Greg Buchanan on writing No Man's Sky, the Dark Souls TTRPG and Sixteen Horses
Pen pal.
It's all going on for Greg Buchanan. His still-warm thriller novel Sixteen Horses looks destined to become one of the books of the year, having filled window displays at Waterstones stores around the UK for the paperback launch in February. I've read it and it's brilliant: dark, disturbing, fearsomely intelligent and utterly compelling. I couldn't put it down.
Such is the popularity of the book that it's going to be adapted for TV! And there's going to be a follow-up book called Consumed, which Buchanan is writing right now, and there's a deal for a third, unrelated book that he's also writing right now, as a kind of creative break from Consumed. We talk about both new projects in the podcast.
But that's not all Buchanan has got going on. He recently announced he will be writing for the new Dark Souls tabletop RPG. It's - as I find out - one of his favourite series of games, and he has a lot of interesting things to say about it and about his current obsession, Elden Ring.
Games run strong in Buchanan's veins, you see. It's actually through gaming we got to know him, after he added a proper story to No Man's Sky, and he's been sporadically expanding it ever since. He's also written a couple of pieces of interactive fiction, themed around the controversial topics of Brexit and the American Trump election, which you can play for free now.
Buchanan is a star of the future, then, if not right now. So join me in Episode 12 of The New Eurogamer Podcast - now available to all and on all major podcast platforms - as I get to know him better.
Remember, subscribers to the Eurogamer website get these episodes before everyone else. If you're one of them, there's another whole new episode - Episode 13 - for you to enjoy right now. This features Eurogamer reviews editor Chris Tapsell, and discusses all things reviews as well as peeps at Chris' life and career so far.
I love hearing feedback, by the way. If you have any, you can find me in the comments below, on Twitter, or in the Eurogamer Discord.