Interview with Laurie Goulding – Part One (November 2016)

I recently had the chance to sit down with and pose some questions to Laurie Goulding, Arch-Heretic and Herald of Pedantry, the man responsible for shepherding the colossal Horus Heresy series for Black Library. It’s not all Heresy though as Laurie also writes under the name LJ Goulding, and has his first full Black Library novel due for release early in 2017 – the Space Marine Battles book Slaughter at Giant’s Coffin.

Over a pretty wide-ranging interview we discuss his route through the hobby, how he wound up responsible for editing and commissioning the Horus Heresy, why he chose the Scythes of the Emperor as the subject of his first novel, and much more. In fact we covered so much ground that I’ve split the interview into two parts – in this first part we talk about Laurie’s background and how he found himself working for Black Library, and take a look at his work as a Black Library author, including the upcoming Scythes of the Emperor novel. 

Without further ado, let’s get straight on with the interview…
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The Beheading – Guy Haley (The Beast Arises Book Twelve)

This is the final book in the series, so beware – if you haven’t read all of the other eleven books, there may be spoilers ahead…

Black Library’s The Beast Arises series comes to an end with book twelve, Guy Haley’s The Beheading. After the heroics of Shadow of Ullanor the Imperium is still reeling and in need of leadership, but the High Lords of Terra have proved themselves unequal to the task. Elsewhere First Captain Zerberyn and Warsmith Kalkator are still battling against the orks, while back on Terra, Inquisitors Wienand and Veritus are laying plans against the ambitions of Grand Master Vangorich. All the while, Chapter Master Thane of the reformed Imperial Fists seems the obvious candidate to lead the Imperium forward…
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Black Library Weekly – W/C 21/11/16

Hello and welcome to another instalment of Black Library Weekly, where I take a look at the Black Library-related news from the week just gone – announcements, pre-orders and new releases.

The presence of the big pieces of Games Workshop news has been felt throughout this week – the follow-up from Black Library Live, the release of the new edition of Blood Bowl, and the announcement of the next big thing in Warhammer 40,000. Each of these have contributed to what’s been a pretty impressive (and potentially expensive) week for fans of the hobby, as has the inevitable shadow of Christmas looming ever larger. Read on for more details…
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Sons of Titan – David Annandale

A compilation of four Grey Knights stories, David Annandale’s Sons of Titan tells a single story over four different tales, all featuring Justicar Styer. It combines together the previously-released novella Maledictus and the prose versions of two audio dramas (Incorruptible and True Name) along with a short story currently only available in this book (The Mourning Tower). Set in and around the Sanctus Reach system, and tying loosely in with other stories set therein, it sees Styer leading his men alongside Inquisitor Furia, following the strands of fate to try and put a stop to worryingly vague daemonic threats.
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The Master of Mankind – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

The clue is in the title. Book forty-one of Black Library’s colossal Horus Heresy series, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s The Master of Mankind brings The Emperor front and centre. Set five years after Magnus the Red’s intrusion into the Great Work it sees the forces of the Imperium losing the webway war against the endless hordes of daemons and traitors pouring in. Even the combined might of the Custodes, Sisters of Silence and the Mechanicum isn’t enough to avoid being them pushed ever further backwards, as long as The Emperor remains away from the front lines. Meanwhile something stalks the fringes of the conflict, unseen.
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Black Library Live Coming Soon – Age of Sigmar

In the last of three posts covering the new titles announced at Black Library Live 2016, this time I’m looking at a couple of newly-announced titles for the Warhammer Age of Sigmar range – both by the incredibly productive Josh Reynolds.

As with the previous posts (on the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 and Horus Heresy titles) there were no release dates given for either of these new titles, and neither of these have got covers yet.

We didn’t get a lot of details on these in the seminar, but I spoke to Josh Reynolds, author of both titles, who gave me a little bit of information about each of them.
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Black Library Live Coming Soon – The Horus Heresy

In the second of three posts covering the new titles announced at Black Library Live 2016, I’m taking a look here at the upcoming Horus Heresy releases (including the Primarchs series). I’ve included comments from series editor Laurie Goulding alongside some of the titles, to give a little extra detail.

As with the previous post (on the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 titles) it’s worth remembering that these are not necessarily listed in publication order – no release dates were given. Once again I’ve not included anything that (at the time of writing) is showing up in the Coming Soon section of the Black Library website.
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Black Library Live Coming Soon – Warhammer 40,000

The first seminar of Black Library Live 2016 was all about what’s coming up in the next year or so from Black Library. Featuring Nick Kyme and Laurie Goulding, it saw our two intrepid editors running through a load of upcoming titles from various settings, and providing a little bit of background to most of them. I got the distinct impression that this may not be all of the new releases for next year, as I think they’re keen to keep some things back as surprises, but they covered a good number of titles.

I’ve listed out all of the titles that were mentioned in the first seminar, with as much detail as I have about each. There were so many new releases that I’ve split things out into multiple posts, beginning in this one with the new Warhammer 40,000 titles. It’s worth pointing out that these are in no particular order as release dates were not provided, that I’m not including anything that’s currently (at the time of writing) displayed in the Coming Soon section on the Black Library website, and that some of these covers are going to change before publication.
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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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Black Library Weekly – W/C 14/11/16

Hello and welcome to another instalment of Black Library Weekly, where I take a look at the Black Library-related news from the week just gone – announcements, pre-orders and new releases.

After a few quiet weeks without a huge amount to get Black Library fans’ pulses racing, it was starting to feel as though that was becoming the norm. This week started off slowly, but as the days passed and the weekend approached things started to hot up – looking back it’s actually been a pretty exciting week. Here’s the lowdown…
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