The forum is back up, following a long hiatus caused by my inexpert attempts to update the forum software installation. I should stick to what I know (once I work out what that is). Please post a hello or a comment if you have a moment.

I will be working with Bell of Lost Souls in the near future, contributing to the fiction and background elements of their minidexes and campaigns. Should be a lot of fun!

Firebase issue 8 has been released, and you can download it here. It contains my story The Pandora Strain, but there is much more in there - this issue is just jam-packed with great content, and the battlereport is one of the best I have ever seen.

Inspired by the Bell of Lost Souls, which is an entry in the Codex Imperialis, and a very cool 40k blog, I wrote The Toll. It has nothing to do with the blog, but I hope you like it.

I also wrote a very short story called Hollow's Eve for a mini Halloween competition on BoLS, which you can read here (it's in the comments section) or here.

I hope to keep this site more up to date, and there a few stories I want to add to the Chronica Imperialis. Quite a few, actually. On a recent trip to Manchester I wrote quite a lot of Part 2 of Close Your Eyes so with any luck I will finish that one soon and post it up. I know a few people have been waiting a long time for Part 2 :)

I had a story in Issue 6 of Firebase magazine called Countdown To Midnight.

Lastly, I have a 40k story coming up in Issue 8 of Firebase, called The Pandora Strain. I will post a link when Issue 8 is released.

I scribbled a mini 40k story (more a character piece) so you can read it here - The Regrettable Ice-World of Juridicae.

Also, from time to time I stick up fiction on my blog. There's a piece there now called Crusader. It's not just about Batman.

Hi! Good to see you. How are you doing? You're looking good - you lost weight? No? Really? Fatter than ever? I didn't want to say anything but...anyway-

Been a long time since I updated this site. Work and life have been busy busy busy (as the Bokononists have it), and I have been writing much more original material (for a given value of original). I have also had the BL writing competition to deal with, which took up large chunks of time. Anyway, on to the updates:-

1. Chun's marvellous 40k story The Scour has been added to the Chronica Imperialis. The end sequence gives me the willies, but it's all as uniquely perverse and twisted a take on 40k as you might expect from the Unavoidable One.
2. I have added a 40k story of my own, written as part of my efforts for the recent Planetkill competition (if you want to know how I did, go here - hint: I'm not in the first list of names - you know - the winners). The story is The Last Stand, and if you have ever been kept awake at nights staring from your pillow at your painstakingly hand-drawn Imperial Aquila on the wall and whispering, "why won't he just write proper bolters and chainswords like everyone else?", then this is your lucky day. (And could you draw me an Imperial Aquila, please, because I just can't get the wings right - kthx).
3. I have added an amended version of the incomparable The Twitch. If Launcifer ever finishes Forty Two, I think it will find its way to the Chronica Imperialis, too :)
4. I have added a short-short 40k story called The Ticket Reader.
5. I have also finally added a mini story of original fiction - God's Last Gift.

I have added a new story to the Chronica Imperialis. Go now (do not pass Go) and read The Twitch by Launcifer.

I also have another original story to add, called God's Last Gift.

Finally, since the Black Library have launched another writing competition I have updated the BL Guide page.

In one of my rare trawls through this site's logs, I see that it is getting around 1,400 unique visitors per month (excluding bots). The most popular stories (in Feb '07) were Emperor's Finest (I need to finish formatting that!), Matroyshka and Message In A Bottle (I think I linked to it on the BL forum, but would that account for 65 views?)

By far the most site visitors are from the US. Hello, my American chums! Then its the UK, Canada, Australia and the EU before we start getting into double digits and below.

So there you are. Your lust for useless information sated, please go and read this, but only if you are not easily upset. I can't decide if I love this story ("Incarnations Of Burned Children" by David Foster Wallace - link goes to Esquire.com) for being so powerful, or if I hate it for the same reasons. I will warn you, though, this one stayed with me for quite a while, and there were times I wished I hadn't read it.

Quite a few updates. I have added Lessons In Blood - my first Warhammer Fantasy Battle story. Yes, there's swords and monsters and not a little blood. It has been fairly well-received, so go and take a look.

I have also added a mini-story to the Opuscule called Losing The Plot, and I have added Another Country, The Painter of Tantivy and Exile's End, all three original fiction, to the Other section.

Finally, I have added On The Execution Of A Heretic and Khorne On Holiday to the 40k story page.

Here is a link to a scan of my short-short story "The Invisible Man" which appeared in the Glasgow Herald Saturday 10th Feb 2007 - PDF link.

At a page-defying 202,000 words (which is why it's only available as an .rtf download for now), here is The Emperor's Finest by Robert Allen, the latest addition to the Chronica Imperialis.

EDIT: The Killing now has its own page.

It's just experimental for now (meaning I just like toying around with software that has more options than George Clooney in a harem). I wonder if any of the regular readers of this website might have some idea what I might do with it. Other than waffle on like the 15 billion other bloggers out there. Might it serve some useful purpose? Might like-minded, wannabe writers like a place to share information and keep others up to date? You tell me, if you like.

Incunabulog.

If anyone has any better image for the front page, let me know. I like that one, don't get me wrong, but nothing says 'lack of effort' better than 'default setting'

Okay, so I was catching up with some 2nd series Lost episodes, and I reached the one where Locke and Eko discover the Swan(?) bunker, and I finally realised what's going on.

I know, this has nothing to do with writing, but it's my News page.

Anyway, Lost (IMHO) is not about the answers to the mysteries, or the characters or the flashbacks or the many, many sub-plots. It is about both more and less than all that. Lost is simply about the entire world - no, the universe, and what sense Man makes of it. The mysteries themselves are irrelevant as to their details. Forget about the Others and Dharma and all the strange, unexplained goings-on. Lost is not about answers to those questions. It is about the questions themselves, and how the various characters (and the audience) go about seeking answers. It is about faith and wonder and science and the need for meaning, and how Man cannot stop seeking answers to his questions in the face of a world that is continually just beyond our ability to understand.

And it means that for every answer the Lost writers give us, they will give us two more questions.

And it means that when Lost ends, it is going to be broadly similar to the ending of the Prisoner, where a large audience expecting an explanation - are not going to get one. Or at least, not the tidy one they were expecting.

And I, for one, can't wait.

Chapter Six of Heaven's Altar (or at least Part 1 of Chapter Six) has been added.

Finally managed to get Pit King by bad_badger posted in the Chronica Imperialis. Superb gladiator story - well worth anyone's time.

I managed to get five stories submitted to the Invasion! competition:-

Lessons In Blood - all the menfolk of the village having gone to war, the last thing the women wanted to hear was that Chaos marauders had been sighted heading their way.

Protector - A 12 year-old boy survives in the ruins of Chaos-occupied Couronne, hunted relentlessly by The Burning Man.

Soul Of The Beast - The White Wolves prepare to defend the Holy Grotto of Theiarch against a prophesied beastman invasion from Drakwald Forest.

The Armour Of Redemption - Flame-haired Eva secretly dons her dead father's armour to take her place on the Bildnung Wall and fight the hated invaders.

Old Enemies - an ageing soldier must work with his lifelong enemy to counter the machinations of Chaos.

Best of luck to everyone who entered.

Forgot to mention this - I've put up a rough guide to the Black Library short story competition Invasion! Go take a look.

There's a new story up. The Statue is a steampunk tale set in an alternate 1980s that I speed-wrote in 4 hours in a mad desire to meet a deadline I had already met with another story (A Scream of Brass). It was a bit of a toss-up whether I would put this in the Opuscule or not - it's a little rough, but I might clean it up some day.

I have another two new stories I will put up. One is an old, little fantasy about a painter that I think I am finally happy with, and the other is a very personal story that I might not put up at all. We'll see.

Who on earth would Google for "flamer heads for breaking surface tension" and come here? Well, whoever you are, welcome! I hope you broke your tension in a safe and enjoyable manner, observing all state and federal laws in your jurisdiction.

I just have to work that phrase into a story now...

I've added a new story to the Chronica Imperialis by Michael Boehm - A Millenium Of Pain. One of the best (if not the best) Dreadnaught stories around. And I have a favicon now , for your bookmarking pleasure.

I've added a new story by Kammerice - The Body. Brooding, elegiac 40k.

I've added a new story by Chun - His Purpose. Go take a look.

I've updated the About page with a few bits and pieces.

I've added a new story to the Chronica Imperialis - Death And Burial, by Feil. I've also changed the nav bar a bit - you'll see some new options when you click on 40K or Other - and I've tidied up the Home page a little.

I've added a new section - the Chronica Imperialis - where I will put all those 40k stories by other authors that (a) I think are very good and (b) the authors give me permission to post. The first up is In Gloria Immutatens by Conquering_Light. I have also added a new 40k short-short called Message In A Bottle

Added a new section known as the Opuscule. Also added Chapters Three, Four and Five of Heaven's Altar, and a brand new 40k story - The Seventh Word.

Added custom 400 Bad Request, 403 Forbidden and 404 File Not Found pages. Just for a laugh. And some new links

The Frames have gone (so last century, dahlings!) and the layout should be a bit better. There is a proper nav bar now, too. All comments and suggestions to Sholto (at) incunabulum (dot) co (dot) uk.

I've put almost all of the stories up now, added a Forum (for people who want to comment on the stories) and a good few links to the Links page. I also added some great black and white artwork from the Games Workshop website. I hope that's ok, given their IP policy, but if not I'm sure they'll let me know.

Lastly I made a few tweaks to the layout and navigation. Any comments please email the webmaster (yes, that's me - writer, webmaster and shirts ironed) at Sholto (at) incunabulum (dot) co (dot) uk.

A story for the Summer Competition at Imperial Literature. This is one I have been keen to write for a while, if only because of the ending.

A 40k story (Close Your Eyes) told from the point of view of a society a little bit like Earth who are contacted by Imperium missionaries for the first time.

A fantasy story (The Painter of Tantivy) with religious overtones, of a painter who seeks perfection, told in the form of a letter recounting the tale.

A 40k story (The Synchronus Project) dealing with Mal Sandelion and others, who will likely be characters in the sequel to Matroyshka. This story should be fun to write (and interesting to read) since the premise is so full of potential. It's probably been done before (I haven't gone looking), but I don't care.

The Seventh Word is a Cthulhu-esque story I wrote originally as a 40k story. It needs work but has some good horror stuff in it.

The House In The Woods is my take on the children's story The Three Little Pigs, told via the muse of Neil Gaiman.

Finally, I am working on Chapter Six of Heaven's Altar. It's been long and slow (I started in Dec 2005 and lost most of it to a drive error) but it's nearly done.