Upcoming BL Stuff 2024

[Ubiquitous1984]

Maybe GW/BL will update us on the situation to offer reassurance to fans?

 

[Felix Antipodes]

Adepticon previews list is up on WarComm.  BL doesn’t get a headline of its own, so we will have to hope we get some announcements tied to the showcased factions.

[System Sound]

Lord of Excess up for pre-order next Saturday.

[grailkeeper]

Nice cover. Anyone  ever read anything by the author?

[aa.logan]

53 minutes ago, grailkeeper said:

Nice cover. Anyone  ever read anything by the author?

I enjoyed his short in the Inferno! Inquisition special. Can’t remember much about it other than it was set on a fallen world.

[Jareddm]

 

1 hour ago, grailkeeper said:

Nice cover. Anyone  ever read anything by the author?

His prequel EC short story, "A More Perfect Union" was strong enough that I'm thrilled he's getting to expand on them. Refreshing take but still solidly Slaaneshi.

 His Erebus short, "Visage" was decent but had some wonky pacing. Will still be checking out his novel.

[LemartestheLost]

8 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

Nice cover. Anyone ever read anything by the author?

 

Just echoing what @Jareddm has said in regard to McCormick's previous EC short story. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and in my eyes, it was the highlight of the Galaxy of Horrors anthology that was published last autumn. I haven't read any of his other work so I can't comment there, but I'm impressed by what I've read so far. Unless Pandaemonium or a new Blood Angels novel is announced it will be hard to top the excitement I have for this one.

[cheywood]

Deathworlder, Victoria Hayward’s previously announced debut, is up for preorder on the 6th, according to Fnac. Excited to get to this. I’ve been wanting a good Tyranid novel and Leviathian totally failed to scratch the itch. Plus it’s a non-Cadian guard novel!

[Urauloth]

On 3/2/2024 at 1:37 PM, Felix Antipodes said:

new AoS novel by Chris Thursten.

 

Looks interesting! I don't know who Gunnar Brand is, but since it's got the "A [Character Name] Novel" tag, it probably doesn't matter, as that guarantees this is the only book he'll ever appear in.

[DarkChaplain]

Where. Is. My. Crying. Reaction.

 

I still want a sequel to Gav Thorpe's The Red Feast. You know. "Book One of the Khul".

[theSpirea]

3 hours ago, DarkChaplain said:

Where. Is. My. Crying. Reaction.

 

I still want a sequel to Gav Thorpe's The Red Feast. You know. "Book One of the Khul".

Confirmed by Thorpe, it's never going to happen. The studio decided they don't want to explore that era

[DarkChaplain]

I know. Doesn't stop me from wanting it, just as I still want a third Josh Reynolds novel for his canceled Blood of Nagash trilogy, or his Eight Lamentations for AoS. Or Gav's Phoenix Lords and Ynnari. Or Anthony Reynolds' Skalathrax. Or even Nick Kyme's 2nd and 3rd Circle of Fire novels.

 

Too many cancellations on BL's list.

[Ubiquitous1984]

I wonder what's going on behind the scenes at BL/GW in relation to the lack of news on future releases, and still no update on when LE's will return?

 

I'm surprised we don't have some news, or even just rumour.  Is there anyone who works for BL that hangs around the community that could give us a bit of a clue?

 

I'm a member of multiple BL communities and the current apathy on display from fans (look at the lack of posts on B&C, but that's consistent across all BL communities right now) should be a matter of concern for BL if they want to retain their readership.

 

People are moving onto other things...

[darkhorse0607]

1 hour ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

I wonder what's going on behind the scenes at BL/GW in relation to the lack of news on future releases, and still no update on when LE's will return?

 

I'm surprised we don't have some news, or even just rumour.  Is there anyone who works for BL that hangs around the community that could give us a bit of a clue?

 

I'm a member of multiple BL communities and the current apathy on display from fans (look at the lack of posts on B&C, but that's consistent across all BL communities right now) should be a matter of concern for BL if they want to retain their readership.

 

People are moving onto other things...

 

It's interesting because it seems to be the complete opposite of GW's normal marketing plan where they start hyping months in advance (sometimes overly so but still)  before launch. Look at Lords of Excess as an example. Mentioned in the preview months ago and then put up in the Sunday preview article, that's it. I also wonder how much of it has to do with who is in charge of the scheduling for WHC. For example, during the preview event streams for the model/rules side, you can tell by how much time they spend on something how much they like it. If the same is true for WHC, then that could be an explanation.

 

It is strange though, GW doesn't like to share the space with others and by not advertising/hyping/announcing/whatever books, they are letting that part of the market go. Granted some will always come back once a book is announced, but if folks are checked out from Black Library (or places like here, FNAC, etc) they might not even see it due to the lack of marketing

 

Just weird to leave money on the table so to speak

 

Also it's been too quiet around here.

[Felix Antipodes]

15 hours ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

I wonder what's going on behind the scenes at BL/GW in relation to the lack of news on future releases, and still no update on when LE's will return?

 

I'm surprised we don't have some news, or even just rumour.  Is there anyone who works for BL that hangs around the community that could give us a bit of a clue?

 

I'm a member of multiple BL communities and the current apathy on display from fans (look at the lack of posts on B&C, but that's consistent across all BL communities right now) should be a matter of concern for BL if they want to retain their readership.

 

People are moving onto other things...

 

It is not just a matter of retaining their readership that should worry GW.  I, and several others in my gaming circle, have our moments where we fall out of love with some aspects of the hobby, whether it is gaming, modelling, or whatever.  One thing has always kept my hand in the hobby was via BL (me at least, but several others I’ve discussed it with concurred).  A good book or two can get the hobby juices flowing again, creating an itch to build a model and/or restart/finish that army you gave up on.

GW has always treated BL as not much more than PR for the game.  If they end up dumping it they could be weakening one of the way they hold onto and/or draw back their lost sheep.

[DukeLeto69]

I agree with comments above. Nothing to get excited about or discuss. It’s all rather dull in BL land. 
 

What I find really odd is that with the Amazon deal via Henry Cavil (sp?) it seemed that GW understood the power of stories for their IP. Novels and films are complementary media with crossover appeal to audiences.

 

The wishful thinker in me hopes this is just a pause for breath, a BL reset post HH series. However, I am more concerned the toy soldier company are dropping the ball with the red headed stepchild publisher division in the corner they aren’t really sure how to properly exploit!

[EverythingIsGreat]

Regarding WH40K it is likely that the dearth of material is related to the changes introduced with the 10th edition. It may be that the pipeline of already-commissioned (pre-10th ed) stories is allowed to run out before new ones appear that are inline with the game (both lore & rules). The talk at the gaming subforums regarding the 10th edition is interesting, with a lot of the gamers appearing confused by GW decisions, to put it mildly. Since we are barely a year into the release I believe the growing pains will continue for a short while at least.

[cheywood]

36 minutes ago, EverythingIsGreat said:

Regarding WH40K it is likely that the dearth of material is related to the changes introduced with the 10th edition. It may be that the pipeline of already-commissioned (pre-10th ed) stories is allowed to run out before new ones appear that are inline with the game (both lore & rules). The talk at the gaming subforums regarding the 10th edition is interesting, with a lot of the gamers appearing confused by GW decisions, to put it mildly. Since we are barely a year into the release I believe the growing pains will continue for a short while at least.

Most BL novels have no connection to specific editions of the games though. They put out a direct tie-in every time a new edition comes out, but it’s hard to see how waiting for 10th edition would bottleneck say Black Legion 3 or Pandaemonium. 
 

I think the lack of new material is because multiple books have been delayed, either due to logistical issues or a desire not to sell LEs until they figure out a solution to the scalping issue.

[EverythingIsGreat]

Isn't it all a tie-in? The lore, especially new renditions of it should ideally be in sync at least in broad terms. I would think it wiser to make sure that elements of Pandaemonium or Black Legion 3 don't blatantly contradict the new edition before the novels are published.

[cheywood]

26 minutes ago, EverythingIsGreat said:

Isn't it all a tie-in? The lore, especially new renditions of it should ideally be in sync at least in broad terms. I would think it wiser to make sure that elements of Pandaemonium or Black Legion 3 don't blatantly contradict the new edition before the novels are published.

I don’t really see the logic in that. It’s not as if the fundamental truths of the setting are changing from edition to edition most of the time. The vast majority of the changes concern the game, not the lore. When there are major lore changes they can be incorporated into future novels easily enough without disrupting the commissioning process and limiting releases through a pause. As far as I know BL didn’t pause or slowdown its release cycle when Guilliman returned, for instance. 

[Kelborn]

12 hours ago, DukeLeto69 said:

I agree with comments above. Nothing to get excited about or discuss. It’s all rather dull in BL land. 
 

What I find really odd is that with the Amazon deal via Henry Cavil (sp?) it seemed that GW understood the power of stories for their IP. Novels and films are complementary media with crossover appeal to audiences.

 

The wishful thinker in me hopes this is just a pause for breath, a BL reset post HH series. However, I am more concerned the toy soldier company are dropping the ball with the red headed stepchild publisher division in the corner they aren’t really sure how to properly exploit!

 

Yeah, it feels odd that GW doesn't build upon the hype around Henry.

They certainly got more attention than ever before but they don't make use of it.

 

Fingers crossed that they're saving stuff for a big release schedule when the show/ movie drops.

 

But then again...we're talking BL. I dread the Weekender in which the supporting novels will be announced...

[Noserenda]

New game Editions are almost completely irrelevant to the Black Library, bar an awful tie in novel obviously! 

[darkhorse0607]

Not to mention that I feel like mainline GW barely has a grip on what's going on with the "current" lore in the codices and campaign supplements. Entries contradict each other on events, successor chapters change who they come from (I'm looking at you Black Dragons) and then introducing pretty decent lore snippets/plots in White Dwarf

 

If they stopped production on novels to make sure everything makes sense then nothing would have ever come out, especially with the whole 8th edition starting at the end of the Crusade before going back the next edition and that whole mess

[EverythingIsGreat]

3 hours ago, Noserenda said:

New game Editions are almost completely irrelevant to the Black Library, bar an awful tie in novel obviously! 

 

You mean, we have seen many WH40K novels commissioned at the same time as the 8th edition or later that are written from the perspective of Guilliman being still in stasis and the Indomitus Crusade as something that never happened? To take a recent example, although all editions, not just the 8th, introduce new story perspectives. 

 

2 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

Not to mention that I feel like mainline GW barely has a grip on what's going on with the "current" lore in the codices and campaign supplements. Entries contradict each other on events, successor chapters change who they come from (I'm looking at you Black Dragons) and then introducing pretty decent lore snippets/plots in White Dwarf

 

If they stopped production on novels to make sure everything makes sense then nothing would have ever come out, especially with the whole 8th edition starting at the end of the Crusade before going back the next edition and that whole mess

 

The 10th edition introduced significant changes, not least of which is essence making older codices obsolete. This includes aspects of the lore. If anyone thinks that these changes are not going to be reflected in new novels, imo lacks understanding of what tie-in literature is and how it works.

[cheywood]

1 hour ago, EverythingIsGreat said:

 

You mean, we have seen many WH40K novels commissioned at the same time as the 8th edition or later that are written from the perspective of Guilliman being still in stasis and the Indomitus Crusade as something that never happened? To take a recent example, although all editions, not just the 8th, introduce new story perspectives. 

 

 

The 10th edition introduced significant changes, not least of which is essence making older codices obsolete. This includes aspects of the lore. If anyone thinks that these changes are not going to be reflected in new novels, imo lacks understanding of what tie-in literature is and how it works.

BL’s processes are pretty opaque. I think in this case we all lack understanding . That said, there haven’t been slowdowns or pauses when previous editions of 40k came out. I think that pretty conclusively indicates whatever’s happening here isn’t connected.