Black library news and rumours (including Horus Heresy stuff)...

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**Bloodwin**

Alpharius wrote:I probably won't be able to get THRONE OF LIES, but I am curious to know what the 'motivation' of the Night Lords truly is.

Because as much as I enjoyed SOUL HUNTER, their motivations were pretty reed thin in there.

Can someone boil it down and spoiler-vision it for me?

I'm not sure the Night Lords have much of a motivation other than revenge against the Emperor and his worshippers for the death of their primarch. Throne of Lies follows that premise as they hunt down some of the order of the assassins that killed their primarch. From what was in Soul Hunter they don't seem allied to any one chaos power and even then some of the chapter are anti chaos. The one thing that annoyed me about both is that the main character can get pretty emo, which detracts from the implied viciousness of the chapter. While the production values continue to improve, I didn't see the need for Octavia to appear in that story. It seemed much more of a continuation of the first book in that respect as opposed to a stand alone audiobook as the others have been. If you hadn't read the first book you'd miss many of the nuances of the audiobook. Such as Octavia's relationship to the ship and crew and most importantly the reason for them hunting down the assassin who the plot revolves around. Also the recording at the end of the audiobook of the assassin who killed their primarch.

**Alpharius**

Kanluwen wrote:It's not clear-cut as them all having one motivation.

There's three factions: one trying to keep things the way Night Haunter had them, one trying to make a new way without the Haunter, and then one saying screw it all let's do everything we possibly want and blame Chaos!

In the 40K Galaxy, where the threat of Chaos, Xenos, etc. are all too real, the 'motivations' of the Traitor Legions all end up coming across VERY badly, for me...

**BrookM**

Somewhere along the way, they went from misguided "liberators" whom have fallen to Chaos due to guile and lies to cardboard cut-out villains who only kill because they feel like it or their gods tell them to because it pleases them. I'm really hoping that the motivation of the choices behind the Alpha Legion are explained sooner or later.

**Alpharius**

BrookM wrote:Somewhere along the way, they went from misguided "liberators" whom have fallen to Chaos due to guile and lies to cardboard cut-out villains who only kill because they feel like it or their gods tell them to because it pleases them. I'm really hoping that the motivation of the choices behind the Alpha Legion are explained sooner or later.

Yeah, me too!

But to the best of my knowledge I think the most we've heard about that is something along the lines of Dan Abnett saying "I'd like to write it."

And meanwhile, we've already had TWO Dark Angel books...

**Kanluwen**

Alpharius wrote:
BrookM wrote:Somewhere along the way, they went from misguided "liberators" whom have fallen to Chaos due to guile and lies to cardboard cut-out villains who only kill because they feel like it or their gods tell them to because it pleases them. I'm really hoping that the motivation of the choices behind the Alpha Legion are explained sooner or later.

Yeah, me too!

But to the best of my knowledge I think the most we've heard about that is something along the lines of Dan Abnett saying "I'd like to write it."

And meanwhile, we've already had TWO Dark Angel books...

To be fair...
We've known the Dark Angels motivations, in detail, for both the Heresy and the years following.

Alpha Legion have always been a kinda mystery.

**Just Dave**

I think with the Night Lords, Kurze pretty much hung them out to die (intentionally), as such, it's barely an actual Legion any more - less so than the other traitor Legions - the remaining Night Lords are few and far between so their motivation can wildly vary IMHO.

I half hope for more info on the Alpha Legion, it think it's good - and entirely suitable - that it's a mystery though. What I'd personally like to see is more of an idea about the actions of the White Scars/Ultramarines and/or Blood Angels during the heresy. In depth of course, we know the core...

In other news, I just finished Nemesis; I found it very 'meh', neither good nor bad, just not as good as it should have been IMHO.

**reds8n**

..there are, somewhat vague I gather, plans for a BA HH book indeed. set mainly on/about the events on Signus AFAIK.

I thought Nemesis was good, showed us a lot about the Imperium of that era and went a long way towards showing how Horus was able to do what he did in such a short time.

**Just Dave**

Yeah I think I heard somewhere about a BA book (and audio) but I didn't realise it focussed on Signus, which will be good IMHO. I just think Sanguinus is a 'dude'.

Spoiler:

Maybe it's just me though?

**reds8n**

reds8n wrote:..

..and they didn't even mention "The ****** and ******" yet either !

Seems this is starting to become public knowledge :

BL will be launching "The Hammer and Bolter" a downloadable "ezine" type affair ( more or less). There's every chance that this will be unveiled at (the UK ?) GD, perhaps even with a few free samples.

Dan Abnett et al shall be regular contributors, and I hear talk of serialisations of book/s in this as well.

**BrookM**

Here's hoping that like with Inferno! they'll accept entries from everybody and use it as a means of drawing in new talent on a more frequent base other than the annual contests for the anthology novels.

**Eisenhorn**

Dan says in his blog his first story in there will be the story of the demise of Titus Endor.
It will be an Eisenhorn short from his Inquisitor short story book he said he was putting together.
That snippet alone will get me to sign up

**Alpharius**

It might just be you!

Remember, the Assassin Houses were, for the most part, relatively new at this point.

I think!

**reds8n**

Greetings!

As some of you are already aware, Black Library will be launching a digital-only short story publication entitled Hammer & Bolter as part of our new range of eBooks and digital products. While a few details are left to to be ironed out, I can exclusively reveal the table of contents for the debut issue.

'The Strange Demise of Titus Endor' by Dan Abnett
'A Place of Quiet Assembly' by John Brunner
'Primary Instinct' by Sarah Cawkwell
'Questing Knight' by Anthony Reynolds
'Phalanx - Chapters 1 & 2' by Ben Counter

Yes, Phalanx is a serialised novel that will play out over the first year's worth of issues and yes, I know John Brunner has been dead for fifteen years but this is a story he wrote for the very first incarnation of Games Workshop's publishing enterprise that we've never published before. Oh, and did I also mention that it's a Gotrek & Felix story? Must have slipped my mind in all the excitement. 'Questing Knight' is a fully-fledged novella too, making the total word count of the premiere issue a whopping 70,000 words!

The first issue will run to a longer word count than a standard issue and although we've yet to set a cover price for a regular issue, the bumper debut will be available for the princely sum of free. That's right - we're not going to charge you a penny for it!

Hammer & Bolter issue one will be launched at the same time as our eBook range but attendees at UK Games Day will be able to get their hands on it a little earlier. 'But how can they do that if it's a digital-only product?' I hear you cry.

All will be revealed...

It will be available in epub and mobi formats which can be read by most modern devices including iPhone, iPad and Blackberry and devices running Windows, Mac OS, Android, Sybian, Linux and other popular operating systems. All you'll need to do is install a free piece of third-party software that allows you to read the files on your device of choice.

Don't worry, we'll make it as easy as possible for you to read our digital output without having to invest in expensive equipment.

Which sounds good... right ?

**Temujin**

Phalanx? As in the Imperial Fists? I'd be excited, but I have to admit I'm a bit nervous about a book serialised in a magazine by the author of Battle for the Abyss.

**reds8n**

Yes, it's the next in the Souldrinkers series.

**Just Dave**

So what about us that use the ol' paper format...

**reds8n**

I believe that they will be printed on dead tree at a later date.

They're starting to do this with a lot of their stuff : The BA audio book "Heart of Rage" gets' a text/book release next year*, and they're also going to be reprinting some of the GD chapterbooks as well IIRC. "The Iron Star " -- the Gaunt's Ghost one -- is coming out in a collection ( maybe the Sabbat world anthology..I'm not sure exactly where) for example.

* already out in the Book of Blood apparently.

**Just Dave**

OK, that's good news for me and the rainforest(?!)

At least by that point there will be an idea of whether they're worth getting or not as well...

**Bloodwin**

reds8n wrote:I believe that they will be printed on dead tree at a later date.

They're starting to do this with a lot of their stuff : The BA audio book "Heart of Rage" gets' a text/book release next year, and they're also going to be reprinting some of the GD chapterbooks as well IIRC. "The Iron Star " -- the Gaunt's Ghost one -- is coming out in a collection ( maybe the Sabbat world anthology..I'm not sure exactly where) for example.

The prose vesion of the audiobook "Heart of Rage" is available as part of the print on demand title "The Book of Blood".

**InquisitorMack**

While reading Nemesis, I thought that the author was setting up the following scenario:

Spoiler:

**BrookM**

reds8n wrote:
Greetings!

As some of you are already aware, Black Library will be launching a digital-only short story publication entitled Hammer & Bolter as part of our new range of eBooks and digital products. While a few details are left to to be ironed out, I can exclusively reveal the table of contents for the debut issue.

'The Strange Demise of Titus Endor' by Dan Abnett
'A Place of Quiet Assembly' by John Brunner
'Primary Instinct' by Sarah Cawkwell
'Questing Knight' by Anthony Reynolds
'Phalanx - Chapters 1 & 2' by Ben Counter

Yes, Phalanx is a serialised novel that will play out over the first year's worth of issues and yes, I know John Brunner has been dead for fifteen years but this is a story he wrote for the very first incarnation of Games Workshop's publishing enterprise that we've never published before. Oh, and did I also mention that it's a Gotrek & Felix story? Must have slipped my mind in all the excitement. 'Questing Knight' is a fully-fledged novella too, making the total word count of the premiere issue a whopping 70,000 words!

The first issue will run to a longer word count than a standard issue and although we've yet to set a cover price for a regular issue, the bumper debut will be available for the princely sum of free. That's right - we're not going to charge you a penny for it!

Hammer & Bolter issue one will be launched at the same time as our eBook range but attendees at UK Games Day will be able to get their hands on it a little earlier. 'But how can they do that if it's a digital-only product?' I hear you cry.

All will be revealed...

It will be available in epub and mobi formats which can be read by most modern devices including iPhone, iPad and Blackberry and devices running Windows, Mac OS, Android, Sybian, Linux and other popular operating systems. All you'll need to do is install a free piece of third-party software that allows you to read the files on your device of choice.

Don't worry, we'll make it as easy as possible for you to read our digital output without having to invest in expensive equipment.

Which sounds good... right ?

I guess it's time to start shopping for a proper ereader then.

**Alpharius**

BrookM wrote:I guess it's time to start shopping for a proper ereader then.

I see your point here, but I am going to resist for as long as possible!

NOTHING beats a proper book, for me!

**Pyriel-**

In other news, I just finished Nemesis; I found it very 'meh', neither good nor bad, just not as good as it should have been IMHO.

Nemesis was a disgrace, apat from all the nice stuff on how the pre heresy terra was working the actual parts abuot the assassins were simply awful.
Nothing, absolutely nothing assassins canon fluff was used, they were portraited as a bunch of fumbling noobs with one lacking any sort of discipline and going religeous in a heartbeat, one sitting most of the time in some corner shaking with fear and with the "brutal" and "unthinking" eversor actually turning up to be the most disciplined and assassin like of them all.

I was hoping for a book that takes GWs IA and codex assassins fluff to a new level, with assassins being the epitome of human power, trained from childhood in the most effective ways, even the newest canon fluff tells of a space marine assault on the eversor temple after the misuse of assassins and they were so tough that 500 marines died trying to root out some eversors.

But what did I get?
A book about a bunch of techno teens with less discipline then common guardsmen and just as easy to kill.

*sigh* Its my own fault for expecting more from Swallow, the guy who killed of three chapters worth of blood angels in the BA novels.

Besides, Bowden isnt much better then Swallow when it comes to portraiting Blood Angels as fumbling idiots in Soul Hunter. Makes me wonder if there is some sort of wide spread BA hate amongst the BL authors.

**BrookM**

You do realize that the clades are not that old as of then yes yes? So no, they aren't like they are in 40k YET.

**Generalstoner**

Pyriel- wrote:
In other news, I just finished Nemesis; I found it very 'meh', neither good nor bad, just not as good as it should have been IMHO.

Nemesis was a disgrace, apat from all the nice stuff on how the pre heresy terra was working the actual parts abuot the assassins were simply awful.
Nothing, absolutely nothing assassins canon fluff was used, they were portraited as a bunch of fumbling noobs with one lacking any sort of discipline and going religeous in a heartbeat, one sitting most of the time in some corner shaking with fear and with the "brutal" and "unthinking" eversor actually turning up to be the most disciplined and assassin like of them all.

I was hoping for a book that takes GWs IA and codex assassins fluff to a new level, with assassins being the epitome of human power, trained from childhood in the most effective ways, even the newest canon fluff tells of a space marine assault on the eversor temple after the misuse of assassins and they were so tough that 500 marines died trying to root out some eversors.

But what did I get?
A book about a bunch of techno teens with less discipline then common guardsmen and just as easy to kill.

*sigh* Its my own fault for expecting more from Swallow, the guy who killed of three chapters worth of blood angels in the BA novels.

Besides, Bowden isnt much better then Swallow when it comes to portraiting Blood Angels as fumbling idiots in Soul Hunter. Makes me wonder if there is some sort of wide spread BA hate amongst the BL authors.

Damn Pyriel, you took the words right out of my mouth.

**Alpharius**

Pyriel- wrote:
In other news, I just finished Nemesis; I found it very 'meh', neither good nor bad, just not as good as it should have been IMHO.

Nemesis was a disgrace, apat from all the nice stuff on how the pre heresy terra was working the actual parts abuot the assassins were simply awful.
Nothing, absolutely nothing assassins canon fluff was used, they were portraited as a bunch of fumbling noobs with one lacking any sort of discipline and going religeous in a heartbeat, one sitting most of the time in some corner shaking with fear and with the "brutal" and "unthinking" eversor actually turning up to be the most disciplined and assassin like of them all.

I was hoping for a book that takes GWs IA and codex assassins fluff to a new level, with assassins being the epitome of human power, trained from childhood in the most effective ways, even the newest canon fluff tells of a space marine assault on the eversor temple after the misuse of assassins and they were so tough that 500 marines died trying to root out some eversors.

But what did I get?
A book about a bunch of techno teens with less discipline then common guardsmen and just as easy to kill.

*sigh* Its my own fault for expecting more from Swallow, the guy who killed of three chapters worth of blood angels in the BA novels.

Besides, Bowden isnt much better then Swallow when it comes to portraiting Blood Angels as fumbling idiots in Soul Hunter. Makes me wonder if there is some sort of wide spread BA hate amongst the BL authors.

Alpharius wrote:It might just be you!

Remember, the Assassin Houses were, for the most part, relatively new at this point.

I think!

BrookM wrote:You do realize that the clades are not that old as of then yes yes? So no, they aren't like they are in 40k YET.

I really do think that people ARE missing this fact.

They aren't the dominant forces that we've come to know and love (and fear!) in the 41st millenium yet!

**Just Dave**

Oh yeah, and I don't agree to the extent of Pyriel (that was me he quoted), however, relatively new or not, they were very un-assassin-like. We saw the kind of things they were capable of with Koyne before she was 'recruited' and how close the opening assassin managed to get to Horus.

But then they spend the rest of the book arguing or moping about whilst Kell takes all the credit?!

I don't expect them to be of the level of the 40K assassins, but damn, a little bit of suitably-high skill amongst the six of them would've been good.

I'm not expecting miracles, just not incompetence either...

**Bloodwin**

Not to go to off topic but what's so special about the imperial assassins? I mean they have to fit in with the scale of beings in the 30k and 40k millenniums. What I'm getting at is how space marines are engineered from specially chosen humans and even then they aren't all successful. Then there's the Primarchs and their superhuman abilities when compared to the super human marines and so on. I haven't read Nemesis yet so I can't comment on the book itself but various levels of physical and mental prowess need to co-exist in modern and heresy era 40k. Given that I've used the two together twice in this post and recent releases by Forgeworld, I think its important to stress that you can play 40k to enact any point of the in game history. SO if you don't like what an author has done recently retcon it for your home games. Or play a different era from before it happened.

**nels1031**

Just Dave wrote:I'm not expecting miracles, just not incompetence either...

I don't think they were incompetent, it was just a problem of having multiple "wolfpacks of one" (Hangover reference!) being forced to work as a team, which was oddly a strange concept, with the added problems of the poisoner assassin and the sniper having some baggage.

I personally liked how the assassins were portrayed. The female poisoner never really got to strut her stuff like the others but we got to see how that particular clade operated in the beginning of the story.

Also, I liked how M'shen got a short mention as being the best Callidus assassin and the dude from the opening pages of the Chaos Marine Codex (the beloved/hated one prior to Gav's) got a decent amount of page time(Falkus Kibre I think his name was). Its nice seeing these novels tie in with obscure short stories from years ago, and I really appreciate it because I eat up all the fiction I can on 40k and WHFB.

**Flachzange**

Alpharius wrote:
BrookM wrote:I guess it's time to start shopping for a proper ereader then.

I see your point here, but I am going to resist for as long as possible!

NOTHING beats a proper book, for me!

Agreed. I love the smell of a brand new book.
Ill read em anyways