Tag Archives: Necromunda

Inferno! Volume 1 – Tales From the Worlds of Warhammer

Way back in 1997, issue 1 of Inferno! magazine was the first publication from a newly-created Black Library, featuring short stories, artwork and comic strips exploring the Warhammer settings. Fast forward to 2018 and Inferno! Volume 1 is the first in a new series of short story anthologies which promise to breathe new life into the Inferno! name. The eleven featured short stories cover Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Necromunda and even Warhammer Chronicles (tales from the Old World), and come from the keyboards of Black Library authors both old and new – including three never-before-seen stories from Black Library debutants (not to be confused with debutantes).

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QUICK REVIEW: Dirty Dealings – Rachel Harrison

Kora Zekk, protagonist of Rachel Harrison’s Necromunda short story Dirty Dealings, is a sharp, tough, hard-nosed hustler. She’s also not what she claims to be. Written in a noirish first person, full of cynical observations on life in the underhive and deadpan immodesty, she talks us through the stages of a meticulously planned con, starting with selling exotic weaponry to a gang of Orlocks but leading up to something much bigger. It’s Kora against the world, but you get the sense she’s more than capable of taking on the challenge.

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QUICK REVIEW: Once a Stimm Queen – Robbie MacNiven

Robbie MacNiven’s Necromunda short story Once a Stimm Queen tackles the strained relationship between two rival gangs, with the added complication of the underhive’s black-clad Enforcers getting in the way of cooperation. Sy and Jennix are both juves in the Escher gang the Stimm Queens, out on a routine job running stimms for a Goliath gang when the Enforcers strike and Sy makes a risky break for safety. Years later, the Enforcers get involved once again in Stimm Queens business, only this time Jannix is older and wiser, and won’t go down without a fight.

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QUICK REVIEW: Scar Crossed – Nick Kyme

Nick Kyme’s tongue-in-cheek Necromunda short story Scar Crossed borrows heavily, as you might have gathered from the title, from Romeo and Juliet, as a drunk named Bharde tells a tale of forbidden love in the underhive…to save his own skin. It follows two juves, Rom – a Goliath – and Juli – an Escher – as they make an ill-fated bid to forge a bright future together despite the ill-will of their respective Houses. When true love is at stake, what could stop them being together…aside from two gangs of violent, armed-to-the-teeth underhivers and an untrustworthy bounty hunter?

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QUICK REVIEW: Emp-Rah’s Eye – Guy Haley

A story within a story, Guy Haley’s Emp-Rah’s Eye delves into the oral traditions of the ratskins, and the initiation rites required for a young brave to become the story singer of the Five Eyes tribe. Two Tails, the current incumbent, knows that he’s dying. With five braves before him, one of whom will take his place, he tells the tale of Kopa, who made the perilous journey from Five Eyes territory all the way to the surface of the hive, to look up to the Emp-Rah’s watchful eye and tell Him that the Five Eyes tribe still lives.

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QUICK REVIEW: Burned – Darius Hinks

A blackly funny tale of betrayal and manipulation, Darius Hinks’ Necromunda short story Burned sees a long-dead Goliath ganger return to haunt his former partners. Told in first person by an unnamed narrator, it takes place many years after three Goliaths’ attempt to steal a priceless artifact led to their partnership ending in betrayal and the death of one of their number at our narrator’s hands. Now Thornax has returned out of the blue, so the narrator sets out to locate the third of their group and find a way to not just survive but profit from the unexpected situation.

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QUICK REVIEW: Death’s Head – Josh Reynolds

The first new Necromunda story from Black Library for over a decade, Josh Reynolds’ Death’s Head tells the tale of Topek Greel, an unusually literate young Goliath ganger sent on a dangerous initiation mission. Muscling his way to the dirty streets of Down Town, Greel is on the hunt for the legendarily lethal hired gun Lothar Hex – the Widwomaker – with instructions from his boss to return with Hex or not at all. Greel is savvier than most Goliaths, and he’s going to need all of his brawn and brains if he’s to survive his mission to find the Widowmaker.

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Black Library at the Horus Heresy and Necromunda Weekender 2018

The weekend of the 3rd and 4th of February saw a few hundred Warhammer fans descend upon the Nottingham Belfry for the sixth annual Horus Heresy Weekender event, except in 2018 the mould was broken with the addition of Necromunda. While you could look at this as the first step towards a future Forge World Weekender, covering all of the different games created and supported by Forge World, this year’s event it was officially labelled the Horus Heresy and Necromunda Weekender. It’s a bit of a mouthful – doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue – but there you go.

As always, Black Library were in attendance with a range of guests to support their Horus Heresy fiction line, and also to talk about upcoming Necromunda releases. As you might expect, that was the main draw for me at this event – I do like the miniatures and the games, but my main interest is always the fiction, so I focused my attention for the most part on that side of things over the weekend. Unlike the Black Library Weekender I’m not going to do quite such a comprehensive write up looking at individual seminars, but I do want to talk a little bit about the event overall, and relay some interesting Black Library-related information I picked up while I was there.

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Survival Instinct – Andy Chambers

Andy Chambers’ classic 2005 Necromunda novel Survival Instinct is the story of spire-born noblewoman turned underhive legend D’onne Ulanti, otherwise known as ‘Mad’ Donna. After receiving a message which dredges up ancient history, Donna finds herself on a danger-filled journey that leads ever-deeper into the underhive, and the dark corners of her past. Braving the attentions of merciless bounty hunters and all the many and varied dangerous inhabitants of the underhive, and with a little help from friends in low places, she uses her wits, charm and copious weaponry to blaze a trail from Glory Hole (ahem) to the sump.

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Forgotten Texts: Alex Hammond Talks The Demon Bottle

A couple of months ago I posted a Forgotten Texts review for Alex Hammond’s first Necromunda short story The Demon Bottle. Alex has kindly agreed to a quick interview looking back at the time that he spent writing for Black Library and his thoughts on the various stories he wrote back in those early days. Without further ado, let’s get straight on with the interview…

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