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I was in the mood to read some pulp by Abnett or ADB, so I went a-browsin' through the Black Library site for something I hadn't read yet. Aside from finding out that neither of those two have released anything in the year it's been since I read any 40K stuff, I discovered that there are apparently six or seven new guys (and a gal) writing for Black Library.

They any good? Dembski-Bowden and Abnett are the only 40K authors I've actually enjoyed, but since it seems they're done...

Dan Abnett released "Pariah" last year.. maybe year before?... which is the first book in the Ravenor vs Eisenhorn series.

Steve Parkers Deathwatch is very good - good story and plenty of grimdark and good characters.

I really like the Cain stories by Sandy Mitchel - bit of comedy and romance to ofset the darkness they still contain.

Uh, they're still there. Just that they're now largely wrapped up with the Horus Heresy series.

Personal favorite authors:

John French - Ahriman was simply fantastic. We finally have a reason for his being.

Guy Haley - I enjoyed both Death of Integrity and Baneblade. Be prepared for scenes written in a Hollywood style, to the point that you could absolutely picture what this would look like on the big screen.

Rob Sanders - Legion of the Damned. I think this captured the essence of what it means to stand alone in order to do the right thing even when everyone around you wants to run away.

Guy Haley is possibly the best of the "new crop" of writers.
Steve Parker and Chris Wraight have been around longer, but they are also good.

Sandy Mitchell has been around for a long time, they just need to give him some more (Cain or Amberly) novels to do instead of just shorts and audio dramas.

Seconding (Probably thirding) Guy Haley, Rob Sanders, Chris Wright, and Steve Parker as all either top notch or very solid in their work.

While I haven't read any of Peter Fehervari's novel Fire Caste, his space marine short "The Crown of Thorns" was fantastic and I hope to see more of him in the future.

If anything, I'd say it's the "old" writers who can't keep up with the new guys.

That said, I believe Dan Abnett did say that he would be taking this year off to write non-40k work and ADB most certainly isn't gone, he's just famously slow at writing

 Mr Morden wrote:
Steve Parkers Deathwatch is very good - good story and plenty of grimdark and good characters.

I really like the Cain stories by Sandy Mitchel - bit of comedy and romance to ofset the darkness they still contain.

I highly recommend Deathwatch, it's full of rich characters and has a slightly different tone than some 40K novels, but in a very good way. He's working on the sequel too, which I'm excited for!

I'm fairly sure ADB has been busily writing The Talon of Horus, about Abaddon and the Black Legion.

jareddm wrote:
While I haven't read any of Peter Fehervari's novel Fire Caste, his space marine short "The Crown of Thorns" was fantastic and I hope to see more of him in the future.

I read Fire Caste and wasn't very happy with it. For a book named after Tau there just wasn't much Tau there. After reading a few of the attached short stories (Outcast, Den of Wyrms) I want to go back and re-read the book. But, after the first read, I found it over-relied on the mystery at the end and the mystery just got annoying to re-read it each time with just a little more, then ended up not being all that interesting at the end.

However I should note I am 1 Opinion and I have already encountered 1 Opinion who completely disagreed with me and really enjoyed the book. So don't take my statement as discouragement from reading it. After all, we all roll 1's sometimes, right?

Alright, chaps. Thanks for the recommendations. I'll check out this Haley gent, and hope that ADB gets back to non-Heresy 40K.

jareddm wrote:
While I haven't read any of Peter Fehervari's novel Fire Caste, his space marine short "The Crown of Thorns" was fantastic and I hope to see more of him in the future.

Fire Caste was an ok read, but it's really not a Tau book at all. The cover and description is misleading. It's really an Imperial Guard... errr.. Astra Militarum book focusing on a kind of crappy Commissar with a little Chaos thrown in. The fact that they're fighting Tau is almost not important to the main plotline. If you know this going in, it's a good read. If you're like me and you desperately want more Tau focused BL books, you'll be a little disappointed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I will say that the "mystery" at the end makes the book ALOT better as a second read through.

Kind of like how you get more out of Fight Club the second time through.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Steve Parkers Deathwatch is very good - good story and plenty of grimdark and good characters.

Agreed on Deathwatch. I enjoyed that book. I'm hoping it gets the trilogy treatment.

 Kriswall wrote:

jareddm wrote:
While I haven't read any of Peter Fehervari's novel Fire Caste, his space marine short "The Crown of Thorns" was fantastic and I hope to see more of him in the future.

Fire Caste was an ok read, but it's really not a Tau book at all. The cover and description is misleading. It's really an Imperial Guard... errr.. Astra Militarum book focusing on a kind of crappy Commissar with a little Chaos thrown in. The fact that they're fighting Tau is almost not important to the main plotline. If you know this going in, it's a good read. If you're like me and you desperately want more Tau focused BL books, you'll be a little disappointed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I will say that the "mystery" at the end makes the book ALOT better as a second read through.

Kind of like how you get more out of Fight Club the second time through.

Thank you, I now kind of look forward to going through the book again. It's going to raise slightly on my priority list. Part of my problem was, with the way they were going, not enough Chaos thrown in. But mostly, it's like you said, I was really looking forward to a Tau BL novel. Do you have any suggestions? I've been trying to keep an eye out for the novelization of Fire Warrior, but I'm going to have to order that online. I also want to get the Damocles novel, but that's on hold for now. Oh, and I've already read the first Caiphas Cain novel (which was awesome on Tau Fluff, even if the focus was on Cain and his IG). To make it fit in line with the thread, bonus points (props?) for naming novels written by new authors.

I really like Henry Zou, as he's the only one who doesn't portray CSM as raving lunatics.

Anyways, Courage and Honor is a great book featuring SM/Arbites/IG vs. Tau. It does a pretty good job of showing Tau tactics, and especially how an Ethereal works. It's by Graham McNeill who isn't a new author.

Well I'm still giving out props, (just not the bonus ones ). Thanks, I'll jot that down and keep it in mind.

ADB and Dan Abnett are brilliant writers. Never really enjoy Gav Thorpe's stuff- it just seems to drag on

 Psienesis wrote:
Dan Abnett released "Pariah" last year.. maybe year before?... which is the first book in the Ravenor vs Eisenhorn series.

Master Vs Student? o Feth! i have get that one!.

 angelofvengeance wrote:
ADB and Dan Abnett are brilliant writers. Never really enjoy Gav Thorpe's stuff- it just seems to drag on

What's wrong with detail as long as it's interesting? No different than Tolkien.

Nothing wrong with it. Though you should wash your mouth out with soap if you're implying that Gav Thorpe is at the same level as Tolkien.

His HH Dark Angels books were dreadful.

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Nothing wrong with it. Though you should wash your mouth out with soap if you're implying that Gav Thorpe is at the same level as Tolkien.

His HH Dark Angels books were dreadful.

Thorpe should only ever write the Avenging Sons if he writes Space Marines. Otherwise he should stick with Eldar.

Tolkein was awful as an author. >>

Cawkwell's fantasy stuff is really good, but I haven't looked at much of her 40k stuff.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Tolkein was awful as an author. >>

Cawkwell's fantasy stuff is really good, but I haven't looked at much of her 40k stuff.

I advise you take that back. Or else.

(Don't really have an opinion don't consider myself educated well enough on what makes 'good writing' to know who's good and who's not but...)
For your safety (but mostly for the safety of the thread and of our sanity)
TakeitBack! TakeitBack! TakeitBack! TakeitBack! ( )

In all seriousness, in keeping with the spirit of the OP, could we turn to books by new BL Authors? I'm still looking for some good Eldar and Tau Novels, if there are any.

Guy Haley's got a new novel that features several craftworlds against Hivefleet Kraken.

It's called Valedor.

No doubt based on the upcoming Apocalypse Warzone: Valedor supplement. Dark Eldar & Craftworld Eldar vs The Great Devourer. Should be interesting.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Tolkein was awful as an author.

respectfully I disagree. However he was writing in a differnt literary style then what's the norm, so I can understand why you'd say that.

Whoever recommended Steve Parker's Deathwatch, good call.

From an interview with Dan Abnett from February:

I'm also working on some more "Warhammer" stuff at the moment. I'm writing a new Gaunt's Ghosts novel now and there will be several other "40K" novels to follow. I'm also writing regularly for 2000 A.D. I've done many strips for them. Plus I have projects lined up for both BOOM! and Dark Horse. And I'm of course writing "Masters of the Universe" for DC.

Looks like Abnett has his work cut out for him.

For those who'd like to delve deeper, enjoy

 angelofvengeance wrote:
ADB and Dan Abnett are brilliant writers. Never really enjoy Gav Thorpe's stuff- it just seems to drag on

Wish Abnett would learn how to end a story though.