Black Library Weekly – W/C 19/03/18

Hello and welcome to the latest instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. As is often the case for weeks in the middle of the month, it’s been fairly quiet on the BL front. Don’t worry, though – there may have only been two releases, but they’re both brand new and rather interesting. Let’s have a look…

Monday
For the second time in 2018, this week’s Digital Monday short story comes from a brand new Black Library author, in this case Danie Ware with a Sisters of Battle story called Mercy (£2.49 in ebook, natch). While this may be Danie’s BL debut, it’s certainly not her first published story – you can find out more about Danie and the books she’s previously written on her website. Back to the story at hand, and I can happily confirm it’s a great depiction of the Adepta Sororitas, full of fire and fury, action-packed and in places surprisingly dark. Check out my review by clicking on this link or the image below.

Midweek
Not a lot Black Library-related happened during the week, but there are two quick things to mention. First, in what looks to be a fairly sensible pattern (see W/C 22nd Jan with Evan Dicken) now, the Warhammer Community site published a cool little piece about Danie Ware to coincide with the release of Mercy. There’s not a vast amount of detail, but it’s an enjoyable read nonetheless. I’m hoping for a fair few more new-to-BL authors this year, and fingers crossed we’ll get a similar post for each of them.

The only other piece of news is probably only relevant for UK residents who live north of the border. With the release this week of his latest novel, Robbie MacNiven is embarking on a signing tour of his native Scotland – not so great if you don’t live near Scotland, but it makes sense in terms of where Robbie’s based. If you look at recent signings from people like Dan Abnett, Josh Reynolds and David Guymer, it looks like BL are encouraging authors to do these sorts of events locally, and putting a bit of weight behind them via the Black Library Facebook page. I think that’s great, and it’s nice to see it happening quite publicly. Check out that Facebook page for details of where and when Robbie will be, if you live in Scotland!

Weekend
Just the one release this weekend, with Carcharadons: Outer Dark by Robbie MacNiven. No audiobook (at least not yet) for this one, so it’s available in hardback (£18) and ebook (£9.99) formats with the ebook available to download right away and the hardback due to be dispatched as of next weekend. I really enjoyed the first Carcharadons novel, Red Tithe, and it seems to have been pretty popular overall – if you haven’t read it, you can check out my review here. I’ve got high hopes for Outer Dark, so fingers crossed! For more information, check out my latest quick Rapid Fire interview – click this link or the banner below.

Thoughts on the week
It’s undoubtedly been a bit quiet really, with not a right lot going on. Thankfully what did happen was pretty cool, in terms of the week’s releases. It’s always good to see a new (for Black Library) name on the cover of a story, and with Mercy I think Danie Ware has instantly made a good impression with an impressively action-packed story that hit all the right 40k notes, while also depicting the Sisters in a way that not all stories do – as genuinely badass. I get a touch frustrated sometimes with the Adepta Sororitas, because in my head they should be absolutely kickass but on the page they often don’t live up to that. They do in Mercy, thankfully – in fact the main character is almost intimidating in her intensity. I’d love to see more like this! Given this week’s other Games Workshop-related news, I suspect we might just see more of the Sisters sooner or later…

There’s not a lot more to say about Outer Dark I don’t think, other than that it’s great to see Robbie coming back to such an interesting Chapter who he did such a good job with first time around. This one promises to be a different type of story, so hopefully it feels like an extension of the work he’s done so far, and shows us some cool new aspects of the Carcharadons. I think the fact that these stories have proved so popular can only be a good sign, as it hopefully sends a message to the powers that be at Black Library that fans are genuinely interested in stories about lesser-known Chapters, along with the usual big names. Once again, more like this please!

As usual, here’s a quick rundown of what I’ve posted so far this week. I’ve made a start on the short stories included in The Magos – I rather like the fact that it’s entitled The Magos & The Definitive Casebook of Gregor Eisenhorn, and I’m determined to read them all in order. Watch this space!

Coming up…
Next week looks like bringing with it the standard edition of David Guymer’s Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa, book seven in the Primarchs series, as well as a new audio drama in the shape of Agent of the Throne: Truth and Dreams by John French. Keep an eye out for reviews of both of these coming soon!

As always, if you’ve got any thoughts or comments on the week’s news and releases please do get in touch via the comments section below or on Facebook or Twitter.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.