Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

RAPID FIRE: Gav Thorpe Talks Ashes of Prospero

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 Gav Thorpe about his latest 40k novel – Ashes of Prospero, the second book in the new Space Marine Conquests series. It’s available to order as of tomorrow, in paperback or ebook.

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Heirs of the Laughing God: A Deadly Wit – Gav Thorpe

A rare non-Imperial 40k audio drama, Gav Thorpe’s Heirs of the Laughing God: A Deadly Wit introduces the Masque of the Fading Dawn, a troupe of Harlequins led by the idiosyncratic Duruthiel, or the ‘Red Swan’ as he refers to himself. Despite the disapproval of his Death Jester companion Adroniel, Red Swan leads his troupe in a risky assault on the fortress of a powerful ork warlord. When the mission proves more dangerous, and the warlord more deadly, than he had anticipated, Duruthiel is forced to open up about the real reasons for choosing this particular, reckless mission.

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RAPID FIRE: Gav Thorpe Talks A Deadly Wit

In this instalment I spoke to Gav Thorpe about his latest 40k audio drama – Heirs of the Laughing God: A Deadly Wit, which is available to order right now. Fancy some theatrical Harlequins action? This one’s for you.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Son of Sorrows – John French

A tale of the Horusian Wars, John French’s short story The Son of Sorrows offers a dark and at times harrowing look at another of Covenant’s warband, the ‘specialist’ Koleg. Tasked with a preemptive strike on an early-stage heretical cult, he approaches his task – sowing terror, and making a statement – in a methodical, emotionless fashion, the perfect weapon for the job. As we watch him prepare for his mission and then calmly slaughter his way through the reeling cult members we see his thoughts turn, impassively, towards the man he used to be and what made him who he now is.

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Crusade – Andy Clark

Essentially an introductory story for readers new to Black Library’s Warhammer 40,000 fiction, Andy Clark’s Crusade is a straight-up action tale of Ultramarines taking on Death Guard in the still-new surroundings of the Dark Imperium. Forced into real space by a harrowing warp storm, Lieutenant Cassian’s strike force of Primaris Space Marines reach the Imperial world of Kalides Prime only to find it besieged by the Death Guard. Determined to rejoin the Indomitus Crusade, the Ultramarines aim to fight their way through the traitor lines to a vital Imperial emplacement and get word out about the plight of Kalides.

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Warhammer 40,000 Legends Issue Eleven – Mechanicum by Graham McNeill

For issue eleven of Hachette’s Warhammer 40,000 Legends Collection it’s back to the Horus Heresy with Mechanicum by Graham McNeill, the third Heresy book to be included so far. While it’s not the first in that series to be included in the collection, it is the first to tackle one of the most iconic, but least-represented factions in 40k – the Mechanicum, or in 40k terminology what became the Adeptus Mechanicus. Since its publication back in 2008 we’ve seen a raft of new stories featuring this faction, in both 40k and the Heresy, but at the time it was the first real opportunity we’d had to delve into the history and character of Mars and its denizens.

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Corsair: The Face of the Void – James Swallow

Taking place (largely) well away from the usual characters and locations of Warhammer 40,000, James Swallow’s audio drama Corsair: The Face of the Void is a bold adventure story featuring Rogue Trader Santiago and her crew of misfits taking on pirates, aliens and even Imperial authority. Closing in on a pirate ship carrying a valuable bounty, when her prey is strangely becalmed Captain Santiago leads a boarding action to retrieve and claim the prize only to find unexpected dangers lurking in its depths. It soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary bounty they’ve been sent to claim.

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RAPID FIRE: James Swallow Talks Corsair: The Face of the Void

In this instalment I spoke to long-serving Black Library author James Swallow about his latest audio drama Corsair: The Face of the Void, which is available to buy right now.

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Warhammer 40,000 Legends Issue Ten – Ultramarines

Issue ten of Hachette’s Warhammer 40,000 Legends Collection is the first instalment that’s an anthology of short stories, rather than a novel – in this case Ultramarines, or to give it its full, original title Legends of the Dark Millennium: Ultramarines. One of a number of anthologies in the Legends of the Dark Millennium series, it’s a collection of short stories from five different authors, all featuring the boys in blue. It’s not the first 40k Legends book to feature the Ultramarines – that would be Warriors of Ultramar – but considering the enduring popularity of this faction it’s not surprising that we should see a second book crop up so soon.

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QUICK REVIEW: Veil of Darkness – Nick Kyme

Following on from his Space Marine Battles novel Fall of Damnos, Nick Kyme’s short story Veil of Darkness sees Captain Cato Sicarius of the Ultramarines return to Macragge in defeat after his humbling by the necrons. Waking from a sus-an coma to find he’s been summoned before the Chapter Master to account for his actions, he wrestles with both his anger at having been defeated, and a strange sense of darkness that lingers on the edge of his perception. Preparing for his audience with Marneus Calgar, he begins to wonder whether anything else returned from Damnos with him.

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