Гэв Торп в своём блоге поделился своими мыслями о 3ьм романе в данной серии.
Олсо, касательно вопроса о формате романов, имеется в виду их малый объём. Торп называет их так A series of short novels (50,000 words each). То есть серия коротких романов в 50000 слов. Вот и ответ почему они такие короткие.
"Торп о своей книги."
One of the nice things about working for a publisher like Black Library is that I get to do a variety of things. Not only is there a lot of scope for different stories within the fictional universes, there are many different formats in which to explore them. Sometimes it’s a standalone novella like Catechism of Hate. Other times I get to develop characters and storylines over several volumes, as I did with The Sundering. Then there are the audios, the short stories, the books that are longer-than-novellas-but-shorter-than-the-other-novels and many other lengths and types beside. (I’m still holding out hope for more comics or graphic novels at some point…)
The Beast Arises is something a bit different again. A series of short novels (50,000 words each) released in quick succession, telling a single story over twelve instalments. I’m lucky enough to have two books in the series, the first being The Emperor Expects.
One of the key architects of the series was Dan Abnett, veteran of the comics industry where serialization and shared storylines are the norm. This was not going to be quite the same as the Horus Heresy, which is half storyline and half setting where authors are rowing in the same direction, so to speak, but not necessarily all at the same speed or even in the same boat! The idea for The Beast Arises from the outset was of a tightly controlled narrative delivered sequentially over the course of a year.
In order to maximise the sense of urgency and pace the group of authors that was brought together concocted a storyline that would deliver intrigue, war and drama in equal measure, ending each instalment with a cliffhanger or revelation that simply demanded the reader wanted the next volume right away. This was going to be ‘blink and you miss it’ publishing, making the most of an active community speculating, cogitating and ruminating on unfolding events as they happened.
Although we laid down the spine of the story in those early meetings, there was still plenty of opportunities for individual authors to bring in characters and sub-plots to enliven the telling. The huge scope of the series – a war for the whole of the Segmentum Solar – means that all aspects of the Imperium and its armed forces are fair game for writers to explore.
Cover of Battlefleet GothicAnd that meant I could shine a light on the Imperial Navy, which has been fantastic. I’ve had a thing for the Age of Sail since I was a teenager, and as my author’s dedication in The Emperor Expects attests, the Hornblower and Ramage books were frequent, influential reading for me. It was also great to return to some of the images and concepts that were developed when I was working on Battlefleet Gothic – the story gave me a chance to step aboard the bridge of one of the Emperor’s great warships in a way I hadn’t before. If people like it, it would be nice to do something longer, maybe even a series that is set on a battleship…
The intrigues between the High Lords are also a change of pace from much of the writing I’ve done – no less dramatic than bolters blazing but fraught and tense on a different level.
And the setting of the series – just 1,500 years after the end of the Horus Heresy – has given all of us a chance to look at some of the foundations and accepted norms of the Imperium in a different way. The legacy of the civil war and Second Founding, the splitting of the Imperial Army into the Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, is still relatively fresh in the minds of many commanders and leaders. Other institutions such as the Ecclesiarchy and Inquisition are very different, far more nascent than in the 41st millennium.
I hope you are enjoying The Beast Arises, and if you like The Emperor Expects you’ll be pleased to know that I return to the series with Book 8 later in the year.
Так же Гэв побалакал с интервьюером из BL. Вот то интервью.
"Интервью БЛ"
The Beast Arises: Gav Thorpe Speaks (originally published 18/02/16)
This weekend saw the release of ‘The Emperor Expects’, the third book in The Beast Arises event series. This volume is by Black Library veteran Gav Thorpe, and we sat down with Gav to find out all about what we can expect from this novel and beyond…
BL: What can you tell us about the story of The Emperor Expects?
GT: Politics, Space Marines and giant battleships! The story breaks into three main threads. Firstly we have the ongoing powerplays of the Senatorum Imperialis, in this instance focused on the emergence of a new common foe for Inquisitorial Representaive Wienand and, of course, Grand Master of Assassins Vangorich. We also continue the unfolding tale of Koorland, last of the Imperial Fists, as he comes to terms with the disaster at Ardamantua and the growing realisation that the Imperium cannot combat the ork threat in its current state. Finally we have a new arrival in the form of Captain Kulik, commander of a battleship in the Imperial Navy. Through Kulik we see the Imperial Navy at the forefront of the battle against the orks – and what a bloody place it is.
BL: This book is the third novel in The Beast Arises series. How did you find writing a novel as part of an ongoing series?
GT: As it is still relatively early in the series, this instalment was not too difficult. While some of the sub-plots are starting to take shape and the character count is growing, we kept quite a tight rein during the planning process. Having just submitted my draft for book 8, I can say that things get a lot more complicated as we go along! The most important part for me was to give readers a satisfying story in one episode whilst still making everything relevant to the longer arcs – it’s a serial but each volume should still have a clear narrative that begins and ends within the covers.
BL: The Imperial Navy plays a big part in this book. Judging by the amount of your previous novels that feature ship-to-ship combat, would it be fair to say you’re a fan of spaceship battles in the far future?
The Emperor Expects Cover by Gav Thorpe (published by Black Library)GT: I’m a huge fan of the Age of Sail – Hornblower, Nelson, Trafalgar and all of that. That period is a large inspiration for the style of the Imperial Navy and for space combat in Warhammer 40,000 in general (with a bit of Jutland and the War in the Pacific thrown in). I remember many, many years ago White Dwarf published some Jes Goodwin drawings of ships and naval crew and I loved them instantly (that was back when Space Fleet was released, for those ancient enough to remember). Many years ago I worked on the Battlefleet Gothic game, where I was fortunate enough to breath some new life to those images and ideas, particularly the background. There have been some novels and stories that have dealt with the Imperial Navy, the best being Gordon Rennie’s ‘Execution Hour’, but not since then have they really been at the centre of a book. The nature of the war against the orks and Admiral Lansung’s antics among the High Lords served up the opportunity to revisit this great institution and I hope fans like the way I’ve portrayed them.
BL: You mentioned that this won’t be your last contribution to The Beast Arises. Without giving too much away, what can readers look forward to later in the series?
GT: As I mentioned earlier, I’ve just finished book 8. It is concentrated on the ongoing Space Marine plot, with the Imperium’s finest taking the fight to the orks in massive, epic combat, alongside the Astra Militarum, Imperial Navy and Adeptus Mechanicus. BIG BATTLES. I mean really big. Not-seen-since-the-Horus Heresy-big.
BL: Apart from The Beast Arises, what other new Black Library stories can we look forward to from yourself this year?
GT: The biggest release on the cards at the moment is my next entry into the Horus Heresy: Angels of Caliban. I’ve really enjoyed revisiting the Dark Angels on both sides of the Ruinstorm. I have some more HH titles coming up on the schedule, one that is Raven Guard-related and another that is under wraps for the moment. As for later in the year, who knows? I’m putting together pitches to the editors at the moment. The world is my synthi-oyster. It’d be nice to write another Phoenix Lords book after ‘Asurmen’, but I also really enjoyed exploring the Adeptus Mechanicus in ‘The Beast Arises’ so maybe something about Titans and Knights… What would people like to read?
Thanks, Gav. We can’t wait to see what you come up with next. To check out Gav’s work with the Imperial Navy, pick up ‘The Emperor Expects’, book 3 of The Beast Arises, now.
