Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

Sanction and Sin: Warhammer Crime and Women in Black Library – with J.S. Collyer, Victoria Hayward, Jude Reid and Danie Ware

Hello and welcome to this very special author interview here on Track of Words, where today I’m talking to no fewer than four fantastic authors – J.S. Collyer, Victoria Hayward, Jude Reid and Danie Ware – about their stories in the new Warhammer Crime anthology Sanction & Sin from Black Library. It’s always great to see new stories published in the Warhammer Crime range, and Sanction & Sin sounds like a fantastic collection of stories exploring some really interesting angles on Warhammer 40,000 as a setting. More than that though, it’s something of a landmark for Black Library as the first anthology to feature stories from four female authors.

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Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! – Nate Crowley

Nate Crowley puts his wild imagination to darkly hilarious use with the fantastic Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh!, effortlessly elevating Warhammer 40,000 orks into compelling, thought-provoking characters. Relatively short but wide-ranging, it’s structured around the central conceit of a radical Ordo Xenos inquisitor interrogating a captured grot claiming to be Makari, the banner bearer of Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. As Inquisitor Falx and her unusual retinue question Makari – via a somewhat suspicious interpreter – they’re gradually presented with both an origin story for Ghazghkull and a jaw-dropping exploration of greenskin culture and the orkish mindset. Orks not being known for their trustworthiness though, the Imperials have to wonder how much they can trust and what the implications might be if Makari’s story is actually true.

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40k Reading Order: The Horusian Wars – John French

Hello and welcome to another 40k Reading Order article, where this time I’m offering a recommended reading order for the various stories that make up John French’s excellent Horusian Wars series. If you’ve ever wanted to read these dark tales exploring the warring factions within the Holy Orders of the Emperor’s Inquisition, but haven’t known where to start, then look no further than this article! With John’s very kind assistance I’ve put together a comprehensive list of all of the Horusian Wars stories to date – which include novels, short stories and audio dramas – based on their in-universe chronological order.

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40k Reading Order: Ultramarines and Iron Warriors – Graham McNeill

Welcome to this 40k Reading Order article, where today I’m actually looking at two series which intersect and overlap, both by Graham McNeill, as part of an ongoing set of articles in which I’m providing recommended orders for various Black Library series. The Ultramarines series – (mostly) featuring Uriel Ventris – and the Iron Warriors series – featuring Warsmith Honsou – can be read separately, but fit together brilliantly to form one larger whole, and between them they include almost 30 stories. Graham has kindly provided his suggested (in-universe chronological) reading order for the whole lot, so if you’ve ever wanted to read these series but haven’t known where to start, look no further than this article!

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40k Reading Order: Sister Augusta – Danie Ware

Welcome to this 40k Reading Order article, where this time I’m taking a look at Danie Ware’s Sister Augusta series of Adepta Sororitas stories. This is part of an ongoing set of articles where I’m looking at a range of Black Library series and providing recommended orders in which to read the various stories. At the time of writing there are three novellas, one novel and a range of short stories available in the Sister Augusta series, and with a little help from Danie I’ve put together two reading lists – one for a recommended reading order, and one for the chronological (in-universe) order in which the stories take place. If you’ve ever wanted to read this series but haven’t known where to start, then look no further than this article!

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RAPID FIRE: Edoardo Albert Talks Silent Hunters

Welcome to this instalment of my Rapid Fire series of author interviews – today I’m speaking to Edoardo Albert about his first full Black Library novel – Silent Hunters, a Warhammer 40,000 novel featuring the Carcharadons. It’s available to buy now in hardback, ebook and audiobook editions, so if you’d like to know more about what to expect from this book and Edoardo’s take on the Carcharadons, read on! To begin with, here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

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QUICK REVIEW: The Carbis Incident – Victoria Hayward

Released as part of Black Library’s digital-only ‘Inquisition Week’ in January 2021, The Carbis Incident marks the BL debut of Victoria Hayward with a tale of the Ordo Xenos and a world recently surfaced from a warp storm. The venerable Inquisitor Venicii and his small retinue land on Carbis and begin to hack their way through its jungles, following in the unreliable footsteps of the last man to escape before the world was swallowed by the warp storm. While Venicii remains tight-lipped as to the purpose of their search, Interrogator Esme Mzinga grows increasingly concerned over the erratic behaviour of her mentor and the unsettling nature of the world upon which they walk.

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40k Reading Order: Silver Skulls – Sarah Cawkwell

Welcome to this 40k Reading Order article, the first of many where I’ll be taking a look at a range of Black Library series and providing recommended orders in which to read the various stories – in this case Sarah Cawkwell’s excellent Warhammer 40,000 Silver Skulls stories. If you’ve ever wanted to read this series but haven’t known where to start, then look no further than this article! With a little help from Sarah, including a handy page on her website, I’ve put together a comprehensive list of all of her Silver Skulls stories, along with a couple of other stories that link off at a bit of a tangent and some suggestions for what to read next.

As well as the recommended reading order, I’ve also included a breakdown of each story with the publisher’s synopsis, suggestions of the best way to get hold of each one, and links out to my review where they’re available.

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A Few Thoughts On: The Magos by Dan Abnett

The (unexpected) fourth book in Dan Abnett’s classic Eisenhorn trilogy, The Magos is an unusual book for a few reasons. Firstly, while it’s a (relatively short) novel in its own right it’s presented in a hefty volume with the full title of The Magos & the Definitive Casebook of Gregor Eisenhorn, alongside a dozen of Dan Abnett’s short stories which sit alongside his Eisenhorn, Ravenor and Bequin trilogies. More on these later. Secondly, it’s definitely part of the Eisenhorn series yet it’s a very different kind of story to Xenos, Malleus and Hereticus, told as it is in third person from the viewpoint of magos biologis Valentin Drusher, rather than in Eisenhorn’s own first person perspective. Thirdly, while it was published after Pariah, it works as an effective prequel to that novel, providing a natural evolution of Eisenhorn’s character between the end of Hereticus and the start of the Bequin trilogy.

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RAPID FIRE: Dan Abnett Talks Penitent

Welcome to this instalment of my Rapid Fire series of author interviews, where today I’m delighted to be talking to the legendary Dan Abnett about his new Warhammer 40,000 novel Penitent, the second book in his Bequin trilogy for Black Library. It’s been nine years since the first book in the series – Pariah – was released, but the wait is finally over, with Penitent available to pre-order today in all the usual formats! For those who aren’t already familiar with the whole ‘Inquisition Cycle’ I’ve asked Dan to talk a bit about the whole thing first of all, before giving us the lowdown on what to expect from Penitent.

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