Hello and welcome to the latest instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. There have been plenty of releases this week to talk about, including confirmation of another month’s worth of upcoming titles, so let’s get straight down to business.
Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library 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 Guy Haley about his latest 40k novel Dark Imperium: Plague War, one of three releases from the always-busy Guy due in October, which is available to order right now.
Over the summer of 2018 Black Library released a series of six paperback novellas, all previously available in different formats and editions, under the label of Start Here With Black Library. These went somewhat under the radar, as they weren’t (and still aren’t) available via the Black Library or Games Workshop websites, instead being available to pick up in book shops, and on Amazon. They’re absolutely amazing value, however, at a mere £3 each, so obviously I picked up a copy of each of them for myself (I found them at Forbidden Planet in London), and I wanted to talk a little bit about them here.
Included in the special edition hardback of Dark Imperium, Guy Haley’s short story In the Grim Darkness offers a quick glimpse into the slightly sinister world of Bellisarius Cawl as he works to perfect his new type of Space Marine in the wake of the Great Heresy War. Eleven-year-old Decimus Androdinus Felix was about to fulfil his dream to become an Ultramarine when his name was called and he was taken away. Waking some time later and escaping his captors, he finds himself in the company of a monster who speaks like a man, and who offers him a choice.
Somehow we’ve reached the start of October, and the final quarter of the year – how did that happen? Before September completely fades from memory, I’m having a good look back at everything I read (or listened to) and reviewed last month in order to pick out a few highlights. Planning out what I wanted to write this month, I realised that these Monthly Highlights posts have got a little bloated of late, so I’ve trimmed things down for this one. Also, rather than picking one top highlight and two notable mentions, this month I’m going with three top picks as I simply couldn’t choose between them.
An Officio Assassinorum short audio drama from Ben Counter, Kill Shot sees Vindicare agent Deliva engaged in a mission to assassinate a heretic noblewoman, Seleuca Markovan. As she keeps her distant handler up to date with the progress of her mission, it becomes clear that she won’t be able to deal with Markovan with a single, clean kill shot, but will instead have to find a way to complete her task up close. Time is pressing, however, and Deliva knows she can’t let Markovan escape.
A Crimson Fists novel set during the same campaign as Rynn’s World by Steve Parker, Legacy of Dorn is, incredibly, Mike Lee’s first full-length 40k novel. During the desperate defence of New Rynn City against the vast hordes of Waaagh! Snagrod, Veteran Sergeant Sandor Galleas and his Sternguard veterans find themselves cut off from the remaining Crimson Fists forces and trapped behind the orks’ lines. Forced into a campaign of guerilla warfare alongside a battered, ill-equipped group of human soldiers, the veterans take the fight to the orks, all the while knowing they may represent the last hope for their Chapter.
Hello and welcome to the latest instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. This week has, for me, been dominated by the return of Inferno! to Black Library, but there’s plenty more to talk about as well as that. Let’s take a look…
Way back in the mists of time (well, 1997 to be precise) the first publication for the newly-created Black Library was a bi-monthly magazine called Inferno!, which featured short stories, comic strips and artwork all bringing the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 to life. Inferno! ran to 46 issues over seven years, and introduced fans to a whole host of names who would go on to be regular Black Library authors. Dan Abnett, Gav Thorpe, William King, Ben Counter and a whole host of other authors published their first Black Library stories in the pages of Inferno! magazine.
One of several Gotrek & Felix short stories which were bundled together to form Trollslayer, the first in the LONG series of ‘nounslayer’ books, The Mutant Master was first published in issue one of Inferno! magazine all the way back in 1997. After having been waylaid by mutants on the route between Altdorf and Middenheim, Gotrek and Felix take their rest in an inn ominously called The Hanged Man. There they hear tell of an evil sorcerer who’s taken the locals’ children hostage, while talk of the sorcerer’s monster piques the doom-seeking slayer’s interest even further.