_Want to contact me?

If you want to contact me, go to Black Library or Imperial Literature or Relic Forums and send a message to Sholto (that's me).

Or, you can email me at sholto (at) incunabulum (dot) co (dot) uk.

Or, you can post a message on the Forums.

_Want to know a bit about me?

Really? What can I write about myself that would be remotely interesting to you? Let's see. I like cats. I do all my best thinking when I'm running. I like chocolate. I like to write. I like to write and eat chocolate at the same time. Sometimes it seems I can't stop (the writing, not the chocolate, although sometimes...)

I have all these ideas living in my brain, and they jump up and down until I write them out. It's just - I think they're breeding...

_Why 40k?

I played Rogue Trader and Space Hulk in the 80s when RPGs were cool and looking at dice in a catalogue was a way to pass some serious time, and read White Dwarf (back when it was not just all about GW). I think I painted a few Space Marines. I know I painted some Genestealers.

After that I didn't have anything to do with 40k for many, empty years, until two things happened. Firstly, Relic released the magnificent Dawn of War and, secondly, a good friend gave me Necropolis by Dan Abnett.

"It's great!" he had written on it. "Millions die!"

He was right on both counts.

Reading it and enjoying it was a distinctly guilty pleasure given the books I usually read, and since then, I've read most of Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts, Eisenhorn and Ravenor books as well as Sandy Mitchell's Ciaphas Cain books. I've also read both of Ian Watson's old 40k books - Space Marine and The Inquisition War - and that's it. Nothing else to date.

I like the whole 40k universe, really; it's a fun sandbox to play in, and you can tell just about any story you fancy in it. And they have Penitent Engines, ludicrously large, frighteningly Freudian guns and people who know that hokey religions and ancient weapons are more than a match for a good blaster.

_Why did I start writing?

Patrick O'Brian - the Master and Commander series. What can I say? Authentic (it certainly seems that way - once I get the time machine up and running I'll let you know). Endlessly detailed, certainly. Evocative of another era with other ways of thinking to a degree that few fiction ever aspires to, let alone achieves. Filled with memorable characters. Thrilling. Witty. Timeless.

Anyway. I was reading these fabulous books and, at the same time, Ravenor Returned (hence the Sholto name - and you thought I was named after the Independent's jazz columnist, you silly-head) and I thought - "hey!" (although I may be misquoting myself), "Hey!" I thought. "I used to love writing and I haven't done it in ages and what would be cooler than Aubrey and Maturin in 40k?" I probably hadn't slept much when I had that thought, to be honest, but there you are.

_What books/ writers do I like? (prepare to be listed at mercilessly, and at close range. I'll understand if you have to look away)

Favourite Authors In No Particular Order. Gene Wolfe, Iain Banks (with/ without the M), Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Vernor Vinge, Italo Calvino, Stephen J Gould, James Ellroy, Philip Pullman, Ursula K LeGuin, Mervyn Peake, Elmore Leonard, Greg Bear, Dan Abnett, Umberto Eco, J K Rowling, Philip K Dick, Ted Hughes and Michael Moorcock.

Favourite Books In No Particular Order. The Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K LeGuin. Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres. Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge. Necropolis by Dan Abnett. Sandman by Neil Gaiman (ok, it's a comic, not a book. You can point out my error on your website.) Blood Music by Greg Bear. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Anything featuring Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. The Complete Prose by Woody Allen. The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett. Lanark by Alasdair Gray. The Trick Is To Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway. The Use of Weapons and The Player of Games by Iain M Banks. The Wasp Factory and Complicity by Iain Banks. Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel C Dennett. Trainspotting by Irvine Walsh. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

Book Series I Would Not Be Without. Millenium SF Masterworks. Harry Potter (sorry, but it's true).

Stuff other than the above I try and get other people to like. Veronica Mars. Advance Wars on the GBA. The Thing (John Carpenter's version). Watchmen and pretty much anything by Alan Moore. The Haunting (Robert Wise original - not the God-awful remake). The Prisoner. Joss Whedon and his many gifts. The idea of publishing one of my stories. Father Ted. Shaolin Soccer. Carnivale. The Mighty Boosh. Anything at all by Hayao Miyazaki. Quatermass II and Quatermass And The Pit. Me. Infernal Affairs. Oldboy. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. Dogville. The Princess Bride (the book and the film). Spaced. Big Trouble in Little China. The original series of Star Trek.

David McGuire