RAPID FIRE: Josh Reynolds Talks Soul Wars

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

In this instalment I spoke to Josh Reynolds, who’s a regular to Rapid Fire, being an incredibly prolific writer for Black Library His latest novel is Soul Wars, which ties into the brand new version of Warhammer Age of Sigmar – and is available to order as of tomorrow.

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QUICK REVIEW: By Your Command – Gav Thorpe

A stylised but brilliantly effective short story, Gav Thorpe’s By Your Command ties into his novel Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah (it’s included in the special edition hardback) by virtue of its setting, but works very well as a standalone. Deep within the Imperator Titan Casus Belli, a maniple of Kastelan battle robots is awakened and tasked with defending the Titan against invading Heretic Astartes. Told from the perspective of the Kastelan Alpha-6-Terror, it’s a story which delves into the inner workings and thought processes of the robot even as the bolt shells are flying.

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Neferata: Mortarch of Blood – David Annandale

Click here to check out my Rapid Fire interview with David Annandale about Neferata: Mortarch of Blood.

For David Annandale’s first Age of Sigmar novel he’s tackled one of the surviving characters from the World-that-Was, in Neferata: Mortarch of Blood. It’s a two-strand novel, one taking place in the distant past and the other immediately after the events of CL Werner’s Lord of Undeath. In the Age of Myth, Neferata fights to maintain control of her city Nulahmia against an uprising of once-loyal citizens inciting rebellion, while in the Age of Sigmar she works to regain control of Nulahmia after Nagash punished her by granting control of half the city to Arkhan the Black and his servants.

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Black Library Weekly – W/C 04/06/18

Hello and welcome to the latest instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. It’s been an interesting week on the BL front – not the busiest in terms of brand new releases (next week looks good for that) but with plenty to talk about nonetheless. Let’s get cracking, from the top (and back to the usual layout)…

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The Darkness in the Glass – David Annandale, David Guymer & Guy Haley

A collection of three Shadespire-set Age of Sigmar audio dramas, each released initially as part of the 2017 Advent Calendar, The Darkness in the Glass consists of Doombound by David Annandale, A Place of Reflection by David Guymer and The Autumn Prince by Guy Haley. With a collected running time of around 70 minutes, each of the audios is only short, but they tell three standalone, unconnected stories featuring a range of different characters – Stormcast, Bloodbound, and an aelven prince among others. Set within the confines of Shadespire, they each show a different aspect of the Mirrored City.

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Legends of Bilgewater: Tall Tales of the Deep Sea – Anthony Reynolds

A multi-part League of Legends audio drama, Legends of Bilgewater: Tall Tales of the Deep Sea consists of a series of interlinked stories by Anthony Reynolds that are equal parts superstitious sailor tales and moral stories. In a busy dockside bar in Bilgewater, old seadog Lars spins stories of meeting legendary figures like Nautilus and Tahm Kench in exchange for keeping him in his cups. Though he keeps his audience entertained with fantastical stories of his youthful exploits, there’s a darkness running through his tales – these legends of the sea rarely end well, after all.

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QUICK REVIEW: Defiant – Andy Clark

A short story in his Imperial Knights series, Andy Clark’s Defiant sits somewhere between Kingsblade and Knightsblade and sees Lady Jennika Tan Draconis still coming to terms with her role as First Knight of Adrastapol. The darkly pious Imperial world of Pyrodiah burns under the assault of endless waves of necrons, but the Knights of Adrastapol walk in its defence. Tasked with retrieving the planetary governor before the capital city is overrun, Jennika leads several lances of Knights into battle, however she faces not only the soulless necrons but the prejudices of her own warriors.

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Mechanicum – Graham McNeill

Graham McNeill’s Horus Heresy novel Mechanicum is book nine in the series, and McNeill’s third contribution, but it’s a book of firsts as well – the first proper look at Mars and the Mechanicum (ever, really, but certainly in the Heresy series), the first depiction of Imperial Knights in Black Library fiction, and the first female-led Heresy novel. Young scribe Dalia Cythera is whisked off to Mars by Adept Koriel Zeth, who puts her innate understanding of technology to use working on a ground-breaking project. Meanwhile tensions are mounting between rival factions on Mars, even bringing the Titan Legions into conflict.

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Black Library Weekly – W/C 28/05/18

Hello and welcome to the latest instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. After the contention of last week things have calmed down a bit on the Black Library front, but despite only a single brand new release it’s actually been quite a busy week. With a seriously dark short story, a couple of author interviews, a bunch of paperbacks, a surprise audiobook and another month’s worth of upcoming releases…there’s plenty to look at.

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Monthly Highlights – May 2018

Another month gone by, another month’s worth of reviews to look back on and pick a few highlights to round up. I’ve slightly slowed down in terms of writing and posting reviews on here, but there’s still been plenty of great stories to choose from. In fact, so many of the stories I read in May were genuinely excellent that it was quite a tough decision to pick just one as an overall highlight…but I managed, just about! I’ve also picked out a couple more choices that deserve a mention, as usual, and as with last month all three are from Black Library. It’s perhaps no surprise that two of them are Age of Sigmar stories, as I’ve been making a concerted effort to catch up on stories set in the Mortal Realms.

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