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. It’s been a bit of an audio drama-heavy week this time around, with another short audio released on Monday and a long-awaited audio drama series up for pre-order at the weekend. Let’s take a look at what’s what.
Monday
This week’s Digital Monday release was the third of the four promised ‘commuter audios’ – after Kill Shot and Judge of the Wastes, this time around it’s The Interrogation of Salvor Lermentov by Chris Wraight (£3.99 in MP3). Chris’ novel Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne was a fascinating story, and if you fancy spending a bit more time with some of those characters then this is the audio for you. It’s entirely dialogue, with no action whatsoever, but as a character story it’s an absolute gem. Have a read of my review here to find out a bit more, but I would urge you to check this audio out!
Midweek
As usual, there was a Black Library-related Warhammer Community post on Wednesday, and this week it was a nice little reminder of the print on demand editions of the original five issues of Inferno! magazine. By the time I publish this article those issues are not going to be available to order any more, so hopefully everyone who wanted them has been able to get hold of them. The article takes an interesting look at a few of the highlights from those first five issues, though, picking out stories by William King, Gav Thorpe and Dan Abnett.
If it were me I might have made slightly different choices based on the stories that have had the biggest lasting impact on me from when I first read Inferno!, but one of the lovely things about these magazines was the range of stories available. I’ve never been the sort of person to pick one faction or army that I really love and focus on above all else, and I wonder if reading things like Inferno! back when I was a kid, and exploring so many different characters and settings, is part of why. Here’s hoping the remaining 30-something issues get the print on demand treatment at some point as well, so as many people as possible can get hold of all these great stories!
Weekend
Three releases up for pre-order this weekend – a brand new Age of Sigmar novel and audio drama series/box set, plus a 40k paperback edition. That should be enough to keep most fans happy, especially considering the audio drama is over four hours long, features a beloved character from the Old World, and includes BRIAN BLESSED on the cast list!
Let’s start with that audio drama – Realmslayer by David Guymer, which is available in MP3 (£29.99) or as a 5-CD box set (£35). According to the Black Library website the total running time is four hours and fifteen minutes, split across four CDs, while if you check out the Games Workshop website it explains that the fifth CD contains ‘bonus features’ with a running time of one hour and thirteen minutes. It’s not clear yet what those features include, but I’m hoping for interviews with cast members and the author, and maybe even some outtakes!
If you fancy knowing more about what to expect from Realmslayer you can, as usual, have a read of my Rapid Fire interview with David. This time around we reached out to gather a few more questions from other fans on Twitter, so it’s a slightly longer interview than usual, and there’s some REALLY interesting stuff in there. If you’re at all interested in Realmslayer, or Gotrek and Felix in general, do check it out by clicking here, or on the banner below.
Next up is Blacktalon: First Mark by Andy Clark, available in hardback (£18), ebook (£9.99) and MP3 audio (£29.99) formats. A brand new Age of Sigmar novel, and Andy’s first full-length book in this setting (he’s previously written a novella), it features Neave Blacktalon and looks pretty darn promising in my opinion! If you fancy getting a handle on the style of this story beforehand, you could do worse than check out Andy’s short story Blacktalon: When Cornered, which was really good fun. I’m afraid I don’t have a Rapid Fire interview for this, but I’m looking forward to reading it myself and will get a review ready as soon as I get hold of it.
Lastly we’ve got the paperback edition of The Voice of Mars by David Guymer (£8.99), although if you’d prefer you can still pick up the ebook (£9.99) and hardback (£18) editions as well. The second in David’s 40k Iron Hands series, after The Eye of Medusa, this should be of interest to anyone keen to see how the Iron Hands interact with other factions. As usual, for a bit more info you can have a read of my Rapid Fire interview with David from back when the hardback was first released – click here or on the image below.
Thoughts on the week
While there hasn’t been a huge amount in the way of news this week – the Inferno! article was interesting, but not groundbreaking – I’d say the releases have made up for that quite nicely. I know not everyone is a fan of Black Library releasing stories in audio, but I think it’s safe to say that as a medium it’s here to say, and sometimes a story just suits audio more than it does prose. In my opinion that’s the case with The Interrogation of Salvor Lermentov, as while two guys sat a table talking doesn’t sound hugely exciting on paper, when acted out and enhanced with music and subtle SFX it turns into something quite special.
I’ve a feeling that’s going to be the case with Realmslayer too, and I’m certainly excited to listen to all four and a bit hours of it to find out! I’ve been brushing up on my Gotrek and Felix this week in preparation for the release of Realmslayer, and I really can’t wait to get hold of a copy. I’m going to be doing exactly that at the Weekender next weekend! I’m also very much looking forward to reading Blacktalon: First Mark, and seeing what Andy comes up with for this intriguing character. I suspect Andy’s going to be doing a fair bit of talking at the Weekender about Neave Blacktalon, if anyone wants to know more!
Speaking of the Weekender, while I’ve been enjoying this week’s releases I’ve also been gradually getting more and more excited about the chance to hang out with a load of other BL fans and authors for a whole weekend! It’s really not long now, so if you’re still on the fence I’d urge you to have a look at the BL website, or check out my Weekender Survival Guide article, and if you can to do yourself a favour, buy a ticket and come join us! It’s going to be epic.
Here’s the usual list of what I’ve been posting about so far this week:
- Priest of Bones by Peter McLean.
- QUICK REVIEW: The Interrogation of Salvor Lermentov by Chris Wraight.
- Blood of Iax by Robbie MacNiven.
- Taker of Heads by Ian St. Martin.
- QUICK REVIEW: Waking the Dragon by Josh Reynolds.
- RAPID FIRE: David Guymer Talks Realmslayer.
Coming up…
Next week the main release looks like being Gav Thorpe’s new 40k novel Rise of the Ynnari: Wild Rider, which is the sequel to the impressive Ghost Warrior. Looking forward to that.
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.