Category Archives: Black Library

Writing for Black Library – Pitching Warhammer Horror (Part One)

With the Black Library Open Submissions window themed around Warhammer Horror this year, I asked over a dozen fantastic authors for their thoughts on what makes a great horror short story, and their advice on writing and pitching a Warhammer Horror story to Black Library. I’ve already published the results of one conversation in my article Writing For Black Library – Alec Worley Talks Pitching Warhammer Horror, and I’ve gathered together the thoughts of the remaining authors to give you as broad a range of opinions, ideas and advice as possible to help you plan your submission this year. There’s way too much for just a single article, so I’ve split things into two parts, of which this is the first!

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RAPID FIRE: Dale Lucas Talks Realm-Lords

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with 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 interview I spoke to fantasy author Dale Lucas about his new Age of Sigmar novel Realm-Lords, which is his debut Black Library novel and the first ever story to feature the Lumineth Realm-lords! It’s available to pre-order as of Saturday 5th September, so if you’re interested in finding out a bit more about this aelven debut ahead of its release then read on…

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Dredge Runners – Alec Worley

Alec Worley kicks off the audio side of Black Library’s Warhammer Crime imprint with Dredge Runners, an hour-long audio drama which introduces the pairing of ratling Baggit and ogryn Clodde in a brilliant tale of dirty dealings, rampant corruption and abhuman prejudice. Facing the ire of vicious crime lord Tabidiah Kruger after a deal gone awry, Baggit and Clodde find themselves tasked with digging up dirt on the (supposedly) squeaky-clean sanctioner Savriel Sabbriatti. Putting their unusual combination of skills to good use, the pair uncover secrets that might see them richly rewarded if only they can find a way out from between two such dangerous enemies, and overlook a few moral objections while they’re at it.

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Writing for Black Library – Alec Worley Talks Pitching Warhammer Horror

Welcome to this instalment of Writing for Black Library, in which the fantastic Alec Worley offers some amazing advice, ideas and suggestions for writing and pitching Warhammer Horror stories. The 2020 Black Library Open Submissions window is opening in October (for just two weeks) and this time around it’s focusing specifically on Warhammer Horror. I thought it might be interesting to ask Alec about not just writing horror stories but also the difficult job of pitching them to editors, so this interview covers quite a wide range of topics which I hope will be of use to anyone planning on submitting a story. There’s really no better time to tap into the considerable experience of an industry pro like Alec!

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RAPID FIRE: Darius Hinks Talks Blackstone Fortress: Ascension

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with 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.

In this instalment I spoke to Black Library author Darius Hinks about his new novel Blackstone Fortress: Ascension, the follow up to his excellent 2018 novel Blackstone Fortress. It’s available to pre-order in a variety of formats – including a swanky Special Edition hardback – and promises to be another tremendously entertaining 40k novel exploring the stranger, darker corners of the setting. If you haven’t already checked out Black Library’s range of Blackstone Fortress stories, now is as good a time to start as any! Continue reading →

The Colonel’s Monograph – Graham McNeill

Released as part of Black Library’s 2019 Novella Series 2, Graham McNeill’s Warhammer Horror novella The Colonel’s Monograph is a quiet, creepingly sinister portrayal of the slow road to corruption. Grieving in the wake of her husband’s death, retired archivist Teresina Sullo takes on a private commission to catalogue the library of a celebrated war hero, the late Colonel Elena Grayloc. As her work progresses Sullo fixates on finding one particular book, which she hopes might shed light on the mysterious circumstances of the colonel’s return to Grayloc Manor and subsequent death. The deeper she digs, however, the more it becomes clear that something sinister lurks behind the colonel’s heroic facade, and that Sullo’s obsession with finding answers is leading her down a dark path from which she might not return.

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Bloodlines – Chris Wraight

The first Black Library novel published under the Warhammer Crime label, Chris Wraight’s Bloodlines is a tale of corruption, brutality and rampant inequality which takes a close look at the gritty realities of life for everyday Imperial citizens. In the vast, continent-sized hive city of Varangantua, Probator Agusto Zidarov is tasked with investigating the apparent disappearance of a spoiled scion of one of the city’s most powerful families. Despite his initial misgivings, it gradually becomes clear that something vile and deeply dangerous is going on in Varangantua. In order to get to the bottom of it Zidarov must navigate vicious cartels, the over-privileged ruling elite, and the corrupt systems of law and bureaucracy in which he himself works.

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Author Spotlight: Marc Collins

Welcome to this instalment of my Author Spotlight series of interviews, which aim to give an overview of each author’s background and approach to writing, and a slightly more detailed look at one of their new releases in particular. In this instalment I spoke to Marc Collins about his background, influences and route to writing for Black Library, his new story Cold Cases – included in the upcoming anthology No Good Men (which goes up for pre-order this weekend) – and his thoughts on the Warhammer Crime imprint as a whole.

Without further ado, let’s get straight into the interview.

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QUICK REVIEW: Underhive Apex – Will McDermott

Featuring the legendary outlaw D’onne Ulanti – or ‘Mad’ Donna – Will McDermott’s Necromunda short story Underhive Apex is a chainsword-fuelled shot of frantic, explosive underhive action. On the hunt for a uniquely useful mutant known as Lumpy Nox, D’onne and her pet ogryn Dog have tracked their quarry to a Cawdor-owned manufactorum, only for an entire Goliath gang to arrive and steal him away from under their noses. Not to be denied, D’onne adjusts on the fly and happily throws herself into the fray despite being outnumbered, outmuscled and outgunned, confident that she’ll figure something out and walk away the victor.

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Soulless Fury – Will McDermott

Thirteen years after the publication of Lasgun Wedding, Will McDermott returns to Black Library and Necromunda with Soulless Fury, moving his focus from Kal Jerico to one of the underhive’s other famous names – D’onne Ulanti, otherwise known as Mad Donna. While the estranged daughter of House Ulanti tears through the underhive in search of a young man captured by Cawdor gangers, Scrutinator Primus Servalen is dispatched by Lord Helmawr to reel her in once and for all. As the two women embark on a lethal cat-and-rat chase, it becomes clear that there’s more at stake for both of them than just survival and the death of an enemy, and chaos ensues in the underhive.

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