5 Lesser-Known Warhammer 40k Stories

Warhammer 40,000 is a huge, expansive setting, and Black Library churns out dozens of new stories every year, ranging from standalone short stories to grand, sweeping multi-novel series. In amongst the huge mass of 40k fiction out there, it’s inevitable that some stories don’t quite get the attention they deserve, especially bearing in mind BL’s relentless release schedule and the opportunities for new releases to fall through the cracks. Just because something isn’t mega popular doesn’t mean it isn’t worth tracking down and reading, however. In this article I’m taking a look at a few examples of 40k stories that – in my opinion – deserve to receive far more praise than I tend to see them getting.

Considering the 20+ years worth of 40k stories out there I could probably have picked two or three times as many to include on this list, but in the end I decided not to look too far back for my selection. There are, of course, loads of great stories from earlier on in BL’s back catalogue too (if you can find them), but the earliest story I’ve included dates from 2012, while the most recent was published in 2019. I’ve gone for variety too, rather than solely novel-length stories, with three novels of differing lengths, three audio dramas, a couple of short stories and one novella.

A note on availability: at the time of writing, all of these stories are available to order as ebooks (or MP3s in the case of the audio dramas), on both the Black Library website and Amazon. Sadly, none of them are available in physical formats (at least, not first-hand), and nor are any of the novels – or the novella – available as audiobooks.

Fire Caste by Peter Fehervari
This dark and twisting tale of haunted, broken Guardsmen battling the T’au Empire on a water-choked death world is, in my opinion, one of the finest novels Black Library has ever published. It’s a complex, atmospheric story, packed full of fascinating characters all facing their own personal demons as they descend through the swamps of Phaedra in what seems like a never-ceasing and increasingly pointless conflict. A 40k horror story long before Warhammer Horror was a thing, it’s a terrifying illustration of what 40k should be, and an incredibly powerful – if deeply unconventional – story.

Despite being crippled from the start by a dreadful title which completely miss-sells the story and sets entirely the wrong expectations from readers (it really, really isn’t a T’au story), Fire Caste has developed a real cult following over the years, and deservedly so. There’s always been the sense that BL doesn’t really know what to do with Peter’s writing, and this book in particular, and certainly this sort of complex and stylised novel won’t be to everyone’s taste. To those of us who read it and love it, however, it’s a quintessentially 40k story and a seminal part of Peter’s ongoing ‘Dark Coil’ series. At the very least this deserves a paperback reprint, and ideally inclusion a ‘Dark Coil’ omnibus as well. A nice hardback edition as part of the Warhammer Horror range would be icing on the cake, however!

Check out my review of Fire Caste

See also: the first of my in-depth interviews with Peter Fehervari

Blood Rite by Rachel Harrison
Published under the Space Marine Heroes label to coincide with the release of a specific set of 40k miniatures, this novella provides one of my favourite depictions of the Blood Angels in any Black Library story. It’s only short, but it does what novellas can do so well, offering a tight, concise story perfectly balancing propulsive action with a surprising amount of character development. There’s no fat on this story – it features lots of characters but sticks to three POVs, giving each of the key characters time to shine in combat while taking them on a deeply personal emotional journey. As you’d expect it leans heavily on the usual Red Thirst/Black Rage themes, but a relatively simple plot allows the focus to remain on the ties that bind these characters together, resulting in an unusually mournful, melancholic story.

I don’t remember there being much publicity around this release – it wasn’t part of one of the regular ‘Novella Series’ collections, and I can understand how a single standalone novella might pass a lot of readers by. In my opinion, novellas often offer the best balance between action and character, so it’s a real shame that I think a lot of people either didn’t really know this was available, or saw the fairly generic cover (and the obvious tie-in connections) and didn’t take a chance on it. I’m hoping that it’s going to be included in the upcoming Sons of Sanguinius anthology – not yet announced by BL but listed in the book trade – so that it reaches a wider audience. Not everyone loves novellas, but I would urge any 40k fan to give this a go – it’s worth your while!

Check out my review of Blood Rite

Straken by Toby Frost
While Toby Frost is probably better known for his humorous Space Captain Smith books, I thought he did a great job with his one and only Black Library novel, which did exactly what it said on the tin. Don’t get me wrong, I like a deep and insightful 40k story as much as the next reader, but I do also love a tale of badass Catachans going toe-to-toe (or mano-a-orko as I wrote in my review, one of the first I ever wrote back in 2014) with a bunch of massive greenskins. I mean, this book features ‘Iron Hand’ Straken, ‘Sly’ Marbo and Nork Deddog, and if I remember right I’m pretty sure a squiggoth appears at one point! What’s not to like? There is actually plenty of entertaining character work in amongst all the action too, but really that’s just a bonus when the main story itself is so much fun.

I’ve always found it strange that while there have been loads of Imperial Guard novels published over the years, there have been so few to focus on the Catachans. They’re the perfect regiment to populate the novel equivalent of an 80s action movie, which is basically what Straken is, and I’m surprised there aren’t more 40k fans wanting to read that sort of story! This is Frost’s only Black Library novel, which seems a shame, and as far as I know it hasn’t been included in any of the multifarious Imperial Guard omnibuses BL have released over the years. The way I see it, this is a story which knows exactly what it is – it doesn’t try to be too clever, it’s just a really entertaining story, and if you’re in the market for a fun Guard novel then it’s well worth giving this a go.

Check out my review of Straken (bear in mind it’s a very early review – probably my first ever BL review!)

Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan by Gav Thorpe
This one is probably the best-known of my choices, but I’ve included it for two reasons. Firstly, outside of series like The Beast Arises, Warhammer Horror or The Primarchs I tend to think that Black Library’s ‘short novels’ don’t tend to get a lot of attention. Secondly, forget about length – this is my favourite Eldar (ok, Aeldari I suppose) novel of all time, packed as it is full of jaw-dropping Eldar lore. I mean, who would have thought we would ever see the events of the Fall in BL fiction, and from the perspective of a Phoenix Lord too?! Ok, a character who would go on to become a Phoenix Lord. As if it was ever in dispute, this novel proves once and for all that Gav Thorpe simply gets the Eldar, cleverly exploring key themes for this race through a two-part narrative set both during and after the Fall, and fleshing out the first of the Phoenix Lords while he’s at it!

Technically this is the first in the Phoenix Lords series, followed by the longer Jain Zar, but it’s a strange sort of in-limbo series, with no hints (at the time of writing this) about whether Thorpe – or anyone else – is likely to continue it. Still, even if it ends up with just these two novels, it’s been worth having…even if the lack of direction and communication around the series has meant that fans have perhaps seen it pass them by. Asurmen in particular, given its length and the fact that on the BL website it’s not even labelled as part of the same series as Jain Zar! Still, while short novels aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, this is one my two favourite Gav Thorpe novels (alongside The Emperor Expects) – it might not be as long as Jain Zar, but I’d suggest you don’t worry about its length. Just enjoy it for the great story it is! Hopefully one day we’ll see novels for the rest of the Phoenix Lords, with Asurmen taking pride of place as the series opener.

Check out my review of Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan

Chris Dows’ Elysian stories
I’m cheating a little bit here by including a series of stories told across two different mediums. Chris Dows has been telling stories of Sergeant Zachariah and the 158th Elysians for years, starting with The Mouth of Chaos in Hammer & Bolter 21, which was released way back in 2012. Over the course of another short story (Monolith) and a trio of audio dramas (Scions, Renegades and Martyrs of Elysia) he’s continued to explore these characters in pacy and action-packed tales of daring adventure and – increasingly – twisty regimental politics. There’s a real sense of adrenaline and excitement to be found in these stories, packed as they are full of aerial insertions and plucky Guardsmen facing terrible odds, and they offer a different and really enjoyable take on the usual Imperial Guard stories.

Much like the Catachans, it’s a shame there hasn’t been more attention given by Black Library to the Elysian Drop Troops, but at least these stories do exist! If Chris had written an Elysians novel I imagine it would have attracted much more attention, as there are lots of 40k fans who don’t necessarily like (or just don’t come across) short stories and audio dramas, and only pay attention to novels. I really recommend these stories, though! What I would love to see is an anthology collecting together the two short stories (and prose versions of the audio dramas I suppose, although I largely believe audios should stay as audios) along with a cool new novella-length story – either a prequel to Monolith or a follow-up to the audios – as that would give a really great introduction to these characters in a different way to what a novel would do.

Check out my quick review of Monolith, and my reviews of Chris’ three Elysian audio dramas: Scions of Elysia, Renegades of Elysia and Martyrs of Elysia.

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So there you have it – five of my favourite 40k stories that I would strongly recommend you check out, if you haven’t already. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to enjoy in the big-name series that tend to get lots of attention, but you might find a story or two among these few that passed you by the first time around!

What did you think of my recommendations? Got any suggestions of your own? I’d love to hear from you, so let me know in the comments below or come find me on Twitter and start a conversation.

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