With much of my contemporary reading in service to writing reviews, audiobooks are my chance to “play catch-up” on the older catalogue of Black Library books. What you will find in this occasional feature is neither a full, formal book review nor a simple blurb, but rather something comfortably in between: impressions.

You might be surprised to learn that today’s book, Daemonslayer, isn’t just the third novel in William King’s Gotrek & Felix series, but also the first original novel.

Wait, what?

In the publishing industry, a “fix-up” novel is one that is assembled from pre-existing short stories. When the Black Library editors offered Dan Abnett the opportunity to do a Gaunt’s Ghosts book following the positive reception his short stories had garnered, their suggestion was that make a fix-up from them. Abnett refused, writing First & Only as an original novel- but then returned to the fix-up idea for the second book, Ghostmaker.

Trollslayer- King’s first Gotrek & Felix novel- was similarly stitched together from previously-released short stories. For the second, Skavenslayer, he instead took a hybrid approach. Skaven’s Claw, a novella-length story that had been serialized in White Dwarf, and wrote an original novel around it.

When the time came to pen the third, however, King started from a clean slate. Daemonslayer is wholly original, and as a result it hits differently than the previous books. The first two had an episodic feel, while Daemonslayer’s narrative drives forward through the entire story.

The Story

The adventure begins when Gotrek is summoned to the abode of Borek Forkbeard. Forkbeard and Gotrek had been part of an ill-fated expedition to the Chaos Wastes many years before, seeking the legendary dwarf fortress city of Karag Dum.

That expedition had failed, but Forkbeard has a new card to play as he gets some of the original trek’s survivors back together. The frozen North has, if anything, only expanded in the intervening years, but rather than trek across it Forkbeard plans to go over it instead.

Enter Malakai Makaisson, a dwarf Slayer and mechanical genius. Sure his first invention, the ironclad ship Unsinkable, ended up beneath the waves with most of its crew. And his next project, a mighty airship named the Undestructible, exploded in mid-flight. But dwarfs are nothing if not persistent, and Makaisson’s sure that he’ll be third-time lucky with the fortified zeppelin Spirit of Grungni.

That’s good enough for Gotrek, with the ever-reluctant Felix finding himself unable to refuse. After a stock-up in Kislev, the expedition enters the Chaos Wastes- and what they find there is unlike anything they could have ever expected.

The Voice

I’m not sure what I could say about Jonathan Keeble that I haven’t already, but he continues to deliver here. His Gotrek and Felix are iconic performances, while Daemonslayer expands the cast of series regulars with new characters we’ll continue to see in subsequent stories. Of particular note is Gotrek’s fellow Slayer, Snorri Nosebiter, whose dimwittedness Keeble plays to comic perfection.

Keeble manages to make every voice different and distinct, showing tremendous range. From the various dwarfs to humans right through to our old friend Thanquol the Grey Seer (and Lurk, his hapless lackey), this feels less like narration and more like theatre.

Bits n’ Pieces (Spoilers)

• It’s not written as a comedy, but there’s plenty of levity and humor to be found in the intersection of King’s prose and Keeble’s voice. Audiobook just might be the format I’d recommend for anyone getting into Gotrek & Felix, it’s some of the very best entertainment the Black Library offers.

• The pacing of the book feels very different, due to the more continuous and less episodic nature of the story (as I’d discussed earlier). King’s pacing is superb here, building up a genuine sense of momentum and adventure that the format affords him rather than having to build around smaller buildups and payoffs. The airship portion of the adventure really gets going about halfway through, and I was on the edge of my seat as they entered the Wastes.

• King puts a surprising amount of care into the romances he builds for Felix, and he’s done this for three books now. “Warhammer Romance” as an imprint (like Crime and Horror) is sort of a running gag in the community, but I give King a lot of credit for weaving that in.

• King doesn’t leave this book on a cliffhanger, but he does leave it at a place where the next book (Dragonslayer) can pick right up and continue with. Daemonslayer doesn’t fully “reset” the narrative like his earlier stories do; clearly, King left some room to work with for the next installment. This gave the story a bit more of an epic feel at the end that I appreciated.

• Given the change in narrative format, I’m really looking forward to returning. I know eventually the formula wears thin, but for now King is just hitting his stride.

With much of my contemporary reading in service to writing reviews, audiobooks are my chance to “play catch-up” on the older catalogue of Black Library books. What you will find in this occasional feature is neither a full, formal book review nor a simple blurb, but rather something comfortably in between: impressions.

“I was both surprised and flattered to be asked to curate an annotated edition of For the Emperor,” notes Sandy Mitchell in the foreword to the newly-released edition, “a book which will always have a special place in my heart. Of course, if I’d known back then what all this was going to lead to, I’d probably have been too intimidated to write a single word!”

It’s a great wink and a nod to those who have already enjoyed Cain over the years, the “if I’d known [X], then I would’ve [Y]” construction. It’s peak Ciaphas, a motif he returns to again and again through his adventures- often multiple times within the same book.

Touches like this helped make Cain one of the universe’s most distinctive personalities- though as we’ll discuss today it was not without downside.

Highway to Hell

The fourth installment of the Ciaphas Cain series, Mitchell took the opportunity here to go back in time rather than forwards. “Like C3PO and R2D2,” I summarized in my recent Heroes of the Black Library piece on Commissar Cain for Tabletop Battles, “an ork attack on their voidship sees the pair unwittingly cast down to the surface of desert planet Perlia in an escape pod. There, they must make their way back to civilization, picking up scattered reinforcements in the form of PDF remnants along the way.”

The story is terrific stuff, with Cain and Jurgen having to rely on their own wits to survive a harsh planet and surrounded by a relentless enemy: orks.

“Lots and lots of orks.”

That’s Keri of the terrific WH40K Book Club Podcast, who as a fellow member of the Hall of Fame Committee wrote up the book for its induction in the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame.

“Cain survives the only way Cain can,” she continues, “with his wit, charm, luck, and tinkering abilities that would make MacGuyver beyond jealous. Death or Glory is one of my personal favorites in the series just for its use of pop culture references. When you read them, you’ll know1. And you’ll probably laugh as hard as I did.”

Cain and Jurgen make their way across the desert, collecting the dribs and drabs of Planetary Defense Force survivors and reclaiming transportation from various salvaged Ork conveyances. Mile by mile as their supplies dwindle, their hope begins to grow- a hope that will spread throughout all Perlia by the end of the tale.

You Can Say That, Again

Death or Glory obviously worked- it is, after all, in the Readers’ Hall of Fame alongside For the Emperor, Caves of Ice, and The Emperor’s Finest. But conventional wisdom on the series holds that the best way to read through the Ciaphas series is with breaks in between.

In his writeup for Caves of Ice, Hall of Fame Committee member Michael Dodd (of Track of Words) called the Cain series the “AC/DC of the Black Library.”

“The whole point of the series is to hit the same beats and play the same jokes, because those beats and those jokes are just so damn good! There’s nothing wrong with wanting more of the same,” though he does go on to admit that “some of the later books suffer a little for that.”

By the time we get to Death or Glory, Mitchell’s reliance on that formulaic element has become increasingly apparent and indeed it tamped down my enjoyment of the otherwise terrific audiobook production. It’s not so much that the Cain’s core conceit is wearing thin- our hero’s career of perpetually failing upwards is still quite amusing- but rather that Cain and Jurgen have become almost “Flanderized.”

I talked a bit about that concept in my review for The Relentless Dead by Steve Lyons, noting that the community had exaggerated the most identifiable characteristics of the Death Korps- the gas masks, the shovels, the fatalism- to the point where they’d become the stuff of memes.

There’s a similar quality at play here, one especially noticeable with Cain’s aide-de-camp, Ferik Jurgen. Were we to hold a public reading of the book where everyone had to take a shot whenever Jurgen’s body odor was referenced, for instance, it would be a short (if memorable) evening indeed. Inquisitor Amberley Vail’s frequent asides- used so well in earlier stories to provide the kind of contextual information that’s not always easy to deliver in a first-person POV book- also suffered from overuse at points.

An Ensemble Cast

Stephen Perring

While I’d certainly caution against a binge-listen for all the reasons stated above, Mitchell’s Cain series easily makes the list of essential 40K audiobooks in no small part due to its casting. Stephen Perring is extraordinary as the good Commissar, pitch-perfect in both voice and personality. He embodies the role to such an extent that I would imagine any other narrator would suffer for the comparison, similar to Andrew James Spooner’s Malus Darkblade or John Banks’s Roboute Guilliman.

Like some of the other voice actors we’ve profiled here, Perring has a theatre background that he’s parlayed into small roles in television (a lawyer in EastEnders here, a police officer in Manhunt or The Bill there) while seeing a much larger body of work in voice acting for books, podcast dramas, and video games.

While best known for Cain, he’s also popped up in other Games Workshop productions. He was Sergeant Zachariah in the 2017-18 Elysia trilogy of audio dramas, as well as Hamilcar in the audio drams The Beasts of Cartha, written by David Guymer and published in 2016.

I’ve spoken before about a voice actor’s range, the number of different characters they can embody, and if you do nothing else take a moment to appreciate Perring’s demo reel here.

Penelope Rawlins

While the cast list for the Cain books can vary from book to book, Perring and Penelope Rawlins are the two that anchor the production. Rawlins plays Inquisitor Vail, who Cain meets for the first time in-story in For the Emperor, but whose contributions are far more prominent in serving as a sort of editor and curator of the “Ciaphas Cain archives2.”

Rawlins’ acting resume is extensive, with long-running roles in television animation shows including Inazuma Eleven Go, Smighties, Yukee, and Rainbow Rangers. For video games, she’s lent her talents to Horizon Forbidden West, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, a couple entries in the Leisure Suit Larry franchise, and Baldur’s Gate III, amongst many others.

Not only that, but she was part of the cast for the WarhammerTV series Angels of Death, as well as the follow-up Angels of Death: Origins.

Having narrated over 300 audiobooks, she was even nominated in 2013 for Audible’s Narrator of the Year.

Bits n’ Pieces

Overall it took me longer than I’d expect to get into this one, though in fairness once I did (about halfway through) I genuinely enjoyed it. I do worry, though, that as I continue down the Cain path things will become more and more Flanderized. It’s been remarked that around book seven Mitchell seemed to course correct, apparently in reaction to this sort of criticism. I don’t know to what degree that’s accurate, but regardless Cain is one of the great characters of 40K and even legends like Gotrek & Felix began to overstay their welcome.

When Robert Rath’s The Wicked and the Warped was recently announced, one of the first thoughts I had was to wonder how much stress Rath put himself under by following in the footsteps of a breakout hit. The Infinite and the Divine has been a tremendous success; what does it feel like to try and capture that lightning in a bottle twice? I can understand the thought process behind wanting to repeat the elements that made a story successful, but like making copies of copies sometimes you risk diminishing returns.

These are the things that will be top of mind when I pick up Duty Calls, book five in the series.

But I’ll be giving a little time to cleanse the palate first.

The Hall Monitor is published every other week, the same day as the latest installment of the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame drops on Tabletop Battles. A cross between a director’s cut and a backstage pass, it’s a look behind the scenes at the Hall of Fame project.

Today we announced the inductees of the Class of 2017. It was a massive class- almost forty books were considered, which is particularly remarkable when you consider that just the year before there were less than half that many. The size of the class was not the only remarkable thing about this cohort; it’s also noteworthy how few of them managed to make it into the Hall. You may recall that the Class of 2016- again, half the size of 2017- managed to get the same number of books in.

What gives?

A big part of this, I think, is reflective of the corporate realities of Games Workshop at the time. Tom Kirby had stepped down as CEO of Games Workshop in 2015, and under his reign the company had been squarely focused on the tabletop lines. When they found they had a massive hit on their hands with the Horus Heresy, they didn’t quite know how to react.

This is illustrated by this from Black Library series editor Ellie Goulding, writing in the afterword of Ben Counter’s Battle for the Abyss:

Here today we have the benefit of hindsight, but imagine trying to navigate this terrain back in 2006. While a runaway success is in many ways a nice problem to have, that doesn’t mean that forging the road ahead was easy.

The Black Library’s response was simple: give the people more of what they want. That meant forging ahead by commissioning more and more novels and stories. Rolling out a line of novellas and audio dramas. And since the readers seemed to like the primarchs so much, why not an entire new line of novels- one for each?

And if all that wasn’t enough, then you have the Beast Arises series. This was the Black Library’s answer to two questions. First, since readers clearly liked going back to an earlier time period in the universe, would they like to see another, not quite so early- also get a grand narrative? And second, what if they released a series that modeled itself after episodic television, with an entire 12-book cycle played out on a monthly cadence?

Where perhaps the reach exceeded the grasp was not in trying to do these things, but rather trying to do them all at the same time. There was only so much talent the Black Library could draw upon in its stable, and it should come as little shock that the results have been historically seen as a bit uneven. The Beast Arises in particular has been drawn criticism for being, as one reader succinctly put it, “too many cooks and too many books.”

As a result, we have a Class that- when compared to previous ones- seems very underperforming when it comes to inductees to the Hall of Fame. These were worthy winners, of course, and as with any Hall of Fame there’s always going to be a couple on the cusp that will spark good-natured debate. But while I haven’t run the numbers on this metric directly, an induction rate of around 10% seems like a verdict. A slice of cake for dessert is great, but it doesn’t an entree make.

Now enough about food, let’s get to the books!

The Vox Populi Top Twenties

So here are the updated Top Twenties for both halves of the Black Library, but first a look at the updated Leaderboard:

Hall Winners Leaderboard

No new names this time around, but interestingly what I see as the “middle tier” increased their totals this week. It’s important to note that “middle tier” is not a qualifying descriptor- these authors certainly aren’t “mid,” but rather just a representation of quantity at this particular time. John French, for example, has only recently entered the scene and while I don’t like to get into the prediction business1 I would be very surprised if this is the last time we see his tally increase.

Fantasy

30K/40K

As you’d expect, it’s become much harder over time to crack into the Top Twenty, but Aaron Dembski-Bowden managed it this time around with The Master of Mankind. With 82% of the voting public’s support, he now has eight books on the list- behind only Dan Abnett with thirteen. Of course, four of Abnett’s sit tied at 20th, so all it will take is one more book charting to knock out the lot.

Fantasy, meanwhile, sits static again this week despite its lower barrier to entry. It will be interesting to see which Age of Sigmar book will be the first to make the list.

That’s all for this time, thanks for reading!

Welcome to the newest occasional series here on the Warhammer Wordforge, The Writer Files. This will be a companion piece to WarhammerTV’s Scribes & Scriveners show, sharing highlights from that interview as well as looking at the writer and their Black Library history.

We’re kicking things off with Glasgow-based NHS Biomedical Scientist Marc Collins, whose latest Warhammer offering Blackheart: Claws of the Maelstrom will be going up for preorder this week1.

The “Black Library’s Latest Prodigy”

Collins’s history of writing Warhammer is well-documented, and back in 2021 Warhammer Community ran a short interview with him in advance of his debut novel, Grim Repast. Collins had come up through the open submissions call, a process they called “as exacting as Astartes selection.” It was a terrific break for Collins, who had been trying his hand at it “for years2” before meeting success. That led to his debut short story, Ghosts of Iron, the following year.

Here’s his reflection on this time from a guest article he penned for Track of Words.

Since that humble start, Collins has had an impressive six novels published for the Black Library, and on a rather wide variety of subjects. Whereas some writers enjoy going deep on a particular segment of the lore- think Steve Lyons here, for example, with the Death Korps of Krieg, no two of Collins’s works have bore much resemblance to one another.

Here’s a quick walk through his novel portfolio.

Grim Repast

Collins’s novel debut came with 2021’s Grim Repast, a story set in the world of Warhammer Crime. “After Warhammer Horror I think that the crime imprint was inevitable in a lot of ways,” he shared in a 2020 interview on Track of Words. “People kept asking for ‘domestic 40k’ and this delivers in spades. Building on the much earlier foundations of stories like Eisenhorn, but also on stories like Chris Wraight’s Vaults of Terra novels.”

With a terrific blend of bleak noir and body horror, Grim Repast is frequently mentioned amongst the better offerings in the Warhammer Crime range, both a statement of purpose from Collins as well as a taste of what kind of storytelling he’s capable of if given the opportunity.

Helbrecht: Knight of the Throne

The first of Collins’s forays into the “Character” series, this short novel sees its titular character crossing the Rubicon Primaris and adjusting to Imperial life under Roboute Guilliman. The contrast between Helbrecht’s faith and Guilliman’s more secular approach sends him on a religious pilgrimage.

In an interview that year with At Boundary’s Edge, Collins noted that the predominant theme of his work to date had been “faith and duty.”

“Whether that’s the Ad Mech, Genestealer Cults, Black Templars or Sisters of Battle,” he went on, “or whether it’s the personal sense of responsibility of men like Drask. With my own little corner of Varangantua and the setting of Helbrecht I also try to drive home just how terrible a place the Imperium can be. Whether in casual or monumental cruelty, both are themes I hope to carry forward and develop in my work.”

Void King

For a tabletop wargame that started life as Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, the bearers of the Warrant of Trade have seen relatively modest representation in the pages of the Black Library. Here Collins took them on full-tilt, introducing us to no less than three such dynasties. He’d introduced the Fenrisian Helvintr dynasty in an earlier short story, 2020’s The Shaper of Scars, and mined that vein again for the full-length tale.

The Martyr’s Tomb

This was a new step for Collins, and a sure sign of his increasing stature within the Black Library. The Dawn of Fire was a major series launched in the game’s 9th Edition, designed to tie together all the varying strands of lore and move the narrative arc of the grim, dark future forward. Collins would be the most junior member of a writing team comprised of veterans Guy Haley, Andy Clark, Gav Thorpe, Nick Kyme, and Chris Wraight.

The Martyr’s Tomb was the sixth book in the nine-book series, featuring the Black Templars and Sisters of Our Martyred Lady defending a shrine world from the predacious attentions of the Death Guard. For a man that once remarked, “I have a terrible weakness for zealots3,” this was clearly a passion project.

Reception to this one was notably mixed, though how much of that is down to a particular book versus general series fatigue is hard to say. I give a lot of credit to the Black Library editing teams, but ‘long-running series planning’ hasn’t necessarily been one of their stronger suits over the years.

Eidolon: The Auric Hammer

In many ways, this is probably Collins’s most acclaimed work, the star of his portfolio-to-date. Another Character series entry, the book’s shorter length allowed him to tightly focus in on Eidolon and his Emperor’s Children cohort. Authors able to take some of the universe’s more two-dimensional characters and expand their range of depth tend to draw the acclaim of the community (hello, Aaron Dembski-Bowden!), and his Eidolon here emerged a more nuanced character for the effort.

“It’s his arrogance, the sheer unbridled hubris, that makes him so compelling to write,” shared Collins in a 2024 interview for Warhammer Community. “Eidolon is a character that so many start out hating, but by The Path of Heaven by Chris Wraight I found him quite deviously likeable. The work that writers like Chris do with him paint Eidolon very much as a ‘villain’s villain,’ but finding the core of humanity in that – the flaws and vulnerabilities that make him that way – and toying with them made it a truly enjoyable process.”

Eidolon is my talisman tale for the axiom, “not every book is for every person4.” I went into the book with high hopes, but it failed to really land with me. I was delighted to note that it went on to claim runner-up for the official 2024 Black Library Book of the Year, losing out only to Siege of Vraks by Steve Lyons.

Krakenblood

While breaking new ground in his portfolio with the Space Wolves, Krakenblood wasn’t entirely divorced from his past works either. In the story, Ivar Krakenblood’s expedition is expedited by a Rogue Trader of the same Fenrisian dynasty we’d met in Void King. This story was a sort of anti-Eidolon, a book that was somewhat mixed in its reception that I thought very highly of.

"More than anything else," he wrote in the Special Edition introduction, "I wanted to ground this novel in the heart and the soul of the World of Winter and War... This is a novel written as a love letter to all those who have gone before, carrying the torch for the Space Wolves. I have only got here by reading and enjoying what has been written by countless other authors."

Getting Inside his Head

Thanks to his engagement with the reading community, we get a pretty good sense of the things he considers part of his essence as a writer. The importance of faith and duty in a universe that outwardly appears to care very little for either- and what happens when those things are taken beyond the realm of reason and into the irrational or fanatic.

From the outside looking at his body of work, you see other themes emerge as well. The burden of legacy, for instance, and what it means to labor under a destiny that you did not choose, but rather inherited. What it means to operate on the fringes of a dogmatic Imperium, carving out a path that uneasily straddles the line of society’s norms. And finally, the concept of atmosphere as character, a reflection or foil to the inner essence of one’s heroes (or villains) as seen in the works, say, of Jack London or Cormac McCarthy.

This is renegade poet territory, and perhaps it is little coincidence that I found Krakenblood to be some of the Black Library’s most poetic work yet.

It’s been said that if you want to see what makes a writer tick, look no further than the well-worn copies on their bookshelf. Collins was kind enough as well to share with me six of his book recommendations for Black Library Weekly (back when I wrote the column for Goonhammer, later Tabletop Battles) last October, and I’ve excerpted that here:

Collins on Scribes & Scriveners

Finally, last month Collins was hosted by Alex Doddy on the WarhammerTV program Scribes & Scriveners, the occasional author interview series that’s generally timed in advance of an imminent book release. With Blackheart: Claws of the Maelstrom around the corner, here’s a brief summary of their conversation.

Alex: What got you into Warhammer?

In high school, one of his friends gave him some Codexes in an effort to get him into the game. Collins was intimidated by the miniatures and paint jobs in them, but immediately attracted to the lore and the stories.

Of course, it didn’t take long for him to begin “slowly working my way towards building my own pile of shame.”

Alex: And then from those early hobby years, how did you get into writing?

Collins notes it' sounds cliche, but he always felt like he wanted to write. The more he got into the Black Library, the more he felt drawn towards wanting to do it himself. He started writing down his ideas, and soon developing them into his own “homebrew” fiction.

Alex: And then the Black Library?

His first Black Library book was the Eisenhorn Omnibus, by Dan Abnett. He ws immediately drawn in by “the scale, the grandeur, this terminal gothic collapse… and there’s still people scrabbling through it trying to do their best fighting for what they believe in. Seeing the cosmic tumult at the heart of it, and where the line is between heroism and villainy, sanity and madness always appealed to me.”

He was heavily getting into reading the Black Library at the time the Horus Heresy series was beginning. “Seeing the stories from the Codexes come to life was amazing.”

Alex: It’s the ultimate journey. We know where it starts. We know where it ends. But we never truly explored everything that lies in between. It’s such a compelling journey despite knowing how it ends.

Collins notes the importance of having “key lodestars” in the Heresy, places like Isstvan, Signus, Calth, Prospero. “Seeing all the minutiae in between, the factions standing off to the sidelines,” is a big part of that journey.

Alex: You’ve written both shorts and novels. What's the difference in process?

Here he notes that with a short story, it’s a self-contained idea. “You have about 10,000 words to play with, you need to be short, sharp, concise, you need to know what you’re wanting to do.”

Novels are very different. “With a novel, I like to have an overall plan, but then plant seeds throughout the novel. Characters may end up places I didn’t expect them to, or meet a fate I didn’t intend when I set out. You almost surprise yourself. You can still get that in a short, but in a novel its more prevalent, you can find yourself more surprised in the planning and execution.”

Alex: And how has your process changed from those early Inferno! stories to Krakenblood?

Collins gets very candid here, citing the “trepidation” that was there at the beginning for him as a writer in his earlier days, in taking an idea from pitch to full story. “You’re not sure of what’s happening, what you’re doing yet.”

He notes that with a first novel, it’s even more pronounced due to the much larger scale of the undertaking. “When you’re dealing with 80-90,000 words you’re staring down the barrel, and you’re like ‘how do I do this?’”

Collins gives a lot of credit to the Black Library editorial staff for helping him navigate the process. “When you’re developing an idea from the ground up for a novel, working it through the pitching into a more developed synopsis, character bios, sometimes a chapter by chapter… it really helps crystallize it in your head and you know you have someone in your corner you can always ask for advice, for support, for their input and feedback.”

Alex: In the 41st millennium we’ve got a wide range of characters... when you’re writing, say, a rogue trader, who is very much a human being versus, say, Eidolon or Ivar [in Krakenblood], how does your process differ when approaching those characters?

For Collins, “everyone regardless of their humanity or their inhumanity is in some way vulnerable.” That vulnerability can take many forms, it’s not just how well the hold up in a fight.

“It’s difficult to kill a rogue trader due to their power, their prestige, the tech they may have around them, but it can happen perhaps easier than for an Eidolon or Helbrecht. But Eidolon or Helbrecht, they are more susceptible to a spiritual malaise, or a challenge to their pride.”

It’s also useful to contrast them against characters who wield even greater power still.

“For Helbrecht, that grew from the core of him getting humbled by Guilliman. Perhaps it’s in a more gingerly way than it might have otherwise went, but he still feels that barb to his pride. He’s been challenged; he’s shown to be making a mistake by someone who is the object of his veneration.”

You have to find the things that will challenge a character, stripping away some of their advantages and putting them on the back foot. “Find how that dovetails into the novel, then tell a compelling story about that character.”

Alex: When you’ve got these massive, storied characters like Helbrecht and Eidolon, what goes into writing them versus, say, a rogue trader where there’s not a huge amount of backstory?

Collins says the key is research. When he’s given a character like them, he goes straight to his bookshelves and starts building a pile of books that have background and insight on them.

For Eidolon, he noted, that meant going from his first appearance in Abnett’s Horus Rising through to Graham McNeill’s Fulgrim and The Reflection Crack’d. He also commends the Horus Heresy Black Books series as being richly detailed for lore and background5.

For Helbrecht, he mentions Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Helsreach as being particularly significant, and also the works of Guy Haley6.

“It’s finding all these appearances of the character and keeping it stable across them- but at the same time telling it in your own way.”

Collins turns to Eidolon: The Auric Hammer here. “A lot of his whereabouts are detailed and have been covered before, so it was finding a part in his story where he could have his moment to shine. That’s why we settled on the road to Terra. After Slaves to Darkness7, before the Siege.” Eidolon is a strong character- strong in his pride and desire to prove himself, but “facing a humbling.” It was important to balance honoring where the character had bene before, but also “casting forward something else into the future.”

Alex: With Eidolon, it’s difficult to think of a character who has been humbled this much but is still not humble. Everything about him is almost a mimicry of what happens with Fulgrim. How did you address that almost paternal aspect, the father and son element?

Collins notes the '“horribly abusive element” at play here, “even without the killing of him. You’ll never be able to please Fulgrim because he’s so lost in his own sense of grandeur. Everything is just a game to him. He’s getting more and more lost in his patron, giving himself over to his base wants and desires.”

He highlights a parallel here with Eidolon, who was giving himself over to Fabius Bile’s experimentation well before Fulgrim went off the deep end. “There’s this desperation in him, this need to be the best. seem the best, prove he’s earned his position. By the time we see him in The Path of Heaven8 he’s a force of nature.”

With Fulgrim lost in his own decadence, Eidolon is “leading in Fulgrim’s stead, a vision of how the legion can be- and perhaps should be. You contrast that with the absentee father that Fulgrim becomes, except when he’s laying down the law.

“And we see the same thing in the 41st millennium, with The Perfect Son9. He’s still toying with them, they’re still baubles on his perfection. And they’ll only ever be adornments. Eidolon doesn’t want that for himself. He doesn’t want to be a slave to Fulgrim or the Warp. He wants to put himself forward and be the man.”

Alex: There’s an element there of Slaanesh. The pride, the journey, the struggle... but if they actually ever achieve it, it would go against what Slaanesh wants and so they can never be allowed to achieve it. Fulgrim will never be the ‘perfect king,’ as it were, and when he’s left this void that Eidolon tries to fill, he can never fill it. How does that work with a legion that demands perfection and always sees itself as inching towards it?

“The fundamental lie they’ve told themselves,” says Collins, “is that they can achieve it. There are so many that struggle and strive, walk the path to glory, and they’ll end up as a daemon prince with a whole new set of restrictions and shackles, or they’ll overindulge and just collapse into spawn.”

Alex: There’s a self-delusion aspect. Many of them have seen daemons, they understand where this going if they achieve it, but they almost can’t believe they’re not gonna be the ones to succeed.

Collins notes the arrogance and pride of the Emperor’s Children here, with each feeling like failure is something that happens to others, not them. “Everyone thinks they’re better than their fellows.”

Alex: Jumping from the Emperor’s Children to the Space Wolves now, with Krakenblood. We’ve had a lot of Fenrisian novels. How did you separate your novel from those previous works?

The difference Collins identifies here is that there hasn’t really been a story that closely focused on Wolf Priests, they’ve always been portrayed as supporting characters in the stories.

“We’ve never seen the role itself explored, and the dichotomy of the role absolutely fascinates me. The fact that you’re a chaplain and an apothecary, tending to their souls and their flesh. I wanted to make sure novel felt truly grounded in what Fenris is and what it does to its sons. How it shapes them and how it contributes to the overall style of war and the ethos.”

He goes on to talk about the pile of research he built up prior to writing Krakenblood:

“I was looking at the Bill King books10, Dan Abnett’s turn in Prospero Burns, and how those torches were carried forward by Chris Wraight’s Járnhamar trilogy11. I wanted to feel in character with those, to have that sense of history and vitality and language. I looked at a lot of Norse myths and background on Scandinavian culture and worked that in there [for] a broader color palette. There’s so many different Space Marine chapters, and so few of them truly take their homeworlds to heart, they truly live the passion of where they come from. The Space Wolves are always carrying that in their souls and on their armor. You can’t represent the Space Wolves without understanding Fenris”

Alex: Because of the nature of their creation, they must be Fenrisian. And so it anchors them in a way that others don’t necessarily have. Fenris is also a spiritual anchor, with the Wolf Priests and the Iron Priests. How did you balance those cultural elements within the Chapter? Because we’ve got the Iron priests... and there’s a point partway through [Krakenblood] where they are attempting to destroy a ship and the Iron Priest says, “you can’t do this, that is out of the question.” Their belief systems simultaneously work together as part of the culture but are in many ways in opposition.

Collins speaks at length here about the contrast between his characters Ivar Krakenblood (the Wolf Priest) and Brynjar Drakefang (the Iron Priest), how they are both one another’s worst enemies and yet also push each other to be better.

“Brynjar remains solid and dependable, grounded in reality and in the ship… whereas for Ivar, it’s almost as though he’s letting his identity down. He believes he’s succeeding as a Wolf Priest. but he’s failing himself and he’s failing his role and if he’s not careful he’ll fail those under his command.”

Both are caught between their duty to the Chapter and their duty to the Imperium, representing a “microcosm” of the Space Wolves in general.

Alex: You’ve got Ulrik in this book as well, how did you balance bringing in a really storied character like that in a mentoring aspect, bringing him in but keeping him to the side?

“Quite naturally,” notes Collins. “A lot of more storied members of Chapter almost feel like forces of nature. You can’t really pin down someone like Ulrik, Njall Stormcaller, or The Great Wolf himself because they are these larger-than-life figures.”

Colins speaks here about Ulrik’s role in the novel as a mentor, one that drives Ivar to try and prove himself as a Wolf Priest in the story. “It’s a culmination of [Ulrik] as a force of nature, and Ivar as a man who is uncertain of his own destiny and how those two play against each other.”

Alex: Ulrik is still doing this duty, the basics of the Chapter like recruiting mortals to become Space Marines. It’s incredibly grounding.

“I wanted him to feel as though he is part of the world,” Collins replies, “that he is still fundamentally of Fenris and will always have a purpose there.”

Collins speaks further about “a sense of eternity” with a lot of these characters with deep histories in the lore and in miniature, and how it’s not always glory and battle. “Sometimes it’s the onerous duty of a Wolf Priest that means looking death in the face, and sometimes snatching one back.”

Alex: I remember awhile ago you said the book you really wanted to write was about Space Wolves. How did you feel when you got that possibility?

“I felt as if I’d been dancing around it quite a bit,” he replies. Collins shares that when he was planning Void King, his 2022 novel, he collaborated with his editor to brainstorm a number of ideas. That’s how the idea for House Helvintr came about, a rogue trader dynasty with origins on Fenris.

As a result of that experience, Collins had wanted to take on the Space Wolves properly. “Space Wolves are one of the Chapters that changed so much with the Primaris and the opening of the Great Rift, so you have to see the contrast between old ideas of identity and a new place in the galaxy. That was something I definitely wanted to look at.”

Alex: You’d mentioned in your other works there is an element too of being humbled. That Fenris was this unassailable world and then Magnus shows up. They are under threat more than ever. How does a Chapter deal with that kind of trauma?

It’s always a struggle to walk back from the apocalypse,” says Collins, “not only being humbled by your enemy but also being hobbled by your allies.”

This wasn’t unique to the Wolves either, he notes, citing the the Rock of the Dark Angels had also faced similar threats. “Being weak where you’re supposed to be strongest. How do you push back, how do you reassure yourselves and your people that everything is still okay?”

Alex: Space Wolves, Black Templars, Emperor’s Children…is there an aspect of 40k that you would like to explore next? Or some other element of Warhammer?

“My weakness is aberrant religion,” replies Collins, “anyone whose got an off the wall, crazy religion. I’d love to go back to Genestealer Cults, I wrote about them specifically as POV characters in a short story very early on. I’d love to do more with Adeptus Mechanicus, or with the Dark Mechanicum. The Word Bearers. Things where there’s a bit of madness in the mysteries.”

Alex: Madness and zealotry.

“Absolutely.”

Alex: If a writer was looking to get into writing for the Black Library, or even just to start writing, do you have any advice?

“I would say never give up,” he notes. “When I was starting out I was mostly writing as a hobby, for myself. I think I went through about ten years of the open submissions. It’s hard not to feel disheartened, when you’re sort of working at something for that long. But I tried to take each one as a lesson, and to try to just continue to develop my skill, to work on my writing.”

Specific to Warhammer, he recommends finding the things that appeal to you most about the universe and focusing on those. “Find the little things, the gems that shine for you amongst this vast sea of stars. If you can find something there, something that really speaks to you, then work at it, polish it, and hopefully it will get you where you want to be12.”

Thanks for reading today’s profile of Marc Collins. At 5600+ words13, it’s a long one, but I’ve always enjoyed seeing other coverage of the Black Library authors on sites like ToW and Reddit, so hopefully it’s something folks will enjoy referring back to long after it’s been shared. There are plenty of Scribes & Scriveners both ahead and behind, so look for the next installment in the near future!

And finally, don’t forget to set your alarms for next week’s preorder of the Special Edition of Blackheart. As I type this I’ve just survived the Raldoron window, and it was… really something. Look for that full story this Monday in the next Black Library Weekly.

With much of my contemporary reading in service to writing reviews, audiobooks are my chance to “play catch-up” on the older catalogue of Black Library books. What you will find in this occasional feature is neither a full, formal book review nor a simple blurb, but rather something comfortably in between: impressions.

I genuinely enjoyed my last visit with Malus Darkblade, in part to the terrific story from Dan Abnett and Mike Lee but also in no small part to the masterful narration by Andrew James Spooner. As I wrote in my review of The Daemon’s Curse, while Spooner might not have the greatest character range amongst the Black Library’s stable of voice talent, he absolutely nails the druchii highborn, Malus. It’s one of the most delightful audiobooks I’ve listened to since jumping in on the format.

Originally published in 2005, Bloodstorm is the second book of the Malus series and unfortunately, the last one (at time of writing) to get the audiobook treatment. If you’re loving the Malus/Spooner dynamic, this is your final installment.

The Story

The Daemon’s Curse in many ways was a kind of origin story for Malus. It didn’t go back to his early life, but rather told the tale of how he comes to get possessed by a daemon- one of the character’s primary characteristics from the comic series. Indeed, the possession doesn’t even come until late in the book, making Bloodstorm the first full novel adventure we get seeing this ‘partnership’ in play.

Darkblade is compelled by his domineering passenger, Tz'arkan, to find a series of five artifacts to help free him, otherwise he forfeits his soul. To make things worse, he only has one year to accomplish this. With the first artifact secured at the end of The Daemon’s Curse, Malus must now take to the seas to secure the second: the Idol of Kolkuth.

After managing to secure a Writ of Iron from the Drachau (ruler) of the city of Hag Graef- a legal document cast in actual iron that grants him the Drachau’s authority, but also a murderous punishment should he fail in its appointed task- he reunites with three of his siblings to destroy the seafaring Nurgle-cultists known as the Skinriders and claim the Idol they hold.

Bits n’ Pieces (Light Spoilers)

• As noted above, Andrew James Spooner is a perfect Malus Darkblade. His anti-hero is dripping with venom, every bit exactly what you’d expect from a cutthroat highborn for whom the games of scheming and betrayal are as natural as breathing.

• Very few of the voice actors I’ve enjoyed from the Black Library have quite the range to pull off a host of characters well, and Spooner is similarly a bit limited here. His Malus is unmistakable, but beyond that you’ll want to be actively listening to get the most from his performance.

• The first part of the book, which involves Malus coming out on the receiving end of some manipulation and betrayal in Hag Graef, is a bit uneven. The quest structure here really gives the story purpose and direction, though, so once the table is set for the nautical quest to begin the story really begins in earnest- and never lets up.

• Lee’s writing here is pure delight. He positions Malus like a gardener of dissent, with him moving through almost every scene or conversation planning the seeds of unrest or the latest twist on his schemes amongst his companions. Watching him navigate- and orchestrate- an ever-thickening web of deceit and betrayal was wickedly delicious1, with all of it leading up to a climax where every scheme comes to fulfillment. For every hand extended, there’s a dagger held in the other- and that applies just as much to Malus’s three siblings as well.

• Indeed, Malus isn’t just scheming to get ahead. Each of the three have good reason to prefer him dead, and Malus quickly realizes that the best way to keep himself alive is to make sure their knives are pointed at each other. It’s a very delicate tightrope act, one that most assuredly does not have a net.

• In addition, Malus is written with a great deal of internal deliberation. Stories with lots of schemes and plots run the risk of losing the reader in their intricacy, but Lee avoids that by letting the reader sit in on Malus’s thoughts. He doesn’t automatically know the right thing to do in every circumstance, but rather frequently needs to reason his way through events as they unfold. This has the effect of making the reader almost a silent partner, highly engaged in his decisions.

• Finally, the further I explore the world of Warhammer Fantasy, the more maudlin I’ve grown about its passing a little over a decade ago. It really feels like something extraordinary was lost when the decision was made to destroy it and replace it with Age of Sigmar. That’s no knock on AoS, mind, and I know that the decision was in no small part guided by market data. But these are some wonderful stories tucked away in the less-frequented corners of the Black Library, and if you haven’t yet I hope you’ll give them a chance.

The Hall Monitor is published every other week, the same day as the latest installment [UPDATE 8/22: LINK CORRECTED1] of the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame drops on Tabletop Battles. A cross between a director’s cut and a backstage pass, it’s a look behind the scenes at the Hall of Fame project.

If I didn’t just go and look it up myself I would never have believed it, but here’s a fun bit of Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame trivia for you: in its original incarnation, the Hall was intended to review not only novels, but novellas to boot.

Here’s a snipped of the first-ever balloting article, which introduced the Class of 1989-1998, published back in November of last year:

Of course, there weren’t any novellas back then, and wouldn’t be until 2008’s Assault on Black Reach by Nick Kyme2. By that point, the Hall of Fame series had found its rhythm, and as part of the delicate balancing act between breadth of coverage, depth of coverage, audience interest, and anticipated column run3 the novellas never came up again.

Today, we’re going to ponder the question, should they?

A Novel Approach

There’s little disputing the fact that when it comes to telling the stories of Warhammer, the novel is the undisputed king. Aspiring writers are commissioned to contribute short stories in the hopes of being offered a novel, not the other way around. Novels have the page count and depth to tell the most detailed and impactful tales, and so focusing on them as the ‘pinnacle format’ of the Black Library and it’s attendant Readers’ Hall of Fame makes a lot of sense.

There’s also a more practical reason, which gets into that balancing act I talked about above. In 2012, there were 27 novels that we reviewed for that year. If we include novellas, the book count swells to 39. That’s a lot of polls to ask people to fill out.

The ‘audience interest’ factor has always been at the forefront of consideration throughout this project. As the Black Library’s early success saw it releasing more and more books each year, I’d made the call starting with the Class of 2003 to split the column in two. I was concerned that if we put too many polls in front of the reader at one time, they’d start to tune out.

Of course, this introduced its own problems. For one thing, it was clunky and inelegant. Take a gander at these article titles, woof.

Then there was the anticipated column run. By spreading each year into two columns, you instantly double the duration of the project. Could we be sure that we’d still have reader momentum with this thing running deep into 2027? It’s hard to say.

Finally, there was the budgetary consideration, since Tabletop Battles is one of those sites that crazily enough insists on paying its contributors. The Hall of Fame project has been very popular, but it doesn’t have what you call a “long tail” the same way things like reviews or strategy articles do. There isn’t a lot of traffic going to those older Hall of Fame pieces; once they’re done, we keep moving the project forward. Double the content, and you double the cost.

Think of the Children

All the same, this begs the question of whether or not the Hall should honor only novels, or should we be considering novellas, too? What about anthologies, or hell, even the short stories themselves? Shouldn’t they have a place amongst the best of the best the Black Library has produced?

It’s a complicated question.

Since we’ve already come this far honoring only novels, it doesn’t make sense to me to change things up midstream. If we start looking at the novellas of 2016, what do we do about the ones from 2008 to 2015?

And short stories, imagine the volume! What would a Hall of Fame short story even look like? How many, over the course of the canon, have truly been deeply impactful, historically resonant, or culturally significant? I’m not discounting the format- these stories have a place, and they certainly deserve to be honored4.

What about anthologies? To be sure there are a few that really stand out over the history of the Black Library. 2006’s Let the Galaxy Burn is a pretty impactful one, pulling a huge amount of the best tales from Inferno! to fill up around 700 pages. Tales of the Heresy in 2009 served as the tenth book of the Horus Heresy, and with significant stories like Graham McNeill’s The Last Church and Blood Games by Dan Abnett, helped ensconce the anthology as an important element of the mainline series. And how can we fail to mention 1989’s Ignorant Armies, which had William King’s first Gotrek & Felix story (Geheimnisnacht) and some early Kim Newman (as Jack Yeovil) as well.

I like considering anthologies because it shines a spotlight on the contributions of editors in shaping the Black Library canon, but it seems such a niche that it’s questionable as to whether it’s worth the time and effort.

A Compromise?

One way this might work would be to change the way we consider (non-novel) books for the Hall, making it more like what we did last year for the Goonhammer Book Awards. With those, the Award Committee did the nominating, then the public did the voting. This would allow us to consider large chunks of the Black Library’s history in a go, avoiding a dragged-out process after we finished the novels.

I’d be keen to hear your thoughts on this as well!

Overall though, we’re going to keep things as they are for the duration of the project, focusing on novels and using the same process we’ve used from the start. That being the case, we don’t need to have this decided in a week, but it’s good to be thinking about it.

Now, let’s get to the books!

The Vox Populi Top Twenties

So here are the updated Top Twenties for both halves of the Black Library, but first a look at the updated Leaderboard:

Hall Winners Leaderboard

I always love seeing new authors enter the Hall for the first time, as both David Guymer and David Annandale make their debuts! Guy Haley nabbed his second, while Josh Reynolds continues to climb with an eye firmly on that prestigious middle tier. There’s still plenty ahead from all these gentlemen, so it will be fun to watch how much further they go!

I’ll go ahead and spoil it now- the Fantasy and 30K/40K Top Twenties are the same, no new entries. The competition has matured, and the threshold for entry is quite high indeed!

Fantasy

30K/40K

That’s all for this time, thanks for reading!

I’ve noted previously that Horus Heresy books tend to fall into one of two categories, and the public perception of them is much more favorable to one of them than the other.

The first one contains books that recount the events of the Horus Heresy. These are the big, grand space-operatic tales of the fall of Horus Lupercal and the civil war that follows. They move the narrative forward with big swings, often featuring highly dramatic scenes with highly dramatic Primarchs. For those wanting the essential story of the Heresy, these are the ones to read.

The other, seemingly less-loved category are stories that take place during the Horus Heresy. The Heresy isn’t the story here, it’s the setting. Yes, there can be Primarchs in them, yes some big events can thread through in some way, but they aren’t the heart and soul of the tragedy.

The first time I noticed this was with 2008’s deeply-unpopular Battle for the Abyss, by Ben Counter. In the online forums where Black Library fans convene, this one is frequently invoked as one of the series’ misses, a story that didn’t have a lot of impact on the events of the Heresy and felt like a letdown.

As only the eighth novel in the mainline series, I can see why many found it a letdown given how self-contained the story is. The preceding novels kicked off this massive, world-shaping series, and here you had what was in essence a side-story 30K version of Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October. Series editor Laurie Goulding, writing in the afterword of the 2016 hardcover reissue of the book, addressed this head-on.

Dan Abnett’s Legion was the next time I noticed that in some ways, I found myself preferring some of the stories in that latter category. The big, splashy ones were a lot of fun, but the Heresy itself was an incredible time of upheaval, and seeing how that played out on a smaller scale could be just as fascinating1. This explains my love of Nemesis, James Swallow’s delightful Cold War-cum-30K assassination spy thriller (reviewed as part of this series here).

The Outcast Dead is the most recent inductee into this camp as I make my way through the Heresy, and once again I found myself really enjoying both the story and the exceptional narration of Jonathan Keeble.

The Story

Graham McNeill’s tale gives us a side of Warhammer that we very rarely see: the workings of the Astra Telepathica. In The Outcast Dead we meet Kai Zulane, a tremendously gifted astropath whose mind has been broken by terrible tragedy. Stationed as ship’s telepath on the Argo, an Ultramarines vessel, the ship’s warp-shielding Gellar field gives out, opening the vessel to a flood of ravenous daemons. With Zulane being one of only two survivors, he is sent back to Terra to recover.

While there, the psychic peace is shattered when Magnus the Red, Primarch of the Thousand Sons, uses his psychic power to appear before the Emperor and warn him of Horus’s treachery. While well-intentioned, the reverberations from Magnus’s sorcery are seismic, sending a shockwave of psychic energy that ripples across the Imperial Palace and beyond. Kai unwittingly receives a vision of the future, a glimpse of the future of humanity following the end of the Horus Heresy.

This secret lands him in the heart of a tug-of-war of intrigue and violence. On one side are his Imperial handlers, ready to psychically vivisect his mind in order to unlock the secret that Kai knows is there but cannot see. On the other are the ‘Outcast Dead,’ a band of Astartes from the Traitor Legions that were part of an honor guard on Terra- until their Primarchs rebelled. Thrown into a high-security prison, they manage to break out and seek to rejoin their Legions, and if they can do so with a telepath who holds the secret to the end of the war so much the better.

The Dead- led by Atharva of the Thousand Sons who orchestrated the escape- manage to secure Kai and go to ground in the slums surrounding the Palace. Now an Imperial kill team fronted by a Seer Hunter of the Black Ships, Yasu Nagasena, must track down the renegades to get to Kai before they manage to find passage offworld.

Telling the Tale

This is McNeill’s fifth novel in the Horus Heresy, and combined with his terrific work in Mechanicum it really crystallized how adept he can be at building characters. In both books you have a collection of people that are very different from one another, bringing them together in service to a vital task that gives each of them opportunity to memorably develop.

In Mechanicum that was Dalia Cythera, the Terran transcriber with an affinity for machinery. Tasked by Adept Koriel Zeth of Mars, she joins a team that includes machinist Zouche Chahaya, assembler Caxton Torgau, and others to build an esoteric device from incomplete schematics. Brought to life by Jonathan Keeble’s terrific vocal range, the dialogue, chemistry, and depth of the sequences with Dalia’s team are the very heartbeat of the book.

I had a very similar feeling towards the band of renegades known as the Outcast Dead here. A trio of World Eaters alongside a Death Guard, Luna Wolf, and Emperor’s Children, their sequences were remarkably moving. There’s one scene were, just after they manage to escape from imprisonment, they’re all sitting around a fire wondering what they will do next, or even what they should do next. They had no idea, after all, about the events of the Horus Heresy until they were taken into custody for no reason other than their Legion affiliation. Caught between loyalty to the Emperor and to their brothers and Primarchs, it’s hard not to feel for them here.

When the central event of the setting focuses so much on the military events that comprise it- particularly easy to do considering it’s build on a tabletop wargame- it’s not hard to lose sight of just how momentous this event would have been to the countless souls that make up the Imperium. That’s why stories like James Swallow’s Liar’s Due (included in the Era of Darkness anthology, covered here) are able to mine some of the richest narrative veins in all of Warhammer.

It’s for that reason perhaps that I find these “skippable” books in the Heresy every bit as riveting as the others. Here’s McNeill from the book’s afterword, discussing what attracted him to the setting to write a story like this one:

The military stories are terrific, but yes- more of this too, please.

Editor Wanted

One impression that lingered throughout the entirely of The Outcast Dead was that McNeill’s editing team may have let him down a bit here. Nothing quite so grievous as lore breaches or dropped plot threads, mind, but I was taken aback by the sheer volume of duplicated word usage that occurred throughout. A few here or there isn’t anything unusual or problematic, but it’s when they’re so frequent that they distract from immersion in the story that’s something that should be addressed before a manuscript is advanced to print. A few examples:

Well, you get the idea. This isn’t something I’ve particularly noticed in previous books by McNeill, which means either this was particular to writing this one or that perhaps it’s one of his writer’s foibles that usually is wrinkled out on the editor’s desk.

Again, not enough to derail my enjoyment, but one of those things that once you start noticing a few, you can’t help but notice the rest.

Bits n’ Pieces (Spoilers)

• This is the perfect book for Jonathan Keeble to narrate, and one that would have suffered, I think, under some of the other narrators I’ve enjoyed. The greater the range of voices a narrator can develop, the more distinctive they can make the characters in a story. I’ve noted that narrators like Gareth Armstrong have terrific voices but more restricted ranges, and would have suffered somewhat in a book with a cast as broad as this one.

• At the time I’m writing this, there was an interesting discussion in the community on the tension between going into a story fresh versus having some things spoiled by watching lore videos. “Go in cold,” I noted, “you get it all as new but may miss things. Go in prepped, it’s less surprising but you’ll see more things. There’s no ‘wrong’ answer, so if you just do what you’re enjoying you’ll be minted either way.” This one’s a great example of that, as one of the Outcast Dead (Severian, the Luna Wolf, the only one who appears to survive at the end) apparently has a larger part to play2.

• One of the book’s real treats is the presence of Thunder Warriors. McNeill does a good job concealing their true nature until later in the story, and this is another example of something you might miss by ‘going in cold.’ The Thunder Warriors were essentially proto-Astartes, the Emperor’s earlier attempt at making genetic super-soldiers, and it was generally accepted that they’d been wiped out much earlier in the lore. McNeill not only introduces a couple of them here, giving them significant presence as secondary villains, but he also ends the book on a bit of a cliffhanger with them. I have no idea if that thread ever gets picked up in subsequent stories, but I’ll definitely be keen to see if it does.

It’ll be awhile before we see another Heresy novel from McNeill, with Angel Exterminatus being the 23rd in the series. But I found this one great listening, and don’t hesitate to recommend it.

Black Library Bibliophiles is our occasional series on the collection and display of Black Library books. From diving between the covers of deluxe editions to chasing rare treatments and notable misprints… from collectors’ well-stocked personal libraries to the curated display of trinkets, curios, and other Warhammer memorabilia… we go beyond the pages to celebrate the love of the books themselves.

If, a year ago, you were told that Chinese toymaker JOYTOY would be having a product announcement during the 2025 Big Summer Preview, odds are pretty good you would have assumed it was going to be a new wave of action figures. After all, the 1/18th scale figures had been their bread and butter offering since acquiring the Warhammer license in 2021.

Instead, they were kicking off an entirely new product line- one that puts them squarely in the frame of library display. When the first 1:1 scale Space Marine helmet decked out for Lieutenant Titus in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 hit the screen, it was a perfect addition to my Black Library Museum.

Today we’ll be giving it a thorough look- both this helmet and the line.

The Hat Makes the (Transhu-)Man

So the first thing to note is that it’s big, with the interesting “in-between” dynamic of being scaled by Astartes but wearable by us mortals. In my head I’d envisioned it sitting snugly on the top shelf of one of my displays, a nice centerpiece for the Ultramarines wing.

Not a chance. With the optional display stand, this thing’s a beast. For those who are considering adding one of these to their Black Library collection, don’t rely on eyeballs and vibes like I did. Get out the tape measure and make sure for yourself. For me, it instead had to sit on top of the display altogether.

I added Bobby G. on that last pic just to help give a sense of proportion.

The optional stand it sits on is a nice bit of work. I’m always impressed by the inclusion of less-necessary details, such as the decorations on the stand itself that aren’t really visible when you’ve mounted the helmet (which will be almost all of the time for most folks).

This being a helmet, of course, it’s meant to be worn. While it’s bulky and cumbersome and not the easiest thing in the world to see through1, it is rather comfortable thanks to some thoughtful padding placement on the inside.

That third picture also shows the battery compartment, as this thing’s illuminated. It takes two AAA batteries, and it’s an easy installation. The helmet’s lights have a toggle switch that’s visible in that first pic, just below the headband.

When turned on, you get two red-colored lights just above the eyes. Were I to wear this as a prop, I’d probably want to build in a little visor of some kind to keep the light out of my eyes, as it’s a bit intrusive. The batteries are visible in that first pic for display, but the cover is one of the ‘snap-in’ types that’s simple to remove2.

Buyer’s Remorse?

Overall I found this to be a solid product that was nicely made and won’t make you feel badly about the pricetag if it happens to be the kind of collectible you enjoy displaying. Altogether with shipping it’s going to be above $200- again, it’s big, and the box it comes in is very well padded making it even bigger- so it’s a centerpiece level of investment for most.

For me, it’s an odd fit, and the second time I jumped at a luxury collectible that ended up being a bit bigger than I’d expected and therefore not quite a match for my museum display. (The previous time was the Sanguinius limited edition Displate, which I reviewed here). That’s certainly no fault of JOYTOY’s, and I’m perfectly happy letting it sit atop one of the display stands rather than within it.

That said, in a world where I had an unlimited checkbook I’d grab one of every one of these they made. It’s not hard to imagine having a display case for each of the 20 18 Legions, with one of these proudly sitting atop it.

Since I don’t, I’m going to enjoy having the one where it is in my office, sitting above the Ultramarines display. But JOYTOY, if you ever expand the range and make a Night Lords parade helm, bat wings and all… we’ll meet again.

The Line Forms Here

JOYTOY’s designers have mastered both the art of individuation as well as iteration. Their action figure line for Warhammer is incredibly varied, yet they also expand the range through variations on a theme where appropriate. And given Warhammer’s technical modularity, where a lot of power armor really is largely the same outside of factional customization, it works:

Little surprise, then, that with the helmet line presumably selling well enough to warrant continuation, JOYTOY has begun pushing out the boundaries of what it’s able to offer.

The range of helmets now extends to five, with generic (non-character-specific) options available for the Ultramarines, Dark Angels, White Scars, and (currently on preorder) Blood Angels.

Each is available with and without the display stand, which adds an additional USD $30 to the helmet price of $160.

Now, let’s take a look at some books!

July’s Deluxe Offerings

Those who have champagne wishes and caviar dreams for their personal libraries at home had several reasons to enjoy what hit the shelves in July.

Ghosts of Cadia (Special Edition), by Rob Young

On occasion, the designers of the deluxe editions like to pretend you’re plucking something right out of the grim, dark future and sticking it on your shelf. The Special Editon of Robbie MacNiven’s Vagabond Squadron, for example, looked like a technical manual complete with a few grease stains right off of a mechanic’s table.

This time, though, they really outdid themselves with the visual trompe l’oeil that made the book look creased and well-worn. Check the ‘creases’ out on that title page, or the scuffing on the back cover. If I didn’t have it in my hand I wouldn’t believe that wasn’t the result of a bad day at the printer’s.

Overall it’s a solid design, nothing all that flashy aside from the gold foiling on the cover. There’s an author’s afterword, which is one of the features I most enjoy from deluxe editions.

For the Emperor (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Sandy Mitchell

I feel a bit like Flavva Flav to GW’s Chuck D here, but I won’t stop bragging on these editions. Pound for pound they’re one of the best values in the Black Library and the perfect ‘starter book’ for building up a deluxe collection. Added art throughout the inside of the book paired with a treasure trove of author insights, all in a lovely sprayed-edge hardcover with ribbon bookmark. Chef’s kiss.

Don’t be thrown by the spartan foreword, there’s also a lengthier afterword from Mitchell at the end of the book. Indeed, this is the first book I can recall that’s offered both.

I recently reviewed Robert Rath’s The Infinite and Divine from this series, and a full review of For the Emperor is right around the corner.

Cainaphanalia

Alongside the new edition of For the Emperor, it was a good time to be a Ciaphas Cain fan as we finally got to see him in plastic. While the official Games Workshop photo gave Cain and Jurgen something of a simian appearance I didn’t love, I actually prefer the unpainted look for most of my minis and they look much better on their own.

We also saw the release of a new regimental banner, this one for the Valhallans. For scale, I put the Cain/Jurgen mini in the center, so it’s a nice size for your wall or shelf. The banner is made of canvas and is great, but the cord and dowel setup are fairly chincy. Still, it’s not something you’ll notice once you’ve got it up.

Rynn’s World (Special Edition), by Steve Parker

Yeah, stock photos for this one. If you’ve been following my Rynn’s World saga the last few weeks as it’s unfolded in Black Library Weekly, you already know my heartbreak. The TLDR is this: I successfully managed to score one online, but when the box arrived at my local Warhammer store we opened it to find the picker had tossed in something that… wasn’t… my book. Not even remotely close.

Fair play to GW, I got a “double-refund” for my trouble (which I later used to get the Mephiston Box Set), but all subsequent efforts to track down another copy have come to naught.

Consequently, I can’t give any firsthand appreciation for the work that went into this one. Perhaps someday, once the ‘scalper rush’ calms down.

False Gods (Premium Edition), by Graham McNeill

Finally, the Horus Heresy Saga rolls on with the Premium Edition of Graham McNeill’s sophomore entry. It has a lovely leatherette cover with embossed metal medallion, with a spine treatment that looks awfully classy when seated alongside others that are similar.

As a Premium Edition, there’s no unique numbering or author autographs here, but it does have a small six-panel map folded up and seated within. Sadly, no additional author commentary from McNeill.

Community Shelfies

Finally, some shelfies that caught my eye recently from around the community, because as much as I like to look at what’s in my own study, it’s a blast to see how others are displaying their own collections!

Here’s u/robynjames777’s Gaunt’s Ghosts shelf, with the recent edition of The Sabbat Worlds Crusade as well as a number of the print-on-demand novels by Dan Abnett.

I wanted to highlight this one, though, because of their display’s centerpiece. It’s always great to see people go outside the usual when decorating their library, and this was a framed printout that really pulls it together.

Speaking of going outside the usual, nobody should have to wonder what Devin Lea’s favorite faction is, and it’s probably not revealed by the presence of that one hapless Tyranid. Plenty of Black Library books, Games Workshop goodies, and Etsy pickups have made this less of a library and more of a shrine.

If I might offer one suggestion to those who store their books like this, it’s that having them out in the open makes them a magnet for dust and calamity. It might be worth grabbing a few acrylic book protectors to safeguard them- some of those Blood Angel deluxes go for stupid money on the secondary market- and if you have a decent painting hand you can even thematically decorate the acrylic cases, too!

A ‘first shelfie’ is always a special moment, because it’s the first time you realize you’ve built something worth photographing. It’s no longer just a collection of books, but a thing greater than the sum of its parts. A collection.

u/Own-Function6537 celebrated getting a new place that had room for theirs by posting it up, and ever since I’ve seen this image I’ve been ruminating on how slick it looks to have tight shelf spacing. I have a lot of “dead air” in mine- easily enough for another shelf if I was able to compress the unusued space- and when the time finally arrives for shelf upgrades this is exactly the kind of functionality I’ll be looking for.

Having little air gap atop the books also is a great way to reduce the dust that loves to collect on books.

Matt Kadish also enjoys working JOYTOY figures into his collection to great effect, and the plastic is definitely competing for available display space with the paper. Matt noted he’d had to banish the paperbacks to a new shelf (don’t worry, he notes he’s ‘working on’ a solution to shield them from the sun), though these days copies of Throne of Light and The Wolftime can go for as much (or more) than a new Limited Edition hardcover.

Thanks to all those who take the time to open up their collections and show them off, it’s great to see these books being so treasured.

That’s it for this month. Until next, may your library be every bit the collection you want- or at least be moving in that direction!

The Hall Monitor is published every other week, the same day as the latest installment of the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame drops on Tabletop Battles. A cross between a director’s cut and a backstage pass, it’s a look behind the scenes at the Hall of Fame project.

Somewhere around 2011 or 2012, Games Workshop appears to have made the painful and difficult decision to kill off Warhammer Fantasy Battles1. The fans wouldn’t know this for a few years yet, but the property was a dead man walking.

When looking to understand why GW would kill off a storied property that had enjoyed three decades of lore, story, and development, there are three major factors to consider.

The Financial

By the time you saw the game’s 8th Edition in 2010, its most prosperous days were well behind it. It’s often cited that a Space Marine Tactical Squad box by itself was outselling the entire Warhammer Fantasy Battles product range, and whether that’s true or not it certainly hits at a financial reality for the game: it just wasn’t making money.

There’s a number of reasons for this- as with any property consumer interest comes and consumer interest goes depending on all sorts of factors both internal and external. But it didn’t help that the barrier to entry for the game was quite high. Building a playable army required a substantial investment, while your most mature consumer base- who already had their preferred armies bought- weren’t incentivized to continue their purchasing2.

Games that don’t make money do not stay games forever.

The Legal

In 2010, Games Workshop sued a Texas-based company called Chapterhouse Studios over copyright and trademark infringement. Chapterhouse had existed on the margins of Warhammer; it wasn’t so much creating counterfeit miniatures as selling miniatures accessories (heads, shoulder pads, weapons, etc.) for players to customize their Warhammer models.

Chapterhouse fought back, using the defense that they were in the aftermarket business selling non-infringing accessories that were simply “compatible with” Warhammer figures. After a bruising three-year trial, the jury ruled in favor of Games Workshop- but only just. Damages were reduced down to $25,000, and GW left to learn some painful hard truths about their market position.

For one thing, the entire affair revealed just how exposed their IP was. Orcs, Elves, Space Marines, Imperial Guard… far too many of Warhammer’s core factions were based upon concepts that were firmly in the public domain, and therefore could not be trademarked. Now Orruks, Aeldari, Drukhari, Adeptus Astartes, or Astra Militarum… now those are substantially more enforceable.

Given how much of Warhammer Fantasy’s IP was based on a blend standard, Tolkien-esque tropes and Renaissance Europe, however, the writing was almost certainly on the wall. What looked rich and deep to us fans on the inside looked generic and unprotectable in a court of law.

The Narrative

Warhammer Fantasy- based as it was on European history with a seasoning of fantasy- did not have a lot of narrative agility. By having everything tightly locked on a map you had to do a lot of lorework if you wanted to introduce, say, a new faction, or shake things up politically. Sure 40K had a “map” of the galaxy, but its immense size meant that you could stage just about anything anywhere and not bump into anything around it.

The flexibility of settings like AD&D’s Planescape (released in 1994) was surely not lost on Games Workshop, with the “planar model” meaning things could be added and subtracted almost at will with minimal disruption to the rest of the setting.

Ripping the Bandaid Off

The transition from Warhammer Fantasy to the Age of Sigmar presented Games Workshop with a problem- but also an opportunity. The problem they keenly wanted to avoid was having too long a lead time between the demise of one franchise and the birth of its replacement. After all, gamers tend not to sit still, and if the market was allowed to move on from WFB while Games Workshop worked on its replacement, they’d find no small portion of the market no longer there when Age of Sigmar launched.

This required a fair bit of behind-the-scenes coordination, with development of the Age of Sigmar property going full tilt behind the scenes while Warhammer Fantasy began its sunset. Narratively, this found its fruition in The End Times, a story-based detonation of the entire property woven through both the tabletop as well as the fiction of the Black Library.

I was never into Warhammer Fantasy; my introduction to 40K came at around this time so I was busy with Eisenhorn, Cain, and Gaunt while the likes of Karl Franz, Thorgrim Grudgebearer, and Vlad von Carstein faded into history. But as I’ve been walking through the hallways of that history thanks to the Black Library Readers Hall of Fame project, it’s been difficult to escape a sense of the maudlin while through its echoes.

This world- these characters- were beloved once.

The End Times was a commercial success for the Black Library, though hardly one without a great deal of controversy and upheaval- not least due to its feeling very compressed and arbitrary. With pallets of Age of Sigmar plastic waiting in the wings, the clock was ticking to wind one world down so that another might be born.

It’s been heartening to see that denouement being well-recognized in the Hall as well. There were more fantasy titles inducted this week than any other property, which might well be a first for the Hall. It may be going out, but it’s not going out with a whimper.

Exactly how it should be.

The Vox Populi Top Twenties

So here are the updated Top Twenties for both halves of the Black Library, but first a look at the updated Leaderboard:

Hall Winners Leaderboard

Exciting news for Rob Sanders, of course, as he gets his name amongst what remains very select company indeed. A second for John French and Josh Reynolds, Chris Wraight jumps up a bit, while Aaron Dembski-Bowden draws level with Graham McNeill towards the top of the table.

What’s particularly notable here is that Wraight landed two Hall of Fame books in 2014. Bartender, I’ll have what he’s having, please…

Fantasy

30K/40K

Not a lot of movement in the Top Twenties, but this far along in the project that’s probably to be expected. I think the days of extraordinary unity as seen with books like Horus Rising and For the Emperor are likely behind us, but it’s fun guessing which books have the best shot at landing here in the upper 70’s and 80’s.

That’s all for this time, thanks for reading!

With much of my contemporary reading in service to writing reviews, audiobooks are my chance to “play catch-up” on the older catalogue of Black Library books. What you will find in this occasional feature is neither a full, formal book review nor a simple blurb, but rather something comfortably in between: impressions.

The first-ever Class considered for induction into the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame represented the earliest efforts by Games Workshop to expand their properties into the realm of fiction. There was no Black Library then, not as we know it today- that wouldn’t come into being until 1997. But that doesn’t mean that there weren’t foundational works being produced, and today we’ll be looking at one of the first three books ever to be inducted into the Hall: Drachenfels, by Kim Newman (writing as Jack Yeovil).

It was inducted as part of the Class of 1989-98, alongside two legendary books by Ian Watson (Inquisitor and Space Marine). Warhammer fiction then was something of a Wild West, given the relative infancy of the properties and the lack of established lore (Warhammer Fantasy Battles debuted in 1983, Rogue Trader- what we now know as Warhammer 40,000- followed four years later). To get its literary arm off the ground, Games Workshop turned to established genre writers to work their magic inside their new sandboxes.

I’ve written before about Ian Watson’s somewhat gonzo legacy as part of my 40K History of the Black Library series (originally on Tabletop Battles, now continuing here on the Wordforge). But I’d long been curious about how the Fantasy side of that era held up. To my delight, I found that there was an audio edition of Drachenfels (and indeed, a four-book Collection!), so in I went!

The Story

I went into Drachenfels completely cold, with no knowledge of the story, the character, or really much of anything in the Fantasy1 canon. And at first, it unfolded like a standard fantasy novel: a group of heroes. A forbidding and sinister castle. An ancient evil. One by one the heroes succumb to the many traps and perils, bravely battling ever onward towards the inevitable, triumphant confrontation in the heart of the castle.

And then, everything changes.

Drachenfels, you see, isn’t about the story of the heroes vanquishing Constant Drachenfels. It’s the story about the story of the heroes vanquishing Constant Drachenfels. It’s now two decades later, and the hero who struck the fatal blow against the sorcerer, Oswald von Königswald, wants to commission a great play commemorating the anniversary of the event. He retains one of the great playwrights of the era, Detlef Sierck2, and flings his coffers wide for a no-expense-spared production that will be staged in the original Castle Drachenfels.

Sierck brings together the remaining, surviving heroes of the original event, a small group which includes the vampire Geneviève Dieudonné3. He begins work on the play and production immediately, diving in to what he intends to be his magnum opus. The sets are build and actors auditioned, but as the play moves towards its opening night, strange misfortunes begin to plague the production.

And then the murders begin.

von Königswald, Sierck, and Geneviève must uncover what sinister forces seem to be trying to derail their production, while bravely trying to keep the whole thing from derailing and ruining Sierck’s reputation. When the curtains go up on opening night, will there even be an audience? Or even a production?

The Author

Drachenfels was the perfect debut novel for Newman, combining two of his great loves: horror and theatre. Mainly active in the Black Library between 1989 and 19934, he’s had a much more substantial body of work outside of it in both fiction and non-fiction.

The same year Drachenfels released, Newman won the first of his two Bram Stoker Awards, co-writing Horror: 100 Best Books with Stephen Jones. He’s also been awarded a BSFA Award (for Short Fiction, in 1990) and in 1994 his novel Anno Dracula earned him an International Horror Guild Award5.

His latest novel, this year’s Model, Actress, Whatever6 is a satirical blend of superhero and alternative reality elements (where the Beatles never broke up), and he’s also an established film critic and posts something vampire-related every day on social media.

The Voice

Drachenfels is narrated by Antonia Beamish, who has also provided narration for a number of other Warhammer stories including Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives by Mike Brooks and Chris Thursten’s Abraxia: Spear of the Everchosen. In addition to a small number of short film credits7, she provided voice talent for Divinity: Original Sin and Divinity: Original Sin II.

When assessing the voice production for an audiobook, I typically look at two things in particular. First, how is their general narration voice overall? Is the book enjoyable to listen to? Then second, how is their range of characters? Are they able to give each their own, distinctive voice so that they stand out in contrast to one another?

In both, I found Beamish’s work here to be excellent. The story was a very easy listen, and her range was terrific. Beamish reminded me of Jonathan Keeble in her willingness to employ not just tonal shifts in her voice, but the adoption of different accents to distinguish her characters. Tonal shifts when the narrator is crossing genders can be a bit fraught, but again as with Keeble I found Beamish’s masculine voices worked.

If there was one questionable choice, it was her adoption of a French accent for Detlef Sierck. Sierck, from Nuln, would likely not have sounded like a Bretonnian; that accent would more rightly have gone to Geneviève (which it did not). But this is the kind of background information that any narrator would probably be unaware of in the absence of a “lore primer” from Games Workshop, so it’s no mark against Beamish.

Similarly, I chuckled for a moment when she mispronounced the “lead” in lead soldier, giving it a long -e sound (as in “leader”) rather than the short one (as in the metal). We can’t expect everyone to have a gaming background, right?

My Impressions

I enjoyed this book far more than I expected to. Newman’s focus on a theatrical production was delightful, an unusual setting that his background was able to inform and flesh out with terrific detail. I wouldn’t have minded a more generic fantasy tale, but I give Newman a ton of credit for taking the unexpected route for his first Warhammer novel and delivering something truly special.

Beyond just the story itself, Newman’s writing was delightful. His Geneviève is the kind of lush, sensual creature you’d find in an Anne Rice story, but rather than making her some decadent aristocrat she’s very much a creature of the world she inhabits. Her longevity doesn’t imbue her with listless stagnation; rather, Newman’s Geneviève is a barmaid when we first encounter her, and has lived all sorts of lives in her time.

His characterization for the others is similarly terrific. We first find playwright Sierck in a debtor’s prison, for instance, with Newman using the amount each of Sierck’s cellmates’ debt to introduce them into the narrative. “Money was like the fabled warpstone,” Sierck later notes, “the more contact you had with the stuff, the less like a human being you became.”

Finally, Newman’s pacing keeps the story moving forward laden with suspense. Having recently enjoyed Dan Abnett’s Hive (reviewed here), I enjoyed how Newman too took an approach that avoids driving to the heart of the story. Instead it takes its time, circling around the edges while moving ever more closely inward.

Drachenfels is a story to be savored. And this audiobook is the perfect vessel for doing so.

Bits n’ Pieces (Possible Spoilers)

• In most heroic fantasy stories, the heroes storm the castle, win the day, and live more or less happily ever after. Not here. I loved how the initial foray into the Castle Drachefels that opens the tale leaves an indelible trauma on each of those that survived it. They emerge from the ordeal not triumphant, but forever damaged. Somehow, that feels a lot more true to life. After all, you’ve just watched your friends and companions getting horrifically killed. Who’s popping champagne? And by advancing the tale two decades after the event, Newman has plenty of space to work with to illustrate the lingering trauma that never fully goes away.

• Towards that end, there’s a fascinating kind of resonance that Newman skillfully weaves into the story when the heroes return, two decades later, to help stage the play. Seeing those places for the first time in two decades, imagine how that would feel. There’s a terrific scene where one of the old heroes is half-drunk carousing with a woman, suddenly realizing that he’s in the very corridor where he and the party had been savagely attacked by living gargoyles twenty years ago.

• While billed as a Vampire Geneviève novel, there was surprisingly less of her than I’d have expected. She’s present, she’s important, but as with any good theatre production it’s the cast that shines.

• Finally, a quote where this story’s love of the theatre shined through… One of the original party (Rudi) is regaling the play’s cast and crew with stories of his adventuring days over a pot of gin:

I came to Drachenfels expecting something relatively by-the-numbers, and instead left with one of the best Warhammer fantasy stories I’ve read. Looking forward to the next installment, Geneviève Undead!

With much of my contemporary reading in service to writing reviews, audiobooks are my chance to “play catch-up” on the older catalogue of Black Library books. What you will find in this occasional feature is neither a full, formal book review nor a simple blurb, but rather something comfortably in between: impressions.

With my road trips to Houston becoming more of a regular thing, it’s been a great time to make good progress on the Horus Heresy. Originally released in May 2011, Age of Darkness is both the sixteenth book in the mainline Heresy series as well as its second anthology.

The volume contains nine short stories from some of the Black Library’s biggest hitters, and indeed six of them have been enshrined within the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame. For the audio talent, we get readings from Gareth Armstrong and Jonathan Keeble- both of whom we’ve profiled before in this series- but also one narrator that we haven’t.

Until now.

A New Voice

Banks’s background, like many of his peers, shows early theater and small-screen production credits (including Coronation Street and Footballers’ Wives) eventually giving way to finding a real stride in voice acting. Listed in nearly a hundred episodes of various Doctor Who podcast dramas, he’s also played Inspector Lestrade in the Sherlock Holmes series by Big Finish Productions.

His body of work for the Black Library is similarly extensive. He’s been the primary narrator for the Dark Imperium and Dawn of Fire series, the Watchers of the Throne Series, and plenty more. I find his range to be comparable to Gareth’s Armstrong, in that he has a strong reading voice and can carry a small number of characters, but struggles a bit in differentiation for stories with a larger cast.

That said, there are some voice actors that have fully claimed particular characters for me, such as Jonathan Keeble’s Gotrek or Stephen Perring's Commissar Cain. To this august company I must add Banks, whose Roboute Guilliman exemplifies the sound of this most analytical warrior and statesman.

It’s worth noting, too, that Banks isn’t just a professional putting in a shift. It’s always gratifying to learn that the creative talents bringing Warhammer to life are themselves fans, and as he shared in a Doctor Who podcast he’s a great fan of the lore and enjoys playing the game (though he admits to being challenged at assembly and painting).

To anyone who’s ever thought, “they’re just reading a book, how hard could that be?”, here’s what Banks has said before on what his workday can look like.

“Seventy different voices” certainly gives one pause for thought, let alone having to speak for seven hours a day, every day. For all that effort, though, we get some truly enjoyable stories- including three of the ones we’re looking at today.

The Stories

Rules of Engagement, by Graham McNeill

Narrated well by Gareth Armstrong, this was an excellent opener to the anthology. One of the things I appreciate about McNeill is that he’s interested in some of the more esoteric elements of the Warhammer universe. We’ve seen this with A Thousand Sons and the legion’s mysticism, his diving into the Cult Mechanicus with Mechanicum, and now here in Rules of Engagement we get a story about… the Codex Astartes.

Trust me, it’s way more exciting than that probably sounds. Guilliman has completed what is destined to become one of the Imperium’s most influential works, and now it must be put to the test. Outstanding.

Liar’s Due, by James Swallow

When Orson Welles broadcast the War of the Worlds radio drama back in 1938, it famously caused a national panic. Much of the story of a Martian invasion of Earth was presented in news-broadcast format, and listeners who didn’t catch the disclaimer at the start of the show might be forgiven for thinking something momentous and terrible was happening.

It seems a bit silly in hindsight, of course, but in fairness it was already a time of popular instability. The Great Depression, the Lindbergh kidnapping, the Hindenburg disaster, tensions in Europe… the pot was already simmering a bit. James Swallow channels this event through the Warhammer lens, telling a story of a series of news broadcasts heard by an isolated mining colony reporting that Horus Lupercal has accepted the surrender of the Emperor. I’ll give you twenty guesses at who might be behind it such a thing, but I suspect you’ll need no more than one.

Jonathan Keeble is terrific here, as ever, and this one’s another terrific tale.

Forgotten Sons, by Nick Kyme

Not every Warhammer story needs to be profound- indeed, most aren’t, though a surprising amount have their moments. If there’s one kind I have high expectations for it’s those that trade in their bolters and power swords for the cut and thrust of spirited debate.

When I reviewed David Annandale’s recent Word Bearers tale, Apostle, I was impressed that the author took a genuine attempt at serious religious conversion.

Sure it didn’t land as well as I’d hoped, with the conversions feeling far too easy than they should have- but I could credit the effort. The same here with Nick Kyme’s tale of a planet having to decide between siding with Horus or remaining loyal to the Imperium. Ultramarine Arcadese and Salamander Heka’tan have been tasked with acting as representatives for the Imperium, facing off against an iterator (orator) from the forces of the Warmaster to debate and persuade the planetary council to declare fealty to one side or the other.

It’s an interesting concept, and in fairness Kyme doesn’t make any pretense as to the speaking skills of the Astartes, but there was a great opportunity here for some stirring prose from both sides and it never really came together. The ‘arguments’ from both were fairly pedestrian affairs, of interest only because they did a good job referencing events of previous books in the series such as the destruction of Monarchia (The First Heretic, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden) and the assassination attempt on the Warmaster at Dagonet (James Swallow’s Nemesis). A shame.

Nor did much else really work for me on this one. Both of the story’s ultimate villains were a bit too moustache-twirly, though this one makes good question material for a Warhammer Pub Quiz due to the presence of a rare, shapeshifting xeno known as a Lacrymole. That’s one thing I love about the Horus Heresy setting is that it can feel like Star Wars with the wider variety of xeno species present in the universe (at least, before the genocidal Great Crusade snuffs many of them out.)

John Banks read this one, and was in his element with the smaller cast and wide range of tones (from oration to combat).

The Last Remembrancer, by John French

Interrogation stories make for good drama, which John French plays for maximum effect here in the story of a remembrancer found inside a Heretic Astartes ship, drifting into the edge of the Sol system. Rogal Dorn assumes responsibility for the interrogation personally, and must come to understand for what purpose the Warmaster sent him.

With a cast of three, this kind of drama is a perfect fit for Gareth Armstrong, and this one is like what NPR has referred to as “driveway moments,” news stories that when you’re listening in your car and pull into the house, you sit and listen to the rest of it because you’re so riveted.

Rebirth, by Chris Wraight

It’s difficult to discuss this one without giving away the story’s great reveal, so if you’d like to preserve the mystery I’d invite you to scroll down to the next one.

Chris Wraight plays with expectation here in another interrogation story, this one involving a member of the Thousand Sons captured while nosing about the ruins of Tizca searching for signs of Magnus, his Primarch. The reader sits alongside Kalliston through the story, with the identity of the interrogator concealed from both.

Wraight’s misdirection in the story is that you’re led to believe he’s been captured by Space Wolves, but in the story’s reveal you discover instead that it’s Khârn of the World Eaters, himself on a secretive mission in the ruins of the Thousand Sons homeworld. The writing is masterfully done, the reveal pulled off expertly, but I didn’t think that John Banks was the ideal fit for this one. He doesn’t have quite the “wet leopard growl” sound of the Space Wolves (or, for that matter, what I’d expect from the World Eaters).

The Face of Treachery, by Gav Thorpe

Nicelty performed by Johnathan Keeble, this one was really interesting. While many of the Horus Heresy stories stand entirely on their own, some of them carry a significance that’s not always obvious on first reading. This one is a perfect example (some spoilers ahead).

On the face of it, it’s the story of how Corvus Corax was rescued from the surface of Isstvan V following the Dropsite Massacre. That’s already highly consequential to the future of the Heresy, but it gets better. As the World Eater ship closes in to intercept the Raven Guard rescue vehicle, they’re thwarted at the last moment by a sleeper agent from the Alpha Legion.

Now, if you’re going in book order through the Heresy, you know from Legion that there’s a certain ambiguity of allegiance with Alpharius’s lot, and this is played here as the Alpha Legion putting their thumb on the scales to ‘preserve the balance’ of the conflict. But the deeper motives won’t make themselves known until later, in Gav Thorpe’s Deliverance Lost (Heresy #18).

It can be tempting to assume that short stories are in some ways less consequential than novels, but you sleep on them at your own peril.

Little Horus, by Dan Abnett

This was another consequential story, one that tells the tale of ‘Little’ Horus Aximand, onetime member of the Mournival, and his eventual embrace of Horus’s treason. The events of Isstvan III and V weigh heavily on his conscience, but as he hunts down survivors of Isstvan V a single swing of a sword will change the face of things to come.

While it’s written by Dan Abnett, this one was a miss for me. Part of that was the narration, which again was delivered by John Banks. Neither story nor delivery were bad, per se, but they suffered a bit following in the footsteps of some real bangers.

The Iron Within, by Rob Sanders

And here it is, my “best in show” story for the collection- and delivered by Jonathan Keeble, no less. You don’t get a lot of stories that focus on the Loyalist remnants of the Heretic Legions, but this one is fantastic.

It features Barabas Dantioch, a Warsmith of the Iron Warriors out of favor with Perturabo and exiled to lead an outpost on a remote backwater. With characteristic Iron Warrior determination, Dantioch has taken his punishment detail seriously, building an extraordinary work of military engineering in the construction of a fortress, the Schadenhold.

When a delegation of Iron Warriors loyal to Horus arrives, everything Dantioch has built- and everything he is- will be put to the test.

I loved this story, with its clash of Iron Warriors both sieging and being besieged. Another “driveway moment” story, once things kick off you won’t want to hit the pause button.

Savage Weapons, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Set in the Thramas sector, this one pits the Dark Angels against the Night Lords. Konrad Curze, Primarch of the VIIIth, reaches out under flag of parley to his opposite, Lion el’Jonson. Meeting on Tsalguasa with the barest of honor guards, much of the story involves a conversation between the two giants.

It’s hard to imagine such a chat ending in anything other than conflict, so you won’t be surprised that things soon go sideways. A sword is drawn, blood is spilled, and a head is taken, with Gareth Armstrong doing right by the narration involving two very different sorts of men.

Aaron Dembski-Bowden is well-loved for his ability to portray those wayward souls that have broken with the Imperium, and he’s in full form here. This is an excellent story, and a great way to conclude the anthology.

Overall, I found Age of Darkness to be a terrific collection. I was a bit wary going in given that I didn’t love the previous anthology, Tales of Heresy1, but this collection felt a lot stronger and more tied in to the ongoing narrative in many ways. The narration was a bit uneven in places, but overall an easy title to recommend.

The Hall Monitor is published every other week, the same day as the latest installment of the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame drops on Tabletop Battles. A cross between a director’s cut and a backstage pass, it’s a look behind the scenes at the Hall of Fame project.

Every author in the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame entered it somewhere for the first time. Even someone like Dan Abnett, with an extraordinary book count now sitting at seventeen hall-of-fame titles, experienced a moment where he instead had zero1.

Rookie moments- those inductions where an author is winning their first award- are exciting times at the Hall. I’m under no illusion that the population of Black Library authors are sitting at the edge of their seat like it’s Draft Day for the NHL, but it’s meaningful enough for some that it makes it extra enjoyable come each induction day.

For instance, here’s Sarah Cawkwell on the inclusion of Valkia the Bloody:

Then Graham McNeill, for False Gods:

And Mike Lee, for Nagash the Unbroken:

What’s also been fun is seeing the authors most familiar to the modern reader beginning to come into the frame as the initiative rolls on. Do you think John French had any idea, back in 2013 as he debuted with Ahriman: Exile, that not only would that series run for four more books, but that he’d go on to pen the Black Library Book of the Year in 2025 with Dropsite Massacre?

Alongside Frech, the Class of 2013 also includes Guy Haley, Peter Fehervari, and Steve Parker. For Haley, who was inducted for his book for Warhammer Fantasy, Skarsnik, it was a heck of a debut year that also included Baneblade and Death of Integrity. Fehervari, of course, kicked off the much-beloved Dark Coil series with Fire Caste, and for Parker this first-time honor came towards the end of a career that also incluced Rynn’s World and Gunheads.

Heresy Fatigue?

We’re now halfway through the 54-book mainline series of the Horus Heresy, and it’s a good time to talk about how this unfolded behind in the scenes with the Committee.

For those who are new to this initiative, we use a sort of bicameral system to determine which books get in. There’s the public, “Vox Populi” vote as well as an eight-member Hall of Fame Committee, and the support of both is essential for any book to get in. Unlike some sports hall of fame where the public vote is essentially a token, public support has a significant weight in the final results.

No series or imprint in the Black Library has ever been anywhere near as successful as the Horus Heresy. Horus Rising, the first book in the series, was released twenty years ago and still has a huge presence in the catalogue. Debates about “which ones are good” and “essential reading lists” abound in the gathering places of social media, and the Heresy is as alive today as ever it’s been.

From the Committee side of things, it was the most prominent example of what you might call “block voting.” That term refers to the practice of voting in books as a group rather than individually. We see this often with popular trilogies, and it’s also quite prominent with long-running character series like Commissar Cain and Felix & Grotrek. Sandy Mitchell’s Cain is an extraordinary character, and naturally those who love Cain tend to reflexively vote for any and all Cain books to get into the Hall.

On the Committee, meanwhile, we take a more granular approach, weighing the merits of each book individually. Did Cain’s Last Stand, the sixth book in the series, do enough on its own to warrant inclusion? Was that book- not the series, but just that book- “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” significant? The Committee is not a monolith; each person serving may have their own ideas and opinions (and usually do!), so if that book can gather the necessary 60% of the overall votes, in it goes.

With something as massive and long-running as the Heresy, the degree to which we’d see block support was a big question we discussed last March. Were the voters just going to auto-pick most Heresy books because they were Heresy? We’d soon have our answer- and it was an interesting look at how the books are regarded.

Here’s a table showing how the Vox Populi voted, with books showing “Yes” under VoxPop crossing the requisite 50% threshold. It also shows whether or not a book made it in, and- just as a lark- whether or not that particular book is part of the new Horus Heresy Saga reprint cycle.

The public voters threw their weight behind the majority of the Heresy titles, fourteen of the twenty-two eligible books (the five unlisted books are anthologies, which aren’t considered). That might seem a bit high on first blush, but it’s worth noting that from this list twelve books ultimately made it into the Hall. It’s not a perfect overlap; the people liked Betrayer and Mechanicum, but they didn’t quite secure enough Committee support to make it in. But you can hardly accuse the voters of irrational exuberance.

Plus, it’s worth noting that nine of the twelve-volume Saga reprint cycle came from the first half of the Heresy. I’d say its clear that the acclaim for the book line is well-warranted.

But if you’d like to see nuance, where it really gets interesting is when you look at the actual data behind that support. Here’s the same table, but I’ve added one more column which shows the percentage of popular support each book received in the polling2.

For statheads like me, this stuff is catnip. It also contextualizes the concerns around block voting. Sure the people are throwing a lot of support for most books in the Heresy, but it’s not blind support. The early books enjoy a huge push, but as the series continues to roll out opinions become a lot more split. Note that only 54% of respondents supported the induction of The Unremembered Empire, whereas Horus Rising was almost universal.

Whether or not this represents a kind of voter fatigue versus critical discernment one can only speculate, though the reception to the new Saga suggests that we’re far from over the Heresy- and I’m absolutely here for it. It’s certainly true that the series did suffer from bloat- even the early editors have noted they didn’t plan beyond the first few books and were sort of winging it a bit after that.

But from such moments, sometimes, serendipity happens.

The Vox Populi Top Twenties

So here are the updated Top Twenties for both halves of the Black Library. In weeks past we’ve put the Winners Leaderboard at the bottom, but because the Top 20 lists had no new entries this week, I’ve lead with the table that did.

Hall Winners Leaderboard

While I talked about the four ‘rookies’ collecting their first-ever Hall induction, we can’t help but notice Abnett nabbed another one as well. When your tally rivals the sum of the next three on the list, it’s safe to say your lead is pretty unassailable. Still, this is one of those lists where you can genuinely say that even making it is probably an honor. I’d certainly like to think so.

Correction notice: Previous iterations erroneously had Ben Counter at 3, this has been corrected to 2.

Fantasy

30K/40K

No big breakouts inductions this week to crack the Top 20 on either side. Let’s see if 2014 shakes things up.

That’s all for this time, thanks for reading!

Every week, part of my beat covering the Black Library sees me having the privilege of connecting with the community. Whether it’s one of the prominent gathering places like the Black Library Nutters group on Facebook or the Black Library subreddit, the writer-heavy circles on BlueSky or elsewhere, there’s a lot of passionate readers and collectors and that means a lot of thoughts about how Games Workshop is doing.

I cover a lot of these trends each Monday for Black Library Weekly, but a lot of this is anecdotal in nature (for example, a rough preorder window, or a Limited Edition people are getting excited about).

Wouldn’t it be useful, I started thinking, if we had something a little more rigorous, some way to measure community sentiment? From there, the Black Library Reader Satisfaction Survey was born.

I’ve endeavored to make the questions as neutral as possible, to help ensure we get an accurate sense of community sentiment. Because the Black Library is ever-evolving, this will be a twice-yearly initiative, each July and January, so we can see how community feeling changes over time.

It’s my sincerest hope that this accomplishes two main objectives.

First, it will provide a vehicle for us Black Library consumers to be heard in a quantifiable way, and get a look at the general feeling of our fandom.

Second, it offers Games Workshop an opportunity to get some insight on how their customer base is feeling about their performance- the good and the bad. During my Magic heyday Wizards of the Coast was frequently checking the pulse of the playerbase with a stream of surveys; perhaps GW might see the value in taking a page from that playbook.

To be clear I offer no illusions about what they do with it- that is well out of our hands. But this initiative represents an organized and good-faith attempt to compile feedback, and that is something that has value.

I thank you all in advance for sharing your opinion through the survey. I’ve tried to keep the number of questions reasonable out of respect for everyone’s time, and would greatly appreciate if folks would share the link to the survey with others so we can get the widest possible pool of responses.

A new White Dwarf, a new Armageddon story! This time, though, instead of Cadians we’re getting to see the renewed conflict through the eyes of the Steel Legion.

If you’re somewhat new to the universe, the mystique of the Steel Legion may not be readily apparent. Loosely speaking, in spirit they were the Cadians before the Cadians were pushed, and in appearance the Krieg before the Krieg were pushed. You don’t see a lot of Steel Legion representation these days, but the players certainly remember.

So, too, does Rusty Zimmerman, who penned the short story Answered Prayers for the current issue of White Dwarf. After the five-month serial The Chronicles of Bain (reviewed here), we’re back to the standalone format with this tale of a Leman Russ detachment left behind on the battlefield when things go horribly awry.

Zim and Vigor

Zimmerman originally broke into tie-in fiction in 2012 with Neat, a story for the Shadowrun universe, and has continued to write for the property (his latest, Dark Synergy, just dropped in 2024). From there, he expanded into Earthdawn and BattleTech1, with his entry into the Black Library stable of writers coming in 2025 with the Death Guard short story, Seven Ships.

Released as part of a digital short story theme week, Seven Ships was my “best in show” pick in my review of Heretic Astartes Week, in no small part down to how deliciously he evoked the feel of the Legion through small details like the glint of mucous off a visor. It also won Zimmerman Best Black Library Debutant in the 2025 Goonhammer Book Awards, an honor he shared with Avalon Irons for Imperfect Engines2.

His next story, Resounding, was included in this year’s Death and Duty: An Astra Militarum Anthology, and I was pleased to see him get another out so soon with Answered Prayers. Here’s a spoiler-free look at the story (with spoilers in the next section clearly marked).

The Story

Zimmerman’s latest takes us straight into action on Armageddon alongside the Steel Legion’s armored 127th, the “unstoppable fist of the Morpheon Line.” Sergeant Valek Aertsev and his crew are part of a glorious push against the greenskin hordes, “six thousand souls riding in over five hundred Chimeras,” pushing back the orks like one shovels snow off a driveway.

Everything goes according to plan- until it doesn’t. Aertsev’s Chimera, the Faithful Perseverence, strikes a land mine, resulting in an inadvertent mobility kill as one of the tracks is shredded and its vox-array befouled. The rest of the assault pushes forward, leaving them behind in the middle of no-man’s land. Unable to go forward, unable to go back, and unable to call for help, they manage to “lever, heave, and curse” the Chimera into a nearby artillery crater for cover and wait for Imperial forces to return from the assault.

What they get instead are orks. Shooty orks during the day. Sneaky orks during the night. The tank crew and troopers they were transporting face dire straits and long odds as attrition whittles them down. In desperation, they’re forced to send an unsecured vox-call mayday, which would pinpoint their location to friend and foe alike.

And ultimately, the help they hoped for isn’t the help they get.

Impressions

Zimmerman’s last piece, Resounding, felt a little imbalanced due to a lot of character exposition in the early establishment of the story. It’s a difficult balancing act, giving the reader enough of your characters so that they can understand and engage with them, while making sure that the story’s pacing or tone isn’t adversely impacted (I’ll go into this a bit more in my upcoming review of Death and Duty over on Tabletop Battles).

Having only recently read Resounding, I was particularly sensitive to this going in to Answered Prayers, and was pleased to see a much more lean balance being struck. Zimmerman wastes very little time setting up the story, and the necessary character development gets braided together with the forward movement of the plot.

Indeed, he crafts a very tense and taut narrative here. Aertsev’s soldiers are in deep trouble, an island of the Emperor’s will in a sea of green. Time crawls by, with the hours of their remaining life measured in soldiers and bullets3 that they can’t replace.

If writing the White Dwarf Stories features has shown me anything, it’s that I’ve underappreciated the the Black Library content in White Dwarf to my detriment. Answered Prayers is a terrific little tale, and would fit just as well in a Theme Week or in-print anthology.

Bits n’ Pieces (Spoilers)

• So here’s where I get to talk about the story’s twist ending. As Aertsev’s crew throws the Hail Mary, we see the story’s title come into sharp focus.

• Turns out, they’re Blood Angels all right. Blood Angels in black armor. It’s one of those “oh shit” moments that suddenly gives the story an entirely new dimension, and credit to Zimmerman for never naming them as Death Company4.

• Indeed, this is one of those stories that, if read by someone new to Warhammer, would leave them genuinely puzzled, for it’s never explained why their Astartes ‘saviors’ then slaughter the Guardsmen just as eagerly as they did the orks. No explanation, no exposition- just a thing that happened in one tiny corner of a future where there is only war. Those can be refreshing for us property veterans, and White Dwarf is probably an ideal place to run them.

• While there’s an element of ‘be careful what you wish for’ here, I think the less obvious lesson might be, ‘when Astartes tell you to do something, do it.’ When the Blood Angels tell the Guardsmen to hide in their Chimera, they ignore it feeling like it would be a cowardly dereliction of duty to not do their part in fighting back the rampaging orks. Grimdark lit has a proud tradition of people finding out the hard way that sometimes doing the right thing is the wrong thing to do.

• One of the things I always look for in Warhammer is to see how different authors present machine spirits. There’s this ‘middle ground’ between superstition and supernatural with them, and the sweet spot (for me) plays firmly with the ambiguity in between them5. Zimmerman played it to perfection here.

• Finally- and this is totally a nitpick- but I’m starting to get a little fatigued of the “X and Y in equal measure” construction. There’s nothing wrong with it, I’ve just noticed it being used a lot lately and it’s become a little too conspicuous. In fairness to Zimmerman, it’s employed but the once here, and it’s hardly the thing writers can coordinate.

The Hall Monitor is published every other week, the same day as the latest installment of the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame drops on Tabletop Battles (here’s today’s). A cross between a director’s cut and a backstage pass, it’s a look behind the scenes at the Hall of Fame project.

Prior to 2010, the most books that entered the Hall in one year was six, which happened only twice. The first time was 2004, with early series work by Dan Abnett and Sandy Mitchell helping build a strong slate. The next time was 2006 with the advent of the Horus Heresy opening up a new category in the balloting.

That record wasn’t just broken, it was smashed by the incredible Class of 2010 putting nine books in the Hall. After a lull in 2011, we fell one book short of equaling the feat in 2012.

The simplest possible explanation for this is that, over time, the books just got better. As the Black Library grew in success, it could raise the standard of what it was looking for, offer more compensation1, and attract more talent.

Another consideration, though, is that we’re getting closer to the present day with each year. That means an increasing number of voters will be seeing books they’re more familiar with as time goes on. “Recency bias” certainly exists, but at the very least I’d like to think we’ll see a decrease in the proportion of “No Opinion/Abstain” votes in each poll.

I don’t have the answer to this, but it’s going to be interesting seeing if voting patterns change as we move into modernity. I might quibble with a book or two that missed out, but by and large I think the Hall’s gotten it right. It’s certainly been fun to watch! By the time we catch up to the current era later this year, we’ll have a much clearer picture of how things shook out.

The Vox Populi Top Twenties

So here are the updated Top Twenties for both halves of the Black Library.

Fantasy

No changes here again this week, 45% positive support seems to be a difficult threshold for Fantasy titles to hit right now, even if they’re still managing to find their way into the Hall. Remember, this number (the 45%) represents the percentage of public poll respondents that vote for the book to get in. It doesn’t have to get more than 50% support to be considered, it just needs to get more “yesses” than “noes.”

Still, it’s a good barometer of public awareness and enthusiasm for a particular title.

30K/40K

Some movement here this week, though, as three books climb aboard. The bottom of the table is fairly congested, and it won’t take much to see a large chunk of books fall off the table entirely.

Hall Winners Leaderboard

The top of the table continues to pull away from the middle, with Graham McNeill and Aaron Dembski-Bowden neck and neck. Abnett is nigh uncatchable, I’d wager, but it’s also a delight when we get to add new names to the table as well. Congrats again to Sarah Cawkwell (for Valkia the Bloody), and Josh Reynolds (for Neferata: The Blood of Nagash)!

Thanks for joining me on this look behind the curtains of the Hall, and if you haven’t already please make sure to vote your picks for the Class of 2013!

I’ve long been a believer that if you want to see something in the world that isn’t there, rather than wait for someone else to come along and make it happen you should roll up the sleeves and get to work.

Back in 2024, for instance, I was amazed to find that there just wasn’t a cohesive body of work out there chronicling the history of the Black Library. Sure there were bits and pieces all over the place, but a true narrative? I reached out to Tabletop Battles (then Goonhammer) and offered to write it, a series that became the 40K History of the Black Library.

In a similar vein, I was genuinely surprised to find that there had never been a real “Hall of Fame” for the Black Library. Sure, Games Workshop made a modest and short-lived stab at it in 2016, asking authors of the day to select books to include, but after just nine selections it quietly shuttered. I rolled up my sleeves and got to work, and now it’s been a continuous project since last November that has- with the help of the community- examined every novel each year has produced, and inducted over fifty of them into the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame1.

So in short, if you want to see something in the world, give it a go yourself instead of waiting for someone else to2. You might be waiting forever.

Enter Wicked Brick

This same philosophy is what brought Wicked Brick into the world. A decade ago some collectors in Cambridgeshire realized that their collectibles didn’t have any quality protection and display options. The market has always been a bit of a laggard here, given that it responds to market forces that have already hit a critical threshold before making preservation products available.

For instance, Ty’s Beanie Babies were introduced in 1993, but it took around four years (and a massive craze) to see plastic “tag protectors” begin being offered. It took slightly longer for Funko to roll out Pop! Stacks, acrylic display and protection cases for their vinyl figures. It’s notable that in each case, third party manufacturers beat the official companies to market by about a year, which gives some idea of market agility.

Not seeing the kinds of solutions they were after, the founders of Wicked Brick opted to bootstrap their own. “We loved collecting,” they note on their company site. “We just didn’t love how our collections looked sitting on an open shelf. Dust, UV light, the odd knock. We knew there was a better way to show them off. So we built it. A display that did what nothing else on the market could: protect the set, enhance how it looked, and let the collectible be the focus.”

In 2024, Wicked Brick landed the license to produce official displays for Warhammer, and it’s these that are in the spotlight in today’s feature.

Plastic, Meet Paper

My own Black Library collection has two components, the Library and the Museum. The former is exactly what it sounds like- bookshelves full of books, arranged in whatever formation happens to be most aesthetically (and organizationally) pleasing in the moment, but the Museum is where the Black Library truly comes to life.

Plastic miniatures are a key component of my displays, and today we’ll look at Abaddon, the Despoiler, who stands vigil in front of the Liber Chaotica and (a presently non-limited edition) Black Legion by Aaron Dembski-Bowden one of display shelves.

More specifically, we’ll look at his containment field, a Wicked Brick Limited Edition. Let’s get a closer look.

Wicked Brick has adopted the FOMO-inducing “limited” model for many of their releases, which is more or less industry standard at this point. All Wicked Brick products are made to order, which means that any limitation is entirely arbitrary and artificial. It also means that you’ll typically experience a wait time of 8-10 weeks between order and delivery3.

Assembly

Wicked Brick products are shipped unassembled, meaning it’s on you to put the thing together. This makes complete sense, lest you pay significantly more postage for what would, ultimately, amount to a bunch of trapped air. Assembly was fairly simple and straightforward, and there are instructions on the website.

Pricing

When I ordered it this past January, the Abaddon Limited Edition case was USD $67, and I also purchased a pair of the standalone plaques (like the one above that says ABADDON, but instead for the Ultramarines and Thousand Sons) for $17 apiece. An introductory promo code knocked 10%, and adding in shipping and duties the total came to $131.61.

Looking now, prices have come down a bit. The same case now goes for $54, with the non-limited edition priced at $48. The plaques are currently $14 apiece.

So that’s the second pain point with these, after the long order time. They’re not cheap, even if they’re a little less now than when I pulled the trigger. Factoring in all of the associated costs, this will set you back about the same as a Special Edition book, though mileage will vary depending of course on geography (they’re UK-based).

Satisfaction

In all other regards, I couldn’t be happier. It’s a very sturdy construction, and the Limited Edition looks fantastic. Having a Black Library quote as the background image (from The Talon of Horus, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden) makes it a perfect accessory for highlighting your favorite characters or legions in your museum or library.

I found the upcharge over the Standard Edition to be worth it, as the text gives it a certain museum-display quality I find irresistible. Here’s what the regular one looks like, for the curious:

If I won the lottery tomorrow I’d order one of everything. In the meantime, I’ll have to be a lot more selective (such as this upcoming one that appears to be for Gaunt’s Ghosts). And if you’re interested in the Abaddon Limited, at time of writing Wicked Brick appears to have sold 95 of them, meaning there are only 5 left.

Other Options

There are plenty of other offerings in the Limited Edition range of displays, many of which fittingly enough bear quotations from the Black Library.

For example, here’s our main man Bjorn with an excerpt from Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame inductee Battle of the Fang, by Chris Wraight.

For a more current example, howabout Ferren Areios from Rob Young’s Master of Rites.

Marrying Black Library books with miniatures displays is absolutely inspired stuff, and I’ll be keen to see what else they have in store.

Beyond that, they also have some products that are fitted to IKEA shelving solutions. The IKEA Billy shelf is one that many Black Library collectors swear by, and having an acrylic window that slides right in is a great way not only to display your memorabilia, but to keep the dust off your books as well.

Community Shelfies

Finally, some shelfies that caught my eye recently from around the community, because as much as I like to look at what’s in my own study, it’s a blast to see how others are displaying their own collections!

First up is u/g1aice’s beautiful collection of omnibuses for Warhammer Fantasy. Some of these- in particular the later Gotrek & Felix ones- can be difficult to source and/or pricey, and it’s great to see them together. I’ll share here that seeing Malus volume two before Malus volume one was a bit triggering, though.

I liked this display from u/ChillSappho, because it shows how even a small collection of books can be turned into a terrific display for anywhere in the house. I haven’t managed to convince the wife to let me expand my bookshelves beyond the study, but this might be the way to go.

Loads of deluxe goodies on these shelves, which comes to us courtesy of Ryan Hamilton in the Black Library Nutters group! I’m still kicking myself for not getting that Astra Militarum canteen when it was originally offered during last year’s Black Library Celebration.

Where to begin here? Obviously the Siege of Terra Limited Edition run is the star of the show (though I love the cheeky cameo of Justin Woolley’s Da Freebooterz Code Special Edition on the third shelf), and this helps illustrate why so many people went so mad for them. It’s a breathtaking centerpiece, but Paul Benham’s accessories- particularly the skull, brown-glass bottles, and candle- alongside the rich hue of the bookshelf give this almost a wizard’s study vibe. The Horus Lupercal bookends holding down a rack of Horus Heresy hardcovers is a very nice touch, too.

Congrats on completing the collection, Paul!

I’m genuinely envious of u/Joker8392 here for two reasons. First, for having all those lovely Siege of Terra maps, and second- just as important- having the wall space to display them. My copy of The Primarchs Collection: Visions of Glory and Despair is still sitting in the box, awaiting the day when I’m able to frame and mount them somewhere.

That’s it for this week, may your books be abundant and your shelves overflowing! Next time, we’ll look at what happens when chocolate and peanut butter collide.

Welcome to the latest installment of my latest occasional series, Show and Tell, where I dive into the world of WarhammerTV’s suite of video programming.

Some exciting news last week on the Preview Show as WarhammerTV’s next animation, The Butcher’s Nails, will be landing this August. It’s a one-shot for the Hammer & Bolter series, but I’m delighted to see the programs continue at a steady pace.

Meanwhile, last Friday saw the final installment of the most recent series, Aeronautica Imperialis, come in for a landing.

The Story

On the planet Sigma-Nova, the men and the machines of the Imperium toil away at the planet’s surface, mining the rocks for precious ore and minerals. Little do they know, however, that the site is considered sacred by the Aeldari of the Saim-Hann Craftworld, the Tracts of Fuethán1 “where our god once walked.”

Naturally with no open dialogue and mutual hostility and mistrust, there’s only one way to settle this: war.

Thrust into this cauldron is Kae, wing commander of Steel Flight. As we open, she and the trio of Thunderbolts in her squad have made planetfall and are on their way to report in at the Aeronautica base attached to the mining facility. As they near the landing, a chilling sight awaits them below: a graveyard full of destroyed Imperial aircraft.

Ambushed by nimble, sleek- and deadly- Aeldari Nightwings led by a pilot named Idranith, Kae’s entire squadron is destroyed, all pilots killed in action.

Before she’d arrived, Kae had never seen an Aeldari. Now, she can’t wait to kill one.

As Kae integrates into the Thunderbolt force defending the base, the “phantom” Aeldari fighters appear from nowhere- and disappear just as quickly. Outclassed in the air, and uncertain of where their xenos enemy is based, the desperate Aeronatica pilots get picked off again and again, their identifier tag getting posthumously added to the wall of honor.

What they need is a lucky break.

They’re about to get one.

The Talent

Details on the cast and crew are thin, as usual with these, but we do know a couple names attached to the voice talent.

Kae is brought to life by Elsie Lovelock, herself no stranger to Warhammer productions having voiced the navigator companion (and combat nuke) Cassia Orsellio for Owlcat’s Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. She also supplied some Imperial Guard voices for Space Marine II, was Queen Ansurek in World of Warcraft, Kennen for League of Legends, and loads more.

David Monteith, meanwhile, plays the role of Romas, the base’s flight commander. He’s been in plenty himself, including Baldur’s Gate III, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and 007: First Light.

At time of writing no actor had been identified for the role of Idranith, the Aeldari pilot, which is somewhat baffling. That said, voice actor Christoper Tester- who has featured in several Warhammer video games including the role of Heinrix van Calox in Rogue Trader- was delighted to get his first appearance in a Warhammer animation thanks to a ‘cheeky cameo.’

While story duties were handled by the “Warhammer Storyforge,” whoever that is2, Dan Abnett does have a writer’s credit on IMDB. Given his work on Double Eagle and Interceptor City, the pieces would certainly fit!

Production duties were handled once again by M2 Animation. They’re the studio behind other Warhammer fare such as Pariah Nexus (reviewed here), The Tithes, and Angels of Death.

Notes & Impressions (Spoilers Ahead)

• I watched this with two of my daughters, aged 12 and 11. While it’s listed as being recommended for ages 15+, that’s largely down to a couple of instances of mature language rather than any gore or adult-oriented content. They both really loved it, one rooting for the Imperials and the other cheering on the Aeldari. Something for everyone!

• I’m personally a big fan of swears in my stories, because that’s how (most) real people speak. It’s authentic and genuine, even when an author prefers to use ‘swear substitutes’ (like drokk, frakk, or fething). Nobody’s getting shot by an Ork and crying out, “heavens to Betsy, I’m hit!”

• I found the animation a bit stylistically uneven here. Check out the cockpit sequences, where there’s a sort of blocky angularity that reminded me a bit of The Clone Wars or the (criminally underrated) Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles.

• Compare that with your first look at Kae out of the cockpit, now looking more like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. This aesthetic duality persists throughout the entirety of the series.

• Shot of the Series Award goes to this one, the fireball from a crashing Thunderbolt illuminating a speeding cargo train. It’s almost blink-and-you-miss it from the second episode, but it’s a hell of a moment.

• GW has gone full-court press on this release over at the mothership, with each episode not only getting a callout article, but each one also getting a trailer. Extra credit for this one even having a callout for where you can buy Thunderbolt minis3, well done.

• Terrific dialogue in episode two, with the Aeldari discussing the nature of humanity. “But they keep coming. They may be brief things, but given long enough…

• Overall I enjoyed this one, it was an hour well-spent with some fun dogfighting action and a solid story that would have benefited from another fifteen minutes of length to really fill out. Idaneth’s fateful choice at the end, in particular, was less of an emotional beat than it could have been due to time compression. Still, the parallels in the story arcs between Kae and Idoneth were fertile territory for storytelling.

That’s it for Aeronautica Imperialis! With the next animation not dropping until this August (The Butcher’s Nails), next time I’ll be going back into the archives. A little Heresy, perhaps?

“Do something you love,” the old adage goes, “and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

When we announced the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame last November, we had no idea how it was going to be received- only that it was an idea long overdue in the community, and since it had never been done before it was time someone gave it a go.

From where I’m sitting, quarterbacking the logistics of it, it’s been an absolute blast. I’m working with great people, enjoying seeing the discussion in the reading community, and getting a ringside seat week after week on the incredible, unfolding history of the Black Library.

I’m gonna miss all this once its done.

Now I guess technically, as long as the Black Library keeps printing books (and may that be as enduring as the Emperor), this project will never really conclude. But by the time 2026 comes to a close, we’ll have worked our way through the Black Library’s catalogue and caught up to the present day.

That’s what I refer to as the project “reaching maturity.”

In most halls of fame there’s a certain “cool-off period” between when a player retires from the sport and when they become eligible for induction to the hall. That helps ensure that their candidacy is both assessed dispassionately, removed from hype and sentimentality, as well as the full impact of the player is understood. I wouldn’t want to be doing a Readers’ Hall of Fame for 2026 at the start of 2027, right?

What that cool-off period for us in this project isn’t fully sorted yet, but will probably be either two or three years. That means the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame will eventually transition from biweekly to annually, though, likely becoming something of a Spring tradition on Tabletop Battles much like the Goonhammer Book Awards1 will be.

So I hope you’re enjoying it while it lasts this year, folks, because we certainly are loving the ride. And if you’re reading this, that means you probably are too- and thank you for helping make this project such a success!

The Vox Populi Top Twenties

So here are the updated Top Twenties for both halves of the Black Library.

Fantasy

I’ve been delighted to see Fantasy rage against the dying of the light. We all know that the entire line is about to be nuked from orbit, replaced by Age of Sigmar, and we’ve watched Fantasy seem to slip from contention for the Hall. But reports of its death have proved premature, with Mike Lee’s Nagash the Unbroken arriving in the star-studded Class of 2010, and Blood of Aenarion by the legendary William King now enshrined as of today.

However, no Fantasy title from the Class of 2011 managed to score high enough in the Vox Populi vote to knock anyone off its perch, and the table remains the same as it did two weeks ago here.

30K/40K

We did see a touch of movement on this side of things, though, as Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Blood Reaver landed at the #14 spot. That means we bid farewell to Dan Abnett’s Prospero Burns, which at 76% approval slips off the Top Twenty.

Hall Winners Leaderboard

Congratulations first to Chris Wraight, notching his first entry into the Hall of Fame- one that’s unlikely to be his last.

Second, William King and Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s wins help solidify them in a strong “second tier.” It’s amazing to think that just a couple years ago we weren’t even mentioning ADB, whose success mirrors the early days of Abnett and King.

Thanks for joining me on this look behind the curtains of the Hall, and if you haven’t already please make sure to vote your picks for the Class of 2012!

White Dwarf Stories covers that little corner of the Black Library tucked away between the covers of Games Workshop’s flagship periodical. Many established writers have gotten their start there, with short stories paving the way for future work. Each installment, we’ll look at a different story and who knows, you just might find it in a future anthology!

Not for the first time, I’m reminded of just how much fun it must be to be a part of Games Workshop’s content and editorial teams. While the release of the game’s Eleventh Edition slowly came into focus for those of us on the outside, we can in hindsight see the design behind releasing a five-part serial to kick off the new year, ending in May the month before we’re back on Armageddon.

And so we’re treated to the stories of Shock Trooper Elias Bain, a Cadian of the 96th freshly-inducted into the regiment’s elite squad, the Callous Jacks. And to tell it, the Black Library brought in a new face, Neil Andrew Miller.

The Black Library’s Unlikeliest Author

There’s little chance you’ve heard of Miller before now, as it’s the nom-de-plume he’s using for his Warhammer writing. On the other hand, perhaps you’ve heard of comedy writer Nick Spalding. No points for guessing that they’re the same person (not that he makes any secret of it), but Nick has had about as unlikely a path to getting here as you’ll find.

For ages, the term “self-published” was just a nicer way of referring to someone’s vanity project. Bang out a bunch of words, pay a book manufactory to bind ‘em up with your name on the cover, and voila- you’re an author, Harry!

Before the digital age, self-publishing success stories were out there, but they were rare. A trained printer, Walt Whitman helped set some of the type for his self-published book of poetry, Leaves of Grass, in 1855. Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit was self-published, as was The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer some three decades later in 1936. For a more contemporary example, consider teenager Christopher Paolini, whose parents helped him self-publish his debut fantasy novel, Eragon, in 2001.

But then came the digital age, and as with so many other industries, everything we knew was turned on its head.

In November of 2007, Amazon launched its first Kindle e-reader, allowing writers access to a platform for distribution that bypassed the traditional book publishing model- cutting out the middlemen, as it were. This was the kind of potential exposure that the Whitmans, Potters, Rombauers, and Paolinis could never have dreamed of in their day, lugging around their boxes of a few hundred initial copies and wearing out their shoe leather trying to sell them.

Three years later, embroiled in a tech arms race with Apple, Amazon makes a huge change to its compensation structure for publication royalties. For books priced under ten bucks, writers would get to keep a whopping 70% where before they were only getting half of that. This sea change ushered in a boom of self-publishing, now a far more lucrative endeavor than at any time in the past.

Digital e-reader devices continued to climb in sales, and in the first half of 2010’s you began to see a number of indie authors make it big through this non-traditional (and previously disdained) approach. Amanda Hocking, writing paranormal romance stories, started self-publishing in 2010 and was a million-seller by the following year. Hugh Howey self-published Wool, initially a short story that grew into a much longer narrative that not only landed him a deal with Simon & Schuster but also would go on to become the tv series Silo on Apple TV+.

And that, of course, brings us to Nick Spalding.

Spalding self-published the romcom Love... From Both Sides in 2012, right in the heart of the boom. Within a year it had sold a quarter of a million copies, which soon brought him a mainstream book deal with Hodder and Stoughton (now an imprint of Hachette, which should have a different resonance for us fans of Warhammer and the Black Library) before he moved to Amazon’s Lake Union Publishing.

So when I say that Neil Andrew Miller is the Black Library’s unlikeliest author, it’s not because he doesn’t deserve to be here. Rather, it’s a reflection of how many things had to go right- things that before the digital era would have seemed like wishful thinking- to put him in the position he occupies.

Even then, The Chronicles of Bain was hardly a foregone conclusion. As he tells it,

About five years ago, I needed a sci-fi franchise for one of my Nick Spalding characters to be a fan of - and before you could say Ferrus Manus I leapt at the chance to use Warhammer 40k.

Researching for the story that eventually became Third Wheel, I was pulled back into the 40k hobby in no uncertain terms. The book got published, but I still continued to immerse myself in the lore, purely from an enjoyment perspective.

And then - wouldn’t you just know it - the talent agency I’m represented by also has a very respected and brilliant Warhammer author on their books1, and that was my ticket in.

I pitched a few stories, and one got picked up.

So all of these events had to line up just right to bring us to the subject of today’s piece, the five-part serial story The Chronicles of Bain.

A Tale of Years in the Making

January’s issue of White Dwarf featured the new Shard of the Nightbringer model on the cover, with the pages within filled with the Wardens of Ultramar, lore for the new Warhammer Quest: Darkwater… and Miller’s Black Library debut.

Part 1: Skullchewa

Miller kicks things off in media res in the first installment of the Chronicles, with Elias Bain fighting for his life against a raging Ork Nob before filling everything in with flashback. That Nob, Skullchewa, is target numero uno for the Callous Jacks- with Bain its newest recruit.

I was particularly impressed with Miller’s economy of space, packing a lot into the small number of pages he’s been allotted to make this first impression. Very quickly we get a good read on Bain’s character, with his mix of calculated cunning (“Bain resolves to get on Tegg’s good side as soon as possible. The hard-faced corporal clearly has sway with them all. That’s important. That’s valuable.”) and genuine piety (“Everyone else chuckles at this display, even Artoli. Bain does not. Tegg’s attitude edges close to blasphemy.”)

Not only that, but he does a great job setting up the first piece’s villain by sprinkling in a delightful touch of horror to go with it all:

The only misstep for me comes at the very end as Bain is wounded in battle. We learned earlier that Bain’s lived a charmed life, never injured during his service- a fact that he attributes to his faith in the Emperor, and the protection it grants him in return.

Once wounded, though, Bain exhibits what I refer to as the ‘brittle faith syndrome’ I see too often in Sororitas stories. That’s when a character lives their faith at a level ten, but plummet to zero once it’s tested or set back. An all-or-nothing binary when what I’d really expect to see is maybe a recalibrating five, less “the Emperor has forsaken me” and more, “is the Emperor sending me a message through this setback?”

Of course, there’s plenty of story ahead for nuance and recalibration, so no points deducted from the ringside scorecard.

Part 2: The Hole

Then in February the second installment offers an explanation for why the series is called the Chronicles, since we now find a partially-augmetic Bain two years later on a demolition detail for the Callous Jacks. The Guard has been giving ground on Ancar Majoris, and the Jacks have been tasked with destroying ammo stockpiles left behind to prevent them from falling into Orkish hands.

Something goes terribly wrong, however, leaving Bain presumed dead and trapped in a mineshaft. The story becomes the Warhammer 40K version of Cast Away, to delightful affect. The pacing changeup from the first installment is a canny choice, giving this story a very different feel- as well as an opportunity to further explore Bain’s increasingly-desperate faith.

This one’s terrific work from Miller. I will note that there tend to be two kinds of humans-versus-ork stories: ones where there’s a language barrier between them, and one where there isn’t. Rob Young’s Leontus: Lord Solar handled this splendidly, giving the titular character a compelling reason for speaking Orkish and using it to great effect. David Annandale’s Chains of Golgotha has a dramatic moment where Ghazhgkull speaks in High Gothic to Commissar Yarrick.

Miller takes the “no barrier” approach here, with Orks appearing to all be speaking Gothic.

I don’t love it, but I accept there’s plenty of precedent and it doesn’t take away from Miller’s story here. Just my cross to bear nit to pick.

Part 3: Glory Makes Us Fools

Another installment, another time jump. We’re now a few years further down the road with Bain, and now he’s a freshly-minted Sergeant for the Jacks. This “time capsule” approach is clever; by allowing each story to inhabit its own space rather than being a direct continuation, you’re not demanding a lot of the reader, as someone reading these as they’re released won’t need to remember much from installment to installment. “Bain fought an Ork” is about all you need to recall from the opening round, then “Bain was in a hole” for the next.

For this one it’s a situation we’ve seen Guardsmen in before, caught between an implacable foe in front of them and a miserable bastard of a commissar behind them. Beyond the action, this installment moves the character forward in two ways.

First, Miller has continued to anchor faith as something central to the character- and does an uncommonly good job of it. From the naive, brittle faith of the first to the desperate faith of the second, by the time we see Bain on Hycar’s Doubt it’s a faith much worn down by the trials of the soldiering life. He utters profane curses (“Throne damn it!”) as a matter of course, and much of the early certainty of his belief has eroded away.

This isn’t to say that Bain is descending into moral vacancy, and here’s where Miller shows a deft hand with the quill. That would be the simpler story, the more easily-told-tale. Instead, the source of Bain’s conscience simply relocates in his mind. He’s not listening to the Emperor as much anymore here, but he is listening to the voices of his fallen comrades.

Across three stories Bain has clearly developed as a character in a way that is consistent and understandable. For a story tucked away inside of a magazine Miller sure has me dying to see where we go from here. Job done.

Part 4: A Life That Matters

It’s around this one that I started to really appreciate Miller’s mission variety, getting the sense that the guy saw a great opportunity in a five-part serial to show the kind of range he’s capable of. The first is a close-quarters fighting story, the second a survival tale, the third an subterranean tunnel exploration (a la Sandy Mitchell’s Caves of Ice or The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons)… and now, a high-speed getaway caper in a dilapidated Chimera.

As an action story it’s great, a galloping, kinetic tale that Miller maintains at a frenetic pace. The Orks are getting closer every moment, and safety still ever so far away. It’s a cracking read, but what’s really pulling me into these is his development of the main character.

At this point- and again, we’ve flashed a handful of years forward- Bain’s loss of faith is now complete. He’s not anti-Emperor by any means, but he simply doesn’t give much of a shit any more, a far cry from the Emperor-botherer we saw at the outset. It’s an important distinction that keeps him on the right side of heresy, but he’s clearly jaded. And weary. Assigned to rescue a planetary official, his exhaustion isn’t just physical, it’s soul-deep.

All of this… the full measure of the arc of Bain’s descent, comes to a sharp underline in the story’s closing moments.

Part 5: Da Nasty Git

And here we are, the final installment of Miller’s nearly half-year run with The Chronicles of Bain. I have no idea how he’s going to cap it off, but the direction it’s been taking suggests it’s probably either some last-moment act of noble self-sacrifice- or heresy.

What we get instead is quite a surprise. An Ork story? We’re thrust instantly into the mind of Grat Zuglug, Ork Kommando on an assassination run. Grat’s not the biggest of the krew, but he’s the most kunnin’ and if we can just get his knife on the throat of their target he’ll be the Nob’s right-hand boy.

Their target? “Da Nasty Git,” and you quickly realize that this is the latest nickname given to Sergeant Elias Bain of the Callous Jacks- and the first one that has been given to him by the enemy. Using the plot device of the first story, Skullchewa, but in reverse for the closing story of the series is a chef’s kiss realization. Instead of the Jacks hunting the Orks, we’ve come full circle with the Orks hunting the Jacks.

Through this we also come to realize where they are. Each story in the Chronicles has been set on a different world, reflecting the continuing deployments of an Imperial Guard regiment.

It’s quite the reveal, and lands perfectly given that this final story was published in May’s White Dwarf.

As the Orks make their play, the point of view eventually reverts back to Bain and the Jacks as they are mysteriously summoned back to outpost command. Upon arrival, the first sign that something’s afoot is the presence of Astartes guarding the building. Bain is escorted into the strategium, a room filled with cogitators and holo-projectors, commissars and generals. In other words, a proper Imperial war room.

And there Bain comes face to face with someone that strikes more fear into him than any Ork ever has: Commissar Sebastian Yarrick. Yarrick, preparing to depart the planet, is wanting to make sure the Guard is in capable hands during his absence and that includes promoting Bain to an officer.

I’ll leave the rest unspoiled, only to note that Miller avoids the usual pitfalls in writing in major characters by casting them in service to the writer’s own protagonist. Yarrick is definitely Yarrick here, a man who’s seen too much and done too much to have much time to suffer dissent.

Miller absolutely sticks the landing here, and he’s done it because he’s ‘done the work’ in all of the preceding chapters. Doing the work is my term for a writer doing the necessary “building-up” early in a story to ensure that later emotional beats and narrative payoffs land effectively, a sort of “Chekov’s gun” in reverse. Everything that happens in the climax of Da Nasty Git is a result of everything Miller’s taken pains to lay out for the reader already, and as a result it closes out the arc terrifically.

Final Thoughts

A week ago if you told me I was going to spend 3000 words writing a deep dive about a short story that appeared in White Dwarf, I’d have thought you mad. Who’d have that much to say? Hell, who’d want to read that much? I can’t answer the latter, but I can certainly note that The Chronicles of Bain was a very pleasant surprise, and between it and Jake Ozga’s Tattered Sails, the story from my debut of White Dwarf Stories, I’ve completely revised my opinion of White Dwarf’s creative content.

For whatever reason, I’ve carried the seeming misconception that White Dwarf was a lesser tributary of the Black Library pipeline. It’s not entirely ungrounded; stories that ran in the digital Theme Weeks and Advent Calendars appear to have had a much higher rate of ending up in paper. Indeed, the recent No Peace Among Stars anthology was entirely populated with digital-first content (my review here2). White Dwarf stuff does make its way in here and there, such as Jon Flindall’s Tome Keepers: Legacy of Defiance in the Blood of the Imperium anthology, or the recent Grombrindal books).

But even if it was a lesser tributary, it’s clear that the content there is not lesser. Sure, it might well be that Ozga’s story was a ‘leftover’ from his period of work in Age of Sigmar rather than something written more recently, but a good story is a good story all the same. As consumers we aren’t privy to the demand and decisions that so occupy the Black Library’s editorial team, so for all I know they’re sitting on a mountain of unpublished gold.

As for Miller, I’m delighted to note that this won’t be the last we’ve seen of him (nor, hopefully, of Elias Bain). As he noted on his Substack:

If you’ve already read The Chronicles of Bain, I’d be keen to hear your thoughts! If not and you’ve got ‘em handy, go grab White Dwarf issues 520 through 524 and treat yourself.

There’s no doubt that within the canon of the Horus Heresy, Prospero Burns by Dan Abnett is a masterwork.

Even if you haven’t read it yet, you probably won’t need much convincing beyond the fact that it’s written by Dan Abnett and is one of only twelve books to be selected for the “Horus Heresy Saga” special reprint cycle. With the second book of the Saga, Graham McNeill’s False Gods, up for preorder this week it will probably be awhile before we get to see the new edition, but being one of a dozen representing a line of 54 books is no mean feat.

It certainly doesn’t hurt to note that it was recently inducted into the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame, either. And while I can’t automatically equate popularity to quality, it does the book’s case for greatness no harm to recognize that it was the first Horus Heresy book to crack the New York Times Bestseller List top twenty (peaking at #161).

Nope, there’s little doubt that Prospero Burns is a monumental work… and I hated it.

Bait and Switch

Okay, that’s an exaggeration, I didn’t actually hate the book. But I often like to say that not every book is for every person, and while I went into this one with high hopes it just wasn’t a book for me.

On the face of it, I was expecting to hear the story of the destruction of Prospero from the perspective of the Space Wolves. It was a terrible tragedy I’d last visited only a couple months ago listening to Graham McNeill’s A Thousand Sons, showing it from the side of the Legion of Magnus the Red. And given this, the official blurb from the Black Library, one could hardly blame me:

Yup, that sounded exactly like the other-side-of-the-story of A Thousand Sons, a story I enjoyed a great deal, even as I noted that I felt that McNeill’s destruction scene- the very climax of the book- wasn’t quite the emotional payoff I had been hoping for.

Would this be the opportunity to see the tragic event handled with perhaps just a touch more pathos and gravitas? It was a hope.

But not only was Prospero Burns not about the actual destruction of Prospero, but the Thousand Sons themselves barely registered for much of the book!

Too Clever by Half

So that last statement was technically true, but not exactly. And because this is a book that’s almost impossible to discuss without spoilers2, I’m gonna just plow on. If you’ve never read the story and intend to, you might consider hitting the eject button now.

So sure… it’s not “about” the actual destruction of Prospero, and indeed the event is rather anticlimactic at the very end of the book. But as it turns out, the Thousand Sons were very much a part of the story all along- you just had no way to know that until some of the plot twists and machinations begin to be unveiled.

Prospero Burns was Dan Abnett’s third foray into the Heresy, not counting the terrific Blood Games short story from the Tales of Heresy anthology (book ten). His first, Horus Rising, was a very straightforward opening salvo while Abnett dipped into his bag of tricks for Legion. Propsero Burns strongly takes after the second, but unlike Legion this one didn’t feel quite as lean or focused. It meanders more, takes its time to get to its reveals, and dare I say feels a bit more self-indulgent.

Again, not every book is for every person, and that by no means makes it a ‘bad book.’ I often bring up Marc Collins’ Eidolon: The Auric Hammer as an example of this. I didn’t love the book, finding it a bit too uneven and introspective a tale for my liking- only to see it get voted as the runner-up for the Black Library Book of the Year for 2024 on Warhammer Community.

Wet Leopard Growls

Up until Prospero Burns, I’d thought the readers a bit harsh on Abnett for the term “wet leopard growl.” Sure it’s an unusual phrasing, I thought, but that hardly warrants it getting the full-fledged meme treatment. That opinion changed once I’d listened to it. Repeatedly.

Abnett uses the word “leopard” twenty times in the novel, with sixteen specifically being “wet leopard growl.” With the book being a little over 400 pages in length, you’re getting leoparded every two dozen pages or so. I chuckled the first time I heard it… aha, so here’s where it came from!… and very quickly after that I’d cringe each time I heard it.

Fair play to Abnett, I’d only later learn that he was aiming for something very specific here. The term perfectly evoked the timbre and resonance he was going for in Space Wolf voices, reflecting their feral and predatory nature, and as he shared in a fantastic interview3 with Mira Manga the aim was to employ the term with enough frequency that it faded from active notice in the reader. Abnett compared it to the word “said,” which is employed so frequently that it’s effectively invisible4. Abnett acknowledged that he’d failed in the effort, but it’s interesting to learn that there was a deliberate purpose here even if it didn’t work.

The Falling Sickness

Here’s something else I was amazed to learn, that Abnett had some health struggles that came to a head during the writing of Prospero Burns.

As he wrote in the book’s Afterword in 2014:

Where it gets really fascinating (in a life-imitates-art-imitates-life kind of way) is how this episode in Abnett’s life gets baked into Prospero Burns. Prospero Burns is a story very much about the unreliability of memory, as experienced by its main character Kasper Hawser. Abnett, again:

Thankfully, Abnett was diagnosed and medicated, and at least as of 2014 he hadn’t had a recurrent episode. By the same token, he does note that the medication has altered some essential part of himself.

Then again, this person is the one who gave us that magnum opus, Hive, so I think we’re doing pretty well, Dan.

Glad you are, too.

Giving Voice

This is my fourth exposure to Gareth Armstrong since I’ve begun the Audio Impressions review series, having first profiled him in depth for Mike Lee’s Fallen Angels. He’s like a comfortable old friend at this point, enjoying him for his strengths and happy to look past anywhere he might fall a bit short.

Those strengths and weaknesses are the same as ever. A terrific reading voice, but a rather limited character range:

Indeed, Prospero Burns actually worked to limit the demands on Armstrong’s range. Hawser does a great deal of the book’s talking, with the cast of Space Wolves characteristically dour men of fewer words.

Bits n’ Pieces

Just one here as we’re already at full-review length. This is the first audiobook I’ve consumed that I wish I’d enjoyed on paper, instead. That’s no fault of Armstrong’s, who as I noted above did a fine job with what he had to work with here.

Rather, it’s more a testament to the story Abnett wanted to tell- or, more accurately, how he told the story he wanted to tell.

Robert Rath’s extraordinary The Infinite and the Divine has a section in it where Orikan and Trazyn are standing before a tribunal and, unbeknownst to Trazyn, Orikan keeps traveling back in time to try and rig the judge selection.

It’s not immediately apparent in the story, but as Rath essentially rewrites the same section multiple times in succession there’s a moment of realization when you, the reader, figure out what’s happening. Having both read the novel and listened to the audiobook recently5, this sequence is a significantly better experience in print. The audio can do a lot of things as well as print… can do a few things perhaps even better on occasion… but what it can’t do well is convey any kind of ‘meta’ writing.

The same thought applies here.

As Abnett grew more and more visually expressive in the story, rewriting the same passage over and over as Hawser’s recollections sharpened, the audio format was less and less effective a medium. Far more often than the use of “wet leopard growl” were the times I wish I was reading the book in print just so I could flip back a page or two and see what Abnett was doing.

I think I’d have enjoyed the book a great deal more.

With everything I’ve learned about Abnett and Prospero Burns, it’s only a matter of time before I give this one a second chance. In the meantime if you’re approaching it for the first time yourself, I definitely recommend the paper experience.