Author: Josh Reynolds

Reader Mailbag #9

/ Josh Reynolds / Leave a comment

Anonymous asks:

So stormcast have the human keyword. But what does this mean? Does this mean human as in their biology or or does it mean human as in their Humanity and Soul. Can they truly be called humans at all anymore?

That depends entirely on your definition of humanity.

Did you come up with the idea for the great. oubliette?

Nope. I believe Phil Kelly came up with that one.

How well did gravewild fare against the nighthaunt legions that attacked during the necroquake?

Not well, but better than most.

Do the freeguild have skyships and a Navy?

Some do, some don’t. The freeguilds vary in size and composition.

What does grave-silk look like? Does it have any special properties? And what is damask? Also what does stargleam taste like?

I’ve never given it much thought, but I imagine it looks like the hair of a corpse after its been in the ground for a few months. It’s as strong as steel, when treated with unguents composed of corpse-fat and shadeglass. Damask is a real thing. Look it up. And it tastes like moonlight.

In the free cities of Sigmar what is the development level of economics. Like does investing exist? joint ventures? Do Early stock market exist?

Different cities have different economies. Investment does exist, as do joint ventures.

With many of the Great cities of order being based off of Azyrhaim, which is a meritocracy. Is there a lot of social mobility in the free cities?

Depends on the city, and the people in charge.

How aware are the Gods of their aspects? We’ve seen Nagash is at the very least dimly aware of his other aspects sort of like you’re aware of your hands. But how do you think other gods like Sigmar or Alariele view them or the interpretations that Mortals come to when trying to understand them?

Some are more aware than others.

Why didn’t Archaon destroy the Black Pyramid after he seized Nagashizzar? And in the core book it says Arkham continued to oversee the building of BP, how could that happen if Nagashizzar was under the control of Chaos?

That I don’t know. A good question to pose to one of the loremasters, like Phil Kelly or Nick Horth.

Are you of the belief that once a man of woman falls to Chaos he is doomed forever, barring getting a haircut from Ghal Maraz? How far is too far gone if it exists? Is corruption complete or a series of events to damnation?

All of the above.

Reader Mailbag #8

/ Josh Reynolds

Dustyn, on Twitter, asks:

Hey, Josh, what do you like to do to get you in the mood for writing 40k? Any stories, movies, music, or shows just pump you up for writing in the setting and set you in the right headspace?

Good question!

And the answer is – not a blessed thing.

Or, rather, nothing specific. I tend to find inspiration in music, but never anything in particular. I don’t have a set 40K playlist, for instance. Generally it’ll be whatever music I’m listening to at the time, which varies depending on my mood at the moment. I wrote one book listening almost exclusively to Earth, Wind and Fire’s greatest hits, for instance.

Now, once inspiration hits, I often assemble a rough and ready playlist from the songs that I find myself listening to on repeat at that particular moment. Such playlists might only have three or four songs, or it might have fifteen or twenty. Again, it depends on my mood.

I’ve made some of these playlists available for folks to peruse, if they’re interested.

Time and Again

/ Josh Reynolds

There’s a new story available for patrons at my Patreon – “Ouroboros” is a bit of dystopian science-horror by way of Lovecraft. It takes place during the final hours of humanity’s final redoubt, as it crumbles before the onslaughts of the Crawling Chaos.

It’s also a sequel of sorts to “Eliza”, which is available to read over at the Lovecraft eZine. Why not go read that one for free, and then check out “Ouroboros” for a buck. And afterwards, why not take a look at some of the other stories available at the Patreon?

Reader Mailbag #7

/ Josh Reynolds / 2 Comments

Scott Harper asks:

Is there any chance the Blood Dragon novel will ever be printed in any form?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: It is unlikely for a number of reasons. The foremost being because it never actually got past the pitch stage, due to scheduling conflicts with the End Times material. Essentially, the End Times happened and any Warhammer Fantasy novel that hadn’t already been contracted was never going to be.

Another reason is almost certainly the relatively poor sales of Master of Death. While Neferata earned out its advance fairly quickly, the sequel did surprisingly poorly.  Master of Death suffered a death of a thousand cuts, the most grievous of which were likely the sudden change in format from paperback to trade, as well as the utter lack of marketing it received upon its release.

Regardless the combination of timing and sales effectively killed any chance Blood Dragon had of being commissioned, or of an omnibus being assembled.

tldr; sometimes vampires don’t rise from the grave.