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. This week it’s a slightly later instalment as a result of yesterday being Christmas Day – I hope everyone had a lovely day, assuming you celebrate Christmas!
Day one of Black Library’s 2016/17 12 Days of Christmas campaign brings us a free 40k micro-short story in the shape of Graeme Lyon’s The Librarian’s Acolyte. In the Ultramarines’ Librarium within the Fortress of Hera, Acolyte Loraeus is welcomed into the Librarius by Chief Librarian Tigurius himself. With his training due to start soon Loraeus is given a fairly straightforward first task, but events quickly spiral out of control and he’s forced to rely on his wits as well as his newfound power to deal with the escalating situation.
The final instalment of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar, Chris Wraight’s Horus Heresy short story The Last Son of Prospero follows on from The Path of Heaven with Revuel Arvida finally having succumbed to the flesh change after guiding the White Scars back to Terra. While one war is fought deep within Terra, Malcador the Sigillite battles to save Arvida from his legion’s curse at the request of Jaghatai Khan. While the White Scars primarch feels honour-bound to help the Thousand Sons legionary, Malcador’s aims and motivations remain obscure, as ever.
The penultimate story in Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar and the last of three Blood Bowl tales, Andy Hall’s Da Bank Job sees Brobag, captain of disastrously bad orc team Brobag’s Big ‘Uns, offered a risky but lucrative opportunity to reverse his team’s poor fortunes. After a victory-less first season Brobag is in a tricky position, but is an invitational game against the famous Reikland Reavers the answer to his problems? If he can keep his team alive and on the pitch long enough, maybe he’ll have a chance to keep the Big ‘Uns going for another season…
The twenty-second of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar stories is Unearthed by Rob Sanders, an Inquisition tale which pits the rash Interrogator Kiefer against the Alpha Legion warband which proved the death of his former master. Having tracked them to the ravaged agri-world of Grendl’s World, he’s certain that he has them where he wants them, so pushes on accompanied by Attillan Rough Riders and ogryn auxilia. You can probably see where this is going, given the Alpha Legion’s deserved reputation for trickery…
The last of six audio dramas in the 2016 Black Library Advent Calendar, day twenty-one’s The Art of Provocation by Josh Reynolds features Lukas the Trickster, the irreverent Space Wolf having been sent to Polix Tertius ahead of his brothers to disable the invading orks’ communications. Always keen to take any opportunity to rile his superiors, instead of simply destroying the vox network he sets about putting a surprising knowledge of the ork language to good use. While Wolf Lord Kjarl Grimblood rages at his insubordination and ork reinforcements close in on his position, Lukas laughs his way to an unusual victory.
On the 20th day of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar it’s back to the Mortal Realms for the third and final Age of Sigmar story – Pantheon by Guy Haley. On the highest peak in the realm of Azyr, Sigmar waits amidst the remnants of past glories for a visitation from a fellow deity. With his Stormcast Eternals taking the fight to Chaos across all of the realms, he’s now turning his mind to a later stage of his plans. Hoping to sway Alarielle to his cause, he shows her an ancient story from a time before the Age of Chaos.
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Above and Beyond (Episode 1) by Áron Németh is the first in a series of short stories and novellas that will make up The Caligari Archivum, a collection of stories tying in with the upcoming computer game Inquisitor – Martyr. In this first instalment we’re introduced to Theoden Mercer, captain of the merchant vessel Stormskipper, who’s approached out of the blue by an unusual customer looking for passage off-world. When complications arise as a result of the deal, Mercer and his crew are forced to fight their way out of trouble, and find themselves with serious questions about their passenger. Keep reading…
On the nineteenth day of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar, James Swallow’s short story Exocytosis oozes onto our e-readers, the penultimate Horus Heresy story in the collection. Amidst the forests of Zaramund, Luther and his Dark Angels offer aid to the battered forces of First Captain Calas Typhon, but there’s little trust between the Angels and the Death Guard. Plagued by unsettled, troubled thoughts and unsure what to make of the slow changes coming over his body, Typhon waits while repairs are made, whiling the time away in restless contemplation. Meanwhile the Dark Angels watch and listen, making their own plans.
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Day eighteen marks the three quarter mark of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar, with Carcharadons: The Reaping Time by Robbie MacNiven. A prequel to the upcoming novel Red Tithe, it follows Carcharadons Librarian (sort of) Te Kahurangi as he accompanies Company Master Akia to the mining world of Zartak, whose rebellious rulers fear the Space Marines are coming to sanction them. In reality, Third Company are on Zartak for other reasons; though the Zartakians’ rebellion stems from the issue of tithes, it’s a very different tithe indeed that brings the Carcharadons Astra to Zartak.
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