Black Library Weekly: A Kunnin' Use of Time

Plus- our July giveaway!

If there’s an upside to having to drive back and forth between Louisville and Houston, where my wife is staying for her clinical trial, it’s that there’s lots of time to unwind with a good audiobook. After all, if you’ve going to be a captive audience for fifteen-odd hours, you might as well make the most of it, right?

As a result, I’m not only am I well stocked for Audio Impressions for the foreseeable future, but I’m even behind in writing them up for the Wordforge. Nice problems to have!

As longtime readers may recall, because so much of my active reading is determined by what I’m looking to review for Tabletop Battles, I’ve struggled a bit to find time to round out my Black Library experience. Progress on the Horus Heresy, for example, had slowed to a crawl, and I was dismayed to think I’d never get to dive into some of the classics like Trollslayer, by William King. Published in 1999, there’s not much demand for a review of the book now, relegating it to the dreaded “background/pleasure reading” category which gathers far more dust than attention.

Audiobooks have been a real game changer, and I couldn’t be happier. I almost exclusively listen to them in the car, but with five kids to drive to their respective activities that offers up a surprising amount of book time. While I’ve been mainly focusing on the Heresy and old fantasy titles, this last trip I nabbed another long overdue: Brutal Kunnin’, by Mike Brooks. Stories like these make the time- and the miles- just fly by.

With another trek southward coming up in a week or so¹, I’d love to hear any recommendations you might have for some particularly delightful audiobooks. Feel free to leave a comment, or hit me up on social media!

Now, let’s see what the week’s brought our way!

---

July Giveaways

Welcome back to Armageddon! To ring in the arrival of Jude Reid’s Armageddon: Season of Fire, we’ve got a hardcover copy to give away to one lucky subscriber (and remember, subscribing is free!).

To enter, simply make sure you’re a subscriber to the Warhammer Wordforge, then leave a comment on this article telling me what the best Black Library book you’ve read so far this year.

That’s it! I’ll pick a name at random next Sunday from all entries, and the book shall be on its merry way to their library.

While you’re at it, Mythicanum is a new content channel that’s releasing Warhammer lore content, and to celebrate their first milestone of 100 subscribers, they’re giving away a hardcover of the Era of Ruin anthology.

---

Black Library App Sales for July

A new month means a new slate of sales on the Black Library app. As a reminder, this is a very new (and very welcome) approach; previously there was only one eBook offered on sale each month. With the introduction of the new app, each month appears to be bringing with it a much larger number of eBook and audiobook releases at a discounted price (50% off the eBook, 66% off the audio).

For July, these are:

• Eight Lamentations: Spear of Shadows, by Josh Reynolds (eBook)

• Dark Imperium, by Guy Haley (audio, eBook)

• Farsight: Crisis of Faith, by Phil Kelly (audio, eBook)

• For the Emperor, by Sandy Mitchell (audio, eBook)

• The Lioness of the Parch, by Evan Dicken (audio, eBook)

• Blood of Sanguinius, by Darius Hinks (audio, eBook)

• Storm of Iron, by Graham McNeill (audio, eBook)

• Cadian Honour, by Justin D. Hill (audio, eBook)

  ---

Arrivals & Departures

In this section I look at what’s coming up around the corner (Arrivals) and what’s landing on bookstore shelves (Departures).

Arrivals

Lots of goodies incoming, including most of what was recently teased on the mothership. First up is Ghosts of Cadia by Rob Young, the next chapter in the story of sniper Darya Nevic. It will be offered both in standard hardcover as well as a Special Edition, pictured above.

Darya’s first novel was 2023’s Longshot, which as part of the Astra Militarum series was released only in paperback. In conjunction with Ghosts of Cadia, it’s now being offered in a standard edition hardcover as well!

Another book making a reappearance in hardcover is Guy Haley’s The Devastation of Baal. Originally part of the Space Marine Conquests- another paperback series- this was originally published in 2017 before being brought back in 2023’s Lords of Blood omnibus.

And finally, speaking of that Lords of Blood omni, look what’s being offered en francais?

Departures

Maming its way into the world this week is Graham McNeill’s False Gods, the Horus Heresy Saga edition, which was offered both in standard edition hardcover as well as a Premium Edition. Dan Abnett’s Horus Rising appeared in paperback as part of the Saga, and Andy Clark’s Gloomspite- offered once again in hardcover- also joined in the fun!

---

Half-Year “Spend Ask” Check-In

Now that we’re halfway through the year, I thought I’d check in and see how the Black Library’s “spend ask” was doing.

Spend ask refers to the amount of deluxe product Games Workshop is releasing during a particular time. “Premium” product here is any non-standard edition, from Special/Limited Editions right down to Illustrated and Annotated Editions. Listed in USD, this is the dollar amount you’d expect to shell out if you bought one of everything.

Two quick things jump out at me here. First, 2026 has seen an increase from the previous year, but it’s fairly modest. Quarter 2’s increase of $40 is the retail cost of a single Illustrated & Annotated Edition.

Second, it’s probably time to start getting your wallets ready. As you can see, the second half of the year is always where the pain increases. At the moment, we already know there’s a hit coming with the Mephiston Box Set from Darius Hinks. What else might be on offer- and if we’ll get another Mega Limited Edition- only the Black Library knows, but forewarned is forearmed.

---

ICYMI

Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!

Warhammer Wordforge

• First up on the Wordforge, I put together a kind of how-to guide for the site, including guidance on quickly and easily tailoring subscriber notification emails to make sure you’re only getting the stuff you want. This will remain pinned to the front page for reference for awhile.

• This week’s featurette was a look at the newly-completed Aeronautica Imperialis animation, as the last episode dropped about a week ago.

• For the RPG players, this week’s Warhammer RPG Weekly had a relatively quiet week, though Cubicle 7 Games’ bestseller positions on DriveThruRPG were almost universally up!

Tabletop Battles

• Heroes of the Black Library received a new installment, with Commissar Ciaphas Cain in the spotlight! This series covers the character’s history in print, plastic, and even covers goodies to decorate your library.

• Togepi stepped in for this week’s review, giving us a look at Chris Wraight’s Ashes of the Imperium, the kickoff novel for the new Scouring series.

Warhammer Community

• The Pages from the Black Books series continued this week covering the war at Calth, where the Ultramarines were betrayed and nearly destroyed by the Word Bearers.

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• Nothing new in the world of the Black Library here, though the long-running Loremasters series featured the Word Bearers this week.

Around the Webway

• If you’re missing a few of the DK Books Warhammer releases, such as The Art of Warhammer Video Games, this might be a good time to remedy that, as Mars Garrett of Bell of Lost Souls put together a list of current sales and discounts for them.

• Jordan Sorcery’s GW Book Club is back, this time with a walk through the pages of the Warhammer Armies: Undead codex from the game’s Fourth Edition.

• Cinderfall Gaming posted a first look at the new Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide, the latest offering from DK Books.

• If you’re relatively new to the Black Library, the TTP Field Guide pod may have just the thing for you this week, choosing a book for each faction in the game.

• Many years ago there was a television commercial which asked, “how many licks will it take to get the center of a Toostie Pop?” u/ChillSappho took a similar approach to the Black Library this week in a terrific Reddit post worked out how long it might take a reader to get through the Black Library. Warning: there’s math!

• Finally, a couple of notable reader reviews on Reddit:

  • u/NewSpeak2050 assessed Chem Dog, by Callum Davis

  • Farseer, by William King, was given an unsparing review by u/PlatoIsOverrated

Cold Open Stories

• This week’s featured story is Rejoice, by Kyle Tam. “Sometimes the most unsettling horrors in the 41st Millennium don’t arrive with bolter fire or daemonic invasions. Sometimes they begin with a single message... and an invitation to rejoice.”

  ---

Quick Hits

• Anna Stephens (Gothgull Hollow, Trisethni the Unseen) shared that her new “pun-riddled fantasy heist” novel, An Honesty of Thieves, will be published in March of 2027.

• Maria Haskins (The Jagged Edge) is a nominee for the 2026 Ignyte Awards, which has public voting open until 16 August. She’s up for the Critics Award and is a regular contributor covering speculative fiction for Strange Horizons magazine.

• Now this is interesting: Josh Reynolds (Neferata, Road of Skulls) shared a free short story he wrote for the shared universe, Hookland. The whole thing’s worth a look, as Josh talks a bit about the Hookland concept and plenty more.

• Jonathan Green (The Dead and the Damned, Crusade for Armageddon) has released a special edition boxed set for the five-year anniversary of his ACE Gamebook Dracula: Curse of the Vampire. A new chapter offering a “behind-the-scenes” look, postcards, a pin badge and more, they are individually signed and numbered.

• James Swallow (Nemesis, The Flight of the Eisenstein) shared a blog post this week outlining some of the things he’s been working on, including a new novel as well as helping bring his Dark Horizon to television!

  ---

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known upcoming releases from the Black Library based on the available preorder information we have. As always, take all of this with a grain of salt unless it’s Games Workshop-confirmed.

This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.

Upcoming but Undated

• Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Nate Crowley

• Mephiston: The Box Set, by Darius Hinks

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker (Special Edition, 7/11)

• For the Emperor (Illustrated and Annotated Edition), by Sandy Mitchell (7/11)

• The Sabbat Worlds Crusade, by Dan Abnett (hardcover, 7/11)

• Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/11)

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/11)

• Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/11)

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/18)

• Ghosts of Cadia, by Rob Young (hardcover and Special Edition, 7/25)

• Longshot, by Rob Young (hardcover, 7/25)

• The Devastation of Baal, by Guy Haley (hardcover, 7/25)

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The Ultimate Guide (hardcover, 8/11)

• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

• The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 8/11)

• Words of Waaagh!, by DK Books (hardcover, 10/6)

• The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 10/6)

• Dropsite Massacre, by John French (paperback, 10/20)²

• Ashes of the Imperium, by Chris Wraight (paperback, 12/17)

Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!

1. My wife’s in a clinical trial for MD Anderson that requires her to be near the hospital. I shared our family’s cancer battle previously here.

2. These two were found by David Sinclair in the Black Library Nutters group. Thanks David!