Babel Clash

Hey Dan & Graham,

Congratulations on setting a new record for us here at Babel Clash.  We’ve had more visitors during your stint on Babel Clash than we have ever had before.  Take a bow, gentlemen.

I think that says a lot about your skills, how much your fans appreciate your work and the enduring popularity of stories such as the Horus Heresy.  Also, your posts have been great.  That helps, too.

And thank you to all of our guests, who’ve made the past two weeks a record.  Please keep reading and know that your comments are always welcome.

All right, with a couple of days left for these guys, I’ll step out of the way and let them close up their run here on Babel Clash with their usual style.  Guys, please feel welcome to talk about any other projects that you have in the works, or if you have more to share about Horus Heresy, then I suspect that you will find a receptive audience.

Dan, I’m glad that you brought up Triumff and Angry Robot.  I’m excited to see their books arrive here in the U. S.

It sounds like Angry Robot (love the name) is aggressively paving a path into unexplored territory.  They’re going after younger readers, new genres and new styles.  They’re setting themselves up as trendsetters in the category.

Here’s a quote from their mission statement:   “Traditional SF and fantasy has been ploughing an entertaining furrow for many decades, but to our way of thinking much of it is missing a trick. To the new generations of readers reared on Dr Who and Battlestar Galactica, graphic novels and Gears of War 2, old school can mean staid, stuck in a rut.”

Read the whole statement here.

What is your take on that statement?  Is it accurate?

When tradition and convention pressure authors to create worlds that are at least somewhat familiar or trendy, do you feel like you’re taking a giant risk by breaking new ground?

Thank you once more to Naomi and Claudia.  It was a treat to welcome you both to Babel Clash.

I’m pleased to welcome our next guests, Dan Abnett & Graham McNeill.  Both are veteran writers of Warhammer novels and comics.  Dan also writes for Marvel Comics, and his work includes Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy and War of Kings.  He scores extra points for writing stories with Adam Warlock, who is one of my all-time favorite comic characters.

Our next topic is, “Playing in somebody else’s universe and making it your own.”