Author Archives: Michael

RAPID FIRE: David Annadale Talks The House of Night and Chain

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 Black Library author David Annandale about his new Warhammer 40,000 novel The House of Night and Chain, which is the first full novel released under the new Warhammer Horror label. It’s available to order in paperback and ebook right now, so if you’re in the mood for your next 40k novel to be of the darker, spookier variety, read on to find out more about what you can expect from this book.

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QUICK REVIEW: Runner – Alan Bao

Marking his Black Library debut, Alan Bao’s Warhammer Horror short story Runner takes a close look inside the head of a lone Guardsman faced with a long, dangerous journey. Taking his role in the regiment entirely literally, the unnamed runner races across the endless tundra of a frozen world, carrying a desperate message of warning to regimental command. Behind him lies a broken hive, the bodies of his comrades and things in the fog. As the journey takes its toll on his body, familiar voices pursue him and long-forgotten memories surface in his mind, but he knows he must endure.

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Angel Mage – Garth Nix

Set in a world of angels, monsters and musketeers, Garth Nix’s standalone fantasy novel Angel Mage cleverly transposes the essence of The Three Musketeers into a beautiful tale of magic, adventure and friendship. Over a century after fleeing her homeland of Ystara in the wake of a great tragedy, the powerful mage Liliath wakes in Sarance and begins the next stage of her grand plan. She seeks out four individuals – a musketeer, a scholar, a clerk and a doctor – who find their paths converging and who feel an unexplained connection between themselves. While Liliath spins her web for them, the four companions are swept up in events of great import and placed in danger they can’t begin to comprehend.

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The Black Library Weekender 2019 – How to Prepare and Avoid Spoilers

The 2019 Black Library Weekender is fast approaching, and looking at the schedule there’s an impressive range of seminars lined up for the weekend, covering multiple settings and series, writing skills, audio dramas…there’s a lot of variety. With so many topics on offer, not only are there going to be some tricky decisions to make regarding which sessions to attend, but it’s not going to be easy to make sure you’re up to speed on all of the books being discussed. In this article I’m going to go through the schedule and talk a bit about how to prepare for each of the sessions – i.e. which books to try and make sure you’ve read beforehand so that you know what’s being discussed and can avoid spoilers.

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QUICK REVIEW: Doom Flight – Cavan Scott

A high-octane aerial combat story, Cavan Scott’s Doom Flight sees Sergeant Kerikus of the Doom Eagles piloting his Stormtalon gunship in battle against the orks in the skies over the embattled Imperial world of Quadcana. Facing appalling odds after losing his entire squadron to the guns of the greenskins’ ramshackle dakkajets, the dour Kerikus is determined to sell his life dearly and make his death count for something. When hope returns and the opportunity arises to complete his mission after all, Kerikus prepares to strike a telling blow against the orks even if the prospect of survival remains unlikely.

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RAPID FIRE: John French Talks Divination

In this instalment I spoke to Black Library author John French about Divinations, the latest book in his Horusian Wars series. This time it’s a short story anthology (about which I’m very excited – I love short stories), featuring no fewer than 11 stories. It’s available to order right now in hardback and ebook formats!

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The Lost and the Damned – Guy Haley

Book two in Black Library’s Siege of Terra mini-series concluding the Horus Heresy, Guy Haley’s The Lost and the Damned picks up where The Solar War left off as Horus Lupercal launches his assault on Terra itself. Reinforced by thousands of conscripts and protected by ancient shield technology, the outer walls of the Imperial Palace bear the brunt of the initial attacks as the Warmaster tests the physical defences with brutal bombardments and assaults from the dregs of his forces. The loyalists know they need only endure until salvation arrives, but time is of the essence for the traitors. While the legions wait to take to the field on both sides, egos clash as the traitor primarchs vie for position, bickering amongst themselves in the name of pride, glory or their new gods.

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QUICK REVIEW: Void Crossed – JC Stearns

Probably as close as we’ll ever get to a dark eldar love story from Black Library, JC Stearns’ Void Crossed deals with the fallout from the broken relationship between two ambitious drukhari corsairs. For Archon Melandyr, the chance to claim a webway gate on the world of Dunwiddian – abandoned after the humans died and the orks got bored – is of little interest until he hears who’s leading the force sent to take control of it by the craftworld Tir-Val. Sensing an opportunity for vengeance long sought-after, he pours all his spite into hunting down the person most important to him.

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Warhammer Adventures: Claws of the Genestealer AND Secrets of the Tau – Cavan Scott

Cavan Scott’s Warped Galaxies series continues to impress (and entertain) with books two and three – Claws of the Genestealer and Secrets of the Tau. With the necron Hunter taken care of (for now, at least), Zelia, Talen, Mekki and Fleapit search for a way off the snow-bound planet they find themselves stranded on, before braving the unfamiliar confines of a frontier space station. With dangers all around, from lethal aliens to the elements themselves, they need to put their differences aside and find ways to work together if they’ve any hope of finding their way to safety, and a distant rendezvous with Zelia’s mum.

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Bigger Than Biggs – Danie Ware

Danie Ware’s Judge Anderson novella Bigger Than Biggs follows on from Alec Worley’s three Year One novellas, and sees the Psi-Judge tackling biker gangs and delving into dark secrets in the Big Meg. On secondment to the uncompromising Chief Johnson in Sector-19, Anderson stumbles upon something big when the rescue of a kidnap victim leads to hints of sinister goings-on beneath the Eee-Zee Rest block. Johnson won’t sanction an investigation due to the political connections of the block’s owner, but Anderson’s gifts tell her something terrible is about to happen, and it’ll take someone with her talents to stop it.

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