Well, that was BL Live 2011. I’ve mentioned a few times before that it’s my favourite of the various BL events, and this year was no exception. The more I get immersed into writing, the more I’m convinced that such shindigs are pretty much essential for boosting occasionally-flagging morale/energy. It’s such a buzz to talk to informed, enthusiastic readers about the books. While it’s obviously lovely to hear nice things about what you’ve written (and thanks to all those who popped over to do that), it can also be fascinating to hear constructive criticism too – the fact that someone’s interested enough in what you do to come and chat about it never ceases to be gratifying.
Anyway, the first thing to convey is huge thanks to the BL and GW staff. The day was organised wonderfully, and the authors were looked after spectacularly well – definitely not something to be taken for granted. I liked the slighter bigger format for this year’s event – still small enough to allow proper conversations, but with a nice buzz throughout the day.
As it turned, out, the nicest surprise for me was a real, physical copy of Battle of the Fang. I hadn’t expected these to be ready yet (the official release isn’t until June), so to get my hands on one was a bit of a shock. It looks lovely – my doodled maps have been turned into proper artwork, and there’s some cool Space Wolf livery running throughout. Some copies were available to buy, but I’m told these sold out fairly quickly. It was great to sign so many of these, and I hope everyone who got hold of a copy enjoys the read. Staggeringly, there was a review online by 6.30pm of the day of release! Thanks to Simo429 on Bolter and Chainsword for that astonishingly quick turnaround!
Also good to catch up with some familiar faces. I’m now the very proud owner of a pair of DakkaDakka dice, which are sitting on my desk in front of me as I type – thanks to Mike Sault for those, and excellent to catch up, as ever. And I have fond, if fleeting, memories of some very nice cookie fragments and a chunk of chocolate brownie. Though in the whirl of everything going on I may have misremembered, I think these originated from Graeme Lyon and Tim Kenyon respectively.
A good day was made complete by Matt, who had solved the code in Sword of Vengeance and had brought a handwritten copy of the deciphered letter to prove it. Many congratulations – this was the first time I’d actually seen irrefutable evidence of anyone cracking it – I must admit, I’m somewhat relieved to find that it is crackable…
So, now I’m back in front of the screen, re-energised and gearing up for more writing. I’m in the middle of revising a WHF novella at the moment, after which it’s the next Warhammer Heroes novel. After that, it all gets a bit hazier, but there’s every chance of delving further back into the Warhammer World past, which will be very cool indeed. Talking of Fantasy, there’s a very comprehensive review of Sword of Vengeance over at Heresy Online – thanks to increaso for posting that.
Phew. Think that’s everything. Again, many thanks to everyone who came over to talk, and for making the day so enjoyable. Here’s to 2012…
Chris Wraight 