Category Archives: Short Stories

QUICK REVIEW: The Road of Blades – Josh Reynolds

Day four of Black Library’s Advent Calendar sees the first Age of Sigmar story, in the shape of The Road of Blades by Josh Reynolds. Tying in loosely with his Black Rift novel and setting things up for the upcoming The Eight Lamentations, it follows Ahazian Kel, Deathbringer of Khorne, as he searches for the Road of Blades that will lead him further on his path to claiming ever more powerful weapons. Constantly being tested as he strives to prove himself in the eyes of the Blood God, he uses both his strength and his wits on the perilous journey.
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QUICK REVIEW: Into Exile – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Day three of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar takes us back to the Horus Heresy with Into Exile by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, in which technoarchaologist Arkhan Land finds himself caught up in the rebellion on Mars. With the red planet burning around him and enemies keen to either capture or kill him, Land has to abandon his home and put his faith in the Imperial Fists to see him safely off the surface. His flight is not unopposed however, as a hunter is on his trail, and even his vaunted intellect can’t protect him.
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QUICK REVIEW: The Maiden of the Dream – John French

Day two of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar brings us The Maiden of the Dream by John French, the second ‘story of the Horusian Wars’ after The Purity of Ignorance. The titular Maiden is Mylasa, a powerful psyker who, as one of Inquisitor Covenant’s acolytes, uses her gifts to interrogate prisoners of the Inquisition and purge their memories. Can she be trusted, however? Beneath the accumulated memories ripped from the minds of others, is her soul still pure? Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW: Manglers Never Lose – Josh Reynolds

The release of a brand new edition of Blood Bowl provides a perfect opportunity for Black Library to produce accompanying stories, the first of which is Manglers Never Die by Josh Reynolds. When Middenplatz Manglers star player Marius Hertz is found dead on the morning of a crucial game, head coach Tyros Bundt turns to necromancy in order to avoid forfeiting the match. In the bonkers world of Blood Bowl that isn’t even the craziest thing to happen in this story!
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QUICK REVIEW: Do Eagles Still Circle the Mountain? – Graham McNeill

The second story from the Honour of the Space Marines anthology to get a standalone e-short release, Graham McNeill’s Do Eagles Still Circle the Mountain? picks up the story of Uriel Ventris between the end of The Chapter’s Due and the as yet unreleased The Swords of Calth. Engaged against the orks on Sycorax, when circumstances change and the Ultramarines’ mission changes from assault to survival, Ventris and his warriors of the Fourth look for refuge away from the sucking mud flats. A Mechanicus facility offers shelter, but it also provides a troubling mystery for the captain to consider.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Burden of Angels – Nick Kyme

Another story previously only available in an anthology (the limited edition Honour of the Space Marines), Nick Kyme’s The Burden of Angels follows on from the events of his Tome of Fire trilogy, focusing on Tu’Shan, Chapter Master of the Salamanders. Meeting with his opposite number in the Blood Angels to renew oaths of brotherhood, Tu’Shan seeks guidance from Chapter Master Dante, who he holds as a figure of virtue and nobility. When circumstances pit the two chapters against each other, he finds his perception of the virtuous Dante challenged, and his own humanity tested.
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QUICK REVIEW: The Fissure – Nik Vincent

Another anthology tale given the e-short treatment, Nik Vincent’s The Fissure was previously only available in the Sabbat Crusade anthology. While set in the Dan Abnett-created/curated Sabbat Worlds this is an Iron Snakes story as opposed to the usual Gaunt’s Ghosts fare, and sees a squad of three Marines sent to Formal Prime when something evil is unearthed in the foundations of a new hive. Told in an unusual structure interspersing action scenes with Ithacan funeral rites, the story gradually unfolds as the full horror of what lurks beneath the hive is revealed and the Iron Snakes’ heroism is aptly displayed.
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QUICK REVIEW: In Service Eternal – Matt Smith

A new short story from a new Black Library author, Matt Smith’s In Service Eternal sees Wing Commander Arden Graves and the pilots of the 41st Antropia Aerial Division in action in the murky skies of the gas giant Antropia. Veterans pulled back from the front lines, the 41st act as both test pilots and air cover for Antropia’s Adeptus Mechanicus cohorts. Responding to reports of missing mining servitors in the depths of the planet’s rocky core, Graves leads his Valkyries in a reconnaissance flight which rapidly escalates into a much deadlier mission.
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QUICK REVIEW: Ork Hunter – Dan Abnett

An old short story first published in the Black Library anthology Words of Blood, Dan Abnett’s Ork Hunter follows Corporal Ondy Scalber of the Jopall Indentured as he and his fellow guardsmen blunder through the Armageddon swamps under the ‘guidance’ of the wild Sergeant Keyser and his Ork Hunters. As feral as the orks they hunt, indifferent to the fates of the ‘skinbait’ Jopall, Keyser and his men are ruthless killers compared to whom the Jopall are careless children. To survive, Scalber will have to adapt to his environment, the enemy he hunts, and the company he keeps.

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QUICK REVIEW: Massacre – Aaron Demsbki-Bowden

Also available in the Eye of Terra anthology, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Horus Heresy short story Massacre takes a quick look at the cast of the Night Lords trilogy in their pre-40k incarnations. That’s right, it shows Talos, Xarl, Cyrion and even the Exalted as they all were back in the days of the Heresy, pre- and during the Dropsite Massacre. Seen through Apothecary Talos’s eyes it’s a rare chance to see these fan-favourite characters in their prime – cynical, callous warriors given to black humour, snide commentary and an unfair fight.
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