The idea behind the second trilogy was ‹The Voyage Home›, as the first trilogy ended with Uriel and Pasanius stuck in the Eye of Terror, so I couldn’t very well have them just turn up on Macragge without the reader feeling cheated and folk wondering how they’d gotten back (and were they corrupt…). So I felt the odyssey of them voyaging home and how they reintegrated back to the Chapter would be an arc worth telling. Also, each story escalates the stakes; with The Killing Ground just having the two main characters involved, Courage and Honour involving the Company, and finally, The Chapter’s Due dragging in the entire Chapter. So, it was about re-establishing Uriel as a Captain of note, ready for the next trilogy, where that distinction will become increasingly important as things go on.

To explain why I continued the story of Uriel and Pasanius, it’s because I have a soft spot for the good guys. In 40k they always seem to be on the back foot, which is a great place to keep your characters as it’s always full of conflict and challenges – two things that are a must for any story to bear the reader onwards. 40k already has more than its fair share of anti-heroes (I’ve done a few myself…Honsou, for example) but they only work if there’s some good guys to rail against, and the Ultramarines are about as close to being good guys as it’s possible to find in the Imperium. True, I was involved with the Horus Heresy books, but any writer will tell you that the way to stay fresh and engaged in any long-running series is to find variety in your work. Hop between genres, styles, voices and so on.

I have my finger in all sorts of pies, 40k, Heresy, Fantasy, Horror, Time of Legends…and that helps keep things interesting for me as a writer, which hopefully keeps things interesting for the reader. And with Swords of Calth in the near(ish) future, I can’t wait to get back to Uriel’s adventures, it is going to scale things back to just Uriel and his command squad and will put the Ultramarines in a situation they don’t often face. Losing.