BL coming soon

[Scribe]

Personally it should be 'ADB, French, Wright, and Sanders, you can write whatever HH stuff you want, here's a blank cheque.'

 

Sadly that's not the case I gather.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I just don't get why the Eldar would not play a big part. They may not own the webway now they are on the verge of extinction but they know it like no others. Whenever we hear about the webway the first thing that springs to mind is the Eldar. Far more than mankind. I can't imagine Eldrad and other powerful seers not knowing what is going on.

 

Eldrad knew about Horus turning, a future event but does not know about a human psyker in the webway they have used for aeons?

 

Just a story I want to see, bit gutted now to be honest. I will keep the faith. Just saw so much potential after they appeared in Fulgrim.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

Nothing your gripes are about wasn't answered by ADB already, really. 

A) It's not really 'their' domain any more, and most of them don't know it like any others.

B ) Do you really think the Emperor was running around buddy-like with random Eldar? He likely acquired whatever knowledge he needed on his own. I mean he kept knowledge of the entire project hidden from his own sons, would he really tell anyone who was non-essential about it? And IMO most Eldar bar someone like Eldrad would count as such, as well. 

C) It's not the story of the Eldar's folly. It's the story of Mankind screwing it up. 

[DarkChaplain]

Personally it should be 'ADB, French, Wright, and Sanders, you can write whatever HH stuff you want, here's a blank cheque.'

Sadly that's not the case I gather.

Eh, I don't see Sanders up there, to be honest. The Honoured was pretty dull next to The Unburdened, Predator, Prey was decent but kinda underwhelming (which has me anxious about Shadow of Ullanor, because Sanders has to wrap The Beast up in ~250 pages), and the AdMech short novels didn't seem like my thing at all. I even thought that his stories for Legends of the Dark Millennium: Space Wolves were weaker than those preceding him.

John French also varies in my opinion. Tallarn: Executioner was amazing, Tallarn: Ironclad in contrast was underwhelming. Praetorian of Dorn, while in many ways fantastic, didn't seem to have its priorities straight. What I've read of the Ahriman trilogy was pretty fine stuff, and most of his short stories are damn good. Warmaster was absolutely amazing. But I don't know if its quite enough yet to give him a free pass to whatever. And wouldn't the "whatever" basically always involve Alpha Legion somehow anyway?

From what's coming up, though, I'm most excited about Fabius Bile: Primogenitor by Josh Reynolds. Repairer of Ruin was great and highlighted Fabius' eccentricity pretty neatly. I wonder if the book will deal with what Chirurgeon by Nick Kyme hinted on, or if its a separate thing.

Also can't wait for Shadowsword. Baneblade was the first Haley novel I've read, and it was incredibly cool tank action. I wanted more of that ever since, but all we've got were short stories. Seeing Cortein's Honour return in hardcover is great.

All in all, I don't feel as enthused by Master of Mankind at this point. I know I can expect a good book, with a lot of cool and vital stuff happening. I don't need to worry about the quality, and its a piece of the Heresy that is long overdue. But somehow it has been a thing in the making for so long, that I feel like I can easily take the remaining months too without problem. I'll probably be more excited when it is almost upon us, but for the time being, there's so much other, relatively fresh and exciting stuff on the horizon that catches my eye. And frankly, the constant talk about it all over the place, even though the book has its own thread, might be contributing a little MoM-hype fatigue as well.

Seeing some of these books on BL, rather than just on Amazon, actually tells me that the dire years of drivel or nothing at all are pretty much over now, and we're getting quality stories again rather than overhyped marketing material.

[Felix Antipodes]

I am totally overjoyed that BL have restored their Coming Soon page and, by allowing preorders, improving on what went before. I have contacted BL to commend them on this as I feel that the feedback can only help encourage their return to Interacting with their potential customers. After all, we were quick to whine about them during the "dark times".

[hopkins]

I gave up halfway through the AoS novels, but one author stood out by a mile and that was Josh Reynolds

Would love to see him have a go at some Horus Heresy, as he's up there with the best

[DarkChaplain]

Josh is also the one who wrote the first and the final End Times novel for WHFB, and a bunch of Gotrek & Felix, Time of Legends and what not. He actually added a lot of characters GW forgot about in the End Times to give them a good send off, for which he'll always have my gratitude. And he writes some damn entertaining original stuff too (check out the Whitechapel Demon and his other Royal Occultist stories, a bunch of which is free).

 

I'm surprised that there's no Age of Sigmar novel scheduled. I figured they'd hold off maybe because of the summer campaign to give authors time to consider the events in the books, or write retellings, but even then this shouldn't take til at least february. Guess the low sales numbers of limited editions, audiobooks (which got canceled after #5), and general desinterest has finally caught up. Or maybe they're just waiting for the next campaign cycle, since the Realmgate Wars were supposedly over now. Even then though that wouldn't explain the absence of Legends of the Age of Sigmar books.

 

Guess we'll have to wait and see if / what's coming next for AoS, but I'm honestly glad at least 40k is flourishing again.

[Corswain]

I just don't get why the Eldar would not play a big part. They may not own the webway now they are on the verge of extinction but they know it like no others. Whenever we hear about the webway the first thing that springs to mind is the Eldar. Far more than mankind. I can't imagine Eldrad and other powerful seers not knowing what is going on.

 

Eldrad knew about Horus turning, a future event but does not know about a human psyker in the webway they have used for aeons?

 

Just a story I want to see, bit gutted now to be honest. I will keep the faith. Just saw so much potential after they appeared in Fulgrim.

There are demons and humans warring it out, I think the Eldar would just stay clear and let them kill each other. They know what's going on but why would they actively involve themselves?

[Taliesin]

 

 

I'm surprised that there's no Age of Sigmar novel scheduled. I figured they'd hold off maybe because of the summer campaign to give authors time to consider the events in the books, or write retellings, but even then this shouldn't take til at least february. Guess the low sales numbers of limited editions, audiobooks (which got canceled after #5), and general desinterest has finally caught up. Or maybe they're just waiting for the next campaign cycle, since the Realmgate Wars were supposedly over now. Even then though that wouldn't explain the absence of Legends of the Age of Sigmar books.

 

Guess we'll have to wait and see if / what's coming next for AoS, but I'm honestly glad at least 40k is flourishing again.

 

There's the absence of BL books recently and upcoming for AoS on the one hand, and then there is the absence of campaign books/battletomes as well.

The last ones, which I have, was the All-Gates campaign book and the Sylvaneth battletome, and that not only seems to have concluded the Realmgate Wars, but also AoS for the near future, and that all came out back in July. In addition, the rumours are that the next few months GW is due to unleash several interesting 40k campaign books.

[DarkChaplain]

Didn't they release the Ogres Battletome since? But yeah, it is pretty damn suspicious. They're losing steam when public opinion was tipping more in favor of the game due to the General's Handbook. It seems odd that they wouldn't try to capitalize on that successful core release.

We've had rumors of the steampunk dwarves being next, but they're nowhere to be seen yet. And the last novel was released in july, where before they came monthly.

 

I mean, personally I cannot stand AoS, the fluff is terribad and the miniatures are overdesigned to the point where I wouldn't want to paint them (bar some exceptions), but considering how heavily they invested in AoS starting out, it seems odd that barely a year later, they'd be dropping the ball like this and have zero new releases coming via Black Library until at least february. It doesn't add up with the frequent talk/rumors of AoS "doing better" than WHFB did in years, while they've also systematically canned stuff like limited edition campaign books (after the first volume!), limited edition battletomes (after Fyreslayers iirc), audiobooks (after Wardens of the Everqueen, which was hot garbage) and still haven't sold out on any of the limited edition novels.

It is all pointing at a failing gamble. Everything so far seems to have been prepared well in advance, and they're reevaluating how much to invest going forward based on previous performances.

 

Either way, I'm excited for the new stuff for 40k, but then, it looks like they're repeating the same mistake they did with WHFB back then: Putting all eyes back on 40k and only paying lip service to their fantasy line. Yes, it is more profitable and sure to sell well, but you can't expect growth on the other system if you don't keep it relevant and supported. That's what did WHFB in, comparatively: A lack of significant updates and visible support. If GW doesn't support one of their franchises properly, why should customers invest in it?

 

Anyway, I wonder if any of the books already up in the coming soon section will turn out to be part of the Librarium program, and if they'll continue that for another year. Would be a little silly for people to preorder books now when they get them "free" with their subscription.

[hopkins]

They might just be hiding any novels related to the main studio releases, for example war zone fenris II

[DarkChaplain]

Good point, that, though they did show Vox Tenebris already, and The Thirteenth Wolf, which is supposedly tying into the big Prospero box set. As always, a bit over the place.

 

Most of the releases were stuff we've known about ahead of time anyway though, via Amazon, so this might be more of a "you know, you should check our site more often instead of going to retailers that offer our products a bit later but cheaper" move.

[Sete]

I think they will capitalise on 40k and Inferno this winter coming spring we will see the results of the war of the realm of life in AoS. They gave us 3 cities. 3 Points of reference in a realm. Let's see how it rolls. They need time to get things going.

[DarkChaplain]

And yet they could've already been taking care of Legends of the Age of Sigmar books for savage orcs, ogre raiders and others, to fill the obvious gap. There hasn't even been a short story in months. Yes, we'll have to wait for story progression, but that doesn't mean they can't write stuff set before or during the Realmgate Wars like they already have. Even accounting for the summer campaign and the end of the Realmgate Wars campaign books, there is a clearly avoidable void of releases to support the system.

Besides, even just looking at the campaign books, there's plenty of material that could have been adapted, but wasn't. It smells fishy and familiar.

[Hfran Morkai]

It's looking to be a good few months.

 

Little bit embarrassed to say the only ADB book I've definitely read is Cadian Blood (which I did love and I've not had much money to donate to books) but I'm glad people are happy with him dealing with the Emperor.

 

Really interested in the Magnus book, believe it or not I do find Thousand Sons interesting, not just when they're trophies.

[bluntblade]

Wolfheart, you should pick up The First Heretic as soon as you're able. You're missing out

[Taliesin]

Bit of a shame Sons of the Forge is coming out only as a limited edition , costing EUR 45.00, that is hefty.

E-readers will have an alternative, I would have wanted a normal hardback release/

 

Also thought they might have squeezed in MoM for November but apparently not. I was told by BL that the general release "will be soon after" the BLL event though.

[Grey Angel]

Bit of a shame Sons of the Forge is coming out only as a limited edition , costing EUR 45.00, that is hefty.

E-readers will have an alternative, I would have wanted a normal hardback release/

 

Also thought they might have squeezed in MoM for November but apparently not. I was told by BL that the general release "will be soon after" the BLL event though.

Sons of the Forge is good value compared to a standard limited edition Horus Heresy novella.

[Taliesin]

Well, that is true. But then the pricing of a 128 page novella at EUR 40.00 is even more heinous isn't it, doesn't really make Sons of the Forge with more pages at 45.00 reasonable in itself.

[A D-B]

Regardless of pricing, Sons of the Forge isn't a novella, ladies and gents. 

 

Just a personal bugbear, there.

[Roomsky]

Regardless of pricing, Sons of the Forge isn't a novella, ladies and gents. 

 

Just a personal bugbear, there.

Aaron no! You know what happened last time!

[A D-B]

 

Regardless of pricing, Sons of the Forge isn't a novella, ladies and gents. 

 

Just a personal bugbear, there.

Aaron no! You know what happened last time!

 

 

Sadly, I do. Doesn't change the facts, though...

[Taliesin]

Well we're in agreement , it's 240 pages which is certainly novel size, and Laurie Goulding apparently said that it was a short novel and not a novella which makes sense. 

[Tyriks]

It's too bad they can't make pre-HH a general setting so things like that could be explored.

This, or just finish the primary story but leave loose ends to be explored later.

[b1soul]

I would prefer a Nick Kyme novella to a Nick Kyme novel