Category Archives: Short Stories

QUICK REVIEW: A Dirge of Dust and Steel – Josh Reynolds

Showcasing the Vanguard Chamber of the Hallowed Knights, Josh Reynolds’ Age of Sigmar short story A Dirge of Dust and Steel takes place in Shyish amidst the ruins of an ancient duardin civilisation. Lord-Aquilor Sathphren Swiftblade seeks a lost Realmgate, and in return for his aid against a daemon known as the Soulflayer the remnants of the Gazul-Zagaz – worshippers of the duardin god of the dead – have promised to help him reach his goal. The Soulflayer has tormented the duardin for centuries, but with Sathphren’s help they finally have the chance for revenge.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Pact – Sarah Cawkwell

One of Sarah Cawkwell’s many Silver Skulls short stories, The Pact sees Prognosticator Bhehan follow a vision to the original homeworld of his Chapter, long ago ravaged by the Silver Skulls themselves. Accompanied by First Captain Kerelan and a veteran squad of Terminators, Bhehan sets out to discover why his vision led him there, and what he can learn of the Silver Skulls’ distant history. When his investigations are disrupted by the arrival of eldar on the surface of Lyria, Bhehan turns his powers instead to destruction until something even worse than the xenos manifests and threatens the mission.

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QUICK REVIEW: Bloodwalker – CL Werner

A tale of Malus Darkblade in the original Warhammer setting, CL Werner’s Bloodwalker was first published in volume two of the 2012 Black Library Weekender anthology before getting the standalone eshort treatment. Set somewhere between the events of the original Abnett/Lee stories and Werner’s own End Times novel Deathblade, it sees Malus and Spite making their way to Hag Graef only to be variously ambushed, betrayed and forced to battle a horrific daemon. Malus has powerful enemies, but some dangers are enough to force unusual alliances…at least temporarily.

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QUICK REVIEW: Dirty Dealings – Rachel Harrison

Kora Zekk, protagonist of Rachel Harrison’s Necromunda short story Dirty Dealings, is a sharp, tough, hard-nosed hustler. She’s also not what she claims to be. Written in a noirish first person, full of cynical observations on life in the underhive and deadpan immodesty, she talks us through the stages of a meticulously planned con, starting with selling exotic weaponry to a gang of Orlocks but leading up to something much bigger. It’s Kora against the world, but you get the sense she’s more than capable of taking on the challenge.

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QUICK REVIEW: Once a Stimm Queen – Robbie MacNiven

Robbie MacNiven’s Necromunda short story Once a Stimm Queen tackles the strained relationship between two rival gangs, with the added complication of the underhive’s black-clad Enforcers getting in the way of cooperation. Sy and Jennix are both juves in the Escher gang the Stimm Queens, out on a routine job running stimms for a Goliath gang when the Enforcers strike and Sy makes a risky break for safety. Years later, the Enforcers get involved once again in Stimm Queens business, only this time Jannix is older and wiser, and won’t go down without a fight.

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QUICK REVIEW: Scar Crossed – Nick Kyme

Nick Kyme’s tongue-in-cheek Necromunda short story Scar Crossed borrows heavily, as you might have gathered from the title, from Romeo and Juliet, as a drunk named Bharde tells a tale of forbidden love in the underhive…to save his own skin. It follows two juves, Rom – a Goliath – and Juli – an Escher – as they make an ill-fated bid to forge a bright future together despite the ill-will of their respective Houses. When true love is at stake, what could stop them being together…aside from two gangs of violent, armed-to-the-teeth underhivers and an untrustworthy bounty hunter?

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QUICK REVIEW: Emp-Rah’s Eye – Guy Haley

A story within a story, Guy Haley’s Emp-Rah’s Eye delves into the oral traditions of the ratskins, and the initiation rites required for a young brave to become the story singer of the Five Eyes tribe. Two Tails, the current incumbent, knows that he’s dying. With five braves before him, one of whom will take his place, he tells the tale of Kopa, who made the perilous journey from Five Eyes territory all the way to the surface of the hive, to look up to the Emp-Rah’s watchful eye and tell Him that the Five Eyes tribe still lives.

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QUICK REVIEW: Burned – Darius Hinks

A blackly funny tale of betrayal and manipulation, Darius Hinks’ Necromunda short story Burned sees a long-dead Goliath ganger return to haunt his former partners. Told in first person by an unnamed narrator, it takes place many years after three Goliaths’ attempt to steal a priceless artifact led to their partnership ending in betrayal and the death of one of their number at our narrator’s hands. Now Thornax has returned out of the blue, so the narrator sets out to locate the third of their group and find a way to not just survive but profit from the unexpected situation.

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QUICK REVIEW: Death’s Head – Josh Reynolds

The first new Necromunda story from Black Library for over a decade, Josh Reynolds’ Death’s Head tells the tale of Topek Greel, an unusually literate young Goliath ganger sent on a dangerous initiation mission. Muscling his way to the dirty streets of Down Town, Greel is on the hunt for the legendarily lethal hired gun Lothar Hex – the Widwomaker – with instructions from his boss to return with Hex or not at all. Greel is savvier than most Goliaths, and he’s going to need all of his brawn and brains if he’s to survive his mission to find the Widowmaker.

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QUICK REVIEW: Shattered Crucible – David Annandale

One of two David Annandale short stories first published in the Legends of the Age of Sigmar: Fyreslayers anthology, Shattered Crucible follows the Krelstrag Lodge as, guided by a vision of victory and an ancient oath, its armies set out on a perilous journey to bring their wrath to whatever enemies await. Leaving their isolated lodge and crossing molten ocean and Chaos-warped land in search of long-forgotten kin, the Fyreslayers are horrified at the decay and corruption they find all around as they’re tested in both body and spirit.

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