Upcoming BL Stuff 2024

[grailkeeper]

Somebody tell GW the nerds are getting angsty. Just gimme a little BL novella man, I swear I can handle it. I'll be able to get clean once I get a little fix. I just need a taste is all.

 

 

 

So- any other Non GW books worth checking out? I started reading the Ancestor's tale by Richard Dawkins because its been on my shelf for ages.

[LemartestheLost]

4 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

Somebody tell GW the nerds are getting angsty. Just gimme a little BL novella man, I swear I can handle it. I'll be able to get clean once I get a little fix. I just need a taste is all.

 

Can a frater get a paperback release, BL? I'm unironically excited for the next Dawn of Fire novel, that's how bad the craving is. 

[Ubiquitous1984]

5 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

Somebody tell GW the nerds are getting angsty. Just gimme a little BL novella man, I swear I can handle it. I'll be able to get clean once I get a little fix. I just need a taste is all.

 

 

 

So- any other Non GW books worth checking out? I started reading the Ancestor's tale by Richard Dawkins because its been on my shelf for ages.

I stopped reading BL books in January after TEATD.  I’ve been reading other sci fi.  I enjoyed ‘Project Hail Mary’ by Andy Weir the most.  

[Scribe]

Was there a paperback release of the last Vaults of Terra book? I was going through my collection, as BL/GW are dead to me actually after TEATD, and I'm only keeping a few things.

 

Master of Mankind

Soul Hunter trilogy.

Fabius trilogy.

Vaults of Terra trilogy.

Valdor.

 

If I had a paper copy of Wrath of Iron, that would of course make the list, but otherwise, I'm checking out.

[theSpirea]

The Dark City paperback 2023-04-01

Giving up on the whole IP because of TEATD... There are still decent books coming out

[Scribe]

15 minutes ago, theSpirea said:

The Dark City paperback 2023-04-01

Giving up on the whole IP because of TEATD... There are still decent books coming out

 

No, dont get me wrong, I've been giving up on the IP since Haley became the primary contribution and we got his nonsense + Primaris + Cawl + Rob. They lost me a long time ago.

 

The slow motion train wreck that was TEATD was just the capstone on BL's failures to deliver.

 

I was holding the 2 Black Legion books in either hand thinking 'what if ADB returns and saves us from this mediocrity' but no, I just dont care anymore. Oh yeah I'm holding onto Bloodlines as well.

 

40K already peaked a long time ago.

[The Scorpion]

On 6/30/2024 at 10:53 AM, grailkeeper said:

I read longshot. I'd say on a par with Lords of Excess. Not bad but in a year I'll have forgotten both. 

 

Lords of Excess' story was a little all over the place.

That is odd. Longshot is one of the BL books that I remember the most, probably because of the Stalingrad vibes

[aa.logan]

19 hours ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

Ya, his other 10 or so books that are marine focussed are books I don't really rate. 

 

So when Dark Chaplain expressed his suprise that Ultramarine's story was bad despite being written by Dan Annett its like, look at his track record. If it's not about humans, the books not great. If it requires building off of preexisting character traits, standards, or established behaviors that weren't set down by Dan, forget about it entirely. 

I’m not his biggest fan, but to say “outside of the majority of his published 40k works (Ghosts and Inquisition and at least 2 other books- Legion and I’m presuming Double Eagle) his work isn’t a byword for quality” is to veer into “What have the Romans ever done for us” territory.

 

With regard reading other things, I’m finding myself making excuses not to read much BL at the moment- there are new titles I think I want to read (off the top of my head- Lords of Excess, 2&3 of TEatD, the AoS Darkoath book), but I’m finding excuses/reasons not to, which is usually the other way round- I’ve had to force myself to maintain a ratio of non-BL for every BL book in the past. Natural burnout or resentment hangover? I’m not sure.

[Urauloth]

Darkoath is really good, for the record.

[cheywood]

I was hoping for some new novel news today, but instead we’re getting special editions of Dead Men Walking and Kreig. They match the Siege of Vraks SE that came out a few weeks ago. Glad to see Lyons Krieg work being recognized, and I’m very much enjoying his latest work, but I can’t help wondering who these are for exactly. 

[darkhorse0607]

 

" I actually started with the Necrons. I wanted to write for them, so I had to find an Imperial Guard regiment to pit against them."
 

I haven't read any of the Krieg books but that struck me as interesting

[theSpirea]

31 minutes ago, cheywood said:

I was hoping for some new novel news today, but instead we’re getting special editions of Dead Men Walking and Kreig. They match the Siege of Vraks SE that came out a few weeks ago. Glad to see Lyons Krieg work being recognized, and I’m very much enjoying his latest work, but I can’t help wondering who these are for exactly. 

Haven't read the latest one but I'm happy to see they are doing matching SEs for his previous work. Consistency and BL is not something you see often.

[byrd9999]

On 7/1/2024 at 10:54 PM, Scribe said:

 

No, dont get me wrong, I've been giving up on the IP since Haley became the primary contribution and we got his nonsense + Primaris + Cawl + Rob. They lost me a long time ago.

 

The slow motion train wreck that was TEATD was just the capstone on BL's failures to deliver.

 

I was holding the 2 Black Legion books in either hand thinking 'what if ADB returns and saves us from this mediocrity' but no, I just dont care anymore. Oh yeah I'm holding onto Bloodlines as well.

 

40K already peaked a long time ago.

Black Library haven't helped themselves by removing a lot of the peripheral excitement around the books: BL Weekenders, proper BL Celebration in Februarys, a full release schedule, series installments.

But it seems to me there is a section of BL readers that were reading for the collector-mentality and the Next Installment and the peripheral excitement, rather than the actual books and the prose itself.

Nothing has changed with the old books that people own. You can re-read them. No need to get rid of them. Unless you never actually liked a lot of BL books that you bought. In which case, see above.

Personally, I feel the buzz around BL Is currently missing. I would love to attend a BL Weekender. I met Chris Wraight in my local store on a BL Celebration day about 6 years ago, but there have been no viable author meets since then. I have around 140 BL books on my shelves. I have read circa 110 of them, 30 I have yet to read. I am currently re-reading Chris Wraight's Lords of Silence, because I am painting my Death Guard army. I love it. I'm not getting rid of the books I like (i like the vast majority of the 110 I have read) because I can always re-read them.

[byrd9999]

41 minutes ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

" I actually started with the Necrons. I wanted to write for them, so I had to find an Imperial Guard regiment to pit against them."
 

I haven't read any of the Krieg books but that struck me as interesting

 

It wasn't mentioned in the BL interview with Steve Lyons, but his recent-ish short "Less Than Human" covers exactly the angle that the Krieg will 100% sacrifice themselves if it's tactically the best and most efficient option, but they won't just waste their lives:

https://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/quick-reads/eshort-less-than-human-eng-2023.html
 

It's also in the Galaxy of Horrors short story comp if you have that.

As with all Lyons' work that I've read it's a solid 7/10. And the more you like Guard the more you'll get out of it.

[skylerboodie]

"Less Than Human" is also included in the recent "Siege of Vraks" special edition too.

[Scribe]

17 minutes ago, byrd9999 said:

Nothing has changed with the old books that people own. You can re-read them. No need to get rid of them. Unless you never actually liked a lot of BL books that you bought.

 

Yeah, thats why I'm keeping a small section that I actually enjoyed.

 

There is a tension between space, resell value, collection, and enjoyment in reading again, and the vast majority of BL imo falls outside of the 'yeah keep it' part of the equation.

[Ubiquitous1984]

45 minutes ago, byrd9999 said:

Black Library haven't helped themselves by removing a lot of the peripheral excitement around the books: BL Weekenders, proper BL Celebration in Februarys, a full release schedule, series installments.

But it seems to me there is a section of BL readers that were reading for the collector-mentality and the Next Installment and the peripheral excitement, rather than the actual books and the prose itself.

Nothing has changed with the old books that people own. You can re-read them. No need to get rid of them. Unless you never actually liked a lot of BL books that you bought. In which case, see above.

Personally, I feel the buzz around BL Is currently missing. I would love to attend a BL Weekender. I met Chris Wraight in my local store on a BL Celebration day about 6 years ago, but there have been no viable author meets since then. I have around 140 BL books on my shelves. I have read circa 110 of them, 30 I have yet to read. I am currently re-reading Chris Wraight's Lords of Silence, because I am painting my Death Guard army. I love it. I'm not getting rid of the books I like (i like the vast majority of the 110 I have read) because I can always re-read them.

Can I add to this, a lot of us became very frustrated with the ordering process on both the old and new website - particularly when the queue was introduced that ate into too much of our Saturday mornings.

[byrd9999]

48 minutes ago, Scribe said:

 

Yeah, thats why I'm keeping a small section that I actually enjoyed.

 

There is a tension between space, resell value, collection, and enjoyment in reading again, and the vast majority of BL imo falls outside of the 'yeah keep it' part of the equation.

 

Yeah, that resell value is a tempting thing for sure.

 

But if there's only a small section of your collection that you actually enjoyed, maybe the hit/miss ratio of BL publishing needs to be addressed.

 

I still find it baffling people will spend huge sums on Ltd editions, Mega editions, etc when the book itself might be pants.

 

I disliked the last Ahriman book and I only paid £8.99 for it. I can't imagine how I'd feel if I'd spent £90 or even £20.

[theSpirea]

I've reached a point of having over 300 BL books (physical editions), so I have started reselling/donating them. I have a similar number of non-BL books. I simply don't have room to keep them all, and I'm more picky now about what to keep.

While the old books haven't changed, my reading taste has, or I like the memory of the book from 20+ years ago and have no desire to re-read it.

[Scribe]

1 hour ago, byrd9999 said:

 

Yeah, that resell value is a tempting thing for sure.

 

But if there's only a small section of your collection that you actually enjoyed, maybe the hit/miss ratio of BL publishing needs to be addressed.

 

I still find it baffling people will spend huge sums on Ltd editions, Mega editions, etc when the book itself might be pants.

 

I disliked the last Ahriman book and I only paid £8.99 for it. I can't imagine how I'd feel if I'd spent £90 or even £20.

 

Yeah, and that hit/miss ratio is of course subjective. Take TEATD. The trilogy is a massive chunk of space, and mass. I will NEVER subject myself to reading those again, and as a collection piece, it again will be a beast to store/move when the time comes.

 

So, off it must go.

 

Limited Editions or special one offs are a thing I enjoy for sure, but at BL prices, effort to acquire, and then yes the subjective quality of the work? Thats a mighty hard sell.

 

I have the Eldar Sketch/Art books, Liber Chaotica, that stuff I wish BL/GW went back to more of, but oh well.

[grailkeeper]

7 hours ago, byrd9999 said:

Black Library haven't helped themselves by removing a lot of the peripheral excitement around the books: BL Weekenders, proper BL Celebration in Februarys, a full release schedule, series installments.

But it seems to me there is a section of BL readers that were reading for the collector-mentality and the Next Installment and the peripheral excitement, rather than the actual books and the prose itself.

Nothing has changed with the old books that people own. You can re-read them. No need to get rid of them. Unless you never actually liked a lot of BL books that you bought. In which case, see above.

Personally, I feel the buzz around BL Is currently missing. I would love to attend a BL Weekender. I met Chris Wraight in my local store on a BL Celebration day about 6 years ago, but there have been no viable author meets since then. I have around 140 BL books on my shelves. I have read circa 110 of them, 30 I have yet to read. I am currently re-reading Chris Wraight's Lords of Silence, because I am painting my Death Guard army. I love it. I'm not getting rid of the books I like (i like the vast majority of the 110 I have read) because I can always re-read them.

 

I went to a black library weekender in Dublin in 2013 and its one of my happiest memories.  I'd love if they did it again here.

[Master Ciaphas]

I just bought "Bloodlines" after having read "Grim Repaste", which I loved; I would love for some more Necromunda books - especially by Denny Flowers. I also have to read the new Lazarus book, which I bought on release...but am reading through the Siege of Terra and don't want to "ruin" the flow of that. 

[LemartestheLost]

7 hours ago, Master Ciaphas said:

I just bought "Bloodlines" after having read "Grim Repaste", which I loved; I would love for some more Necromunda books - especially by Denny Flowers.

 

I think 9 out 10 people that visit the BL forum here would love more from Mr. Flowers, Necromunda or 40k.

[grailkeeper]

1 hour ago, LemartestheLost said:

 

I think 9 out 10 people that visit the BL forum here would love more from Mr. Flowers, Necromunda or 40k.

@Denny Is on this forum. Not only is he a great writer, he comes across as a pretty nice guy too. 

[Denny]

18 hours ago, Master Ciaphas said:

I just bought "Bloodlines" after having read "Grim Repaste", which I loved; I would love for some more Necromunda books - especially by Denny Flowers.  

Thanks!

 

I would very much like to write another Necromunda book. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s on the cards (at least, not any time soon). I can’t say much more without worrying I’ll violate my NDA, but sufficient to say my Necromunda stuff is nowhere near as popular as my 40k stuff.

 

I have completed a couple of other novels (and I’m starting another one) but I’m not sure when they will be out.