Category Archives: Short Stories

QUICK REVIEW: Judge Dee and the Three Deaths of Count Werdenfels – Lavie Tidhar

The second of Lavie Tidhar’s supernatural, Golden Age-esque mystery stories for Tor.com, Judge Dee and the Three Deaths of Count Werdenfels is another tale of feuding vampires and the implacable justice of the titular Judge Dee. While travelling through the Alps with his put-upon human assistant Jonathan, Judge Dee is summoned to the Duchy of Bavaria to investigate the murder of a vampire. When they arrive at Castle Werdenfels, the Judge and Jonathan find no fewer than three potential culprits, each one claiming to have murdered the Count and proclaiming themselves the inheritors of the castle as a result.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Lives of Ferag Lion-Wolf – Barrington J. Bayley

First published in issue 14 of Black Library’s Inferno! Magazine way back in 1999, Barrington J. Bayley’s short story The Lives of Ferag Lion-Wolf is very much an ‘old 40k’ story – it’s still in keeping with the setting in tone, even if some of the details are a little out of place these days. Tzeentchian champion Ferag Lion-Wolf – traitor Space Marine, slayer of monsters, ruler of five worlds in the Eye of Terror – is on the cusp of ascending to daemonhood. As he greets a rival with honeyed words and false smiles he can’t help but boast of his prowess and god-given favour, but the Changer of Ways is a fickle master.

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QUICK REVIEW: Precious Little Things – Adrian Tchaikovsky

A prequel to his novella Made Things, Adrian Tchaikovsky’s short story Precious Little Things is a brilliant little story that’s full of magic and imagination, but isn’t afraid to deal with real-world issues too. In the soaring halls of the Tower live the varied tribes of the Homunculi, tiny creatures of wood, metal, paper, wax and more, brought to life by the power of the Maker. Roughly made of crude wood, Tam risks much to seek out gold for his daughter so that she can exceed the limitations of her humble origins, unintentionally setting her on a path that will change their entire society.

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QUICK REVIEW: His Will – Guy Haley

Labelled as ‘a Dark Imperium prequel story’, Guy Haley’s short story His Will features Frater Mathieu aboard the captured Macragge’s Honour, tying this character – and the Dark Imperium series as a whole – in nicely with the earlier Gathering Storm-era narrative around the return of Roboute Guilliman. With the Ultramarines’ flagship under the control of the Red Corsairs, Mathieu and his flock – including young, nervous Brother Clydeus – share their faith in secret, despite the dangers. When they risk the ire of the traitors to help a crewmember in need, Clydeus finds himself exposed to truths that challenge his faith like never before, but somehow bring hope as well.

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QUICK REVIEW: Live Wire – Robert Rath

With his third 40k Officio Assassinorum short story, Live Wire, Robert Rath returns to Callidus Assassin Sycorax (previously introduced in Divine Sanction) for a second instalment of stealthy, polymorphine-induced infiltration. At the frozen pole of Sanga Kappa, one of the twenty planets of the Meloc Worlds, the heretek Programmator Quavarian works to perfect a potentially deadly meme-virus. When engine-master Jezette Vaal is captured and brought to Quavarian’s base to be infected by the virus and ‘reformatted’ to serve the glory of Chaos, an unexpected chance to serve the Omnissiah one last time provides the cover that Sycorax needs to finally track down and deal with the heretek before he can do any more damage.

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QUICK REVIEW: There’s a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed – Edgar Cantero

Part of the ‘Amazon Original’ Dark Corners collection of spooky short stories, Edgar Cantero’s superbly named There’s a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed is a gleefully funny and beautifully observed tale of night-time terror at a children’s sleepover. Young bookworm Noah finds his evening derailed when his friend Ian calmly announces (from the top bunk) that there’s a giant trapdoor spider currently in residence beneath Noah’s bed (it dug a hole, so that it can fit). Thus begins a chain of bizarre events as Noah, Ian, Sam and Rina desperately try to keep clear of the giant spider, the antimatter shadows and various other hazards in the darkness of Noah’s bedroom.

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QUICK REVIEW: A Coin for the Carrion Thieves – John French

Taking place after the events of Ahriman: Unchanged, John French’s Warhammer 40,000 short story A Coin for the Carrion Thieves sees Thousand Sons sorcerer Ctesias called upon to put his particular set of skills to use in service of Ahzek Ahriman. Their forces drastically reduced in number and resources, the ragged remnants of Ahriman’s followers find sanctuary in the Eye of Terror, to hide from their enemies and to regroup and resupply. In the currency of Eyespace, what Ahriman needs most carries a high cost, so he turns to Ctesias’s daemonology to pay the price demanded by the scavenger-traders known as the Carrion Thieves.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Shaper of Scars – Marc Collins

Introducing the character of Katja Helvintr, daughter of Fenris, queen of her Rogue Trader dynasty and jarl of the Wyrmslayer Queen, Marc Collins’ 40k short story The Shaper of Scars is an intriguing tale of a battle being fought on both the physical and spiritual planes, and a culture clash between the rituals of Fenris and the strictures of the Imperium. As she lies on death’s door in the cold apothecarion of her ship, Katja relives the moments leading up to her grievous wounding, while medicae thralls tend to her ravaged body and an old gothi sees to her still-strong soul.

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QUICK REVIEW: Battle of the Archaeosaurs – Barrington J. Bayley

Originally published back in 2000 in the pages of Inferno! Magazine issue 18, Barrington J. Bayley’s Warhammer 40,000 short story Battle of the Archaeosaurs pits the pride of the Adeptus Titanicus against the might of vast saurian war-beasts. It’s Titans vs. dinosaurs, in other words. With two prior forces having bafflingly failed to take control of a backwater world and its Stone Age-level population, Imperial commanders dispatch a battle-hardened Imperial Guard regiment accompanied by a pair of Warlord Titans to finally get the job done. The Princeps’ confidence of a quick resolution, however, is dented when they see the sheer scale of what they’re up against.

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QUICK REVIEW: Death by a Thousand Gnaw-Bites – David Guymer

A typically devious tale of warring clans and dubious alliances, David Guymer’s Age of Sigmar short story Death by a Thousand Gnaw-Bites continues to demonstrate his skill at writing skaven. Forced out of their own holdings by the deadly war machines of Clan Zappitch, Things-Master Krowl and the tattered remnants of Clan Grench seek refuge with Clan Fetter and Under-Clawlord Thiskrule, agreeing upon a cunning plan that will benefit them both. Though clans Grench and Fetter have long been allies, the line between ally and enemy is paper-thin, but for Krowl the plan’s risks are outweighed by its potential rewards.

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