Hello, and welcome to ‘Danie Ware Talks Sisters of Battle and Women in 40k’, in which I’m chatting to the fantastic Danie about her Adepta Sororitas fiction for Black Library, and her thoughts on the importance of female authors and characters in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. With her third Sisters of Battle novella – The Rose in Anger – just released, there’s no better time to find out more about this particular story, the Sister Augusta stories overall, and what it’s like being a woman writing badass 40k fiction!
Without further ado, let’s get straight into the interview.
Track of Words: We’ve talked before for previous interviews on Track of Words, but for anyone who’s not familiar…who is Danie Ware, and what sort of things do you write?
Danie Ware: I’m a lifelong geek, a gamer, a single mum, and I have a sixteen year old son (who does lots of Warhammer painting). After leaving Uni, I did ten years in Dark Age and Medieval re-enactment before moving to London from Norwich. And now, after seventeen years of running the celebrity/creator events at London’s Forbidden Planet, I conjure marketing for a small RPG company, Handiwork Games, that makes (among other things) some really pretty 5e [i.e. 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons – ToW] content. My writing is very much adventure-based, featuring vivid backgrounds, messed up heroes and usually a lot of scrapping.
ToW: A lot of Track of Words visitors will be at least reasonably familiar with your Sisters of Battle stories for Black Library. Could you give us an overview of the Sister Augusta stories that you’ve written so far?
DW: The Sister Augusta stories start with Mercy, which was the original short, then The Bloodied Rose, the first novella, picks up the same narrative. It continues through the second novella, Wreck and Ruin, and will end with Rose In Anger, out on November 14th. There are a scattering of other stories, which slot into various places – Forsaken and The Crystal Cathedral are ‘younger Augusta’ tales, with our Sister fresh from the schola, and Sacrifice is set just before Mercy. And there’s more coming!
ToW: What appeals to you about Sisters of Battle in particular, when it comes to writing Black Library stories?
DW: Three years ago, when I was asked to pitch, I immediately chose to do Sisters. I really enjoyed James Swallow’s Sisters books, and there wasn’t much other Sororitas stuff out at the time – it was a tiny corner of a VAST mythology and a good place to get a toehold without being overwhelmed. Plus, the idea touched a couple of personal chords – I was one of the first girls at an all-boys boarding school, and the first girl to reach the rank of Sgt in the school Cadet force, and likewise, when I was re-enacating, there were very few women who actually took the field and fought. I guess it took me back to my youth, and the idea that girls/women can do this stuff too!
ToW: Your third BL novella – The Rose in Anger – is available to order now. Tell us a bit about this story, and what it’s going to mean for Augusta and her squad.
DW: This is the end of the story arc that began in Mercy, and it sees Augusta and her squad return to the corroding Merchanicus world of Lycheate, upon which Wreck and Ruin was set. This time, though, it’s not just the squad – they’ve returned with a full deployment of Bloody Rose, wrathful canoness, tanks, the whole shebang. And they’re on the warpath!
(Just as an aside – the boss battle in Rose in Anger features possibly my favourite bad guy of the lot. I love writing good combat scenes anyway, and he just worked!)
ToW: Why this story? Having written a fair few stories about these characters already, what made you go for this one?
DW: It’s the end of the current linking/overall story, and a suitably dramatic escalation. Every time I write an adventure about these characters, I try to make it different – different settings, different bad guys, different aspects and characteristics of the Sisters coming to the fore. And with each of the stories, I’ve also featured a different Sister as the ‘second point of view’ character. It’s important to me that all of the Sisters in the squad are seen as human, and as different characters in their own right.
Plus: this one has Rhinos. So hey.
ToW: What do you hope 40k fans will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?
DW: A suitable boss-battle finale! From small beginnings, Augusta and her squad have taken on daemons and witches and orks, oh my, but this is the first time they’re rolled out en masse. Or even on Mass (sorry). I also hope very much that this whole story has established Augusta as a ‘character of note’ in the 40k mythology, with a fable all of her own.
ToW: Now that the third novella is out, are you still working on more stories about Augusta and her sisters? If so, can you tell us anything about your plans for them?
DW: There’s another Augusta short coming very soon, plus I’ve written another Sisters novella (though that’s something different), and there’s another, slightly bigger project I’m writing at the moment. But it’s all under wraps, sadly, so I can’t tell you much more!
ToW: When we spoke last, you talked briefly about the importance of seeing female characters and writers in the 40k universe. What are your thoughts on the current situation, in terms of female representation in the game and characters/factions in BL fiction?
DW: It’s definitely getting better – Black Library are really making an effort towards full representation and I’d like to see it continue to grow. Female authors and female characters help make the hobby more welcoming for girls and women, and to remind the boys and men that we have every right to be there too. Sadly, there are gatekeepers everywhere, in every fandom and game, and we do need to keep nudging them. Women can wargame, women can paint, can write – we’ve been here from the beginning, and we’re not going anywhere.
ToW: As it stands there are a few non-male writers working on Black Library fiction, but not that many – how do you feel as one of the prominent female writers for BL?
DW: It makes me very happy – I’m delighted to be a female author of Warhammer fiction! I did have an advantage, in that I knew most of the BL authors from my job at FP, but everyone has been very supportive and welcoming, and very happy to have female authors on board. And, in my turn, I’d like to pay that forwards – more women writing (and playing) Warhammer, please!
ToW: Does the historically male-heavy nature of Games Workshop and Black Library have any impact on how you write? Is there an additional burden of pressure upon you, simply by virtue of being in the perceived minority?
DW: In my years at FP, I’ve seen fandoms turn in on themselves, seen the infighting, the toxic behaviour, and the backlash that they can produce. And I’ve had too many of my female friends tell me stories about how male gamers have ganged up on them, killed their characters, and/or tried to drive them out of gaming groups.
So the best answer might be: I write to present a strong female character, someone with whom female readers can identify. A flag-bearer, if you like. But I also write, quite consciously, a completely non-sexual character (another reason for Augusta’s age). The automatic sexualisation of female characters gets right up my nose – we can have sexual female characters, by all means, but when every single one is a boobalicious babe, or a whip-mistress fantasy, it’s just tedious. And it puts women off from joining the hobby – women need to be equals, not objects. Up until the recent rewrite of the Sisters of Battle rules, for example, I’d flatly refused to do anything with Repentia. Fortunately, that’s been improved!
ToW: How about in terms of what you choose to write about? Do you feel comfortable choosing any subject for your writing, or is there a sense that you want to write about great female characters simply by virtue of there not being all that many of them?
DW: I’ve ended up writing mostly Sisters, because Augusta and her squad are great characters, and there’s a strong, ongoing call for Sisters content in general, and for Augusta in particular (which is good!). And I do tend to get offered the ‘strong female character’ options, even when it’s not Sisters fiction. But I have written a couple of other things too, so hopefully they will see the light of day before too much longer!
ToW: What about SFF publishing in general? Would you say BL is representative of the genre, or is SFF doing a better job as a whole with female (or simply non-male) representation?
DW: You can’t really draw a comparison – they’re two completely different things. Black Library fiction is based in a single mythology, albeit very large, and it has to adhere to the rules and stats of the games. Whereas SFF publishing in general is – it has many more facets, many more people, many more worlds and realities and creators, many more publishers, and many more readers, if you include all of it. It does do a better job, but that’s because it encompasses so much more. BL are not doing so badly!
ToW: Is there anything you would like to see Black Library do differently when it comes to female representation?
DW: I’d like to see more named female characters at the very top, in the uppermost political reaches of the mythology. I’m not going to get into the whole ‘female Marines’ thing – they don’t have to be Marines, just women in positions of significant influence and power, female figures who don’t only kick ass, but who drive policy, make decisions and call the shots. And it’s not just about women, it’s about other minorities as well.
In my Sisters stories, I’ve tried to be as representative as possible – Augusta herself is my age. I have Sisters of colour, Sisters from different ethnic backgrounds. I can’t have LGBT Sisters, sadly (nuns – not going to work), but I have Sisters who are plus-sized and, most recently, one with a disability/augmetic.
Keep doing it, and keep doing more.
ToW: If someone enjoys your Sisters of Battle stories and would like to read more of your writing, where would you recommend they look next?
DW: If you’d like to read more, my ECKO trilogy takes a foul-mouthed, CyberPunk street assassin and drops him in a classic fantasy world, telling him he has to save it – and he’s not best pleased. It’s furious, sarcastic, has quite a lot of swearing, and it builds to a suitably epic conclusion in true fantasy trilogy style.
Children of Artifice is an LGBT standalone novel, a science fantasy about metallurgical magick, and about family, identity, and falling in love.
You can also find my Judge Anderson novella Bigger Than Biggs in the Judge Anderson Year Two collection, and I’ve written multiple short stories.
ToW: Lastly, what else can you tell us about what you’re working on (for BL or otherwise) at the moment, or what you’ve got coming out over the coming months?
DW: I can’t say much, at the moment as all my BL stuff is under wraps, but I am working on the follow-up to Children of Artifice, currently called The Last Son, which picks up Caph and Aden’s relationship, twenty-five years later…
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As always, thanks so much to Danie for taking the time out of her day to chat to me for this interview! I couldn’t agree more about female representation and making Warhammer in every form – the game, the books, everything – accessible to anyone and everyone who wants to get involved. I highly recommend you read some of Danie’s stories if you’re not already a fan!
If you haven’t already, make sure you follow Danie on Twitter and/or check out her website, and if you’d like to read some reviews of her writing then just take a look here.
Buy The Rose in Anger from Amazon*
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Excellent interview