Author Archives: Michael

Black Library Advent Calendar 2016

As is fast becoming tradition, it’s December and Black Library are celebrating the approach of Christmas with an Advent Calendar consisting of twenty-four new stories released one per day right up until Christmas Eve. After 2014’s selection of 40k and Horus Heresy short stories and audio dramas, and 2015’s Call of Chaos mixing stories and Games Workshop rules content for 40k and Age of Sigmar, this year we’re getting a variety of content across 40k, Horus Heresy, Age of Sigmar and even Blood Bowl!
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Interview with Laurie Goulding – Part One (November 2016)

I recently had the chance to sit down with and pose some questions to Laurie Goulding, Arch-Heretic and Herald of Pedantry, the man responsible for shepherding the colossal Horus Heresy series for Black Library. It’s not all Heresy though as Laurie also writes under the name LJ Goulding, and has his first full Black Library novel due for release early in 2017 – the Space Marine Battles book Slaughter at Giant’s Coffin.

Over a pretty wide-ranging interview we discuss his route through the hobby, how he wound up responsible for editing and commissioning the Horus Heresy, why he chose the Scythes of the Emperor as the subject of his first novel, and much more. In fact we covered so much ground that I’ve split the interview into two parts – in this first part we talk about Laurie’s background and how he found himself working for Black Library, and take a look at his work as a Black Library author, including the upcoming Scythes of the Emperor novel. 

Without further ado, let’s get straight on with the interview…
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Black Library Weekly – W/C 21/11/16

Hello and welcome to another instalment of Black Library Weekly, where I take a look at the Black Library-related news from the week just gone – announcements, pre-orders and new releases.

The presence of the big pieces of Games Workshop news has been felt throughout this week – the follow-up from Black Library Live, the release of the new edition of Blood Bowl, and the announcement of the next big thing in Warhammer 40,000. Each of these have contributed to what’s been a pretty impressive (and potentially expensive) week for fans of the hobby, as has the inevitable shadow of Christmas looming ever larger. Read on for more details…
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The Master of Mankind – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

The clue is in the title. Book forty-one of Black Library’s colossal Horus Heresy series, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s The Master of Mankind brings The Emperor front and centre. Set five years after Magnus the Red’s intrusion into the Great Work it sees the forces of the Imperium losing the webway war against the endless hordes of daemons and traitors pouring in. Even the combined might of the Custodes, Sisters of Silence and the Mechanicum isn’t enough to avoid being them pushed ever further backwards, as long as The Emperor remains away from the front lines. Meanwhile something stalks the fringes of the conflict, unseen.
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Black Library Live Coming Soon – Age of Sigmar

In the last of three posts covering the new titles announced at Black Library Live 2016, this time I’m looking at a couple of newly-announced titles for the Warhammer Age of Sigmar range – both by the incredibly productive Josh Reynolds.

As with the previous posts (on the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 and Horus Heresy titles) there were no release dates given for either of these new titles, and neither of these have got covers yet.

We didn’t get a lot of details on these in the seminar, but I spoke to Josh Reynolds, author of both titles, who gave me a little bit of information about each of them.
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Black Library Live Coming Soon – The Horus Heresy

In the second of three posts covering the new titles announced at Black Library Live 2016, I’m taking a look here at the upcoming Horus Heresy releases (including the Primarchs series). I’ve included comments from series editor Laurie Goulding alongside some of the titles, to give a little extra detail.

As with the previous post (on the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 titles) it’s worth remembering that these are not necessarily listed in publication order – no release dates were given. Once again I’ve not included anything that (at the time of writing) is showing up in the Coming Soon section of the Black Library website.
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Black Library Weekly – W/C 14/11/16

Hello and welcome to another instalment of Black Library Weekly, where I take a look at the Black Library-related news from the week just gone – announcements, pre-orders and new releases.

After a few quiet weeks without a huge amount to get Black Library fans’ pulses racing, it was starting to feel as though that was becoming the norm. This week started off slowly, but as the days passed and the weekend approached things started to hot up – looking back it’s actually been a pretty exciting week. Here’s the lowdown…
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QUICK REVIEW: Do Eagles Still Circle the Mountain? – Graham McNeill

The second story from the Honour of the Space Marines anthology to get a standalone e-short release, Graham McNeill’s Do Eagles Still Circle the Mountain? picks up the story of Uriel Ventris between the end of The Chapter’s Due and the as yet unreleased The Swords of Calth. Engaged against the orks on Sycorax, when circumstances change and the Ultramarines’ mission changes from assault to survival, Ventris and his warriors of the Fourth look for refuge away from the sucking mud flats. A Mechanicus facility offers shelter, but it also provides a troubling mystery for the captain to consider.

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Shadow of Ullanor – Rob Sanders (The Beast Arises Book Eleven)

IMPORTANT: This is book eleven in a series – there will be spoilers unless you’ve read I Am Slaughter, Predator, Prey, The Emperor Expects, The Last Wall, Throneworld, Echoes of the Long War, The Hunt for Vulkan, The Beast Must Die, Watchers in Death or The Last Son of Dorn.

Shadow of Ullanor is the eleventh, and penultimate, book in The Beast Arises series, and Rob Sanders’ second contribution after the excellent Predator, Prey. After the disastrous end to The Last Son of Dorn, the Imperium stands on the edge of the abyss. Gathering together on Inwit for a solemn Festival of Blades, the Imperial Fists successor chapters form a plan which will honour their First Founding chapter and see one last, all-in attempt to end the greenskin menace once and for all. Meanwhile First Captain Zerberyn begins to see the implications of his alliance with the Iron Warriors.
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The Hanging Tree – Ben Aaronovitch

Ben Aaronovitch’s latest novel in the Peter Grant/Rivers of London series – The Hanging Tree – brings us back to London after Peter’s foray into the countryside in Foxglove Summer. The focus is on Mayfair this time as Peter investigates a drug-related death where one of the suspects is the daughter of Lady Tyburn, physical manifestation of one of London’s rivers and not one of Peter’s biggest fans. As the fateful events are gradually revealed and the implications uncovered, new players in the magical scene are introduced, some familiar faces reappear, and a bigger mystery might just be solved.

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