Category Archives: Black Library

Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne – Chris Wraight

Some of Black Library’s earliest and best-loved books tackled the mysteries of the Inquisition, away from 40k’s usual battlefields, but for a while it seemed those sorts of stories had fallen out of favour. Chris Wraight’s Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne offers a welcome return, featuring Inquisitor Erasmus Crowl and Interrogator Luce Spinoza as they work to root out a dangerous cult deep within the heart of the throneworld, Terra itself. As the sacred festival of Sanguinala approaches and Terra swells with countless pilgrims, can Crowl and Spinoza cut to the heart of the unfolding events in time to prevent disaster?

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QUICK REVIEW: The Flesh Tithe – Miles A. Drake

The Flesh Tithe represents the Black Library debut of Miles A. Drake, a dark and powerful short story which pits Sister Hospitaller Lucia against the horrors of an invading necron army. In the dark reaches of the Ghoul Stars, the Imperial world of Sygera is rapidly falling to ruin as its defenders are scattered and massacred. As guardian of her city’s cathedral, Sister Lucia rallies a few surviving soldiers in a desperate attempt to hold out as long as possible in the midst of the chaos, although even with some unexpected allies there appears to be little hope of survival.

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Black Library Weekly – W/C 04/09/17

Hello and welcome to another instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. It’s been the first full week of September, which means another month’s forthcoming releases were confirmed, along with the usual set of releases for the week, so there’s plenty to look at…

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Lucius: The Faultless Blade – Ian St. Martin

If you’d like to read more about Lucius: The Faultless blade, check out this quick interview with the author Ian St. Martin.

As the title suggests, Lucius: The Faultless Blade by Ian St. Martin features Lucius the Eternal, Champion of Slaanesh, in a surprisingly rare non-Heresy outing for such a well-known 40k character. Set at an unspecified point pre-Gathering Storm, it sees Lucius and his dwindling warband – the Cohors Nasicae – at low ebb, much reduced from their glory days and forced into making decisions and alliances they would normally prefer not to make. Lucius himself is plagued by the voices of those whose bodies he’s usurped after having perished at their hands, struggling to maintain a grip on his mind and his warband.

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Gav Thorpe Talks Twenty Years of Black Library – Part Two

In the first part of my interview with games developer, Black Library author and all round top guy Gav Thorpe we talked about his early career with Games Workshop and Black Library, and his first couple of stories in Inferno! magazine. In this second part we talk more about his ongoing work with Black Library, as well as a little bit about what he’s got coming up, and the realities of life as a freelance author.

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QUICK REVIEW: Whispers – Alec Worley

Alec Worley’s third Black Library short story, Whispers sees the Adepta Sororitas in action, responding to the summons of missionary Marcus Amouris to a backwater world whose tribes he hopes to bring into the fold of the Imperium. Something has been hunting the tribespeople and Amouris needs it removing but as he and the Sisters of Battle, led by Dominion Superior Adamanthea, venture into the deep forests and reach the City of Whispers, his assertion that it’s merely a dangerous indigenous predator is quickly challenged.

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Black Library Weekly – W/C 28/08/17

Hello and welcome to another instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. After last week’s Summer of Reading campaign we’re back to normal service now, so I’ve gone back to the usual structure for this article. Let’s kick things off in the usual way, beginning with the start of the week.

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Gav Thorpe Talks Twenty Years of Black Library – Part One

From games design and White Dwarf to freelance Black Library author, Gav Thorpe has had a huge impact on Games Workshop and its intellectual properties over the years. September 2017 marks the twenty year anniversary of Gav’s first Black Library short story – Birth of a Legend – while 2017 has also seen Gav receive a prestigious Gemmell Award for his Age of Sigmar novel Warbeast.

With both of those milestones firmly in mind, I spoke to Gav about his twenty-year career as a Black Library author and how that fitted in with his time at Games Workshop, along the way discussing his first two Black Library stories, his work in the audio medium, and loads more.

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Forgotten Texts: Birth of a Legend by Gav Thorpe

“A small gift hardly compares to the life of a Dwarf King, now does it?”

Gav Thorpe’s first ever Black Library story, first published twenty years ago, Birth of a Legend is an old-school Warhammer story featuring an early incarnation of one of the setting’s greatest characters. When King Kurgan and his retainers are captured by the Orc warlord Vagraz Head-Stomper, things look bleak for the Dwarfs. That is, until the local human huntsmen arrive to investigate the intrusion into their territory, led by a young man with a powerful destiny. Determined to drive them off and free the Dwarf captives, he leads his men into battle against the Orcs…and the rest is history.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Volturung Road – Guy Haley

First published within the Fyreslayers anthology before getting the standalone ebook treatment, Guy Haley’s Age of Sigmar short story The Volturung Road has one foot in the Mortal Realms and the other back in the World That Was. As the Slaanesh-worshippers’ siege of his family’s hold approaches its one hundred and first year, runeson Ulgathern grows increasingly concerned, fearing that a prophecy deemed unreliable by most is coming to fruition. When tragedy strikes and his personal circumstances change, he sets out towards the Volturung lodge to reach his people’s ancestral home and escape the fate he sees approaching.

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