Upcoming BL Stuff - 2023

[Ubiquitous1984]

7 hours ago, aa.logan said:

I’ll read or listen to the others but I think my LE days are properly behind me now.

You're not the only one, we have seen about a dozen full LE collections go on sale through facebook groups in recent weeks.  It seems that the disaster with SoT book 8 and the Lion LE was the tipping point for many fans.  

 

If I could snap my fingers and have my full collection disappear for a reasonable return, I would do so.  It's only the inconvenience of accurately pricing, selling and posting a full collection (god knows how many books I've got - 100 LE's and other rare BL books, maybe more) that stops me from taking the plunge.

[Sothalor]

29 minutes ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

Happy to be corrected as I have not read it myself, however my understanding is that novel didn't touch on things like the Blackstone Fortress, nor the involvement of key players such as Abbadon or Trazyn.  Hopefully this new novel sheds more light on their involvement (especially the latter: I wouldn't be disappointed at all if the novel was basically a glorified Trazyn story).

 

 

 

Pretty much this. Hill's Cadia Stands is more of a companion piece to the "key events" narrative of the Gathering Storm campaign book. It's covers a bunch of the "other" fights on Cadia during its final days, highlighting various units, officers, and soldiers.

 

It's actually a bit like a general audience monograph on a campaign/battle like Stalingrad or Market Garden or Okinawa - a mix of high-level theater status summaries with battle dispositions of units and groups down to individual experiences of specific soldiers.

[cheywood]

I’m of two minds on today’s Community post.

 

On the one hand all the novels sound great. Robert Rath telling the tale of Cadia’s fall in a novel that looks to be rather massive? Sign me the heck up. Jude Reid and Justin D Hill’s novels will likely be more than worth reading going by past work, and Longshot has an interesting premise at the very least. And I’m just glad BL’s continuing to put out a few Guard novels per year. 

 

On the other hand the continued release of limited editions is puzzling. There’s literally no reason for the exclusivity, the SEs sell out in minutes even if the ebook and hardback are right there alongside them. If GW’s not going to fix the issues with scalpers and ensure legitimate customers get to order then the least they can do is ensure everyone gets to read the books without delay.

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by cheywood

[Felix Antipodes]

I don’t really ave an issue with the LE being, well, limited.  That’s the nature of the game after all.  Not the end of the world if I miss one of these one-offs (as opposed to a series like SoT).  What I want BL to do is operate like a true publishing house and put out decent numbers of the HB and MMPB editions and not treat them like slightly higher print numbered limited editions as seems to be the current situation.

It is often said that GW considers the BL line as nothing more than advertisements for their games.  They should remember that ads are only effective if the intended market gets a chance to see it.

[DarkChaplain]

9 hours ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

You're not the only one, we have seen about a dozen full LE collections go on sale through facebook groups in recent weeks.  It seems that the disaster with SoT book 8 and the Lion LE was the tipping point for many fans.  

 

If I could snap my fingers and have my full collection disappear for a reasonable return, I would do so.  It's only the inconvenience of accurately pricing, selling and posting a full collection (god knows how many books I've got - 100 LE's and other rare BL books, maybe more) that stops me from taking the plunge.

 

I'm still debating whether to make the effort of selling my classic Pariah hardback from 2012(?) and that The Emperor's Gift hardback. Penitent got redesigned anyway and my print collection is almost exclusively paperbacks to begin with. Joke's on me, I didn't want to have the 12 month lag with Bequin, and then it ended up being what, 8 years or so?

Even been toying with the idea of selling off my large trade paperbacks from the Heresy. I made the switch with Angel exterminatus and was going to "upgrade" my mass market editions, but between BL refusing to go back and filling the gaps past the opening trilogy for ages, and then raising prices on top of the insane delays from hardback to paperback, I abandoned that course at some point and my shelf looks silly as a result.

 

...but every time I think of the hassle, having to list it somewhere, interacting with people about it and actually sending stuff around internationally? What a pain. I can't even begin to fathom how bad it has to be for folks parting with their full limited edition collections.

 

Frankly, I wouldn't even consider those things if BL hadn't bounced between formats so much, delayed things unreasonably, reissued with different covers/styles or kept multiple different hardback dimensions. Or canceled sequels. Those considerations are born from resentment more than anything else. If BL treats customers like this, why shouldn't they offer up the shelf space to authors/publishers who treat them better?

[Nagashsnee]

Oh i feel you, aside from specific authors books i stopped buying day one years ago.  For me the low point was the mid HH era where it was a wave of LE, anthologies, short stories and the occasional book that had a 50% of being filler anyhow. 

 

I transioned into a borrow/review/community talk first and only then buy if i feel its worth the money. BL quality/pricing/style just fluctuates so very very much. In recent years the re sale craze making LE hard to get just added to this, but the camels back was broken long ago. 

 

On topic do we have any news on the BA Haley omnibus? 

[LemartestheLost]

9 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

On topic do we have any news on the BA Haley omnibus? 

Not to my knowledge, but I really do hope it’s released by the end of summer. I really want to buy it as a birthday gift for someone I’m trying to get into the hobby!

[grailkeeper]

Cant wait to read Robert Raths latest. His last two books are 10 out of 10 for me. I just dont want any of the junk that comes with the special edition. If I can get it on my kindle I'll be happy.

[DarkChaplain]

Speaking of Robert Rath's Fall of Cadia, there's a prequel story with Trayzn they dropped during one of the short story weeks this year: The Bleeding Stars.

 

It has Trazyn trying to look at a Necron galaxy simulation (which is 100% accurate!), tricking his way in, to find that things are going to get very bad at Cadia. The map-guardians are following the whole non-intervention course, though, so Trazyn gets angry about it and figures he'll have to get personally involved.

 

I was hoping this wouldn't remain a one-off and get a follow-up sometime, though mostly thinking of Rath writing more Trazyn. I didn't expect a full-on Fall of Cadia novel, though. Very pleased.

[lansalt]

52 minutes ago, DarkChaplain said:

I was hoping this wouldn't remain a one-off and get a follow-up sometime

I think the follow up is Trazyn's involvement in the Gathering Storm series.

It seems that some events like the return of Guilliman or the Lion vs. Angron will be kept as part of campaign books with BL stories only as prequels/sequels (like the Lion novel)

 

[DarkChaplain]

I honestly don't think that Trazyn will be kept out of the picture with Fall of Cadia. BL usually do the short story prequel thing before new releases featuring the characters involved, and Trazyn does play quite a role in that part of the Gathering Storm arc, not least of all because of Greyfax. It also looks like a pretty big novel, going by the pictures; much thicker than the usual fare they show off; there's bound to be room for Trazyn to get a few chapters, away from the war on the ground, offering up a more overhead view.

[aa.logan]

Not 40k, I know, but Yndrasta purchase was completely painless and problem free. 

[Nagashsnee]

1 hour ago, aa.logan said:

Not 40k, I know, but Yndrasta purchase was completely painless and problem free. 

 

Yeah all AOS books are like that. The size of the fanbase is vastly smaller then 30/40k. Plus the resale value being bad stops profit makers targeting them.   

[Aeternus]

18 minutes ago, Nagashsnee said:

 

Yeah all AOS books are like that. The size of the fanbase is vastly smaller then 30/40k. Plus the resale value being bad stops profit makers targeting them.   

 

You should tell that to the resellers :P About 75 listings on ebay last I saw, lots of them from resellers primarily dealing in limited edition clothing or shoes. Luckily no-one seems to have bought any of the listings yet, but it's a bit irritating that now popular 'flipping' channels/figures have noticed and talked about Black Library books as a good one to flip, more and more people are going to be doing this every release.

 

I spoke too soon, first one's been sold :'(

Edited June 3, 2023 by Aeternus

[aa.logan]

I think the ease was as much the lack of other products being released as much as the limited appeal of AoS- no Kill Team stampede or similar.

[Jareddm]

On 6/2/2023 at 4:41 AM, DarkChaplain said:

 BL usually do the short story prequel thing before new releases featuring the characters involved, and Trazyn does play quite a role in that part of the Gathering Storm arc, not least of all because of Greyfax. 

Usually those prequel shorts are only packaged with the limited edition versions. It's nice to see it available from the start.

[DarkChaplain]

They've done both for a long time. There's, for example, been a Ghazghkull prequel story for Christmas, Huron Blackheart, the Assassinorum shorts, or the Nyssa Volari stuff, or Drekki Flynt, or the Hollow King, or indeed Trazyn with War in the Museum. These days, a character getting a short story (aside from HH) can be a good indicator of a novel or at least further shorts down the line.

[chevalierdulys]

So did you guys got the LE? This one was easier for me, at least. No problems on the internet . Probably because it's Sigmar novel so less interesting? 

I would like you to search for "Yndrasta" on ebay. More than 150 novels selling there. MORE... :\ 

[System Sound]

2 hours ago, DarkChaplain said:

They've done both for a long time. There's, for example, been a Ghazghkull prequel story for Christmas, Huron Blackheart, the Assassinorum shorts, or the Nyssa Volari stuff, or Drekki Flynt, or the Hollow King, or indeed Trazyn with War in the Museum. These days, a character getting a short story (aside from HH) can be a good indicator of a novel or at least further shorts down the line.

I just hope that we get continuations for couple of shorts from the Resting Places anthology. The one in the library was rather good and I want more.

[OpossumStrong]

Leviathan by Darius Hinks this week pre-order, pure luck because of the queue system

 

Regular hardback will be available as well, but i do like the style of this SE and ill try to get it.

 

Edited June 4, 2023 by OpossumStrong

[chevalierdulys]

2 hours ago, OpossumStrong said:

Leviathan by Darius Hinks this week pre-order, pure luck because of the queue system

 

Regular hardback will be available as well, but i do like the style of this SE and ill try to get it.

 

 I think this preorder is really not the best idea but whatever... they should do different hours o r days due to box but let us hope this doesn't make people more mad (due to luck factor)

[ZeroWolf]

As much as I like the SE, I think I'll stick to the normal edition, I've got more chance of snagging that one.

[Nagashsnee]

Yeah hard pass on direct box tie in fiction. 

[Ubiquitous1984]

I’m just happy its only one SE tie-in novel, and that they didn’t go with the two-covers ploy that they did with Indomitus!

 

Surprised there is no LE rule book.  I do like to collect them.  Maybe in a few weeks?

[skylerboodie]

Price for Leviathan standard hardback is out, showing as £20 rather than usual £18 for BL hardbacks. Boo for price hikes. >11%