Upcoming BL Stuff 2024

[neOh (AV)]

Paperback first (i guess) Siege omnibus spotted on German Amazon – with The Solar War and The Lost And The Damned inside

[DarkChaplain]

This will likely not matter much for english readers. Other languages have been getting quite a lot of HH omnibuses to begin with, but the english originaly only got a few semi-themed ones way back when, which were discontinued swiftly.

[neOh (AV)]

10 hours ago, DarkChaplain said:

This will likely not matter much for english readers. Other languages have been getting quite a lot of HH omnibuses to begin with, but the english originaly only got a few semi-themed ones way back when, which were discontinued swiftly.

I think there will be an english-language siege omnibus too

[cheywood]

Darkoath is coming June 8th, preorder May 25th. I know AOS news doesn’t belong here, but I figured people wanted to know that BL does still publish novels. This also confirms that there won’t be any new hardback/paperback releases in May. Could still get some LEs though. Wild that they’re skipping an entire month in a year that’s already seen multiple books delayed. 

Edited May 8 by cheywood

[aa.logan]

The LE of Ghazghull was late May; I’m holding out hope that they keep the same slot for Hesperax

[grailkeeper]

Sammelband is a good 40k baddy name.

[darkhorse0607]

Welcome to your weekly pre-order notification!

 

There's so little for pre-order that I actually laughed

 

By that I mean there are no books

 

See you all next time for another riveting week of Warhammer pre-orders

Edited May 12 by darkhorse0607

[DarkChaplain]

They actually had to pad the article with the event schedule.... Yikes.

[darkhorse0607]

Which one is worse? Event padding or re-re-re-rereleasing metal models? Poor LOTR folks

[Felix Antipodes]

This has got to be because of the upcoming (temp) warehouse closure.  If not, things are more stuffed behind the scenes than we suspected. 

Edited May 13 by Felix Antipodes

[Ubiquitous1984]

8 hours ago, Felix Antipodes said:

This has got to be because of the upcoming (temp) warehouse closure.  If not, things are more stuffed behind the scenes than we suspected. 

I don't follow the rest of the hobby, only BL.  Is something else going on with GW at the moment that may be impacting on the BL release schedule?

 

If there are warehouse issues they should consider releasing ebooks and audiobooks to plug the gaps.  

 

This year feels like it has been a complete dud so far.  

[Krelious]

18 minutes ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

I don't follow the rest of the hobby, only BL.  Is something else going on with GW at the moment that may be impacting on the BL release schedule?

 

If there are warehouse issues they should consider releasing ebooks and audiobooks to plug the gaps.  

 

This year feels like it has been a complete dud so far.  

I think its obvious that since the whole End and the Death vol 3 debacle they are likely at least holding onto all their limited editions until they can find a solution to the whole scalping issue. 

 

I mean for me personally I've really lost interest and the only book ive read recently was a hardback of Fear to Tread and i might end up re-reading some older novels I got in hardback. 

[DarkChaplain]

44 minutes ago, Krelious said:

I mean for me personally I've really lost interest and the only book ive read recently was a hardback of Fear to Tread and i might end up re-reading some older novels I got in hardback. 

 

I haven't even touched a BL novel in the past two months, I think. Or rather, I tried and couldn't make it work. So I went back to binging other stuff, particularly a few light novels I had piled up (and Seven Seas just released a Sumino Yoru novel which has been sitting on my shelf for years as an audiobook, so that reminded me I got a backlog elsewhere, too! Ready for that novel to break my heart again). Numerically, my reading is through the roof this calendar year, but BL is barely represented.

 

And oddly, I'm not even bothered by it, which has a lot to do with GW/BL showing me that they, too, are treating their books as unloved stepchildren too, so it's fine if I do as well.

[Never_born]

12 minutes ago, DarkChaplain said:

Numerically, my reading is through the roof this calendar year, but BL is barely represented.

 

And oddly, I'm not even bothered by it, which has a lot to do with GW/BL showing me that they, too, are treating their books as unloved stepchildren too, so it's fine if I do as well.

This is very much how I’ve been feeling the last year or two. I’m reading more than ever, but BL is accounting for a an ever-decreasing proportion. 
 

I read and very much enjoyed Deathworlder recently, but otherwise what few new books have been coming out simply haven’t appealed. That’s not to say they aren’t good books (I hope they are), but maybe BL just hasn’t done a good enough job of showing me why I should give them a try! 
 

But likewise, I’m not sad about that. The more GW demonstrates that BL is an afterthought (something which must be so frustrating for the authors/editors), the more I find myself turning to and enjoying books from other publishers. I’m hoping things will pick up on the BL front later this year, but I’m not holding my breath, and I’ve got more than enough other books to keep me busy. 

[darkhorse0607]

1 hour ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

I don't follow the rest of the hobby, only BL.  Is something else going on with GW at the moment that may be impacting on the BL release schedule?

 

If there are warehouse issues they should consider releasing ebooks and audiobooks to plug the gaps.  

 

This year feels like it has been a complete dud so far.  

 

GW is closing the warehouse the 27th of May through the 3rd of June

 

That's all they said, no reasoning so naturally there's a lot of theorizing and whatnot

[grailkeeper]

If GW authors were more active on social media I might care more about upcoming books. I can see why they arent given what happened with ADB. Still I miss seeing updates on what he was working on. 

[Felix Antipodes]

20 minutes ago, grailkeeper said:

If GW authors were more active on social media I might care more about upcoming books. I can see why they arent given what happened with ADB. Still I miss seeing updates on what he was working on. 

 

There was a time, not that long ago, when just about every author seemed to have an online presence.  It almost seemed mandatory.  It was pretty obvious that only a few were comfortable and most have either disappeared or have lain untouched for years.  A shame as some were great reading.

[cheywood]

2 minutes ago, Felix Antipodes said:

 

There was a time, not that long ago, when just about every author seemed to have an online presence.  It almost seemed mandatory.  It was pretty obvious that only a few were comfortable and most have either disappeared or have lain untouched for years.  A shame as some were great reading.

Authors usually have social media accounts to promote their work, it’s an important element in this day and age. I don’t think GW ever mandated authors have social media though. I’d say it’s closer to being the other way round, with Gav Thorpe having to delete promotional tweets for upcoming works on occasion and newer authors generally saying they can’t talk about upcoming work on Twitter. 

[Ubiquitous1984]

1 hour ago, DarkChaplain said:

 

I haven't even touched a BL novel in the past two months, I think. Or rather, I tried and couldn't make it work. So I went back to binging other stuff, particularly a few light novels I had piled up (and Seven Seas just released a Sumino Yoru novel which has been sitting on my shelf for years as an audiobook, so that reminded me I got a backlog elsewhere, too! Ready for that novel to break my heart again). Numerically, my reading is through the roof this calendar year, but BL is barely represented.

 

And oddly, I'm not even bothered by it, which has a lot to do with GW/BL showing me that they, too, are treating their books as unloved stepchildren too, so it's fine if I do as well.

It's not just me then!  I haven't read or listened to a BL book since TEATD volume 3.  There hasn't been a period since 2016 where I didn't have at least one BL book on the go.  And the sad truth is I haven't missed it at all and not felt any inclination to re-start.

 

I really, really hope BL pull a rabbit out of the hat soon to pull me (and others?) back in.  

 

 

[theSpirea]

Delays in regular releases are a bit strange at this point. I understand the LE titles situation, but I bet they are holding on to other titles and not releasing them for whatever bizarre GW reason.

I'm still happily reading older titles, not even re-reading them. There are so many older BL books I've never gotten around to; it's a perfect time for it now. And there's also plenty of non-BL stuff.

 

I still hope Crime isn't dead, only massively delayed. That's my main worry when it comes to BL.

[darkhorse0607]

2 hours ago, cheywood said:

Authors usually have social media accounts to promote their work, it’s an important element in this day and age. I don’t think GW ever mandated authors have social media though. I’d say it’s closer to being the other way round, with Gav Thorpe having to delete promotional tweets for upcoming works on occasion and newer authors generally saying they can’t talk about upcoming work on Twitter. 

 

To be fair to them, if GW did it's job and actually promoted their books, did author interviews (actual ones, not the ones they barely do now) instead of the community trying to do them, then the authors not having more presence on social media might not be so detrimental

[darkhorse0607]

Not to double-comment like a crazy person, but the latest Mira Manga author interview was with McNeill about Mechanicum. While it's always nice listening to the authors, at the end she asked him about future plans. Obviously, he was gone to Riot Games for a while and not writing as much for BL.

 

He said that as of now, he has nothing in the works or even pitched to BL. Whether or not that means the Horus Primarch Novel was given to someone else, or it was already done (like the Bretonia novel) when he left he doesn't say, but it could explain why we haven't seen it yet.

 

For future plans, he said that he would like to pitch new Mechanicum novels, Honsou (for the love of God please), and new Ventris novels. One thing he brought up multiple times during the interview was that he'd like to do a "Mars Rising" novel, which focuses on how the loyalists on Mars reclaimed it from the traitors and it building back up again so maybe once the Scouring starts (if/when), that'll be where he sets up camp

[Taliesin]

Its quite remarkable, BL announcing nothing new. Few weeks/months ago we talked about a possible Scouring setting/series announcement and how that at least could explain the deep silence on both news and actual releases front, but nothing on it. The silence of the authors is another thing, that was last year as well. The already announced Eidolon book delayed to October, one of the few books they were actually going to release. Basically they have had 1 notable releases so far in January and the rest has been AoS or more low profile releases. All we know is that Abnett apparently will have a book out this year, or at least he seems to think so.

33 minutes ago, darkhorse0607 said:

Not to double-comment like a crazy person, but the latest Mira Manga author interview was with McNeill about Mechanicum. While it's always nice listening to the authors, at the end she asked him about future plans. Obviously, he was gone to Riot Games for a while and not writing as much for BL.

 

He said that as of now, he has nothing in the works or even pitched to BL. Whether or not that means the Horus Primarch Novel was given to someone else, or it was already done (like the Bretonia novel) when he left he doesn't say, but it could explain why we haven't seen it yet.

 

For future plans, he said that he would like to pitch new Mechanicum novels, Honsou (for the love of God please), and new Ventris novels. One thing he brought up multiple times during the interview was that he'd like to do a "Mars Rising" novel, which focuses on how the loyalists on Mars reclaimed it from the traitors and it building back up again so maybe once the Scouring starts (if/when), that'll be where he sets up camp

 

He left Riot Games as well, they had a big round of firings there, so you would think that if BL was interested in new novels from McNeill, now would be a time to pounce.

But apparently not.

[DukeLeto69]

Something weird is going on with BL. While it was always a small part of the GW pie in terms of revenue, it was still used as a way to market themselves.
 

It was also a way to keep old timers like me still spending my money on GW product. I have not bought a mini or kit since about 2000. But I guarantee I have spent more money on GW products since then as my own earnings/spending power has massively increased. I used to but EVERY rulebook, codex, campaign book for every game and every edition. All the FW books too. Just those black leather HB HH books come to nearly £1k. For several years I bought EVERY BL release (sci fi not fantasy) as I was obsessed within owning a complete collection.

 

But that profligacy has slowly dwindled and now massively nosedived due to A) The attitude taken by GW/BL towards fans and as said before the seemingly dismissive attitude to BL product. And B) What now appears to be…well nothing to get excited about. It feels…dead!

 

BUT…there is a little glimmer of hope left in me. Well two flickering candles of hope that could be snuffed out by the  gentlest of breezes:  

 

1. The Story Forge, or whatever it is called, was the driving engine for developing video content for Warhammer+ and I am hoping those authors involved are not writing (as many) novels because they are writing story treatments for TV Shows and Films as part of the Amazon deal.

 

2. Post Horus Heresy The Siege of Terra and the completion of their flagship series after almost 20 years, BL are just taking a moment to take stock and evaluate what really to do next!

 

Hey I did say the candles were just flickering!

[Taliesin]

Not to blow out your flickering candle but the problem with number 2 is that they had years to think about what to do after the Siege of Terra, that did not come upon them like a sudden freight train. So they have known about that a long time but there seems to be no plan whatsoever. Or, nothing has been communicated but something is ready behind the scenes.