At the start of this year Fantasy Flight Games paid me the compliment of inviting me onto the team for Book of Judgement, the Adeptus Arbites book for the Dark Heresy roleplaying game. I got the invitation just in time to take a pile of game-books to the FWOR retreat in Oberon and work on my section of the book there. Getting my head around the different approach meant a slow start, but once I was inside the project and picking up on the cool stuff littered about the Calixis sector it was a lot of fun to help build on it. I got to contribute more detail about the operation of Arbites arms like Verispex, Detectives, Cyber-Mastiffs and Grapplehawks, get into the troubled history of the Calixian Arbites, and detail how they were getting to grips with their enemies such as the Beast House or the mysterious and sinister criminal operation known only as “Two-and-Mirror”.
You can read more about the book here. It’s coming out in the final quarter of this year. Fantasy Flight create gorgeous books and I can’t wait to get my hands on the final product.
GuyIncognito said:
I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book since it was announced in 2010. But to hear that you have contributed makes up for the wait!
Matthew Farrer said:
Cheers Guy, thanks for the compliment. I only worked directly on one section of it, so there’s plenty in there that I’ll be seeing for the first time myself.
Jay said:
Matt – excellent that you have been involved. Your “world building” for the Calpurnia books must have meant you were a no brainer for FFG. I collect all of the W40k roleplaying books because the fluff is so rich and detailed. Really looking forward to this one.
Matthew Farrer said:
Thanks Jay. It actually felt a bit odd at first, putting my worldbuilding up as the finished product rather than using it as the foundation for fiction, but once I got going it was great fun.
Martin R. Richter said:
Dear Mr. Matt Farrer,
I am very glad to read you are on board for the Book of Judgement. Your Hydrapur trilogy is among the best Black Library books, and certainly builds the grim, dark future of mankind much more graphically and visibly than almost any book I know. Your world-building sure will stand on it’s own. Which is not to say the Calpurnia stories weren’t excellent in their own right.
Speaking of the Calpurnia books, will her fate after Blind be resolved in Book of Judgement? At least, I always felt there was a cliffhanger, and a fourth book was canceled? It seems to end in a cliffhanger. Excuse me if this is an old question and tiresome though, I am not very much up to speed with the going-ons behind the screens at Black Library. I would really appreciate an answer or a link to a previous answer.
Many thanks,
Martin Rufus Richter.
Matthew Farrer said:
Martin, my apologies for taking so long to answer you, that was very rude of me. Thank you very much for the compliments, though, and I’m glad you enjoyed the books so much.
Book of Judgement won’t resolve Calpurnia’s story, since it’s a background book about the Arbites and focuses on the Calixis Sector rather than Hydraphur. A few people have asked me about a resolution for after the events of Blind, but in truth I’m kind of happy where the story finishes. While there’s still the question of her trial and her ultimate fate, the most important struggle Calpurnia had in that book was with herself, with her conflicted feelings about duty and failure. By the end of the story that struggle is resolved and she’s actually at peace.
So, while I was toying with the idea of another book for a while (I even had a working title, which was “Ashes”), I brought Blind to that conclusion with the idea that it could conclude the series and serve as a final end to the story – I didn’t plan out a four-book series and get cut off at three.
Robert Dempsey said:
Hey, Matthew!
I’m very much looking forward to this one myself, largely because I wrote the (first draft) armoury section. Which kind of makes us co-authors, I guess!
(Although that’s putting it rather too high, as I was just basing all of the section on stuff you’d written and created in the Calpurnia series.)
I don’t have a copy myself yet, but I’m hoping a contributor’s copy will arrive soon. I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the Shira Calpurnia novels as part of the process, love those books.
There’s already some interesting feedback upon the book on the FFG Forums, drop in and have a look!
Kind regards
Rob
Matthew Farrer said:
Hi Robert, and thanks for stopping by! It’s cool to hear from a co-contributor. I’ve seen a discussion thread on the FFG site but I’ll go take another look tonight.
Thank you very much for the kind words about the Calpurnia books – very glad you liked them and it’s always cool to hear that something I’ve done has gone on to inspire someone else. Very much looking forward to seeing your section and the whole completed book (as are a lot of other people if the amount of search-engine traffic I’m getting for “Book of Judgement Download” is any indication).
Cheers,
MF