As much as I love hearing about what books are really good, I almost appreciate more learning about which books not to read!

With that in mind, as I contemplate catching up with my HH purchases, are any of the following worth picking up:

42. Garro: Weapon of fate
43. Shattered Legions
44. The Crimson King
45. Tallarn: War for a dead world
46. Ruinstorm
47. Old Earth
48. The Burden of Loyalty
49. Wolfsbane

At a guess, I'm thinking the anthologies might not be worth the money/time?

I have most of them, but only tend to read the anthologies straight away as there's always something good in there, saving the rest of the novels for when I've finally got the time and drive to plough through them. Seeing as I've stopped reading, but still am collecting, since Deathfire.. got some way to go before I'm up to speed.

Tallarn is an okay read, less about the tank battles at some points sadly and more about what goes on behind the lines, including a fair bit of Alpha Legion dickery of the non horrible face peeling twirl my moustache kind.

As for the rest, YMMV, but some authors are just not a good fit with the Heresy setting IMHO.

On that list, I was only interested in GARRO and TALLARN.

The rest seemed...not very interesting?

Or, perhaps, they looked very 'sloggy'.

Garro is okay, I liked the audio dramas enough to buy the first three when they were hot and I think I read a short story in one of the other anthology novels somewhere as well.

As for the rest, depends on the author I suppose. Some just are massive bores to go through, or scream "I AM JUST WRITING POINTLESS PADDING" when they were bridging the years between the Dropsite Massacre and the arrival at Terra itself.

 Manchu wrote:

 farmersboy wrote:
Imperator was painful to read.

It’s starting to feel that way to me, too.

The vis thing is incredibly annoying. I found the story not to bad, but I had to really persevere through it, which you shouldn’t really have to do to enjoy a book. Titanicus is still the only great Titan book out there. I think the authors in general struggle with writing the mechanicum. Which in fairness is pretty understandable, it’s as difficult as writing from an alien perspective which most of them struggle to do as well.
The knight books are easier to write as the main characters are human.

I absolutely love Wolfsbane and would recommend it to everyone .

It is one of the few HH books where you don't feel utterly lost if you haven't read a bunch of minor stuff (tough Vengefull spirit is a +).

For any that have read it, how is 'Spear of the Emperor'?

For those few who have read it, feedback and thoughts are more than welcome, though no spoilers please, or there will be hell to pay, the vast majority still has to wait until Q2 of this year to get the book.

Also, Aaron posted the limited edition exclusive preface on his blog after getting an okay from GW:

This isn’t the book I planned to write. It’s probably not the book you’re expecting to read, either.

If you don’t usually care for an author’s awkward ramblings, feel free to skip ahead to the story. I won’t hold it against you. (Hey, I’ll probably never even know!) But if you’re interested in the context that helped this novel come into existence, then stay a while and I’ll get you up to speed.

I went into the synopsis phase of Spear of the Emperor with the intention of writing a traditional look at a Space Marine Chapter, with a Space Marine protagonist typical of his Chapter’s culture. I like to read those kinds of novels, with those kinds of protagonists, and I enjoy writing them from time to time, too. It’s a tradition for a good reason: those character tropes make a good foundation for exploring the various complexities within Space Marine existence. In the same vein, I also intended to explore an essentially unknown corner of the Warhammer 40,000 setting, rather than focus on the big-name, big-selling Chapters that everyone’s already familiar with.

The Emperor’s Spears were nothing but a striking, slightly unusual colour scheme, so they were safe ground no matter which direction I took them in.

On a more personal note, I was also coming off a run of novels focusing on extremely well-known characters and vastly important historical events (The Talon of Horus; The Master of Mankind; Black Legion…) so I wanted something more personal and grounded. Something on a much smaller scale than any of those other novels, each of which was a deep look into the guts of the setting, through the eyes of very well-informed characters.

So far, so good.

Several weeks into the first draft, Alan Bligh, one of my closest friends, died after a short confrontation with cancer. For a while I could barely write anything at all, for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who has ever lost a close friend or loved one. When I managed to start getting words onto a screen again, I was disillusioned with what I’d planned. I started straying far and wide from my synopsis, feeling the pull of a new direction.

Through several rewrites, the narrator went from a generic Spear officer in the middle of his culture to a human thrall, utterly on the outside of it. Finally, it clicked. Finally, I had the voice that felt right for the new story being told.

Crucially, it also finally matched more with the tone of Imperium Nihilus, which Alan himself once described as ‘Picking up the pieces of the Imperium after all the bombs have gone off.’

Using human supporting characters to highlight the differences between humanity and the indoctrinated, transhuman inhumanity of Space Marines is nothing new; I’ve even done it myself several times and I really enjoy both reading and writing about the contrasts it brings. With Spear of the Emperor, I went all-in with it. Anuradha went from a supporting character to the narrator: the ultimate outsider-looking-in. And with that shift, the story turned a little darker again. Everything became just that little bit more vulnerable.

Explaining the Spears in detail was the last thing on my mind. I didn’t want to quantify them, I wanted to show how it might look and feel to see a transhuman existence through a human lens. Focusing on the impossible weariness forced on them by the burdens that they alone can carry. Their refusal to back down, and their curious mix of civilisation and barbarism. They don’t fight for glory but for survival. They stand against the unending tide of night because someone has to do it; because they’re the last ones left who can still fight. Their brother-Chapters in the Adeptus Vaelarii are either dead or punishingly diminished. The duty and burden of defiance is theirs until the last Spear falls.

The largest appeal was the idea of a character who wasn’t always sure what they were looking at when they were confronted with the mysteries and horrors of a story. Someone who wasn’t immune to fear or distant from human emotion.

What is it like to live among Space Marines? What does it feel like to serve them, and live on the edge of a culture you will never be truly part of? How would serving such masters change you and your perceptions? What do their customs and rituals look like from the outside? How does it feel, to see them move and fight and so utterly annihilate their enemies with inhuman brutality? And what is required of you, to live up to their expectations?

The flip side of that coin is the heretical half of the equation. What would it mean, to meet the Adeptus Astartes’ dark reflections, the Traitor Marines? What would it be like, when you’re not clad in ceramite and holding a bolter—you’re just a man or a woman standing in front of a monstrous creature that has lived in the warp / a mythological underworld for uncounted years?

Anuradha offered a great chance at seeing all of this from an entirely human perspective, and a less formal voice for the text. She hasn’t been through hypno-indoctrination like a loyalist Space Marine; she isn’t an angelic weapon that struggles to understand the people of the empire she was born to defend. Similarly, she isn’t motivated by bitterness and hatred; burdened by the magnified emotional array of Traitor Marines, either.

Anuradha is at the mercy of her masters, drawn into the wars they make her fight. Like all slaves (or indentured servants, if you will…) she has very little agency over the direction of her life, but she can choose how she reacts to the twists and turns of circumstance. Narratively, that was a challenge, but one that defined the tone of the story. She has agency, but it’s personal and grounded. She doesn’t decide the fate of wars. She chronicles them.

She’s just a human—albeit valuable to her masters and highly trained—in a difficult situation. The story isn’t about her, not really, as you’ll see. But she’s perfectly placed to tell it.

Like many high-status Chapter thralls, Anuradha is extremely knowledgeable in several specific areas. Unlike most of my previous protagonists, she’s also not equipped with a Space Marine’s angelic, psycho-indoctrinated detachment to process it. She’s just a human like you, me, and everyone else.

For those story elements, I ended up being fortunate enough to get a huge range of first-hand accounts from soldiers, firefighters, police officers, doctors… And more than once I thought back to conversations I’d had years ago, when I was lucky enough to talk to a man that had served in WWII as a deck gunner on HMS Belfast; and to another that had been in a Japanese POW camp and who’d undergone privation and torture. I wanted to jump as deeply as I could into the psychology and headspaces of people who’d done these things.

On several occasions I kept backing out of writing the book, considering redoing it in a more traditional way; playing it more to type with a Space Marine protagonist doing Space Marine things, totally informed about the setting and his surroundings. In the end it was my friend, the author John French, who stopped me redrafting it all from scratch yet again:

‘Are you trying to be popular or are you trying to realise a vision? To quote the man you dedicated it to, “You need to have the courage of your convictions and not be infirm of purpose”.’

All of this is a long-winded and self-indulgent way of saying that I loved and hated writing this book. It wasn’t harder than any of the others, but it certainly felt different. I can’t even imagine what you’ll think of it.

I don’t use Alan’s death as a banner or an excuse for any changes I made. If you like the novel, that’s great, and if you don’t, that’s on me—not on the circumstances surrounding the book. Whatever the truth, I hope you enjoy this look at the benighted half of Mankind’s empire.

Welcome to Elara’s Veil, domain of the Emperor’s Spears.

Skovakarah uhl zarûn.

 BrookM wrote:
For those few who have read it, feedback and thoughts are more than welcome, though no spoilers please, or there will be hell to pay, the vast majority still has to wait until Q2 of this year to get the book.

Also, Aaron posted the limited edition exclusive preface on his blog after getting an okay from GW:

Spoiler:

This isn’t the book I planned to write. It’s probably not the book you’re expecting to read, either.

If you don’t usually care for an author’s awkward ramblings, feel free to skip ahead to the story. I won’t hold it against you. (Hey, I’ll probably never even know!) But if you’re interested in the context that helped this novel come into existence, then stay a while and I’ll get you up to speed.

I went into the synopsis phase of Spear of the Emperor with the intention of writing a traditional look at a Space Marine Chapter, with a Space Marine protagonist typical of his Chapter’s culture. I like to read those kinds of novels, with those kinds of protagonists, and I enjoy writing them from time to time, too. It’s a tradition for a good reason: those character tropes make a good foundation for exploring the various complexities within Space Marine existence. In the same vein, I also intended to explore an essentially unknown corner of the Warhammer 40,000 setting, rather than focus on the big-name, big-selling Chapters that everyone’s already familiar with.

The Emperor’s Spears were nothing but a striking, slightly unusual colour scheme, so they were safe ground no matter which direction I took them in.

On a more personal note, I was also coming off a run of novels focusing on extremely well-known characters and vastly important historical events (The Talon of Horus; The Master of Mankind; Black Legion…) so I wanted something more personal and grounded. Something on a much smaller scale than any of those other novels, each of which was a deep look into the guts of the setting, through the eyes of very well-informed characters.

So far, so good.

Several weeks into the first draft, Alan Bligh, one of my closest friends, died after a short confrontation with cancer. For a while I could barely write anything at all, for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who has ever lost a close friend or loved one. When I managed to start getting words onto a screen again, I was disillusioned with what I’d planned. I started straying far and wide from my synopsis, feeling the pull of a new direction.

Through several rewrites, the narrator went from a generic Spear officer in the middle of his culture to a human thrall, utterly on the outside of it. Finally, it clicked. Finally, I had the voice that felt right for the new story being told.

Crucially, it also finally matched more with the tone of Imperium Nihilus, which Alan himself once described as ‘Picking up the pieces of the Imperium after all the bombs have gone off.’

Using human supporting characters to highlight the differences between humanity and the indoctrinated, transhuman inhumanity of Space Marines is nothing new; I’ve even done it myself several times and I really enjoy both reading and writing about the contrasts it brings. With Spear of the Emperor, I went all-in with it. Anuradha went from a supporting character to the narrator: the ultimate outsider-looking-in. And with that shift, the story turned a little darker again. Everything became just that little bit more vulnerable.

Explaining the Spears in detail was the last thing on my mind. I didn’t want to quantify them, I wanted to show how it might look and feel to see a transhuman existence through a human lens. Focusing on the impossible weariness forced on them by the burdens that they alone can carry. Their refusal to back down, and their curious mix of civilisation and barbarism. They don’t fight for glory but for survival. They stand against the unending tide of night because someone has to do it; because they’re the last ones left who can still fight. Their brother-Chapters in the Adeptus Vaelarii are either dead or punishingly diminished. The duty and burden of defiance is theirs until the last Spear falls.

The largest appeal was the idea of a character who wasn’t always sure what they were looking at when they were confronted with the mysteries and horrors of a story. Someone who wasn’t immune to fear or distant from human emotion.

What is it like to live among Space Marines? What does it feel like to serve them, and live on the edge of a culture you will never be truly part of? How would serving such masters change you and your perceptions? What do their customs and rituals look like from the outside? How does it feel, to see them move and fight and so utterly annihilate their enemies with inhuman brutality? And what is required of you, to live up to their expectations?

The flip side of that coin is the heretical half of the equation. What would it mean, to meet the Adeptus Astartes’ dark reflections, the Traitor Marines? What would it be like, when you’re not clad in ceramite and holding a bolter—you’re just a man or a woman standing in front of a monstrous creature that has lived in the warp / a mythological underworld for uncounted years?

Anuradha offered a great chance at seeing all of this from an entirely human perspective, and a less formal voice for the text. She hasn’t been through hypno-indoctrination like a loyalist Space Marine; she isn’t an angelic weapon that struggles to understand the people of the empire she was born to defend. Similarly, she isn’t motivated by bitterness and hatred; burdened by the magnified emotional array of Traitor Marines, either.

Anuradha is at the mercy of her masters, drawn into the wars they make her fight. Like all slaves (or indentured servants, if you will…) she has very little agency over the direction of her life, but she can choose how she reacts to the twists and turns of circumstance. Narratively, that was a challenge, but one that defined the tone of the story. She has agency, but it’s personal and grounded. She doesn’t decide the fate of wars. She chronicles them.

She’s just a human—albeit valuable to her masters and highly trained—in a difficult situation. The story isn’t about her, not really, as you’ll see. But she’s perfectly placed to tell it.

Like many high-status Chapter thralls, Anuradha is extremely knowledgeable in several specific areas. Unlike most of my previous protagonists, she’s also not equipped with a Space Marine’s angelic, psycho-indoctrinated detachment to process it. She’s just a human like you, me, and everyone else.

For those story elements, I ended up being fortunate enough to get a huge range of first-hand accounts from soldiers, firefighters, police officers, doctors… And more than once I thought back to conversations I’d had years ago, when I was lucky enough to talk to a man that had served in WWII as a deck gunner on HMS Belfast; and to another that had been in a Japanese POW camp and who’d undergone privation and torture. I wanted to jump as deeply as I could into the psychology and headspaces of people who’d done these things.

On several occasions I kept backing out of writing the book, considering redoing it in a more traditional way; playing it more to type with a Space Marine protagonist doing Space Marine things, totally informed about the setting and his surroundings. In the end it was my friend, the author John French, who stopped me redrafting it all from scratch yet again:

‘Are you trying to be popular or are you trying to realise a vision? To quote the man you dedicated it to, “You need to have the courage of your convictions and not be infirm of purpose”.’

All of this is a long-winded and self-indulgent way of saying that I loved and hated writing this book. It wasn’t harder than any of the others, but it certainly felt different. I can’t even imagine what you’ll think of it.

I don’t use Alan’s death as a banner or an excuse for any changes I made. If you like the novel, that’s great, and if you don’t, that’s on me—not on the circumstances surrounding the book. Whatever the truth, I hope you enjoy this look at the benighted half of Mankind’s empire.

Welcome to Elara’s Veil, domain of the Emperor’s Spears.

Skovakarah uhl zarûn.

(Spoiler tags for size)

Thanks for that! I hadn't read that yet. Definitley don't want spoilers, but would love to know what people thought of the book (for the few that have read it). I'm pulling the trigger on it today. I've been on the fence due to price, but I like ADB and I enjoy obscure chapters, plus all the money I didn't spend buying Vostroyans has to go somewhere...right???

If I had the money I'd get it as well as there's one author who IMHO always lives up to hype, it's AD-B for sure. He's my new Abnett.

His books are almost always awesome reads with some satisfyingly good moments in there.

I’ve read it. In my opinion it’s the best BL book I’ve read in years. The setting within the dark imperium is brilliantly fresh (in a dark and nasty way) for 40k. The approach Aaron takes to telling a space marine story is borderline genius.
If you want a Dakka Dakka space marine book this probably isn’t it. It’s clever, fun and completely compelling from start to finish.
ADB is a great writer. I loved the night lords trilogy but if I’m honest his books since, whilst good, never reached the level of those books. I think this book passes those. I loved it. I’m currently reading it again. Buy it.

I will buy it, when it's a more affordable €22,- like the other hardbacks!

But that's good praise indeed.

I’ve had my disagreements with him but there is no denying ADB’s sheer talent. I always enjoy his novels.

I wish the entire HH series had been written from the perspective of “mere mortals” — as it stands, Primarchs and even the Emperor have been presented as almost too relateable.

Reading that phrase “live on the edge of a culture you will never truly be part of,” that’s a very common theme in British fiction. And very often, the dividing line is class. Think of the myriad Upstairs Downstairs type dramas. It’s a very good way to conceive of the inner workings of a SM Chapter.

I never had the chance to get into any discussion with Alan Bligh. I only knew him through his work, beginning with the two-volume Badab War IA series. His untimely death is probably the greatest blow, albeit a preemptive one, to the Warhammer 40k setting.

Not sure about the entire series from a mortal perspective but the lack of any real mortal presence from the heresy series was a big mistake made by BL. Anytime it was brought up the answer was that the war was legion business. But that’s nonsense, war effects everything, everyone and mostly the weakest and most vulnerable in any society. A different perspective could have kept the series fresh.

Warlord > Imperator by a decent margin, so if you didn't enjoy Warlord no way will you enjoy Imperator.

I would agree with BrookM, the IK books are far better. Titan Death >>>>>> Warlord >>> Imperator would be my pick for the recent Titan releases. As much as I don't like the poorly done virtue signalling in Titan Death or the lack of true depictions of massed Titan on Titan action it is far better written than the other two.

 Manchu wrote:

I wish the entire HH series had been written from the perspective of “mere mortals” — as it stands, Primarchs and even the Emperor have been presented as almost too relateable.

I’m not sure I’d like to meet you if the Emperor is relatable

More people need to read the Imperial Knight novels damn it.

Also, more Inferno! incoming: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/01/02/more-inferno-coming-soon/

Inferno! Volume 1 returned to Black Library’s roots while showcasing great stories from authors old and new. With Inferno! Volume 2 available to pre-order, we thought you might want a sneak peek at what you can expect from the next volume of the short fiction anthology.



We caught up with Black Library Commissioning Editor Jacob Youngs, who put together this next anthology. Here’s what he had to say:

Jacob: “Inferno! Volume 3 is the largest version of the anthology to date, bursting with secrets and hidden truths across a wide array of stories. Indeed, the keen-eyed reader will spot that this volume oozes mystery and suspense. Combining a group of seasoned Black Library veterans with a selection of newer authors, this volume is not for the weak-willed! Nate Crowley and Steven B Fischer return to Inferno! with brand-new stories. Meanwhile, Matt Smith and Rik Hoskin are making their Inferno! debuts, furnishing us with their takes on the Warhammer settings. Whether it’s the darkest denizens of the underhive or the wanton violence of the Blood Bowl field that catches your eye, Inferno! Volume 3 should be next on your reading list.”

We asked Jacob about the stories from Volume 3, and here are his top picks:

‘The Spirit of Cogs’ by John French is the lead story in the book, and a prequel to the Horusian Wars series. It is centred on Magos Glavius 4-Rho and his dealings with a shadowy sect of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Graeme Lyon’s ‘Dismember the Titans’ is the first Blood Bowl story to appear in Inferno!. It brings a series of gruesome and mysterious murders to the gridiron that a pair of Talabheim Titans players must solve before they become the next targets…

In ‘Empra’, Nate Crowley depicts a feral tribe of humans who discover a downed Imperial starship on their planet and attempt to restore it to glory. The story explores the nature of the tribe’s faith and how it differs from the typical Imperial beliefs – with some misunderstandings along the way…

Guy Haley’s ‘The Prince’s Tale’ is a continuation of the Prince Maesa stories from Inferno! 1 and 2. This time, the enigmatic aelf tells a tale from his past. What stories could such a seasoned wanderer have to tell?



These are just a few of the eleven stories you have to look forward to in Inferno! Volume 3. Here’s the full list:

40K
‘The Spirit of Cogs’ by John French

‘City of Blood’ by Matt Smith

‘Empra’ by Nate Crowley

‘The Weight of Silver’ by Steven B Fischer

‘The Emperor’s Light’ by Rob Leahy

AGE OF SIGMAR
‘The Unlamented Archpustulant of Clan Morbidus’ by David Guymer

‘In the Mists of Chaos’ by Rik Hoskin

‘The Book of Transformations’ by Matt Keefe

‘The Prince’s Tale’ by Guy Haley

NECROMUNDA
‘Bonegrinder’ by Josh Reynolds

BLOOD BOWL
‘Dismember the Titans’ by Graeme Lyon

Inferno! Volume 3 will be arriving in May – but you can pre-order Volume 2 right now, along with five classic issues of the original Inferno!. These contain a mix of short stories, comics and features, perfect for taking a look into Black Library’s past – and they’re only available for three weeks, so don’t miss out.

Hopefully this "shadowy faction" is more interesting than the agency-robbing C'tan worship nonsense such phrases usually herald.

1) Are the Prince Maesa stories any good? I haven't gotten them, but I'm a sucker for Wanderers.

2) I wonder if this is Xenarite stuff for AdMech. We've had Stygies getting quite a bit of showcasing via Vigilus and the Kill Team boxed game's fluff.

Kanluwen the Maesa stories is a series of stories told by different peoples. The first was a man talking of how he founded a waystation atop a crystal claw in the lands of death.

Each story is told by a different character at the waystation - so this third one is the tale of an Aelven prince and his rather nasty spirit charge.

The second story IIRC is the trader recounting a tale of his own. The prince has also featured in one or two eshorts IIRC.

As for the AdMech stuff, who knows? All we know is that Glavius will wind up operating the plasma reactors in a tower at some point as a magos.

This has just started popping up on my Amazon suggestions:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Siege-Terra-Solar-Horus-Heresy/dp/1784969265/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546621577&sr=8-1&keywords=siege+of+terra

Siege of Terra - The Solar War. Available from 30 May 19.

£20.00 for paperback? I wonder if Amazon has it listed incorrectly.

Book Depository lists it as a hardback for €26,22

https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Siege-of-Terra--Solar-War/9781784969264

146 days to go until its rough release.

 BrookM wrote:
Book Depository lists it as a hardback for €26,22

https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Siege-of-Terra--Solar-War/9781784969264

146 days to go until its rough release.

Thought so. I didn't think it would be an initial paperback release.

Gotta milk that fether for all its worth after all!

https://www.blacklibrary.com/coming-soon/april

April books..

.. all sounding very tasty indeed.

Very excited for the next Peter Fehervari novel!

Khorgos Khul, The Red Feast sounds fantastic as does Requiem Infernal. Good tasty month.

No Imperial Knights but it'll do.

Does anyone know how up-to-date the release are now for the mass market versions of the heresy books? Over Christmas and my birthday I've had presents of corax, garro and shattered legions. Shattered legions for some reason although it has a mass market price is the big version which has completely messed my collection up but they don't seem to have release dates up as far as I see for the others apart from paperbacks?

Crimson King -- #44 --- is the latest MMPB edition.

Shattered Legions -- #43 -- has indeed been released in the MMPB format.

 reds8n wrote:
Crimson King -- #44 --- is the latest MMPB edition.

Shattered Legions -- #43 -- has indeed been released in the MMPB format.

Huh that's just weird then. On Amazon I can only see paperbacks listed rather than the mass market paperbacks you can find for master of mankind for example. And someone ordered the paperback for shattered legions and it's the big sized book so it's got me stumped while I try to figure out what I need to catch up and go avoid messing my collection up.

You can check which it is on Amazon by scrolling down to where it tells you the physical dimensions of the book. If it's the 'Legacy' size it will be 10.7 cm wide x 3(ish) cm thick x 17 cm tall.

That's what I always double-check on the Book Depository site before preordering, need to be sure.

 BrookM wrote:
That's what I always double-check on the Book Depository site before preordering, need to be sure.

It's the perils of birthday presents from your family! My wife suggested them and they didn't know any difference and ordered whatever they came across. I was just checking as up to master of mankind I can see they all say mass market paperback where as after they don't appear to and before hand they usually had the different formats, both the hardback, bigger paperbacks and mass market. It's just trying to keep up to date with releases as I had fallen behind again. Read Preatorian of Dorn in the summer which was excellent but the shock of the end meant its been 6 months until I grabbed the next.

Eeeer is this a sequel to the cult of spiral dawn book? Since it's written by the main author and going by the description that might be the case.

https://www.blacklibrary.com/coming-soon/april/requiem-infernal-2019.html


THE STORY
The Adepta Sororitas of the Last Candle have stood vigil over their sanctuary world for centuries, striving to decipher their founder's tormented visions. Outsiders are unwelcome… yet still they come.

Decimated by an encounter with a lethal xenos entity, the survivors of an elite Astra Militarum company have journeyed to the Candleworld in search of healing, escorted by a woman who is no stranger there – Sister Hospitaller Asenath Hyades, who turned her back on the order decades ago.

As the seekers near the sect's bastion, malign forces begin to stir among the planet's storm-wracked spires, but the most insidious shadows lie in their own souls.

Written by Peter Fehervari

Celestine limited edition is up for pre-order, €45,- and limited to 1250 world wide: https://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/celestine-limited-edition-ltd.html





As much as I like the author's work set in 40k (Imperial Knights and Alpha Legion, which also featured Celestine), I'll wait until.. August or so for the regular hardback to drop, as I am curious how her "respawn system" works.

all but finished Inferno #2.

Again very happy with the selection, all good stories and a couple of really good ones -- YMMV of course.


Picked up the Silver Shard in ppbk format..

.. and was, cruelly, denied the pleasure of starting "Anarch" vy the capriciousness of the GW store delivery system

Sadly still waiting on my Inferno! #2 as it was ordered alongside the reprints.

May have to go the expensive route and split orders in the future..

Any reviews of Mr. Clark's other work (from folks here)?

His two Imperial Knight books are awesome, those are the only two I've read. I went for the Celestine LE as it looks very pretty and I'm prepared to take the risk with Andy writing it as I'm desperate for more stories focused on the SoB.

He also did a novel on the Alpha Legion called Shroud of Night, which is a nice take on the Legion post Heresy and done properly IMHO. A large chunk of the novel also focuses on Saint Celestine showing up at that place, an Imperial Fist captain learning to deal with Primaris reinforcements (as well as the Alpha Legion coming across them for the first time and being shocked at how hard they are to kill! ) and Khârn the Betrayer of all people out to collect the skull of Celestine.

Despite all the big names being dropped it is a satisfying read and does not disappoint. It builds on the stuff Dan set up with Legion but also adds to their awesomeness with some stuff of his own.

I ordered Shroud of Night this morning, good to see a good review of it.

Has anyone got the version of Visions of Heresy from this Christmas just gone? Amazon have it at £32.50 as opposed to the £50 RRP.

So have they sold out of the Celestine ltd ed already? It's disappeared off black library and GW. I'm glad I got mine if it has sold out, that was damn fast.

 BrookM wrote:
Sadly still waiting on my Inferno! #2 as it was ordered alongside the reprints.

May have to go the expensive route and split orders in the future..

Has anyone got their Inferno 6,7,8,9,10 reprints yet? I made an order for them fairly early on but haven't heard anything since.
I'd not even noticed but the order window is now closed on them too - surprising as last time I got them in the last few days and they arrived pretty fast. Unless GW just left the order window open and ships them in one big bulk load on the last day?

I think the window for them was about 3 weeks this time. I only ordered mine a few days before the end, so I've not heard anything yet.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
So have they sold out of the Celestine ltd ed already? It's disappeared off black library and GW. I'm glad I got mine if it has sold out, that was damn fast.

Looks like it. Sometimes they still have them available on the GW site. Got mine very nice little book. My first book from this guy hearing good things so it hopefully will be tasty.

 Overread wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
Sadly still waiting on my Inferno! #2 as it was ordered alongside the reprints.

May have to go the expensive route and split orders in the future..

Has anyone got their Inferno 6,7,8,9,10 reprints yet? I made an order for them fairly early on but haven't heard anything since.
I'd not even noticed but the order window is now closed on them too - surprising as last time I got them in the last few days and they arrived pretty fast. Unless GW just left the order window open and ships them in one big bulk load on the last day?

Still waiting on mine, though they did mention that it could take up to 56 days until shipping. I ordered mine on the day they popped up, so 24 days down..

These are printed on demand, so chances are they're still being done up right now.

 Looky Likey wrote:
His two Imperial Knight books are awesome, those are the only two I've read. I went for the Celestine LE as it looks very pretty and I'm prepared to take the risk with Andy writing it as I'm desperate for more stories focused on the SoB.

Agreed that his BattleTech - opps I mean Knights books are awesome - really enjoyed.

Shroud of Night was good - Mr Clark does do good character work which is always a plus for me.

 BrookM wrote:

 Overread wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
Sadly still waiting on my Inferno! #2 as it was ordered alongside the reprints.

May have to go the expensive route and split orders in the future..

Has anyone got their Inferno 6,7,8,9,10 reprints yet? I made an order for them fairly early on but haven't heard anything since.
I'd not even noticed but the order window is now closed on them too - surprising as last time I got them in the last few days and they arrived pretty fast. Unless GW just left the order window open and ships them in one big bulk load on the last day?

Still waiting on mine, though they did mention that it could take up to 56 days until shipping. I ordered mine on the day they popped up, so 24 days down..

These are printed on demand, so chances are they're still being done up right now.

Yeah the first batch were quicker I think at 26 days. I figure what GW has done this time is make 1 single print order on demand. So that means they've likely waited out the 3 weeks; given final order numbers and will get that shipped over. It's likely cheaper for them and more efficient than faster service, but more shipping costs and the potential of having the last orders be really small and not worth it.
A shame as I'd figure getting a few reviews out early from gamers who got them would help drive some sales of the books.

My Celestine turned up today, earlier than I was expecting. Its very pretty but quite short, more of a novella. I'm planning on reading it tonight.

I'm not expecting my next set of Inferno reprints till middle of February.

Also posting this here, but damn it!





https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/01/23/23rd-jan-coming-soon-black-library-celebration-2019gw-homepage-post-3/

Nice

That is indeed one fantastic model! I can see her being a very popular pick up over the event!

Holy feth, I want that Commissar!

Pity she is resin not plastic, but that is one awesome model.

I can always do with more Commissars

Where is Mad Doc Grotsnik when you need him?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh wait, it's in every store? So I can get it easily enough

I didn't see anything mentioned about the material. Where did it say resin?

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
I didn't see anything mentioned about the material. Where did it say resin?

Being resin really killed my enthusiasm for the model.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/01/23/23rd-jan-coming-soon-black-library-celebration-2019gw-homepage-post-3/

This fantastic model is your chance to add this devout Imperial hero to your collection. Her Black Library-themed box includes rules for using the resin miniature in your Astra Militarum army – and February’s White Dwarf will include the rules for using her as your Commander in games of Kill Team as well! The Raine miniature is based on the cover art for a new novel also coming for the Celebration, Rachel Harrison’s debut novel Honourbound.

Ah i missed that. Well it doesn't matter, i got both Veridyan and Eisenhorn and both were flawless. I expect the same for this one.

Yeah, these aren't finecast if I remember correctly, but some other resin? Hmm, may need to check my Eisenhorn when I get chance, he is still unbuilt in box at home.

GW has pretty much abandoned finecast - even if they worked it to perfectly the negative connections in marketing for it are just far too great.

Resin will mean Forgeworlds regular resin material.

 Overread wrote:
GW has pretty much abandoned finecast - even if they worked it to perfectly the negative connections in marketing for it are just far too great.

Resin will mean Forgeworlds regular resin material.

I'm not surprised, that stuff had real problems. The issues were generally fairly minor in the lovely climate of Britain *snigger* but I heard some real horror stories from warmer regions, like Australia and the southern US.

 Haighus wrote:

 Overread wrote:
GW has pretty much abandoned finecast - even if they worked it to perfectly the negative connections in marketing for it are just far too great.

Resin will mean Forgeworlds regular resin material.

I'm not surprised, that stuff had real problems. The issues were generally fairly minor in the lovely climate of Britain *snigger* but I heard some real horror stories from warmer regions, like Australia and the southern US.

It was also a quality control and production nightmare - a lot more stories of misscastings and bits of mould release stuck on models and bubble issues and the like. It just wasn't the right material for the market; esp a market not even used to resin working (after plastic and metal); yet the errors with finecast appeared way worse than for even regular resin.

Finecast is now like metal - GW keeps it on some lines and some models and likely will until they either retire those models or replace them with plastic. That most of them are slow sellers means it might take a while before they feel the need to make that kind of investment.

The issue there is that some of them may be slow sellers because they are still in resin.

I'd love to start an Asuryani army or expand my tiny Chaos force, but the plethora of resin options for major unit choices (Aspect warriors, Rangers; Havocs, Obliterators, HQs) has put me off doing either for now.

Aye which is why I think GW will change some over before the moulds break; plus sometimes its not just one model swapovers. They could easily make a biovore and pyrovore combined kit for Tyranids then box them up 3 to a box just like they've done for zoanthropes.

Sometimes I think its just them waiting for a production slot in a very full few years of releases. Plus Age of Sigmar is, I think, taking a lions share of development and investment which is sorely needed to get it into a stable state. By and large only Genestealer Cultists and Sisters of Battle needed big additions in 40K (most other armies they've made big additions too were armies they made themselves through the year like Custodes and fleshing out Knights)

... new art for curze?

It's just cover art for a novel, not sure what you are trying to get from that?

I just read it as he’s pointing out new art of Curze.
Nothing else aside from oh look a new piece of art.

Unless I missed something

 Overread wrote:
GW has pretty much abandoned finecast - even if they worked it to perfectly the negative connections in marketing for it are just far too great.

Resin will mean Forgeworlds regular resin material.

The Eisenhorn mini was Finecast, so I wouldn't be completely sure.

Tavis75 wrote:

 Overread wrote:
GW has pretty much abandoned finecast - even if they worked it to perfectly the negative connections in marketing for it are just far too great.

Resin will mean Forgeworlds regular resin material.

The Eisenhorn mini was Finecast, so I wouldn't be completely sure.

As is Sly Marbo

I didn't know about Eisenhorn, though isn't Sly Marbo a limited release relisted so it would make sense that they used the original moulds from before?

Sly was a new re-imagined model that was initially a limited release, but has now gone to being always available direct.

Is this some weird limited edition model or can you buy it normally from the store?

Regular release. Same as Eisenhorn, Marbo, Veridyan and Slambo.

Had a chance to read "Fire and Thunder", the third Severina Raine eshort and I quite liked it, in particular the shift of focus from Raine to another character.

Is it a higher ranked officer from her regiment, because so far my biggest complain about her shorts is that she's acting almost as a senior officer and a commissar, rather than just a commissar, it feels weird there's no colonel or major around.

Well, during the first story she executed the officer in charge and took his place during the assault. The second story has her crashing behind enemy lines and rallying the survivors she's with, so less applicable, but with the third story a new CO has been appointed and she's back to being a morale officer and advisor in full capacity, sticking to the background but keeping an eye on things and offering suggestions when needed.

But no, the character we follow this time around for most of the story is Wyck.

I do want to see more of Andren Fel and his Duskhounds, those guys are the monsters Scions are supposed to be. Zane as well, she's such a bad ass despite being a frail psyker.

Well I am going to go buy Fire and Thunder, be right back.

As a note, the author seems kinda excited about this whole development.

She posted the following via her Twitter yesterday:

Hold on guys, this is going to be a THREAD. So, my character Severina Raine is getting a miniature. A honest-to-goodness, Games Workshop MINIATURE.

It’s taken me a while to put this tweet together, because I can’t really articulate how amazing this is.

Which is VERY AMAZING. Mike Fores (the miniature designer) and Simon Adams (who painted her) have done an incredible job of bringing Raine to life in a way I could never have imagined. I am incredibly thankful, and so table-thumpingly excited to paint her myself.

And there are going to be rules for Kill Team! Guess I’d better crack on with those Scions I’ve been building, then, right?

She also posted the reading order for the short stories(along with links to them on Black Library, but I figure you lot can find them easy enough. ) and a note that they all take place pre-"Honorbound" so no spoilers are present.

If you’re looking for an introduction to Raine and the Rifles, the first story is ‘Execution’
After that comes ‘A Company of Shadows’
And after that ‘Fire and Thunder’

There's also a story available in the Black Library Events Anthology for 2018/19, called 'The Darkling Hours'.
All of these stories are set before Honourbound, so can be read in advance of the novel with no fear of spoilers. Hope that helps!

Well I guess I won't, since the BL site has issues processing my order

Second attempt, right topic this time around, derp..

Oh my days!

When a mission goes badly wrong, Inquisitorial agent Ianthe and her associates are forced into an alliance with a dangerous and unscrupulous figure that could have dire consequences for them all…

LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE
It's the third act in John French's award-winning audio drama series, and it sees Ianthe make her most difficult decisions yet, in the name of her mission, and her Inquisitorial masters.

THE STORY
Subterfuge and compromise walk hand-in-hand for an agent of the Throne. On the blighted world of Dustcorn, an assault on an Inquisitorial target goes badly awry forcing Ianthe and her associates into a pact with an unscrupulous ally, the mysterious Zand. With her mission in tatters, Ianthe has little choice but to agree to Zand’s terms, the assassination of a perfidious traitor. But nothing is simple where Zand is concerned and Ianthe soon finds herself in a situation that will have far-reaching consequences for her and her team.

Written by John French

This title will be available to order from the 11th May 2019 as a CD.

gak.

https://www.blacklibrary.com/coming-soon/may

May books ( and CDS ) are up.

Highlights for me is Curze getting his Primarch book and the first SoT novel being available in a standard edition. Angron's Primarch book is also available as a standard edition, read that over the weekend, its actually one of the better Primarch books, you get to see him pre nails for a good hint to who he could have been.

Happy that the third Inferno! is on the horizon, now if only they'd send out my copy of the second one and those reprints already..

 Looky Likey wrote:
Highlights for me is Curze getting his Primarch book and the first SoT novel being available in a standard edition. Angron's Primarch book is also available as a standard edition, read that over the weekend, its actually one of the better Primarch books, you get to see him pre nails for a good hint to who he could have been.

I thought only the special edition was available at the minute? I splashed out on that at the HHW, the special editions are beautifully presented. I'll probably pay for the Curze and Magnus ones when they come out.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:

 Looky Likey wrote:
Highlights for me is Curze getting his Primarch book and the first SoT novel being available in a standard edition. Angron's Primarch book is also available as a standard edition, read that over the weekend, its actually one of the better Primarch books, you get to see him pre nails for a good hint to who he could have been.

I thought only the special edition was available at the minute? I splashed out on that at the HHW, the special editions are beautifully presented. I'll probably pay for the Curze and Magnus ones when they come out.

I was referring to the previous post that linked to the May releases.

I've collected the limited editions of the Primarch books since they first came out, really pleased with how they have turned out but even the normal editions look great.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/02/06/6th-feb-the-buried-dagger-meet-the-castgw-homepage-post-2/

Oooh, big big big interest in this book now! A lot of people always presumed that several of the Knight-Errants went on to found the Grey Knights, however, this implies that that is not the case! We also always heard that there were 8 founders, but, again, this leads us to believe there was Janus/Ianius and then 8 additional Grand Masters severing below him.

Super interested in what we learn from all this!

Yeah, I'm definitely interested in reading this book now.

Kdash wrote:
Oooh, big big big interest in this book now! A lot of people always presumed that several of the Knight-Errants went on to found the Grey Knights, however, this implies that that is not the case! We also always heard that there were 8 founders, but, again, this leads us to believe there was Janus/Ianius and then 8 additional Grand Masters severing below him.

Super interested in what we learn from all this!

We know that Kyron was the first grand Master of the 8th Brotherhood of Grey Knights.

Kdash wrote:
Oooh, big big big interest in this book now! A lot of people always presumed that several of the Knight-Errants went on to found the Grey Knights, however, this implies that that is not the case! We also always heard that there were 8 founders, but, again, this leads us to believe there was Janus/Ianius and then 8 additional Grand Masters severing below him.

Super interested in what we learn from all this!

Does this match the current GK structure (Supreme GM and 8 GM leading Brotherhoods), or is there going to be a lost Brotherhood? Something like the SW 13th great company.

Curious to see if Sev also ends up there, as has been hinted at in the past, but probably not.

Kdash wrote:
Oooh, big big big interest in this book now! A lot of people always presumed that several of the Knight-Errants went on to found the Grey Knights, however, this implies that that is not the case! We also always heard that there were 8 founders, but, again, this leads us to believe there was Janus/Ianius and then 8 additional Grand Masters severing below him.

Super interested in what we learn from all this!

Intrigued to read this one.

But I’m not sure I follow you, why does this imply that they don’t go on to form the Grey Knights? As in they may not make it through the book? Or something else?

Also again the 8 founders thing, does this give us more info on that? What have I missed.

Danny76 wrote:

Kdash wrote:
Oooh, big big big interest in this book now! A lot of people always presumed that several of the Knight-Errants went on to found the Grey Knights, however, this implies that that is not the case! We also always heard that there were 8 founders, but, again, this leads us to believe there was Janus/Ianius and then 8 additional Grand Masters severing below him.

Super interested in what we learn from all this!

Intrigued to read this one.

But I’m not sure I follow you, why does this imply that they don’t go on to form the Grey Knights? As in they may not make it through the book? Or something else?

Also again the 8 founders thing, does this give us more info on that? What have I missed.

Well, it's more the fact that "the 9" are listed as separate characters in the character list.

Now, there is no way of fully saying whether or not halfway through the story they “kill off” 1 name and convert them to another name. We know the Grand Masters are all psykers, along with the entire chapter, so, unless some miracle style thing happens and all the Errants suddenly gain psychic powers from somewhere, then, it really does lead to the idea that these 9 characters are separate.

That said, some of the “unnamed” Knights Errant that are in the background could be ones that go on to for the Grey Knights, but, I think the fan favourite idea of it being Loken, Garro etc etc is less likely now.

It simply gives us the chosen/given names of the 1st Supreme Grand Master and the 8 Company Grand Masters. All previous noted canon that I’ve come across has always stated that there were only 8 founders. This however implies that there were 9.

Ah yeah, I was concentrating on the ones mentioned in KNights Errant rather than the 9.
Very true.

Wasn’t there also a thing about those who formed the Inquisition itself, and Garro/Loken could be those, along with Snydermann or whoever else is still about to do it now.
The marines don’t necessarily have to be those who went to GK, but I assume the inquisition would still have marines in there to set it up.. (the Deathwatch part, do we know where that started, or any other Marine parts of the inquisition..?)


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Not sure that works though actually, as wasn’t the story that the humans split off to do the =][= and the marines formed the GK..

Well time will tell I suppose..

 BrookM wrote:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/02/06/6th-feb-the-buried-dagger-meet-the-castgw-homepage-post-2/

I really wanted to buy this at the HHW but the large hardcover put me off, well, that and the fact I'd already made my bank account almost £200 lighter already. gonna wait for it in paperback I think.

Regarding the nine,
How many of the names do we know already.

Epithemius


Ianius/Janus possibility thing.

Danny76 wrote:
Regarding the nine,
How many of the names do we know already.

Epithemius

Spoiler:

isn’t he the GK in Pandora’s who has been there for 10,000 years?

Ianius/Janus possibility thing.

The ones known about commonly seem to be –
Janus (Ianius)
Khyron
Epithemius

Khyron mainly from the speculation regarding who he could have been and his broken/defaced statue.
Epithermius is the one on Pythos, and Janus is simply noted in several places as the first Supreme GM.

As for the rest, I don’t think there are any/many known references to them at all.

I hope they follow through with who Janus is rumored to be!

Just got an update that my Inferno reprints part 2 (6,7,8,9,10) are being posted! So chances are that others will start getting notifications soon too!

Same here, hopefully have them in hand next Monday or Tuesday, dying to read both them and Inferno! 2 now.

What’s The Death Of Uriel Ventris all about, and has anyone read it?

From what I've gathered elsewhere..



One would think Cato would be up first for this but oh well.

 BrookM wrote:
From what I've gathered elsewhere..

Spoiler:

He also becomes a Primaris

One would think Cato would be up first for this but oh well.

Nah- Cato has a model. Therefore, his great apotheosis must wait until they have a new one for him

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/02/13/13th-feb-peachy-and-duncan-celebrate-black-librarygw-homepage-post-1/

In just over a week, the Black Library Celebration will see stores worldwide running events based on the adrenaline-fuelled fiction of Warhammer. Of course, the event will see piles of new books released, as well as a miniature based on Severina Raine, the hero of one of the new titles. Peachy and Duncan got so excited about it all that they went and made a video so they could get the books early… Give it a watch now.

Check back from next Monday, as we look at what’s coming for the Celebration in greater depth with a new article – and a new eBook short story – every day. Until then, find your local store and see what they have planned for their Black Library Celebration day.

Duncan always reminds me of a young Tom Baker when he's all goggle-eyed and enthusiastic about stuff.

https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/02/11/hamilcar-champion-of-the-gods-david-guymer/


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If you like undead, check it out https://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-age-of-sigmar/novels/ebook-neferata-mortarch-of-blood.html

Thanks for the link, I was on the fence about Hamilcar as it felt too much like Cain, but I may just pick it up now after reading that synopsis.

does she look better in this angle?

She's lovely, can't wait to get two of that mini.

Wrapped up Inferno! #2 and it's another winner, no duds in this one. Personal favourites are The Merchant’s Tale and No Honour Among Vermin, we need more of C. L. Werner's Skaven stuff! I really enjoyed this heist story.

 BrookM wrote:



https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/02/13/13th-feb-peachy-and-duncan-celebrate-black-librarygw-homepage-post-1/

In just over a week, the Black Library Celebration will see stores worldwide running events based on the adrenaline-fuelled fiction of Warhammer. Of course, the event will see piles of new books released, as well as a miniature based on Severina Raine, the hero of one of the new titles. Peachy and Duncan got so excited about it all that they went and made a video so they could get the books early… Give it a watch now.

Check back from next Monday, as we look at what’s coming for the Celebration in greater depth with a new article – and a new eBook short story – every day. Until then, find your local store and see what they have planned for their Black Library Celebration day.

I've not been to one anything like this for many, many years and I know it's a pretty small thing really, but are those coasters likely the only non-book exclusive thing that'll be available? I'm not sure if that's the only thing there will be or if they don't usually announce it all.

If there was anything else they'd announce it, I was hoping for more myself, but alas, that's it along with the sketchbook.

Short story collection: https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/library/bl-celebration-short-story-collection-2019.html

Black Library Celebration Short Story Subscription
6 eBook short stories for the price of 5!

From the trials faced by newly-discovered primarchs to moments of quiet in the midst of battle and the dark path walked by the Blood Angels' Redeemer of the Lost, six brand-new short stories from the Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000 are the perfect lead-in to the 2019 Black Library Celebration.

READ IT BECAUSE
Three of these tales are great tie-ins to the fantastic new books premiering for the Black Library Celebration – The Buried Dagger, Angron: Slave of Nuceria and Honourbound – and the other three are intriguing stories that widen the worlds of the 31st and 41st Millennia.

€17.95

DESCRIPTION
Celebrate the adrenaline-fuelled fiction of Black Library – and the galaxy-spanning series that is the Horus Heresy – with six brand-new short stories released over the course of the week, including three from the Age of Darkness. Across these tales, you will discover secrets of Mortarion and Angron from around the time they were brought into the Imperium, see what lengths Arkhan Land will go to for those he almost considers friends, and witness a moment of quiet comradeship between Commissar Severina Raine and one of her troopers. You'll also experience the horrors Astorath of the Blood Angels faces as he brings peace to a fallen battle-brother, and discover how the birth of the Great Rift brought Chaos to the great dynasties of the Imperium.

ABOUT THIS SUBSCRIPTION
This subscription includes 6 eBook Quick Reads in ePub and mobi formats. Each day between Monday and Saturday, a new title will be added to the subscription zip file in your Black Library account, ready for you to download. If you subscribe partway through the week, all released stories will be made immediately available, with the remaining stories being added to your zip file each day. For more information on downloading and opening zip files, please refer to our Help pages.

And the first one: https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/library/bringer-of-sorrows-eng-2019.html

Bringer of Sorrow
A Horus Heresy story

The webway war is over, the Blood Angels have arrived on Terra and preparations for the final battle have begun. But can Arkhan Land solve a problem and fix the issues that stop the Blood Angel Zephon from fighting alongside his brothers once more?

READ IT BECAUSE
The deliciously amoral tech-priest Arkhan Land was one of the highlights of The Master of Mankind, and this story delves further into exactly what he's willing to do in order to solve a tricky problem – and what consequences can arise from his actions.

THE STORY
At the height of the Webway War, renowned Mechanicum technoarchaeologist Arkhan Land ventured into that alien labyrinth in defence of the Imperium. At his side was a wounded warrior of the Blood Angels, Zephon. Now, Land faces a great challenge – to repair the damage done to Zephon, partly as a result of the tech-priest's own tinkering. But how can Land succeed where the greatest of Apothecaries have failed? And when all is done, will the only person the tech-priest comes close to calling friend still be the same man?

Written by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

I'm sure some of those are already in this year's event only Black Library hardback?

The Commissar story you mean?

Probably yes, I vaguely remember the author stating that she wrote one more short story as a prequel to the novel, which would be in the event book. Could be them doing it both digitally and in dead tree format, though the latter will be free with any purchase that weekend.

Dug out the contents online of the 2019 Events Anthology as I couldn't pick up a copy of the hard back at the HH Weekender as they sold out too quickly:

Table Of Content:

Age Of Sigmar
THE NEVERSPIKE by Darius Hinks
THE CLAW OF MEMORY by David Annandale

Wahammer 40k
SAVAGE by Guy Haley
THE DARKLING HOUR by Rachel Harrison
THE DEATH OF URIEL VENTRIS by Graham McNeill

The Horus Heresy
CHAMPION OF OATHS by John French
CHILD OF CHAOS by Chris Wraight

What's the titles of the short stories in the Celebration book as that appears to be a completely different book?

Eyup, the Darkling Hour is the one that will be featured in the upcoming event book, as per tweet of the author.

Looking forward to that one, it's probably another instance of Severina sitting down with Andren to talk about legends and myths from Antar.

Second story is up: https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/library/the-mistress-of-threads-eng-2019.html

The Mistress of Threads
A Horusian Wars story

A message from a distant cousin sets Viola von Castellan – backed by the authority of Inquisitor Covenant – on the trail of a mysterious cartel with murky motives.

READ IT BECAUSE
It's a fascinating look into the post-Gathering Storm Imperium, and told in a very different way – through a series of communications and reports making up an Inquisition case file.

THE STORY
Among the companions of Inquisitor Covenant are scions of the famed von Castellan dynasty, a mercantile clan with links to many other such families throughout the Imperium. When a member of one such family reaches out to Viola von Castellan with a tale of woe that began with the dawning of the Great Rift, an investigation begins into the mysterious Cytos Cartel, an organisation that has wormed its way into the heart of the Imperium – but to what sinister purpose?

Written by John French

Third story is up: https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/library/lanterns-light-eng-2019.html

Lantern's Light
A Primarchs story

After a year in the Imperium, Mortarion has yet to lead his sons in battle – and is still unsure of his place in this galactic empire. Will a meeting with the Emperor ease his doubts, or harden his distaste for his new situation?

READ IT BECAUSE
Mortarion's early years are fascinating, and this tale not only delves into his deepest doubts and fears, and sows the seeds of his later treachery, but also shows how difficult his relationship with the Emperor was from the very beginning – and how he came by his infamous pistol, the Lantern.

THE STORY
One year after the coming of the Emperor to Barbarus, Mortarion and his Legion – the newly renamed Death Guard – have yet to strike out and join the Great Crusade. The primarch is wracked with doubts about his place in this Imperium of Man, and still angry that the Emperor robbed him of his vengeance against the alien father who raised and tortured him. When he is summoned to attend the Emperor on his flagship, will his resentment spill out and threaten the relationship between them? Or will the Deathlord master his emotions and embrace the Emperor's light?

Written by James Swallow

I do like 'early Primarch' stuff, Great Crusade era, before it all went so spectacularly wrong (or is it 'All According to Plan'?!?).

Ehhhhh, depends on the author I suppose. I am forever grateful that they let Chris write the White Scars Primarch novel.

Okay, so this is a new one and not the same as the one in the upcoming event book, yisss!

Fourth story: https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/library/trials-eng-2019.html

Trials
A Severina Raine story

Amidst the endless war of the 41st Millennium, the Emperor's soldiers must take what quiet moments of comradeship they can – and as Commissar Severina Raine and Captain Andred Fel share such a moment, they bond over the horrors of their past.

READ IT BECAUSE
Rachel Harrison explores the ways in which the Imperium forges its weapons through the Schola Progenium, laying bare the hideous trials future commissars and storm troopers are put through in order to ensure that they really are the best of the best.

THE STORY
As their war against the Chaos cult known as the Sighted rages on, the 11th Antari Rifles have been forced into the safety of underground tunnels. As her foes bombard the surface, Commissar Severina Raine patrols the tunnels, and finds kinship with another survivor of the Schola Progenium. Remembering the trials she underwent as a would-be commissar, she asks Militarum Tempestus captain Andred Fel about what he underwent. As they share stories, both face up to the horror of their pasts, and the hope of their future.

Written by Rachel Harrison

Awesome, I wonder if they'll stick to the 6-7th ed Scion codex lore or not

Ehehehe, just read it.

Or for those who don't want to..

...

..

.



Can't wait for Darkling Hour in the event book this weekend. And the full novel of course! I like these little moments where Severina and Andren just sit down and swap stories about their respective pasts.

The whole 'murder your friend' super-grimdark to the max thing is just...awful.

Still, easy to ignore!

I don't think they were friends in this case, as any friends she had were probably already killed in various gruesome ways over the years, like with the dog sized rats from Execution IIRC.

Eh, it's part of the background for that world, but no telling how it goes elsewhere, seeing as we got Cain format written in the lore as well.

edit.

Here's what the author has to say on today's short story by the way:

Rachel: Trials arose from a conversation between Raine and Militarum Tempestus Captain Andren Fel about the replacement of damaged parts, and knowing when things are about to break. It seemed a perfect jumping-off point to explore a formative experience for each of them – their final trial at the schola progenium.

Their trials are representations of everything they will need to be. For Fel, it’s a matter of survival and sacrifice – denying fear and pain. For Raine, it’s a matter of judgement and a difficult choice that she must make alone.

In some ways, I suppose it all comes back to replacing parts because although Raine and Fel are successful in their trials, they are definitely altered by the experience – taken apart and made into something new, all the better to serve the crusade.

Has anything been mentioned about a price for the coasters for the Celebration?

IIRC, not yet, but we'll find out soon enough.

It seems there's also going to be free art cards and badges at the Celebration, with 9 different ones available I'd hope they're not limited to only 1 per person...how do those sort of things usually work? I wouldn't mind paying for them, even.

First time for me tomorrow, last year I had to work.

Fifth story: https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/library/eater-of-cities-eng-2019.html

Ghost of Nuceria
A Primarchs story

Angron, former gladiator and slave, and now leader of a rebellion against the High-riders of Nuceria, prepares to sell his life dearly in the name of freeing his people from torture. But fate has other plans…

READ IT BECAUSE
Angron's time after being plucked from Nuceria has been explored, as has the scars it left with him, both physical and emotional. Now, for the first time, witness the day his life changed forever.

THE STORY
On the world of Nuceria, the last day of the slave rebellion is nigh. From the hundreds freed by Angron, barely more than fifty remain, hiding in the mountains, feeding on the rich blood of their saviour in lieu of real food. As the High-riders, the so-called nobles who tortured the slaves and made them fight for their own amusement, gather their forces to bring the rebellion down once and for all, Angron prepares to sell his life dearly. But other forces are moving. In the skies about Nuceria, the Emperor of Mankind is preparing to meet one of his long-lost sons. And that meeting will be a fateful one…

Written by Ian St. Martin

Okay, the store I'll be visiting just posted the following:

Looks like the art prints are those of the new releases and the two chosen novels for re-release. Ditto for the buttons.

Hoping to score a commissar print and button tomorrow.

What's that free thing, not the short stories book surely?

Yes, the novella with short stories you get free with every purchase. They did the same last year.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay, got my stuff and I'm a bit annoyed that the Darkling Hours is not included in the free novella, but instead A Company of Shadows, which is already out as eshort.

Hohum. :(

Okay, scratch that remark, a derp on my end, that story is featured in a completely different event-only novella.

Article on Warhammer Horror, coming soon: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/02/27/27th-feb-horror-is-heregw-homepage-post-1/

We can also reveal that The Wicked and the Damned, a portmanteau novel combining a trio of tales by David Annandale, Josh Reynolds and Phil Kelly into one terrifying saga, will be getting an unabridged audiobook edition. What’s more, one of the three stories will be read by a horror legend – Doug Bradley, best known for his role as Pinhead in the classic movie Hellraiser. In fact, we have a clip from the story he’s narrating, ‘The Beast in the Trenches’, which you can listen to right now.

I'm really looking forward to these, hope they sell well so we get some more.

I'm looking forward to those. Gotta get myself the special edition curze novel in May too as the Angron one is lovely.

I really want WH Horror to be good but itll probably suck. Abnett is the only author I can remember who has momenta in his booka that were actually scary. He is the only capable horror writer that Im aware of in Black Library.

Anything to do with AoS is already to be ignored. When has a horror ever taken place in a fantasy or medeival setting? WHFB may have worked but not AoS But with 40k I think all the terms and cultures and stuff will get in the way of the horror. Horrors only work when you can see yourself in them, and reading about "ferrocrete" and "lumens" and w.e dont exactly suck me in and sounds a little corny. Why couldnt they just be called lightbulbs ffs.

123ply wrote:
I really want WH Horror to be good but itll probably suck. Abnett is the only author I can remember who has momenta in his booka that were actually scary. He is the only capable horror writer that Im aware of in Black Library.

Anything to do with AoS is already to be ignored. When has a horror ever taken place in a fantasy or medeival setting? WHFB may have worked but not AoS But with 40k I think all the terms and cultures and stuff will get in the way of the horror. Horrors only work when you can see yourself in them, and reading about "ferrocrete" and "lumens" and w.e dont exactly suck me in and sounds a little corny. Why couldnt they just be called lightbulbs ffs.

There's so much wrong with this post it's actually quite embarrassing. You really don't think horror can exist in a fantasy setting? AoS especially? Have you ever bothered to read any of the fluff? Death especially? There's many, many stories that can be based on ghosts, monsters, chaos, the horror of other humans. Try using your imagination just a touch.

 BrookM wrote:
Second story is up: https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/library/the-mistress-of-threads-eng-2019.html

The Mistress of Threads
A Horusian Wars story

A message from a distant cousin sets Viola von Castellan – backed by the authority of Inquisitor Covenant – on the trail of a mysterious cartel with murky motives.

READ IT BECAUSE
It's a fascinating look into the post-Gathering Storm Imperium, and told in a very different way – through a series of communications and reports making up an Inquisition case file.

THE STORY
Among the companions of Inquisitor Covenant are scions of the famed von Castellan dynasty, a mercantile clan with links to many other such families throughout the Imperium. When a member of one such family reaches out to Viola von Castellan with a tale of woe that began with the dawning of the Great Rift, an investigation begins into the mysterious Cytos Cartel, an organisation that has wormed its way into the heart of the Imperium – but to what sinister purpose?

Written by John French

I dont know how John French thought "Covenant" Would make for a good last name. I mean, Inquisitor Covenant? That is so lame and corny. How can anybody have their name be Covenant? Inquisitor Covenant is litterly a name I thought if when I was like 9, because I loved playing Halo and couldnt think of any other name. Thinking back on it makes me cringy and seeing a grown man using that same name in a serious manner as his very own Eisenhorn is just so embarassing...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:

123ply wrote:
I really want WH Horror to be good but itll probably suck. Abnett is the only author I can remember who has momenta in his booka that were actually scary. He is the only capable horror writer that Im aware of in Black Library.

Anything to do with AoS is already to be ignored. When has a horror ever taken place in a fantasy or medeival setting? WHFB may have worked but not AoS But with 40k I think all the terms and cultures and stuff will get in the way of the horror. Horrors only work when you can see yourself in them, and reading about "ferrocrete" and "lumens" and w.e dont exactly suck me in and sounds a little corny. Why couldnt they just be called lightbulbs ffs.

There's so much wrong with this post it's actually quite embarrassing. You really don't think horror can exist in a fantasy setting? AoS especially? Have you ever bothered to read any of the fluff? Death especially? There's many, many stories that can be based on ghosts, monsters, chaos, the horror of other humans. Try using your imagination just a touch.

Ive read enough Black Library. 90 percent of the books I own are black library. A lot of the authors are capable or writing tense stories, but horror? Only Abnett has sucked me in enough that I felt I was "there" enough to feel horror.

And why would I bother with AoS novels? Ive read a bunch of short stories (like all of the stories from the Malign Portents site.) While some of it is interesting, there can never be a good AoS horror. Its embarassing that you actually think there could be...

That’s ridiculous to think they can’t write horror though, those 90% of your collection aren’t horror.
You aren’t finding the feel of horror as they are writing fantasy/Sci fi stories so the style is different.

There are plenty of horror set in various settings, but I guess your other 10% of books are quite limited..


Basically, wait and see before you judge these authors unfairly, particularly the actual horror authors who are coming to the settings.
And then if they suck, well that’s a problem for then.

Also though, what are your BL books if you’ve only ever been immersed by Abnett, several others are quite accomplished at drawing you in, in my opinion..

123ply wrote:
I dont know how John French thought "Covenant" Would make for a good last name. I mean, Inquisitor Covenant? That is so lame and corny. How can anybody have their name be Covenant? Inquisitor Covenant is litterly a name I thought if when I was like 9, because I loved playing Halo and couldnt think of any other name. Thinking back on it makes me cringy and seeing a grown man using that same name in a serious manner as his very own Eisenhorn is just so embarassing...

Not sure if sarcasm or actually ignorant that Covenant is a long established character who wasn't created by French.

Well played!

123ply wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
Second story is up: https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/library/the-mistress-of-threads-eng-2019.html

The Mistress of Threads
A Horusian Wars story

A message from a distant cousin sets Viola von Castellan – backed by the authority of Inquisitor Covenant – on the trail of a mysterious cartel with murky motives.

READ IT BECAUSE
It's a fascinating look into the post-Gathering Storm Imperium, and told in a very different way – through a series of communications and reports making up an Inquisition case file.

THE STORY
Among the companions of Inquisitor Covenant are scions of the famed von Castellan dynasty, a mercantile clan with links to many other such families throughout the Imperium. When a member of one such family reaches out to Viola von Castellan with a tale of woe that began with the dawning of the Great Rift, an investigation begins into the mysterious Cytos Cartel, an organisation that has wormed its way into the heart of the Imperium – but to what sinister purpose?

Written by John French

I dont know how John French thought "Covenant" Would make for a good last name. I mean, Inquisitor Covenant? That is so lame and corny. How can anybody have their name be Covenant? Inquisitor Covenant is litterly a name I thought if when I was like 9, because I loved playing Halo and couldnt think of any other name. Thinking back on it makes me cringy and seeing a grown man using that same name in a serious manner as his very own Eisenhorn is just so embarassing...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:

123ply wrote:
I really want WH Horror to be good but itll probably suck. Abnett is the only author I can remember who has momenta in his booka that were actually scary. He is the only capable horror writer that Im aware of in Black Library.

Anything to do with AoS is already to be ignored. When has a horror ever taken place in a fantasy or medeival setting? WHFB may have worked but not AoS But with 40k I think all the terms and cultures and stuff will get in the way of the horror. Horrors only work when you can see yourself in them, and reading about "ferrocrete" and "lumens" and w.e dont exactly suck me in and sounds a little corny. Why couldnt they just be called lightbulbs ffs.

There's so much wrong with this post it's actually quite embarrassing. You really don't think horror can exist in a fantasy setting? AoS especially? Have you ever bothered to read any of the fluff? Death especially? There's many, many stories that can be based on ghosts, monsters, chaos, the horror of other humans. Try using your imagination just a touch.

Ive read enough Black Library. 90 percent of the books I own are black library. A lot of the authors are capable or writing tense stories, but horror? Only Abnett has sucked me in enough that I felt I was "there" enough to feel horror.

And why would I bother with AoS novels? Ive read a bunch of short stories (like all of the stories from the Malign Portents site.) While some of it is interesting, there can never be a good AoS horror. Its embarassing that you actually think there could be...

The ignorance and bias here is depressingly strong. Waste of time to try and converse.

 Lord Damocles wrote:

Not sure if sarcasm or actually ignorant that Covenant is a long established character who wasn't created by French.

Well played!

Yeah, kinda wondering how someone could miss that 40k is kinda the intersection between lame, corny and horror. AOS just had better marketing when it started, and the art direction is a bit freer than 40k, but hey, maybe ply LIKES the idea of being turned into someone's harp for their impossibly extended lives.

123ply wrote:
I dont know how John French thought "Covenant" Would make for a good last name. I mean, Inquisitor Covenant? That is so lame and corny. How can anybody have their name be Covenant? Inquisitor Covenant is litterly a name I thought if when I was like 9, because I loved playing Halo and couldnt think of any other name. Thinking back on it makes me cringy and seeing a grown man using that same name in a serious manner as his very own Eisenhorn is just so embarassing...

I'm sorry but, Inquisitor Covenant was created way back in 2000 - 2001 if memory serves correctly, alongside Eisenhorn and Tyrus.

Inquisitor was also released before the original Halo, just in case anyone was wondering.

If there is no way 40k novels could be true horror, because they are scifi, then movies like Event Horizon would like a word with you.

Warhammer fantasy is great for horror, though. Practically every Old World novel has great horror elements. I still think AoS (as it stands right now) is too fantastical high fantasy for horror, though. So far "horror" elements injected into AoS just go so far over the top that everything ends up like a living Heavy Metal cover. Its less "creeping horror" which Warhammer Old World does well, but over the top in your face body horror in AoS.

Phil Kelly's writing is horror unto itself.

Finished Honorbound.

It was quite enjoyable.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
If there is no way 40k novels could be true horror, because they are scifi, then movies like Event Horizon would like a word with you.

Warhammer fantasy is great for horror, though. Practically every Old World novel has great horror elements. I still think AoS (as it stands right now) is too fantastical high fantasy for horror, though. So far "horror" elements injected into AoS just go so far over the top that everything ends up like a living Heavy Metal cover. Its less "creeping horror" which Warhammer Old World does well, but over the top in your face body horror in AoS.

The Red Hours novella is a well written AOS horror story - well worth a read.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
If there is no way 40k novels could be true horror, because they are scifi, then movies like Event Horizon would like a word with you.

Warhammer fantasy is great for horror, though. Practically every Old World novel has great horror elements. I still think AoS (as it stands right now) is too fantastical high fantasy for horror, though. So far "horror" elements injected into AoS just go so far over the top that everything ends up like a living Heavy Metal cover. Its less "creeping horror" which Warhammer Old World does well, but over the top in your face body horror in AoS.

Abnett has done some great 40k horror (Backcloth for a Crown Extra and Pestilence spring to mind).

 AegisGrimm wrote:
If there is no way 40k novels could be true horror, because they are scifi, then movies like Event Horizon would like a word with you.

Warhammer fantasy is great for horror, though. Practically every Old World novel has great horror elements. I still think AoS (as it stands right now) is too fantastical high fantasy for horror, though. So far "horror" elements injected into AoS just go so far over the top that everything ends up like a living Heavy Metal cover. Its less "creeping horror" which Warhammer Old World does well, but over the top in your face body horror in AoS.

You should read the nighthaunt battletome, the seeds of horror are already there. creepy horror is pretty easy to do in AoS. Everything from possession to hauntings, psychological horror etc. Especially in the realm of death and the realm of shadows, but can happen anywhere.

You should read "the red hours"

They have a lot of talented writers and despite me being put off 40k and AoS by the poor accompanying fluff I think they could make a go of this, as long as they leave the sigmarines and primaris out of it anyway.


Looking forward to seeing how this horror stuff goes myself.

An event only anthology is going up for regular sale soon!



Link: https://www.blacklibrary.com/new-titles/featured/sons-of-the-emperor-eng-2019.html

A Primarchs anthology

The primarchs, nigh-immortal sons of the Emperor of Mankind, are laid bare in a series of short stories that showcase great deeds and hideous acts they performed, from the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.

READ IT BECAUSE
Whether you see them as heroes, villains or victims of the Emperor's machinations, these tales will give you new perspective on a host of primarchs, including Angron, Vulkan, Magnus the Red and Horus himself.

DESCRIPTION
From their shadowed origins to the desperate battles that ensued when half of them rebelled against their father, the Sons of the Emperor – the vaunted primarchs – were among the greatest of humanity's champions, warriors without peer and heroes whose deeds became legend. From the Angel Sanguinius, who took the sole brunt of his Legion's most brutal acts, to Vulkan, whose humanity made him unique amongst his brothers, and from dour Perturabo, architect, inventor and murderous warlord, to Horus, whose shining light was eclipsed only by the darkness that grew within his soul, this anthology covers eight of the primarchs and their greatest – or darkest – deeds.

CONTENTS
The Passing of Angels by John French
The Abyssal Edge by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Mercy of the Dragon by Nick Kyme
Shadow of the Past by Gav Thorpe
The Emperor’s Architect by Guy Haley
Prince of Blood by L J Goulding
The Ancient Awaits by Graham McNeill
Misbegotten by Dan Abnett

It really should have had a short story for all of the Primarchs though!

 Alpharius wrote:
It really should have had a short story for all of the Primarchs though!

There’s a similar book from this years weekender which I presume covers some more of them.

I wonder who the seventh story is about.

Angron, Vulkan, Magnus, Horus, Sanguinius and Perturabo all mentioned..

Would be nice to have more/most of them being short stories about Primarch we haven’t got a novel of yet..

One of the Lion would be good, as his portrayal in the HH hasn’t been the greatest yet..

Danny76 wrote:
I wonder who the seventh story is about.

Angron, Vulkan, Magnus, Horus, Sanguinius and Perturabo all mentioned..

Would be nice to have more/most of them being short stories about Primarch we haven’t got a novel of yet..

One of the Lion would be good, as his portrayal in the HH hasn’t been the greatest yet..

The Abyssal Edge is about Kurze I think. The Lion is in one in the anthology from this year, Scions of the Emperor (which will presumably get a wide release down the road like this one).

 ImAGeek wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:
It really should have had a short story for all of the Primarchs though!

There’s a similar book from this years weekender which I presume covers some more of them.

There is?

Do you know what it is called?

 Alpharius wrote:

 ImAGeek wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:
It really should have had a short story for all of the Primarchs though!

There’s a similar book from this years weekender which I presume covers some more of them.

There is?

Do you know what it is called?

Scions of the Emperor

It sold out really quickly at the Weekender, when I asked they said it would be back in stock they said it should be available at all events this year. Based on what happened with last year's book I would guess that this years will show up next year on blacklibrary.com

We are 11 books through the series now with book 12 (Curze) due in April so at the current rate (roughly a book every 3 months) we should be finished Autumn next year. I am interested if they will just end the series or keep it going. As the series is mostly set during the Crusade it would be lovely if this series became permanent as otherwise I'm not sure BL will cover the Crusade anytime soon.

Preview of the Horror anthology Maledictions has been put out: https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Triggers-Extract.pdf

 Looky Likey wrote:
It sold out really quickly at the Weekender, when I asked they said it would be back in stock they said it should be available at all events this year. Based on what happened with last year's book I would guess that this years will show up next year on blacklibrary.com

We are 11 books through the series now with book 12 (Curze) due in April so at the current rate (roughly a book every 3 months) we should be finished Autumn next year. I am interested if they will just end the series or keep it going. As the series is mostly set during the Crusade it would be lovely if this series became permanent as otherwise I'm not sure BL will cover the Crusade anytime soon.

It’s annoying the Primarch series is taking so long (read: I know the Lion will be last, just like the FW model will end up being. Such is my luck), but by the end there will be plenty more than 18 books, with all these shorts, at least..

I’m not so sure that we won’t see more from the GC era, as if people want to read it, they’ll write it.
I would expect something as the ‘next major thing’ after the SoT ends..
(Though there’s always the hop for more heresy books coming, once the main story is done, filling in stories they wanted to tell but didn’t have time..)

Danny76 wrote:

It’s annoying the Primarch series is taking so long (read: I know the Lion will be last, just like the FW model will end up being. Such is my luck), but by the end there will be plenty more than 18 books, with all these shorts, at least..

I’m not so sure that we won’t see more from the GC era, as if people want to read it, they’ll write it.
I would expect something as the ‘next major thing’ after the SoT ends..
(Though there’s always the hop for more heresy books coming, once the main story is done, filling in stories they wanted to tell but didn’t have time..)

I don't think its been that slow, first book came out start of May 2016 and the series should finish Q3 next year, so roughly 4 years for 18 books, not including the shorts. So about 4 books per year, at times BL's HH output has been slower than that during the fallow period. It could have been much faster as all the books are standalone however they would then have been tripping over limited editions from other series that they were trying to sell.

I would expect Alpharius/Omegon to be last as they are the 20th legion (I know the books so far have been out of order) and their Primarch origin story is most obfuscated. The least satisfying thing they could do for me personally is suggest that whatever story they come up for the twins is just one of many options. Personally I'd like a pair of books for them focusing on the same story from each other's perspective released as a double book set.

I would be surprised if anything other than the Scouring was the next series after the SoT, its the obvious way to keep HH readers focused on BL.

That would be an awesome Alpharius release.
But yeah as long as their story is somewhat meaningful to their background and informative I’d be happy.

I know it’s not that bad release wise, but when you’re wanting to read them, that’s slow going..

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/03/06/warhammer-horror-maledictions/

The Old World was a much better setting for horror. The new world is just far too fantastical imho.

I pity anyone going to buy that book secondhand in a couple of years, it'll be impossible to tell the mint condition ones from the ratty crap ones until after you've paid for it

I do hope a lot of the range is more horror than that though.
As it wasn’t written as a horror necessarily.
(Was a great book though, enjoyed the whole trilogy)
But I want plenty of the other things they’ve revealed, I.e. new purpose written horror.
To really show people they can do the genre (and with the authors they’ve brought in, I don’t have doubt they can..)

 Gael Knight wrote:
The Old World was a much better setting for horror. The new world is just far too fantastical imho.

I have to disagree. The Malign Portents short stories show otherwise and there's plenty of scope for horror within various cities, hamlets, forests and more. On a side note, looking forward to having all the Geneviève novels in swish hardback editions.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:

 Gael Knight wrote:
The Old World was a much better setting for horror. The new world is just far too fantastical imho.

I have to disagree. The Malign Portents short stories show otherwise and there's plenty of scope for horror within various cities, hamlets, forests and more. On a side note, looking forward to having all the Geneviève novels in swish hardback editions.

The reason the realms seems too fantastical, is they haven’t told some of these smaller scale stories about potential normal people living through the horror.
At one point the old world didn’t have that feel. As early on it was the fantasy elements they focused on more..
It had a lot longer to build on such things.

(And I’m a fan of the old Warhammer, not AoS. But I’d never write it off without trying a horror set there..)

Try the new Novella stories they are great short but long enough stories that set a great scene for AoS and get nicely down to the personal level for characters. Also being longer than a standard short story they've enough room for some good character development.

Quick Question on THE BEAST ARISES series!

It is now available in 4 'Omnibus' editions - each one containing 4 books.

So...is this series worth the time?

Or are only certain books worth getting?

Book 1 and Book 12? Or some others?

I'm interested - I'd love to read more about Warhammer 31K (or is this 32K?), but I seem to remember the series only getting 'so-so' reviews.

Thanks!

I guess for me I just find it easier to conceptualise a world, like the Old World, that has some kind of normalcy being exposed to horrific things than to the AoS realms that are already quite vast and beyond real comprehension to mere mortals.Everything seems to be in its own section in AoS. It seems like horror would either need to be sought out or be part of a greater invasion coming to you.

 Gael Knight wrote:
I guess for me I just find it easier to conceptualise a world, like the Old World, that has some kind of normalcy being exposed to horrific things than to the AoS realms that are already quite vast and beyond real comprehension to mere mortals.Everything seems to be in its own section in AoS. It seems like horror would either need to be sought out or be part of a greater invasion coming to you.

I always find that argument somewhat hard to follow. No stories encompassed the whole of the old world (with exception of maybe the end times). Horror stories in particular don't need vast swathes of area. You could have a whole story set in someone's house, a castle or whatever. The size of the place and the events that take place there in general should not matter. It's about the particular area the author chooses to tell you about. Not this month's but the previous months' white dwarf I believe was a good example with the Kharadron's foray into treasure hunting, that didn't end particularly well.

 Alpharius wrote:
Quick Question on THE BEAST ARISES series!

It is now available in 4 'Omnibus' editions - each one containing 4 books.

So...is this series worth the time?

Or are only certain books worth getting?

Book 1 and Book 12? Or some others?

I'm interested - I'd love to read more about Warhammer 31K (or is this 32K?), but I seem to remember the series only getting 'so-so' reviews.

Thanks!

It’s 32k indeed.
It’s an alright story, some books (really) good, some just ok.
Not sure about missing any, unless someone tells you a cliff notes version so you know what’s happened in it.

I think the disconnect is because the Realms don't yet have a proper series of maps with key settlements of importance for each faction and they don't have a singular structured timeline of events.

In the Old World there were key dates that you could understand where different major events happened in relation to each other. You also had maps and key settlements - you knew Nuln was super important to the Empire for many reasons - you knew if it was lost it would be a major defeat for the faction. You also knew where it was in relation to things like the Chaoses Wastes, the Elves etc...

AoS is still sort of pulling all that together for itself. They need a structured core so that people can orientate themselves within stories and adventures and have an idea how the world navigates and works

I agree for sure about the world building.

Though I do still think you can easily tell a horror story in a world we may not know everything/much about..

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:

 Gael Knight wrote:
I guess for me I just find it easier to conceptualise a world, like the Old World, that has some kind of normalcy being exposed to horrific things than to the AoS realms that are already quite vast and beyond real comprehension to mere mortals.Everything seems to be in its own section in AoS. It seems like horror would either need to be sought out or be part of a greater invasion coming to you.

I always find that argument somewhat hard to follow. No stories encompassed the whole of the old world (with exception of maybe the end times). Horror stories in particular don't need vast swathes of area. You could have a whole story set in someone's house, a castle or whatever. The size of the place and the events that take place there in general should not matter. It's about the particular area the author chooses to tell you about. Not this month's but the previous months' white dwarf I believe was a good example with the Kharadron's foray into treasure hunting, that didn't end particularly well.

No, but the whole of the Warhammer World was something you could conceptualise, and so place limits on. If an author established a set of circumstances in a particular place, then the "rules" of the setting ensured that specific little "narrative bubble" would stay as it was while the story was told. The "rules" of AoS are radically different, and that necessarily changes how different "genres" of plot function within it. For an AoS horror to succeed, it has to spend time laying out reasons why the Buxom Coeds can't just blast their tormentors with magic, why there's no chance of the suspense the author is trying to create being shattered by a lightning bolt from the heavens heralding a bunch of golden magical superhumans come to save the day, why the literally-real and definitively-extant within the setting Gods don't and aren't going to intervene.

In a WHW horror tale, a bloke with an axe lost in the woods is 100% fethed. In AoS, because everything is turned up to 11 and the tone is more mythological than gothic fairytale, you have to purposefully establish that the bloke with an axe lost in the woods is genuinely just a bloke with an axe, that the specific woods in question are actually fully inimical, the same for its denizens, and construct some reasoning why none of the huge mystical forces of the setting that could solve the issue in a snap of their fingers won't be interfering. Horror is too reliant on suspense and a sense of threat to function easily in a setting that's basically Dragonball Z: Warhammer Edition.

Again, I don't really buy that. There's always been common folk from the beginning, they just weren't the focus. Now we've had a lot of examples of people living ordinary lives. And besides, there's no rules stating horror can only affect "ordinary" folk. Just because someone happens to have power or abilities, there's no reason they can't be spooked like everyone else.

And don't give me that Dragonball nonsense. Old World was just as amped up, it was just less frequent.

There are lots of examples of Old World esque parts of the Realms dotted about.
If they told a story and just said it’s some farmer in a village, I don’t think that’s any reason it couldn’t be set in one of the realms, aside from people thinking “that’s not fantastical enough for AoS”

Danny76 wrote:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:

 Gael Knight wrote:
The Old World was a much better setting for horror. The new world is just far too fantastical imho.

I have to disagree. The Malign Portents short stories show otherwise and there's plenty of scope for horror within various cities, hamlets, forests and more. On a side note, looking forward to having all the Geneviève novels in swish hardback editions.

The reason the realms seems too fantastical, is they haven’t told some of these smaller scale stories about potential normal people living through the horror.
At one point the old world didn’t have that feel. As early on it was the fantasy elements they focused on more..
It had a lot longer to build on such things.

(And I’m a fan of the old Warhammer, not AoS. But I’d never write it off without trying a horror set there..)

I’m pretty sure China Mieville and Jeff Vandermeer would take issue with the suggestion that you can’t tell horror stories in a fantastical world. Actually, much of my affection for the Old World setting came from the fact that it’s foundational fiction - Drachenfels, Beasts in Velvet, the Orfeo trilogy - so cleverly blended horror story tropes with a generic fantasy setting the reader knew well. (Drachenfels actually went one better by in the process deconstructing the fantasy setting in a way even my eleven year old self could understand.)

 Lord Fishface wrote:

Danny76 wrote:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:

 Gael Knight wrote:
The Old World was a much better setting for horror. The new world is just far too fantastical imho.

I have to disagree. The Malign Portents short stories show otherwise and there's plenty of scope for horror within various cities, hamlets, forests and more. On a side note, looking forward to having all the Geneviève novels in swish hardback editions.

The reason the realms seems too fantastical, is they haven’t told some of these smaller scale stories about potential normal people living through the horror.
At one point the old world didn’t have that feel. As early on it was the fantasy elements they focused on more..
It had a lot longer to build on such things.

(And I’m a fan of the old Warhammer, not AoS. But I’d never write it off without trying a horror set there..)

I’m pretty sure China Mieville and Jeff Vandermeer would take issue with the suggestion that you can’t tell horror stories in a fantastical world. Actually, much of my affection for the Old World setting came from the fact that it’s foundational fiction - Drachenfels, Beasts in Velvet, the Orfeo trilogy - so cleverly blended horror story tropes with a generic fantasy setting the reader knew well. (Drachenfels actually went one better by in the process deconstructing the fantasy setting in a way even my eleven year old self could understand.)

Exactly.
I think people just need to step back a bit from what they perceive AoS’ Realms to be. And realise that there’s a lot more to the worlds that we are only just beginning to see.
Also, I’m sure a lot of people are mostly reading BL fiction and forgetting there are a lot of authors out there who can tell many genres in many settings..

 Alpharius wrote:
Quick Question on THE BEAST ARISES series!

It is now available in 4 'Omnibus' editions - each one containing 4 books.

So...is this series worth the time?

Or are only certain books worth getting?

Book 1 and Book 12? Or some others?

I'm interested - I'd love to read more about Warhammer 31K (or is this 32K?), but I seem to remember the series only getting 'so-so' reviews.

Thanks!

It's only 3 omnibus editions, and if you go for it, get the first of the omnibus' new as the first print of the book was a misprint and had books 1,2,3 and 5 in it. I had a nightmare with Amazon trying to do the right thing and return it and let them know it was a misprint, got 3 copies of it sent back and forth. In the end I had to tell them I'd changed my mind and no longer wanted it (so they didn't send me another copy, I gave up on trying to get them to stop selling it). Trying to explain to someone who doesn't really care on the phone for 30 minutes that it was part of a 12 book series and they'd printed the wrong books in it was a true exercise in frustration, despite certain people on here praising Amazon's great customer service in a condescending manner.

Ah, that's good to know!

Wonder how I can confirm that I'm not ordering a borked up Omnibus 1 though?

Maybe have to buy that one 'in person' at a B&N, probably.

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:

 Gael Knight wrote:
I guess for me I just find it easier to conceptualise a world, like the Old World, that has some kind of normalcy being exposed to horrific things than to the AoS realms that are already quite vast and beyond real comprehension to mere mortals.Everything seems to be in its own section in AoS. It seems like horror would either need to be sought out or be part of a greater invasion coming to you.

I always find that argument somewhat hard to follow. No stories encompassed the whole of the old world (with exception of maybe the end times). Horror stories in particular don't need vast swathes of area. You could have a whole story set in someone's house, a castle or whatever. The size of the place and the events that take place there in general should not matter. It's about the particular area the author chooses to tell you about. Not this month's but the previous months' white dwarf I believe was a good example with the Kharadron's foray into treasure hunting, that didn't end particularly well.

No, but the whole of the Warhammer World was something you could conceptualise, and so place limits on. If an author established a set of circumstances in a particular place, then the "rules" of the setting ensured that specific little "narrative bubble" would stay as it was while the story was told. The "rules" of AoS are radically different, and that necessarily changes how different "genres" of plot function within it. For an AoS horror to succeed, it has to spend time laying out reasons why the Buxom Coeds can't just blast their tormentors with magic, why there's no chance of the suspense the author is trying to create being shattered by a lightning bolt from the heavens heralding a bunch of golden magical superhumans come to save the day, why the literally-real and definitively-extant within the setting Gods don't and aren't going to intervene.

In a WHW horror tale, a bloke with an axe lost in the woods is 100% fethed. In AoS, because everything is turned up to 11 and the tone is more mythological than gothic fairytale, you have to purposefully establish that the bloke with an axe lost in the woods is genuinely just a bloke with an axe, that the specific woods in question are actually fully inimical, the same for its denizens, and construct some reasoning why none of the huge mystical forces of the setting that could solve the issue in a snap of their fingers won't be interfering. Horror is too reliant on suspense and a sense of threat to function easily in a setting that's basically Dragonball Z: Warhammer Edition.

Well you had stories about powerful folks - M Darkblade, Genevieve, Teclis and Tyrion, Gotrek and Felix and then you had the stories that (usually ended really badly) about your more average citizen of the world.

AOS is the same - so many stories have the Stormcast (or Aelf Fleetmasters, Witch hunters and of course Gotrek) as central characters but others have humans, aelves, duradin etc - usually having bad things happening to them in exactly the same way as it did in the Old World. We have an ongoing series in Inferno where characters sit at the pub (ok so its a bit more than that) and tell their stories, stories like the Red Hours which is probably one of the most Old School Warhammer stories. In constrast

AOS stories have also moved on to look at other elements - the increasing loss of humanity and personality in the Stormcast as they are continually re-forged - a process that does not always work and some are beginning to fear. Authors are exploring the horror elements in the eternal war where you are cosntantly having what makes you you being eroded.

Malign Portents had loads of stories about the "little guys" - many which ended like the old stories did - badly.

AoS is not anime. It's a Greek myth, Norse myth, Egyptian myth. A godbeast are basically the same as primordial Titans.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/03/09/into-the-heart-of-the-warp/

the HH graphic novel is available again.


I also picked up Tallarn in the MMPB/old school format on the weekend.


.. kinda sneaked that one out eh ?

Book Depository has rough release dates of all legacy format books. The next one, Ruinstorm should be dropping in around 38 days.

Anybody heard a new confirmed date for the limited edition of The Solar War? It was previously mentioned for March and was on the release calendar @ BL.com as March but it disappeared a while ago from the calendar. I know the limited is still coming as Rachel Harrison showed off the map that comes with/in the limited edition book:

I have no idea, but that map is gorgeous!

It is indeed, Rachael took a straw poll on who would buy big prints of the various maps available @ the weekender and it was overwhelmingly popular, so hopefully we'll see some big prints of them soon.

With the series fixed as 8 books I'm quite happy to commit to the limited editions. However I'm expecting it to sell out very quickly so I'm desperate to know when it goes on sale.

that map is nice. apparently its been properly hand drawn by an actual real life cartographer. I'd definitely be interested. It would look nice in my workspace.

 Yodhrin wrote:
I pity anyone going to buy that book secondhand in a couple of years, it'll be impossible to tell the mint condition ones from the ratty crap ones until after you've paid for it

That'll be the ... fourth? Fifth, perhsps? edition of the novel? I'd buy it if it had the illustrations from the original oversized GW Books edition. I've only got the mass-market Boxtree edition.

As for horror in the Mortal Realms ... apart from the obvious ideas of the Nighthaunt, Flesheater Courts, etc, there's potential for horror stories in the Stormcast (watching from the inside as a Stormcast unravels after repeated reforgings), idoneth, Sylvaneth, Nurgle or Tzeentch seem the most obious Chaos candidates amongst the Chaos powers, but I can see potential with Skaven and Slaanesh too. The whole point of the Mortal realms is that they're big enough so that different authors and players can make their own bits without them clashing with the official studio stuff or each other.

Finished " Sons of the Emperor" yesterday.

Solid enough little read , glad overall I didn't go to excessive lengths or pay through the nose for an earlier copy.

Another Wicked & the Damned preview: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/03/13/warhammer-horror-the-wicked-and-the-damned/

In ‘The Beast in the Trenches’ by Josh Reynolds, we follow the story of Egin Valemar, a brooding commissar hell-bent on purging his ranks of a taint that only he can see. This moody, psychological horror is a fascinating dissection of a mind warped by the madness and paranoia of a life spent in the blood-soaked trenches of the 41st Millennium. Not for the faint of heart!

The ‘Woman in the Walls’ by Phil Kelly explores the terrible consequences of envy and ambition by way of an incredibly sinister haunting. The evil that lurks in this story is palpable. It feels resentment and spite, and neither physical strength nor mental agility can deter this creature that was so woefully wronged… I dare you to read this just before bedtime.

In ‘The Faith and the Flesh’ by David Annandale, a missionary wrestling with doubt has a terrifying encounter which puts more than just his faith to the test. This is a fast-paced, visceral horror which will leave readers breathless as they try to escape the nightmare that feasts on their emotions and preys on their peace of mind.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/03/15/the-siege-of-terra-begins/

Here we go.

The final battle is beginning.

Tomorrow, thirteen years of the Horus Heresy series will meet their culmination in The Solar War – the first in an 8-volume megaseries that’ll bring the story to its epic climax. We’re letting you know about this one early, as it’s expected to sell out incredibly fast.

Finally, just hope I get my copy. I think this is going to be painful as it's going to be a fight for all 8 limited editions.

 Looky Likey wrote:
Anybody heard a new confirmed date for the limited edition of The Solar War? It was previously mentioned for March and was on the release calendar @ BL.com as March but it disappeared a while ago from the calendar. I know the limited is still coming as Rachel Harrison showed off the map that comes with/in the limited edition book:

Heh.

You've got the Second Sphere Fleet on Uranus!

Heh.

 Looky Likey wrote:
Finally, just hope I get my copy. I think this is going to be painful as it's going to be a fight for all 8 limited editions.

Indeed Its one of the few books I have been waiting for also and I am sure there will be more than 1500 of us !

I wish they'd just release the novels beside the super duper expensive editions. some of us don't enjoy having the internet spoil a novel 2 months ahead of us because we're unwilling to pay 80 bucks for a book

They said last year that this was how solar war would release.

Edition size is stupid.

BrianDavion wrote:
I wish they'd just release the novels beside the super duper expensive editions. some of us don't enjoy having the internet spoil a novel 2 months ahead of us because we're unwilling to pay 80 bucks for a book

Indeed.

Also, I note that they're keen to "let us know" about the book's release, but they seem a little bit more shy with letting us know the sodding pricetag.

I really wish they would stop including maps and posters in these. I find them disappointing as a purchase because getting the fold lines out if you want to actually hang them is nigh on impossible, and annoying when I don't buy the superduperspecialsnowflake edition because I know I'll never be able to get some really cool pieces of art in order to maintain the utterly fictional sense of added value they're supposed to add to the fancy books.

I'd love to be able to buy that map in a decent size(ie, A1), delivered properly rolled in a protective case.

Probably be 40 quid

It’s £50. I think it was up for a bit on the black library site a while ago (I definitely saw the cover and price before now).

And more recently buying any limited from black library includes the bonus features : “will it be damaged by bad packaging” , “ will it have rubbish print quality” and “will black library tell me a week after ordering that a stock exchange listed company has no real concept of stock control but here’s a £10 voucher, go buy it on eBay at 300% increase”.

Just ordered my copy of Solar War from GW's site rather than BL as BL has gone down/very slow. Was up a few minutes early on GW's site as well.

Really hope I actually get my copy

 Alpharius wrote:
Quick Question on THE BEAST ARISES series!

It is now available in 4 'Omnibus' editions - each one containing 4 books.

So...is this series worth the time?

Or are only certain books worth getting?

Book 1 and Book 12? Or some others?

I'm interested - I'd love to read more about Warhammer 31K (or is this 32K?), but I seem to remember the series only getting 'so-so' reviews.

Thanks!

I know this might be a bit late, but I would strongly advise against buying these books if you haven't done so yet.

The series starts out cool enough, some authors having better quality story/writing than others, but the last omnibus is the biggest piece of crap I have ever read. It is so inexcusably badly written and the storyline decisions get so cringy that it actually made me legit angry and feel like wanting to punch some of the writers in the face (Rob Sanders I am looking at you). I have never ever experienced that before with any piece of fiction. Could read back the books and write an entire essay on how terrible it is. Seriously, don't buy.

 Looky Likey wrote:
Just ordered my copy of Solar War from GW's site rather than BL as BL has gone down/very slow. Was up a few minutes early on GW's site as well.

Really hope I actually get my copy

And about five minutes after going on sale its out of stock at GW.com

The Solar War seems to be back up on the main GW site.

 TwilightSparkles wrote:
And more recently buying any limited from black library includes the bonus features : “will it be damaged by bad packaging” , “ will it have rubbish print quality” and “will black library tell me a week after ordering that a stock exchange listed company has no real concept of stock control but here’s a £10 voucher, go buy it on eBay at 300% increase”.

Meh I did not even get the £10 voucher just an email saying I was gak out of luck.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Tavis75 wrote:
The Solar War seems to be back up on the main GW site.

Cheers I seem to have got one from the GW site despite the farce on the BL site of getting to the checkout half a dozen times and it crashing or telling me I had all ready ordered despite it having not worked.

Nice to see putting a PE teacher in charge of the design of the online store worked as expected.

.. £50 is too steep for me.


Ah well, in 9-12 months I'll look forwards to reading it I guess.


in related news, via Mr THorpe's twitter

More importantly, "Cadian Honour" goes up today! Woot woot!

 Kanluwen wrote:
More importantly, "Cadian Honour" goes up today! Woot woot!

But do cadian's actual have any honour left they failed in there only real job, they lost there world and there commanding officer is a wax work in an alien museum.
Realistically in-univerese going by all the previous fluff the remaining cadian's would have been blammed for being heretics as the Imperiums propaganda would have to have blamed them directly for the fall of a world described as the morst secure other than terra. As such it can only have fallen due to treachery from the cadian's, I guess it's lucky they are the only plastic guard available currently

SeanDrake wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
More importantly, "Cadian Honour" goes up today! Woot woot!

But do cadian's actual have any honour left they failed in there only real job, they lost there world and there commanding officer is a wax work in an alien museum.
Realistically in-univerese going by all the previous fluff the remaining cadian's would have been blammed for being heretics as the Imperiums propaganda would have to have blamed them directly for the fall of a world described as the morst secure other than terra. As such it can only have fallen due to treachery from the cadian's, I guess it's lucky they are the only plastic guard available currently

That's an incredibly dumb point of view. There's a reason why "the planet broke before the guard did" meme is a thing.

Lord Kragan wrote:

SeanDrake wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
More importantly, "Cadian Honour" goes up today! Woot woot!

But do cadian's actual have any honour left they failed in there only real job, they lost there world and there commanding officer is a wax work in an alien museum.
Realistically in-univerese going by all the previous fluff the remaining cadian's would have been blammed for being heretics as the Imperiums propaganda would have to have blamed them directly for the fall of a world described as the morst secure other than terra. As such it can only have fallen due to treachery from the cadian's, I guess it's lucky they are the only plastic guard available currently

That's an incredibly dumb point of view. There's a reason why "the planet broke before the guard did" meme is a thing.

Not really there's more than one fluff piece were survivor's are mentioned as being excecuted even after a victory because an objective was failed, and boy was an objective failed this time. Not saying I agree but definitely from an in universe perspective it is out of character for the imperium not to lash out even just for propaganda purposes as if cadia can fall so can terra.

Sigh. The book looks nice but the smear on the front page pretending to be signature is incredibly off-putting. Could they really not tell JF to do better job for that price...?



I have been to cons lots of times, gotten signatures of dozen or so authors, and none of them looked even remotely that lazy and rubber stamped as this one

SeanDrake wrote:
I guess it's lucky they are the only plastic guard available currently

What are Catachans for 100?

People have simple signatures you know. On a more...interesting note, see the top right one at £275

You’d think someone bidding on that would just get the one on the left that’s £250 Buy It Now


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Or the one directly below that one too

People are mental

US Preorders are up a few minutes early on the GW site.

Was going to try to track how fast the LE sold out on the US site but got busy at work (cause if you close at 12:00, you have a crowd at the non retail counter wanting something at 12:01). Did anyone else catch when it sold out? I suspect I only got mine because it was up a few minutes early and I happened to be refreshing.

 TBD wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:
Quick Question on THE BEAST ARISES series!

It is now available in 4 'Omnibus' editions - each one containing 4 books.

So...is this series worth the time?

Or are only certain books worth getting?

Book 1 and Book 12? Or some others?

I'm interested - I'd love to read more about Warhammer 31K (or is this 32K?), but I seem to remember the series only getting 'so-so' reviews.

Thanks!

I know this might be a bit late, but I would strongly advise against buying these books if you haven't done so yet.

The series starts out cool enough, some authors having better quality story/writing than others, but the last omnibus is the biggest piece of crap I have ever read. It is so inexcusably badly written and the storyline decisions get so cringy that it actually made me legit angry and feel like wanting to punch some of the writers in the face (Rob Sanders I am looking at you). I have never ever experienced that before with any piece of fiction. Could read back the books and write an entire essay on how terrible it is. Seriously, don't buy.

I haven't purchased it yet, and I probably won't - based off of the misprint issue and overall what appear to be general 'meh' to 'ugh' reviews.

I do appreciate the heads up though - thanks!

I loved Beast Arises, it's a great look at the post Heresy Imperium with some nice ties to Heresy and 40k lore.

Is it perfect ? Nope, nor is every chapter of every book amazing. You could do certain books but IMO the big reveal has more meaning if you've seen everything that has happened. Decisions made in the story ? Take a look at the UK Brexit hilarity to realise that illogical ideas and farce are possible when big decisions are being made.

Looking forward to Cadian Honour, Cadia Stands was pretty good and , to me, written to a similar level as most of Beast Arises (with some noticeable skipping of time/details). It's implied that Terra is framing the Cadians as heroes, remember that we are now really in Guilliman's Imperium and he isn't going to let hardened veterans be wasted for propaganda.

 Irbis wrote:
Sigh. The book looks nice but the smear on the front page pretending to be signature is incredibly off-putting. Could they really not tell JF to do better job for that price...?

Spoiler:

I have been to cons lots of times, gotten signatures of dozen or so authors, and none of them looked even remotely that lazy and rubber stamped as this one

While not every author can be as awesome as AD-B (Though I am sure you will complain about that as well) when it comes to signing books..



You are being awfully petty here.

They could have tipped in the number /2500, mind, given the page is printed for the number to be added by hand. Usually someone from the publisher does that while the author signs. Lazy to not do it.

I did this for Bolter and Chainsword, thought I may as well post it here too. John French did an interview on Twitch a couple of weeks back about solar war, just watched and did a write up. Some minor spoilers for how the book starts if you want to go in completely clean.


Main focus on the 6 weeks of war from when the first ships enter the solar system to the first shells falling on Terra.

Wanted to get across the character and history of places like the Jovian(?) Void Clans, Mechanicum etc, how they’re older than the Imperium is.

Horus has a vast fleet, but can’t safely drop out of the warp into a system like the Sol system. He doesn’t have time to do it safely at the edge as Guilliman etc closing in behind. On the map, near Pluto and Uranus there is the Chthonian Gate and Elysian Gate which are more stable points within the system, but obviously these are very well fortified. Book starts with simultaneous attack on these two areas.

Big cast:
Sigismund, one of the main characters, in command of the outer sphere around Pluto, in command of the force that will first encounter the traitors (not meant to stop the traitor fleet, just hold for as long as possible). Still there as his penance, as not expected to survive.

Horus Aximand - Commanding the traitor fleet at the Pluto gate, Sons of Horus and Iron Warriors mentioned. Apparently will see Aximand and Sigismund cross blades.

Abaddon - point of view character (not been seen much). Horus has dropped a fleet above the plane of the solar system, led by Abaddon, contains the elite of the SoH, lots of Dark Mech, some Thousand Sons, Word Bearers. See some of Abaddons origins on Cthonia.

Mersadie Oliton - remembrancer from first books, prisoner on Titan. Has been moved as Titan has been moved for Grey Knights stuff. Ship she’s transported in is around Uranus as the fleet led by Perturabo comes out of the Uranus gate. She is carrying some information given at start of the book for Dorn.

Loken - one of the main characters.

Lot about Sangy, Dorn, Khan, Malcador, seen through an Admirals eyes. Three primarchs have different views on what the best strategies are as very different.

The Emperor and Horus, interactions between the Emperor and the warp version of Horus.

Ahriman, Perturabo, Forrix crop up.

Wanted his Abaddon to resonate to where we see Abaddon go in the ADB novels, why does he go from being as loyal as he is to Horus to his disdain of him later. Scene between Abaddon and Zardu Layak, talking about the other SoH who remained loyal, to Abaddon they are the traitors and he is the loyal one, to him loyalty is first with his brothers, then to Horus, then to the other Legions then to the Emperor. He really hates Loken etc as he sees them not following Horus as the betrayal.

Almost equal word time for both sides through the series, deliberately. Want to portray both sides evenly. Right and wrong on each side.

Pluto is classified as a planet again in the 31st Millenium

A lot of void combat. A lot of research done, but void combat in 30/40k doesn’t necessarily use a lot of real world physics - more research into napoleonic/ww1 naval warfare (with some physics). Did do research into time for radio/laser signals to get from outer solar system to terra - means that Dorn etc on Terra know the traitors are here, but don’t have any detail about what’s happening for hours (have Astropath signal to say traitors have arrived, but nothing else as signals take time to transmit).

The Phalanx appears in the book.

Thousand Sons have a particular role in the Solar War.

SeanDrake wrote:

Lord Kragan wrote:

SeanDrake wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
More importantly, "Cadian Honour" goes up today! Woot woot!

But do cadian's actual have any honour left they failed in there only real job, they lost there world and there commanding officer is a wax work in an alien museum.
Realistically in-univerese going by all the previous fluff the remaining cadian's would have been blammed for being heretics as the Imperiums propaganda would have to have blamed them directly for the fall of a world described as the morst secure other than terra. As such it can only have fallen due to treachery from the cadian's, I guess it's lucky they are the only plastic guard available currently

That's an incredibly dumb point of view. There's a reason why "the planet broke before the guard did" meme is a thing.

Not really there's more than one fluff piece were survivor's are mentioned as being excecuted even after a victory because an objective was failed, and boy was an objective failed this time. Not saying I agree but definitely from an in universe perspective it is out of character for the imperium not to lash out even just for propaganda purposes as if cadia can fall so can terra.

https://regimental-standard.com/2017/01/18/cadia-another-imperial-victory/

And here is the propaganda. Because in case you didn't notice, the imperium is split in half and everything's gone down the drain. In these circumstances, killing about *10 billion soldiers* just because their brethren troops died fighting in a losing proposition is not in character, it's moronic and grimderp.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/03/20/20th-mar-siege-of-terra-meet-the-authorsgw-homepage-post-2/

whos who of the solar war author s--also

Last weekend saw The Solar War, the first book in the new Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra megaseries (like a miniseries, but approximately 1000% more epic), released as a lavish limited edition. We’re aware that there were some issues with the release on the Black Library site, and we wanted to let you know about the steps we’re taking to make sure future limited edition releases run more smoothly.

From Book 2 onwards, the limited editions will be available exclusively on the Games Workshop webstore – and they’ll be limited to one per order, to ensure everyone gets the best chance to get their hands on a copy. In addition, there are some copies of the limited edition left over after the website issues – and there will be a second chance to get your hands on them in May, when the hardback, eBook and MP3 audiobook formats are also released.

Chris is involved, I have high hopes for the stuff the Scars will be doing.

Good to see apology (of sorts) from them. And the new ordering process - should cut down on scalpers a bit.

John

Chris looks so badass in his photo.

Gav agrees!

We bow down to the patrician awesomeness that is Chris Wraight.

(Seriously, wouldn't you want him running the Imperium?)

Thank the gods they're not letting David Annadale near this. His books in the series have been some of the worst I've ever read.

Dimrill wrote:Thank the gods they're not letting David Annadale near this. His books in the series have been some of the worst I've ever read.

Looky Likey wrote:Anybody heard a new confirmed date for the limited edition of The Solar War? It was previously mentioned for March and was on the release calendar @ BL.com as March but it disappeared a while ago from the calendar. I know the limited is still coming as Rachel Harrison showed off the map that comes with/in the limited edition book:

I would buy that beauty for my wall. This is a superb piece of art.

Dimrill wrote:Thank the gods they're not letting David Annadale near this. His books in the series have been some of the worst I've ever read.

Amen brother, his books are indeed diabolical, unfortunately he is still writing in 40k.

The authors they have chosen are a great bunch.

 Dimrill wrote:
Thank the gods they're not letting David Annadale near this. His books in the series have been some of the worst I've ever read.

by and large the writers they've got on this seems to be pretty clearly GW's "top talent"

It appears two of the authors will get to write two books.

 reds8n wrote:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/03/20/20th-mar-siege-of-terra-meet-the-authorsgw-homepage-post-2/

whos who of the solar war author s--also

Last weekend saw The Solar War, the first book in the new Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra megaseries (like a miniseries, but approximately 1000% more epic), released as a lavish limited edition. We’re aware that there were some issues with the release on the Black Library site, and we wanted to let you know about the steps we’re taking to make sure future limited edition releases run more smoothly.

From Book 2 onwards, the limited editions will be available exclusively on the Games Workshop webstore – and they’ll be limited to one per order, to ensure everyone gets the best chance to get their hands on a copy. In addition, there are some copies of the limited edition left over after the website issues – and there will be a second chance to get your hands on them in May, when the hardback, eBook and MP3 audiobook formats are also released.

I bet they are keeping those extra copies back till May to make sure they have spares in case of up orders.

I don't understand why the BL commerce site isn't on the GW commerce site's platform, would have avoided it running like a complete dog.

I feel bad for anybody who missed out last weekend due to the website issues and scalpers profiting off the issues. I can only see further issues going forward as if you are buying the limited editions you are extremely likely to want the set. What happens when you miss out on one of the series - either accept the series is incomplete and sell what you have or resort to the scalpers.

That would be something, them also still not using Paypal is quite annoying, as there's quite a few quick reads I'd love to pick up from time to time, but don't want to go through the many security hoops a credit card purchase has around here..

Can it really be someone other than Dan or ADB that will write the last book?

Both Ben Counter and Graham McNeill are absent, they both had their hand in some of the earlier big moments, YMMV obv.

Hoping that Dan and Aaron do the last two books, it'll be interesting to see if the latter can stick to the schedule though, he is known for schedule slips, but damn the man can write.

I think it would be only fitting for Mr Abnett to finish the story, as he started it all off 13 years ago.

ADB all but confirmed it was Abnett writing the last book. I’d be surprised if it’s anybody else.
Personally I’d love Aaron to do it as he’s probably my favourite contributor followed by McNeill. I’m also in the minority in that I absolutely can’t stand Abnett’s writing but I’ve resigned myself to the fact he will be pencilling that final battle.

I’m glad Ben Counter isn’t involved. His stories barring Daemon World are all between poor and dire.

Souljet wrote:
ADB all but confirmed it was Abnett writing the last book. I’d be surprised if it’s anybody else.
Personally I’d love Aaron to do it as he’s probably my favourite contributor followed by McNeill. I’m also in the minority in that I absolutely can’t stand Abnett’s writing but I’ve resigned myself to the fact he will be pencilling that final battle.

This is why I am so happy that there are a large number of writers for the Heresy books, as different authors appeal to different people. Personally, I love Abnett and loathe McNeil. I am over the moon that Abnett gets to do the last book but ADB would be my #2 choice.

Same here - psyched for Dan to finish it all up, but would certainly be happy if it was ADB!

phillv85 wrote:
I’m glad Ben Counter isn’t involved. His stories barring Daemon World are all between poor and dire.

Personally I can't stand Gav's writing.

There are six authors confirmed for SoT, and eight books, that means somebody is either writing three books or two people are doing two each (which I think is more likely to happen). I'm more bothered about who is getting two books at present as I don't want it to be Gav.

I'm sure its been confirmed either on Warhammer Community or at a BL Seminar that Dan is writing the last SoT book?

Quite liking John French's books, can't quite put my finger on why but the writing style works well for me.

ADB would probably be my choice for the final book though. Abnett is of course consistently excellent but ADB seems to have the edge, IMHO.

I like ADB and McNeil best, I think Abnett is very overrated and I do not think any are anywhere near poor or dire, just not to my taste.

 Looky Likey wrote:
Personally I can't stand Gav's writing.

There are six authors confirmed for SoT, and eight books, that means somebody is either writing three books or two people are doing two each (which I think is more likely to happen). I'm more bothered about who is getting two books at present as I don't want it to be Gav.

I'm sure its been confirmed either on Warhammer Community or at a BL Seminar that Dan is writing the last SoT book?

Have you read any of his Eldar books, Lorgar, or tried the new audio Our Martyred Lady? I think these are some of the best to come from Black Library, I love Gavs writing but I get the dark angles stuff isnt for everyone.

I think Gav works best when he has a free reign his world building is superb. I would love to see him do two books. But all the authors involved are top quality

I've found everything I've read of Gav's for 30K/40K genuinely painful to read, though I've not read the Eldar stuff. The Dwarf stuff he wrote for WHFB was quite good though, so it's not like he's an inherently bad writer, just variable enough that I won't buy his books until I've seen them reviewed by someone I trust to mostly share my point of view, and that I would always prefer subject matter I care about were handled by someone else.

I've read his Eldar and Lorgar, the former was risable the latter decent.

My SoT turned up today, fab looking limited edition.

Looks awesome

I’m 3/4 of the way through it, loving every minute.

I got "Cadian Honour" today. Loving it!

Just finished Solar War now. A lot still to sink in, but I loved this book. Just an excellent start to the siege. I found it quite an emotional read, knowing that this is the beginning of the end of a series I’ve been heavily invested in for the last 9 or 10 years of my life, especially with how much it ties back to the beginning. I feel somewhat drained, but in the best way.

Anyone is better than Guy Haley who brought his dumpster fire Dark Imperium fluff into the HH with wolfsbane. I might take G.S Goto over his writing.

 Kirasu wrote:
I might take C.S Goto over his writing.

Time heals all wounds, as evidenced by this statement.

 nels1031 wrote:

 Kirasu wrote:
I might take C.S Goto over his writing.

Time heals all wounds, as evidenced by this statement.

You’re right, I haven’t read G.S Goto in over a decade but the trauma caused by Guy Haley’s writing is still very fresh.

 nels1031 wrote:

 Kirasu wrote:
I might take C.S Goto over his writing.

Time heals all wounds, as evidenced by this statement.

Even Astartes multilaser burns?

Yes, even that.

I'm always impressed and grateful for humanity's willingness to forgive.

Apparently, one day we'll forgive G. Haley too!

Scourge of Fate (Robbie Macniven) is up for order on BL’s site, for those of us who like AoS.

Highly recommend, its like a Bretonnian Questing Knight novel, except the Bretonnian is an aspiring Varanguard, the quest is to kill a hero of Order, and the questgiver looks like a monster out of a Guillermo del Toro movie.

Quite a bit of world building for the Chaos side of the Mortal Realms. Made me want to start a Varanguard focused army, but their rules are less than adequate for what they are supposed to be.

Also, for the Guy Haley hate above, dude wrote Skarsnik, which is one of my top 3 favorite BL fantasy novels. Can’t speak to his 40K/30K writing as it hasn’t been my cup of tea lately, but I’ll defend the guy on the strength of Skarsnik alone.

Baffled by the email I got today about the Horror novels.

It was titled 'Warhammer Horror is here'

Yet, clicking on the link inexplicably took me to the UK amazon site (which isn't particularly useful), and on coming back to the US site, i found out that, in fact, horror isn't here at all. The books are another week off.

Good job. :/

 Kirasu wrote:
Anyone is better than Guy Haley who brought his dumpster fire Dark Imperium fluff into the HH with wolfsbane. I might take G.S Goto over his writing.

I’m not sure that’s very fair. Cawl was in Wolfsbane, but he was a very low level tech priest and there were no other ties to Dark Imperium except that he was in it. And we knew he was around during the Heresy.

 Kanluwen wrote:
I got "Cadian Honour" today. Loving it!

Hopefully it’s as good as the first one. I thought it was superb. One of the best guard books out there.

 Looky Likey wrote:
I've read his Eldar and Lorgar, the former was risable the latter decent.

My SoT turned up today, fab looking limited edition.

How does it read if you haven't read all the Horus Heresy novels?
And if you haven't read any novels is it a good starting point?
If not which novels are essential for this book?

I have read the first 10 books and some other stuff but I want to jump back directly at the siege of terra but I don't know if it's a good idea...

Thanks!

 Knockagh wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
I got "Cadian Honour" today. Loving it!

Hopefully it’s as good as the first one. I thought it was superb. One of the best guard books out there.

So far, yeah. Highly recommend having read "The Battle for Markgraaf Hive"(a digital short) though as it's referenced quite a bit with regards to Minka.

Has there been any news on if Gav will be doing another Phoenix Lord book? I was really hoping for a Karrandras book and perhaps a partner book released about Arhra told from his perspective or something.

 ImAGeek wrote:

 Kirasu wrote:
Anyone is better than Guy Haley who brought his dumpster fire Dark Imperium fluff into the HH with wolfsbane. I might take G.S Goto over his writing.

I’m not sure that’s very fair. Cawl was in Wolfsbane, but he was a very low level tech priest and there were no other ties to Dark Imperium except that he was in it. And we knew he was around during the Heresy.

yeah, To my way of thinking he's just having a kneejerk reaction to any mention of the Primaris Marines, without approuching it with an honest mind, the fact is, one of the biggest issues with Cawl that people had was "WHERE WAS HE DURING THE HERESY?" now we know. That's good world building.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
on another note did BL remove their "coming soon" bit from their website? that's horriable!

BrianDavion wrote:

 ImAGeek wrote:

 Kirasu wrote:
Anyone is better than Guy Haley who brought his dumpster fire Dark Imperium fluff into the HH with wolfsbane. I might take G.S Goto over his writing.

I’m not sure that’s very fair. Cawl was in Wolfsbane, but he was a very low level tech priest and there were no other ties to Dark Imperium except that he was in it. And we knew he was around during the Heresy.

yeah, To my way of thinking he's just having a kneejerk reaction to any mention of the Primaris Marines, without approuching it with an honest mind, the fact is, one of the biggest issues with Cawl that people had was "WHERE WAS HE DURING THE HERESY?" now we know. That's good world building.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
on another note did BL remove their "coming soon" bit from their website? that's horriable!

Its terrible world building, good world building was how they kept dropping hints about the C'Tan in 3rd for YEARS before we actually even saw one, then they ended up in the necron codex, so Cawl being mentioned and little hints here and there about a rogue tech magos would have been a much much better than retroactively throwing him into a HH novel, that being said I quite liked him in that book and am happier they did introduce him into the HH series, it just could have been handled better

BrianDavion wrote:

 ImAGeek wrote:

 Kirasu wrote:
Anyone is better than Guy Haley who brought his dumpster fire Dark Imperium fluff into the HH with wolfsbane. I might take G.S Goto over his writing.

I’m not sure that’s very fair. Cawl was in Wolfsbane, but he was a very low level tech priest and there were no other ties to Dark Imperium except that he was in it. And we knew he was around during the Heresy.

yeah, To my way of thinking he's just having a kneejerk reaction to any mention of the Primaris Marines, without approuching it with an honest mind, the fact is, one of the biggest issues with Cawl that people had was "WHERE WAS HE DURING THE HERESY?" now we know. That's good world building.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
on another note did BL remove their "coming soon" bit from their website? that's horriable!

I honestly don't think I've ever seen one person express that as being a "big issue" with Cawl. People took plenty of issue with him as a character and as a plot device, but "I wonder where he was *before* the point in time GW crudely shoehorned an excuse for putting a totally new kind of Space Marine into the setting without technically having them be brand new - knowing that bit of minutiae would completely redeem the character..." was not one of them IME.

BrianDavion wrote:
on another note did BL remove their "coming soon" bit from their website? that's horriable!

Huh, they did. They also removed it from the GW site, pity as it made planning future purchases all the easier.

Yeah the coming soon is gone :(
Then again I've never found it but someone did once link to a load of pre-releases on Amazon so the info might still be out there (annoyingly you can't just search "Black library" on Amazon and get GW results).

Hopefully it might return, its not as if the coming soon ever spoil us with regard to books - heck knowing that Gotrek and Felix 2 was coming got me buying and reading the first so it has a net bonus.

 TheGuest wrote:

 Looky Likey wrote:
I've read his Eldar and Lorgar, the former was risable the latter decent.

My SoT turned up today, fab looking limited edition.

How does it read if you haven't read all the Horus Heresy novels?
And if you haven't read any novels is it a good starting point?
If not which novels are essential for this book?

I have read the first 10 books and some other stuff but I want to jump back directly at the siege of terra but I don't know if it's a good idea...

Thanks!

I'm sure you already know how the story finishes with the battle on the bridge of Vengeful Spirit? If so you aren't really going to spoil the story for you jumping in at the end with the SoT series.

If you want the character development showing you why certain things happened then you could read the lot, all 54 numbered books, all of the novellas and short stories not included in any of the anthologies given an official number, listen to all of the audio drams, read all of the fluff in the 8 black books available so far, even all of the Primarch books. A massive undertaking even if you did as I did and started when Horus Rising first came out. Almost every story has some little nugget that helps either the lore or the development of the story.

However there is a lot of ok to meh books in the series, and the middle quarter or so of books there is a lot of filler well written or not. You could skip large chunks of the story and not really miss out on much.

If you wanted to skip some you could either take the approach to follow particular Primarchs that you were interested in (plus any Horus centric stories), or just follow the largest events such as the destruction of Prospero or the turning of the Death Guard. Or you could even just read the best books and skip all the dross. A lot of the Dark Angels and Salamanders books are just plain boring, but they do advance those legions' story.

Very difficult to know what to recommend due to the series offering different things to different people. I'm sure others will disagree but the minium I would suggest is:
Book Title
1 Horus Rising - The seeds of heresy are sown
2 False Gods - The heresy takes root
3 Galaxy in Flames - The heresy revealed
4 The Flight of the Eisenstein - The heresy unfolds
5 Fulgrim - Visions of Treachery
7 Legion - Secrets and lies
8 Battle for the Abyss - My brother, my enemy
9 Mechanicum - Knowledge is power
12 A Thousand Sons - All is dust...
14 The First Heretic - Fall to Chaos
15 Prospero Burns - The Wolves unleashed
18 Deliverance Lost - Ghosts of Terra
19 Know No Fear -The battle of Calth
21 Fear to Tread - The angel falls
23 Angel Exterminatus - Flesh and iron
24 Betrayer - Blood for the Blood God
29 Vengeful Spirit- The Battle of Molech
39 Praetorian of Dorn - Alpha to omega
41 The Master of Mankind - War in the webway
44 The Crimson King - A soul divided
45 Tallarn - War for a dead world
46 Ruinstorm - Destiny unwritten...
47 Old Earth - To the Gates of Terra
49 Wolfsbane - The wyrd spear cast
51 Slaves to Darkness - Chaos undivided
53 Titandeath - The final step to Sol
54 The Buried Dagger - Doom of the Death Guard

Some of those are so so or not very good. I'm sure you could probably boil it down even further.