Across nine stories from eight different authors, Aconyte Books’ short story anthology Tales From the Crucible explores the vibrant KeyForge setting and the characters who populate the immense world of the Crucible. A wild melting pot of races and archetypes – from elves, goblins and giants to demons, robots, martians and more – battling it out for the valuable resource known as Aember, as a setting it’s equal parts fantasy and science fiction, where anything is possible and nothing seems out of place. Heists, dirty dealings, historical reenactment, field trips, dangerous experiments, family struggles – everything is fair game, and despite the variety of styles, characters and approaches these stories are all united by an overarching sense of bold, colourful, fun storytelling.
Aconyte’s stated goal is to publish great stories based on the games produced by Asmodee Entertainment – in this case KeyForge, a card game whose setting seems to have been deliberately designed to facilitate cross pollination of influences and inspirations. There’s a risk that such a setting – and therefore a short story anthology like this – might feel disjointed with so much thrown into the mix, especially for someone new to the IP. Thankfully, while each author gets across their own unique style there’s a surprising degree of cohesion across the collection – although no two tales feature the same actual characters, factions and archetypes do recur throughout various stories. The second time a martian appears or the concept of an Archon is mentioned there’s an instant sense of recognition, which helps provide some welcome familiarity even for a reader who’s never come across KeyForge before.
The other advantage of such a diverse setting is that with so many possibilities for inventive storytelling it’s clear that the authors are all just having so much fun. A lot of (although certainly not all) modern fantasy and science fiction seems to be increasingly dark and serious, but this feels like the antidote to that – not because these stories don’t tackle interesting, thought-provoking themes (they absolutely do) but because they do so in balance with bright, inventive ideas. For every tale of sadness or loss there’s a trouble-making giant or strange floating demon-thing, and for each giant mechanical rat monster there’s a question of value to society or conformation to expected norms. Most of these stories could be enjoyed purely for the thrill of seeing a bonkers world brought to life, but look beneath the surface and there’s depth to them as well.
Each of the eight authors is an established writer either within their own fantasy/sci-fi series or other shared IPs (including four regular Warhammer contributors), and it’s to their (and editor Llewelyn-Wells’) credit that while they don’t take themselves and their stories too seriously, nor do they venture into action and excitement for its own sake. Sure, each story is clearly written to explore the background for a card game, but like all the best tie-in fiction settings the Crucible proves to be a canvas upon which all manner of interesting stories can be told. There’s plenty to please readers looking for frantic battles, thrills and danger, but these are character-focused stories first and foremost, and exploring the Crucible involves getting to know a varied mixture of diverse, relatable and largely memorable characters. For anyone interested in bright, fun, satisfying sci-fi and fantasy stories, this anthology – and KeyForge as a setting – is well worth checking out.
Here’s the contents list:
- Contract by Tristen Palmgren
- The Apprentice by Cath Lauria
- Extermination Examination by Robbie MacNiven
- The Librarian’s Duel by MK Hutchins
- To Catch a Thief by Thomas Parrott
- Useful Parasites by MK Hutchins
- The Perfect Organism by CL Werner
- Wibble and Pplimz, Investigators for Hire by M Darusha Wehm
- Vaultheads by David Guymer
Tales From the Crucible is due out in September in the US and October in the UK. Many thanks to Aconyte books for an advance copy of this anthology, in exchange for an honest review.
Click here to find individual reviews of most of the stories featured in this anthology
See also: my Rapid Fire interview with Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells
