Celebrating Six Years of Sister Augusta

Six years ago today: my Black Library debut Mercy.

In the publishing industry, they do say that your fourth book is supposed to be your breakout, and mine was Children of Artifice, my queer science fantasy romance, published by Fox Spirit Books. While it didn’t do much breaking sadly, it remains something I am deeply proud of, an intense, moving and honestly quite personal gay love story.

Instead, that breakout was Sister Superior Augusta.

Older female protagonists are rare. While we are getting far better with strong, narrative-driving women (NOT started by the current romantasy craze, thank you), the idea of a woman in her forties or fifties – and not sexually attractive – is still somewhat anathema. And I very much wanted to write a character with age, a woman of (veteran) experience, with a wise eye and little tolerance for nonsense. Layer on top of that her faith, her courage, her honour and her hymns, and you have a Sister of Battle who’s become known for her exemplary leadership, yet likewise for her humanity. I’ve said it many times (and will say it many times more, as many times as I need) but you can’t have courage without fear, honour without doubt, or experience without the pain that underlies its learning.

To me, its what the Adepta Sororitas have always been about, and its one of the critical things that differentiates them from the Adeptus Astartes.

The other matter, inevitably, was being a woman in WarHammer.

There are (and always have been) a great many women in the hobby - painters, gamers, writers, creators - and they have the knowledge, the passion and dedication that goes with every fan. As a new Black Library author, being able to fly their flag was something I was deeply moved by, and still am. And (even better), six years later, there are many more of us, and we continue to make our presences felt, kicking butt across the galaxy.

Mercy then, introduces you to Sister Superior Augusta Santorus of the Bloody Rose, and to her squad. She has a full mini-mythology of her own, created through a multitude of novellas and short stories, right up to her recent full-length novel The Rose in Darkness. You can find most of these in The Rose at War, or I’ve listed them in order, here.

Mercy, though, is her introduction and jumping-on point. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope, when you read it, that you feel the same way.

Reading: The most recent DragonLance novel, Dragons of Fate. Loved the original classics, back in the Nineties, and am very glad to see some of the characters recur (like visiting old friends, inevitably). Am hoping though, that this one is better than Dragons of Deceit, which had a few problems. Fingers crossed, hey.

Watching: Very much enjoying the new Bad Batch. In these post-geek days where the big companies/licenses just want More And More Of The Same (seriously, stop now, that horse is fucking dead), it good to see some Star Wars that’s well-written and enjoyable.

Playing: Still on D&D hiatus (need my dice fix) and my second playthrough of Baldur’s Gate is nearing completion, though we nearly got very badly scragged in the House of Hope (that Incubus was <feisty>!). Will be going with the <redacted> rather than the <redacted> this time around, and curious to see what the different ending reveals!