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. It’s the first full week of March, so that means another month’s worth of upcoming releases has been announced, but that’s not all there is to talk about. As always, let’s start at the beginning…
In League of Legends’ world of Runeterra, the Noxian empire is built on three aspects of strength – vision, might and guile. In his short story The Principles of Strength Anthony Reynolds explores this concept through the relationship between Noxus and one of its vassal states. Alyssa and Oram val-Lokan, scions of the Delverhold, have been sent to meet with Noxus’ ruling Council of Three to negotiate new terms for their alliance. To succeed, they must convince two or more of the Trifarix, but while Oram adopts a blunt, belligerent approach to negotiations, Alyssa sees things rather differently.
When I started Track of Words I wrote reviews of pretty much everything I read, and blogged about all sort of reading-related topics. Over time I’ve increasingly streamlined what I talk about on Track of Words, and these days there’s no question that I focus predominantly upon Black Library – that’s no surprise, seeing as I’ve been reading Warhammer fiction for well over twenty years! That being said, I’m keen to keep at least a little bit of variety on Track of Words, for my own enjoyment if nothing else. Enter something new (for me) – League of Legends.
Showcasing the Vanguard Chamber of the Hallowed Knights, Josh Reynolds’ Age of Sigmar short story A Dirge of Dust and Steel takes place in Shyish amidst the ruins of an ancient duardin civilisation. Lord-Aquilor Sathphren Swiftblade seeks a lost Realmgate, and in return for his aid against a daemon known as the Soulflayer the remnants of the Gazul-Zagaz – worshippers of the duardin god of the dead – have promised to help him reach his goal. The Soulflayer has tormented the duardin for centuries, but with Sathphren’s help they finally have the chance for revenge.
Issue thirteen of the Warhammer 40,000 Legends Collection takes us back to 2002 for Graham McNeill’s much-loved Iron Warriors novel Storm of Iron. One of Graham’s earliest Black Library novels – alongside Nightbringer, which was also released in 2002 – this tells the story of the Iron Warriors’ invasion of Hydra Cordatus, and introduces a certain Iron Warrior named Honsou who went on to have a rather important career and feature heavily in a number of his other novels. It’s still widely considered a genuine classic Black Library novel, over fifteen years after publication; at the time of writing this article it rates at an impressive 4.12 on Goodreads.
One of Sarah Cawkwell’s many Silver Skulls short stories, The Pact sees Prognosticator Bhehan follow a vision to the original homeworld of his Chapter, long ago ravaged by the Silver Skulls themselves. Accompanied by First Captain Kerelan and a veteran squad of Terminators, Bhehan sets out to discover why his vision led him there, and what he can learn of the Silver Skulls’ distant history. When his investigations are disrupted by the arrival of eldar on the surface of Lyria, Bhehan turns his powers instead to destruction until something even worse than the xenos manifests and threatens the mission.
The Space Wolves are an enduringly popular Chapter, but Josh Reynolds’ novel Lukas the Trickster is slightly different to their usual stories. With Fenris in the grip of Helwinter and the Space Wolves isolated, the dark eldar corsair Duke Sliscus launches a daring raid from out of the webway in an attempt to stave off his crippling ennui. Banished from the Fang along with a pack of Blood Claws after a prank played on the Wolf Lord Kjarl Grimblood, Lukas pits his cunning against the sly Sliscus, defending Fenris and its people in his own inimitable way.
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. After last week’s sort-of excitement, this week has been unusually Warhammer-focused and something of a blast from the past. There are some interesting things to talk about this week, so let’s dive straight in.
CL Werner’s Lord of Undeath is the tenth and final Realmgate Wars book, concluding the series with another of the Stormcast’s missions to negotiate a new alliance with Nagash. This time the focus is on the Anvils of the Heldenhammer, led by Lord Celestant Makvar, who seek out Neferata as the first step on their mission in Shyish. The Mortarch of Blood has spent the Age of Chaos spinning veils of illusion to protect her city, Nulahmia, but the Slaaneshi warlord Lascilion threatens to undo all her efforts. If Makvar can ally with Neferata, it’s a step closer to success.
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 Josh Reynolds about his latest Age of Sigmar novel, Nagash: The Undying King, which is available to order in hardback tomorrow after its ebook-only release at the end of 2017.