Upcoming BL Stuff - 2023

[Arkangilos]

58 minutes ago, DarkChaplain said:

....and the discussion on the News forum is already three pages deep. Always makes me wonder why we even have a dedicated BL board.

It will be harder to see things when there are a billion pages on it.

[Tolmeus]

28 minutes ago, Arkangilos said:

It will be harder to see things when there are a billion pages on it.

It certainly is less demanding to just open a topic on the first overall thread on the forum. I am a fan of ordering things accordingly, and would have loved to see that the Black Library sub-thread gets more attention, but thats how it is.

[Roomsky]

On one hand, the idea that the Lion is returning as a repentant individual, a reconciliator who sees himself as a sort of failure, is an intriguing bit of development that I didn't expect; I'm very excited to see where this all goes.

 

On the other hand, while I'm eager for a new Dark Angels story that isn't "X action, the Fallen appear, the Dangles shoot themselves in the foot," the Lion really needs to NOT be a chapter-wide Band-Aid fix for the Fallen situation, no more than Guilliman's return fixed the Imperium's self-destructive inefficiency. I certainly don't expect him to be, but there needs to be an actual consequence to the chapter's sordid history. If it ends with "and the Dark Angels leadership embraced the Lion's offer of redemption, and embarked on a penitent crusade that makes no real change to the chapter except for the Lion being there," that will be lame as hell.

[Scribe]

28 minutes ago, Roomsky said:

On one hand, the idea that the Lion is returning as a repentant individual, a reconciliator who sees himself as a sort of failure, is an intriguing bit of development that I didn't expect; I'm very excited to see where this all goes.

 

On the other hand, while I'm eager for a new Dark Angels story that isn't "X action, the Fallen appear, the Dangles shoot themselves in the foot," the Lion really needs to NOT be a chapter-wide Band-Aid fix for the Fallen situation, no more than Guilliman's return fixed the Imperium's self-destructive inefficiency. I certainly don't expect him to be, but there needs to be an actual consequence to the chapter's sordid history. If it ends with "and the Dark Angels leadership embraced the Lion's offer of redemption, and embarked on a penitent crusade that makes no real change to the chapter except for the Lion being there," that will be lame as hell.

 

Yeah, as noted there are plot hooks galore here, but will BL actually reach for the low hanging fruit and do it justice?

 

Its this recurring pattern, where the story that is right there for the taking is fantastic, and it just gets fumbled.

[DarkChaplain]

I'm just happy to see the hints of the Lion having reflected on his overblown levels of self-import and pride, and seems to be showing something like humility for a change.

[OpossumStrong]

As much as I dislike Dark Angels, I might get this book, mostly because I like the look of it 

[wecanhaveallthree]

Quote

On one hand, the idea that the Lion is returning as a repentant individual, a reconciliator who sees himself as a sort of failure, is an intriguing bit of development that I didn't expect; I'm very excited to see where this all goes.

 

I DISAGREE, obviously looking to bite back after your vicious personal attack on this subject, elsewhere! From Hell's heart I stab at thee, Roomsky! 

 

This is the absolute last direction I want to see the Lion go in. I don't want Moderatehammer where everybody inspects themselves and their actions, takes responsibility for their toxic traits and strives to better themselves and be open to change and positive growth. We got enough navel-gazing out of Guilliman about the state of the Imperium, but all he did was mope about it and side-eye the Ecclessiarchy on occasion. That's Guilliman's thing. I don't want another Guilliman. I don't want another reasonable character who's looking for the reasonable middle path that will make people reasonably happy.

 

Down with that kind of thing, say I! I want a bitter, conflicted Lion who's been stewing on his betrayal for ten thousand years. I want a Lion who's been kept in stasis because of the sheer amount of nihilism he's developed towards humans, the Imperium and the galaxy at large. I want 'let the galaxy burn' El'Jonson circa Dreadwing, the guy who will kill his allies to steal their atomics to blow up the rest of his allies because it's better than letting the enemy have it. I want the Lion to have destroyed Caliban. I want his return not to be a triumph, not to be some further shifting of the needle towards Imperial rebuilding and reconciliation - I want to see him as a living Exterminatus, a curse to every planet whose skies he darkens. No more 'questing knight'. Let's have a full-blown Knight Templar, doubling down on the worst of every trait the man ever had, because this universe just isn't worth saving if even the tiniest fleck of evil survives along with it.

 

The Lion had his moment of introspection in Ruinstorm. He already had his 'come to Jesus' moment, where he learned that he doesn't have to act alone, he has brothers to rely on, yadda yadda. I want a hardened Lion, a man who will never open up ever again, because his weakness regarding Secondus, regarding the Ruinstorm campaign, regarding splitting their forces killed the Emperor and the Imperium. They were all flawed, they were all weak, only Lion El'Jonson has the strength required to do what needs to be done.

 

I'd pin the role of reconciliation on Luther, if anybody. There's a guy who could tie the disparate forces together, I wot, and if he was doing it in opposition to his Primarch again - this time, perhaps for the right reasons - that would be just delicious as well.

[Roomsky]

If you aren't careful Wecan my next personal attack will make the first look like a compliment. /s

 

I mean, I agree with you, too. I should say, the caveat to my intrigue at this direction is the expectation that he'll fail to unify his chapter. Make the man realize he's reaping EVERYTHING he sowed way back when, I could enjoy that. It can also be a good source of conflict with Guilliman if he's repentant, because he can slide back into his own moral superiority and judge Guilliman for being insufficiently mopey.

 

I mostly just need the Dark Angels old guard to have a reckoning. Be it the Lion going "You did WHAT?!" or Azrael going "You want us to WHAT?!" and a bad time being had by all.

[wecanhaveallthree]

Quote

 

I mostly just need the Dark Angels old guard to have a reckoning. Be it the Lion going "You did WHAT?!" or Azrael going "You want us to WHAT?!" and a bad time being had by all.

 

Sorry; best we can do is Cypher becoming

 

Spoiler

a Primaris Lieutenant. 

 

Yes, I want to see the deck swept clear. Too many people have gone too far in the Dark Angels. In simple words: a reckoning cannot be postponed indefinitely.

Edited March 30, 2023 by wecanhaveallthree

[Dzirhan]

On 3/29/2023 at 7:24 PM, theSpirea said:

Oh well... https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/03/29/the-hunt-is-on-in-the-lion-son-of-the-forest/

Why a terrible writer like Brooks gets so many LEs and nothing for Rath or Fehervari and similarly talented authors? At least the LE is ugly

 

Always hard to tell with BL really, though sometimes being in the spotlight seems to be like a curse there as have seen a number of authors at one time being pretty much out with a number or works then fading away to barely anything for various reasons, I presume the LE is due to it being the Lion rather than Brooks himself

[System Sound]

Seems like, just like the Lion, the intern at WarCom finally woke up and update the coming soon page!

 

Alas 40k offerings are nothing new...

https://www.warhammer-community.com/blacklibrarycomingsoon/

[Taliesin]

Very poor update indeed.

[DarkChaplain]

The Freeguild Omnibus is really cool. Not only does it include all(?) of Nick Horth's Callis & Toll stories and spinoffs, but also Josh Reynolds' AoS adventure series.... which had its second novel listed on Amazon years ago but that never happened as he stopped writing for BL. I wouldn't really associate those characters with the Freeguild so much as with adventurers, but hey, marketing.

It's basically an Omnibus of stuff fans wanted more of, but didn't get it.

 

Would very much recommend Haley's Prince Maesa paperback, that book was fun and while it was patched together from short stories / serializations, it's got enough added on top and all around that it's a very neat, bittersweet novel.

 

Still surprising that they just reissued the Great Devourer omnibus with a new cover. I wasn't even aware that it's gone out of print.

 

And for Dark Angels fans, I think the new omnibus is excellent bang-for-buck.

[DukeLeto69]

Why is Outgunned listed under “other titles”

[DarkChaplain]

WarCom probably filed it as an Aeronautica tie-in novel

[skylerboodie]

Although the update is sparse in terms of books, it's great to see them finally listing in advance the contents of individual stories in (most of) the collections. 

[Roomsky]

Honestly, AOS is probably the most exciting arm of Black Library right now. It's not all home runs but the setting is only refined further with each year and it has some very promising authors under its belt. I just finished Godeater's Son and it was fantastic. That Freeguilder omnibus looks like a good entry point if you enjoy adventure stories.

 

To keep this nominally 40k-related, if anyone missed Outgunned when it was hardback only, 100% get it now, great read.

[tgcleric]

18 hours ago, Dzirhan said:

 

Always hard to tell with BL really, though sometimes being in the spotlight seems to be like a curse there as have seen a number of authors at one time being pretty much out with a number or works then fading away to barely anything for various reasons, I presume the LE is due to it being the Lion rather than Brooks himself

I haven't read his orc books, but I thought the consensus was that Brooks was pretty good? I was gonna pick this up cause I had thought his Waaag, and warboss books were well liked.

[cheywood]

34 minutes ago, tgcleric said:

I haven't read his orc books, but I thought the consensus was that Brooks was pretty good? I was gonna pick this up cause I had thought his Waaag, and warboss books were well liked.

Brooks on this forum seems to be somewhat divisive for whatever reason, but in general his works are quite popular, especially the Ork stuff. Personally I’ve enjoyed everything he’s written. 

[Roomsky]

Just now, cheywood said:

Brooks on this forum seems to be somewhat divisive for whatever reason, but in general his works are quite popular, especially the Ork stuff. Personally I’ve enjoyed everything he’s written. 

 

Divisive is a good word, though not a down-the-middle split, he just seems to really work for you or he doesn't.

 

I think he's great. Sort of a Thorpe that's more fun to read (packed with fun details, rarely gets bogged down or boring.)

[DarkChaplain]

I had a good chuckle even with the epigraphs Brooks picked for Brutal Kunnin; the contrast is wonderful:

 

Quote

‘Sing the song of the Machine-God.
None may stay our march.
Let the merciless logic of the Machine-God invest thee.
None may stay our march.
Praise and glory be to the Machine-God.
None may stay our march.’

Translation of binharic static chorus Litany of Praise

 

‘’Ere we go, ’Ere we go, ’Ere we go!’

Ork war song

 

And then the book brings this paragraph on the first or second page:

Quote

Ufthak nodded sagely. Back before they’d boarded the humie ship, he and Mogrot had been rivals – two warriors jockeying for position under the command of Badgit Snazzhammer. Thanks to a series of events involving a large robot, several fatalities and a head transplant courtesy of Dok Drozfang, Ufthak’s undamaged head had ended up on the decapitated Snazzhammer’s undamaged and significantly larger body. After a brief meeting of the minds via a headbutt, Mogrot had settled back into a role as Ufthak’s right-hand ork. That didn’t mean that Ufthak trusted him, of course, but at least he was fairly certain Mogrot wouldn’t try to shank him unless he was already wounded.

 

The novel follows on from Where Dere's Da Warp Dere's A Way, a short story released around half a year prior. But even without that story - that's one hell of a backstory for your protagonist!

[Felix Antipodes]

After bleating about their lack of action for so long, I feel that I should complement them on proving me right on an April 1st update.  Pickings continue to be thin though.  Like the new format they are now using as well.

 

Now, my only question is where are the March listings? 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Felix Antipodes
Fat fingers

[theSpirea]

Happy to see the Coming Soon section was updated. Just like last year, they completely ignored March (last year it was also updated late in March).

I like the new format, it actually lists the content of omnibuses.

 

Quite a few titles I'm going to get: Prince Maesa (also highly recommend it, reminded me of reading David Gemmell when I was a kid)

The Last Volari - Kloster's first novel, want to support him and I liked his previous BL stuff

Blightslayer - I consider Strachan a solid replacement after we lost Reynolds so I'm curious to read his take on Gotrek.

Pilgrims of Fire - might consider it. I've tried many times to get into Ware's SoB but sadly it doesn't work for me

 

Strong months for Aos, which I have to say I'm greatly enjoying these days (seriously, even if you have no interest in that setting, give Godeater's Son a go. One of the best fall to Chaos depictions. Would work in 40K as well.

 

[DarkChaplain]

There's a new Amazon listing for a Crime anthology, dropping in October. Right now, Mike Brooks is the only listed author, and I'd assume this means that his Slate Run short story will be in there.

Going by that, Jonathan D Beer's Chains, Denny Flowers' Clear as Glass and Mitchel Scanlon's two-parter Once a Killer... will be collected too.

 

Valdor's paperback is available for preorder too (8,88€ over here, takes me back to the old MMPB prices!) and A LOT of Omnibuses seem to be getting reprints at the end of the year / early January, including out of print Warhammer Chronicles and Gotrek & Felix. Good, because I got missing entries.

 

Rob Young's Longshot Astra Militarum novel is dropping in early-to-mid August

Spoiler

Explore the life of a Cadian Sharpshooter in this great Astra Militarum novel from Black Library!

Transplant. Cadian. Sniper. Legend.

Sergeant Darya Nevic is all of these and more… but behind the stories stands a soldier haunted by the unwelcome fame her successes have brought.

During the Cadian 217th’s assault on the manufactorum world of Attruso, Darya finds herself out of her depth in a war that is fought with words as much as with weapons. As a fearsome winter closes in and her men begin to die around her, she will be forced to confront her doubts and make an impossible choice: to become the figurehead her soldiers need, or to believe the unimaginable promises of the mysterious t’au.

With the fate of her regiment in her hands, which path will she choose?

 

The brick-of-a-novel Godsbane is coming to paperback too, and at it's pagecount I was honestly expecting close to omnibus pricetags. Nah, 12€ on Amazon.

 

Mike Brooks' Renegades: Harrowmaster is getting its paperback in late July/August 1st, which will hopefully also finally see the audiobook? Fingers crossed.

 

Cypher is coming in mid July, and Amazon has (despite reports I filed weeks ago) still not disconnected the entry from some other completely unrelated novel... which makes it appear like paperback and Kindle Unlimited editions were coming. They're not, sorry :')

 

There are also multiple French editions currently embargo'd, one of them is probably the Lion novel, and another might be Dawn of Fire. We'll see.

[Cactus]

On 3/29/2023 at 6:24 PM, DarkChaplain said:

....and the discussion on the News forum is already three pages deep. Always makes me wonder why we even have a dedicated BL board.

Because this is the best place to discuss BL fiction that we've actually read? I'd rather leave the pre-publication speculation and side-tracking in NR&BA then come here for intelligent conversation after I've read the book. Sadly I'll probably have to slog through a dozen pages of again before I can find any informed opinions.

 

Edit: Golly gosh, there's half a page of guff here too, still not in the dedicated discussion.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Cactus