Black Library Weekly: Penny for your Thoughts?

Plus, Writers are Fans, Too!

I’m a big fan of ‘see something, say something.’ There’s always a tendency to assume someone else has already raised the alert when a problem is detected (there’s even a term for it, the ‘bystander effect’), but ten pairs of eyes are always better than one and a little extra vigilance goes a long way.

Thus I appreciated the head’s up from reader David Clatterbuck this week:

Hi. I just wanted to let you know that not all of your posts are getting sent out to subscribers. I’m not sure if that is intentional or not, but that was what Substack’s (very unhelpful) support bot told me so I wanted to pass it on.

The short answer is that yes, it’s intentional. But it also raises an interesting question that I’d love to get your feedback on. Help a fella out today? Don’t worry, we’ll get to the books right after!

Penny for your thoughts?

Whenever a writer publishes a post, Substack gives them two options:

• Publish it to the website only, or

• Publish it to the website and send it via email to all Subscribers

The platform knows that readers don’t want to be drowned in email updates, and cautions us to be mindful of how much email traffic we’re churning out.

On the Black Library side, I email out Black Library Weekly every week. That’s the flagship series and the site’s biggest draw. Some weeks I’ll email a second featurette, espeically if it’s a “mainline” series like The 40K History of the Black Library or Black Library Bibliophiles. For the short time I was hosting Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame voting here, I also emailed out the ballots to Subscribers.

There’s also stuff I don’t typically email out, like The Hall Monitor, and that’s probably what caught David’s eye.

Another option- at risk of overcomplicating things- is to make Black Library Weekly its own content category, and put the rest of the Black Library stuff in a different one. That would let each reader have more control over what they get:

• Just want the Weekly? Check that category, uncheck all the others.

• Want the Weekly and the other Black Library stuff? Check both boxes.

So here’s the question: what’s your preference? Should I email everything, which would be 2-3 articles a week? Or is that too much? Would having two categories for the Black Library (the Weekly, and the rest) be too much, or would you welcome being able to better tailor what you get from the Warhammer Wordforge?

If you’d be so kind as to take a sec and let me know your thoughts in the comments below, I’d truly appreciate it. I’m still new to this format, and want to make sure I hit that sweet spot of ‘respect for my audience’ and ‘giving the people what they want.’

On the RPG Side

Right now, this content is limited to the Warhammer RPG Weekly column each Friday. When I begin to develop more content here (already in progress, by the way), I’ll likely send those out via email since they won’t be as frequent.

Since readers can opt-in to the RPG side just like they can the Black Library side, folks only here for one or the other can already tailor that to their preference.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts, it will definitely help the Wordforge be the best place it can be! Now, let’s get to those books…

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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

It’s a big week for the Black Library, with the second book in the Horus Heresy Saga on the horizon. False Gods, by Graham McNeill, will be arriving in the new hardcover format as well as with a beautiful Premium Edition. The new series cover art from Neil Roberts has been outstanding!

Of course, deluxe editions of Horus Heresy books have been amongst the most hotly-anticipated, which means if you want your copy you’ll need to be sharp when the preorder window opens this Saturday. I wrote a guide for Tabletop Battles on collecting the Black Library that you may find useful if you’re not a veteran of this particular long war.

I wondered last week about the listing for the paperback Horus Rising, but it all came together this week as the Sunday Preview also offered up the first book of the Horus Heresy Saga editions in paperback.

And this week’s out-of-left-field offering is a reissue of Gloomspite, the Age of Sigmar novel from Andy Clark originally released in hardcover in 2019. I’m not complaining at folks having another chance to grab this in hardcover (nothing quite makes a shelf pop like hardcover books), but it does leave me scratching my head a little as to the reason.

Departures

Nothing until next week, when the standard hardcovers of Armageddon: Season of Fire by Jude Reid release.

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Writers are Fans, Too!

While I’ll never scorn an author making an honest living selling the fruits of their imagination, I take an extra degree of satisfaction knowing how many of the writers whose stories and words populate the shelves of the Black Library are genuine Warhammer fans first, and Black Library writers second. Here’s a few who shared that love recently.

Andy Clark (Gloomspite, Bad Loon Rising) shared this work in progress for his Ork mob. The colors in here are terrific, really giving them some individuality. Looking great, Andy!

Twizelda the Brave comes to us courtesy of the skilled brush of Ben Counter (Galaxy in Flames, Soul Drinker).

This badass Bullgryn will take particular issue if you mess with the ratlings on Robert Rath’s (The Infinite and the Divine, Assassinorum: Kingmaker) Kill Team. Don’t say you weren’t warned!

Chris Thursten did gorgeous work on his first-ever Blood Bowl team, with some Bretonnians that really pop with that coloring.

Adrian Tchaikovsky (Day of Ascension, On the Shoulders of Giants) showed off some delightfully unhealthy-looking Nurglites. Hope your shots are up to date!

If slow-and-steady-wins-the-race is your painting style, you’re in good company with Victoria Hayward (Deathworlder, The Feast of St. Luthera) and her lovely verdant Knight.

Finally, some up-close-and-personal rodent work courtesy of Denny Flowers (Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords, Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok).

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ICYMI

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

Warhammer Wordforge

• The Hall Monitor is a sort of “director’s commentary” I write to accompany each new Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame piece over on Tabletop Battles. This week featured a deeply personal reflection on how Warhammer has given me a refuge during my wife’s battle with Stage IV cancer. It’s not for everyone, but for us it’s gratitude that’s seen us through.

  • If that’s too heavy, that’s okay- I get it! Scroll to the second section of the Hall Monitor for the fun stuff: top 20 lists of the highest-performing books in the public voting!

• For those of you into RPG’s, don’t miss last Friday’s Warhammer RPG Weekly (formerly the RPG SITREP). I’m giving away a bundle of goodies for Cubicle 7 Games’ new Warhammer: The Old World RPG!

• Finally, last week saw the debut of a new occasional feature here on the Wordforge. Just like Show and Tell talks about WarhammerTV offerings and Audio Impressions reviews audiobooks, White Dwarf Stories will examine that tiny corner of the Black Library that exists within the pages of Games Workshop’s flagship magazine. I kicked things off with a look at last October’s horror story, the terrific Tattered Sails by Jake Ozga.

Tabletop Battles

• Here’s the link to the most recent Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame, which covered the absolutely staggering year of 2010. Considering that 2009 only saw one book get in (Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s debut novel, Cadian Blood), 2010’sinduction of nine really seems incredible. But what amazing books those were!

• Those hoping for a review weren’t left out! Here’s my review of Hive, a book I consider to be Dan Abnett’s magnum opus.

Warhammer Community

• Not a lot for us on the mothership this week, but we did get the regularly-scheduled Pages from the Black Books lore drop. This week’s involved those pathfinders of the Great Crusade, the White Scars.

WarhammerTV (paywalled)

• Episode two of the new Aeronautica Imperialis animated mini-series dropped this week, and WARCOM gave a nice little dive into some of the lore around what you’ll see in the episode. Once the last episode drops I’ll be penning a proper review here as well!

Around the Webway

• While it’s not Black Library per se, a lot of us loreseekers enjoy reading the Codexes and supplements of the game throughout the years. Jordan Sorcery’s no different, and in his GW Book Club this week he dove into the 2nd Edition’s Codex: Imperial Guard.

• Staying in the realm of the tangential-to-books for one more second, Mira Manga penned a review of the Warhammer 40,000: Day of Ascension card game from Cubicle 7 Games. Sharing a name with the thematically-parallel book by Adrian Tchaikovsky, her review appears in the latest Tabletop Gaming Magazine.

• The Fluffenhammer Podcast devoted a full episode to remembering John Blanche this week, helping mark the passing of the legend.

• This week on the WH40K Book Club, Jen and Keri covered the “Nathan Drake of Warhammer,” Aestred Thurga in the latest by Danie Ware.

• “Anarch feels more like a horror novel in many places and takes advantage of its Warhammer 40K setting in ways that previous books rarely did,” wrote C. T. Phipps. Their review of Dan Abnett’s fifteenth Gaunt’s Ghosts novel landed this week at Grimdark Magazine.

• It Always Rains in Nuln is a terrific blog with a heavy focus on Warhammer Fantasy Role Play, but this week Xathrodox86 took a bit of a cudgel to Gav Thorpe’s The Curse of Khaine.

Cold Open Stories

• I don’t want to offer any spoilers, but if you happened to have read a certain new release from the Black Library, then Spore, this week’s highlighted story from Cold Open, will have particular resonance. “Mother finally comes to Photon, determined to give her gifts to the world. But not all will be able to receive her favour – for Erin, and others like here, a different fate, and a different destiny awaits.”

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Quick Hits

• The Best of Adrian Tchaikovsky, a collection of short stories by the award-winning author from Subterranean Press, arrived into the world this week. This was a limited edition, hand-numbered and signed by the author (Hi, I’m #657!). If you’d missed the book’s issue, there’s an ebook version available for just ten bucks- a steal, as this contains 37 stories spanning more than 600 pages.

• Tim Waggoner (Skin Man) shared a pic of his contributor’s copy of the upcoming Creepshow: 13 Tales of Terror anthology he’s included in. “I saw Creepshow in the theater when it first came out, and it's so cool to become a small part of its legacy now!” I’ll have you know that legacy includes childhood me being absolutely terrified of “The Crate.” #IYKYK

• “Every attempt you make teaches you what that scene is not,” wrote Danie Ware this week, as she discusses what happens when the motive force for writing breaks down a little. Not every writer invites you to their desk to understand the process behind it all, and I greatly appreciate when they do!

• Like chocolate meeting peanut butter, it’s always a treat when two things you enjoy come together. In this case, it’s the writing of Andi Ewington (Da Red Gobbo’s Last Stand. Fire and Fungi) and Rogue Trooper. Andi’s got a story in next week’s Judge Dredd Magazine, don’t miss it!

• How much would you have enjoyed a Space Marine-style video game that takes place during the Horus Heresy? Animator John Martinez shared some footage of the sadly-canceled game he’d done some work on, and just as amazing was that Graham McNeill (Dead Sky, Black Sun, Fulgrim) shared that he’d done some of the writing for it. Someone necro this thing and get it to market, stat!

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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

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

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

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

Current PODs in Production

• Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)

Upcoming in 2026

• Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid (hardcover, 6/20)

• Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid (Special Edition, 6/27)

• Tomb World, by Jonathan Beer (paperback, 6/27)

• The Remnant Blade, by Mike Vincent (paperback, 6/27)

• Voidscarred, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 6/27)

• False Gods, by Graham McNeill (hardcover and Premium, 7/4)

• Horus Rising, by Dan Abnett (Saga edition paperback, 7/4)

• Gloomspite, by Andy Clark (hardcover, 7/4)

• Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/14)

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/14)

• Starseer’s Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/14)

• Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by various (paperback, 7/28)

• 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)

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