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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.)