Boy the hits keep coming, and I’m almost starting to get a sense of deja vu all over again like it was another Black Friday Celebration Week. We’ve had a steady cadence of reveals and releases lately, the latest being a huge announcement on Warhammer Community of four upcoming new releases as well as a Box Set hot on the heels of the last Box Set (Saints of the Imperium).
If you’re an Astra Miliatarum fan as I am, it was a clarion call to clear your calendars and prepare your wallets as your dance card is about to fill up again. Stalin may have once famously observed that quantity has a quality all its own, but here we’re getting both with each of the upcoming novels getting the Limited Edition treatment.
But first, let’s check out Tomb World, which goes up for preorder this week hot on the heels of the Kill Team expansion of the same name. Written by Dominion Genesis (review here) author Jonathan D. Beer, the story centers on a Necron tomb guardian who must navigate a shifting landscape of loyalty and treachery as her tomb begins to awaken.
It will be available both in a standard, hardcover edition as well as a Special Edition (pictured above) that features an author afterword.
Also up for preorder is the paperback of Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith by Jude Reid. The story at the heart of one of last year’s Mega Edition boxed sets, it’s Sororitas versus Night Lords as a Shrine World hangs in the balance!
Not (yet) up for preorder are the following…
This being the fourth box set of the year probably means the pendulum has swung away from Mega Limited Editions. That’s a pity, but I do recall the most recent Mega- for Dan Abnett’s Interceptor City– was still available online for much longer than you’d expect. Little in the Black Library endures forever, though, so I imagine we’ll see the return of the toys-n’-trinkets editions eventually.
In the meantime, this latest Box brings us a retrospective of Commissar Yarrick, the ‘Old Man of Armageddon.’ Combining two novels (2013’s Imperial Creed and 2015’s The Pyres of Armageddon) along with a novella (2013’s Chains of Golgotha) and a number of as-yet-unspecified short stories, it represents some of author David Annandale’s most enduring work for the Black Library.
It’s been a great time to be a fan of the Krieg, hasn’t it? Last Summer saw the release of the Black Library 2024 Book of the Year, Siege of Vraks, even as both previous Krieg releases (2010’s Dead Men Walking and 2022’s Krieg) received the Special Edition treament. Add in a new Army Box for tabletop at the start of the year, and the time is right for the next installment of Steve Lyons’ battle stories featuring the soldiers of everyone’s favorited irradiated hellhole. Not every hero wears a cape- but here they sure as hell all have a mask.
This one was a nice surprise. Not only are we getting a follow-up to Andy Clark’s 2021 novel Steel Tread, but Steel Tread itself is getting a reissue in hardcover. As the first title in the Astra Militarum series (alongside other books like Deathworlder, by Victoria Hayward and R. S. Wilt’s newly-released Final Deployment), this was a softcover-only original release.
This is a great offering for fans of library displays. Those looking for the story can grab one of the original paperbacks, but those wanting a nice visual experience in addition can opt for a hardcover. I’ve never been a fan of the softcover-only release strategy, so I hope this is a sign of things to come.
Robbie MacNiven’s been a go-to writer for the esoteric and unusual Space Marine Chapters (you can read our reviews of Oaths of Damnation and Void Exile), but this time we’re getting a new Imperial Navy story. If you’ve enjoyed Interceptor City and Above and Beyond by Denny Flowers, you’ll want to keep this one on your radar.
ICYMI
It was back to Age of Sigmar this week for our Lore Friday review, as we dove in to Chris Thursten’s Abraxia, Spear of the Everchosen. I found it to be an enjoyable read, but not one for beginners. You’ll miss a lot (as I did) unless you’re well familiar with the setting.
For fans of 40K, Rob “Chirurgeon” Jones tacked more of the Warzone: Damocles lore and history in his cracking Lore Explainer this week as well. We also were treated to another “Starting an Army” feature in Warhammer Community, this time around the Imperial Knights. These are great because they cover all the bases, not just what to get for playing the tabletop game but also what Black Library books they recommend to learn more about a particular faction. Here they suggested both The Iron Kingdom by Nick Kyme as well as Robert Rath’s Assassinorum: Kingmaker.
Around the horn, the folks at the Fluffenhammer Podcast are continuing their issue-by-issue deep dive in the old Warhammer Monthly comic strips. This week they’re looking at issue #12, filled with Inquisitors, Dwarf Lords and more!
Arbiter Ian and Mira Manga dive into Graham McNeill’s Lords of the Lance, that very rare unicorn being a new novel set in The Old World. And rounding out the podcast circuit we’ve got Jen and Keri of the WH40K Book Club taking on the newly-released Final Deployment by R. S. Wilt (our review here).
Doomscrolling
Longtime readers will know that one of my favorite things to do is highlighting the amazing creativity of our hobby community. This week’s incredible artistry comes to us by way of u/KimberPrime_ on the Black Library subreddit.
“I’m an enthusiast of having physical books in my hand when I read stories instead of watching a screen, and I then love having those books on my shelves to look back on and also read again if I enjoyed them.
“However a bunch of short stories I’ve gotten online this past year don’t have physical versions anywhere that I could find, so I’ve decided to add them to my collection in a classic Warhammer format; by putting them onto scrolls.
“I’d thought about books since I know how to book bind, but short stories are just as the name says pretty short. So instead of collecting a bunch of random shorts into a book I thought this would be a fun format. I don’t have a printer that can do long fabric pieces, so it’s all handwritten on the scroll.”
Extraordinary work, u/KimberPrime_, thanks for letting us share it! Almost certainly the nicest copy of Guy Haley’s The Armour of Fate in existence.
Readers Respond
One of the things I most enjoy about covering the Black Library is hearing what you, the readers have to say. For every thing I think I know about the world and its stories, there’s someone out there who knows even more. When they choose to share it, that’s a true blessing.
Take, for instance, a recent comment from Phil Bowles on my review of Shade of Khaine. In that review I’d noted that “Splendid is a character who happens to be an Ogor, while [Adrian] Tchaikovsky’s Slobda felt more like an Ogor character” (referencing On the Shoulders of Giants, reviewed here).
Remarked Phil,
To be fair, Slobda is probably the best portrayal of an ogre in all of Warhammer. And in general BL fiction does a poor job of making its nonhuman races, well, nonhuman. There are a few cases where it comes through with dwarfs in the Gotrek & Felix books – probably most successfully in Orcslayer – but I have a longstanding gripe that GW writers (within and outside Black Library) do an awful job with elves and Eldar – about the only notable exception other than characters with minor cameos (such as the Lumineth in The Hollow King) is the way Teclis is portrayed in Giantslayer.
Not that there aren’t good elf stories – when all of the characters are elves and so their race isn’t particularly the focus of attention, as in Children of Teclis or Court of the Blind King – they can be fine (but they can also be as dire as Realm-Lords). But when shown from the perspective of other races they’re rarely more than arrogant humans with pointy ears, with none of the fairy ‘otherness’ or the implications of a moral world that simply prioritises very different things from their (typically human) companions.
The portrayal of nonhumans in a way that effectively conveys not just heir sameness but their otherness is a really interesting topic. What are some books you’ve read that do a great job of that?
Thanks for the thought-provoking comment, Phil! And speaking of…
Sharing a Six-Pack With…Adrian Tchaikovsky!
No, it’s not lagers, it’s- what else- books! A new occasional feature for the Black Library Weekly, we bend the ear of Black Library authors to get a half-dozen book recommendations. Gracious enough to lend his thoughts to its debut is Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Tchaikovsky’s name is a regular for finalist and shortlists for speculative fiction honors like the Hugo1, BFSA, Dragon, and Locus. His novel Saturation Point is in film development, he co-helms the Starship Alexandria podcast, and he’s looking forward to the release of his next novel in the Children of Time series, Children of Strife, this coming March.
Three Black Library Books He’d Recommend…
- Ruin by Nate Crowley. “I love 40k stories told from the POV of the Xenos, and a genially mad Necron lord is one of the most wonderful main characters in the whole setting.”
- Brutal Kunnin’ by Mike Brooks. “Again, a crackin’ Xenos story. In AoS or 40k the Orks/Orruks are always enormously entertaining – it’s nice to see the setting, while not losing any of its ultraviolence, have a huge sense of fun and energy.”
- The Bloodied Rose by Danie Ware. “The Adepta Sororitas are where I think the war and weird religion of the Imperium really meet, and Danie Ware is one of the writers who bring their complexities and contradictions to life.”
Two Non-Black Library Books He’d Recommend…
4. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. “A book written from the POV of a sentient spacecraft now confined to a single human body, on its quest for revenge against the powers that destroyed it.”
5. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. “Necromancers, space war, duels! A setting that has a lot of 40k feel to it, with a marvelous cast of characters and a lot of humour.”
And Finally, One of His Own Books He’d Recommend…
6. Shroud. “The 40k universe is full of horrible worlds but I reckon the moon of Shroud would give them a run for them money. A terrifying survival trek or a jolly first contact romp depending on whether you’re the humans or the aliens.”
Thanks for sharing, Adrian! I know my wish list just got several books larger…
RPG Corner
As we inch closer to the release of the Champions of Chaos standalone expansion for the Age of Sigmar: Soulbound RPG, Cubicle 7 Games this popped the hood open and let us take a look at the different types of characters we can make, including (but certainly not limited to):
- Slaughterpriest of Khorne
- Magister of Tzeentch
- Warlock Engineer of the Skaven
- Symbaresh Twinsoul of Slannesh
- Putrid Blightking
Or if your fortune is found along the edge of an axe, you can even play a Chaos Warrior.
Still no word of a release date yet, but I’ll be particularly keen to see what they come up with for a Collector’s Edition!
Quick Hits
- Danie Ware (The Rose at War, The Triumph of Saint Katherine) has a couple of short stories appearing in anthologies soon, at least one of which you’re likely already aware. Not only will her short story The Devouring Void appear in the Darkness Eternal anthology (which went up for preorder last weekend and sold out very quickly), but she’ll also be appearing in the next Something Peculiar anthology from Black Shuck Books. An annual anthology featuring some of the best in British Horror, look for her tale The Recollection when it publishes- fittingly enough- on the 30th of October!
- Cavan Scott (Plague Harvest, War of the Orks) recently concluded a five-issue arc for Marvel Comics’ Gwenpool. Particularly when they involve an established IP, a book’s final form seldom matches its initial pitch. Scott pulled back the curtain to discuss his early ideas for the story, and how it changed along the way.
- Each year the British Fantasy Society awards the ‘Speakies,’ recognizing excellence in audiobook production. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Bee Speaker is on the short list this year for Best Science Fiction & Fantasy.
- Robert Rath’s (The Infinite and the Divine, Assassinorum: Kingmaker)Â Extra History video series always does a great job focusing the lens on parts of history that go overlooked or forgotten. If you’ve ever wondered what the Thousand-Year Reich thought about Disney movies like Bambi, it’s a fascinating story.
- Looking for your next read? 24 Frames Per Second collects a trio of novellas about horror and Hollywood. Not only does it feature one from horror stalwart Tim Waggoner (Skin Man), but it’s also on sale (until the 26th) for 99 cents! Cheap!
- Dead Ink Books is now taking preorders for Writing the Magic, a collection of essays from notable fantasy authors including familiar Black Library faces Juliet McKenna (Fear Itself) and Richard Strachan (Hallowed Ground, The Vulture Lord).
Coming Attractions
Here’s a list of the date-set 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.
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, and anything highlighted in green is something just added (or updated) this week.
Upcoming but Undated
- Master of Rites, by Rob Young
- Dropsite Massacre, by John French
- Krakenblood, by Marc Collins
- Yarrick, the Box Set, by David Annandale
- The Relentless Dead, by Steve Lyons (hardcover and Special)
- Steel Tread, by Andy Clark (hardcover and Special)
- Demolisher, by Andy Clark (hardcover and Special)
- Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (hardcover and Special)
Upcoming in 2025
- Ciaphas Cain: The Anthology, by Sandy Mitchell (paperback, 9/23)
- The Twice-Dead King: The Omnibus, by Nate Crowley (paperback, 9/23)
- The Remnant Blade, by Mike Vincent (hardcover, 10/4)
- Voidscarred, by Mike Brooks (hardcover and Special Edition, 10/4)
- Darkness Eternal: Stories from the 41st Millennium, by various. (paperback, 10/4)
- Elemental Council, by Noah Van Nguyen (paperback, 10/4) (review)
- Warhammer 40,000 Character Encyclopedia, by Wade Pryce (hardcover, 10/7)
- Warhammer 40,000 Words of War: The Miniature Book of Space Marines Quotes (hardcover, 10/7)
- Tomb World, by Jonthan D. Beer (hardcover and Special Edition) 10/11
- Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith, by Jude Reid (paperback, 10/11)
- Ashes of the Imperium: The Scouring, by Chris Wraight (hardcover, 11/4)
- Double Eagle, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 11/18)
- Death and Duty: An Anthology, by various (paperback, 11/18)
- Interceptor City, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 11/18) (review)
- The Art of Warhammer Video Games, by Andy Hall (hardcover, 11/25)
- Hell’s Last, by Justin D. Hill (paperback, 12/16)
- The Rise of Nagash, by Mike Lee (paperback, 12/16)
Upcoming in 2026
- Farsight: Blade of Truth, by Phil Kelly (paperback, 1/27)
- Fulgrim: The Perfect Son, by Jude Reid (paperback, 1/27) (review)
- Siege of Terra: 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)
- Carcharodons: Void Exile, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 3/10)
- The Green Tide, by Mike Brooks, Nate Crowley, and Justin Woolley (paperback 3/24)
- Carnage Unending, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 4/21)
Footnotes
- Tchaikovsky actually did win a Hugo in 2023 for his Children of Time series, but declined the award in protest of balloting concerns and irregularities.
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