Peter Fehervari’s Dark Coil

[DukeLeto69]

Wonder why you cant buy this on Amazon UK?

 

So psyched for this book. All your comments are so positive. Truly hope Peter’s work manages to reach a wide enough audience to mean he is earning enough from writing to devote more time to it (his “real” job is as a TV and trailer editor).

[Fire Golem]

Wonder why you cant buy this on Amazon UK?

So psyched for this book. All your comments are so positive. Truly hope Peter’s work manages to reach a wide enough audience to mean he is earning enough from writing to devote more time to it (his “real” job is as a TV and trailer editor).

Amazon don’t seem to do the hardbacks. You can preorder the paperback off of amazon for like October though.

[DukeLeto69]

 

Wonder why you cant buy this on Amazon UK?

So psyched for this book. All your comments are so positive. Truly hope Peter’s work manages to reach a wide enough audience to mean he is earning enough from writing to devote more time to it (his “real” job is as a TV and trailer editor).

Amazon don’t seem to do the hardbacks. You can preorder the paperback off of amazon for like October though.

Except that must be a new thing as i bought BL hardbacks from Amazon many times... most recently Anarch?

[b1soul]

Been hearing some high praise of Peter's work.

 

What are the titles and reading order of Peter's stories related to Dark Coil?

[DukeLeto69]

Been hearing some high praise of Peter's work.

 

What are the titles and reading order of Peter's stories related to Dark Coil?

Take a look at my post on page one ;-)

[Sandlemad]

This was so good. I don't even know where to start. Fire Caste still pips it as Ferhervari's best but only by a hair. Wonderfully playful use of voice with Sister Asenath and especially the narratorial voice towards the end. This is so much more twistily complex and self-consciously literary (in the best way) than even most of the other books we reach for when we think of 'good' BL works.

 

EDIT: just thinking here about when this is set and how it relates to the Great Rift and 'current 40k', and how refreshing it is for that not to matter. Like, almost at all. It's not cut off but Fehervari is doing incredible work in 40k as a setting (a setting with a wider metanarrative, as ADB says, which Ferhervari barely touches and his own Sabbat Worlds-esque corner in which things can still be consequential).

 

DarkChaplain's earlier point about the interchangeability of some 40k subject matter rings true here too, I think. The Arkhan Confederates in Fire Caste or the Void Breachers in Requiem Infernal are perfectly representative of the wide variety of forms that the imperial guard can take in a big galaxy. They're interchangeable in that they're not important on a galactic scale and their messy ends go broadly unheralded but they still have their own deep, fleshed-out, situational, context-specific histories and cultures.

They're redshirts in a sense, so there's less interest in looking at Fehervari's books and going 'ah, now we know this about the Iron Hands/mid-crusade imperial culture/the relationships between these primarchs' in the way we do in the heresy novels, but they are still so far from generic tabletop guardsmen from central casting. Same for the Sisters of the Last Candle. Same for the Angels Resplendant/Penitent. On one level they're nothing special or that out of the ordinary in lore terms but they're so real and significant depsite it.

 

@b1soul: I would second DukeLeto69's and DarkChaplain's posts on the first page but when the author himself identifies it as a 'non-linear emergant metanarrative', a coil or spiral that deliberately loops on itself and can be read in different ways with different meanings, publication order might be the best way simply by default.

 

There was also a post on reddit that covers some of the shared subject matter (which doesn't even cover the probably more significant thematic or metaphorical links) and has various thoughts on different ways to read his work: https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/bdjf4a/to_celebrate_release_of_requiem_infernal_new/

Edited April 18, 2019 by Sandlemad

[b1soul]

Thanks guys, this is great

 

But putting aside the metaphysics of the Coil, the chronological order of the stories is as follows:

 

1. Nightfall

2. The Walker in Fire

3. The Greater Evil (forthcoming t'au story...hopefully...)

4. Out Caste

5. A Sanctuary of Wyrms

6. Fire Caste

7. Vanguard

8. Fire & Ice

9. The Crown of Thorns

10. Cast A Hungry Shadow

11. Genestealer Cults

 

Reading them in this order might make some of the character arcs clearer, but at the same time less meaningful. For example 'Out Caste' is a very short piece concerning the origins of a character from 'Fire Caste'. While it functions adequately as a stand-alone it will be more engaging for someone who's already familiar with the character.

 

Likewise you'll find the origins of some key characters from 'Cults' in earlier stories, but where and when it's more interesting to meet them first is debatable. The only case where I'd strongly recommend the chronological order is 5 to 6 to 7, the 'Phaedra Arc', where the linearity builds the drama.

[DukeLeto69]

@sandlemad when you say...

 

"EDIT: just thinking here about when this is set and how it relates to the Great Rift and 'current 40k', and how refreshing it is for that not to matter. Like, almost at all..."

 

Peter Fehervari has said that RI is set about 1,000 years before CotSD. The latter was set in the "present" at a time before GW invented the Great Rift. So in both books the Great Rift isn't a thing anyway.

 

However, agree with your sentiment that PF is carving out his own Sabbat Worlds style dark (coil) corner of the 40k universe.

[Sandlemad]

@sandlemad when you say...

 

"EDIT: just thinking here about when this is set and how it relates to the Great Rift and 'current 40k', and how refreshing it is for that not to matter. Like, almost at all..."

 

Peter Fehervari has said that RI is set about 1,000 years before CotSD. The latter was set in the "present" at a time before GW invented the Great Rift. So in both books the Great Rift isn't a thing anyway.

 

However, agree with your sentiment that PF is carving out his own Sabbat Worlds style dark (coil) corner of the 40k universe.

 

Oh absolutely, Fehervari's made a corner where the sequence of events and timescales (and how they loop and twist) are actually quite important - before/after the Angels Resplendant became the Angels Penitent, when the Arkhan worlds joined the imperium and have 1000 years of compliance by Fire Caste, when any of his mysterious stranger characters arrive on other worlds - but it's all done without reference to the big events of the galaxy, even those before the Great Rift.

 

Like in Requiem Infernal we see Father Deliverance leading what was clearly a fairly large crusade taking quite a number of worlds, with thousands of troops, a chapter of astartes and large scale Sororitas support. It's a big deal and in how it ends it's unique and deeply significant but on a galactic scale, it's clearly the kind of thing that happens all over the place. Broadly you could say it's characteristic of the kinds of events that happened in the Imperium during the time of waning (M38 to M41) but there's no need to do so, and it's more meaningful for his corner of the galaxy than 40k as a whole.

[SchultzChaos]

Hello guys and gals.

 

I’ve just started Requiem (and I’ve read Fire Caste and Cult, though it was just named Genestealer Cult when I bought it) and is there something I should know/remember from previous works before I dwell to deep?

[aa.logan]

Hello guys and gals.

I’ve just started Requiem (and I’ve read Fire Caste and Cult, though it was just named Genestealer Cult when I bought it) and is there something I should know/remember from previous works before I dwell to deep?

I enjoyed it fine with only vague memories from those two books- it works well as a stand-alone book.

[caladancid]

Easily top 5 40k books written.  Just a fantastic continuation to the Dark Coil.

 

I love that it is the same planet in the past (or future?).

[Preliminary Bombardment]

Loving this so far, maybe it was the jetlag but I got some genuine chills reading this in bed at 11pm.

[DukeLeto69]

Brothers I have a request to make of you all. We the fans and supporters of the wonderful writing work of Mr Fehervari need to do more to spread the word and secure more readers for these amazing stories.

 

Why:

 

- Peter Fehervari writes in his spare time out of pleasure and his love of W40k but he does not earn his living from it.

- PF earns his living as a TV/Film editor.

- That means that unless he sells more books he cannot make a living from writing.

- In turn this means his output will always be fairly low.

- If his sales increased it could potentially do three things:

 

1) Encourage PF to spend more time writing increasing his output (giving us more wonderful stories)

2) Encourage Black Library to commission PF to write more often (giving us more wonderful stories)

3) Encourage Black Library to commission more of this type of mature and complex fiction from any authors (giving us more wonderful stories)

 

What:

 

1) Spread the word to anyone you know to pick up PF books/shorts etc

2) Post up reviews of his books/stories on Amazon and other book seller sites to raise awareness (and ratings) and drive up sales (hopefully)

 

I have started with a review on Amazon.co.uk for CotSD and will do one for RI when I have read it (arrived this morning).

 

Let's do some active promotion brothers - it will ultimately benefit us all!

Edited April 25, 2019 by DukeLeto69

[Knockagh]

Going full time as a writer is a big risk for someone with a steady income. It’s probably harder to do as a BL author as they loose a sizeable chunk of the royalties to the company.

 

I don’t know how people write and hold down a job especially books as complex as PF writes.

 

I agree promoting newer authors that really shine is very important. PF, Nick Horth and Justin D Hill have impressed me so much this last year. We as fans should use every opportunity to shout about these guys.

 

I only read PF cult of spiral dawn after recommendations from this site.

 

I read a lot of comics and often refer people on comic book forums to BL books. Most people have pigeon holed it as military sci-fi. I got several Americans interested enough to try Eisenhorn recently, Dans comic book background helps. The quality of BL fiction has improved so much with the newest authors.

[DarkChaplain]

Folks, I'm not gonna lie, but I love this thread and our little community right now. It feels like yesterday that PF was severely underappreciated in the wider community, with Fire Caste being lambasted as too complicated and "not enough about Tau" etc, as I remember it from Warseer back then. I remember how tricky it was to get people interested in picking up his shorts over the years, and how under the radar the original Genestealer Cults release flew.

 

But damn me, this has flipped hard since the Cult of the Spiral Dawn paperback, and reactions to Requiem Infernal here and even on reddit have been amazing to read. This level of excitement gives PF's work the cult classic feel (apt, I guess), like things are finally falling into place and what previously was more of a hidden gem is turning into a widely popular series for 40k fans. I've seen more people even in random comment sections with intentions to pick Requiem Infernal up than any other PF work before now, and it's making me smile.

For a while there, PF's future prospects with BL were a bit shaky, due to his works not catching on well enough for more frequent commissions, and the whole misbranding through Legends of the Dark Millennium definitely did a number on things. But it finally looks like they're realizing what they got in him, just like the community is. It took a while to get here, and I have nothing but respect for Peter for sticking with it and forging on through the Dark Coil despite some early setbacks.

 

In my opinion, Peter Fehervari is one of the strongest, most talented authors Black Library has available to them. His works ooze passion as well as dread anf madness. He's an author who'll frequently go over intended word counts for commissions to tell a better story, as close to the way he intends it to be, as he'll be allowed to leave it. The less he needs to compromise, the better for his creative process, and the fans. And in the end, every sale contributes to that freedom from being stuffed into a mold, which was so prevalent a few years back when policy shifted. There are a bunch of stories I'm looking forward to being told, especially about the Brotherhood of a Thousand and the Angels Resplendent, and I hope he'll be allowed to write them the way he wants, before long.

 

So I'm terribly happy that the reaction's being so overwhelmingly positive, with little of the usual cynicism and instead genuine awe and excitement. It looks like always trying to shove his works into people's faces whenever the chance arose is finally paying off!

[DukeLeto69]

@DC it was you who put me on my Fehervari journey. It was on your recommendation that I picked up Genestealer Cults (as was) and I have been hooked on his writing ever since. So thank you brother!

 

We have discussed this before but his first two novels were totally mis-titled and mis-marketed. I didn't pick up Firecaste when it originally came out as I thought it was a Tau book (understandably right?) so happy I found a copy of that eventually.

 

Really hope Requirm Infernal sells well and it also generates additional sales of Cult of the Spiral Dawn.

[caladancid]

@DC it was you who put me on my Fehervari journey. It was on your recommendation that I picked up Genestealer Cults (as was) and I have been hooked on his writing ever since. So thank you brother!

 

We have discussed this before but his first two novels were totally mis-titled and mis-marketed. I didn't pick up Firecaste when it originally came out as I thought it was a Tau book (understandably right?) so happy I found a copy of that eventually.

 

Really hope Requirm Infernal sells well and it also generates additional sales of Cult of the Spiral Dawn.

 

I would love to see his novels get re-branded as some sort of "Dark Coil Saga" along with a new title for Fire Caste. He truly writes on a whole different level.

[DarkChaplain]

I believe Peter had Fire Caste under the working title Thunderground at some point. It'd be hugely fitting to go back to that. In a way, it was Fehervari's own.

[DukeLeto69]

I have read the Requiem Infernal...

 

And so dear reader it was time for the banquet. I have not the word skill to provide a proper telling lest I under-appreciate the meal and you fail to understand the rapture that it provided me. Instead please allow me to simply indulge my senses and tell it as I experienced it...

 

The feast was laid across the table, a multitude of platters hiding their contents beneath silver cloches with hand written cards containing evocative names hinting, yet not revealing, what delicacies lay beneath. Each name was a tantalising tease of what I could expect, enticing me to reach out and begin to sample in earnest.

 

A meal consumed! No not enough of a word...devoured perhaps? My hunger demanded I eat more quickly, ensuring my ravenous appetite be sated now! Right now! Immediately I say! Without pause! Yet no. I resisted. Despite the great effort, I took my time savouring the flavours. Took the time to appreciate the complex mix of ingredients, flavours and textures rolling them around in my mouth trying to seek purchase on sometimes intangible qualities that at times evaded easy investigation.

 

But investigate I did, peeling back the layers and ruminating over morsels that felt reassuringly familiar only to be snatched away as they passed over my tongue stimulating taste buds completely different to those I had expected. Memories were awakened the way a scent can invoke something intangible drawn from the dark recesses of your mind, and yet much of the time they remained stubbornly in the shadows, teasing me with anticipation and making me eager to take my next bite.

 

...I have read the Requiem Infernal, and the dark coil is calling me...

 

Over time, as each course made way for the next, I started to fear that the main course of this particular feast may remain stubbornly just out of reach and despite following on from a choice of startling hors d'oeuvres, my own palette might, I opined, not be sophisticated enough to fully comprehend what it was experiencing.

 

Dear reader you will, I am sure, be happy to know that my fears were unfounded. Without doubt the sustenance on offer was sublime, revealing the fragrant beauty of itself in steps and stages at a deliberately languorous pace. Still it is clear to me now that I require that I partake of this particular meal again to fully appreciate what I suspect I have only managed to taste the surface stimulants of.

 

And almost immediately I find my tongue, my nostrils and my eyes eager to return and sample these delights again. For my senses to be overwhelmed with joy by the many twists and surprises I now know further exploration will reveal. My appetite is fully whetted but far from satisfied. I must partake again, very soon, in fact now. The hors d'oeuvres are calling to me again and I know that resistance would be folly. Indulge myself again I must, for I no longer know whether it was I who consumed the meal or if the meal devoured me!

 

...I have read the Requiem Infernal and the dark coil is summoning me, insisting that I revisit the Cult of the Spiral Dawn to seek answers. Oh what flavours, textures and scents I will experience again...

[byrd9999]

Sorry for the cross-posting, but I also put this review up on Goodreads for Peter Fehervari's "The Thirteenth Psalm" (under Inferno! Volume 2) to boost his profile :)

 

I bought Inferno! 2 purely to read "The Thirteenth Psalm" by Peter Fehervari, my favourite 40k author and now in the auto-buy category, along with Dan Abnett and ADB.

There are other reviews on here that detail the plot, and how this story links into Fehervari's expanding "Dark Coil" saga, so I won't repeat what they have said, but I'll add a couple of my own impressions of the story.

The first impression is that Fehervari is on top of his writing game and his prose is superb. The narrator's voice is pitch-perfect for this type of creeping horror story, full of righteous gothic grimdark Catholicism, allowing for great character exposition as the reader follows the path that leads him to the story's denouement.

The second impression is that, despite the close paranoia and horror, this story is funny. I laughed out loud three or four times while I read it in a single sitting. Fehervari has crafted a story where the narrator's zeal and fundamentalism to his cause have blinded him to any hint of irony or error in his actions, in particular the scene where Veland, already chastised by enforced mutism, commits a further sin by not following the Order's Responses to one of the Psalms, leading to the prospect of further punishment.

As with Fehervari's other works, there is plenty to ponder and mull over, and a re-read would definitely be rewarding.

It takes great authorial skill to write a 40k short story with this level of control and engagement and Peter Fehervari has done it again. He can do more in 40+ pages, than some authors do in an entire novel, and although I'm looking forward to reading the other stories in this collection, the purchase price was worth it just for "The Thirteenth Psalm".

Highly recommended.

[Felix Antipodes]

I've just read/reread all Fehervari's novels and shorts in preparation for Requiem Infernal. Awesome stuff I didn't quite appreciate enough when read in isolation. Would love an LE omnibus .

[DarkChaplain]

Inferno! Vol.2's The Thirteenth Psalm is today's Monday short from Black Library, so it is now available individually, at least digitally.

 

https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/new/the-thirteenth-psalm-2019.html

 

If you've been on the fence about getting Inferno! for one story, this is your time. It is freakin' brilliant.

[lilloser]

I’ve just found this thread and I’d love to know if there’s a suggested reading list or order? It looks like the work is scattered across black library, so if there’s a starting point you can suggest I’d appreciate it.

[Felix Antipodes]

Inferno! Vol.2's The Thirteenth Psalm is today's Monday short from Black Library, so it is now available individually, at least digitally.

 

https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/new/the-thirteenth-psalm-2019.html

 

If you've been on the fence about getting Inferno! for one story, this is your time. It is freakin' brilliant.

Do you know where it fits, story wise?