Black Library Weekly – W/C 09/04/18

Hello and welcome to the latest instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. There’s not been a huge amount to talk about this week, with only the two new releases, but they’re definitely both worth taking a look at – and we’ll see what else comes up as we go along…

Monday
In fact, the week actually started on a high note with the release of The Sands of Grief by Guy Haley (£2.49 in ebook) for Digital Monday. If you followed 2017’s Advent Calendar then you’ll probably remember Guy’s Shadespire short audio drama The Autumn Prince and the characters of Prince Maesa and Shattercap – they’re back in The Sands of Grief, and it’s another great story from Guy. It’s always fascinating to spend time in the Mortal Realms away from the big battlefields, and this one takes in some intriguing parts of Shyish as well as continuing the story of these unusual characters. Have a read of my review for more of my thoughts on this.

Midweek
There really wasn’t a lot going on during the midweek period, but the first of two relatively noteworthy goings on was the closure of the Black Library open submissions window. I would absolutely love to know the final number of submissions they received this time around – if I remember correctly, by the time of the Horus Heresy Weekender in February they’d had somewhere in the region of 700, so the total must now be impressively large. Even more than that, however, I’m so excited to read some of the results of this submissions window when Inferno makes a welcome return. If you made a submission, do let me know how you get on – best of luck!

As usual, Wednesday saw a Black Library-related Warhammer Community post, and this week that post was a slightly belated roundup of July’s new titles, which showed up on Saturday of last week. If you need a reminder of what’s coming up in July then you could do a lot worse than checking that article out, or alternatively have a read of my Black Library Weekly post from last week. A week after seeing these titles announced, I’m still most excited to get my hands on John French’s Incarnation and Andy Smillie’s audio drama Hunger – let me know in the comments below what you’re looking forward to the most!

That was it for the midweek period, so on to the weekend next…

Weekend
Just a single new release on Saturday, but it’s rather an intriguing one – Legacy of Dorn by Mike Lee, a Crimson Fists novel which is set at the same time as Steve Parker’s Rynn’s World. There’s no audiobook for this one, so it’s available to buy in hardback (£18) or ebook (£9.99) with the ebook available to download right now, and the hardback due to be dispatched as of next weekend. If you’ve been following my reviews over the last couple of weeks you’ve probably seen that I’ve been catching up on my Crimson Fists lore with a re-read of Rynn’s World and a first read of Traitor’s Gorge in preparation for getting hold of this one – I’m very much looking forward to checking it out. If you’d like a bit more info on what to expect then have a read of my latest Rapid Fire interview, with Mike Lee.

That was it in terms of brand new releases for the weekend – not an especially busy weekend, but (for me at least) it’s great to see Mike Lee back in the Black Library fold. Also, that’s not the only thing I want to talk about in terms of the weekend. If, like me, you get regular emails from Black Library then you’ll probably have seen yesterday’s email entitled The Battle for Rynn’s World Continues – why am I mentioning this? Well, scroll past the first section talking about Legacy of Dorn and you’ll see two Black Library Recommends sections, one each for Quick Reads and Novels. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I’ve seen one of BL’s email newsletters including sections like this…and I love it!

The Quick Reads section recommends checking out The Carrion Anthem by David Annandale – a really dark and strange 40k story that was David’s BL debut – and Deathmasque by Graham McNeill – an old-school Warhammer High Elves tale, which I don’t think I’ve read. The Novels section recommends Skaven Pestilens by Josh Reynolds – fair enough, it’s an interesting story (although in my opinion not one of Josh’s best) – and Rob Sanders’ classic 40k book Atlas Infernal – in which inquisitor Czevak goes head to head (sort of) with Ahriman. Funnily enough, I don’t really mind which stories are recommended here (although I think it’s a good selection), because what’s most interesting is the fact that BL is recommending them in the first place.

I’m in a fortunate position with BL because I’ve been reading their stories for WELL over 20 years, and I keep pretty much up to date with what’s coming out. For anyone who doesn’t do that, and/or who hasn’t been following them for so long, I’ve got to think it’s tough to work out what to read. BL are in a position to help, by offering a curatorial approach to their back catalogue – and emails like this allow them to make suggestions and give newer readers somewhere to start from. Sure, all the online book bloggers, reviewers, podcasts and so on (including Track of Words) offer some of that service – but we’re never quite going to have the authority that the publisher does. There are pros and cons to that, but in my opinion it’s a VERY GOOD THING that Black Library are prepared to get involved and help people out in this respect. Great work BL, please continue to do this!

Thoughts on the week
As I said at the top of the article, it’s not been the busiest week in terms of Black Library-related things to talk about. Thankfully, while there’s only been the two new releases they’ve both been very cool releases – I can confidently say that The Sands of Grief is a genuinely excellent story which any Age of Sigmar fan should find a lot to enjoy in, and while I can’t speak to Legacy of Dorn’s quality just yet, I’m feeling quietly confident about this one. It feels like it’s been AGES since we last saw a new Mike Lee novel, and to me it’s a great sign that he’s back working with Black Library – just another ingredient in the sense of positivity that’s surrounding Games Workshop and Black Library at the moment. Now if only we could get a new Sandy Mitchell book as well…and what do you know, at the BL Weekender in November it was mentioned that he is indeed working on a new Ciaphas Cain book!

I can’t help feeling like this is a new golden age for Black Library, with SO MUCH positivity and so many great releases on the horizon. I really hope that BL continue to run brilliant events, to keep adding value to things like the website and their email newsletters, and to put out better and better stories. All the signs are pointing in that direction, so here’s hoping!

Slightly fewer posts this week than normal, as it’s been a busy time for me. Fingers crossed I’ll get one or two more done next week!

Coming up…
Back in 2017 Black Library offered March of the Titans with a bunch of new Titan-focused short stories and David Annandale’s Warlord: Fury of the God-Machine. This year we’re a bit late for March, so it’s more like April of the Titans with the release of Gav Thorpe’s Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah.

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.

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