Hello and welcome to another instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. It’s been the first full week of September, which means another month’s forthcoming releases were confirmed, along with the usual set of releases for the week, so there’s plenty to look at…
Monday
A few Digital Monday short stories have popped up out of the blue recently, not linked to anything currently available, and this week was one of them. Billed as an Adepta Sororitas story, Alec Worley’s third short story for Black Library – Whispers (£2.49 in ebook as always) – is a very welcome new release. You can check out my review of it here, but suffice to say it offers one of my favourite depictions of the Sisters of Battle yet. I’ve seen a couple of people comment on how it’s ‘about’ a (male) missionary despite being an Adepta Sororitas tale, but don’t let that put you off – the point is that you see them through his eyes, which – to me, at least – is a very effective way of portraying them. You should check it out, if you haven’t already.
Midweek
On to the midweek section, and Wednesday’s much-anticipated reveal of the new releases for December. As with the previous couple of months, it looks like we’ve settled into a routine of four new titles being announced, with the gaps in the schedule being filled with paperbacks, omnibuses and the occasional surprise release. Here’s what we got:
The Warmaster by Dan Abnett
I don’t think there’s been a more anticipated book in Black Library’s history than this, the fourteenth Gaunt’s Ghosts novel. Not long now! Interestingly, a rather special looking limited edition version was briefly visible, but was then taken down again. Looks very cool…
Out of the four, obviously this is a big one – I don’t know about you but I’m feeling like I’d better go back and re-read some of the previous Gaunt’s Ghosts books just to make sure I can remember what happened, considering it’s been six years since Salvation’s Reach! That limited edition version looks very interesting considering it’s not just a swanky cover but there’s actually additional bits and pieces – I’ve a feeling it’s going to be even more expensive than the usual £40. Could be worth it though, for big fans of the series.
Old Earth by Nick Kyme
Book 47 in the Horus Heresy series, and the conclusion to Vulkan’s arc in the series. We’re getting very close to the 50th book now! After a four month gap between The Crimson King (June) and Ruinstorm (October), it’s nice to see Old Earth coming out just two months after Ruinstorm. There’s plenty of Heresy content coming out between now and then, but it’s always good to see brand new novels (as opposed to collections, anthologies, audio dramas etc.) being released. And book 47! I’m going to need a bigger bookshelf…
Fabius Bile: Clonelord by Josh Reynolds
The sequel to the fanastic Fabius Bile: Primogenitor. Very excited. If you haven’t already read Primogenitor, you should go out and buy it right away! It’s VERY EXCITING indeed to see the second book coming out, even if Fabius’ face on the cover is deeply disturbing. Josh really seems to be on a roll at the moment, and I’ve got high hopes for Clonelord – if it’s even half as good as the first book then it’s guaranteed to be a winner!
Renegades of Elysia by Chris Dows
The second audio drama featuring Sergeant Zachariah of the Elysian 158th. The first part, Scions of Elysia, was great, so looking forward to this. For some reason Black Library don’t seem to be advertising this as the second part of a three-part audio series. From what I can see on the author’s Twitter account, that’s exactly what it is – certainly Scions of Elysia ended in such a way as to be clear there was more of the story to tell, so it makes sense that this is a multi-part series. However they advertise it though, this is great news – all of Chris’ stories featuring Sergeant Zachariah have been excellent so far, and I’m confident this one will be too!
Weekend
After the excitement of December’s new releases, this weekend was one of those where there’s nothing brand new coming out. Instead it saw a new omnibus, a paperback edition of a relatively recent 40k novel, and a pricey but quite comprehensive ebook collection. Let’s take it from the top.
First up, Sisters of Battle: The Omnibus by James Swallow. Featuring his two novels Faith & Fury and Hammer & Anvil along with the prose version of his audio drama Red & Black AND the brand new short story Heart & Soul (can you spot the naming convention here?!) it’s available in paperback (£12.99) and ebook (£9.99), both of which look like pretty damn good value. It’s particularly nice to see some brand new content in an omnibus, although of course anyone who’s already got the other three stories might not see it that way.
Next up is the paperback of Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius by Darius Hinks, about seven months after its original hardback release. Priced at £8.99 it’s about the usual for a paperback, while the ebook is still £9.99, and the hardback is still available if you’d prefer that option. Plenty of choice for Blood Angels fans! This one wasn’t my favourite Blood Angels story (if I’m honest I’d suggest Dante over this) but it’s never a bad thing to see a new paperback edition come out.
Lastly, to celebrate 40k’s anniversary there’s a new ebook collection entitled 30 Years of Warhammer 40,000. Priced at an eye-watering £166.80 it features thirty full novels so that actually works out at £5.56 per book – which is a good price individually, but as always with these ebook collections I can’t help thinking the overall price is likely to be a bit steep for most people. Don’t get me wrong, it collects together some fabulous books from across the whole range of 40k fiction (from the oldest – Space Marine by Ian Watson – to the newest – Farsight: Crisis of Faith by Phil Kelly) and would undoubtedly be a great way for someone to get stuck into 40k fiction. It’s just that price…who’s got £166 to drop on books all in one go?!
I haven’t listed all of the books included in the bundle here, as that seems a bit overkill. Suffice to say some of them are no-brainers, but others…I’m not so sure about. That might make an interesting blog post in itself, if I have time…
Thoughts on the week
The week’s obviously been dominated by the news of December’s new releases, with The Warmaster probably being the biggest news of the lot. For me personally I’ve got to say December is looking like the best month for new releases that I can remember for…well, for a long time! If, like me, you’re heading to the Black Library Weekender in November I suspect those titles will all be available – The Warmaster and Old Earth have already been confirmed, and I’d be surprised if the other two aren’t there as well. It’s looking like an expensive weekend!
Perhaps the most interesting thing to take away from these new releases, however, is that with the confirmation of Old Earth for December we’ve reached the end of what we know is coming for the Heresy. Sure, there have been hints dropped by various authors and ALL SORTS of speculation by fans, but nothing’s yet been confirmed. If you exclude the Primarchs novels there will have been twelve Horus Heresy releases in 2017, barring any surprises – and I’m including novels, anthologies/collections and audio dramas here – which is an impressive tally! It’s going to be very interesting to see if 2018 continues with that level of Heresy releases…
Coming up…
Next week is going to be a big one for 40k fans, with Chris Wraight’s new novel Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor’s Legion coming out. Unlike previous books which have come with limited edition versions, this looks at present to be coming out on Saturday 16th – but keep an eye on the Black Library website just in case that changes and reverts to the LE coming out on Friday like most of the others have done recently.
As always, if you’ve got any thoughts or comments on the week’s news and releases please do get in touch via the comments section below or on Facebook or Twitter.