A break, a break, at last a break! We’re into the waning weeks of 2025, and as expected Games Workshop has probably played all of their cards. The Sunday Preview yesterday consisted of socks, a hoodie, and an audiobook.
Believe me, I think I can speak for most of us when I say that this is not a complaint, after a year that saw a significantly higher spend ask for us collectors. Now I can see what’s left in my bank account for Santa to work with this year.
Whaddaya mean you don’t like ramen, kids? Everyone loves ramen! Ho ho ho!
The Grots Stole Christmas
Great news this year for fans of coal in their stockings, the Black Library opted against a Black Library Advent Calendar this year. The annual tradition has undergone some changes along the way since its inception in 2012. In its original form which ran until 2019, the Black Library released a story every day in the run-up to Christmas (and even on Christmas Day itself in 2013 and 2014).
The program saw a big change in 2020, becoming “The Twelve Tales of Christmas.” This standardized the content at a dozen stories over the course of Advent, with a new one dropping every other day. For reasons only they are privy to, eShort Advents followed this formula until the program’s apparent discontinuation this year.
Since the early days of White Dwarf and Inferno!, the Black Library has always used the short story format as a way to source talent for their larger works. Indeed, early novels like Dan Abnett’s sophomore effort Ghostmaker and William King’s seminal Trollslayer are made up entirely of these stories, slightly recast or repurposed to comprise a novel.
For a more modern example, consider the trajectory of relative newcomer Mike Vincent. His debut The Vengeful was contained in the Space Marine Successors Week in April of 2024, and followed that October in the Astra Militarum Week by Exterminator. Then April of this year saw Vincent land a third eShort in Heretic Astartes Week, Blades of Atrocity– which set up his debut novel The Remnant Blade this past October. Almost like clockwork!
So what can we read into the discontinuation of the program? One possibility is that the Advent Calendar program wasn’t especially profitable. We have no way to know the actual sales figures, but (strictly anecdotally) I seldom see the level of engagement or excitement around short story subscriptions as I do, say, paperback anthologies of short stories. While it’s true that digital products have less of a cost to produce than physical goods, it may be that it just wasn’t a great value proposition for the Black Library.
Alternatively, it might just be that the short-story-as-talent-pipeline format is a victim of its own success. At present the Black Library body of work comprises nearly two thousand short stories. It could well be that the editors feel they’ve got enough to work with at the present moment and can reduce their spend on acquiring new short fiction for the moment. And by “enough to work with,” I mean both short stories as well as proven authors they can commission work from.
A third possibility may be just that they’re trying something new. For tabletop players of Warhammer 40,000, prior to last year they’d get an Advent Calendar filled with preview images for upcoming minis and models. Then last year they changed it up and offered a staggering amount of new detachments for the game.
This year, it’s another switch-up with a bit broader appeal. Yes, there are still some detachments (six this year as opposed to thirty last year), but that no longer is the only offerings in store. Included in the mix now are new rules for gameplay, painting guides, and even some new short fiction (the uncredited kind we see from studio fiction, not actual eShorts).
While I’m personally disappointed that there’s no Black Library Advent Calendar this year, I know it hasn’t disappeared simply because the folks at the Black Library hate fun and love kicking puppies. The only discordant note hit is in the communication, such as when I saw this posted on 01 December:
The idea that the Black Library social media account managers ‘haven’t heard anything” about the Black Library calendar by December strains credulity a bit, but c’est la guerre, non?
Sharing a Six-Pack With…John French!
It must be a wonderful time of year as we enter the Yuletide for author John French. His latest work, Dropsite Massacre, has gotten a terrific reception, not least from me in our recent review. He was kind enough to hand out some presents in the form of book recommendations for this week’s Six-Pack!
Three Black Library Books He’d Recommend…
“In all honesty I could run this list into infinity. I mean who does not need to read all of Eisenhorn, or The Inquisition War, or Double Eagle, or Storm of Iron, or Crossfire… ahem. So these are just a selection of books from the last few years I would put face out on the metaphorical bookshelf right now.”
The Emperor’s Legion, by Chris Wraight. “It’s by Chris. What more needs saying. But if you push me as to why I love it, it’s how Chris shows the universe through Aleya’s eyes as someone who is a null. The sequence with the Black Legionary and later with the Nurglings (if you have read it you know what I mean) are particularly brilliant. And did I mention the Politics on Terra, and Valerian? Further recommendation for the Audio book, too.”
Assassinorum: Kingmaker, by Robert Rath. “This book blew me away. I love a thriller, and this is a perfectly crafted thriller while also being a fascinating book about a complex Imperial Knight succession, and Imperial Assassins. So good. I demand more, Rob!”
Spear of the Emperor, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. “Look, I know, I love Talon of Horus and Soul Hunter too, but Spear is a book that if you haven’t read you should. It’s a perfect portrait of Space Marines as inhuman warriors, it has fantastic world building, the best insight into what the Imperium Nihilus is like, and a reveal/reversal moment that had me texting Aaron in outraged caps. Go read it.”
Two Non-Black Library Books He’d Recommend…
The Winter King, by Bernard Cornwell: “Arthurian myth but done as if it was the real and gritty, and brutal, and about shield walls, and ring mail, and warlords scrabbling to hold onto the Britain left by the Romans. Just incredible. Cornwell is a master and this is his master work: the character, the prose, how it confounds your expectations, all of it. Perfect.”
The Day of the Jackal, by Fredrick Forsyth: “I said I loved a thriller and this is the ur-text of thrillers. An assassin is hired to kill President De Gaulle of France: go. Somehow, even though you know what happens (or rather what doesn’t happen) it just builds and builds from a quiet start until you are on the edge of your seat.”
And Finally, One of His Own Books He’d Recommend…
Cypher: Lord of the Fallen. “Cypher loose in the Imperial Palace on Terra, on the night when the Ruin Storm breaks, being chased by Custodes, Dark Angels and Assassins, all narrated by Cypher himself while he doesn’t just break the fourth wall but fires a missile into it.”
Thanks John! That creaking sound you hear is my TBR pile getting just that much larger…
Miniatures on Display
Okay, so not strictly Black Library related, but I still had to share this terrific rendition of Horus’s council of advisors, the Mournival. I not only love what Siege Studios did here, but the nameplate basing is a magnificent touch. Exactly the kind of thing I’d like to incorporate into my Black Library museum!
Make sure to check out this short reel for the full effect.
ICYMI
This week’s review was a look at Krakenblood, by Marc Collins, whose prose was a particular joy to read in this tale of Space Wolves adventure.
Around the new, Jen and Keri of the WH40K Book Club put Steve Lyons’ latest Krieg novel, The Relentless Dead, under the microscope.
Finally, as noted earlier the 2025 Grotmas Calendar over on Warhammer Community has some unattributed short fiction in it, and so far we’ve enjoyed Titus Arrives in Ultramar and the Age of Sigmar mini-story Old Sins.
Bit of a quiet week otherwise!
Quick Hits
- Nathan Long (Zombieslayer, The Broken Lance) has a new short story out in this month’s Swords & Sorcery Magazine. Titled We Have to Go Back, you can read it for free at their site!
- “Show, don’t tell” is a common axiom in creative writing, but this week John French (Dropsite Massacre, Ahriman: Exile) took it to task in a terrific slice of the storyteller’s craft.
- Torunn Grønbekk (Sisters of Battle) sat down with The Short Box podcast to discuss her comic writing, which began with Thor and currently includes The Nightmare Before Christmas!
- Emma Newman’s Tea & Sanctuary podcast has been doing a mini-session a day for Advent, but when she needed to tap out Adrian Tchaikovsky (Starseer’s Ruin, On the Shoulders of Giants) stepped in! Make sure to enjoy his “upbeat, heartwarming, and pleasant” message (spoiler: spiders are involved).
- Mike Brooks (Voidscarred, Lelith Hesperax) showed off the cover of his upcoming novel from Titan Books. This is Where the Future Bleeds will feature “a smart-talking bunch of rogues and dropouts are thrust into an epic quest to save the future and meddle with the destinies of empires,” and arrive in June of next year!
- Old-school RPG and Warhammer fanzine Secret Passages just kicked off the Kickstarter for its third issue. I’m a big fan of the magazine because of the excellent Black Library content from Michael Dodd of Track of Words (and also part of the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame committee!).
- Maria Haskins (The Jagged Edge) has joined the crew at sci-fi, fantasy, and horror magazine Locus. She’ll be reviewing short fiction starting with the current issue!
- Gav Thorpe (Indomitus, The High Kahl’s Oath) has been hard at work on writing for Tales from the Mabinogion, an upcoming video game based on Welsh mythology. If that sounds like your jam, make sure to wishlist it on Steam like I just did!
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. 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. Books that are underlined are previously unpublished titles.
Upcoming but Undated
- (None)
Upcoming in 2025
- Demolisher, by Andy Clark (hardcover and Special, 12/13)
- The Rise of Nagash, by Mike Lee (paperback, 12/13)
- Trollslayer, by William King (Mega Limited Edition, 12/20)
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) (review)
- The Green Tide, by Mike Brooks, Nate Crowley, and Justin Woolley (paperback 3/24)
- The Ghost Legion: The Pillar of Dreams, by Mike Brooks (title translated from German) (4/7)
- Carnage Unending, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 4/21)
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