QUICK REVIEW: Signal to Noise – CZ Dunn

First published in 2012’s Black Library Weekender Anthology 2, CZ Dunn’s Signal to Noise is the third short story (so far) featuring Sister Agentha of the Order of the Fractured Cipher to receive a standalone ebook release, albeit the first of the shorts chronologically. An unwelcome guest on a Black Templars strike cruiser, Sister Diologus Agentha finds herself a helpless bystander in the midst of an attack by eldar raiders. As the Templars defend themselves, Agentha works to understand the meaning of an ancient vox signal that might just challenge the preconceptions and prejudices of her Space Marine hosts.

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Black Library Weekly W/C 10/07/17

Hello and welcome to another instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. This week has been relatively quiet in terms of releases, with ‘just’ a couple of re-releases in new formats, but there’s also been some excellent news towards the end of the week that’s definitely worth talking about. As always, I’ll start at the top of the week…

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Warhammer Age of Sigmar – (Storm)Cast List – July 2017

I’ve been making a concerted effort of late to catch up on Black Library’s Age of Sigmar fiction, of late. I’d previously read the first few in the Realmgate Wars series, and all of the short stories that had been released over various Advent Calendar campaigns, but then I’d rather let things slip in favour of 40k and the Horus Heresy. I’m now making good progress with the Realmgate Wars, and looking forward to the books set away from that particular campaign, but there’s something that I’ve been rather struggling with – remembering which Stormcast are which.

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QUICK REVIEW: Fearful Symmetries – Rob Sanders

Available either within the Deathwatch: Xenos Hunters anthology or as a standalone e-short, Rob Sanders’ Fearful Symmetries takes a rare look back in time at a young Inquisitor Kryptmann in the early days of the Imperium’s interactions with the tyranid menace. Deep within an Adeptus Mechanicus forge world, Kryptmann oversees the dangerous process of gaining first-hand experience of captured tyranid specimens within a controlled environment. The risks involved pale into insignificance against the urgent need for information to aid in combating and halting this growing threat…

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Black Library Weekly W/C 03/07/17

Hello and welcome to another instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. This week has brought with it the Inquisition, the Warmaster of Mankind, and another tranche of newly-announced titles coming later in the year…it’s been pretty damn good, in fact! Let’s have a quick look then, shall we?

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Judge Anderson: Year One – Alec Worley

Formed of three novellas following Cassandra Anderson in her first year as a Judge, Judge Anderson: Year One by Alec Worley explores what it’s like as a psyker living and working in Mega-City One. The search for a powerful, rage-filled psyker infecting others with his anger; a fight for survival in the midst of some of the most deranged of Mega-City One’s inhabitants; and a quest to find the source of a psychic malaise infecting dreams…these are among the challenges facing the young psker as she wrestles with how to reconcile her responsibilities as a Judge with her inherent compassion.

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Dark Compliance – John French

Having tackled the character of Horus in a short Horus Heresy audio drama before – the appropriately named Warmaster – John French takes a longer, darker look in Dark Compliance. A simple but effective portmanteau, it sees the ruler of one planetary system – defiant in the face of Horus’ demands – regaled with the horrifying tale of another system’s demise…over a single day. A statement of Horus’ intent as much as his military power, the story of Accazzar-Beta’s destruction, as told by Sons of Horus emissary Argonis, demonstrates the fate awaiting those who defy the Warmaster. As threats go, it’s pretty compelling.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Absolution of Swords – John French

The third short story in John French’s burgeoning Horusian Wars series, The Absolution of Swords is pretty much a direct prequel to the novel Resurrection. On the shrine world Dominicus Prime, within and beneath the temples of the Crow Complex, Inquisitor Covenant and his warband hunt down an insidious cult known as the Tenth Path. While Duke Cleander Von Castellan and the soldier Koleg seek to cleanse the taint of Chaos from the darkness beneath the temples, Covenant leads his other followers in search of answers, and the man ultimately responsible for the cult’s dark purpose.

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Dark Imperium – Guy Haley

Unless you’ve been hiding your head in the sand of late, you’ll have spotted that Warhammer 40,000 has recently taken a big step forward in terms of the setting’s overall narrative. Not to be left behind, Black Library have commissioned Guy Haley to write the first novel set in #new40k, taking place after the events of the Gathering Storm – the fall of Cadia, the birth of a new eldar god, and the return of a loyalist primarch to 40k. The result is Dark Imperium (not to be confused with the short story anthology of the same name) and…it’s excellent.

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