Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

Sepulturum – Nick Kyme

Nick Kyme makes his novel-length introduction to the Warhammer Horror imprint with Sepulturum, a (short) 40k novel pitting a lone inquisitor against shadowy, hidden enemies and the terror of an endless horde of zombies. Morgravia Sanctus is in the hive city of Blackgeist hunting for…something, but she can’t remember what. All she knows for sure is that she’s in pain, afflicted by terrible waking dreams, and no longer the hunter. Battered and bloody, she seeks out a way to reclaim her memories and complete her mission, only to be swept up in a tide of blood as Blackgeist’s population succumbs to some kind of zombie plague.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Death of Uriel Ventris – Graham McNeill

Graham McNeill’s provocatively-titled short story The Death of Uriel Ventris, available in Warriors and Warlords or the Black Library Events Anthology 2018/19, revisits a much-loved Black Library hero in a thoughtful, action-light story of consequences and change. As Uriel Ventris lies dying, the Captain of the Ultramarines 4th Company finds his mind disassociating, and he relives – in a way – the pain and suffering that forged him into the Space Marine he would eventually become. Unaware of what’s happening to his physical body, he’s tested in spirit by not just physical and emotional pain but also the manifestation of his greatest fears.

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QUICK REVIEW: Unification – Chris Wraight

Chris Wraight’s short story Unification, available in the special edition hardback of The Lords of Silence or the Warriors and Warlords anthology, shows Vorx of the Death Guard – main protagonist of The Lords of Silence – in various earlier incarnations, sort of ‘Vorx through the ages’. When the Death Guard fight alongside Blood Angels in a pre-Heresy compliance, Blood Angels captain Camanio offers Vorx an insult that leaves him speechless. As Vorx recalls his youth on Barbarus fighting by his primarch’s side, the gravity of Camanio’s insult – what it means to the Death Guard – becomes clear. Much later, so too do the consequences.

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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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