Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

The Infinite and the Divine – Robert Rath

For his debut Black Library novel, Robert Rath goes big with The Infinite and the Divine, a grand tale spanning thousands of years of bitter rivalry between two virtually immortal Necrons. Trazyn the Infinite (archaeovist and Overlord of Solemnace) and Orikan the Diviner (Master Astromancer of the Sautekh Dynasty) have been rivals since their days of flesh and blood, opposites in both outlook and temperament. After Orikan steals the Astrarium Mysterios from Trazyn’s galleries on Solemnace, their enmity escalates into a deadly feud as, over the course of millennia, each attempts to outdo the other in pursuit of the ancient artifact and the power (or in Trazyn’s case, the collectible history) they hope it can unlock.

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From Humble Beginnings: 40k Short Stories That Deserve Their Own Series

There’s a long history in Black Library fiction – and Warhammer 40,000 in particular – of characters who started off in short story form and went on to bigger things. From the early Inferno! days of Gaunt’s Ghosts and the Last Chancers, to Severina Raine and Sister Augusta more recently, characters who started off in a single short story have regularly gone on to feature in novels and novellas of their own, or simply long-running series of short stories. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some recent-ish 40k short stories and pick out a few which seem ripe for developing into longer stories, and whose characters (or settings) could go on to be the fan-favourites of the future.

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QUICK REVIEW: Duty Unto Death – Marc Collins

Few things are as bleakly heroic as a desperate stand against overwhelming odds, and in his Warhammer 40,000 short story Duty Unto Death Marc Collins ramps the concept up to eleven with a tale of the Adeptus Custodes standing against the ravening tyranid hordes. Stranded on the burning surface of a volcanic death world, a handful of Custodians make what preparations they can before the numberless swarms of alien monstrosities crash down upon them. As they stand their ground, determined to protect their precious cargo, the battlefield comes to represent the distant fortress the Custodes were engineered to defend.

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Danie Ware Talks Sisters of Battle and Women in 40k

Hello, and welcome to ‘Danie Ware Talks Sisters of Battle and Women in 40k’, in which I’m chatting to the fantastic Danie about her Adepta Sororitas fiction for Black Library, and her thoughts on the importance of female authors and characters in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. With her third Sisters of Battle novella – The Rose in Anger – just released, there’s no better time to find out more about this particular story, the Sister Augusta stories overall, and what it’s like being a woman writing badass 40k fiction!

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Author Spotlight: Justin Woolley

Welcome to this instalment of my Author Spotlight series of interviews, in which I’m chatting to author Justin Woolley about his background, his approach to writing and some of his published work to date. We’re also taking a look at his latest release in particular – Prisoners of WAAAGH!, Justin’s first novella for Black Library, which is available to order right now and looks like being a lot of fun! Read on to find out a bit more about this 40k novella, and get a few hints about what Justin’s working on for publication at some point in the future.

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A Traveller’s Guide to Peter Fehervari’s Dark Coil

With the release of the short story Altar of Maws (May 2023), Peter Fehervari’s catalogue of Warhammer 40,000 fiction – known informally as The Dark Coil – currently totals 18 stories. Every piece of 40k fiction is linked by taking place within a single shared universe, but The Dark Coil goes way beyond that. These stories share much deeper connections, between them forming a web of characters, locations, themes and recurring motifs that is gradually becoming more and more apparent as additional stories are published. One of the joys of reading Fehervari’s work is in unpicking these subtle connections, but it can be daunting to know where to start looking.

Welcome, then, to A Traveller’s Guide to the Dark Coil.

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QUICK REVIEW: Nightbleed – Peter Fehervari

The first of Peter Fehervari’s short stories officially released under the Warhammer Horror label, Nightbleed lives up to expectations as both a creepy, low-key horror story in its own right and an intriguing addition to The Dark Coil. In Carceri Hive, on the night-shrouded world of Sarastus, two souls find themselves bound together. Reduced to applying her skills for a dubious synth-protein supplier, ex-medicae Chel forces herself not to question where the raw materials come from, but suffers dark dreams nonetheless. In shadowed alleys, street prophet Skreech plans his next offering to the Night Below. As True Night approaches, the two spiral ever closer to a fateful meeting.

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RAPID FIRE: Guy Haley Talks Darkness in the Blood and Astorath: Angel of Mercy

Welcome to this instalment of my Rapid Fire series of quick author interviews, in which I’m talking to the incredibly hard-working and prolific Guy Haley about not one but two new books – Darkness in the Blood and Astorath: Angel of Mercy! Fans of Guy’s Warhammer 40,000 Blood Angels stories – primarily Dante and The Devastation of Baal – have got lots to look forward to with a pair of new additions, and seeing as both new books are due out within a few weeks of each other I’ve asked Guy to give us the lowdown on what we can expect, and how they fit in with the existing books.

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5 Lesser-Known Warhammer 40k Stories

Warhammer 40,000 is a huge, expansive setting, and Black Library churns out dozens of new stories every year, ranging from standalone short stories to grand, sweeping multi-novel series. In amongst the huge mass of 40k fiction out there, it’s inevitable that some stories don’t quite get the attention they deserve, especially bearing in mind BL’s relentless release schedule and the opportunities for new releases to fall through the cracks. Just because something isn’t mega popular doesn’t mean it isn’t worth tracking down and reading, however. In this article I’m taking a look at a few examples of 40k stories that – in my opinion – deserve to receive far more praise than I tend to see them getting.

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RAPID FIRE: Robert Rath Talks The Infinite and the Divine

Welcome to this instalment of my Rapid Fire series of quick author interviews, in which I’m chatting to Robert Rath about his debut novel for Black Library, The Infinite and the Divine. This exciting new Warhammer 40,000 title is the first full novel to feature the ancient technological menace of the necrons as its protagonists, and promises to be something a little different to the usual Black Library fare. It’s available to pre-order as of Saturday the 3rd October.

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