Vengeance Noire – Le Roman & The Ascension of Balthasar de C.Z. Dunn

Le mini-roman Vengeance Noire tourne autour de la Gemme de Feu, un artéfact antique avidement convoité par le seigneur du Chaos Kranon l'Implacable. Chaque chapitre de l'histoire est narré selon le point de vue d'un personnage différent, y compris le Métabrutus, nommé Mortis Metalikus. Le tout est riche en scènes d'action où les Dark Angels et le Carnage Pourpre s'affrontent sans répit. Le livre lui-même est élégamment présenté, avec une couverture rigide dans le même style sobre que la boîte de jeu.

Le drame audio (Ascension of Balthasar), précède le mini-roman et raconte le parcours de Balthasar tandis qu'il est promu de sergent de la Deathwing au rang de maître de compagnie. Mais qui a tué le précédent maître, et quelles sont les épreuves qui attendent le nouveau commandeur de la 5e Compagnie ?

Mortarion a écrit:On sait combien de pages fait le roman?

Mortarion a écrit:Court... si par éxemple il fait 300 pages,ça me ferait chier de claquer 17€50...

Corax a écrit:Au fait il est à 7.50 euros et non 17.50 euros.

Corax a écrit:Alors quel est le bon prix ? 7.50 ou 17.50 euros ?

Spoiler:

You should all be well aware that Dark Vengeance: The Novel and The Ascension of Balthasar are available to pre-order now. If not, then you probably haven’t signed up to our newsletter yet (what are you waiting for?).
To celebrate these releases, we caught up with author CZ Dunn to find out a bit more about them...

1. You've written both the audio drama The Ascension of Balthasar and Dark Vengeance: The Novel to accompany the new Dark Vengeance boxed game. How different is it writing for these various formats?

With the novella, my primary consideration was focusing on all of the different troop types available in the boxed game and giving them all their turn in the spotlight. I made the decision very early on to do a ‘Canterbury Tales’-type narrative where you have all these different people who find themselves in the same place at the same time. Of course, this being Warhammer 40,000, they’ve all turned up in the same place to have a huge battle, so I use the novella to show how these people got to be in the positions they’re all in now. How did an Imperial commissar find himself leading a squad of cultists? How did a former Crimson Sabre find himself interred as a Helbrute? Why has the Ravenwing sergeant led such a charmed life up until now? It’s done from multiple first person viewpoints, so you’ll find yourself in the heads of all of the characters – and in some cases, that’s a pretty messed-up place to be.

Even though the audio drama is a prequel, I wasn’t asked to write it until after I’d finished the novella but I’d left several threads hanging, which made life a bit easier for me. Throughout the novella, Balthasar harks back to the former Company Master of the Dark Angels Fifth Company, so I decided to tell the story of how the former Master died and how Balthasar assumed his mantle. It being an audio drama, I was constrained by the number of characters I could include so decided to tell a story where Company Master Zadakiel and a squad of Deathwing – led by Balthasar – go on a mission that leads to them encountering the Crimson Slaughter for the first time. I also wanted to get some of the Dark Angels heritage in there, so the focus of their mission is a character fans of Mike Lee’s Fallen Angels might recognise…

2. Who's your favourite character?

Turmiel was the hardest character to write – first person, future tense – but I was really happy with how he turned out and found a unique way of conveying what it means to possess psychic powers in the 41st Millennium. Mortis Metallikus – the Crimson Slaughter Helbrute – was another challenge to write. I didn’t want him to be just another mindless killing machine, as that would be quite limiting considering the first person point of view I’d locked myself into with the novella. The key to unlocking the character was something Jervis Johnson had told me during our first conversations about Dark Vengeance, and I found myself really looking forward to writing his section. If I’ve done my job right, then even the most hardcore Dark Angels fan will feel sympathy for him by the end.

3. Having seen the models, how well do they encompass your vision for these mighty heroes and villains?

I actually think it’s the other way around. I hope that I’ve done these amazing miniatures justice with the backstories that I’ve created for them.

I was lucky enough to see most of the models before I started writing, which was really inspiring, particularly in the case of the character models. The only figure I didn’t get to see beforehand was the limited edition Interrogator Chaplain so there’s a discrepancy between the number of black pearls on the model’s crozius and the one he carries in the novella, but that doesn’t bother me as it’s such an awesome figure!

Thanks Christian.

If you haven’t done so already, pre-order your copies of The Ascension of Balthasar and Dark Vengeance: The Novel today.

The sharp-eyed among you will already have noticed the cover of The Ascension of Balthasar above is different to the one you’ve seen before. This edition comes with a specially-commissioned, collectable sleeve to match the cover of the Dark Vengeance game box. Join us tomorrow when we will reveal Jon Sullivan’s full artwork on the blog.