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 a little quiet in terms of new content available to buy, but it’s also seen some big new titles confirmed for later in the year. Let’s get straight to it…
A companion piece to Eye of Night, part of Black Library’s Audio Week 2017, Gav Thorpe’s Hand of Darkness is an hour-long audio drama featuring the debut appearance of the Ynnari in a Black Library story, and is the second story to be set in the post-Gathering Storm 40k. This time it sees Roboute Guilliman persuading Eldrad Ulthran and Yvraine to help him by retrieving the Hand of Darkness, gifted by Abaddon to the daemon primarch Mortarion and now residing on the Plague Planet. To find it they seek knowledge from the Black Library before entering the Garden of Nurgle itself.
Calgar’s Fury is Paul Kearney’s third novel for Black Library, after the ill-fated Dark Hunters: Umbra Sumus and 2016’s Calgar’s Siege, and sees him return to the character of Marneus Calgar that he tackled so well previously. When a vast space hulk appears within the bounds of Ultramar, inexperienced Captain Galenus of Fifth Company is called to investigate, but the threat is enough for Calgar to step in himself, alongside the Inquisition and Adeptus Mechanicus. Leading two full companies onto the hulk to try and divine its secrets, he soon finds himself caught between two enemies, even while his allies pursue their own agendas.
Originally published in 2013, Chris Wraight’s Blood of Asaheim sees him return to the Space Wolves after the excellent Battle of the Fang, this time set in the current 40k era. When the returning Ingvar, back after over fifty years serving with the Deathwatch, rejoins his old pack – Járnhamar – their sense of unity and identity is challenged. Under strength and weary, Járnhamar is sent to Ras Shakeh to prepare the way for a major assault, only to find the world under attack by the Death Guard, so instead stands to defend it alongside the stoic, but wary, SIsters of Battle.
Regular readers will have seen my recent interview with Dan Abnett, and may also be aware of my Forgotten Texts series, where I look back at stories from the earlier days of Black Library. I recently covered Dan’s short story Ghostmaker for Forgotten Texts – you can find that article here – and while I was chatting to Dan for the main interview I asked a few questions related to that short story to use as an accompanying interview.
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 there’s been a lot of talk about what’s happening with the new edition of Warhammer 40,000, but less about what’s going on in Black Library. That being said, we’ve had some nice new releases – so let’s kick things off by taking a look at the first of those…
In case you missed it, I recently posted the first part of an interview with prolific author Dan Abnett, whose work for Marvel, DC Comics, 2000AD and Black Library (among others) has earned him a (much-deserved) huge fan base. In that first part, we discussed Dan’s early career and influences, and looked at the craft of writing, and the implications of working across multiple mediums.
“For now, any action where no brother is lost must be victory enough…”
The first, and for a long time only, Black Library story focused on the Scythes of the Emperor, Orphans of the Kraken by Richard Williams takes place many years after the loss of Sotha and the Scythes’ near destruction at the hands of the Tyranids. Sergeant Tiresias, commanding the 21st Salvation Team, leads a handful of inexperienced, mismatched neophytes into the depths of a dead hive ship in search of long-lost brothers, or failing that, salvage. Unsurprisingly, things are not all they seem, and their mission takes an unexpected, dangerous turn.
Since my review this has since been released as a standalone CD/MP3 audio drama, rather than being split into three parts – so you’ve got options for how to buy it!
The first of two audio dramas by Gav Thorpe to be released over Black Library’s Audio Week 2017 campaign, Eye of Night is also the first 40k story to be set in the wake of the Gathering Storm. It features Inquisitor Kataryna Greyfax as, on the orders of the primarch Roboute Guilliman, she searches for a powerful artefact – the titular Eye of Night. Accompanied by a single squad of Grey Knights she journeys first to the Gothic Sector and then on to the Eye of Terror, and is forced to bargain with unexpected allies in order to achieve her mission.
The eighth new Blood Bowl story to come out of Black Library in recent months, Gav Thorpe’s Scrape to Victory follows aspiring lineman (linerat?) Kikkit of the lower-tier Crookback Cretins in his quest to escape a life of grinding monotony and danger for the opportunity to play for the Skavenblight Scramblers. All he needs to do is earn one more confirmed injury as a result of a foul, to claim the all-time record and his place in the big league – easy-easy, surely? Maybe not, with his debts suddenly being called in and only a single match left in the season!