title: Sarah McLachlan

text: Kiwanis International presented McLachlan with the 2013 Kiwanis International World Service Medal to recognize her for founding the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, a free music school for at-risk youth in Vancouver, British Columbia.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: On November 20, 2013, McLachlan was recognized with an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Alberta.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: In 2012, McLachlan was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In May 2015, she received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: On April 2, 2017, at the Juno Awards ceremony, McLachlan was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: McLachlan also funds an outreach program in Vancouver that provides music education for inner city children. In 2007, the provincial government announced $500,000 in funding for the outreach program. Originating at the "Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach", this program evolved into the Sarah McLachlan School of Music. This program provided children with high quality music instruction in guitar, piano, percussion and choir.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: In 2011 McLachlan opened the Sarah McLachlan School of Music in Vancouver, a free music school for at-risk youth. The School of Music provides group and private lessons to hundreds of young people every year. It is their goal that through music education, students will develop a love of the arts and have greater self-esteem.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: On May 25, 2016, the Sarah McLachlan School of Music expanded to Edmonton, Alberta, opening in Rundle Elementary School and Eastglen High School. The music school contains the same initiative as the Vancouver school.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: McLachlan supported the ASPCA by appearing in advertisements. She filmed a two-minute advertisement for the organization which featured her song "Angel". The advertisement's imagery of shelter animals mixed with the soundtrack and McLachlan's simple appeal for donations has raised $30 million for the ASPCA since it began to air in 2006, which allowed the organization to air appeals in higher profile prime-time cable ad slots; subsequently the organization produced a new ad for the 2008 holiday season featuring McLachlan appealing for the ASPCA over her "Wintersong" performance of "Silent Night", and a new ad with her was released in January 2009 featuring the song "Answer". In 2012, McLachlan wrote a letter on behalf of PETA to then-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, protesting that country's annual seal hunt. During Super Bowl XLVIII on February 3, 2014, McLachlan parodied her ASPCA appeals in an Audi commercial featuring a "Doberhuahua" dog gnawing on the neck of her guitar.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: McLachlan contributed the track "Hold On" to the 1993 AIDS-benefit album "No Alternative", produced by the Red Hot Organization. She also performed at the Leonard Peltier Defense Fund Benefit Concert on February 12, 1997, and went on to release a cover version of "Unchained Melody" created as part of her support for Peltier. It was later included on the album "Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2".


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: In early 2005, McLachlan took part in a star-studded tsunami disaster relief telethon on NBC. On January 29 McLachlan was a headliner for a benefit concert in Vancouver along with other Canadian superstars such as Avril Lavigne and Bryan Adams. The show also featured a performance by the Sarah McLachlan Musical Outreach Choir & Percussion Ensemble, a children's choir and percussion band from the aforementioned Vancouver outreach program. Entitled "One World: The Concert for Tsunami Relief", the concert raised approximately $3.6 million for several Canadian aid agencies working in south and southeast Asia.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: On July 2, 2005, McLachlan participated in the Philadelphia installment of the Live 8 concerts, where she performed her hit "Angel" with Josh Groban. These concerts, which were held simultaneously in nine major cities around the world, were intended to coincide with the G8 summit to put pressure on the leaders of the world's richest nations to fight poverty in Africa by cancelling debt.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: In 2008, she donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 tsunami.


title: Sarah McLachlan

text: On November 30, 2012, McLachlan lent her support to Kate Winslet's Golden Hat Foundation together with Tim Janis, Loreena McKennitt, Andrea Corr, Hayley Westenra, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, Dawn Kenney, Jana Mashonee, Amy Petty and a choir etc. performing on "The American Christmas Carol" concert in Carnegie Hall.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Thrillers generally keep the audience on the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. The cover-up of important information is a common element. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, unreliable narrators, and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is often a villain-driven plot, whereby they present obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: The most common genres that overlap with the thriller genre include crime, horror and detective fiction.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man generally wins the weak babbling girl, but there is no governmental law in Western countries to ban a story that does not comply with a fond tradition, so that we always hope that the wicked but romantic fellow will escape scot-free and the good but dull chap will be finally snubbed by the moody heroine.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: suspenseful excitement. In short, if it "thrills", it is a thriller. As the introduction to a major anthology says:


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Suspense is a crucial characteristic of the thriller genre. It gives the viewer a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, anticipation, and tension. These develop from unpredictable, mysterious, and rousing events during the narrative, which makes the viewer or reader think about the outcome of certain actions. Suspense builds in order to make those final moments, no matter how short, the most memorable. The suspense in a story keeps the person hooked to reading or watching more until the climax is reached.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: In terms of narrative expectations, it may be contrasted with curiosity and surprise. The objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, and a constant sense of impending doom. As described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, an audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen and have (or believe they have) a superior perspective on events in the drama's hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Suspense in thrillers is often intertwined with hope and anxiety, which are treated as two emotions aroused in anticipation of the conclusion - the hope that things will turn out all right for the appropriate characters in the story, and the fear that they may not. The second type of suspense is the "...anticipation wherein we either know or else are fairly certain about what is going to happen but are still aroused in anticipation of its actual occurrence."


title: Thriller (genre)

text: According to Greek philosopher Aristotle in his book "Poetics", suspense is an important building block of literature, and this is an important convention in the thriller genre.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Thriller music has been shown to create distrust and ominous uncertainty between the viewer of a film and the character on screen at the time when the music is playing.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Common methods and themes in crime and action thrillers are ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, and kidnappings. Common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in dramatic and psychological thrillers include plot twists, psychology, obsession and mind games. Common elements of science-fiction thrillers are killing robots, machines or aliens, mad scientists and experiments. Common in horror thrillers are serial killers, stalking, deathtraps and horror-of-personality. Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers. Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage, conspiracies, assassins and electronic surveillance are common in spy thrillers.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Characters may include criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims (often on the run), menaced women, psychotic individuals, spree killers, sociopaths, agents, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, private eyes, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: The protagonist of these films is set against a problem. No matter what subgenre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The protagonists are frequently ordinary citizens unaccustomed to danger, although commonly in crime and action thrillers, they may also be "hard men" accustomed to danger such as police officers and detectives. While protagonists of thrillers have traditionally been men, women lead characters are increasingly common. In psychological thrillers, the protagonists are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with the antagonist or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. The suspense often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: An atmosphere of menace and sudden violence, such as crime and murder, characterize thrillers. The tension usually arises when the character(s) is placed in a dangerous situation, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Hitchcock's films often placed an innocent victim (an average, responsible person) into a strange, life-threatening or terrorizing situation, in a case of mistaken identity or wrongful accusation.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Thrillers take place mostly in ordinary suburbs and cities, although sometimes they may take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or the high seas. These usually tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their country, or the stability of the Free World (especially if it is set during the Cold War). Often in a thriller movie, the protagonist is faced with what seem to be insurmountable problems in his mission, carried out against a ticking clock, the stakes are high and although resourceful, they face personal dilemmas along the way forcing them to make sacrifices for others.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Ancient epic poems such as the "Epic of Gilgamesh", Homer's "Odyssey" and the "Mahābhārata" may have used similar narrative techniques to modern thrillers. "The Three Apples", a tale in the "One Thousand and One Nights" ("Arabian Nights"), is a murder mystery with multiple plot twists and detective fiction elements. In this tale, a fisherman discovers a heavy locked chest along the Tigris river and he sells it to the Abbasid Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, who then has the chest broken open only to find inside it the dead body of a young woman who was cut into pieces. Harun orders his vizier, Ja'far ibn Yahya, to solve the crime and find the murderer within three days. This whodunit mystery has also been considered a detective story, though it lacks a sleuth.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1844) is a swashbuckling revenge thriller about a man named Edmond Dantès who is betrayed by his friends and sent to languish in the notorious Château d'If. His only companion is an old man who teaches him everything from philosophy to mathematics to swordplay. Just before the old man dies, he reveals to Dantès the secret location of a great treasure. Shortly after, Dantès engineers a daring escape and uses the treasure to reinvent himself as the Count of Monte Cristo. Thirsting for vengeance, he sets out to punish those who destroyed his life.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: The first recognizable modern thriller was Erskine Childer’s "The Riddle of the Sands" (1903), in which two young Englishmen stumble upon a secret German armada preparing to invade their homeland.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: Fritz Lang's "M" is regarded as a groundbreaking psychological thriller, introducing innovative suspense-enhancing audiovisual techniques that have become standard and ubiquitous ever since.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: "The Thirty-Nine Steps" (1915) is an early thriller by John Buchan, in which an innocent man becomes the prime suspect in a murder case and finds himself on the run from both the police and enemy spies.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1963) by John le Carré is set in the world of Cold War espionage and helped to usher in an era of thriller fiction based around professional spies and the battle of wits between rival spymasters.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: There have been at least two television series called simply "Thriller", one made in the U.S. in the 1960s and one made in the UK in the 1970s. Although in no way linked, both series consisted of one-off dramas, each utilising the familiar motifs of the genre.


title: Thriller (genre)

text: "The Twilight Zone" consists of suspenseful unrelated dramas depicting characters dealing with paranormal, futuristic, supernatural, or otherwise disturbing or unusual events. Characters who find themselves dealing with these strange, sometimes inexplicable happenings are said to have crossed over into "The Twilight Zone". Each story typically features a moral and a surprise ending.


title: Geometry Dash

text: Geometry Dash is a series of music platforming video games developed by Swedish developer Robert Topala, also known as RobTop. The first game, known simply as "Geometry Dash", was released on 13 August 2013, on iOS and Android, and a Steam version was released on 22 December 2014. In "Geometry Dash", players control the movement of an icon and navigate along music-based levels, while avoiding obstacles such as spikes that instantly destroy the icon on impact.


title: Geometry Dash

text: "Geometry Dash" currently consists of 21 official levels. It is well known for its extensive level creation system, where players can create their own custom courses, share them online, and play courses designed by other players. More than 83 million custom levels have been created. In addition to the official levels, certain user-created levels have been featured in in-game content including a hall of fame and a daily level. In-game currency, such as stars, coins, orbs, or diamonds can be obtained from various sources such as official levels, user-created levels, or chests.


title: Geometry Dash

text: In addition to the original game, 3 other spin-off games in the series have been made: "Geometry Dash Meltdown", "Geometry Dash World", and "Geometry Dash SubZero."


title: Geometry Dash

text: Depending on the platform the game is played on, "Geometry Dash" can be played with a touchscreen, keyboard, mouse, or controller. The player manipulates the movement of their icon through input in the form of pressing or holding, with the objective of reaching a level's end. If the player crashes into an obstacle, the level restarts from the beginning. However, in practice mode, the player may place checkpoints to survey or practice a level without officially completing it. The timing and rhythm of the in-game music are key parts of the game, often in relation to each other.


title: Geometry Dash

text: During gameplay, the player's icon takes the form of one of seven different vehicles, each of which behave differently with each interaction. Player movement is further complicated by portals that allow the player to change between vehicles, reverse the direction of gravity, change the size of their vehicle, mirror the direction of their movement, change the speed of their vehicle, or teleport. Furthermore, pads and orbs can be used to move the player in varying directions or change gravity. The vehicles are the Cube (also known as the Icon), Ship, UFO, Ball, Wave (also known as the Dart), Robot, and Spider. The Cube will jump when player input is registered on a surface. The Ship ascends during player input and falls otherwise. The UFO jumps when player input is registered on a surface or in the air. The Ball allows the player to change its gravity on input. The Wave behaves similarly to the Ship, but only falls/ascends in straight lines. The Robot behaves similarly to the Cube, but its jump height is determined by the duration of the player's input. The Spider will teleport and stick to the surface directly above it on input, changing gravity instantaneously.


title: Geometry Dash

text: There are 21 official levels in the full version of "Geometry Dash", 18 of which are unlocked upon installation. The other 3 require a certain number of secret coins which are hidden in all of the levels. Each level grants rewards upon completion. Official levels steadily advance in difficulty. Levels are categorized into 6 difficulty ratings: easy, normal, hard, harder, insane, and demon (which contains an additional counter). Players can earn achievements that unlock rewards such as icons or colors. Players may also utilize three shops which use an in-game currency to acquire icons or colors.


title: Geometry Dash

text: The full version of the game features the ability to upload and download user-created levels. The creator must complete their level with all user-placed coins in normal mode before it can be uploaded: a process known as verification. Changes made after verification will render the level unverified again. Some custom levels have a difficulty determined by Topala. The creator of a level, its players, and the game's moderators can influence this decision. User-created levels can be categorized into 12 difficulty ratings, including the 5 ratings used in the official levels. The auto difficulty is reserved for "auto" levels which do not require input for completion. Additionally, there are five variations of the demon difficulty: easy, medium, hard, insane, and extreme. In approved user-created levels, each difficulty rewards a certain number of stars upon completion.


title: Geometry Dash

text: The various music tracks used in the official levels were made by artists ForeverBound, DJVI, DJ-Nate, Waterflame, F-777, MDK, and Topala himself.


title: Geometry Dash

text: Level creators may choose songs by a wide variety of artists using the website Newgrounds. The music from the 21 official levels can also be used without having to unlock each song's respective level.


title: Geometry Dash

text: According to Topala, the game began as a project that could have moved in any direction. He made the remarks, "it simply started as a template with a cube that could crash and jump" and "there really was no detailed plan." He previously developed it for the computer, but later altered his plan and made attempts to make it a mobile game. Topala was inspired by "The Impossible Game" and he took about four months to create the game and take it to the App Store and Google Play Store. In the beta version, the game was called "Geometry Jump", but was later changed to "Geometry Dash". The game is developed on the Cocos2d game engine.


title: Geometry Dash

text: Upon its release, "Geometry Dash" had just seven levels, which are now currently free to play on the game's free version, alongside six other levels released in later updates in the full version. It soon gained popularity around the world, especially Canada, where it achieved the title as the most popular paid iPhone app in June 2014. There are four free versions of the game, one being "Geometry Dash Lite" which currently (as of Lite's update 2.21.3) includes the first 16 levels from the full version.


title: Geometry Dash

text: On 14 August 2021, Topala released a sneak peek video of 2.2, the first major update since 2017, on his YouTube channel. The release date has yet to be announced. On 4 September 2022, Topala released the second sneak peak, over a year after the first.


title: Geometry Dash

text: The game has opened to generally positive reviews from critics. "Softpedia" complimented the game's style and challenge that it brings up, saying, "While it can get a bit frustrating sometimes, you can always complete the stages using the practice mode and then jump into the many different user-generated levels." "148Apps" gave the game a positive review, stating, "Geometry Dash provides all of the challenge expected from an "impossible" game while also making it more accessible to newcomers." "Geometry Dash" has also been listed by the reviewer Chris Morris on the website "Common Sense Media" as a child-friendly video game that parents could let their children play on, stating that the game was a "good way to handle frustration", and that "families can also talk about rhythm and the joy of dancing in time with music." On the App Store, "Geometry Dash" was ranked 2nd for the app's "Top 10 Paid iPad Games" and 7th for "Top 10 Paid iPhone Games" in 2018.


title: Geometry Dash

text: For "Geometry Dash World", "Gamezebo" praised the game's captivation and decent gameplay styles, though the reviewer noted that it was not the "most interesting looking game out there". Gerson Noboa from "AndroidGuys" praised the "Geometry Dash" spin-off, stating that, "Geometry Dash World is a worthy addition to your game arsenal. Thanks to tightly connected graphical and sound elements, the game provides an awesome, integrated experience that is rarely seen in Play Store games".


title: Geometry Dash

text: "Geometry Dash Lite" is a free version of the game with advertisements and gameplay restrictions. Geometry Dash Lite has 16 levels, but lacks the ability to create and play custom user-generated levels. It also has a much more limited selection of character customization options, missing many of the icons and colors that can be used in the full game.


title: Geometry Dash

text: On 16 December 2015, Topala announced a spin-off game titled "Geometry Dash Meltdown", which was released on 19 December 2015, for iOS and Android. As of update 1.0, it includes 3 levels, featuring the songs of F-777. The game showcased new icons from version 2.1 and features in levels added in version 2.0 of the original game.


title: Geometry Dash

text: On 21 December 2016, Topala announced a second spin-off game titled "Geometry Dash World", saying that it would come out on the same day. Currently, it includes 2 worlds with 5 levels each, along with new update 2.2 features.


title: Geometry Dash

text: On 12 December 2017, Topala announced a third spin-off game titled "Geometry Dash SubZero", which was released on 21 December 2017. It consists of three levels. It is currently the latest stand-alone game released in the series, and the first to offer some features of the main game's unreleased (as of December 2022) update 2.2, including features from the update such as new icons and camera control triggers.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Sunset Boulevard (styled in the main title on-screen as SUNSET BLVD.) is a 1950 American black comedy film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The film stars William Holden as Joe Gillis, a struggling screenwriter, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a former silent-film star who draws him into her demented fantasy world, where she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. Erich von Stroheim plays Max von Mayerling, her devoted butler, and Nancy Olson, Jack Webb, Lloyd Gough, and Fred Clark appear in supporting roles. Director Cecil B. DeMille and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper play themselves, and the film includes cameo appearances by leading silent-film actors Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Praised by many critics when first released, "Sunset Boulevard" was nominated for 11 Academy Awards (including nominations in all four acting categories) and won three. It is often ranked among the greatest movies ever made. As it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the U.S. Library of Congress in 1989, "Sunset Boulevard" was included in the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 1998, it was ranked number 12 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best American films of the 20th century, and in 2007, it was 16th on their 10th Anniversary list.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: At a mansion on Sunset Boulevard, a group of police officers and photographers discover the body of Joe Gillis, floating face down in the swimming pool. In a flashback, Joe relates the events leading to his death.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Six months earlier, Joe was a down-on-his-luck screenwriter, trying to interest Paramount Pictures in a story he submitted. Script reader Betty Schaefer harshly critiques it, unaware that Joe is listening. Later, while fleeing from repossession men seeking his car, Joe turns into the driveway of a seemingly deserted mansion inhabited by forgotten silent film star Norma Desmond. Learning that Joe is a writer, Norma asks his opinion of a script she has written for a film about Salome. She plans to play the role herself in her return to the screen. Joe finds her script abysmal but flatters her into hiring him as a script doctor.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Moved into Norma's mansion at her insistence, Joe sees that Norma refuses to accept that her fame has evaporated, and learns that her butler Max secretly writes the fan letters she receives. At her New Year's Eve party, he realizes she has fallen in love with him. Joe tries to let her down gently, but Norma slaps him and retreats to her room. Joe visits his friend Artie Green and again meets Betty, who thinks a scene in one of Joe's scripts has potential. When he phones Max to have him pack his things, Max tells him Norma cut her wrists with his razor. Joe returns to Norma and they become lovers.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Norma has Max deliver the edited "Salome" script to her former director Cecil B. DeMille at Paramount. She starts getting calls from Paramount executive Gordon Cole but refuses to speak to anyone except DeMille. Eventually, she has Max drive her and Joe to Paramount in her 1929 Isotta Fraschini. DeMille welcomes her affectionately and treats her with great respect, tactfully evading her questions about her script. Max learns that Cole merely wants to rent her unusual car for a film.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Preparing for her imagined comeback, Norma undergoes rigorous beauty treatments. Joe secretly works nights at Betty's office room, collaborating on an original screenplay. His moonlighting is found out by Max, who reveals that he was a respected film director who discovered Norma, made her a star, and was her first husband. After she divorced him, he abandoned his career to become her servant.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Norma discovers a manuscript with Joe's and Betty's names on it and phones Betty, insinuating that Joe is not the man he seems. Joe, overhearing, invites Betty to see for herself. When she arrives, he pretends he is satisfied being a gigolo. However, after she tearfully leaves, he packs for a return to his old Ohio newspaper job. He bluntly informs Norma there will be no comeback; her fan mail comes from Max, and she has been forgotten. He disregards Norma's threat to kill herself and the gun she shows him to back it up. As Joe leaves the house, Norma shoots him three times, and he falls into the pool.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The flashback ends. The house is filled with police and reporters. Norma, having lost touch with reality amid her arrest, believes the newsreel cameras are there to film "Salome". Max and the police play along. Max sets up a scene for her and calls, "Action!" As the cameras roll, Norma descends her grand staircase and makes an impromptu speech about how happy she is to be making a film again, ending with the film's iconic line, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The street known as Sunset Boulevard has been associated with Hollywood film production since 1911, when the town's first film studio, Nestor, opened there. The film workers lived modestly in the growing neighborhood, but during the 1920s, profits and salaries rose to unprecedented levels. With the advent of the star system, luxurious homes noted for their often incongruous grandeur were built in the area.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: As a young man living in Berlin in the 1920s, Billy Wilder was interested in American culture, with much of his interest fueled by the country's films. In the late 1940s, many of the grand Hollywood houses remained, and Wilder, then a Los Angeles resident, found them to be a part of his everyday world. Many former stars from the silent era still lived in them, although most were no longer involved in the film business. Wilder wondered how they spent their time now that "the parade had passed them by" and began imagining the story of a star who had lost her celebrity and box-office appeal.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The character of Norma Desmond mirrors aspects of the twilight years of several real-life faded silent-film stars, such as the reclusive existences of Greta Garbo, Mary Pickford and Pola Negri and the mental disorders of Mae Murray, Valeska Surratt and Clara Bow. Dave Kehr has asserted that Norma Talmadge is "the obvious if unacknowledged source of Norma Desmond, the grotesque, predatory silent movie queen" of the film. The most common analysis of the character's name is that it is a combination of the names of silent film actress Mabel Normand and director William Desmond Taylor, a close friend of Normand's who was murdered in 1922 in a never-solved case sensationalized by the press.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Wilder and Brackett began working on a script in 1948, but the result did not completely satisfy them. In August 1948, D. M. Marshman Jr., formerly a writer for "Life", was hired to help develop the storyline after Wilder and Brackett were impressed by a critique he provided of their film "The Emperor Waltz" (1948). In an effort to keep the full details of the story from Paramount Pictures and avoid the restrictive censorship of the Breen Code, they submitted the script a few pages at a time. The Breen Office insisted certain lines be rewritten, such as Gillis's "I'm up that creek and I need a job," which became "I'm over a barrel. I need a job." Paramount executives thought Wilder was adapting a story called "A Can of Beans" (which did not exist) and allowed him relative freedom to proceed as he saw fit. Only the first third of the script was written when filming began in early May 1949, and Wilder was unsure how the film would end.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The fusion of writer-director Billy Wilder's biting humor and the classic elements of film noir make for a strange kind of comedy, as well as a strange kind of film noir. There are no belly laughs here, but there are certainly strangled giggles: at the pet chimp's midnight funeral, at Joe's discomfited acquiescence to the role of gigolo; at Norma's Mack Sennett-style "entertainments" for her uneasy lover; and at the ritualized solemnity of Norma's "waxworks" card parties, which feature such former luminaries as Buster Keaton as Norma's has-been cronies.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Wilder preferred to leave analysis of his screenplays and films to others. When asked if "Sunset Boulevard" was a black comedy, he replied: "No, just a picture".


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: According to Brackett, Wilder and he never considered anyone except Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. Wilder, however, had a different recollection. He recalled first wanting Mae West and Marlon Brando for the leads. West rejected the offer out-right. West portrayed herself as a sex symbol through her senior years, and was offended that she should be asked to play a Hollywood has-been.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The filmmakers approached Greta Garbo, whom they had worked with previously on "Ninotchka" (1939), but she was not interested. Wilder contacted Pola Negri by telephone, but had a difficult time understanding her heavy Polish accent. He then reached out to Clara Bow, the famed "IT Girl" of the 1920s, but she declined citing that she had no interest in engaging in the film industry again due to how hard it was for her during the transition of sound films and that she'd prefer to remain in seclusion with her husband and sons while leaving her previous life behind her. They also offered the part of Norma Desmond to Norma Shearer, but she rejected the role due to both her retirement and distaste for the script. They were considering Fred MacMurray to play opposite her as Joe. Wilder and Brackett then visited Mary Pickford, but before even discussing the plot with her, Wilder realized she would consider a role involving an affair with a man half her age an insult, so they departed. They had considered pairing Montgomery Clift with her.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: According to Wilder, he asked George Cukor for advice, and he suggested Swanson, one of the most fêted actresses of the silent-screen era, known for her beauty, talent, and extravagant lifestyle. In many ways, she resembled the Norma Desmond character, and like her, had been unable to make a smooth transition into talking pictures. The similarities ended there; Swanson made a handful of talking pictures. She accepted the end of her film career, and in the early 1930s moved to New York City, where she worked in radio. In the mid-1940s, she worked in television and on the New York stage and had last appeared in the 1941 film "Father Takes a Wife". Though Swanson was not seeking a movie comeback, she became intrigued when Wilder discussed the role with her.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Swanson was glad for the opportunity to earn a greater salary than she had been making in television and on stage. However, she was chagrined at the notion of submitting to a screen test, saying she had "made 20 films for Paramount. Why do they want me to audition?" Her reaction was echoed in the screenplay when Norma Desmond declares, "Without me there wouldn't be any Paramount." In her memoir, Swanson recalled asking Cukor if it was unreasonable to refuse the screen test. He replied that since Norma Desmond was the role for which she would be remembered, "If they ask you to do ten screen tests, do ten screen tests, or I will personally shoot you." His enthusiasm convinced Swanson to participate, and she signed a contract for $50,000 (). In a 1975 interview, Wilder recalled Swanson's reaction with the observation, "There "was" a lot of Norma in her, you know."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Wilder harks back to Swanson's silent film career when Norma shows Joe the film "Queen Kelly", an earlier Gloria Swanson film directed by Erich Von Stroheim. "Queen Kelly" wasn't released in the United States for over 50 years after Swanson walked off the set.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Montgomery Clift was signed to play Joe Gillis for $5,000 per week for a guaranteed 12 weeks, but just before the start of filming, he withdrew from the project, claiming his role of a young man involved with an older woman was too close to the one he had played in "The Heiress" (1949), in which he felt he had been unconvincing. An infuriated Wilder responded, "If he's any kind of actor, he could be convincing making love to "any" woman." Clift himself was having an affair with a much older woman (the singer Libby Holman) which was suggested as his real reason for withdrawing from the film.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Forced to consider the available Paramount contract players, Wilder and Brackett focused on William Holden, who had made an impressive debut a decade earlier in "Golden Boy" (1939). Following an appearance in "Our Town" (1940), he served in the military in World War II, and his return to the screen afterward had been moderately successful. Holden was enthusiastic about the script and eager to accept the role. He did not know at the time that his salary of $39,000 () was much less than had been offered to Clift.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Erich von Stroheim, a leading film director of the 1920s who had directed Swanson, was signed to play Max, Norma's faithful servant, protector, and former husband. For the role of Betty Schaefer, Wilder wanted a newcomer who could project a wholesome and ordinary image to contrast with Swanson's flamboyant and obsessive Desmond. He chose Nancy Olson, who had recently been considered for the role of Delilah in Cecil B. DeMille's "Samson and Delilah."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: DeMille, often credited as the person most responsible for making Swanson a star, plays himself, and was filmed on the set of "Samson and Delilah" at Paramount Studios. He calls Norma "young fella" as he had called Swanson.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Norma's friends who come to play bridge with her, described in the script as "the waxworks", were Swanson's contemporaries Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson, and H. B. Warner, who like DeMille, played themselves. Hedda Hopper also played herself, reporting on Norma Desmond's downfall in the film's final scenes.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The film's dark, shadowy black-and-white, film noir cinematography was the work of John F. Seitz. Wilder had worked with him on several projects before, and trusted his judgment, allowing him to make his own decisions. Seitz recalled asking Wilder what he required for the pet chimpanzee's funeral scene. Wilder replied, "you know, just your standard monkey funeral shot." For some interior shots, Seitz sprinkled dust in front of the camera before filming to suggest "mustiness," a trick he had also used for "Double Indemnity" (1944). The film had the option to be shot in color, but it was instead shot in black and white to be more reflective of the noir genre.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Wilder was adamant that the corpse of Joe Gillis be seen from the bottom of the pool, but creating the effect was difficult. The camera was placed inside a specially constructed box and lowered under water, but the result disappointed Wilder, who insisted on further experiments. The shot was finally achieved by placing a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filming Holden's reflection from above with the distorted image of the policemen standing around the pool and forming a backdrop.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Film historian Tom Stempel writes, "In both "Double Indemnity" and "Sunset Boulevard", Seitz does something that has always impressed me. Both are films noir, and he finesses the fact that both are set in the sunniest of locales, Los Angeles... he brings together the light and the dark in the same film without any seams showing... he brings together the realistic lighting of Joe Gillis out in the real world with the gothic look of Norma Desmond's mansion. Again with no seams showing."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Edith Head designed the costumes. Wilder, Head, and Swanson agreed that Norma Desmond would have kept somewhat up-to-date with fashion trends, so Head designed costumes closely resembling the Dior look of the mid-1940s. Embellishments were added to personalize them and reflect Norma Desmond's taste.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Swanson recalled in her biography that the costumes were only "a trifle outdated, a trifle exotic." Head later described her assignment as "the most challenging of my career," and explained her approach with the comment, "Because Norma Desmond was an actress who had become lost in her own imagination, I tried to make her look like she was always impersonating someone." Head later said she relied on Swanson's expertise because "she was creating a past that she knew and I didn't." Head also designed the costumes for William Holden and the minor characters, but for authenticity, Wilder instructed Von Stroheim and Nancy Olson to wear their own clothing.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The overstated decadence of Norma Desmond's home was created by set designer Hans Dreier, whose career extended back to the silent era. He had also been commissioned to complete the interior design for the homes of movie stars, including the house of Mae West. William Haines, an interior designer and former actor, later rebutted criticism of Dreier's set design with the observation, "Bebe Daniels, Norma Shearer, and Pola Negri all had homes with ugly interiors like that."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The bed in the shape of a boat in which Norma Desmond slept had been owned by the dancer Gaby Deslys, who died in 1920. It had originally been bought by the Universal prop department at auction after Deslys's death. The bed appeared in "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925) starring Lon Chaney.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Wilder also made use of authentic locales. Joe Gillis's apartment is in the Alto Nido, a real apartment block in central Hollywood that was often populated by struggling writers. The scenes of Gillis and Betty Schaefer on Paramount's back lot were filmed on the actual back lot, and the interior of Schwab's Drug Store was carefully recreated for several scenes. The exterior scenes of the Desmond house were filmed at a house on Wilshire Boulevard built during the 1920s by the millionaire William O. Jenkins. Jenkins and his family lived in it for just one year, then left it abandoned for more than a decade, which earned it the nickname, the "Phantom House". By 1949, it was owned by the former wife of J. Paul Getty. The house was later featured in Nicholas Ray's "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955). It was demolished by the Gettys in 1957 to allow construction of an office building .


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: During filming, considerable publicity was given to health-conscious Gloria Swanson's youthful appearance, which made her look the same age as Holden. Wilder insisted that the age difference between the characters be delineated, and instructed makeup supervisor Wally Westmore to make Swanson look older. Swanson argued that a woman of Norma Desmond's age, with her considerable wealth and devotion to self, would not necessarily look old, and suggested Holden be made up to appear younger. Wilder agreed, and Westmore was assigned this task, which allowed Swanson to portray Norma Desmond as more glamorous a figure than Wilder had originally imagined.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The musical score was the final element added to "Sunset Boulevard". The film was scored by Franz Waxman. His theme for Norma Desmond was based on tango music, inspired by her having danced the tango with Rudolph Valentino. This style was contrasted with Joe Gillis's bebop theme. Waxman also used distorted arrangements of popular film-music styles from the 1920s and 1930s to suggest Norma Desmond's state of mind. The film's score was recorded for compact disc by the Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Joel McNeely and released in 2002. The surviving parts of the original score were released in 2010.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Wilder and Brackett, nervous about a major screening in Hollywood, held a preview in Evanston, Illinois, in late 1949. The original edit opened with a scene inside a morgue, with the assembled corpses discussing how they came to be there. The story began with the corpse of Joe Gillis recounting his murder to the others. The audience reacted with laughter and seemed unsure whether to view the rest of the film as drama or comedy. After a similar reaction during its second screening in Poughkeepsie, New York, and a third in Great Neck, the morgue opening was replaced by a shorter poolside opening, using footage filmed on January 5, 1950.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: In Hollywood, Paramount arranged a private screening for the various studio heads and specially invited guests. After viewing the film, Barbara Stanwyck knelt to kiss the hem of Gloria Swanson's skirt. Swanson later remembered looking for Mary Pickford, only to be told, "She can't show herself, Gloria. She's too overcome. We all are." Louis B. Mayer berated Wilder before the crowd of celebrities, saying, "You have disgraced the industry that made and fed you! You should be tarred and feathered and run out of Hollywood!" Upon hearing of Mayer's slight, Wilder strode up to the mogul and retorted with a vulgarity that one biographer said was allegedly because Mayer, who was Jewish, suggested that Wilder, who was also Jewish, would be better off being sent back to Germany, an extraordinary sentiment so soon after the war and the Holocaust, in which Wilder's family perished. In 2020 Olson recounted that friends who had attended the screening told her that Wilder had simply told Mayer "Go fuck yourself."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The few other criticisms were not so venomous. According to one often-told but later discredited anecdote, actress Mae Murray, a contemporary of Swanson, was offended by the film and commented, "None of us floozies was "that" nuts."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: "Sunset Boulevard" had its official world premiere at Radio City Music Hall on August 10, 1950. After a seven-week run, "Variety" magazine reported the film had grossed "around $1,020,000", making it one of that theater's most successful pictures. "Variety" also noted that, while it was "breaking records in major cities, it is doing below average in ... the sticks." To promote the film, Gloria Swanson traveled by train throughout the United States, visiting 33 cities in a few months. The publicity helped attract people to the cinemas, but in many areas away from major cities it was considered less than a hit.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 98% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 112 reviews, with an average rating of 9.5/10. The critical consensus states: "Arguably the greatest movie about Hollywood, Billy Wilder's masterpiece "Sunset Boulevard" is a tremendously entertaining combination of noir, black comedy, and character study."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: "Sunset Boulevard" attracted a range of positive reviews from critics. "Time" described it as a story of "Hollywood at its worst told by Hollywood at its best", while "Boxoffice Review" wrote "the picture will keep spectators spellbound." James Agee, writing for "Sight & Sound", praised the film and said Wilder and Brackett were "beautifully equipped to do the cold, exact, adroit, sardonic job they have done." "Good Housekeeping" described Swanson as a "great lady [who] spans another decade with her magic," while "Look" praised her "brilliant and haunting performance."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Some critics accurately foresaw the film's lasting appeal. "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote that future generations would "set themselves the task of analyzing the durability and greatness" of the film, while "Commonweal" said that in the future "the Library of Congress will be glad to have in its archives a print of "Sunset Boulevard.""


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The rare negative comments included those from "The New Yorker", which described the film as "a pretentious slice of Roquefort", containing only "the germ of a good idea". Thomas M. Pryor wrote for "The New York Times" that the plot device of using the dead Joe Gillis as narrator was "completely unworthy of Brackett and Wilder, but happily it does not interfere with the success of "Sunset Boulevard"".


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: In 1999, Roger Ebert praised the acting of Holden and von Stroheim and has described Swanson's as "one of the all time greatest performances." He says "Sunset Boulevard" "remains the best drama ever made about the movies because it sees through the illusions." Ebert gave the film four stars out of four and included it in his Great Movies list. Pauline Kael described the film as "almost too clever, but at its best in its cleverness", and also wrote that it was common to "hear Billy Wilder called the world's greatest director." When Wilder died in 2002, obituaries singled out "Sunset Boulevard" for comment, describing it as one of his most significant works, along with "Double Indemnity" (1944) and "Some Like It Hot" (1959).


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Film writer Richard Corliss describes "Sunset Boulevard" as "the definitive Hollywood horror movie", noting that almost everything in the script is "ghoulish". He remarks that the story is narrated by a dead man whom Norma Desmond first mistakes for an undertaker, while most of the film takes place "in an old, dark house that only opens its doors to the living dead". He compares von Stroheim's character Max with the concealed Erik, the central character in "The Phantom of the Opera", and Norma Desmond with Dracula, noting that, as she seduces Joe Gillis, the camera tactfully withdraws with "the traditional directorial attitude taken towards Dracula's jugular seductions". He writes that the narrative contains an excess of "cheap sarcasm", but ultimately congratulates the writers for attributing this dialogue to Joe Gillis, who was in any case presented as little more than a hack writer.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Of the various films that have attracted Academy Award nominations in all four acting categories, "Sunset Boulevard" is one of only three not to win in any category, the others being "My Man Godfrey" (1936) and "American Hustle" (2013). At the time its eleven Oscar nominations were exceeded only by the fourteen received by "All About Eve", which won six awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Many critics predicted that the Best Actress award would be given to Gloria Swanson or Bette Davis for "All About Eve" and were surprised that the recipient was newcomer Judy Holliday for "Born Yesterday". Bette Davis believed that her and Swanson's comparable characters effectively "cancelled each other out", allowing Holliday to win. Swanson recalled the press's reaction following Holliday's win: "It slowly dawned on me that they were asking for a larger-than-life scene, or better still, a mad scene. More accurately, they were trying to flush out Norma Desmond."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: "Sunset Boulevard" was dramatized as an hour-long radio play on the September 17, 1951 broadcast of "Lux Radio Theater" with Gloria Swanson and William Holden in their original film roles.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: In 1989, the film was among the first group of 25 deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. "The Village Voice" ranked the film at No. 43 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics. The film was included in ""The New York Times" Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made" in 2002. In January 2002, the film was voted at No. 87 on the list of the "Top 100 Essential Films of All Time" by the National Society of Film Critics. "Sunset Boulevard" received 33 votes in the British Film Institute's 2012 "Sight & Sound" polls, making it the 63rd greatest film of all time in the critics’ poll and 67th in the directors' poll. In the earlier 2002 "Sight & Sound" polls the film ranked 12th among directors. The Writers Guild of America ranked the film's screenplay (Written by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman, Jr.) the 7th greatest ever. In a 2015 poll by BBC Culture, film critics ranked "Sunset Boulevard" the 54th greatest American film of all time.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: "Sunset Boulevard" was the last collaboration between Wilder and Brackett. They parted amicably and did not publicly air any grievances for the rest of their lives. In later years, Brackett confided in screenwriter/director Garson Kanin that he had not anticipated the split, or had ever understood exactly what happened or why. He described it as "an unexpected blow" from which he never recovered fully. When asked to respond to Brackett's comments, Wilder remained silent.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: The two men briefly reunited in October 1951 to face charges that they had plagiarized "Sunset Boulevard." Former Paramount accountant Stephanie Joan Carlson alleged that in 1947 she had submitted to Wilder and Brackett, at their request, manuscripts of stories, both fictional and based on fact, she had written about studio life. She claimed that one in particular, "Past Performance", served as the basis for the "Sunset" script, and sued the screenwriters and Paramount for $100,000 in general damages, $250,000 in punitive damages, $700,000 based on the box office returns, and an additional $350,000 for good measure, for a total of $1,400,000. Carlson's suit was dismissed after two and a half years. In 1954, a similar suit was filed by playwright Edra Buckler, who claimed material she had written had been the screenplay's source. Her suit was dismissed the following year.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Brackett's Hollywood career continued after his split with Wilder. He won an Academy Award for his screenplay for "Titanic" (1953), and wrote "Niagara" (1953), the breakthrough film for Marilyn Monroe as a dramatic actress. It was Wilder, however, who realized Monroe's comedic abilities in "The Seven Year Itch" and "Some Like It Hot." Brackett's career waned by the end of the decade, though he did produce the Oscar-nominated film "The King and I" (1956). He received an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1958.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: William Holden began receiving more important parts and his career rose. He won the Best Actor Oscar for "Stalag 17" (1953), also directed by Wilder, and by 1956 he was the top box-office attraction in the United States.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Before the film was released, Nancy Olson had grown disenchanted with film as a career partly because the themes of "Sunset Boulevard" resonated with her, and also because she had become engaged to songwriter Alan Jay Lerner and decided to move to New York with him. Nevertheless, Olson's pairing with William Holden was considered a success, and she appeared opposite him in several films during the 1950s, although none of them repeated their earlier success; she returned to Hollywood to make several other films, including "The Absent-Minded Professor" (1961) and "Son of Flubber" (1963), in which she was paired with Fred MacMurray.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Similarly, Gloria Swanson was not able to leverage her own success in "Sunset Boulevard". Although offered scripts, she felt that they all were poor imitations of Norma Desmond. Imagining a career that would eventually reduce her to playing "a parody of a parody," she virtually retired from films.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: "Sunset Boulevard" was shown again in New York City in 1960, and drew such a positive response that Paramount arranged for a limited re-release in theaters throughout the United States.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Films that discuss "Sunset Boulevard" in their screenplays or pay homage in scenes or dialogue include "Soapdish" (1991), "The Player" (1992), "Gods and Monsters" (1998), "Mulholland Drive" (2001), "Inland Empire" (2006) and "Be Cool" (2005). The ending of "Cecil B. Demented" (2000) is a parody of "Sunset Boulevard's" final scene.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: By the late 1990s, most "Sunset Boulevard" prints were in poor condition, and as the film was shot using cellulose nitrate filmstock, much of the original negative had perished. Paramount Studios, believing the film merited the effort of a complete restoration, mounted an expensive project to have it digitally restored. This restored version was released on DVD in 2002. In 2012, the film was digitally restored by Paramount Pictures for Blu-ray Disc debut. Frame-by-frame digital restoration by Prasad Corporation removed dirt, tears, scratches and other defects.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: From around 1952 to 1956, Gloria Swanson herself worked with actor Richard Stapley (aka Richard Wyler) and cabaret singer/pianist Dickson Hughes on an adaptation titled "Boulevard!" (at first "Starring Norma Desmond"). Stapley and Hughes first approached Swanson about appearing in a musical revue they had written, "About Time" (based on "Time"). Swanson stated that she would return to the stage only in a musical version of her comeback film. Within a week, Stapley and Dickson had written three songs which Swanson approved.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: In this version, the romance between Gillis and Schaefer was allowed to blossom, and rather than shoot Gillis at the end, Norma gave the couple her blessing, sending them on their way to live "happily ever after."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Although Paramount gave verbal permission to proceed with the musical, there was no formal legal option. In the late 1950s, Paramount withdrew its consent, leading to the demise of the project.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: In 1994, Dickson Hughes incorporated material from "Boulevard!" into a musical "Swanson on Sunset", based on his and Stapley's experiences in writing "Boulevard!".


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: Stephen Sondheim briefly considered turning "Sunset Boulevard" into a musical until meeting Billy Wilder at a cocktail party, who told him that the film would be better adapted as an opera rather than a musical. Hal Prince later approached Sondheim to adapt the film as a musical with Angela Lansbury playing Norma Desmond.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: John Kander and Fred Ebb were also approached by Hal Prince to write a musical of "Sunset Boulevard".


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: A musical adaptation with book and lyrics written by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber was staged in 1993 in London, with Patti LuPone playing Norma Desmond. It closely followed the film story, retained much of the dialogue and attempted to present similar set designs. It reached Broadway in 1994, with Glenn Close playing Norma Desmond. The production staged 17 previews beginning November 1, 1994, and played 977 performances at the Minskoff Theatre from November 17, 1994 through March 22, 1997. In 2016, Close reprised the role in London's West End, followed by a 12-week run at the Palace Theater in New York City from February 2 to June 25, 2017.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: A film adaptation of the musical, with Close and Lloyd Webber producing, and Close playing Norma, is in development at Paramount Pictures, with Rob Ashford directing and Tom MacRae writing. Filming was originally set to begin in late 2019, but was delayed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Paramount putting the project on hold as of October 2021.


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: "Sunset Boulevard" is heavily referenced in " The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made" by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell. Quotes from the film are used as epigraphs for many chapters; for example, Chapter 11 begins, "No one leaves a star. That's what makes one a star." Plot and themes of the film are directly invoked to point out parallels in the production of "The Room". In an interview, Sestero states, "I saw a lot of similarities with my story, especially when Tommy lived in a place that had a pool and wanted to make his own vanity project."


title: Sunset Boulevard (film)

text: In February 2020, President Donald Trump tweeted “So "Parasite" won Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards” and lamented that movies like "Sunset Boulevard" aren't made anymore.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: The Horus Heresy is an ongoing series of science fantasy set in the fictional "Warhammer 40,000" setting of tabletop miniatures wargame company Games Workshop. Penned by several authors, the series takes place during the Horus Heresy, a fictional galaxy-spanning civil war occurring 10,000 years before the far future of Warhammer 40,000. The war is described as a major contributing factor to the game's dystopian environment.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: The books are published in several media by the Black Library, a Games Workshop division, with the first title released in April 2006; the series consists of 61 published volumes; the concluding story, "The End and the Death", will be released in two volumes, with the first slated for release in February 2023.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: The series has developed into a distinct and successful product line for the Black Library; titles have often appeared in bestseller lists, and overall the work has received critical approval despite reservations. It is an established, definitive component of Games Workshop's "Horus Heresy" sub-brand, and authoritative source material for the entire Warhammer  shared universe and its continuing development.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "The Horus Heresy" is a dark, far future military space opera concerning an intergalactic civil war within the nascent Imperium of Man, and which constitutes a cornerstone event of the dystopian science fantasy "Warhammer 40,000" universe. The Horus Heresy is presented as a major chapter of conflict in the "Warhammer 40,000" lore: it is caused by a Chaos plot to foil the Imperium's leader and founder, the mysterious Emperor of Man, by fomenting rebellion and internecine warfare in the expanding Imperium of Man. The story focuses on the Emperor's 18 genetically engineered sons, the Primarchs, and the legions of genetically enhanced superhuman soldiers that they lead, the Legiones Astartes, which find themselves divided into loyalist and traitor factions as they struggle for religious hegemony.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: The shared universe was originally created in 1987 by Games Workshop, parent company of series publisher Black Library, as the campaign setting for the "Warhammer 40,000" tabletop miniatures wargame and in 2006 Black Library began publishing "The Horus Heresy" series. The series consists of full-length novels, and novel-length compilations of novellas or short stories, written by a number of authors. The series includes new characters as well as establishing the background of previously established "Warhammer 40,000" characters who play an important role in the post-Heresy fictional universe.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: The first three novels in "The Horus Heresy" are an opening book trilogy. This trilogy presents some of the background and causes of the Heresy, and describes the start of the conflict. The arc's focus is on Warmaster Horus, the principal antagonist, and covers about two years in the overall Heresy timeline; most of this period elapses before the rebellion begins. Following the trilogy, the narrative is not strictly sequential and is often presented in nonlinear fashion from book to book. Apart from the initial trilogy, the stories often concern events that happen earlier or later than their position in the series would suggest, or may include time periods already covered in other series titles.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: The majority of stories in "The Horus Heresy" are set around the start of the fictional universe's 31st millennium, in contrast to most "Warhammer 40,000" material, which takes place in the 41st millennium. The stories in "The Horus Heresy" routinely cover the conflict's background, with some going back centuries before the war (and the 31st millennium) begins. In narrower scope, the entire conflict (including the Heresy proper and its proximate formative period), is depicted as having lasted for seven years. With few exceptions, the sequence and dating of Heresy events is implied rather than stated in "The Horus Heresy" stories.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: The following lists pertain to regular or general-availability UK first editions. For special and other editions, and additional information, see § Media and editions.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: Contributors of the series include artists, audiobook narrators, and compilation or abridgement editors. Each may have contributed in stories that utilise different forms; where applicable, the number of (multiple) contributions per form or other pertinent information is indicated in parentheses.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: Early in the 31st millennium, the Galaxy is in the throes of the Great Crusade. Originating from Terra (Earth), it is an interstellar crusade that claims the galaxy as the rightful domain of Humankind, and aims to reunite the multitude of scattered human colonies remaining from earlier space exploration under the domain of an "Imperium of Man". Organised in numerous expeditions, the Crusade fields huge fleets and vast armies; at its forefront, led by the Primarchs, are Legions of Space Marines genetically enhanced supersoldiers numbering in the millions. Over the course of two Terran centuries, the Crusade has reached star systems more than 50,000 light years away from its original staging point in the Sol (Solar) System, has assimilated millions of worlds into the Imperium, and has given Humankind a dominant position among the galaxy's species. Its grand mastermind is the "Emperor of Mankind", a mysterious superhuman of unknown origin.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: The Emperor, founder and head of the Imperium, is a being of towering charisma, prowess, conviction, and ability. He has declared an agnostic worldview, the "Imperial Truth", which promotes science, rationalism, and human primacy. Unknown to the common citizenry, he is also the most powerful human (or humanlike) psychic, referred to as psykers, and is overall one of the most formidable psychics in the galaxy. Officially, the Imperium denies the existence of psychic phenomena, including its manifestations as witchcraft and sorcery, and punishes its belief as ignorant and superstitious; yet the Imperium is also dependent on psychic activity in order to achieve faster-than-light travel between its scattered dominions. The Emperor knows that psychic phenomena originate in The Warp, a parallel dimension reflecting the events of the material world at its most emotional. Within the Warp exist Daemons, sentient vortices of concentrated feeling that are chiefly malignant. The Daemons are themselves in service to the Chaos Gods, also known as the Ruinous Powers, titanic collectives of dark will whose rulership over the parallel dimension is supreme. These malign immaterial entities forever seek to breach the material universe and subject all life within it to foul and debased whims. Awareness and perception of the Chaos Gods and their Daemons serves as the basis of numerous faiths and religions in the setting, both human and alien in origin. Knowing followers of the Chaos Gods, though rare, refer to their faith as the Primordial Truth, or the Primordial Annihilator.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: Humankind's continuing biological and psycho-spiritual evolution includes the gradual development of widespread Warp-related psychic abilities that will make the species far more susceptible to Chaotic influence; united under the Imperium of Man, the Emperor seeks to protect all of mankind by using faith in the Imperial Truth as a shield. The powers of Chaos desire change and conflict by nature, and seek to destabilise and subvert the Imperium's order over the galaxy from within.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Horus Rising", the series opener, starts in the early years of the 31st millennium, during the 203rd year of the Great Crusade. It describes the rise to power of Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the "Luna Wolves" Legion of Space Marines, and the most versatile and favoured "son" of the Emperor. The Emperor has recently appointed him Warmaster, overall commander of Imperial military forces, while also leaving him in charge of the rest of the Crusade; the Emperor meanwhile returns to Terra, where in relative isolation he undertakes a secret project to which not even Horus is privy. The focus and perspective of the novel centres on a Space Marine Captain, Garviel Loken, leader of the Luna Wolves' 10th Company. He becomes a member of the Mournival, an informal advisory body to Horus, and participates in Crusade campaigns against anti-Imperial human populations and aliens, referred to in the series as "xenos". The story also hints at tensions in the nascent Imperium, exacerbated by the Emperor's absence and contentious actions and inactions these are common themes in following books.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "False Gods" picks up a few weeks after the conclusion of "Horus Rising" in the series timeline, and tells the story of Horus' fall. In a complicated conspiracy implemented by followers of Chaos, Horus is mortally wounded during a Crusade mission by a Chaos-tainted xenos weapon. In a desperate action by his lieutenants to ensure his survival one taken in strict contradiction to Imperial doctrine Horus is brought to a local temple with a reputation for healing. The temple is the seat of a powerful Chaos cult, and both Horus' wound and its supposed healing makes him susceptible to Chaos' influence. He ultimately turns against his "father", the Emperor, and sets in motion the entire Heresy. This novel further highlights the institutional and personal tensions that accompany the Imperium's maturity into the preeminent power of the galaxy; they include rifts among the Primarchs, as well as both between and within their Space Marine Legions. Conflicts and characters flaws are repeatedly and effectively manipulated by Chaos in pursuit of their agenda throughout the series. A parallel storyline, also present in several other books, involves the growing influence both within the Crusade Expeditionary forces and across the wider Imperium of a forbidden religious cult, whose members, while loyal to the Emperor and Imperium, defy the Imperial Truth by worshipping the Emperor as a god.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Galaxy in Flames" starts shortly after the end of "False Gods". It outlines the corrupted Warmaster's descent into madness, which leads to the fomentation of his plot to betray the Imperium. Horus pursues his secret planning of the rebellion in earnest, seeking and finding allies among his disgruntled fellow Primarchs, their Legions, and the Imperium's other organisations and key personalities. The novel details the first open move of the Heresy, the "Betrayal of Istvaan III", wherein factions of four Astartes Legions who were deemed unconvertible by their traitor brethren are ambushed during a planetary invasion of the fictional star system. The novel marks the first distinguishment of the "Loyalists" and "Traitor" factions within the Legions and other rebel forces, including the unmodified soldiers of the Imperial Army.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "The Flight of the Eisenstein" follows the eponymous "Eisenstein", a space frigate of the "Death Guard" 14th Legion of Space Marines. The story follows the ship's escape from the Betrayal of Istvaan III, crewed by surviving loyalists of the four Legions present at the battle and commanded by Battle‑Captain Nathaniel Garro of the Death Guard 7th Company and one of the few Commanders in the Traitor Legions that remain loyal to the Emperor followed by the perilous voyage the vessel must take across the galaxy in an effort to reach Terra and raise the alarm over the developing rebellion. Garro and the others on board the vessel face suspicion and incredulity from Imperial authorities; apart from the inconceivable news of Horus' betrayal, the situation is complicated by the fact that many of the travellers on the "Eisenstein" now openly proclaim their belief in the Emperor's divinity, itself a heresy.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Fulgrim" centers on the eponymous Primarch of the "Emperor's Children". Characterised as flamboyant perfectionists, the novel tracks the descent of Fulgrim and his Legion into the service of Chaos roughly simultaneously with that of time Horus in (Book 2). Fulgrim is delivered a warning about Horus' imminent betrayal and the disaster that may follow by the alien Eldar race, but he and his staff dismiss it. The Emperor's Children eventually become the "Chosen" of Slaanesh, one of the four Gods of Chaos, with which Fulgrim is slowly and unwittingly drawn into grotesque communion. Primarch Ferrus Manus and his "Iron Hands" Space Marines (the 10th Legion) also play a prominent role in the novel as Fulgrim attempts to lure them into betrayal, and several other Primarchs and Legions make appearances. Described in passing is the pivotal Battle of Isstvaan V, also known as the , where several entirely Loyalist Legions are slaughtered in another Traitor ambush in the Isstvan star system. The battle fully reveals the scale and ferocity of the rebellion.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Descent of Angels" is a pre-Heresy story that concludes about 50 years before the start of that conflict. It introduces the "Dark Angels", first of the Space Marine Legions, and their Primarch Lion El'Jonson. The story is mainly told from the viewpoint of Zahariel El'Zurias, a native of the fictional planet . Caliban is an isolated, low-technology world that resembles a feudal medieval fantasy setting. Zahariel is introduced in the story as an Aspirant of the Order, an organisation of techno-barbarian knights. The first half of the novel is set on Caliban and covers the final battles of the Order under the leadership of Jonson, the future Primarch. The book's second half describes Caliban's unification with the Imperium of Man as well as the actions of the Dark Angels during the early years of the Great Crusade. In this part of the story, Zahariel, selected as a candidate Space Marine, is accepted as a Dark Angel . A future schism within the Legion is intimated towards the end of the book.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Legion" focuses on the "Alpha Legion", the of the Space Marine Legions. Characterised in earlier publications as clandestine and inscrutable, the book constitutes a major development of the entire canon of the setting with the revelation that the Legion's Primarch is actually a pair of twins, Alpharius and Omegon. The book also features the Imperial Army, the regular unmodified human fighting force of the Imperium, covering several officers and their units. Lastly, the novel introduces a new organisation to the setting, the enigmatic and ancient an interspecies organisation opposed to Chaos. The human John Grammaticus is introduced as a prominent Cabal member. The story takes place over roughly a 6‑month period, about two years before the Heresy starts; it describes the events that eventually lead Alpharius and Omegon (publicly a single figure named Alpharius Omegon) to support Horus.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Battle for the Abyss" concerns the lead‑up to a Traitor invasion of , a remote star system and the home base of the unshakeably-Loyalist 13th Legion, the "Ultramarines" (Book 19 and 24). Early in the Heresy, the Traitor Word Bearers Legion is tasked with organising and leading the invasion; they plan to use an immense, secretly commissioned warship, the , to spearhead the surprise attack. The vessel, commanded by Fleet Captain Zadkiel, launches from shipyards near Jupiter around the time of the events on Isstvan III (Book 3), and sets course for Macragge, Ultramar's capital world. Leading the cast of Loyalist protagonists is Cestus, Fleet Commander and Captain of the 7th Company of the Ultramarines. They become aware of the powerful capital ship's true purpose, and engage in long pursuit; they will seek to prevent the "Furious Abyss" from participating in the invasion and from reaching Macragge.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Mechanicum" is the first book in the series not to focus on either the Primarchs or their Space Marines Legions. The novel centres on the eponymous "Mechanicum", a cult of machine-worshipping technologists based on the real-life planet Mars and which serves as the chief engineering authority in the nascent Imperium. The machinations of Horus and the Chaos-worshipping Traitors affects the Martian cult as much as every other Imperial organisation, leading to a civil war on Mars itself. Kelbor-Hal, Fabricator General of Mars and the technocracy's supreme leader, declares for Horus, and together they carry out a coup d'état to eliminate Techpriest and Magos adherents of the Cult who are loyal to Terra and the Emperor. As the Mechanicum is the sole power responsible for all civil and military technology in the Imperium, the conflict has vast implications for whichever side of the broader intergalactic civil war receives Mars' crucial support.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Tales of Heresy" is a collection of short stories introducing and expanding upon numerous threads within the greater happenings of the Heresy. Various stories centre on the , the elite Praetorian Guard-esque retinue of the Emperor, and the , a classified Imperial organisation of anti-psychic warrior‑nuns originally introduced in Book 4. Most stories are concurrent with the Heresy, with some occurring in the years prior. It includes two stories that take place on Terra, one of which occurs long before the Heresy and adds to the background regarding the Imperial Truth; another entry in the compilation is a Primarch origin story, covering the contentious circumstances under which the gladiatorial Primarch Angron takes command of the , which he renames from the "Warhounds" to the "World Eaters". The book contains seven stories by various authors; several stories relate to full-length novels in the series.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: This anthology contains the following stories: Blood Games by Dan Abnett, Wolf at the Door by Mike Lee, Scions of the Storm by Anthony Reynolds, The Voice by James Swallow, Call of the Lion by Gav Thorpe, The Last Church by Graham McNeill and After Desh'ea by Matthew Farrer.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Fallen Angels" continues the Dark Angels tale begun in Book 6, "Descent of Angels". The novel starts around the time of Book 6's conclusion, about 50 years before the Heresy, but forwards to just about the time of the Heresy's beginning in the opening chapters. It tells two stories: one concerns the effort of Primarch Lion El'Jonson and a small group of Dark Angels to deny a (a planet devoted to manufacturing, especially of weapons) to Horus' forces; the other is the story of Luther (Lion El'Jonson's second), Zahariel El'Zurias (by now a full Space Marine), and a Dark Angels contingent sent back to Caliban, the Dark Angels Legion home world. They get involved in the fight against a growing insurgency that seeks to free the planet from under the Imperium's thumb.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "A Thousand Sons" is the story of Primarch Magnus and the "Thousand Sons" Space Marines, the 15th Legion; it mainly takes place before the Heresy begins. Following a reprimand by the Emperor for dabbling in sorcery, Magnus and his Legion secretly continue to study the forbidden subjects. Then, around the time of Horus' corruption (Book 2), Magnus learns through sorcery of his brother's impending betrayal. He tries again through sorcery to warn the Emperor, believing that the gravity of the news justifies his disobedience. However, he overreaches with his powers and damages the vital and secret project the Emperor is undertaking (Book 1), endangering the safety of Terra itself in the process. The Emperor is enraged and orders Leman Russ, Primarch of the 6th Legion (the "Space Wolves"), to , the Thousand Sons Legion's in‑series home world. The Space Wolves, accompanied by other Imperial forces, are to bring Magnus and his Legion to Terra to account for themselves.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Nemesis" is set about two years after the events on Isstvan V described in Book 5, "Fulgrim". It is a look at the war behind the war, the covert operations undertaken by the opposing sides in order to influence the visible conflict. Specifically, it deals with a plan by a secret Imperial organisation, the , to eliminate Horus; an "Execution Force" consisting of operatives from all of the Officio's disciplines, and led by top-rated sniper Eristede Kell, is tasked with the mission. There have been several previous unsuccessful attempts against Horus' life, and this gives a high-ranking officer of the Traitor Word Bearers Legion the idea to field a nemesis weapon of his own: a highly specialised assassin, who is to be used in an audacious scheme to kill the Emperor.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "The First Heretic" details the fall to Chaos of Primarch Lorgar and the the "Word Bearers". Decades before the start of the rebellion they become heretics relative to the Imperial Truth by introducing religious worship. This results in public and humiliating censure of Lorgar and the entire assembled Legion, by the Emperor himself. The despairing Lorgar is subsequently swayed by two of his most trusted lieutenants, who are in secret allegiance with Chaos; eventually both Primarch and Legion covertly embrace (and promote) the Primordial Truth, many years before Horus' corruption. The story is largely told from the point of view of Argel Tal, a Captain of the Word Bearers, who becomes commander of a Chaos-possessed elite Legion unit. It spans several decades, starting 43 years before the events on Isstvan V (Book 5) and concluding around the time the Word Bearers are on their way to assault Calth (Book 19).


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Prospero Burns" is part of the story arc of Book 12, however it follows a different but related timeline. The story begins more than a century before the Space Wolves-led mission to Prospero, and the concurrent start of the Heresy. It is presented from the point of view of Kasper Hawser, formerly a noted Terran academic who becomes a Crusade Remembrancer, and then the Oral Historian or of the 3rd Company of the Space Wolves Legion. On the surface it is his story; the important understory concerns the long-term machinations of Chaos, whose aim is the destruction of both Space Wolves and Thousand Sons. Chaos attempts to exploit the weaknesses of the Primarchs and their Legions in order to pit them against each other the ultimate result is the confrontation on Prospero. While this confrontation is taking place, Horus' previously covert rebellion becomes visible (Book 3). The novel also adds background to Horus' fall and to the planning of the Heresy campaign by Chaos and its forces.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Age of Darkness" is a compilation of nine short stories by various authors. They take place during the seven‑year period between the Dropsite Massacre on Isstvan V (Book 5), and the conclusion of Horus' campaign. The stories present various facets of the unfolding conflict, as suspicion, insecurity, and paranoia spread through the galaxy on the wake of the Warmaster's betrayal. Subjects include: a Primarch prepares for the end of the Imperium; a Traitor PSYOP topples an Imperial planet; an unusual diplomatic contest will decide which side will be chosen by a world on the fence; a non-combatant may be a rebel agent or a herald of unpalatable truths for the Imperium; a Loyalist Space Marine in a Traitor Legion holds his own against his erstwhile brothers. Several of the included stories are linked through continuity; some are also prequels or sequels to stories in other series books.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: This anthology contains the following stories: Rules of Engagement by Graham McNeill, Liar's Due by James Swallow, Forgotten Sons by Nick Kyme, The Last Remembrancer by John French, Rebirth by Chris Wraight, The Face of Treachery by Gav Thorpe, Little Horus by Dan Abnett, The Iron Within by Rob Sanders, Savage Weapons by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "The Outcast Dead" is the first novel-length story in the series to take place almost entirely on Terra. It covers a relatively short period, starting several months before Magnus' catastrophic psychic visit at the Imperial Palace (Book 12), and concluding several months after this event. The unauthorised visit is central to the story: apart from damaging the Emperor's top secret project (Book 1) and the planet's defense, it massively disrupts Terra's long-range communications infrastructure. The ensuing isolation and confusion cause indecision and delays for the Loyalist side. The story's main character is Kai Zulane, previously a gifted Imperial attached to the Ultramarines Legion. He unwittingly becomes the keeper of a secret that could decide the victor in the developing galactic civil war. The secret has additional implications regarding the Heresy's conclusion and the future course of the Imperium of Man. "The Outcast Dead" are other protagonists: a small, disparate group of Space Marines suspected as traitors, with whom Zulane falls in during the second half of the book.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Deliverance Lost" is mainly concerned with the actions of Primarch Corvus Corax and his Space Marine Command, or "Raven Guard", during the year following the Dropsite Massacre (Book 5). However, operatives and the Primarch of the Alpha Legion play a prominent role. The story starts about 3 months after the Dropsite Massacre, with the unexpected rescue of Corax and the remnants of his Legion (at less than 5% strength due to casualties in that battle). Arriving at Terra a few months after the events described in "The Outcast Dead" take place, Corax convinces the Emperor to impart to him the knowledge and material that may accelerate the rebuilding of his Legion. The second part of the novel describes the effort to reconstitute the Raven Guard, undertaken on (its home world in "Warhammer 40,000" fiction), and the pursuit of opposite objectives by the Alpha Legion. The novel features the reappearance of The Cabal (Book 7), and of other well-known characters; it also adds information about the developing strategies and subterfuge applied by the opposing sides, including reasons for Horus' timetable and for the Emperor's actions during the initial stages of the Heresy.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Know No Fear" documents the rebels' surprise assault on Calth, an ascendant Ultramar system world. It is planned and led by the Traitor Word Bearers Legion, now fully and openly committed to the spread of the Primordial Truth. The narrative starts close to where the timelines of Book 8 and Book 14 converge (in their respective conclusions), with the invasion force en route to, or near the planet. The rebel mission has aims beyond just delivering a crippling blow to the Ultramarines Legion and their home system; its objectives may affect the entire Heresy campaign. The story tracks the Calth assault from its opening covert phases, and the actions of several characters. Unaware of the developing rebellion and the Word Bearers' true role and allegiance, Primarch Roboute Guilliman and his Ultramarines are unprepared for the underhand invasion: it is total, bloody war, with ritualistic undertones, scorched earth tactics, decisive use of technology, and the considerable involvement of Chaos; the inconceivable treachery and its implications forever change the Loyalists' view of reality.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "The Primarchs" is a compilation of four novellas by different authors, each story starring one of the "sons" of the Emperor. The novellas further develop these characters, who make multiple appearances in the series: following the Dropsite Massacre (Book 5), Fulgrim, perversely empowered by his own corruption, reveals his true nature and future plans to top officers of his compromised Legion; during a Great Crusade campaign against the enigmatic Eldar, Ferrus Manus, already beset by unsettling dreams, is subjected by alien sorcerers to stark, portentous visions and warnings about his future and role in the soon to be revealed Heresy; with Horus' rebellion in full swing after the events of Isstvan V, a suspicious and isolated Lion El'Jonson accepts the newly revealed realities of the Warp and decides on an independent course of action for the Dark Angels in the unfolding conflict; around the same time, and plotting a typically indecipherable course in the expanding war, the twinned Primarch of the Alpha Legion is involved in a unique counterintelligence operation that extends the Legion's customary deceptions inwards.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: This anthology contains the following stories: The Reflection Crack'd by Graham McNeill, Feat of Iron by Nick Kyme, The Lion by Gav Thorpe and The Serpent Beneath by Rob Sanders.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Fear to Tread" describes an operation by the forces of Chaos that is supposed to turn Primarch Sanguinius and the the "Blood Angels", to their cause. To succeed, Chaos plans to take advantage of a genetic flaw in Sanguinius' and the Legion's DNA. As the Heresy is getting under way, the outwardly still loyal Warmaster orders the entire 9th Legion and their unsuspecting Primarch to a remote star system. There they find themselves isolated and ambushed, fighting a new kind of war against Chaos entities and daemons designed to trigger the Legion's flaw. The plan almost succeeds; yet conflicting agendas among anti-Imperial protagonists, as well as the fortitude and unorthodox tactics of quick-to-adapt Blood Angels, narrowly result in Loyalist victory. In the meantime Horus' rebellion erupts openly and the Loyalists suffer catastrophic losses in the Dropsite Massacre (Book 5). Sanguinius and his Legion, now fully aware of the great betrayal and the reality of Chaos, race to the defense of Terra and the Emperor while buffeted by unprecedented navigational difficulties; it is hinted that these are related to the action in the Ultramar system of Calth (Books 19 and 24).


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Shadows of Treachery" is a compilation that collects five short stories previously published in limited editions, art books, or other formats, and also contains two new novellas. Most of the stories involve the respectively the Loyalist "Imperial Fists" and Traitor "Night Lords", and their Primarchs Rogal Dorn and Konrad Curze. Other Legions and Primarchs are also featured, while one short story takes place on Mars and illuminates an aspect of the Traitor Mechanicum's conspiracy. One of the novellas is mainly about an all-out close-quarters space battle, between a Loyalist sent to punish Horus following the events of Isstvan III (Book 3) and the Traitor fleet that ambushes it; the other new novella deals with the aftermath of another naval engagement in space that cripples the Night Lords Legion. The narratives of all stories fill gaps in the series or add further details about the Heresy and its actors; they cover periods that range from several decades before the conflict to around the time frame of Book 18 (one short story is a prequel to that novel).


title: The Horus Heresy

text: This anthology contains the following stories: The Crimson Fist by John French, The Dark King by Graham McNeill, The Lightning Tower by Dan Abnett, The Kaban Project by Graham McNeill, Raven's Flight by Gav Thorpe, Death of a Silversmith by Graham McNeill and Prince of Crows by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Angel Exterminatus" covers a Traitor operation in uncharted and dangerous galactic space, that may purportedly decide the war in favour of the rebels. The story provides further glimpses of disparate motivations and conflicting objectives among traitor factions as the Heresy campaign continues. It is taking place some time after the Dropsite Massacre (Book 5), shortly following the events described by two novellas (Books 20 and 22). Featured are the 4th Legion of Space Marines, the "Iron Warriors", renowned siege masters of the Great Crusade, and their Primarch Perturabo. However the core plot is set in motion by Fulgrim and the Emperor's Children, who share the spotlight. The embittered Iron Warriors have aligned with Horus out of frustration with the ignominious and unheralded role assigned them by the Imperium; before the story begins, they lash out in unforgivable genocide. In the story, they are invited to the freelance operation (which is unknown to the Warmaster) by Fulgrim and his Legion, who have their own agenda. The operation's true goal is kept secret from Perturabo and his Space Marines, who come to realise that not all fellow rebels can be trusted. A side thread involves Fabius Bile, the chief medical officer of the Emperor's Children, and the Traitors' top geneticist; he is on a no-holds-barred quest to exceed the Emperor's genetic achievements.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Betrayer" returns the series to the action in the Ultramar theatre; it starts around the time the events of Book 19 begin to unfold. Unlike that story, "Betrayer" is presented from the perspective of the rebels, in this case the World Eaters and Word Bearers Legions, and often through the particular viewpoint of Khârn, Captain of the 8th Company of the World Eaters and Equerry to Primarch Angron. In tenuous and fragile cooperation, the two very different Traitor Legions lay waste to worlds across Ultramar; it is a "Shadow Crusade" meticulously planned by Primarch Lorgar of the Word Bearers, who deploys "Abyss"-class spaceships. The campaign's strategic goal is the destruction or isolation of the powerful Ultramarines Legion, its home star system, and the system's considerable resources; removing Ultramar as a factor in the war is one of Horus' primary objectives. The scheming Primarch of the Word Bearers orchestrates genocide in unprecedented scale, as a way to summon the powers of Chaos. With their help, he hopes to generate the so-called , an immense interdimensional disturbance that will create an impenetrable veil around Ultramar. As the final piece of his plan, Lorgar engineers the "ascension" into daemonhood of the increasingly unstable Angron: the event is to act as the conduit for the unnatural storm.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Mark of Calth" is the fifth compilation to appear in the series; it contains seven short stories and one novella, each by a different author. The stories further describe aspects of the rebels' Ultramar campaign, as close prequels or sequels of Books 19 and 24. "Premium" editions and the e‑audiobook version were released April 2013; text-based general release editions were expected mid-to-late 2013.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: This anthology contains the following stories: The Shards of Erebus by Guy Haley, Calth That Was by Graham McNeill, Dark Heart by Anthony Reynolds, The Traveller by David Annandale, A Deeper Darkness by Rob Sanders, The Underworld War by Aaron Dembski-Bowden and Unmarked by Dan Abnett.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: " Vulkan Lives" is the first book where the story of Vulkan is shown with a significant background. His memories coming back to him after his capture by his brother Konrad Curze aboard his ship modified by Perturabo himself. He learns more about his immortality, which seems to be a gift and a curse, one he preferred not to bear at all. The book adds more background concerning the battle at Istvaan V, at the same time showing the drama of a squad of his surviving sons and the shattered legions while they fight to retrieve an unknown artifact that will change the course of history in the coming days of the rebellion.


title: The Horus Heresy

text: "Unremembered Empire" happens after the events of the Battle of Phall, the Lion's capture of Konrad Curze, the return of Guilliman to Maccragge after the battle for Armatura and the Blood Angels trial at the battle for Signus Prime. An ancient device has been found on Sotha, one which could guide the mighty warships out of the impenetrable veil that cut off Ultramar from the rest of the Imperium. Strange events start to happen after the arrival of members of the Cabal organization; a Word Bearer Legionnaire seeking redemption for his Legion and the Night Lords' Primarch begin their search for an unknown "object" that fell from orbit straight to the hands of Guilliman. Secrecy between him and the Lion might bring undesired conflict between the brothers in this time of treachery, while Sanguinius manage to come back from his trial on Signus Cluster to learn from Guilliman's plan for a new Empire.