How to write the sequel to something as well-received as Realmslayer is the most First World of problems, but nevertheless it’s something that plays on an author’s mind. On this author’s mind, anyway. When it comes to sequels, I’m still a relative newb. Is everything that made the first one popular still in place? Is it still telling a story that’s different in its own right?
That’s up to you guys, of course – the fans, the listeners and (with the release of the Realmslayer script book) the readers.
It was the fan response to Maleneth (and that includes Darius and Robbie, too) that have pretty much locked her in as Gotrek’s companion now – much to the pleasure of both. It’s seeing those two characters pulling against one another, their dynamic so different (and occasionally more stabby) than that of Gotrek and Felix, that provides a lot of the story and the fun in Blood of the Old World. By a similar token, it was one editor’s firm refusal to let another fan favourite go that actually gave me the entire storyline, not to mention a few more things for Gotrek to moan about and hit.
But of course, to really go one better, there was one other name I needed to call on. Those of you who have listened all the way to the end of Realmslayer’s final disc for the post-credit tease will know who I’m talking about…
He’s back! (note : He means Thanquol)
I like to think we’ve got the balance of new and old just right, and I can’t wait to hear what the fans make of this latest chapter in Gotrek’s adventures.
Darius Hinks :
Gotrek’s alive! Oh, the glorious irony. His friends are a memory. His people are extinct. Even the world of his birth has been torn apart and scattered to the cosmos. But this death-seeking, one-eyed berserker lives on, robbed of the doom he was promised and cast into the Mortal Realms. Even when his whole world burned around him he failed to die. So now he’s left to battle on with another grudge added to his already long list.
When Black Library offered me a chance to write Gotrek’s first Warhammer Age of Sigmar novel I jumped at the chance. Trollslayer was one of the first Warhammer novels I read, and I always loved how Willliam King used this dour, belligerent, unpredictable Slayer to give readers a ground-level (waist-level?) view of the epic conflicts he passed through. David Guymer’s fantastic Realmslayer set the scene perfectly for more stories in the Mortal Realms and created a great opportunity for ongoing adventures in the company of a character who’s discovering the setting for the first time. Gotrek might not seem like your average tour guide (although I can imagine him hosting booze-fuelled karaoke), but he’s the perfect person to show us what life is like away from the lofty palaces of the gods – down in the muck and the blood of the common folk.
I’m sure other authors will take Gotrek in countless, fascinating directions (he has a lot of unanswered questions) but, in this first novel, he’s hell-bent on revenge. The gods lied to him. He was promised the ultimate doom in the Realm of Chaos, as a bulwark against daemons, but it was a trick, and he’s not the kind of character to let that go lightly. Ghoulslayer sees Gotrek striking out across the Realm of Death seeking reparation from a fellow survivor of the world-that-was – the equally cheery Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead.
It was great fun exploring Shyish in the company of such a cantankerous thunder-brow, but just as enjoyable was describing the poor, beleaguered souls scrambling in his wake. As Gotrek hacks his way through a strange region called the Amethyst Princedoms, various parties (reluctantly) try to keep him alive. He carries in his chest a rune that could be a key weapon in Sigmar’s arsenal so, even though he has no regard for his own safety, his companions are doing everything they can to stifle his long-sought ambition of dying in glorious battle. By the end of the novel, some of them are even starting to guess at a greater truth – that this brutal, battle-scarred outsider might just turn out to be the greatest hero of the age.
