Last Thursday the Vegas Golden Knights put an end to the season for the Minnesota Wild in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, clinching a game 6 victory. In so doing, the storied career of Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury came to an end. One of the best goalies of all time, he will be remembered perhaps even more for his mischievous spirit and youthful love of the game than his on-ice success.
But as we bid one Flower a fond farewell, we welcome the arrival of another!
The Dok Will See you Now
Coming up for preorder this Saturday is the much-anticipated release from Denny Flowers, Grostsnik: Da Mad Dok. Teased earlier this year, the Mad Dok arrives in a limited edition first, much like other recent releases Ushoran: Mortarch of Delusion and Leontus: Lord Solar.
Flowers, who is perhaps best-known for flying ace Lucille von Shard (Outgunned, Above and Beyond), last wrote Grotsnik in Irreplaceable, a short story released digitally as part of the 2024 Advent Calendar subscription last December.
The story features the titular Dok (think an Orkish version of Fabulous Bill), a legendary painboy who offers to help lend his aid to the warboss of a flagging Waaagh! But beware Greeks Orks bearing gifts, as Grotsnik’s offer isn’t quite what it seems.
Also Landing on Saturday
Da Mad Dok isn’t arriving alone, he’s brought a few friends with him to his party. I was surprised to see Dale Lucas’s Ushoran: Mortarch of Delusion already being offered in hardcover form, given it had only released as a Limited Edition a few weeks ago. Leontus: Lord Solar had seen its limited-edition release last November, with the hardcover arriving in January.
I’m happy to see Ushoran available to more readers so quickly, as it’s a terrific yarn (my full review for it should be up this coming Saturday).
Age of Sigmar readers awaiting more paperback reads will be delighted to see a trio of titles getting the budget-friendlier treatment this week. John French’s The Dead Kingdom, Lioness of the Parch by Evan Dicken, and Chris Thursten’s Darkoath will be ready to grace your bookshelves soon.
Mea Maxima Culpa
“Attention to detail.”
After many years spent in the SQL code mines in data and analytics, perhaps no combination of three words gives me greater anxiety than those, where a moment’s oversight can produce bad data (or even lock up the server for awhile).
While those days are firmly in my rearview now, I had a nice flashback on Friday courtesy of Marc Gascoigne when he responded to my post on BlueSky announcing the arrival of my latest History of the Black Library piece. (Reminder: Gascoigne is one of the three founders of the Black Library).
Then Mike Brooks (The Lion: Son of the Forest, Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives) coming in off the top rope really put the bow on the present.
I’ll admit I facepalmed pretty hard, but I’m glad he said something because those are exactly the kinds of errors I shouldn’t be making in a piece like that. I’ll try to do better, fellas, and I’ll absolutely, positively make sure I don’t screw up Andy Jonez.
Getting to Know You
A couple weeks ago, we noted with delight that Warhammer Community had posted an intro-level article to the Imperial Guard, “Starting an Astra Militarum Army in Warhammer 40,000 – Everything you need to know, from painting to lore.” It recommended a trio of books for the player looking to dive more deeply into the lore: Creed, Ashes of Cadia by Jude Reid. The Minka Lesk, the Last Whiteshield omnibus by Justin D. Hill. Rob Young‘s Leontus: Lord Solar. Not a miss in the lot.
It was a little puzzling this week when WARCOM extended the same treatment to the Death Guard. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got no beef with Grandfather, but the recommended reading section suggested Chris Wraight‘s Lords of Silence. You know, the one that’s really good. The one everyone wants to read or have in their library.
The one that’s out of print and goes for stupid money in the secondary market.
Yeah, that one.
Sure, in fairness it’s only ten bucks in eBook format, $40 in audio. But it got me thinking, what if the Black Library produced an evergreen faction-based omnibus each year for each of the currently-supported factions? Something it could point new players to that’s a selection of nicely-curated stories at a reasonable price point? This could be a way to reprint older stories as well as give print to some digital eShorts.
The Lords of Silence is a great example of a book that might be included in the Heretic Astartes omni, being that it’s in demand in print and is already seven years old.
What other novels or short stories would you want to see in there?
The Lives of Others
When you look at the fiction magazine format and what it’s done for the Black Library (which we’re looking at right now in our History of the Black Library series), it makes sense that other product lines are exploring the potential as well. Battletech introduced Shrapnel back in 2020, with Issue #20 releasing in March- though at over 320 pages, it might be fairer to consider it an anthology book rather than a magazine. Recent Black Library debutante Russell Zimmerman (Seven Ships, reviewed here) is a frequent contributor, with his novel Violent Inception being serialized in its pages.
Shadowrun’s Augment magazine has an interesting premise. Rather than simply being a magazine of short stories, it’s positioned as an in-universe magazine that your game characters could pick up from a newsstand. The second issue is up for preorder, and features a contribution from Carrie Harris, author of the Black Library short stories A Forbidden Meal and The Strength of Symbols. You can check it out here.
ICYMI
Another lore-packed week here on The Goon! Lenoon took a deep dive into Peter Fehervari’s omnibus The Dark Coil Damnation, while I gave my review of Dominion Genesis by Jonathan D. Beer.
We also had the next installment of my regular series, The 40K History of the Black Library. 1998 was a significant year in helping forge the Black Library we know and love today, with the introduction of Gaunt’s Ghosts just one of its many highlights.
Quick Hits
- Speaking of Russell Zimmerman, guess who gave a terrifically candid Ask Me Anything over with our friends at r/BlackLibrary?
- “I was a gamer long before I was a Black Library author.” Warhammer Community featured another author this week with an interview on the official YouTube channel as well. The always-engaging Justin D. Hill talked about writing and the character of Minka Lesk.
- “It’s not you. It’s not even them. It’s just the industry.” More than just producers of prose, many writers are much enamored of the craft of writing itself and happy to share with you things they’ve learned along the way. This week, Danie Ware (The Triumph of St. Katherine, The Rose in Darkness) gives some advice on how to deal with manuscript rejection.
- The Locus Awards have released their lists of finalists. Adrian Tchaikovsky (On the Shoulders of Giants, Day of Ascension) has not one, but two books up for Best Science Fiction Novel, Service Model and Alien Clay.
- James Swallow (Deus Encarmine, Garro: Knight of Grey) has written a new Star Trek novel, Toward the Night. He chatted with Paul Semel this week about the book.
- Craving some riveting ecohorror in your life? You’re in luck! Maria Haskins (The Jagged Edge) put up a list of suggestions and recommendations this week.
- Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan (Grit in the Wheel, Rites of Binding) has been designing a sourcebook for the 13th Age role-playing game, Paths of the Behemoth. Come check out the “weird guys” he’s been helping create to fill the world!
- Zeo Genesis, the miniatures skirmish game that Gav Thorpe (The Wolftime, The High Kâhl’s Oath)is doing the worldbuilding for, launched its crowdfunding campaign this week. Forty minutes later, they hit their funding target. Big congrats! The campaign is open for about two more weeks, so plenty of time to get your pledge in if you’re keen.
Writers are Fans, Too
Turns out I’m not alone in appreciating the delightful sculpts in the latest Kill Team offering. Here’s John French, author of Ahriman Undying and The Hollow King.
And not only painting, but playing too! Justin D. Hill, the pen behind Minka Lesk: The Last Whiteshield and The Bookkeeper’s Skull shared some highlights of a recent game of 30K.
That’s it for this week, happy reading!
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