Lepidopterophobia by Dan Abnett

Author:Dan Abnett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-08T08:48:28+00:00

INTRODUCTION

Penitent Limited Edition

Well, I expect you have questions. And that's the point.

What we now refer as The Inquisitor Cycle began in 2001 with the novel Xenos, which became the first part of the Eisenhorn Trilogy, and was then followed by the Ravenor Trilogy, the stand-alone novel The Magos, numerous short stories, and then the Bequin Trilogy, of which Penitent is the second volume. This cycle of books contains a lot of different storylines and plots, but is essentially linked by various enduring characters: Eisenhorn, Ravenor, and the likes of Medea, Nayl, Kys, Kara and so on. It is - and I mention this merely in passing - regarded as something of a 'gateway drug' to the universe of Warhammer 40,000, especially as it deals with the non-military, 'domestic' life of the Imperium, the complex life away from Warhammer 40K's infamous battlefields.

Inquisitor novels are, essentially, detective stories. They are mysteries, involving investigations that slowly uncover dangerous and, more often than not, forbidden truths. Xenos set the template for this by being, unashamedly, a hard-bitten detective noir set in the 40K universe. That format was successful, and so over the course of the cycle, I've attempted to continue it, while introducing some variation so that the sequence remains fresh.

Those variations include point of view. Leaving aside the short stories, and the novel The Magos, which is essentially a bridging piece to link the first two trilogies to the third, the point of view has changed three times. In the Eisenhorn Trilogy, I adopted (on a whim, to be honest) a first person narrative, because it mimicked the hard-boiled style, so we got the first three books from Eisenhorn's perspective. This turned out to be an unexpectedly demanding exercise: I had quite underestimated how hard it would be to maintain his POV for three novels. I promised myself I wouldn't do it again.

With the Ravenor Trilogy, I switched to third person. Though some sections of the story are carried by Ravenor's 'voice' and perspective, they are merely there as connective tissue: the Ravenor books are far more about a team of agents working together, so the third person framework, and the ability to switch between characters, was both a relief from the rigours of first person narrative, and entirely appropriate to the scope of the novels.

When I came to the Bequin Trilogy, I decided to avoid the 'easy' route and return to the first person again. For all its difficulties, it seemed appropriate. The Eisenhorn books had made first person an almost trademark part of the Inquisitor series. Besides, I really wanted to focus on Beta as a character. She is a bit player, a mere pawn in a larger storyline, so I wanted her to be central to our view, and for the readers to see things through her eyes.

For me, as a writer, this led to some great opportunities. Beta's voice is significantly more 'characterful' than Gregor's. Where he is matter-of-fact, she is constantly curious and questioning. Her narrative has a

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