Cameron Johnston

I've been asked a few times where the idea of the character of Edrin Walker and the city of Setharis came from - and here it is, the short story that spun off and exploded into becoming The Traitor God: Head Games has been reprinted in Mirror Dance . If you want to see a slightly earlier version of Edrin Walker taking place before he went into exile, you should probably read this. Seven corpses lined the side of the alley, heaped atop pig shit and kitchen slops. Stained blankets did little to conceal the lumps of butchered human meat beneath. A black-clad warden wearing the red sash of a captain stood in the middle of the bloody mess, his back to me, hand resting on the pommel of the sword at his waist. I pried the bent rollup from my lips and yawned tabac smoke, scratching at my chin, bristles rasping. They had hauled me out of a warm bed and sent me trudging halfway across the bloody city for this? ...

If you haven't already seen the news posted on Angry Robot's website  then let me enlighten you by repeating it below: We’ve got some great news for our buddies over in Europe! Excellent grimdark novel The Traitor God by Cameron Johnston is going to be translated into both Hungarian and Czech! In Hungary the translation rights have been acquired by Főnix Könyvműhely, with the book being published sometime within the next year. Czech folks will see the translation published by Euromedia Group sometime within the next two. We told Cameron, and once he’d woken up from his dead faint asked him to give us a couple of words on the deals. Here he is: “When my book was published several people said they were going to borrow it through their local library – whoa, my book being in a library gives me all the feels. As a kid I spent so much in mine time picking out and reading armloads of books. It is a wonderful feeling that mine has now joined the others on those hallowed shelves...

I will be in Newcastle's Forbidden Planet on June 14th, up to no good with that master of assassins, RJ Barker. Join CAMERON JOHNSTON and R J BARKER, in conversation, at the Forbidden Planet Newcastle Megastore on Thursday 14th June from 6 - 7pm! Spend an evening with two of Grimdark’s most exciting new authors, Cameron Johnston (The Traitor God) and RJ Barker (Blood of Assassins). The pair will interview each other on their writing processes and what makes great fantasy in 2018. Books will be available for signing post-event! All the details are on the Forbidden Planet page.

The Traitor God has been unleashed upon the world! A city threatened by unimaginable horrors must trust their most hated outcast, or lose everything, in this crushing epic fantasy debut. After ten years on the run, dodging daemons and debt, reviled magus Edrin Walker returns home to avenge the brutal murder of his friend. Lynas had uncovered a terrible secret, something that threatened to devour the entire city. He tried to warn the Arcanum, the mageocracy who rule the city. He failed. Lynas was skinned alive and Walker felt every cut. Now nothing will stop him from finding the murderer. Magi, mortals, daemons, and even the gods – Walker will burn them all if he has to. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s killed a god... Available now from: Angry Robot Amazon.com Amazon UK Waterstones Barnes and Noble Book Depository

So, so, so...yesterday this mysterious box arrived while I was out. What could it be? I certainly couldn't find out for the next ten hours. NGHHHhhhhh! So frustrating. Of course I did have a pretty good idea what would be inside. *had fingers crossed they hadn't sent me somebody else's books*. OH! Look at that. It's my book. It's really real. Such a surreal but wonderful feeling to see a box -a whole box!- of my own books, then to pick one up and feel its weight in my hand, turn it over and read the back as if I was browsing the shelves of a book shop. What a wonderful moment :)

It's Alive. ALIVE! Thanks to Angry Robot for teasing us all with a little preview of The Traitor God in actual real-life 3D paper book format. Behold! Feel the grimdark terror and lust for swords and sorcery seeping into your bones. Witness the fearsome might of my national animal! (The unicorn is Scotland's national animal. Really. How cool is that :D )

That wonderful writer and all-round fantastic person, Anna Stephens, has interviewed me on her website. If you want some sneak peeks at what you will find within the pages of The Traitor God then you are in luck - go here and have a read! You might also want to consider buying her excellent novel, Godblind , while you are at it ;)