood Angel's story isn't done yet. Also said he would have done more with the Flesh Tearers but then Andy Smillie started doing stories with them and he wanted to give Andy freer reign to write what he wanted without also writing about them. So Sergeant Noxx returning is unlikely.
Guy Haley
-Next project is Wolfsbane, a HH novel that will be about Leman Russ returning to Fenris (against the advice of Dorn and the other loyalists at Terra) to plot an attack against Horus. Will explain why the Wolves were not at Terra.
-Guy read the prologue in a seminar though I was not there for that and it was about the Emperor and Horus finding Russ together. He was the second Primarch found and the prologue sets up Horus having to deal with the fact that he isn't an only child. Wolfsbane is not far off and will be released in 2018.
-Said that Dante would be pissed at what the Blood Drinkers are doing to stave off the Flaw, but that it would be tough to determine whether the Drinkers (Who only kill one guy per campaign or so) or the Angels Vermillion (who harvest Imperial citizens and kill thousands every half century) he would think is worse. But if Dante knew the whole truth behind the Blood Drinkers he would definitely wipe them out.
David Guymer
-Is currently working on a Stormcast series about Hamilcar Bear-Eater, the Lord-Castellant from his Hunt for Mannfred audios who has now become a Knight-Questor. He is apparently an incredible figure worthy of song and legend, or as Guymer described him "The Ciaphas Cain of AoS". He is popular among the editors as well, and there will be t-shirts available in the future.
-Is also working on a four-part audio drama that will feature the return of Gotrek Gurnisson but in Age of Sigmar. Felix was confirmed to not be returning (given that he was mortal by this point he's probably long dead regardless of his actual fate). Gotrek will apparently have a special voice actor that the editors are very excited about getting, they hinted it was someone involved with The Archers, but they were mum about who.
Josh Reynolds
--Josh's Blackshields audio drama is the first part of a series and the sequel is titled Blackshields: Red Fief, and will be about Endryd Haar meeting an old friend from the World Eaters.
-His previously LE novel Nagash: The Undying King that was only available at Warhammer World or events will be coming to paperback next year.
-Also working on a new AoS series called Silver Shards (I think), but no information on what it's about.
Others
-All of the authors and editors agree that the Battle of Terra will be a colossal event and will require multiple books, a trilogy at the absolute least but it's much more likely to be more than that, to tell. Anthologies are also a possibility.
-Sandy Mitchell is returning to Black Library and is already working on the 10th Ciaphas Cain novel, Choose Your Enemies. No further information on it. I also asked Kyme if Sandy's return meant that the third Dark Heresy novel may one day be written, he didn't rule it out but said that only time would tell.
-Mike Lee is also returning with a new series about the Crimson Fists, the first book is titled Legacy of Dorn, set after Rynn's World. It is set before the Dark Millennium so it will not feature Primaris, but will feature the characters from his Traitor's Gorge novella.
-The sequel to Darius Hinks' Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius is coming and is titled Mephiston: Revenant Crusade.
-Sons of the Hydra by Rob Sanders is a standalone novel about the Alphas, not the start of a series. This comes from Nick Kyme.
-There is a new AoS trilogy being worked on featuring the lead characters from City of Secrets. I think that it is being penned by Nick Horth but I didn't get confirmation on that.
-Andy Smillie is working on more Flesh Tearers stuff and there is an audio titled Hunger already confirmed. It will feature Gabriel Seth and other characters from his previous works.
-George Mann is working on more Raven Guard stuff as well, an audio called Soulbound was confirmed.
-Ian St. Martin is also working on an audio-drama titled Taker of Heads that will be about the Mortifactors Chapter from Warriors of Ultramar. Kyme was quite excited about this one.
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