Author Archives: Michael

Monthly Highlights – June 2020

With another month gone by, the end of June brings us to the halfway point of 2020 – a very strange year, I’m sure you’ll agree. I hope you’ve all been coping with the lockdown and the weird restrictions on day to day life we’re all dealing with, and where possible have been getting some good reading time in. As usual, for this Monthly Highlights article I’m going to take a look back through what I’ve been reading and listening to over the last few weeks – in this case I managed 15 books (four of which were audiobooks) across a slightly wider range of genres and topics than I usually go for.

I’ll keep things as succinct as I can, and link out to reviews where they’re available; as with last month I chose quite a lot of these books for the purpose of escapism rather than to review, and quite a few were re-reads. Without further ado, however, let’s get straight on (in the order in which I read them) with June’s books…

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RAPID FIRE: Will McDermott Talks Soulless Fury

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with 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 author Will McDermott, who’s back writing for Black Library after a 13 year hiatus with a brand new Necromunda novel – Soulless Fury, featuring the legendary D’onne Ulanti, more commonly known as Mad Donna. It’s available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats; read on to find out more about this story, its inspirations and why Necromunda stories are so much fun to write.

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RAPID FIRE: CL Werner Talks Lady of Sorrows

For this interview I spoke to veteran Black Library author CL Werner about his new book Lady of Sorrows, his seventh novel for the Age of Sigmar setting (eighth if you include the Warhammer Horror imprint). It’s available to pre-order as of the 4th July, and if you’re interested in learning more about the Mortarch of Grief – or just exploring more of the Realm of Death – then this promises to be right up your street.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex – Tamsyn Muir

Tamsyn Muir’s short story The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex, part of the Locked Tomb series, is a prequel of sorts to the fantastic Gideon the Ninth, featuring the thirteen year-old incarnations of the Sixth’s House’s Camilla Hect and Palamides Sextus. When the study of a long-dead Library tutor (the brilliantly-named Doctor Donald Sex) is finally reopened, 460 years after his death, Camilla and Palamides are among the lucky few to examine the dusty, intriguing old office. What they find within reveals an unexpected locked-room mystery, and while their elders proceed to trawl through academic bureaucracy the two youngsters set about unravelling the puzzle themselves.

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RAPID FIRE: David Annandale Talks The Heretic Saint

In this instalment I spoke to Black Library author David Annandale about his new novel The Heretic Saint, which revisits a character who made her first Black Library appearance over 20 years ago – Ephrael Stern, the Daemonifuge. It was initially only available in a very nice but very expensive limited edition boxed set, before the ‘standard’ editions were published a few months down the line. If you’re interested in knowing more about this most unusual of Battle Sisters and her role in the new Warhammer 40,000 narrative, read on!

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Sons of the Selenar – Graham McNeill

While Black Library’s Siege of Terra series is closing off the Horus Heresy with eight novels covering the major story beats, Graham McNeill’s Sons of the Selenar marks the first in an additional set of novellas which tackle slightly smaller subjects within the context of the Siege. In this case, the story of Sharrowkin, Wayland and the Sisypheum continues as, returning to the Sol System, loyalties within the crew begin to fracture. Drawn to embattled Luna, the few remaining Shattered Legionaries must put division aside and act as one if they’re to ensure vital secrets remain out of the traitors’ hands.

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David Mogo, Godhunter – Suyi Davis Okungbowa

Set in an almost post-apocalyptic Nigeria where gods have fallen from the sky and all but driven humans out of the city of Lagos, Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s debut novel David Mogo, Godunter is a tale of displaced deities, urban wizards and a slightly hapless demigod trying to keep the peace. In dire need of a well-paying job, the titular godhunter accepts a somewhat dubious task from the powerful wizard Lukmon Ajala – to capture the twin high gods Ibeji. When things don’t quite go to plan, David Mogo finds himself torn between his human and divine halves, and forced to choose who and what he really wants to be.

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Wrath of N’Kai – Josh Reynolds

Aconyte Books’ exploration of the world of Arkham Horror begins in fine style with Josh Reynolds’ Wrath of N’Kai, an entertainingly dark tale of a gentlewoman thief getting more than she bargained for. Countess Alessandra Zorzi has been commissioned to travel to Arkham, where a recently-discovered ancient American mummy is to be displayed, and steal it. What sounds like a relatively simple job, however, is complicated by the presence of an investigator from the insurance company underwriting the exhibition, and the dawning realisation that there’s more going on than meets the eye in both Arkham’s criminal underworld and its wealthy upper class.

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The Horus Heresy: Preparing for Sons of the Selenar

I don’t know about you, but after nearly 15 years and goodness knows how many stories, I’m increasingly finding it tricky to keep track of characters and story arcs in Black Library’s Horus Heresy series. Not so much the main series beats, but the smaller arcs and threads that run throughout the Heresy – there are just so many of them, and in some cases it’s been years since I last read these stories. Now that the Siege of Terra sub-series (or whatever you want to call it) is here, it feels more important than ever to have a good handle on who’s who; I want to get as much enjoyment out of these final few books as possible!

Having just got my hands on a copy of Graham McNeill’s Siege of Terra novella Sons of the Selenar, I realised that I really couldn’t remember much about the characters I was going to be reading about. I could have jumped straight in and I’m sure I would have got the gist, but as this was likely going to be the final mission for the crew of the Sisypheum, I wanted the book to have the greatest possible impact! With that in mind, I dug back through my copies of previous Heresy books and revisited each of the key stories which lead up to Sons of the Selenar. Having done so, I thought I would put together a quick article pointing out what those stories are and where to find them, in case it’s useful to anyone else.

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Knights of Macragge – Nick Kyme

Nick Kyme returns to the ongoing story of Captain Cato Sicarius of the Ultramarines 2nd Company in Knights of Macragge, which sees Sicarius and his brothers, and the crew of the Emperor’s Will, lost in the Warp. The events of Damnos are in the past, the Great Rift has opened and Guilliman returned, and the Ultramarines of 2nd Company are both reinforced and wracked by rivalry like never before. After years spent battling daemonic incursions and the debilitating effects of the Warp, everyone on board the Emperor’s Will is stretched to breaking point, but Sicarius is determined to find a way to survive, and eventually return to the Imperium…or what’s left of it.

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