QUICK REVIEW: The Garden of Mortal Delights – Robert Rath

Robert Rath makes an impressive Black Library debut with The Garden of Mortal Delights, an Age of Sigmar short story which manages to explore interesting angles on both Slaanesh worship and the mindset of the Sylvaneth. Branchwych Kurdwen has been held captive for a full season, serving the whims of Revish the Epicurean and tending to his pleasure garden. Grown bored of the more visceral excesses, Revish has turned to culinary pleasures to sate his desires, utilising Kurdwen’s talents to nurture his garden. As he increasingly relies upon her skills, however, the branchwych has plans of her own in motion.

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QUICK REVIEW: Blood Sacrifice – Peter McLean

The fourth and final short story in Black Library’s Digital Horror Week 2019, Peter McLean’s Blood Sacrifice returns to the story of Corporal Cully and the Reslian 45th as a sequel to Baphomet By Night. Digging in on a dreary hive world under the watchful eye of a new, by-the-book sergeant, the endless waiting is wearing on Cully and bringing back painful memories. When the opportunity arises to make a little money off the books Cully jumps at the chance, but what should be a straightforward job becomes something much worse when an abandoned medicae facility turns out to be anything but.

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The Red Feast – Gav Thorpe

Gav Thorpe’s The Red Feast is an unusual Age of Sigmar novel in that it isn’t actually set in the Age of Sigmar. Instead it’s set long before that, still in the Mortal Realms – Aqshy, in fact – but in a time before the Age of Chaos. It takes place across the Flamescar Plateau, where once-warlike tribes have found an uneasy kind of peace having largely abandoned their old gods in favour of the teachings of Sigmar. Athol Khul is the spear-carrier, the bridge between his tribe – the Khul – and the Aridians. To Athol, the bond between the tribes is to both peoples’ benefit, but as tensions arise and their alliance is tested he begins to see that things aren’t quite so simple.

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RAPID FIRE: John French Talks The Solar War

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.

This time around it’s a slightly longer instalment than usual, as I spoke to John French about his novel The Solar War, book one in the new Siege of Terra mini-series which concludes the Horus Heresy. As befits such a huge book – both physically and metaphorically – I wanted to try and dig down into a little more detail than usual. For everyone who didn’t get hold of a copy of the Limited Edition hardback, I hope this gives a useful and exciting insight into what you can expect from this novel! The Solar War is available to order in standard hardback/ebook/audiobook editions right now.

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QUICK REVIEW: Stitches – Nick Kyme

The third short story in Black Library’s Digital Horror Week 2019, Nick Kyme’s Stitches deals with the inevitable aftermath of battle for the Astra Militarum and their overworked medical staff. For Medicae Bucher the grinding war of attrition taking place around him is taking a toll, with an endless stream of war-torn bodies requiring his attention, and few of them surviving his tender ministrations. Fearing for his position, he desperately needs something to go right, so when his patients start surviving when they probably shouldn’t, he doesn’t question his fortune and attributes it to the Emperor’s blessing instead.

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Drake – Peter McLean

Peter McLean’s debut novel, Drake is a dark urban fantasy complete with cowardly night creatures, demon mobsters, a faintly inept demonologist, a snarky bound demon and an almost-fallen angel, all wrapped up in a gritty, sweary, fast-paced thriller. When Don Drake, the aforementioned demonologist, winds up owing a gambling debt to a deeply unpleasant ‘businessman’, his already seedy life quickly goes from bad to worse. He soon finds himself with a problem that even the power of his bound demon – the Burning Man – might not be enough to help him with, involving exceedingly dangerous magical enemies and dubious allies who might just be even worse.

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QUICK REVIEW: He Feasts Forever – Lora Gray

Book two of the Digital Horror Week 2019 collection, Lora Gray’s Age of Sigmar short story He Feasts Forever is an unnerving, Gormenghast-esque tale of sinister domesticity and dark glamour. Dedric works as a cook in the king’s kitchens, content to be surrounded by friends and comfortable with his place in the world. While helping prepare a feast for the king’s return, the familiar routine of his work is broken, triggering a chain of events which cause Dedric to feel his certainties begin to fade. As long-buried memories surface, the truth of his past and present slowly comes into horrifying focus.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Hunt – David Annandale

The first Warhammer Horror short story to get a standalone ebook release – and Book 1 of the Digital Horror Week 2019 collection – David Annandale’s The Hunt is an unconventional Age of Sigmar story of guilt, fear, and ghosts both literal and metaphorical. In the Free City of Everyth, in the Realm of Ghur, witch hunter Bered Davan waits for his doom to find him, spending his final moments torn between duty and shame. When a figure from his past calls for him, dredging up painful old emotions, Davan determines to follow his calling and hope for some kind of forgiveness.

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RAPID FIRE: Guy Haley Talks Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter

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 Primarchs novel, Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter, which is available to order in Limited Edition hardback right now before the ‘standard’ editions go on sale in a few months.

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Shadow – James Swallow

The fourth instalment in James Swallow’s Marc Dane series of contemporary thrillers, Shadow offers up another powerfully topical slice of high-stakes drama packed full of action, excitement, great characters and credible threats. When a bio-scientist and her family are kidnapped in Singapore, Dane and partner Lucy Keyes are sent to investigate, and it quickly becomes clear that there’s more to her work – for the Rubicon Group, no less – than it first appears. Meanwhile the escape of a right-wing extremist from Belgian police custody, and growing unease within the power structure of Rubicon itself, means their mission becomes more dangerous by the minute.

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