The Wulfen
They really do make a terrible mess
The Wulfen are a fascinating element of the 40K mythos, and a large chunk of what makes the Space Wolves so interesting for me. I’d written about an individual Blood Claw succumbing to the curse (or is it?) in Battle of the Fang, but I’d always wanted to write more about them, preferably in their own tale. To my mind, the Wulfen are more of a ‘horror’ concept than a straight SF or fantasy trope, and I think anything featuring them should have that vibe in it.
I had the pleasure of discussing this a bit with Dan Abnett at the recent BL Live seminar on the Wolves of Fenris. Dan made the point that the Wulfen, like so much about the Space Wolves and their origins, need to retain an air of mystery, of ambiguity and speculation. We should never have a definitive account of where they come from, what causes the change, and indeed what exactly it does to them. Like the werewolves of legend, the Wulfen should be forever just on the edge of the camp-fire, their eyes shining in the dark, never fully coming into the light.
Hopefully Wulfen captures this side to them, as well as also fleshing out one of the coolest stories from the Codex. It was originally penned for one of the event-only chapbooks, but with the release of its big brother it’s now emerged as a standalone e-story. I’ve added it to the 40K page – to anyone who gives it a try, hope you enjoy the read!
Got the ebook a couple days ago. Loved the novel, definitely looking forward seeing Jarnhammar in action again…and we will be getting more, right? BL page says it’s a series?
Is the Wulfen thing in the ebook version?
Thanks for the kind comments! I hope there’ll be more, but that depends (as ever) on how well BoA does. I’d certainly like to continue the story. As for Wulfen, that’s actually a separate download from the BL site. The link is here: http://bit.ly/10C1Olx
awesome thanks
And done. Very awesome. I think Damietta (what a nice name, is it a reference to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damietta ? Would be fitting, considering what happens in the story…) is missing something at the end… Because I don’t think the Wulfen merely wanted to silence the guardsmen, so I guess they won’t come for her.
Also, is the big one who I think it is? If so, he is certainly unique in showing up in 40K. Twice.
Hey Chris. Just finished reading Kraken and must say its my favourite short story and the strongest space wolf fiction I have read so far (and that is praise indeed considering Battle of the Fang was nigh on perfect).
Out of interest will you be producing more Space Wolf books as I really enjoy your writing style and feel you have nailed the feel of them (feels like a blend of what Dan did with Prospro Burns and William Kings earlier novels but more gritty and black humour).
Keep up the good writing.
Hi Graeme! Thanks for this, and glad you enjoyed Kraken. My next Space Wolf book is Blood of Asaheim, which is out now in hardback (and ebook, I think), and will be along in paperback in a few months. If you pick it up, I hope you like that too!