Author Archives: Michael

Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius – Darius Hinks

Better known for his Warhammer novels, Darius Hinks turns his attention to 40k with Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius, a story that’s ostensibly about the Blood Angels’ Chief Librarian’s battle with his own power and nature. When young Lexicanium Antros witnesses Mephiston’s facade of control start to crack, the threads of their fates become entangled, and Antros finds himself accompanying Mephiston to a strange, embattled shrine world. The Blood Angels must journey across a world whose population has been twisted against each other, hoping to find a singular relic that might hold to the key to truly unlocking Mephiston’s power.

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Forgotten Texts: Alex Hammond Talks The Demon Bottle

A couple of months ago I posted a Forgotten Texts review for Alex Hammond’s first Necromunda short story The Demon Bottle. Alex has kindly agreed to a quick interview looking back at the time that he spent writing for Black Library and his thoughts on the various stories he wrote back in those early days. Without further ado, let’s get straight on with the interview…

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Forgotten Texts: Lacrymata by Storm Constantine

“Look upon me, navigator, with the eye that sees my soul.”

Storm Constantine’s only Black Library story, Lacrymata is the closest thing to a love story you’re likely to see set in the 41st millennium. It follows the crew of a warp-faring trading vessel, dispatched by its parent family to retrieve and return with a cargo of potentially dangerous narcotics. Solonaetz, its scarred and fragile navigator, strikes up a friendship with the fey astropath Shivania that soon blossoms into something more, much to the captain’s discomfort. When travelling through the warp though, emotions can be very dangerous…and doubly so for psykers.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Ember Wolves by Rob Sanders

The latest Horus Heresy e-short, Rob Sanders’ The Ember Wolves continues the March of the Titans theme with a Titan versus Titans story told firmly from the traitors’ viewpoint. On the ‘shabby little hive world of Absalom’, forces loyal to Horus – including the Legio Audax, the Ember Wolves – take the fight to the loyalists, including forces of the newly-formed Adeptus Titanicus. Commanding a six-strong pack of Warhound Titans, princeps Balthus Voltemand is on the hunt for an engine-kill, and hungrily sets his sights on the towering Warmonger Titan Tantorus Magnificat.

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Black Library Weekly – W/C 06/03/17

Hello and welcome to this instalment of Black Library Weekly, my weekly look through what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. This week has only seen two new Black Library releases, but it’s also seen some new titles confirmed as coming up in – which is always a treat. As usual, let’s start at the beginning and work our way through the week…

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There and Back Again with Laurie Goulding – Part Two

In my latest interview with ex-Black Library editor Laurie Goulding we talked about what happened when Black Library was merged into the wider Publications department in Games Workshop, and how it eventually came back out the other side. If you’ve read the first part of this interview then I’m sure you’ll agree that it was a fascinating insight, but I hope you’ll also agree that despite some challenging times Black Library seems to be moving from strength to strength once more.

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Forgotten Texts: Tenebrae by Mark Brendan

“A harsh mistress indeed, and given to treachery at the last.”

Tenebrae, by Mark Brendan, is a rare 40k story in that it’s almost entirely free of blade- or gun-wielding action. A grim, hopeless tale of a world crushed by the hand of Chaos, it follows Imperial Governor Dane Cortez as he watches the final moments of the world he should have protected – Tenebrae, a world on the fringes of the Eye of Terra, perpetually shrouded in darkness. As the forces of Chaos run riot Cortez resigns himself to his failure, only to find that in the depths of his despair there lurks more than just fear and shame.

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QUICK REVIEW: Vengeance of the Immortal – Gav Thorpe

The latest Adeptus Titanicus story, Gav Thorpe’s 40k e-short Vengeance of the Immortal follows a maniple of Titans from the Legio Praesagius (who you may remember from Honour to the Dead) as they clash with traitor Titans on the world of Placia Mundus. The focus is on princeps majoris Sythika as she rouses her Warlord Titan Evocatus and leads the maniple into battle, where her Titan’s fiery animus becomes as much a hindrance as an asset. Evocatus is an ancient machine with a long memory, and the appearance of a familiar foe stirs painful memories.

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Black Library Weekly – W/C 27/02/17

Hello and welcome to this instalment of Black Library Weekly, my weekly look through what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. This week has only seen two new Black Library releases, but it’s also seen some new titles confirmed as coming up in – which is always a treat. As usual, let’s start at the beginning and work our way through the week…

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Track of Words at 500

With this post, Track of Words is five hundred blog posts old. Five hundred. Wow.

In the three and a bit years that I’ve been running this blog, it’s grown from a personal project in discipline – a way of making myself stick to a task I’d decided to attempt – into an endeavour that’s far more public and considerably larger in scale. When I wrote and posted my first review (for Rohan Gavin’s Knightley & Son, if you’re interested) I had no idea that a little over three years later I would be writing my four hundred and ninety-ninth subsequent post, or that along the way I would have started interviewing authors, run a competition or be invited to contribute to a podcast.

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