Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

Inferno! Volume 5 – Black Library Anthology

After the name was resurrected by Black Library in 2018 for an ongoing series of short story anthologies (as opposed to the original bi-monthly magazines), Inferno! has now reached Volume 5 – featuring 12 brand new tales of action, adventure, death and destruction. With a mix of established BL authors and newer names, these stories span Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, Warcry and Necromunda, ranging from pitched battles to struggles with very personal daemons, and from hardened warriors to weary healers. Whatever your interest in Warhammer and Black Library, chances are there’s a story or two for you here – and all 12 are brand new and never previously released, too.

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QUICK REVIEW: Loyal to the End – Thomas Parrott

Thomas Parrott’s Warhammer 40,000 short story Loyal to the End is a tale of Imperial Knights told from the viewpoint of a Knight Armiger pilot, elevated to her position from peasant stock rather than through noble birth. Utterly loyal to House Viti and her liege lord Sir Valeon, Bondswoman Constance battles the forces of Chaos on the beleaguered Forge World of Agripinaa, fighting alongside her fellow Knights until disaster befalls them. Forced to flee and strike out on her own, Constance must find a way back to Imperial forces in time to warn her House of a terrible danger.

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Watchers of the Throne: The Regent’s Shadow – Chris Wraight

Book two in the Watchers of the Throne series, Chris Wraight’s novel The Regent’s Shadow picks up where 2017’s phenomenal The Emperor’s Legion left off, and delivers another brilliant slice of Warhammer 40,000 storytelling. In the wake of Roboute Guilliman’s departure to lead the Indomitus Crusade, Terra begins the process of returning to some kind of new normality. With a reshuffled council of High Lords and a populace still suffering, however, discontent and disorder is growing on the Throneworld. Sister of Silence Aleya, Custodian Valerian and new Imperial Chancellor Anna-Murza Jek each find their roles fundamentally changed in Guilliman’s wake, and set out in their own ways to understand what those changes mean.

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Lords of the Storm – Edoardo Albert

Edoardo Albert’s Warhammer 40,000 novella Lords of the Storm is his first longer-form story for Black Library, a tale of the Primaris-only Fulminators chapter of Space Marines exploring their relationship with the mortals whose lives they safeguard. On the shrine world of Chevreuse, home to the sacred bones of Saint Blaise, the forces of the Ruinous Powers move ever closer to victory. Montalte, of the loyal Faithful, is tasked with guiding a small force of Fulminators (Sergeant Augustin and his Reivers) to the saint’s remains, navigating the dangers of Chaos cultists, traitor Guard and a living storm apparently conjured up by the saint himself.

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QUICK REVIEW: Savage – Guy Haley

Available in either Warriors and Warlords or the Black Library Events Anthology 2018/19, Guy Haley’s Imperial Guard short story Savage provides a quiet, thoughtful accompaniment to his novel Shadowsword. Alongside the rest of the Paragonian Seventh, the crew of the Cortein’s Honour are at rest, whiling away their time under the baking Omdurman sun. When whispers of redeployment begin circulating, Senior Loader Gollph is drawn into an illicit scheme which relies on the prejudicial views many of the Paragonians hold about his people, the Bosvodar, who hail from a feral world and are considered slow and primitive by many.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Jagged Edge – Maria Haskins

For her debut Black Library story Maria Haskins tackles a tale of desperation, sacrifice and familial bonds within the Imperial Guard in The Jagged Edge. Sergeant Aurelia Shale and her squad of Keplerian Scrappers are sent on a dangerous mission to infiltrate and destroy an enemy-held manufactorum, approaching through tunnels in the mountains of Kepler-Gamma. Accompanying them is Commissar Theodora Shale, Aurelia’s sister – in the darkness beneath the Jagged Edge, Aurelia must contend with not just the heretic cultists of the enemy but her painful memories of a once-close sibling who abandoned her long ago and never really returned.

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Anthemas – Warhammer Horror Anthology

Black Library’s third Warhammer Horror short story anthology, Anthemas follows in the footsteps of Maledictions and Invocations not just in terms of the naming convention and visual design, but by offering up a compelling collection of low-key tales highlighting the strange, sinister fringes of the 40k and Age of Sigmar universes. Across fourteen stories from thirteen authors, all but two of which are published here for the first time, it’s an exploration of characters driven by fear and desperation, ordinary people just trying to survive in the midst of terrible, horrifying worlds. These are stories to unsettle, that keep you wondering where they’re going and leave you feeling uncomfortable afterwards.

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RAPID FIRE: David Annandale Talks Saga of the Beast

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with 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.

This time around I spoke to Black Library author David Annandale about his new Warhammer 40,000 audio drama Saga of the Wolf, an epic four-hour-plus story featuring the legendary Ragnar Blackmane and Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka! It’s available to order now either in MP3 or as a five-disc boxed set, so if you’ve ever wondered what a battle between Space Wolves and Orks would sound like…now’s your chance to find out!

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QUICK REVIEW: War In The Museum – Robert Rath

Featuring one of Warhammer 40,000’s most idiosyncratic characters, Robert Rath’s short story War In The Museum sees Trazyn the Infinite, necron overlord of dubious sanity but boundless curiosity, hard at work in his museum of living wonders. While rehydrating a tyranid Hive Tyrant ready for it to take pride of place in one of his installations, something seems amiss – and at first Trazyn approaches the problem with confidence, for what could possibly threaten him in his own galleries? When it becomes clear that a particularly dangerous specimen has got loose, however, he seeks out allies from amongst his exhibits.

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The Oubliette – JC Stearns

Part of the growing Warhammer Horror range, The Oubliette is JC Stearns’ debut Black Library novel, a grim tale of bitter political rivalry on an isolated Imperial world. With her father and older brother dead in suspicious circumstances, Ashielle Matkosen takes up the mantle of Governor of Ceocan, trying to process her grief even as she fights to establish her reign with political enemies all around. When those enemies threaten her life, as well as her position, in desperation Ashielle turns to an ancient presence she encounters in the darkness under the palace; a creature with the power to protect her, but whose assistance comes with a high cost.

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