Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.
In this instalment I spoke to ever-prolific Black Library author Guy Haley about his new Warhammer Crime novel, Flesh and Steel, which is available to pre-order as of the 26th September. If you’re interested in a bit of ‘domestic 40k’, with a look at one of the most interesting factions in the setting, this looks like being the next book to check out!
Over to Guy to tell us more…
Track of Words: How would you describe your new novel Flesh and Steel?
Guy Haley: It’s a Warhammer 40,000 crime drama with an odd couple vibe. When a body is found cut in two either side of the line demarcating sovereign Alecto and Adeptus Mechanicus territory, a local enforcer must work with an Adeptus Mechanicus investigator to crack the case.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
GH: They are Probator Symeon Noctis, a disgraced nobleman trying to make amends for being born rich, and Rho-1 Lux, a member of the Collegiate Extremis of the Adeptus Mechanicus. You need to know that they are not Space Marines!
ToW: How would you describe Varangantua, the city in which this and all the other Warhammer Crime stories are set?
GH: I’d say that rather than the description of the city that’s important, it’s the fact that we’re delving into it to a depth that we usually don’t with Warhammer 40,000 cities. Other than that, it’s like some other human settlements in the setting. It’s not a true hive city, but it is huge, a continent spanning conurbation.
ToW: What sort of opportunities do you think the Warhammer Crime label offers that main-range Black Library stories don’t? Is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to seeing?
GH: It offers us the chance to explore a single world to a great degree, but for me the greatest opportunity is being able to go into interpersonal relationships outside of a war setting. These people aren’t super heroically powered or even exceptional. It’s really interesting to look at the universe through the eyes of people who actually have to live in, rather than fight for it.
I’d also looked into the law enforcement arm of the Adeptus Mechanicus, albeit the Great Crusade era, in my Corax Primarchs book. This was an opportunity to look at that a little more deeply here. They have to have crime, right?
ToW: Crime writing can cover lots of different styles – what sort of crime novel would you say this is?
GH: Man, that’s hard to answer, mostly because I wouldn’t be able to give you a list of the different kinds of crime novel. Flesh and Steel is presented in a kind of faux first person – the conceit of the novel is that most of it is derived from Noctis’s journals, the rest being records taken directly from Lux’s memcore. It’s certainly one of those novels where the detectives’ stories are as important as the procedural elements and the crime.
ToW: Are you much of a crime reader yourself? Are there any authors or series you particularly enjoy?
GH: I’m not much really; the closest I get is when Stephen King wanders into the genre. My wife is a big crime fan though, and I have watched a lot of TV and film crime over the years with her, especially Swedish ones! My first book, Reality 36, was an SF crime novel, and I wrote a Sherlock Holmes short story for The Sherlock Holmes School of Detection collection a few years ago. That was great fun, as I read Conan Doyle as a kid and I love his style, it’s very bracing. But I’ve always preferred SF and Fantasy. But this book does stick pretty closely to what you’d expect for a crime drama. It’s not just SF with crime stickers on it.
ToW: When you set out to plan and write this, what made you choose these characters and this particular story?
GH: I wanted to write about outsiders. When you’re presenting a complex world, a way to do so is to choose characters that don’t quite fit in, so they discover the world as you do. That being said, both Noctis and Lux have places in the 40k milieu that they fit into better, that they originate from, and it was really cool to explore things like the life of Varangantan aristocrats and the evangelical arm of the Machine Cult!
ToW: How was it like writing a crime novel rather than the usual military-focused stories? Did you take a different approach to this than what you normally do?
GH: It was a welcome break from what I normally write these days. For me, it’s 90% Space Marines now, and furthermore, I’m writing a lot of the big stories. That’s a great position to be in, but sometimes you yearn to explore a more intimate setting, with more human characters. I didn’t really take a different approach beyond what the subject matter demanded. First person is an unusual mode for me. Other than that, it was sit down and write!
ToW: What do you hope 40k fans will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?
GH: I hope they really enjoy it. I also hope it might hook in a few readers from outside the fanbase, who want a good SF/crime drama.
ToW: Noctis also appears in your short story No Use For Good Men, from the No Good Men anthology – do you have a recommendation for whether to read the short story first or the novel?
GH: He does! Read the short first; it’s a prelude to the book, but you don’t have to.
ToW: Are there any plans for more Noctis and Lux stories?
GH: Absolutely!
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Thanks as always to Guy for taking the time to answer these questions and give us all the lowdown on his new novel.
Click here if you fancy taking a look at some other Rapid Fire interviews. If you have any questions, comments or other thoughts please do let me know in the comments below, or find me on Twitter.