Category Archives: Short Stories

QUICK REVIEW: The Hardest Word – David Guymer

Day Two of 2017’s Black Library Summer of Reading campaign

Set in and around the fortress known as The Seven Words, in the Realm of Ghur, David Guymer’s Age of Sigmar short story The Hardest Word is a typically boisterous tale of Hamilcar Bear-Eater of the Astral Templars. When word arrives that his recently-conquered fortress may be under threat from the insidious skaven, Hamilcar bids his warriors to search for the source of the danger, while he offers up an unconventional distraction. Not one for the subtle option, his choice is bold, brash and surprisingly effective.

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QUICK REVIEW: Grandfather’s Gift – Guy Haley

Day One of 2017’s Black Library Summer of Reading campaign

Unexpectedly branded as a Horus Heresy Primarchs series short story (the first one ever!), Grandfather’s Gift by Guy Haley is an entertaining and surprisingly light tale of Mortarion, primarch of the Death Guard. After waking within the Garden of Nurgle with no memory of how he got there, Mortarion sets off along its paths to discover – or maybe rediscover – how he came to be there, while marvelling at the wonders he sees along the way. To avoid giving anything away let’s just say he’s not alone in the Garden, and during his time there we gain an insight into his place within Nurgle’s ranks.

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QUICK REVIEW: Hidden Treasures – Cavan Scott

Not quite a micro-short, Cavan Scott’s Warhammer 40,000 short story Hidden Treasures provides a brief, bleak look at life away from the battlefield in the 41st millennium. For brothers Elias and Marco, scavenging in the dark corners of Manos City and trying to avoid the attention of the local gangs, life is hard. When they stumble across an unexpected bounty, the ever-present dangers are increased exponentially as the line between their world and the Imperium’s eternal, ongoing war is somehow blurred.

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QUICK REVIEW: Old Scars – George Mann

One of only a handful of Black Library stories featuring the Brazen Minotaurs chapter of Space Marines, George Mann’s Old Scars sees Captain Daed and his brothers descend up on ice-bound Imperial world to liberate it from the invading orks. Keen to inflict a decisive victory and dismissive of the Imperial Guard’s efforts to date, Daed plans an all-out frontal assault despite the doubts of his closest brothers, who question whether vengeance for his old wounds is driving his decisions.

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QUICK REVIEW: Dark Son – Gav Thorpe

Available as a standalone e-short or within the Path of the Eldar omnibus, Gav Thorpe’s short story Dark Son takes an interesting look at whether a warrior of Commorragh might be able to find peace and redemption through the Craftworlders’ concept of the Path. Dark Eldar incubus Kolidaran has spent his entire life fighting – to survive, to find the incubi shrine, to keep his soul safe from She Who Thirsts – but is there another option for survival, one that the Commorraghans have never considered? After joining a raid on an Alaitocii eldar ship, he has the chance to find out.

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QUICK REVIEW: Soulfuel – Rob Sanders

Intriguingly subtitled ‘A Black Ships Story’, Rob Sanders’ short story Soulfuel sees palatine Adrianna Verletz and her Battle Sisters of the Order of the Ebon Chalice hunting down a rogue psyker on an Imperial shrine world. Possessed of a fearsome psychic banshee wail, Xenobia Nox is destined to be soulfuel for the Emperor of Mankind, and Verletz is determined to see her prize safely to Terra. Even once safely aboard the Black Ship Divine Imperative, however, Nox proves to be a particularly troublesome charge for Verletz and her warriors.

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QUICK REVIEW: Signal to Noise – CZ Dunn

First published in 2012’s Black Library Weekender Anthology 2, CZ Dunn’s Signal to Noise is the third short story (so far) featuring Sister Agentha of the Order of the Fractured Cipher to receive a standalone ebook release, albeit the first of the shorts chronologically. An unwelcome guest on a Black Templars strike cruiser, Sister Diologus Agentha finds herself a helpless bystander in the midst of an attack by eldar raiders. As the Templars defend themselves, Agentha works to understand the meaning of an ancient vox signal that might just challenge the preconceptions and prejudices of her Space Marine hosts.

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QUICK REVIEW: Fearful Symmetries – Rob Sanders

Available either within the Deathwatch: Xenos Hunters anthology or as a standalone e-short, Rob Sanders’ Fearful Symmetries takes a rare look back in time at a young Inquisitor Kryptmann in the early days of the Imperium’s interactions with the tyranid menace. Deep within an Adeptus Mechanicus forge world, Kryptmann oversees the dangerous process of gaining first-hand experience of captured tyranid specimens within a controlled environment. The risks involved pale into insignificance against the urgent need for information to aid in combating and halting this growing threat…

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QUICK REVIEW: The Absolution of Swords – John French

The third short story in John French’s burgeoning Horusian Wars series, The Absolution of Swords is pretty much a direct prequel to the novel Resurrection. On the shrine world Dominicus Prime, within and beneath the temples of the Crow Complex, Inquisitor Covenant and his warband hunt down an insidious cult known as the Tenth Path. While Duke Cleander Von Castellan and the soldier Koleg seek to cleanse the taint of Chaos from the darkness beneath the temples, Covenant leads his other followers in search of answers, and the man ultimately responsible for the cult’s dark purpose.

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QUICK REVIEW: Left for Dead – Steve Lyons

Left for Dead, Steve Lyons’ first published Black Library story since 2015, continues his good work in covering the Death Korps of Krieg, after Dead Men Walking and Down Amongst the Dead Men (notice the recurring theme?). Having been called in to rid an Imperial world of the corruption of Chaos, the Death Korps have now left to continue their endless war elsewhere, leaving the survivors to rebuild and carry on. Left behind is a single Korpsman who makes the unthinkable choice to abandon his regiment and his duty, and attempt to forge a new life, free of war and death.

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