If you ever find yourself needing a break from the grimdark but not wanting to stray too far afield, it’s sometimes fun to go find one of the rabbit holes of stories or properties that aren’t themselves Warhammer or Black Library, but have nevertheless made an indelible impression on the universe.
I found myself with a rare evening free this week, with zero competition for the television. Normally in my family of seven the competition for the remote (or PS5 controller) is hot and heavy, so this felt like getting the keys to the kingdom for a night. With no-one to object or interrupt, I could watch anything I wanted, anything at all1!
I landed, as one does, on Sharpe.
Sharpe was a television series in the UK that ran from 1993 to 1997, in the British style of a small number of movie-length episodes rather than the 30- and 60-minute installments more common here in the US. Based on the novel series by Bernard Cornwell, it follows the exploits of Richard Sharpe and his men during the Napoleonic Wars.
I watched the debut episode, which sees Sharpe’s men unexpectedly on their own deep behind the French front searching for the banker carrying the army’s wages, linking up with local partisans in the Spanish mountains who seek to bring Spain more fully into the war against Napoleon.
I found it thoroughly engaging, with terrific writing and acting and even a bit of humor sprinkled in. Nobody would call the period war historical ‘lighthearted,’ but it wasn’t nearly as grim as I’d somehow expected it to be. The action sequences and effects were fine, though you’d be under no illusions that you were watching something from the present day, with men falling about instantly dead on the battlefield rather than bleeding, screaming, and crying out for unseen loved ones.
And if that picture above reminds you in some vague, echoing way of Gaunt’s Ghosts, well, there’s good reason for that.
The Warhammer DNA
To his credit, Abnett wears his inspiration on his sleeve. “I wanted to capture the spirit of the Sharpe books,” he shared in a 2017 interview with Track of Words about the Ghosts, “which is to say a brave and capable leader with a group of men who will often find themselves doing really unlikeable missions because they’re essentially disposable, and to have that sort of feeling about it.” He continued,
“Indeed the spirit of the Ghosts themselves, I’m not quite sure where that came from, but I hit upon the idea of these sort of woodsmen who were really good at stealth and scouting, but when it comes to a fight are deadly even though they’re comparatively underpowered. They haven’t got heavy weapons or anything but they make up for that just by being the sort of ultimate black-ops guys. It was just very appealing, but also kept them very much on that Sharpe level of just being standard riflemen, like ‘the poor bloody infantry’, which I liked. I think I was channelling a very Napoleonic/World War One feeling in those early books, with the idea that the war zone was this horrible landscape of mud and wire and mines, and people died and nobody noticed.”
When he writes that Tanith marching song, Over the Skies and Far Away, Abnett’s providing a direct- if subtle- homage to the Over the Hills and Far Away of the Sharpe’s Rifles.
To be clear, Commissar Ibram Gaunt is hardly Richard Sharpe ported into the grim, dark future, but the struggles of the two have a number of parallels. Their burdens of command are cultural, with Sharpe being an officer elevated from the common soldiery, while both chafe against the ascendant military aristocracy (be it senior staff of the British Army or the Volpone Bluebloods).
Watching Sharpe- perfectly enjoyable on its own merits, mind- was like looking into the evolutionary history of one of my favorite Warhammer series, and one I’d absolutely recommend.
Want another? Widely held to be a direct influence on the conception of the Mechanicum, Walter M. Miller Jr.’s 1959 novel A Canticle for Liebowitz. In a post-apocalyptic setting, robed monks obsessively preserve humanity’s technological heritage, endlessly copying schematics and blueprints that they do not themselves fully comprehend. Each have their own language unintelligible to others, the monks employing Latin rather than Lingua-Technis, and are reserved and remote from the rest of society.
The copy pictured above is a beautiful special edition reissue from The Folio Society, and to date is the only non-Games Workshop work of fiction that occupies space in my Black Library Museum.
Making History
History and evolution had a central place in Robert Rath’s highly acclaimed The Infinite and the Divine, too, and there was a lot of excitement this week with the announcement that it would be getting a sequel.
The Wicked and the Warped will see Trazyn and Orikan reunite to track down a missing expedition lost on a planet that’s been corrupted by Chaos. No hint of a release date as of yet, but the launch will have a standard hardcover offered alongside a Special Edition.
Not only that, but in keeping with recent form the original book will be reissued in hardcover at the same time. If you missed it the first time back in October of 2026, now’s your chance to add it to your library as well!
And since we’ve got a bit of time before The Wicked and the Warped arrives, why not check out Robert Rath’s recommended reading list to make sure you’re ready?
Our July Giveaway Winner!
Last week we held a giveaway for Jude Reid’s Armageddon: Season of Fire, just the read for welcoming in Warhammer 40K’s 11th Edition and a Return to Armageddon.
After pulling up ye olde randomizer at Random.org, Periklis Begzos is our lucky winner! Congratulations Periklis, look for a message from me to get your shipping details, and I hope you enjoy the book!
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
Just one for preorder this week- but it’s a big one! The Mephiston trilogy by Darius Hinks is arriving in a gorgeous-looking Limited Edition box set.
This is almost certain to be a high-demand item, and if you’re relatively new to the ordeal here’s the guide I wrote for Tabletop Battles that might be of some help!
Departures
Loads of books made their way to store shelves this week, with paperbacks of Robbie MacNiven’s Vagabond Squadron (review), Krakenblood by Marc Collins (review), and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Starseer’s Ruin (review) now available for purchase.
Joining them were the Illustrated and Annotated Edition of Sandy Mitchell’s seminal For the Emperor, a new edition of Dan Abnett’s The Sabbat Worlds Crusade, and the Special Edition of Rynn’s World, by Steve Parker.
It was apparently my turn for a disappointing experience this week as Games Workshop’s order fulfillment bungled my online order. Instead of a box containing For The Emperor and Rynn’s World, clearly marked on the invoice included in the box, the order picker instead threw in two of the recent Battleforce: Chaos Space Marines Warbands and called it good.
Given that the alternative is that we all get replaced by robots I try to respond to such errors with grace, but I’ll admit given the difference in what I ordered and what I got I wonder if the picker even looked at the invoice.
My store manager came through, of course, giving me the store’s remaining copy of For the Emperor, but alas all he can do for Rynn’s World is email GW’s customer service. I think we all can guess how this story ends, but perhaps the Emperor will provide after all.
ICYMI
Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!
Warhammer Wordforge
Since this week is a Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame week over at TTB, my companion piece The Hall Monitor dropped on Saturday as well. This time I talked a bit about the surge in inductions we’ve seen in 2010 and 2012, and what that might portend as we continue to move forward towards the modern day. Also, the fun Top 20 lists got an update too!
This week’s featurette saw the return of Black Library Bibliophiles, the series dedicated to collection and display of the books we love. This time around I reviewed Wicked Brick, who makes officially-licensed Warhammer acrylic displays for the minis that take some inspiration from the Black Library!
For the RPG players, this week’s Warhammer RPG Weekly highlighted a terrific idea from one of the community’s reviewers, who is selling his reviewer copies of board and RPG games for a charity benefit!
Tabletop Battles
The big news this week was that eight books were inducted into the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame from the class of 2012- a tremendous accomplishment!
I also provided this week’s Lore Friday review, diving into Justin Woolley’s swashbuckling ork-stravaganza, Da Freebooterz Code.
Robert “The Chirurgeon” Jones is back this week with the next in his series of Lore Explainers on Armageddon. This time he zeroed in on the Second War of Armageddon, a stage where an ork by the name of Ghazghkull Thraka comes to prominence!
Warhammer Community
The Pages from the Black Books series continued this week covering the war at Calth, this time focusing on the Mechanicum forces involved in that terrible clash.
While discussed above, for those who may be skimming I’ll add the link to the Black Library article this week announcing The Wicked and the Warped here as well!
WarhammerTV (paywalled)
Deep Strike is the series that goes behind the scenes of Warhammer’s video games, licensed books, animations and more. This week they dove into Sigmar’s Toll, the 2025 Age of Sigmar animated series.
Around the Webway
Terrific piece this week on Wargamer spotlighting Toby Longworth, narrator of many a Black Library audiobook whose “preposterously versatile voice has performed over 200 books and audio dramas for Games Workshop over almost a decade, somehow perfectly inhabiting a thousand different characters, from curt, feminine air traffic controllers, to lofty, booming primarchs, to daemonic warp-things with throats made from hatred.” I love to see the narrators get some attention, and Longworth isn’t one I’ve covered here in Audio Impressions- yet.
The TTP Field Manual pod reviewed Adrian Tchaikovsky’s recent Age of Sigmar novel Starseer’s Ruin this week, as part of their book club series.
Warhammer RPG site It Always Rains in Nuln gives a review of Rise of the Horned Rat, the End Times novel from Guy Haley.
The Fluffenhammer crew has been doing an issue-by-issue deep dive into the pages of the comic serial Warhammer Monthly, which ran from 1998-2004. This week it’s the Mordheim-filled issue #28 under the microscope!
Meanwhile in the Horus Heresy, Arbiter Ian and Mira Manga’s Book Club examined the anthology Mark of Calth, the 25th book of the series.
Finally, over on Reddit the Black Library subreddit’s bi-weekly book discussion turned its attention to Nagash the Sorcerer, from Hall of Famer Mike Lee.
Cold Open Stories
And now for something completely different! This week’s featured story is Hyperphagia, by Daniel Dolgos, a more lighthearted tale featuring- of all things- a squig! “Hunger is great sauce, as the Irish say. And no better creature on the 40K galaxy than a squiggly beast to put that saying to the test, because as much as Squigs are the Orks, primary food source, Squigs need to eat too. And my word, can they eat when they put their minds to it…”
Quick Hits
Paul Kane (Triggers) saw his latest venture, the folk horror graphic novel Men of the Cloth, launch on Kickstarter this week. It’s based on Kane’s novelette of the same name, which also was the basis for the 2021 horror film Sacrifice. Looks great, Paul!
Andrew Kenrick, former Editor of White Dwarf, published a new history book, Rex Juba. A biography of Juba II of Mauritania, it’s available here through Penguin Books, you can find preorder information for it here.
Finally, last March I noted the Kickstarter campaign for a tribute anthology for legendary fantasy writer David Gemmell, one stacked with a lineup of Black Library writers. The campaign was successful, and preorders are now available for The Iron Code, including stories from Dan Abnett (Pariah, First and Only), Jonathan Green (The Dead and the Damned, Necromancer), Juliet McKenna (Fear Itself), Gavin Smith (Suffer Not a Human to Live, Apex Predator), Anna Stephens (Trisethni the Unseen, Gothghul Hollow), and Adrian Tchaikovsky (On the Shoulders of Giants, Starseer's Ruin)!
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
The Wicked and the Warped, by Robert Rath (hardcover, Special Edition)
The Infinite and the Divine, by Robert Rath (hardcover)
Current PODs in Production
Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition)
Upcoming in 2026
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)
Mephiston: The Box Set, by Darius Hinks (8/1)
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)
Apostle, by David Annandale (paperback, 10/20)2
Master of Rites, by Rob Young (paperback, 10/20)
Death Rider, by Rhuairidh James (paperback, 11/19)
Ghost Legion, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 11/19)
Chem Dog, by Callum Davis (paperback, 12/17)
Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords, by Denny Flowers (paperback, 12/17)
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!
Cue the flash of lightning and villainous laughter.
For the additions this week, thank you to eagle-eyed u/Equivalent_Fun_4825 in the Black Library subreddit