Author Archives: Michael

RAPID FIRE: Chris Dows Talks Renegades of Elysia

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library authors talking about their 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 it.

In this instalment I spoke to Chris Dows about his new audio drama Renegades of Elysia, the second instalment in a series after Scions of Elysia, which is available to buy now.

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RAPID FIRE: Josh Reynolds Talks Clonelord

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library authors talking about their 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 it.

In this instalment I spoke to Josh Reynolds about his new novel Fabius Bile: Clonelord, the sequel to the excellent Primogenitor, which is available to buy now.

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QUICK REVIEW: Magisterium – Chris Wraight

Following on from events of The Master of Mankind [SPOILER WARNING], Chris Wraight’s Horus Heresy short story Magisterium tackles the Adeptus Custodes as they regroup following the appalling losses incurred in the Webway War. It follows one of the few survivors, Samonas, as he comes to terms with the changed status of the Custodes, watching on while Constantin Valdor clashes with Rogal Dorn over their place in the war to come. Interspersed with recollections of the fighting on Prospero, it’s a powerful story of the differences between the Custodes and the Legiones Astartes, and the preparations taking place on Terra.

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QUICK REVIEW: Gods’ Gift – David Guymer

David Guymer is slowly building up a collection of Age of Sigmar short stories featuring Hamilcar Bear-Eater, Lord-Castellant of the Astral Templars, of which Gods’ Gift is the third. It’s a typically garrulous tale, told in Hamilcar’s brash, immodest first person voice as he and his men hunt unusual prey in the Realm of Ghur. Something has been terrorising the local human population of the Gorwoods, but in the process of hunting it down Hamilcar receives an unusual, unexpected vision that leads him closer to the beast he hunts…and to something that might trouble even the mighty Hamilcar.

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QUICK REVIEW – Ahriman: Key of Infinity – John French

Two years after Unchanged capped off his trilogy, Ahriman is back in a new audio drama from John French, Ahriman: Key of Infinity. This time Ahriman has caught himself a necron Cryptek and, accompanied by Ignis and Credence, sets out to understand the powerful time-altering technology it possesses. To the Cryptek, Setekh, the interrogation provides all the time it needs to carefully arrange an escape, but then perhaps it hasn’t reckoned with the sheer power the Thousand Sons sorcerers possess.

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QUICK REVIEW: Duty Waits – Guy Haley

The worst part is the waiting…right? In his Horus Heresy short story Duty Waits, Guy Haley explores the effect on Dorn’s Imperial Fists of the interminable waiting as they man the walls of the Imperial Palace in expectation of Horus’ armies reaching Terra. With security tighter than ever after the Alpha Legion’s infiltration of Terra (you’ve read Praetorian of Dorn, right?), and civilians suffering the side-effects of a total focus on war, tensions are high and an outlet is going to be needed, sooner or later. For Captain Maximus Thane (sound familiar?) the enemy can’t come soon enough.

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QUICK REVIEW: Doombound – David Annandale

The first Black Library story to be set in Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire, David Annandale’s short audio drama Doombound takes us deep into the twisting lanes of the Mirrored City as two Stormcast Eternals attempt to find a route back to their commander. For Errak Grimwatch, the journey becomes an illusory tangle of past and present as memories thought lost in the mists of reforging blend with his strange surroundings as something seeks to draw him off-course. Meanwhile, among the ever-changing streets of Shadespire, Errark’s visions are also shared by a warrior of Khorne.

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QUICK REVIEW: Endurance – Chris Wraight

An appetiser before his upcoming novel The Lords of Silence, Chris Wraight’s short story Endurance takes place (mostly) on the besieged Imperial world of Lystra, where the shattered remnants of the defenders continue to battle on against the endless hordes of walking dead. The situation for the Imperials is bleak, even with a scattering of loyal Space Marines bolstering the defences, and that’s before the Death Guard arrive. Dragan, known as the Gallowsman, leads his warband on the hunt for slaughter, and Lystra is in his sights.

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The Warmaster – Dan Abnett

Over six years after Salvation’s Reach was published, Dan Abnett’s long-awaited fourteenth Gaunt’s Ghosts novel – The Warmaster – arrives with a heavy weight of expectation. Part three of The Victory, it picks up almost immediately after Salvation’s Reach as the surviving Ghosts attempt to return to the Crusade, aboard the battered Highness Ser Armaduke. They completed their mission, but the danger isn’t over – even when they limp to the hotly-contested forge world Urdesh the perils, and surprises, keep coming. Thankfully for us as readers, that translates into more of the great Gaunt’s Ghosts drama that we know and love.

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