Upcoming BL Stuff - 2022

[aa.logan]

On 10/23/2022 at 6:56 PM, DarkChaplain said:

Not sure how I feel about passing the character on.

I’m a fan, much as I’ve enjoyed Brooks’ ork work before- isn’t the Red Gobbo a concept and a recurring cypher rather than a character in the strictest sense- a uniquely Gretchen-esque manifestation of the WAAAGH, so being handed from author to author feels apt.

[Tolmeus]

2 hours ago, Taliesin said:

The coming soon page has not been updated

 

You should't rely on this page at all. Instead you should prefer to follow this thread since anyone posts release Information as soon as he stumbles over it. 

Alternatively you may keep in touch with the preview for the next week which is always released on sunday on the Warhammer Community website

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

16 hours ago, Taliesin said:

The coming soon page has not been updated for December, or even November, which surely they must have noticed, starts next week already.

 

The coming soon page is widely regarded as one of the Administratum's most embarrassing offerings.

[Ubiquitous1984]

What known ‘big-hitter’ books are we currently waiting for release dates for?  I’ll start us off:

 

SoT - Garro novella and book 8 vol 1 +2

Primarch - Sangunius and Horus

DoF - book 5

 

[Tolmeus]

The third installment of 'The Twice-Dead King' and the 'Benquin' series

You could also argue about the next character novel for 40k and 30k. 

[System Sound]

Does Interceptor City 2 count?

Gaunts Ghosts

New Black Legion book

Anything by Fehervari

[theSpirea]

The Horusian Wars 3 and Watchers of the Throne 3. I'd like to see these two series finished next year.

Hopefully Jake Ozga gets to write his first novel soon.

[DukeLeto69]

1 hour ago, System Sound said:

Does Interceptor City 2 count?

Gaunts Ghosts

New Black Legion book

Anything by Fehervari

Sadly (very sadly) Fehervari is not one of the BL “big hitters” despite his wonderful quality writing.

[DarkChaplain]

The way Peter Fehervari has been handled by Black Library over the years is, to me, the greatest failing of the company. Nothing else compares, not the many Heresy blunders, not the print runs, not the overpricing of books. It's how they treat their authors, with Fehervari repeatedly getting shafted by BL mismanagement and corporate meddling.

 

They simply have not realized just how much potential Fehervari has for their IP, and it shows.

 

Frankly, BL has gone from sort of dream fulfillment employer to "hell no, I ain't doing this to myself" in a rather short span of time.

[Knockagh]

Got to agree on Fehervari here. It’s so sad. He had massive potential. He was pretty much universally loved on this board. A terrible waste. As BL readers we are reminded constantly that we are not really part of the party. 

[cheywood]

5 hours ago, Tolmeus said:

The third installment of 'The Twice-Dead King' and the 'Benquin' series

You could also argue about the next character novel for 40k and 30k. 

Is The Twice Dead King getting another book? I thought it was originally commissioned as one novel then separated into a duology due to length. I’d love to see more though. 

 

5 minutes ago, Knockagh said:

Got to agree on Fehervari here. It’s so sad. He had massive potential. He was pretty much universally loved on this board. A terrible waste. As BL readers we are reminded constantly that we are not really part of the party. 

As much as I love Fehervari, I don’t think it’s fair to view his popularity here as a sign he would’ve found widespread success in the community at large. ADB has talked at length about how factions determine BL sales much more than an author’s writing quality. Fehervari, while a great writer, doesn’t do the sort of accessible battle fiction the audience at large eats up. His work is complicated, sprawls across multiple books with no real explanation of the connections, and demands an appreciation for the themes of the setting more than a love of transhumans with huge guns. Even if BL promotes him more I think he’ll always be kind of a hidden gem.

[Casual Heresy]

Article up on WarCom about the next load of Warhammer Horror titles. Two 40k related. 'The Resting Places' is an anthology of AoS and 40k based stories with a couple of new names on the cover (and a brilliant cover design in my opinion). 'Unholy: Tales of Horror and Woe from the Imperium', is purely 40k and appears to be linked stories by Kyme, Annandale, Hill and Stearns.

 

The Season of Horror is Nigh, Bringing a Trio of Warhammer Horror Titles - Warhammer Community (warhammer-community.com)

[skylerboodie]

Lower in the article it describes Unholy as an omnibus of horror 'classics' so it sounds like it actually collects the 4x shorter novels previously released in hardback, rather than new material:

 

J C Stearns	The Oubliette
Nick Kyme	Sepulturum
David Annandale	The Deacon of Wounds
Justin D. Hill	The Bookkeeper's Skull

[skylerboodie]

...although I've not read them, so don;t know if the reference to 'Valgaast' in the blurb has relevance for these previous works or not

[Casual Heresy]

14 minutes ago, skylerboodie said:

...although I've not read them, so don;t know if the reference to 'Valgaast' in the blurb has relevance for these previous works or not

 

That's what makes me think they're new, as I can't remember Valgaast being mentioned when these books were announced. But I've not read them either as I'm not really a Horror reader, so I could be totally wrong.

Edited October 26, 2022 by Casual Heresy

[theSpirea]

Valgaast is referenced to/mentioned in the previous novels. They use it to, in a way, connect 40K horror stories. Just like with Mhurghast for AoS. The omnibus is definitely collection of previously published novels. Why would they release four brand new novel straight to omnibus? It's going to be The House of Night and Chains or The Deacon of Wounds, The Oubliette, Sepulturum, and The Bookkeeper's Skull is my guess. 

 

I'm happy they haven't abandoned the Horror imprint and will be getting the novel (this should be "the third" book in the Mhurghast focused series) and the anthology. 

Edited October 26, 2022 by theSpirea

[cheywood]

51 minutes ago, Casual Heresy said:

 

That's what makes me think they're new, as I can't remember Valgaast being mentioned when these books were announced. But I've not read them either as I'm not really a Horror reader, so I could be totally wrong.

Having read all the Horror novels most of them do mention Valgaast. There’s no way these are new books unfortunately. 

[System Sound]

So all we get is one short story collection. Great "Season"...

[Roomsky]

I appreciate all the work being done for AOS in the Horror imprint, much like how Crime is for 40k. I almost wish they'd just separate them completely moving forward - I have no interest in anthologies that deal with both universes. 

 

The omnibus is a bit disappointing - I was hoping for a dedicated Imperium Horror anthology of new content - but it is a good opportunity for people who missed the little hardbacks for those stories to get their hands on them; they're all pretty decent to good books.

[cheywood]

8 minutes ago, System Sound said:

So all we get is one short story collection. Great "Season"...

It seems as though both Crime and Horror are limited to a few novels a year. With Crime this kind of makes sense since it’s all set in the same city and you want to make sure the imprint stays fresh and exciting as opposed to something familiar. Horror on the other hand seems like it could easily accommodate 5-10 novels a year across AOS and 40k. The IP is perfectly suited to basically any horror trope you can conceive of. 

[DukeLeto69]

Was initially YAY A 40K FOCUSED ANTHOLOGY OF NOVELLAS then read the blurb and was like “oh I have these already, bummer” not much of a Horror season then!

[Sothalor]

Nah that's just Black Library getting meta.

 

"Welcome friends, the true Horrors all along are our release model and the way we treat our customers!"

[Ubiquitous1984]

I wish they wouldn’t mix 40K and AoS.  I have zero interest in AoS.  

[System Sound]

2 hours ago, Sothalor said:

Nah that's just Black Library getting meta.

 

"Welcome friends, the true Horrors all along are our release model and the way we treat our customers!"

You forgot, "how we treat our authors and series"....

 

5 minutes ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

I wish they wouldn’t mix 40K and AoS.  I have zero interest in AoS.  

I wish they would do the same for what they do in those small anthologies for store anniversaries. Where each story i clearly labelled being 40k or AoS.

 

I'm not very interested in fantasy horror or a setting that I know next to almost nothing about about.

[DarkChaplain]

Well, I guess I can at least finally get print copies of the hardback-only short novels I missed out on. The blurb makes it 100% clear that it's The Oubliette, The Deacon of Wounds, Sepulturum and The Bookkeeper's Skull.

This still leaves Castle of Blood unaccounted for, as far as the hardback onlies go.

 

Also, Dale Lucas has my attention. I recently read his Realm-Lords novel, and I feel like after that one, I have a full grasp of what the monastic mountain elves are all about. Hero's journey story, lots of internal and external conflict, very nice build-up and good pacing. I've been tempted to pick up the monster that is his Godsbane. I think that clocks in at 600 pages in paperback.

 

The cover characters Runar and Tiberius are directly taken from Gothghul Hollow. I can't help but think that this isn't the final installment in the Murghast arc, though: There's one very important character who hasn't starred on a cover yet, since the grand reveal in GH. I'd wager on an Edrea + mystery character novel to follow.

 

Still baflfes me that they realize that the Horror season is upon us... 4 days before Halloween, with announcements for "early 2023".

 

Also, I'd highly encourage reading the AoS horror shorts in anthologies - and the novels especially so. They're usually at least good pieces, easy to get into and often better realized than the 40k ones.