Category Archives: Short Stories

QUICK REVIEW: Old Wounds, New Scars – Graham McNeill

Following on from Vengeful Spirit and Wolf Mother, Graham McNeill’s Horus Heresy short story Old Wounds, New Scars follows Alivia Sureka, the Perpetual, as she reluctantly returns to Terra. Over the course of a long and dangerous journey through the warp on a battered warship along with her adopted family and countless thousands of refugees from Molech, Alivia has worked hard to ensure as many people survived as possible. As their destination draws closer, and the whispers of the warp grow louder, Alivia recalls moments and people from her long life, and looks ahead in concern to the dangers approaching on Terra.

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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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QUICK REVIEW: Son of Sek – John French

Originally published in the Sabbat Crusade anthology and linking in with Dan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts series, John French’s short story Son of Sek is a sinister, ambiguous tale which offers an insight (of sorts) into the dark world of the Sanguinary Tribes and what it means to become a Son of Sek. It’s the interwoven stories of a Son waiting to hear his master – the voice of his god – speak and give him purpose, and an Imperial warrior rising through the ranks in blood and violence without finding any meaning in his life.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Thirteenth Psalm – Peter Fehervari

A typically complex and compelling 40k story from Peter Fehervari, The Thirteenth Psalm takes a closer look than ever before at the Angels Penitent as Chaplain Castigant Bjargo Rathana and his brothers seek out an artefact from their past. On the frozen, rebellion-wracked world of Oblazt, while exploring the decadent halls of a noblewoman’s seemingly undefended estate, Rathana and his brothers at last find the object of their search. In doing so they endure trials of the soul which test their commitment to the Chapter’s ideals, and force Rathana to question even his own purity, and the consequences of his past deeds.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Merchant’s Story (At the Sign of the Brazen Claw Part Two) – Guy Haley

This is the first story featured in Inferno! Volume 2.

In The Merchant’s Story, the second instalment of Guy Haley’s five-part Age of Sigmar serial At the Sign of the Brazen Claw, it’s the turn of duardin Idenkor Stonbrak to regale his impromptu companions with a story from his past. Stonbrak hails from Ulgu, the Realm of Shadows, and his is a tale of duardin business and aelven trickery, of miraculous craft and debts not paid on time. It is a sad story of misty Barak Gorn where once a duardin craftsman was commissioned by a grey aelf to craft a necklace fit for a princess, with tragic consequences.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Blood Bound – Rob Sanders

Available either as a standalone e-short or within the Dan Abnett-edited Sabbat Crusade anthology, Rob Sanders’ The Blood Bound is an Iron Snakes short story which follows on from an early Gaunt’s Ghosts tale. Sergeant Porphyrian and Squad Orpheon have been tasked by the Ordo Hereticus to investigate the disappearance of a Commissariat ship carrying the notorious heretic Sholen Skara. Finding the defiled corpse of the vessel in orbit above an eerily silent Imperial world, it soon becomes clear that while their orders are to retrieve Skara alive, that might just be easier said than done.

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QUICK REVIEW: At the Sign of the Brazen Claw – Guy Haley

The first instalment in a five part serial, At the Sign of the Brazen Claw sees Guy Haley continue the saga of Prince Maesa and Shattercap with a story within a story. Atop a lonely mountain in Shyish there lies an inn called the Brazen Claw, where Maesa and Shattercap shelter from a storm and wait for a Kharadron airship, alongside the innkeeper, his family and other guests. To fill the time the innkeeper suggests the telling of tales, and proceeds to regale his guests with the story of how he came to build the inn of the Brazen Claw.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Firstborn Daughter – Filip Wiltgren

Another Black Library debut in the pages of Inferno! Volume 1, Filip Wiltgren’s The Firstborn Daughter is a tale of prejudice and treachery amongst the Vostroyan Firstborn, and a warning against idolising your heroes. Lieutenant Ekaterina Idra leads her light platoon against the traitor forces on Tovoga, despite the grumbling of men not used to being led by a woman. When she joins forces with the renowned Major Haskel, at first she’s happy to be fighting alongside a hero of the Imperium. As Haskel grows increasingly erratic, however, Idra finds herself viewing the man in an increasingly negative light.

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QUICK REVIEW: How Vido Learned the Trick – Josh Reynolds

The second of two Warhammer Chronicles short stories written before the End Times happened and eventually featured in Inferno! Volume 1, Josh Reynolds’ How Vido Learned the Trick is a Zavant Konniger story featuring characters originally created by Gordon Rennie. Returning from an errand for his master, the halfling Vido finds an assassin in Zavant’s study, but no sign of the sage himself. With his own life on the line, Vido must put into practice everything he’s learned from working with Zavant and figure out where his master can be found. All without allowing the assassin to complete his mission.

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QUICK REVIEW: Iron Devil – CL Werner

CL Werner’s Iron Devil is an Astra Militarum story which was first released as an audio drama before then being revised and expanded into a prose story. The Cadian 267th are embattled against orks on the ravaged planet Sanzu, but find themselves exchanging one danger for another when they’re forced to seek shelter from the planet’s toxic weather. Trekking their way through dangerous territory to a vast, crumbling Adeptus Mechanicus facility, the few remaining Cadians hope to find shelter and supplies, but there’s something large and angry waiting for them in the shadowed halls of the manufactorum.

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