Monthly Archives: July 2019

QUICK REVIEW: Hunger and the Lady – Peter McLean

In Peter McLean’s War for the Rose Throne series, one character of particular interest is Billy the Boy, the young orphan described with considerable understatement in the dramatis personae of Priest of Bones as “a very strange young man”. Featured in Grimdark Magazine Issue 18, the short story Hunger and the Lady offers the first opportunity to explore a little of Billy’s backstory. It’s the tale of an eleven year-old boy scraping a living in the ruins of war-torn Messia as enemy soldiers close in, a story about survival, about enduring hardship, and maybe even the presence of a higher power.

Keep reading…

Writing for Black Library – Richard Strachan Talks the Open Submissions Window

Welcome to this instalment of Writing for Black Library, a new series of quick author interviews in which I chat to Black Library authors about how they got started with writing for the worlds of Warhammer. Whether you’re actively hoping to be published by Black Library yourself, or just interested in getting a peek behind the scenes, these interviews will offer insights into the backgrounds and working processes of some of the authors who are lucky enough to contribute to the ongoing development of Games Workshop’s various worlds and settings.

In this interview I chatted to Richard Strachan, one of Black Library’s newest authors, who made it through the 2018 open submissions process to have his debut short story – The Widow Tide – published in Maledictions, the first ever Warhammer Horror anthology.

Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW: The Weight of Silver – Steven B. Fischer

This story is currently only available within Inferno! Volume 3.

His second Black Library short story after debuting with The Emperor’s Wrath, Steven B. Fischer’s The Weight of Silver is another Imperial Guard story, this time featuring a young Cadian officer wrestling with questions of confidence and authority. The Cadian 900th are newly arrived on an embattled Imperial world, and newly-promoted Lieutenant Glavia Aerand faces dissent within the ranks of her platoon as well as the dangers posed by the enemy. After her first mission ends in disgrace she questions her abilities and the merit of her rank, and she’ll have to dig deep if she’s to survive and thrive.

Keep reading…

Writing for Black Library – Thomas Parrott Talks the Open Submissions Window

Welcome to this first instalment of Writing for Black Library, a new series of quick author interviews in which I chat to Black Library authors about how they got started with writing for the worlds of Warhammer. Whether you’re actively hoping to be published by Black Library yourself, or just interested in getting a peek behind the scenes, these interviews will offer insights into the backgrounds and working processes of some of the authors who are lucky enough to contribute to the ongoing development of Games Workshop’s various worlds and settings.

In this interview I chatted to Thomas Parrott, one of Black Library’s newest authors, who made it through the 2018 open submissions process to have his debut short story – Spiritus in Machina – published in Inferno! Volume 2.

Keep reading…

RAPID FIRE: Darius Hinks Talks The Orion Trilogy

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

For this instalment I spoke to Darius Hinks about the latest Warhammer Chronicles release, The Orion Trilogy, which collects together his novels The Vaults of Winter, Tears of Isha and The Council of Beasts. Read on to delve back into the history of the Wood Elves in the Warhammer Old World, then check the book out – it’s available to order right now.

Keep reading…

Blackshields: The Broken Chain by Josh Reynolds

The third in Josh Reynolds’ series of Horus Heresy audio dramas featuring ex-World Eater Endryd Haar, Blackshields: The Broken Chain sees Haar and his second in command – former Death Guard Erud Vahn – at the mercy of the Sons of Horus sent by the Warmaster to track them down. Betrayed, imprisoned and stripped of his weapons and armour, Haar languishes in chains while Vahn bargains with their captors, but the Sons of Horus want more than just prisoners. The Warmaster wants his weapons back, but the Blackshields’ loyalties and objectives remain unclear, while Haar knows he’s escaped from worse prisons in the past.

Keep reading…

Writing for Black Library – Open Submissions 2018 Recap

Back in early 2018, Black Library announced an open submissions window – a fixed period of time during which the public was actively encouraged to submit pitches for stories set in the various worlds of Warhammer. BL don’t generally accept submissions outside one of these specific windows, and this one proved VERY popular! Ever since it closed there’s been speculation from fans about when the next such opportunity would arise…and now we know that it’s going to run between the 26th August and 23rd September 2019.

Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW: Redemption Through Sacrifice – Justin Woolley

Established sci-fi author Justin Woolley makes his Black Library debut with Redemption Through Sacrifice, a Warhammer 40,000 short story featuring penal legionnaires, filthy heretics and the Inquisition. Ex-sergeant Marcus van Veenan, late of the Talissian 51st, joins thousands of other under-equipped cannon fodder – members of the Second Rapture Penal Legion, the ‘Meat Dogs’ – on Vandicius, tasked with shoring up the Imperial defences against a rampaging heretical cult. The disciplined days of his past in the Imperial Guard are gone, replaced by the chance to earn the Emperor’s forgiveness with his death, but van Veenan’s usefulness to the Imperium isn’t over yet.

Keep reading…

The Best Black Library Anthologies of 2019: January to June

For my fourth and final article looking back at the best Black Library releases from the first half of 2019 – after looking at novels, audio dramas and short stories – this time I’m picking out my favourite anthologies published between January and June. While some of the other categories have been pretty tricky, this one was less of a tough choice, simply because there hasn’t been anywhere near as many anthologies released in 2019 as novels. I’m a huge fan of short story anthologies, however, so I think it’s definitely worth looking at a few of the best of these as well – if nothing else, they help demonstrate the sheer breadth of storytelling available to Black Library fans!

Keep reading…

The Best Black Library Short Stories of 2019: January to June

I’ve already written articles about the best Black Library novels, audio dramas and anthologies of 2019 so far, so this time around I’m picking out my personal favourite short stories released from January to June. For me personally the first couple of months of 2019 were a bit disappointing from the perspective of BL’s Digital Monday short stories, as the vast majority of them were pulled from older anthologies rather than being brand new stories. That changed as the year moved on, however, and looking back now there have been some fantastic tales released over the first half of the year.

Keep reading…