Warhammer Wednesday: The Dead and the Damned is 20 years old!

Unbelievably, my very first published novel, the Warhammer short story collection The Dead and the Damned, is 20 years old today! What's more, it is still available to buy from the Black Library as an eBook.

The Warhammer universe explodes with adventure and sudden violence as Badenov's Band, rogues and brigands all, take on all comers as they roam the Old World. Led by their raven-haired commander Torben Badenov, whose lust for glory is only surpassed by his ferocity in battle, the motley gang roams the wretched towns and haunted forests fighting until every last unholy creature they encounter joins the dead or the damned.

One of the best things* about The Dead and the Damned being published, apart from the fact that it was a proper novel**, was that Clint Langley produced the cover. Since 2002, I have written another 15 novels, many of which are also still available to buy as eBooks.

* One of the worst things was it was the first book of mine that was reviewed in SFX Magazine, and the reviewer gave it one star. That was a humbling experience.

** Although it wasn't. Not really.

My Top Ten Book Covers

I'm not normally a Top Ten short of person. I certainly don't have a favourite anything*. But having seen people posting pictures of covers of books that have been important to them over the year, I decided to challenge myself to select my ten favourite covers of the books I have had published to date**.

Before I start, I should point out that this is not to denigrate the work of some fabulous artists I've been fortunate enough to work with over the years, it's just that sometimes some images have a greater impact than others, or turn out even better than expected and completely sell the book.

So here, in no particular order - other than chronologically - are my Top Ten Book Covers***.

1) Curse of the Mummy, art by Martin McKenna (1995)
It's ancient Egypt, it's Martin McKenna (his first full cover for a Fighting Fantasy gamebook), and it's beautiful.

2) The Dead and the Damned, art by Clint Langley (2002)
I was very proud of my first novel, whatever the critics might have said, and I loved the cover even more. Just look at it - it's just so detailed! And check out all those skeletons! I'd been a fan of Clint Langley's since seeing his work in 2000AD so when I discovered he would be producing the art for my first Warhammer novel, I was delighted!

3) Bloodbones, art by Martin McKenna (2006)
It's Martin again and it's the undead pirate captain himself. What's not to love?

4) Pax Britannia: Dark Side, art by Mark Harrison (2010)
This is just such an arresting image, an homage to a classic sci-fi movie, and has the Moon as a human skull. (I've just realised that skulls regularly feature among my favourite book covers, but then I do have Yorick's sitting on my desk.)

5) YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, art by Martin McKenna (2014)
My fiftieth published book was something a bit special, for all sorts of reasons, not least because of the fantastic wraparound cover Martin produced for it, featuring a veritable horde of villains and monsters from the classic gamebook series.

6) Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, art by Kev Crossley (2015)
The first of my ACE Gamebooks series, published before there was an ACE Gamebooks series, what I love about this cover is the way Kev produced such a fantastic homage to John Tenniel's illustration of Alice and the Cheshire Cat, while also setting the tone for the whole adventure.

7) Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu, cover design by Emma Barnes (2016)
This cover may only use manipulated stock imagery but it sends a very clear message to potential readers that says, "This book does exactly what it says on the tin."

8) The Wicked Wizard of Oz, art by Kev Crossley (2017)
What I love about this cover is the image of Oz itself (for that is what it is) and the way Kev brought the entity to life.

9) Scrooge and Marley (Deceased): The Haunted Man, art by Garen Ewing (2017)
I've been an admirer of Garen Ewing's ligne claire style of drawing for years, so when he agreed to produce the cover illustration for my sequel to Dickens' A Christmas Carol, it was another thing ticked off my bucket list.

10) NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!, art by Kev Crossley (2019)
And so we come to my most recently-published book (as of writing), which features a fully painted cover by Kev this time, featuring one of Kev's favourite things to draw - a dinosaur!

So three of my favourite book covers feature artwork by Martin McKenna, and three artwork by Kev Crossley. Honourable mentions must go to the new edition of the German language version of my first Pax Britannia novel Unnatural History****, and Maria Paolo's cover art for the Argentinian translation of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland.

* As in Favourite Book, Favourite Movie, Favourite TV Show.

** I'm not including covers of anthologies I've been published in, but anthologies I've edited are fair game. And books that haven't been published yet are ineligible for inclusion.

*** Valid for today only.

**** Apologies to the artist, for I don't know who they are.

C is for Clint Langley

I was very excited to receive the commission for my first novel - The Dead and the Damned, back in 2002 - but this excitement was only compounded when I discovered that Clint Langley would be producing the cover for the book. And here it is...

I'm told Clint almost went mad illustrating all those skeletons but thankfully he pulled through to produce many, many more covers for Black Library, not to mention books'-worth of comic strip pages for the likes of 2000AD and others. Actually it was his work on strips work like Dinosity and Slaine that brought him to my attention in the first place. So to have him produce the cover for my first book - well that was just a dream come true.

You can see more example of Clint's work here.

The Keeler Image

Dan Abnett. Clint Langley. Gregor Eisenhorn. What more could you ask for?

The Keeler Image - coming December 2011!