Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

QUICK REVIEW: Terminal Velocity – LJ Goulding

Another instalment in LJ Goulding’s growing body of Scythes of the Emperor stories, Terminal Velocity is a micro-short story that tells an unusual tale. Told from the first person perspective of an unnamed Scythe, it’s a dizzying depiction of a Space Marine’s absolute dedication as our nameless protagonist survives the destruction of his transport ship only to freefall from fourteen thousand metres. To say too much more would spoil the fun, but suffice to say his options are limited, without a functioning jump pack or any way of calling for support from his embattled brothers.

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Forgotten Texts: Words of Blood by Ben Counter

“Above everything…there is victory.”

A formative story from one of Black Library’s early fan favourites, Ben Counter’s Words of Blood pits Black Templars against Chaos cultists on the abandoned world of Empyrion IX. With only thirty Marines at his disposal, Commander Athellenas must find a way to stop an army thousands strong and led by the Manskinner, a powerful Chaos champion able to twist the souls of those around him to Khorne’s will. The consequences of failure are terrible, but Athellenas knows he has the tools to succeed. To do so however, he faces opposition from his own men as well as the enemy.

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Dante – Guy Haley

Despite being one of the great heroes in Warhammer 40,000, Guy Haley’s novel Dante is the first time the Blood Angels chapter master has been the subject of a Black Library book. Correcting that oversight in spectacular fashion, Haley weaves two narratives together to tell both an origin story and a contemporary tale, which picks up at the end of the Shield of Baal arc. Set 1,500 years apart they show Dante at wildly different stages of his life, but driven throughout by a desire to serve and protect, and are connected by a strong sense of purpose.

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Forgotten Texts: Ancient History by Andy Chambers

“But remember lads, there ain’t no words for every void-born thing.”

Set largely in the bowels of an Imperial Navy battleship, Andy Chambers’ Ancient History follows ex-smuggler Nathan as he’s press-ganged into brutal service in a gunnery deck work gang. As he adjusts to life as a slave to the Navy, he starts to learn more about the galaxy he lives in, and the oddities of the men he works alongside. It soon becomes clear that life is infinitely more dangerous than Nathan ever knew, although the enigmatic old hand Kron may hold clues to how he can survive the perils, and mysteries, of life in the deep void.

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QUICK REVIEW: Eminence Sanguis – Guy Haley

Included in the beautiful Limited Edition version of Guy Haley’s novel Dante and named for a specific Blood Angels vessel, the short story Eminence Sanguis takes place in 428.M41 and features as its main protagonist High Chaplain Hereon. Astorath the Grim’s predecessor, Hereon leads a small group of his brothers on a mission to the Chapter homeworld of the Angels Vermillion to ask some pointed question of this unusually secretive Chapter. Despite receiving a decidedly frosty reception, Hereon persists only to find that some answers reveal secrets best left untold.

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QUICK REVIEW: Hunting Ground – Ian St. Martin

Another Adeptus Titanicus short story, Ian St. Martin’s Hunting Ground is a natural companion piece to Rob Sanders’ The Ember Wolves, dealing as it does with the actions of a pack of Warhound Titans taking on a larger foe. This time they’re loyal Imperial Titans, of the Legio Debellator (loosely: Conqueror), joining a small force of Subjugators in the defence of an Adeptus Mechanicus forge world. Facing a corrupted Warlord Titan formerly of his own legio, princeps Asander must play to his pack’s strengths if he’s to succeed in his mission and uphold the honour of the legio.
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Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius – Darius Hinks

Better known for his Warhammer novels, Darius Hinks turns his attention to 40k with Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius, a story that’s ostensibly about the Blood Angels’ Chief Librarian’s battle with his own power and nature. When young Lexicanium Antros witnesses Mephiston’s facade of control start to crack, the threads of their fates become entangled, and Antros finds himself accompanying Mephiston to a strange, embattled shrine world. The Blood Angels must journey across a world whose population has been twisted against each other, hoping to find a singular relic that might hold to the key to truly unlocking Mephiston’s power.

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Forgotten Texts: Lacrymata by Storm Constantine

“Look upon me, navigator, with the eye that sees my soul.”

Storm Constantine’s only Black Library story, Lacrymata is the closest thing to a love story you’re likely to see set in the 41st millennium. It follows the crew of a warp-faring trading vessel, dispatched by its parent family to retrieve and return with a cargo of potentially dangerous narcotics. Solonaetz, its scarred and fragile navigator, strikes up a friendship with the fey astropath Shivania that soon blossoms into something more, much to the captain’s discomfort. When travelling through the warp though, emotions can be very dangerous…and doubly so for psykers.

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There and Back Again with Laurie Goulding – Part Two

In my latest interview with ex-Black Library editor Laurie Goulding we talked about what happened when Black Library was merged into the wider Publications department in Games Workshop, and how it eventually came back out the other side. If you’ve read the first part of this interview then I’m sure you’ll agree that it was a fascinating insight, but I hope you’ll also agree that despite some challenging times Black Library seems to be moving from strength to strength once more.

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Forgotten Texts: Tenebrae by Mark Brendan

“A harsh mistress indeed, and given to treachery at the last.”

Tenebrae, by Mark Brendan, is a rare 40k story in that it’s almost entirely free of blade- or gun-wielding action. A grim, hopeless tale of a world crushed by the hand of Chaos, it follows Imperial Governor Dane Cortez as he watches the final moments of the world he should have protected – Tenebrae, a world on the fringes of the Eye of Terra, perpetually shrouded in darkness. As the forces of Chaos run riot Cortez resigns himself to his failure, only to find that in the depths of his despair there lurks more than just fear and shame.

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