Black Library Monthly – January 2019

Welcome to Black Library Monthly for January 2019, the first in a new series of articles in which I’ll be taking a look back at the preceding month’s Black Library news and releases, and talking about what I’ve been reading and reviewing over that time. This is partially designed to replace the Black Library Weekly articles which I used to write (but which I found myself spending WAY too much time working on), and partly to give me the opportunity to just talk a little bit about what I’ve been reading and what’s been going on in the world of Black Library.

January was quite a slow month for me, in terms of reading and also posting here on Track of Words. That was a deliberate choice, to give myself the chance to relax and regroup a little after the craziness that was the second half of 2018. You can read more about my thoughts on 2018 and plans for 2019 in this article, but suffice to say I’ve enjoyed kicking back a little in anticipation of lots of cool things to come later in the year. I’ve still read a few cool books over the month, however, and there’s plenty to talk about in terms of general Black Library goings on.

I’ll kick things off with a quick rundown of the BL-related news that popped up during January – or at least the highlights (I’m sure I’ll have missed things). I’ll include a couple of bits and pieces that have happened right at the start of February, seeing as they’ve happened before I managed to get this article written and published!

General news
The month kicked off for me with a visit to Nottingham for the Warhammer World Open Day, which was largely geared towards gamers but did give me (and several hundred other fans) the opportunity to pick up copies of a few pre-release Black Library titles – Celestine: The Living Saint by Andy Clark, Hamilcar: Champion of the Gods by David Guymer, and an Age of Sigmar anthology called Gods & Mortals. I’ll link out a little later to my reviews of two of those books, but suffice to say there’s lots to look forward to once they get a wider release!

From upcoming main-range BL titles to the upcoming Warhammer Adventures books for younger readers – the first two books in this series are due to be released sometime in February, and it’s been great to see a fair bit of publicity about them showing up over the last few months. During January the latest piece appeared in the shape of a couple of quick video interviews with the actors who have recorded the audiobook versions – David Tennant and Billie Piper. Have a read of this Warhammer Community article for links out to those interviews. It’s great to see BL/GW really committing to this series, and also to see such enthusiasm from the actors about the stories.

The Black Library Celebration will be taking place over the 23rd and 24th February, and you can check out another Community article for a bit of information about what’s going to be available as part of that. I popped down to the ‘flagship’ Tottenham Court Road store in London for 2018’s BL Celebration and was a bit disappointed to be honest – there were a couple of great books released (The Magos and Lukas the Trickster) but there wasn’t any real atmosphere or anything else organised beyond the books and the new Eisenhorn miniature. From that Community article, however, it looks like there are some great releases coming for this year’s event and I really hope GW stores are going to put a bit more into the weekend. I certainly can’t wait to get a Severina Raine model as I’ve LOVED Rachel’s Antari stories so far.

It’s also worth noting from that article, in case you haven’t seen yet, that Black Library are now on Instagram – so if you’re an Insta fan, check it out!

Upcoming BL releases – April and May
At the same time as the Open Day was happening, Black Library were announcing the next batch of ‘coming soon’ titles – this time for April. I won’t go into lots of detail about each of these titles in this article, but here’s a quick rundown of what’s coming:

• Requiem Infernal by Peter Fehervari – a 40k Adepta Sororitas novel which sounds fantastic!
• Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker by Steve Parker – a welcome return for Talon Squad.
• Khorgos Khul: The Red Feast by Gav Thorpe – the start of a pre-Age of Sigmar series!
• Lords and Tyrants – an anthology of 40k short stories (all available as e-shorts).
• Warlords of Karak Eight-Peaks – a Warhammer Chronicles omnibus featuring David Guymer and Guy Haley.
• Inferno! Volume 3

I’ve been looking forward to a new Peter Fehervari novel for SO LONG, so that’s comfortably the release that I’m most looking forward to amongst that lot. Peter’s ‘Dark Coil’ stories are amongst my favourite BL stories of any sort, and I’ve waxed lyrical about many of them before. To be fair though, I absolutely love Steve Parker’s Deathwatch stories so a new novel in that series is very welcome, while the idea of an epic fantasy trilogy set in the times before the Age of Sigmar sounds fantastic too.

A new Warhammer Chronicles is always welcome, especially considering how great these novels (Headtaker and Skarsnik plus the novella Thorgrim) are, and while I probably won’t be getting Lords and Tyrants simply because I’ve got all of the featured stories already as e-shorts, there’s lots to enjoy in that anthology for anyone who prefers physical books to ebooks.

Interestingly, Inferno! Volume 3 was originally listed as coming in April (at least on the GW site) but it’s subsequently been pushed back by a month. Still, I bloomin’ LOVE Inferno!, so each new volume is very much welcome. If you’d like to know a little more about the stories that are included in this anthology then I’d suggest having a read of this Warhammer Community article which features a quick interview with one of BL’s editors as well as a list breaking down the stories in each setting.

That’s not all, however. By the time I settled down to write this article, May’s upcoming releases were confirmed as well! Once again let’s take a quick look at what’s coming:

• Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter by Guy Haley – the 12th Primarchs novel in Limited Edition hardback.
• Angron: Slave of Nuceria by Ian St. Martin – the 11th Primarchs novel in standard formats, three months after the LE was released.
• The Solar War by John French – the standard edition of the first Siege of Terra novel!
• Agent of the Throne: Ashes and Oaths by John French – the third instalment in John French’s fantastic audio drama series.
• Knights of Caliban by Gav Thorpe – an omnibus of Gav’s Dark Angels novels.
• Rulers of the Dead by David Annandale and Josh Reynolds – an omnibus featuring Neferata: Mortarch of Night and Nagash: The Undying King.
• Myths & Revenants – an anthology of Age of Sigmar short stories (all available as e-shorts).
• Skaven Wars: The Black Plague by CL Werner – a Warhammer Chronicles omnibus.

As you can see, the Horus Heresy is getting a lot of attention in May! I suspect the Curze Primarchs novel and The Solar War are going to be top of a lot of people’s lists that month, although there should be a limited edition of The Solar War landing in March. I’m certainly looking forward to both of those! As for Angron, I’ve read it already (keep an eye out for a review closer to the release date) and it’s brilliant, so for anyone who’s waiting until the standard edition comes out you’ve got lots to look forward to!

Quite a lot of the other releases are reissues in one way or another, but John French’s Ashes and Oaths is a brand new title and if it’s anything like the first two in the series it’s likely to be FANTASTIC. If you’ve not yet got started with this series (which is a spin-off of sorts from John’s Horusian Wars series) I really can’t recommend it enough. Don’t just take my word for it, though – John won a Scribe Award for the first in the series (you can find my review of that story here).

Of those reissues, then, one is for 40k – Gav’s Knights of Caliban, which is interesting because it contains novels written over a remarkable period of time. Angels of Caliban was first published in 2003, The Purging of Kadillus in 2011 and Azrael in 2017 – in contrast all three of Gav’s Legacy of Caliban trilogy were published between Kadillus and Azrael! It’s a little tricky to work out how all of these Dark Angels novels are connected, so having the two omnibuses helps get your head around it all!

Two of the remaining three releases are for Age of Sigmar, with an omnibus edition and a short story anthology. Myths & Revenants is interesting as it’s not been long since Gods & Mortals has been released – for anyone who prefers physical editions to ebooks, these two anthologies provide great opportunities to get hold of LOADS of AoS short stories. This particular one looks like it’s fully made up of previously-released stories (unlike Gods & Mortals) so it’s not quite so good for hardcore fans who buy e-shorts as soon as they’re released, but for everyone else it’s a great collection. Rulers of the Dead, meanwhile, is a great value way of picking up a couple of short novels – if you’re a fan of undead characters and haven’t read these books yet, this should be at the top of your list.

Lastly The Black Plague is yet another Warhammer Chronicles omnibus, this time featuring a full trilogy from a single author. This is a trilogy that I never got round to reading back when the Old World was still around, so for me it’s a great opportunity to pick the whole thing up – I always think Clint has a real knack with skaven stories, so I’ve a feeling these might just be really good fun.

The Horus Heresy Weekender
I wrote most of this article from the Radisson Blu hotel where the 2019 Horus Heresy Weekender was taking place. I know this is technically more like February news, but it feels worth including a little about it here. First up, for anyone who’s wondering what was available to buy, here’s a quick list of the brand new titles:

• Scions of the Emperor – an event-exclusive Primarchs anthology.
• Angron: Slave of Nuceria by Ian St. Martin – in limited edition hardback.
• The Buried Dagger by James Swallow – the 54th and final book in the main Horus Heresy series.

Both Angron and The Buried Dagger were available a few weeks early (both are due out on the 23rd as part of the BL Celebration), which I think is a nice little bonus for fans attending an event. On top of that there was the standard hardback of Corax: Lord of Shadows by Guy Haley (a week before it’s in stores), the event-only Black Library Events Anthology 2018/19, and a range of other titles – mostly the previous Heresy books, but also a fairly standard range of recent-ish releases.

I’ll hopefully write a full blog post about the Weekender so I don’t want to talk too much here, but suffice to say I was pleased to see the event-only Primarchs anthology…although I recognise that it’s probably quite frustrating for everyone else who can’t make it to events like this. Having listened to several of the featured authors talk about their stories I’m very much looking forward to seeing some of the primarchs tackled by authors who haven’t previously covered them very much. What’s not so great is that Scions sold out part way through the Saturday, suggesting two things – BL didn’t bring enough, and we’ll soon see plenty of them showing up on ebay! Sigh.

You’ve probably noticed that one particular title is missing – there were no pre-release copies of The Solar War, despite the LE hardback being due for a March release. There was also no sign of it in any of the BL seminars, which felt weird given that the HH Weekender would naturally seem like the obvious time to be talking about this story. That was definitely a shame – I’m sure I’m not the only person really looking forward to this book, but we’ll all have to wait a little longer to find out more about it! Until then I guess we can make do with this image of the Sol System map which I think is going to be featured in the limited edition…

As for BL-related seminars, the focus was on talking about the main three books available to buy – James Swallow discussing The Buried Dagger (including Nathaniel Garro), Ian St. Martin talking about Angron, and a range of authors discussing their stories in Scions of the Emperor. There was a bit of duplication on offer, with the Sunday featuring essentially a re-run of Saturday’s seminars – on the one hand I quite like that this meant anyone who missed a seminar on Saturday could get to one on Sunday, but on the other hand I’d personally have liked a bit more variety.

Ultimately, the HH Weekender is focused more on Forge World than it is Black Library, so it’s entirely understandable that BL had a much more limited presence than at one of their own events. In an ideal world I’d have loved to have seen more pre-release novels and a broader spread of seminar topics (and guests), but I’m being picky really. As it was, I really enjoyed the seminars as they were, and it was a pleasure to meet and chat to all of the authors and BL staff.

Digital Mondays
As usual, each Monday in January there was a new-to-digital short story made available on the Black Library website. Here’s a list of what was released:

• Family by Dan Abnett
• You Never Know by Dan Abnett
• Ghosts and Bad Shadows by Dan Abnett
• The Deeper Wounds by David Annandale
• Tempest by Nick Kyme (February)

In case you’re not aware, all of those (including the first February release) were previously published in the Sabbat Crusade anthology, which is part of the Gaunt’s Ghosts series. This gives me a few things to talk about, the first being that frankly it’s a bit disappointing for every one of the Digital Monday stories so far in 2019 to have been a rerelease. I know not everyone likes ebooks, but for me personally I tend to really look forward to a new story each Monday, that I can read either on my commute into work or over my lunch break. It tends to be just a little bit of a let down when it’s a story I’ve already read…

I understand that it must take a huge amount of work for BL to commission so many stories and maintain the brutal release schedule that they have, so it totally makes sense for at least some of the Digital Monday stories to be drawn from the archives – that’s fair enough. I’d have loved to see at least one brand new story in January, though. As it is, I’ve just not been very interested in the stories released over January, which is a shame.

It’s not just that they’re rereleases, either – I’m slightly confused why BL have been releasing these stories now. Surely the PERFECT time to release them as individual e-shorts would have been back towards the end of 2017 in the run-up to the long-awaited The Warmaster, to build hype for a book that was MANY years in the making. Not only that, but several of them are specifically set in between Salvation’s Reach and The Warmaster, and are unusually important for fans to have read. If you’re only reading them now, especially if you’ve already read The Warmaster and Anarch, they’re going to have lost a bit of their impact, sadly.

That’s not all, either; the final thing which I find frustrating is that Black Library are releasing these specific stories as standalone e-shorts in the first place. I’m all for doing that with anthologies which feature lots of different story arcs, like a Horus Heresy anthology or something like Inferno! – not everyone’s going to want to read ALL of the stories, so it might be genuinely better value for some people to cherry pick just the stories they’re really interested in. In those cases, BL are providing useful options for fans to make sure they’re able to suit their tastes.

While Sabbat Crusade features stories which aren’t actually about the Ghosts, everything in the anthology is directly connected to the Gaunt’s Ghosts series…and I’m fairly confident that the VAST majority of Ghosts fans will want to read everything, and not just cherry pick a few stories. In this case, buying the stories individually is VASTLY more expensive than just picking up the ebook of the anthology – for example the five stories I’ve listed above would cost you £13.95, while the anthology (featuring SEVEN additional stories, one of which is a considerably longer novella) is £14.99 – barely more than £1 more.

Even if you ONLY want to read the stories actually featuring the Ghosts that would cost you £12.45 – it’s really a no-brainer to pay £2.54 more and get all those other stories as well, as there’s bound to be something you’ll enjoy amongst them. To be fair, Black Library have been making it clear that each of these stories was originally published in Sabbat Crusade (even if they haven’t exactly been encouraging fans to check out the anthology), at least on their website. Personally I just don’t see any point in fans buying the individual stories, and so it does feel a bit cheeky of BL. At least they’re great stories though, I suppose.

Weekend releases
I’ll quickly run through January’s new releases, starting with the main ‘new’ releases before moving onto paperback re-releases. I’ve listed these in the order in which they were published, in case you’re wondering:

Anarch by Dan Abnett
The 15th Gaunt’s Ghosts novel, and the conclusion of the fourth story arc (The Victory). Check out a Rapid Fire interview with Dan about this book here, and my review here.

Nightfane by Nick Kyme
A Horus Heresy audio drama featuring Aeonid Thiel, following on from Censure, Stratagem and Red-Marked. Check out a Rapid Fire interview with Nick about this audio here, and my review here.

Celestine: The Living Saint by Andy Clark
A 40k novel about the titular Celestine, available for the time being only as a limited edition hardback (which sold out VERY quickly – expect the standard edition in June or July). Check out my review here.

Gods & Mortals
An Age of Sigmar short story anthology (the first hardback AoS anthology) featuring 18 stories from nine authors. Check out my review here.

Red & Black by James Swallow
A re-release for this classic 40k Sisters of Battle audio drama. Check out a Rapid Fire interview with James about this audio here.

Corax: Lord of Shadows by Guy Haley
The standard edition of this Horus Heresy Primarchs novel about the Raven Guard primarch. Check out a Rapid Fire interview with Guy about this book here, and my review here.

And now for the paperbacks:

Blood Angels: The Complete Rafen Omnibus by James Swallow
A 40k omnibus collecting together all of James’ Blood Angels stories – that’s four novellas and five short stories.

Warriors of the Chaos Wastes by CL Werner
A Warhammer Chronicles omnibus featuring three of Clint’s classic Warhammer novels – Wulfrik, Blood for the Blood God and Palace of the Plague Lord.

Callis & Toll: The Silver Shard by Nick Horth
The sequel to Nick’s excellent short novel/novella City of Secrets, and a great fun adventure story. Check out my review here.

Slaves to Darkness by John French
Book 51 of the Horus Heresy series, and in my opinion pretty much a must-read for any Heresy fan. Check out a Rapid Fire interview with John about the book here, and my review here.

The Lords of Silence by Chris Wraight
A 40k Death Guard novel, and a sequel of sorts to Chris’ short story Endurance. Check out a Rapid Fire interview with Chris about the book here, and my review here.

Ciaphas Cain: Choose Your Enemies by Sandy Mitchell
The long-awaited tenth Ciaphas Cain novel, and a welcome return for this much-loved character. Check out a Rapid Fire interview with Sandy about the book here, and my review here.

Blood of Iax by Robbie MacNiven
A 40k Ultramarines novel set post-Dark Imperium, and a sequel to Robbie’s short story A Brother’s Confession. Check out a Rapid Fire interview with Robbie about the book here, and my review here.

Reviews, interviews and blog posts
As I said at the start of the article, I deliberately slowed down in January so that I could have a bit of a rest! As such I’ve not posted a lot, but you can find links to everything that I did post below. In future months I’ll hopefully have a bit more to include on this list!

• Looking Back on 2018 and Forward to 2019
• Rapid Fire: Nick Kyme Talks Nightfane
• Nightfane by Nick Kyme
• Rapid Fire: Dan Abnett Talks Anarch
• Celestine by Andy Clark
• Death Knell by Phil Kelly
• Rapid Fire: James Swallow Talks Red & Black
• Gods & Mortals
• Corax: Lord of Shadows by Guy Haley

Coming up…
Here’s a run down of what we know is coming in February, which I’ve pulled from the Coming Soon section of the BL website:

• Hamilcar: Champion of the Gods by David Guymer – the first full Hamilcar novel for Age of Sigmar.
• The Buried Dagger by James Swallow – the 54th and final Horus Heresy novel.
• Angron: Slave of Nuceria by Ian St. Martin – the limited edition of the 12th Primarchs novel.
• Honourbound by Rachel Harrison – Rachel’s first 40k novel, following on from several excellent Commissar Severina Raine short stories.
• Our Martyred Lady by Gav Thorpe – a 4-part 40k audio drama featuring Inquisitor Greyfax (voiced by Catherine Tate) and Saint Celestine.
• Gotrek & Felix: The Second Omnibus by William King (and others) – a Warhammer Chronicles omnibus featuring Dragonslayer, Beastslayer, Vampireslayer and five short stories.

As always, if you’ve got any thoughts or comments on the month’s news and releases – or any reviews I’ve written – please do get in touch via the comments section below or on Facebook or Twitter.