Author Archives: Michael

Slaves to Darkness – John French

Book fifty-one in the Horus Heresy series, John French’s novel Slaves to Darkness is a rare beast – a Heresy novel focusing entirely on unambiguously traitor perspectives. As Horus is brought bleeding from the surface of Beta Garmon to the Vengeful Spirit, Maloghurst issues orders to gather Horus’ brothers together. While Lorgar and Perturabo are tasked with finding and controlling their daemonic brothers Fulgrim and Angron, Maloghurst calls on all of his political nous and accumulated power to steer the overall campaign in Horus’ absence. With Abaddon away chasing the Wolves, Maloghurst is left clashing with what remains of the Mournival.

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Martyrs of Elysia – Chris Dows

Chris Dows’ audio drama Martyrs of Elysia is the third and final instalment in the series that began with Scions of Elysia and continued with Renegades of Elysia, detailing the dangerous accusations levelled against Veteran Sergeant Zachariah and his efforts to clear his name. As he’s questioned by the relentless Commissar Mastroval, Zachariah relives a frenetic, fateful assault on the rebel-held world of Veyland Sinestre and the culmination of his ongoing feud with a senior officer, whose murder he’s been accused of. All the while Mastroval keeps digging – into Zachariah’s actions, his loyalties, and his history.

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RAPID FIRE: Chris Dows Talks Martyrs of Elysia

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

In this instalment I spoke to Chris Dows about his latest 40k audio drama Martyrs of Elysia, the third and final instalment of his Elysian Drop Troops audio drama series. It’s available to order as of tomorrow, so get ready to pick it up very soon!

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Eight Lamentations: Spear of Shadows – Josh Reynolds

Josh Reynolds’ Eight Lamentations: Spear of Shadows is the first in a planned Age of Sigmar trilogy about the search for eight powerful weapons scattered across the Mortal Realms. In the city of Excelsis, the crippled god Grungni gathers together adventurers from different Realms to seek out one of the eight, the Spear of Shadows, before it falls into the wrong hands. Grungni isn’t the only power seeking the spear, however – the Khornate forgemasters who first forged the eight weapons compete against each other, while both Archaon and Neferata send their own champions even as the skaven of Clan Rictus join the hunt for it.

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QUICK REVIEW: Ghosts of Demesnus – Josh Reynolds

Josh Reynolds’ Age of Sigmar short story Ghosts of Demesnus is a Hallowed Knights story following on from Plague Garden, but it’s a little different to the usual style. Instead of the grand sweep of battle this is much smaller scale, as Gardus travels alone to the city of Demesnus in the Realm of Ghyran, where he lived in his first life. Seeking insight into the changes wrought upon him since being Reforged, he searches out familiar sights and sounds, hoping to stir old memories. The connections he finds to his past life, however, are not quite what he expected.

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Event Roundup: Black Library Live 2018

On Saturday 16th June, Warhammer World in Nottingham played host to Black Library Live 2018 – the latest event dedicated exclusively to Black Library. With seminars, signings, masses of books to buy and loads of other Black Library fans to chat with, it was a great day – and as usual I wanted to write up some of my thoughts about the event. This isn’t a fully comprehensive write up of the whole event, as there were too many seminars for one person to attend, so instead it’s an overall roundup of what I saw and how I felt it all went, including a Coming Soon section at the end. Spoiler – it was great, and everyone involved should be very proud!

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Black Library Weekly – W/C 11/06/18

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. I’m writing this week’s post the morning after Black Library Live, a little bleary eyed and rather lighter in wallet than the day before, but still feeling good after a great event. Even without BL Live, however, it’s been a pretty good week – so let’s take a look at what’s been happening…

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RAPID FIRE: Josh Reynolds Talks Soul Wars

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

In this instalment I spoke to Josh Reynolds, who’s a regular to Rapid Fire, being an incredibly prolific writer for Black Library His latest novel is Soul Wars, which ties into the brand new version of Warhammer Age of Sigmar – and is available to order as of tomorrow.

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QUICK REVIEW: By Your Command – Gav Thorpe

A stylised but brilliantly effective short story, Gav Thorpe’s By Your Command ties into his novel Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah (it’s included in the special edition hardback) by virtue of its setting, but works very well as a standalone. Deep within the Imperator Titan Casus Belli, a maniple of Kastelan battle robots is awakened and tasked with defending the Titan against invading Heretic Astartes. Told from the perspective of the Kastelan Alpha-6-Terror, it’s a story which delves into the inner workings and thought processes of the robot even as the bolt shells are flying.

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