Focus sur les titres Black Library anciens et encore inédits en France

BL : Cadian Blood was your first Black Library novel, how did you approach the unique setting of the forty-first millennium?

ADB :No one really sees the 40K universe the same way, largely because the primary source of lore (the rulebooks and codex books) is designed to be so loose and open to interpretation. It's a setting made for fans to fill in a lot of the gaps themselves, so novelists need to be careful (or, at least, respectful) when trying to flesh out their storylines. I approached my first 40K novel the way I've approached all of them since: take a dose of blind faith, add a little naive hope. It comes down to hoping that your presentation of the 40K milieu appeals to others, and trusting that your perceptions are interesting enough to hook readers.

I still go by the old ‘Codex: Imperialis’ (from 2nd Edition) as my bible. It's a treasure trove for 40K's tone, scraps of lore, and the universe's general theme. My office is wallpapered with photocopies from the archives, too. They're from a spread of editions - new to old, from fresh way back to stuff released when I was about 6 years old. I have an insane amount of reading material to fall back on, and a little research never hurt anyone.

BL : Cadian Blood is about the ‘average Joe’ Imperial foot trooper, but your newer books look to be developing a certain power armoured theme. What is it that attracts you to writing about Space Marines?

ADB : It's not intentional in the sense of actively avoiding the Imperial Guard, or having a massive man-crush on Space Marines. I think the average Adeptus Astartes rocks on toast, but I always have a significant human element in every narrative. It's the clash of perception, ideology and lifestyle between humans and Space Marines that makes them interesting, rather than just how many aliens they can kill. I've always been less interested in the way bolters sound, and more interested in the way Space Marines interact with humans, with the other Adeptus institutions in the Imperium of Man, and with each other. It's their mindset and drives that fascinate me. Besides, when they go to battle, it's for a reason. How much of a motivator is hate? How pure does it feel? What are the repercussions of it?

It's the same thing in any story - a fight just for the sake of a fight is bad writing, plain and simple. A fight that furthers the narrative, showcases characterisation, or because the characters have no choice but to commit... now those are interesting. Fights are fun, they're awesome, but they're also a spice to be added, rather than something to be considered as the full flavour.

That said, I really enjoy exploring the relationships between loyalist Marines and their fallen counterparts - or even just their attitudes to Chaos itself. I find it just as interesting to detail the mindset of fiercely loyal Space Marine as I do to delve into the reasons for a Chaos Marine committing the ultimate betrayal. I've written more about the Traitor Legions, but it's not a matter of preference. I'm an equal-opportunities kind of fan

BL : Have you got any plans to revisit the humble guardsmen in future books?

ADB Hell yes. The Emperor's Gift, my Grey Knights novel, has a few significant Imperial Guard presences, and I've got plans to seed the Guard in a few future novels beyond that. Obviously, I can't talk about them right now – it's way too early. In a novel like Helsreach, where the Black Templars are defending a whole city, it was no hardship at all to spend a lot of time focusing on the Guard characters. They offered a brutal comparison to the Space Marines, after all. Ideally, I'd like to maintain that kind of crossover and division between to two factions, as I've got nothing but love for the Guard.

BL : Thanks, Aaron. You can download your copy of Cadian Blood today.
That should keep you busy until Monday, when we will have a new Print on Demand web exclusive for you – a reprint of an award winning graphic novel.
Have a great weekend.

Posted by The Black Library Team
Saturday 30th of July, 2011.

A force of Ultramarines Terminators are battling a Tyranid invasion on the planet of Jaroth, fourth planet of the Dakor star system, Ultima Segmentum. Brother Rius is a member of this force and once the Gauntlet of Macragge destroys the Tyranid Hive Ship in orbit he and his squad proceed with clean up operations. During one of these clean up operations he and his squad encounter a downed Thunderhawk. Entering to search for survivors they are ambushed by Genestealers, with the ensuing conflict causing an explosion which kills Rius' squad and throws him clear but gives him amnesia.

The Red Corsair Codicier Sartak is held prisoner by the White Scar Arghun after being found unconscious upon a White Scar vessel after a Red Corsair raid. He claims that he wishes to repent from his raider ways, that he is a noble Astral Claw and that he wants to kill Huron Blackheart. Sartak tells the White Scars that he would gladly tell them where the Red Corsairs are striking next but that he must find out from his friend aboard the Red Corsair's ship. Arghun and Sartak make their way into the Maelstrom and are picked up by Blackheart's fleet. Blackheart queries Arghun on his reasons for rebelling from the Imperium, for which he says he shot a superior for retreating.

In this tale we follow two imperial guard armies (Guardsmen from the Valis Fifth and Catachan Jungle Fighters) as they battle in different ways the Eldar. We get also into the head of a Commissar and the meaning of life. What are you able to do to survive. Would you turn evil or renegade to save yourself? Do you go against orders when they send you to your death? To die in glory or to "run" and fight another day?

Astropath Rosarius complains to Governor Torlin, an Imperial Governor whose planet is under siege from rebel human forces, that he cannot sense any threats moving against them, that the warp is disturbed and clouding his visions. All he can sense is a falling star. Torlin then surveys the battle for his cities walls, noticing a flash of light and a downward moving contrail on the horizon.
A condemend human suffering from amnesia whose only clue to his identity is the word tattooed on his forearm: Vero. Upon landing, a Whelan helps Vero, who is groggy, out of the dropship explaining that the sedatives given to him for the trip have caused his amnesia as well. A Commander Bartok takes command of the troop, informing them that they are the Fourteenth Esine Penal Battalion, otherwise known by their members as The Holy Fourteenth.

Guardsman Floscan Hartoum of the Aurelian IXth Regiment is aboard the troopship Emperor's Vengenace when it breaks through a warp gate and is ambushed along with its escort the Glorious Redeemer by an Ork fleet. Hartoum is able to launch a escape pod, after escaping the wrath of a Commissar Leminkanen before the ship is destroyed and guides the rudimentary pod down to an unknown planet's surface. Surviving the entry into orbit and the landing, hartoum finds himself on a bizarre planet with a relatively high gravity, barely able to stand without tedious effort. He then encounters a pack of strange alien centaurs who attack a large scorpion like creature and kill it. They then pick him up and take him back to their camp with no explanation whatsoever where he meets Ochtar, the Elder and Remembering One.

This tale is about Dark Angels against Fallen Angels that they want to hunt them down to their last. It's their main shame. As the Dark Angels try to find a ancient relic they discover it in a maiden world of the eldar.

Spoiler:

Aboard the Divine Justice Captain Kaurl introduces Flight Commander Jaeger to his new posting as leader of Raptor Squadron, a Marauder wing and one with a reputation for bad discipline. Jaeger decides that it will be up to him to train the men hard and bring them up to standards. After two months of space patrol for the Divine Justice, the vessel encounters the Imperial Retribution, a cruiser that has been obliterated by a nearby Ork space hulk of some considerable size.

An ex-Imperial Guard Commander who has taken retirement, in the form of the position of Governorship of the planet of Tenebrae, faces an invasion by the forces of Chaos. The story goes onto debate the reasons for the invasion, focussing mainly on how Cortez, the governor, did not pay heed to the Arbites reports of heretical cults being found more and more often and consequentially did not take further action or call in the Inquisition.

In this tale we follow the Sons of Attila as they go on conquest for the Emperor. After one hundred battles Al'Kahan have two choices: either return home or be a governor on a conquered planet.

An not-space marine of the Iron Heart in a strange training planet with some odd "Mimesis" machine and a daemonic horde.

In this tale we follow the Black Consuls chapter as they help a world against a heretic rebellion. With the help of the Inquisition they battle time and again against them. But it seems that not all things are what it seem.

Aboard the Rogue Trader vessel, the Spiritus Sancti, Karl Hauptman, the ship commander requests the presence of the Space Wolves squad aboard his ship. Sergeant Hakon reports to the bridge where he finds orders are to deploy to a strange ship that seems to be alive with his squad of Initiates. Astropath Chandara is reluctant, believing that the ship should be destroyed immediately, without investigation, which Hauptman rebukes by claiming that the Imperium may benefit from something found within the mysterious vessel.

In the dark and gothic future of Warhammer 40,000, mankind teeters on the very brink of extermination by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. As the warfleets of the Imperium prepare to launch a crusade into the very heart of Chaos, Rogue Trader Maynard Rugolo seeks power and riches on the fringe worlds of this terrifying insane realm. A sub plot is developed between two Space Marines; one a devoted follower of Khorne, and the other an ancient warrior from the time of the Great crusade, with the later gradually being corrupted by the malign influence of Chaos.

Across a hundred blasted war-zones, upon a dozen bloody worlds, the convict soldiers of the 13th Legion fight a desperate battle for redemption in the eyes of the immortal Emperor. In this endless war againstsavage orks, merciless eldar and the insidious threat of Chaos, Lieutenant Kage and the Last Chancers must fight, not to win, but merely to survive!

Lieutenant Kage is languishing in an Imperial detention centre. That is, until his ruthless old commanding officer returns with one more deadly assignment. Now Kage must whip into shape a new team of the very worst the Imperial Guard has to offer, before leading them on their one and only mission: to assassinate a warmongering enemy general

Spoiler:

IT’S THREE MORE days of training in the firing range, on the combat mats and in the mock-up of the tau battle dome before the Colonel informs us that contact has been made with the alien vessel. We assemble in the briefing auditorium, where the Colonel issues us with clothes chests with our disguises. We lug them back to the rooms and prepare for the shuttle. In my trunk are four brown robes, typical of an Administratum flunky. I understand the choice when I put it on and pull the hood up – it hides my face in complete shadow, obscuring the tapestry of scars that covers my face and head. I’ll be Brother Kage then, I tell myself with a bitter smile. Probably the only scribe who can’t read or write in the Imperium.
There are amused looks from the others as we assemble in the docking bay. Oriel is dressed in a very grandiose and over the top dress uniform, hung with gold cording and medals. The red jacket is almost painfully bright, crossed by a garish yellow sash. Just the sort of pompous and totally meaningless display of opulence you might expect from one of the Imperium’s ruling elite. The Colonel wears a severe black suit, with a long-tailed coat draped over one arm. Tanya wears a long dress of deep blue, tight at the waist and high at the neck, her hair cropped really short. Oriel explained that she’s posing as a member of the Sisters Famulous, a branch of the Ecclesiarchy that provides housekeepers and chatelaines to the Imperial nobility. Trost, Strelli and Quidlon wear less extravagant versions of Oriel’s uniform, while Moerck is dressed in plain white leggings and a white shirt with a soft leather jerkin over the top, looking every bit the gentleman. Oriel walks over to us and gives us each the once over.
‘Will you all relax and try not to look like soldiers?’ he says with an annoyed scowl.
‘This isn’t going to work if you keep standing at ease like that and quick march everywhere. Remember, you’re civilians!’
We look at each other, and I see that it’s true. I try to purposefully slouch a bit more, as do the others. I cross my arms and hide my hands in the sleeves of my robes, as I’ve seen various Departmento Munitorum scribes and their like do over the years. It’s kind of uncomfortable really, and I walk back and forth a bit, trying to get it to feel natural. I feel horribly vulnerable without my arms free and the hood obscuring most of my arc of vision.
‘Take shorter strides, Kage, you are not on a cross-country march!’ the Colonel calls out to me, from where he’s stood at the ramp to the shuttle. I look over at him and he nods, gesturing for me to try it out. I pace the length of the shuttle bay, some two hundred metres each way, keeping my steps half what I’m used to, and I feel like I’m tottering about like a small child. I bend my back a bit more, leaning my chin down into my chest
and try it again and it feels a bit more natural, my gait more like the image I have in my head of Clericus Amadiel, the Colonel’s
scribe on the last mission.
When Oriel is satisfied that we don’t stand out like a squad of highly trained soldiers pretending to be diplomats, we get all of our kit on board the shuttle and settle in for the ride. The mood is tense and nervous. None of us have any weapons. If the tau take a disliking to us, there’s not a thing we can do to stop them killing us out of hand. I can understand why, though: if this is a peaceful delegation, it’ll raise a few eyebrows if we turn up with a small arsenal. That’s if the tau have eyebrows, I suddenly think to myself, making myself smile. We’ve not seen a single picture of them. They could be big bags of gas or tentacled squidgy blobs for all I know. I guess from the fake battle dome that they can’t be too different from us, physically I mean. The doors were sort of human sized, the steps built for just two legs, so I guess that rules out floating gasbags. I let my mind wander with thoughts like these, preferring to put any thought of the upcoming mission out of my mind.