Warhammer Crime

[DarkChaplain]

The book's been out for two days and you've already gotten through all stories? I really need to step up my game on anthologies. Still working on Broken City, and haven't even tried getting through No Good Men yet, outside of the tie-ins...

 

Really looking forward to some of these stories translating into full-blown novels for the coming season or two.

[aa.logan]

I find them easier going than novels; using each entry as a break between my weekend chores meant I could savour them rather than the headlong plough I often do with full books.

[Roomsky]

Broken City is a really excellent anthology.

 

Bleedout is a real standout piece, it's rare to get such a chunky novella in an anthology, and while the chapters are very short, it's still a good half the collection. Rath has some serious chops as a 40k author, and I hope we see more projects from him soon, the story is really economic and well paced.

 

There's also not a dud among the short stories, even if they aren't all home runs - a few could definitely have done with ~10 extra pages. A couple would even be at home in a Horror anthology, which I found made them doubly compelling. There's definitely some Necromunda vibes in these shorts, but the authors seem to have a much better idea of what to do with Varangantua as a diverse setting; Necromunda stories can get a bit samey.

 

Great stuff, and surprisingly even for an anthology.

[byrd9999]

Can anyone who has read Broken City confirm whether Chris Wraight's story is the same as it appeared in White Dwarf?

 

I'm gonna buy the collection anyway, I'm just curious.

[Sothalor]

Can anyone who has read Broken City confirm whether Chris Wraight's story is the same as it appeared in White Dwarf?

 

I'm gonna buy the collection anyway, I'm just curious.

 

I think it is; the publication data credits Sanctioner as having first been published in one of the White Dwarf issues from 2020.

 

 

 

Broken City is a really excellent anthology.

 

Bleedout is a real standout piece, it's rare to get such a chunky novella in an anthology, and while the chapters are very short, it's still a good half the collection. Rath has some serious chops as a 40k author, and I hope we see more projects from him soon, the story is really economic and well paced.

 

There's also not a dud among the short stories, even if they aren't all home runs - a few could definitely have done with ~10 extra pages. A couple would even be at home in a Horror anthology, which I found made them doubly compelling. There's definitely some Necromunda vibes in these shorts, but the authors seem to have a much better idea of what to do with Varangantua as a diverse setting; Necromunda stories can get a bit samey.

 

Great stuff, and surprisingly even for an anthology.

 

My biggest issue with Bleedout, having the paperback format, was actually the excessive chapter count and length.

 

Having a new page transition every few paragraphs just bloats it all and makes the actual physical reading experience an irritation. Most of these don't need to be their own chapters; they'd work just fine as individual scenes within a longer chapter. 

 

I can appreciate what they're going for here; a fast-paced tempo somewhat akin to a rapidly and frenetically edited film - I want to say like... Run Lola Run or Crank or something. There's that element of the ticking clock winding down. However, I think it could have worked if they'd gone the other way and had eliminated the chapters entirely - just kept them all as scene transitions.

[byrd9999]

 

Can anyone who has read Broken City confirm whether Chris Wraight's story is the same as it appeared in White Dwarf?

 

I'm gonna buy the collection anyway, I'm just curious.

 

I think it is; the publication data credits Sanctioner as having first been published in one of the White Dwarf issues from 2020.

 

 

 

Broken City is a really excellent anthology.

 

Bleedout is a real standout piece, it's rare to get such a chunky novella in an anthology, and while the chapters are very short, it's still a good half the collection. Rath has some serious chops as a 40k author, and I hope we see more projects from him soon, the story is really economic and well paced.

 

There's also not a dud among the short stories, even if they aren't all home runs - a few could definitely have done with ~10 extra pages. A couple would even be at home in a Horror anthology, which I found made them doubly compelling. There's definitely some Necromunda vibes in these shorts, but the authors seem to have a much better idea of what to do with Varangantua as a diverse setting; Necromunda stories can get a bit samey.

 

Great stuff, and surprisingly even for an anthology.

 

My biggest issue with Bleedout, having the paperback format, was actually the excessive chapter count and length.

 

Having a new page transition every few paragraphs just bloats it all and makes the actual physical reading experience an irritation. Most of these don't need to be their own chapters; they'd work just fine as individual scenes within a longer chapter. 

 

I can appreciate what they're going for here; a fast-paced tempo somewhat akin to a rapidly and frenetically edited film - I want to say like... Run Lola Run or Crank or something. There's that element of the ticking clock winding down. However, I think it could have worked if they'd gone the other way and had eliminated the chapters entirely - just kept them all as scene transitions.

 

 

I'm reading Ravenor at the moment, and there are scenes where Dan Abnett does this very well, such as at the Carnivora, multiple p-o-v transitions within a single chapter.

[DukeLeto69]

Just finished Broken City. Very very good. Possibly the strongest of the two anthologies so far (not yet got Sanction & Sin) by dint of having far more variety of protagonist and story type compared to No Good Men (although I think some of the individual stories in that anthology were stronger IMO).

 

All the stories were good and all were pages turners. I will echo others that possibly the best/strongest was Rites of Binding.

 

It would be churlish to say something was the weakest but perhaps the least strong and one I liked least (just IMO of course) was Extended Family for three reasons:

 

1. It was pretty much three extended battle scenes low on plot.

2. It was the least 40k of all the stories (basically a mobster story that could have been set in New York in 2021 but with a few key words changed).

3. J C Stearns didn’t seem to grasp the difference between a Probator and a Sanctioner confusing the former as a sergeant of the latter (it irked me, especially after the previous story making it a specific point of difference).

 

That is not to say it isn’t well written but didn’t hold up to all the other stories IMO.

 

Very much looking forward to Sanction & Sin and Grim Repast now.

[Red_Shift]

Sanction and Sin is ok. In the same way the first anthology was seemingly all male investigators with substance misuse issues, so far (2/3 through) this one is all kick-ass females. Which is fine in moderation but I would prefer more variety. I’d agree that a lot of these stories don’t feel very 40k, confessions of fire being the (very good) exception and by far the best story in either anthology.

[DukeLeto69]

Trying to put my finger on what “feeling like 40k” while in a domestic setting actually means (to me at least). Not given this enough thought yet but it is certainly more than peppering a story with 40k phrases and words. I think it needs:

 

- Oppressive atmosphere

- Religion permeating everyday life and/or being in your face (permanent fear of being branded a heretic)

- Fear and mistrust of the authorities

- Ineffective and inefficient bureaucracy

- Overlapping and confusing jurisdictions

- Some Tech being considered almost magical

- Fear, hatred and persecution of mutants and psykers

 

There will be many more of course.

 

I think there is a big difference between a crime story that happens to be 40k and a 40k story that happens to be crime.

 

Easy for me as an armchair critic to say that of course, I am not the creator faced with that challenge. All the stories are well written and enjoyable in their own right but some seem to have nailed the 40k crime story thing better than others so far.

 

So using Extended Family as an example (I really don’t want this to come across as bashing J C Stearns. It is a good story but for me currently falls into the “crime story that happens to be 40k” rather than the other way around, but it is fresh in my mind).

 

An additional scene where Carlowe goes to Church or at least prays to the God Emperor for guidance would be pretty 40k. Not the religious act per se but the hypocrisy of a mobster justifying his career/life choices by still believing it to be in the service (certainly not against) the GE.

 

It’s like Michael Corleone being made Godfather to his sister’s child at the Christening while intercutting with all the assassinations he has put into motion (inc brother-in-law). He is literally being asked by the Catholic Priest whether he will bring this child up in the name of God etc just as his goons are murdering people! Talk about evil hypocrisy - quite 40k that!

 

Maybe that is too on the nose?

 

Both novels so far nailed it for me. They are crime and investigation stories sure, but they still felt distinctly 40k. Especially Flesh and Steel. That was not just down to the colour/flavour permeating the stories, but also the actions of characters and the nature of the plots. Of the shorts so far the one that comes to mind immediately as being 40k crime rather than crime in 40k was Nick Kyme’s short. That really couldn’t take place in any other setting!

Edited September 16, 2021 by DukeLeto69

[DarkChaplain]

Bloodlines and Flesh & Steel and Dredge Runners audiobooks/audio drama are available for less than 10 bucks in the new Humble Audiobook Bundle:

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/voices-warhammer-2021-black-library-books

[aa.logan]

Worth it for Dredge Runners alone

[DukeLeto69]

Why did Marc Collins have to keep copying his manuscript?

 

Because he was writing Grim Re-paste.

 

Wa wa wah!

 

Sorry I’ll get my coat!

[byrd9999]

Why did Marc Collins have to keep copying his manuscript?

 

Because he was writing Grim Re-paste.

 

Wa wa wah!

 

Sorry I’ll get my coat!

That's a Grin Re-paste! :)

[aa.logan]

Grim Repast is really good; starts out as a very by-the-numbers police procedural (which is something I’ll never tire of reading) but then fully embraces the OTT nature of 40k (which I’ll never tire of reading either).

 

Kind of like a compressed Eisenhorn trilogy.

[Taliesin]

What do you mean by fully embraces the OTT nature of the 40k setting, what can we expect to see in this book?

[aa.logan]

What do you mean by fully embraces the OTT nature of the 40k setting, what can we expect to see in this book?

The first third or so could with very little retooling fit in any number of universes. The remainder of the book couldn’t really occur in any other setting; I’m always loathe to give too much away, spoilers almost inevitably get taken out of context. I think it’s safe to say that the book isn’t about a standard serial killer, and that the body count rises quite sharply and suddenly at one point.

[Roomsky]

Grim Repast – Mark Collins

 

This was really very good. While I didn’t find it’s world building as intriguing as Flesh and Steel’s, nor its prose and character as strong as Bloodlines`, this remains one of the standout releases of the year. Collins focusses instead on the theme of history, and as aa.logan mentioned, the kind that can really only come about in 40k.

 

As with each Crime novel so far, Collins really hones in on how oppressive domestic 40k is in a hive city. Corruption is rampant, apathy is the norm, and the city itself will swallow you if you aren’t careful. I really like how much this one leaned into the abuse your average citizen receives from the wealthy in 40k – as long as the nobility isn’t loud about their crimes, they really can do whatever they like. And even ignoring the killings that happen in this book, it’s hard not to be disgusted in equal measure by the flaunted opulence of Varangantua’s rulers.

 

As mentioned, the city’s history is a major theme here, and some excellent scenes and creativity come out of it. Angles are explored I’d never even considered before – and I love how many of the city’s traditions are so obviously twisted from the rationale of their founding. Running in tandem is the strong institutionalized horror angle of each Crime novel so far– I’d argue that Warhammer Crime has frightened me more than Warhammer Horror has, on the whole.

 

The story isn’t perfect – there are a lot of very convenient happenings towards the end that stand out because of how well Collins makes you believe Drask isn’t one to catch unrealistic breaks in the early story. Also, for all the focus Drask himself gets, he isn’t as well drawn as I’d like. Certainly he’s distinctive from his peers, but some of the naval-gazing comes across as fluff or filler by the end.

 

But that barely distracts from another home run in this line of books. Good characters, good pacing, good world building – it’s all very strong, and each of these facets has a few moments of absolute brilliance.

 

Must read

8/10

Edited September 28, 2021 by Roomsky

[aa.logan]

I’m resurrecting this thread because the Vorbis Incident ties in directly to stories from the previous anthologies. There will be plenty to dredge through and connection to make for folk with better memories than mine.

As far as I could tell, every story bar Jude Reid’s features a returning character or plot, and I’m going to re-read her entry from Broken City to double check because it certainly felt like those characters had appeared elsewhere. From novels we get the return of Zidarov, Lux and Baggit & Clodde returning. The Crime Week shorts have begun in a similar fashion too.

I’m on my break at work now, but I did put a longer, more specific review on Goodreads, I’ll add a link to it later.

 

The way the stories mesh to together to build up detail and tell a coherent story is something generally lacking in BL anthologies and really works here. The talk of this wave of books being a ‘season’ feels apt, things are definitely building to a bigger arc. 

[Roomsky]

I'm a bit more lukewarm on Vorbis Conspiracy.

It started out really strong, the first 3 stories were good to great, with Carrion Call being the real standout. I eagerly await (and hope for) Van Nguyen's full-novel debut, it was written and paced perfectly for a short story. Bones was a good intro, dealing with an arm of the conspiracy directly after the big disaster that frames the stories, and Haley's short was a welcome, if brief, return for Lux.

After that I thought the quality got much more uneven. Servant has no momentum before the second half, and I don't know if I quite believe the protagonist's conventional heroism. Skin Deep was fine, if simple. Angels in the Gutter was frustrating; I honestly think I just don't like Baggit and Clodde, as the second to last story I wanted more intrigue or resolution and less hijinks (on an objective scale I think it's better than Servant, but it was the only short I wanted to end faster.) Outside Powers was okay, I guess. Well written, to be sure, but as the capstone to this anthology it's execution was disappointingly cliché.

Meh/10. 

[aa.logan]

I’ve got to disagree in the strongest possible terms about Angels in the Gutter;

it’s absolutely *brimming* with resolution; from the explanation for the missing void-traffic controller to the kicker about the tithe at the very end, it sums up the brutality and absurdity of the Imperium and Varangantua especially. It’s a theme of Worley’s BL work- there are echoes of his horror audio- it can’t be called Watcher in the Dark, but it’s something like that- in this. I know the titular conspiracy is the subsequent cover-up, but I love the fact that it all comes down to individual(s) greed

; equally, as a rule we accept the larger cliches of 40K largely unquestioningly- for instance the ‘historical’ sources for the Marine Legions- so the noir cliches present in Outside Powers have a nice universalism to them- I’ve lost track of the number of books and films written in or sat in the 30s and 40s that could have used the dialogue almost verbatim from the

interrogation scene, and I like that- it’s evidently not just warrior tropes endlessly recur in humanity; no matter how far into the future we get there will be self-serving redevelopers and investigators with ‘insurance policies’

[DarkChaplain]

Vorbis is shaping up to be fantastic. I'm still not going at the pace I'd like, since they're short stories, but both The Bones of the Martyrs and Carrion Call hit it out of the park already. Absolutely drenched in atmosphere and grit, and the overarching conspiracy is nicely illustrated from the ground perspective. And Phillip Sacramento narrated the latter perfectly.

 

I'll have to go back and pick through the anthologies I either skipped or didn't manage to finish (again, terrible with those) and look up Noah Van Nguyen's previous Talos Noran story in particular. Great character, lots of depth, and I want to know more about earlier exploits.

 

I can see the book homing in closer on the conspiracy with each step, getting more gears moving. It's teasing very effectively, and even just small references to places and objects or entities we know about from the novels make the city feel much more interconnected. I think The Vorbis Conspiracy is the first real look we're getting at just how much preparation must've gone into Varangantua. A lot of the same elements have been around from the start, of course - but they're being pulled together here. I feared that maybe a big city-altering crossover event might be too early, too ambitious, but so far it's working and I can see it rippling down to establish a mainline city-narrative within the sandbox, for other stories to play off of.

 

If we can get one of these every other year or so, with authors having ample time to continue their own narratives in-between and in parallel, I'm all for it. That's something the format lends itself to very neatly.

[cheywood]

Another year, another excellent Warhammer Crime anthology. This might be the best yet thanks to some great writing and its interconnected nature. Personally I liked all seven stories in this, but I especially enjoyed Jude Reid, Guy Haley, Alec Worley and Chris Wraight’s contributions. I don’t normally love anthologies, but I think the format is good for Crime. 
 

The good:

 

The logistics - I think the editors and authors managed to find the balance between an interconnected tale and seven short stories that need to stand on their own. While the connective tissue is noticeable, they give each story space to breath. 
 

Jude Reid - as the newest author in the book Reid more than holds her own. And apparently she’s a surgeon who writes in her spare time!? Excited to see more from her.
 

Baggit and Clodde - As always I love these guys.

 

Zidarov’s future - very curious to see where Wraight goes with his story.

 

The bad 

 

The plotting - I didn’t find the conclusion particularly compelling

 

 

 

[Ubiquitous1984]

At this stage it would perhaps be useful for GW/BL to have a suggested reading order for those hoping to get into crime.  So far I have read Wraight’s original novel (Bloodline?  I can’t remember the name now) and the first Baggit audio drama, but I’m a bit lost on what I should now be reading to continue the journey is an overall storyline is developing.  

[alfred_the_great]

8 minutes ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

At this stage it would perhaps be useful for GW/BL to have a suggested reading order for those hoping to get into crime.  So far I have read Wraight’s original novel (Bloodline?  I can’t remember the name now) and the first Baggit audio drama, but I’m a bit lost on what I should now be reading to continue the journey is an overall storyline is developing.  

+1

[DukeLeto69]

1 hour ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

At this stage it would perhaps be useful for GW/BL to have a suggested reading order for those hoping to get into crime.  So far I have read Wraight’s original novel (Bloodline?  I can’t remember the name now) and the first Baggit audio drama, but I’m a bit lost on what I should now be reading to continue the journey is an overall storyline is developing.  

I would just go with the order they were published as, apart from the recent anthology Vorbis Conspiracy there isn’t really an overarching storyline, it is more a setting.