Black Library Weekly: New Strain of an Old Disease

Well what do we have here! A special edition sure to have caught the eye of the many Grandfather enjoyers we have out there was announced this past week– it certainly caught mine too.

The book has been long due for a reprint of some kind. It’s highly acclaimed and extremely popular, as evidenced by the premium it commands on the secondary market. Paperback copies routinely trade in the USD $125-150 range, with hardbacks commanding close to double that.

Last month I chided Games Workshop a bit for recommending The Lords of Silence in their “Starting a Death Guard Army” primer:

While I still like the “introductory omnibus” idea, at a stroke not only did the Black Library make a much-demanded story available for the many who would be delighted to grab it at a reasonable (non-secondary-market) price point, but it also is offering a print product that will be attractive to those folks who already have a copy of the original book.

As an annotated and illustrated edition, this will certainly prompt more than a few re-reads of the book by its fans, similar to the enthusiasm that popped late last year with last year’s reprint of Dan Abnett’s Malleus in the same format.

The Black Library offered the first annotated and illustrated novel for the Eisenhorn trilogy, Xenos, back in February of 2022. It generated some interest, but that waned a bit until the announcement of Malleus last November. I’m encouraged to see another so soon, and hope this is a sign of things to come.

As a “coming soon” reveal we don’t yet have a date on the release.

Up for Preorder

We do have dates certain on a few more upcoming releases that were announced yesterday, starting with the final installment of the Dawn of Fire series, The Silent King. Arriving in both a faux-leather Limited Edition as well as paperback copy, the former features additional artwork, a ribbon, and (most interestingly for me) an author introduction and ‘recommended reading’ piece from Guy Haley.

Next up is the Sisters of Battle anthology, Paragon of Faith and Other Stories, with tales that are either new-to-print or entirely new. Both included novellas are sophomore efforts from writers who previously saw a short story published in the Black Library.

• Amanda Bridgeman has the book’s titular tale, Paragon of Faith. Her short story Reconsecration was released in 2022.
• Ness Brown provides Saint’s Judgment, with her debut effort Joy of the Martyr appearing last year in the Daughters of the Emperor eShort Week a year ago.

As it happens that Daughters of the Emperor Week turned out to be quite the mine of stories for this release, as this anthology could be called “Daughters of the Emperor Week + Two New Novellas.” All five of the stories from it are included in this anthology, including pieces by Jude Reid, Nicholas Werner, John Sollitto, and Kate Flack.

In the reprint department, we’re also getting a new version of Ravenor: The Omnibus by Dan Abnett, as well as the first-time paperback releases of Above and Beyond by Denny Flowers, Daemonhammer by Darius Hinks, and Oaths of Damnation by Robbie MacNiven (review here).

What isn’t back up for order yet is the Era of Ruin Limited Edition. After the recent kerfluffle with the scalpers taking the site offline, we haven’t heard anything yet from Games Workshop around the plans for a replay. Copies have started to appear in the wild, however, as the retail outlets that normally are slated to receive a few copies for their inventory have seen those orders fulfilled.

One ‘enterprising’ soul in the United States has already stuck their copy up on eBay with an asking price of $675.

I guess it’s hard out here for a pimp.

RPG Corner

Cubicle 7 Games has done a fine job of keeping anticipation high for its Warhammer: The Old World RPG, but you can only tease for so long before you have to deliver. And here we are! They launched the preorder window for their newest RPG line, including a special collector’s edition (pictured above).

Those who preorder by 07 July will automatically be entered into a drawing to win one of the Warhammer Armoury replica foam swords from Burgschneider- not a bad little table prop.

While this is a preorder for a 2026 product, ordering the books now gets you the Player’s Guide in PDF form with the Gamemaster’s Guide to follow next month.

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the date-set upcoming releases from the Black Library based on the available preorder information we have. (the 2026 titles were spotted by u/Ian666 on Reddit on the German Amazon site). As always, take all of this with a grain of salt unless it’s Games Workshop-confirmed.

Going forward, this section will be updated weekly in this column. Any titles that are announced but without a date will be added once a date is assigned it.

2025

• Dominion Genesis, by Jonathan D. Beer (paperback, 7/1) (review)
• Above and Beyond, by Denny Flowers (paperback, 7/15)
• Daemonhammer, by Darius Hinks (paperback, 7/15)
• Oaths of Damnation, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/15) (review)
• Ravenor: The Omnibus, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 7/15)
• The Silent King, by Guy Haley (paperback, 7/15)
• The End and the Death: Volume II, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 7/29) (review)
• Broken Crusade, by Stephen B. Fischer (paperback, 8/12) (review)
• Grey Knights: The Omnibus, by Ben Counter (paperback, 8/12)
• The End and the Death: Volume III, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 8/26) (review 1, 2)
• The High Kâhl’s Oath, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 8/26) (review)
• The Legend of Sigmar, by Graham MacNeill (paperback, 9/9)
• Ciaphas Cain: The Anthology, by Sandy Mitchell (paperback, 9/23)
• The Twice-Dead King: The Omnibus, by Nate Crowley (paperback, 9/23)
• Elemental Council, by Noah Van Nguyen (paperback, 10/7) (review)
• Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith, by Jude Reid (paperback, 10/21)
• Double Eagle, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 11/18)
• Interceptor City, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 11/18) (review)
• Hell’s Last, by Justin D. Hill (paperback, 12/16)

2026

• Farsight: Blade of Truth, by Phil Kelly (paperback, 1/27)
• Fulgrim: The Perfect Son, by Jude Reid (paperback, 1/27) (review)
• The Shattered and the Soulless, by Graham McNeill (paperback, 1/27)
• Vaults of Terra: The Omnibus, by Chris Wraight (paperback, 1/27)
• Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 3/10)

The Care and Feeding of Books (Redux)

I wrote a bit last week about how to take care of your books so preserve their condition (and value) in the long-term. That generated some good discussion in the usual corners of the internet, some of which I thought I’d pass along here.

Spine flexing (which I’d covered last time) was echoed, but also insight on using mylar protectors for any books with dust jackets, and ways to counteract page block sag from books stored on shelves. I’m linking to it here, but you may need to be part of the (excellent) Black Library Nutters Warhammer Community Facebook group first.

And if you’re in the habit of buying books secondhand, you’ve likely had occasion to consider a book whose condition was…dubious? Here’s a great chat on Reddit about trying to save a book that appeared to have some mold exposure. (TLDR: don’t.)

Finally, while I’d joked about slabbing books being the next stage of collecting, this week I came across a sales listing in an RPG group for the first thirteen of the Dungeons & Dragons Gazetteer Releases (1987-90), all CGC slabbed and highly graded, asking $4,600.

It wouldn’t surprise me at some point if I see someone selling a slabbed copy of the Horus Rising Limited Edition someday.

Quick Hits

• Adrian Tchaikovsky (On the Shoulders of Giants, The Day of Ascension) has a new book out, Bee Speaker, “the third instalment of the DOGS OF WAR science fiction series, a future where genetically engineered ‘bioforms’ have inherited not the Earth, but the Solar System.”
• Maria Haskins (The Jagged Edge) has a new list of recommended reads this week, Five Deathly Reads for Summer! You might find your next book!
• For all you aspiring Black Library writers, the deadline for the most recent 40K Flash Fiction competition at Cold Open Stories is fast approaching. No more than 1,000 words, a deadline of 30 June, sharpen those quills!
• Crystal Lake Publishing just released 24 Frames Per Second, an anthology of three movie-themed horror novellas including a story by Tim Waggoner (Skin Man).
• Jacob Peppers, whose debut story Reclaimed Honour was part of the recent Raiders of the Realms eShort Week (reviewed here) has a story in a fantasy novella collection called Defiant Guardians. Who says there’s no such thing as a free read? The digital collection is currently 100% off at Amazon.
• You sometimes hear stories of method actors who get so immersed in the role they’re playing for a production that they struggle to leave it behind even after filming has concluded. That’s a bit like Noah Van Ngyen right now, writing T’au fan faction on his personal blog after having published Elemental Council (review here). I mean this in all the best ways, of course- seeing a writer so enamored of a faction or aspect of Warhammer that they can’t stop writing about it is terrific! The third installment went up this week, check it out!

That’s all for this week! What upcoming releases are you most excited about? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

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