Category Archives: Reviews

The Devourer Below: an Arkham Horror Anthology – edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells

Edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells, The Devourer Below is part of Aconyte Books’ growing range of Arkham Horror fiction and features eight short stories from seven different authors all exploring a sinister presence rising in Arkham. Dangerous deals are being made, threats issued, lives devastated and plots hatched, monsters emerging and reluctant heroes standing up, all in the name of or in defiance of a darkness that few truly understand. From local landmarks to the dark countryside that borders the city, detectives and grieving widows to bootleggers and vagrant children, these stories explore Arkham and its inhabitants in dark, unsettling detail, united by a common theme – sometimes overt, other times implied – of a monstrous, corrupting power and the sinister servants it can call upon.

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QUICK REVIEW: Watch The Flank – Thomas Parrott

Thomas Parrott’s first story published via his Curious Fictions page, Watch The Flank introduces his The Sundering War setting with a punchy, action-packed military science fantasy tale of giant warmachines and aetheric energy. Cocooned within the huge frame of her Stormcaller giganphract, Bond-Pilot Leyna Raskin roams ahead of her regiment as they make for the safety of Fort Rigour. What started off as a tedious, dull posting, however, quickly becomes a frantic struggle for survival as Leyna finds herself facing off against a mysterious enemy every bit as massive and powerful as her own phract.

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QUICK REVIEW: Loyal to the End – Thomas Parrott

Thomas Parrott’s Warhammer 40,000 short story Loyal to the End is a tale of Imperial Knights told from the viewpoint of a Knight Armiger pilot, elevated to her position from peasant stock rather than through noble birth. Utterly loyal to House Viti and her liege lord Sir Valeon, Bondswoman Constance battles the forces of Chaos on the beleaguered Forge World of Agripinaa, fighting alongside her fellow Knights until disaster befalls them. Forced to flee and strike out on her own, Constance must find a way back to Imperial forces in time to warn her House of a terrible danger.

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QUICK REVIEW: To Catch A Thief – Thomas Parrott

Featured in Aconyte Books’ first short story anthology, Tales From the Crucible, Thomas Parrot’s KeyForge story To Catch A Thief follows the daring, dangerous exploits of light-fingered elf Nalea Wysasandoral. After a particularly lucrative score from burgling the home of the Crucible’s High Councilor himself, Nalea is on the lookout for her next job, unaware that the investigation into her ongoing crimes has been supplemented by an outside investigator – the renowned sylicate detective Talus the Thief-Taker. As she prepares for a risky new endeavour, the jaws of a trap begin to close around her.

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QUICK REVIEW: Fates and Fortunes – Thomas Parrott

Available in the Vaults of Obsidian anthology, Thomas Parrott’s Blackstone Fortress short story Fates and Fortunes tells the tale of a man running from his past and finding a calling, of sorts, in the darkness of the Fortress. After acquiring an item of great supposed value from the vault of Rogue Trader Janus Draik, self-identified thief Ilden joins a ragtag team of adventurers in heading deep into the Fortress, intending to use the artefact to unlock a treasure trove from the Dark Age of Technology. As the Blackstone takes its toll on them, however, Ilden feels his past catching up.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Test of Faith – Thomas Parrott

Thomas Parrott’s first foray into tales of the Adeptus Astartes, The Test of Faith is a Dark Angels story exploring the strained relationship between two generations of Space Marines. Interrogator-Chaplain Raguel and the younger, second-generation Chaplain Hadariel lead a squad of Primaris Marines into battle aboard a vast, mobile mining vehicle, sweeping through its aged corridors and crushing the resistance of its mortal defenders. As they approach the heart of the vehicle and the nature of its crew is revealed, the bonds between the Dark Angels are tested in the heat of battle and Raguel’s true purpose is challenged.

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QUICK REVIEW: Salvage Rites – Thomas Parrott

Low-key but satisfying, Thomas Parrott’s Warhammer 40,000 short story Salvage Rites adds a small but valuable extra layer of detail onto the non-military side of life in the Imperium. Having stumbled across what promises to be a life-changingly valuable derelict in orbit around Effandor, Captain Ved Tregan leads his small salvage crew onto the ship to assess their find, keen to get the job done before his rivals appear. In the silent, strangely sterile corridors of the vessel, however, bonds between the crew start to fray as the ship proves to not be quite as lifeless as it seemed.

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Isha’s Lament – Thomas Parrott

Thomas Parrott’s first longer-form Black Library story, Isha’s Lament is a Blackstone Fortress novella, an entertaining and insightful tale of survival, exploration and the after-effects of trauma. Brakus Andradus – once a soldier, now a hunter – is part of a group of explorers who find a ruined, dead ship within the fortress, and in doing so unwittingly trigger a calamity that endangers everyone on both the fortress and Precipice. Despite his failing health Brakus ventures back in search of a way to prevent disaster, accompanied by a motley group of uneasy companions, and in the darkness faces up to his fears.

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QUICK REVIEW: Spiritus in Machina – Thomas Parrott

This short story is featured in Inferno! Volume 2, which is due out at the very end of 2018.

Thomas Parrott’s debut Black Library story, Spiritus in Machina is a smart story of obedience and loyalty among the Adeptus Mechanicus. Skitarius Alpha-Primus 7-Cyclae wakes from stasis aboard a Mechanicus Ark ship to find he’s the only survivor in his maniple after a rebellion amongst the ship’s crew. Guided by a servo-skull operated remotely by Magos Explorator Aionios, Cyclae braves the dangers of the damaged ship to try and restore power and allow the Magos to complete his mission. Despite an unsettling absence of data, Cyclae willingly obeys the Magos’ instructions, but gradually realises things aren’t quite what they seem.

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