Successors eShorts Week

[Malkydel]

Figured I'd create a thread for this.

 

I bought the bundle today and read Death's Toll over my tea break. A really great little story. The Chapter culture bleeds through nicely, and the reversals at the end are entertainingly bleak. Very much enjoyed it. Very characterful, on both levels of humanity on show.

[The Scorpion]

2 hours ago, Malkydel said:

The Chapter culture bleeds through nicely

This is everything I ever wanted. Unfortunately, I only have 2 bucks, so I can't buy any of these stories.

[terminator ultra]

6 minutes ago, The Scorpion said:

I only have 2 bucks

sell both of your deer and get a few thousand for them. then buy the story. simple

[LemartestheLost]

Anyone else having problems opening the Eshorts?

[The Scorpion]

1 hour ago, LemartestheLost said:

Anyone else having problems opening the Eshorts?

God, I hope no. I was planning on buying the subscription pack.
Or maybe not. Once I muster enough money I could spare the extra 4 bucks to show my appreciation of getting successor stories for once. Vote with your wallet and yadda yadda...

[LemartestheLost]

14 minutes ago, The Scorpion said:

God, I hope no. I was planning on buying the subscription pack.
Or maybe not. Once I muster enough money I could spare the extra 4 bucks to show my appreciation of getting successor stories for once. Vote with your wallet and yadda yadda...

 

I bought the whole subscription as well for the same reasons and now I'm thinking that's the issue. You might have better luck buying the individual shorts as they go up on the site if you don't mind burning money.

[The Scorpion]

4 bucks isn't a lot. So might as well...

[LemartestheLost]

10 hours ago, Malkydel said:

Figured I'd create a thread for this.

 

I bought the bundle today and read Death's Toll over my tea break. A really great little story. The Chapter culture bleeds through nicely, and the reversals at the end are entertainingly bleak. Very much enjoyed it. Very characterful, on both levels of humanity on show.

 

Having fixed my technical issues and read the first short, I'm of the same opinion. Pretty strong start to the series, eagerly awaiting tomorrow's story!

[Felix Antipodes]

12 hours ago, LemartestheLost said:

Anyone else having problems opening the Eshorts?

What issues did you have and what did you do to fix it?  I just downloaded the first and my kindle doesn’t recognise it as a mobi file although everything else (PC, Caliber) does.

[DukeLeto69]

Just double checking…are these shorts the product of the last Black Library Open submissions window?

[cheywood]

23 minutes ago, DukeLeto69 said:

Just double checking…are these shorts the product of the last Black Library Open submissions window?

Certainly not all of them.
 

This is RS Wilt’s 5th BL story, Jon Flindall’s 3rd, and Richard Swan’s 2nd. Swan is also an established fantasy novelist who likely didn’t have to go through the open submissions process. 
 

The other authors - Fenech, McDougall, Vincent, and Crowe - are all new as far as the BL website is concerned. 
 

My guess is that BL took the stories it liked from the submissions window and then had other authors write/submit pitches for successor shorts to fill things out.

[The Scorpion]

1 hour ago, cheywood said:

Certainly not all of them.
 

This is RS Wilt’s 5th BL story, Jon Flindall’s 3rd, and Richard Swan’s 2nd. Swan is also an established fantasy novelist who likely didn’t have to go through the open submissions process. 
 

The other authors - Fenech, McDougall, Vincent, and Crowe - are all new as far as the BL website is concerned. 
 

My guess is that BL took the stories it liked from the submissions window and then had other authors write/submit pitches for successor shorts to fill things out.

That makes a good deal of sense

[LemartestheLost]

8 hours ago, Felix Antipodes said:

What issues did you have and what did you do to fix it?  I just downloaded the first and my kindle doesn’t recognise it as a mobi file although everything else (PC, Caliber) does.

 

I just had to update my ereader on Windows as it turns out. No clue about the mobi file not being recognized.

[Malkydel]

"The Blooded" was quite nice for a debut. Good rhythm to it, especially in the 'counting down through the enemies' bit. Nice bit of punch to it and it feels like a bit of setup. Nice interplay between the humans and the Astartes, and between the Sanguinary Priest and the Sergeant.

[The Scorpion]

On 4/8/2024 at 11:53 AM, Malkydel said:

Figured I'd create a thread for this.

 

I bought the bundle today and read Death's Toll over my tea break. A really great little story. The Chapter culture bleeds through nicely, and the reversals at the end are entertainingly bleak. Very much enjoyed it. Very characterful, on both levels of humanity on show.

I finally got around to reading it, and I gotta say the Iron Lords were more chill than I expected. They are hardasses, but not too unreasonable either, even if in the end they do show that they are a brotherhood of grim principles: callous and uncompromising.

That being said, I want none of this 'measured' approach in the Red Talons story. Gimme the madmen that chose to purge all of their Moriae dissidents rather than let them live in exile. Give me no chill whatsoever.

Edited April 9 by The Scorpion

[grailkeeper]

New authors writing for the most part about largely unknown chapters probably won't shift many copies. @Malkydel do you know if BL judges whether new writers should be given a shot based on how many books they shift or on something else?

[Malkydel]

8 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

New authors writing for the most part about largely unknown chapters probably won't shift many copies. @Malkydel do you know if BL judges whether new writers should be given a shot based on how many books they shift or on something else?

I honestly have no idea what the criteria is. As a freelancer I'm very external to all the decisions. Reception certainly doesn't hurt.

[Malkydel]

Guns of Enth was very surprising. A good grasp of squad banter, a nice setup, and a surprising ending that suggests something further to come. Quite a fan.

[Mazer Rackham]

On 4/9/2024 at 11:43 AM, Felix Antipodes said:

What issues did you have and what did you do to fix it?  I just downloaded the first and my kindle doesn’t recognise it as a mobi file although everything else (PC, Caliber) does.

 

Kindle no longer uses or will recognise Mobi. You can however just d/l the Ebook and send it to your Kindle, which will pick it up and display it correctly.

 

 

Edited April 10 by Mazer Rackham

[The Scorpion]

3 hours ago, Malkydel said:

Guns of Enth was very surprising. A good grasp of squad banter, a nice setup, and a surprising ending that suggests something further to come. Quite a fan.

What is your rating for the stories so far?

[Malkydel]

8 hours ago, The Scorpion said:

What is your rating for the stories so far?

I've given them all five so far.

 

They all tap into different angles of Space Marine writing and different looks at how each Chapter works. So for the Iron Lords its a very blunt, forceful application of their superiority. For the Angels Vermillion there's the constant threat of their lineage, bound up in the mystery of how they go about things and what they intend. Never quite knowing what side of righteous they fall on. For the Howling Griffons there's a good sense of the history of the Chapter, and of Badad, infringing upon the present and making things worse for them.

 

Both "The Guns of Enth" and "The Blooded" definitely feel like the setup for another story, as well. Which is nice.

[Felix Antipodes]

15 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

 

Kindle no longer uses or will recognise Mobi. You can however just d/l the Ebook and send it to your Kindle, which will pick it up and display it correctly.

 

 

 

Thanks for the heads up.  When did they dump mobi files?  I hadn’t received any notification from amazon about it but will chase it up.

 

Don’t know if it’s because I have an earlier model, but I got around the issue by saving all data files to a HDD, doing a factory reset, and transferring the data back.  It now sees the newer MOBI files fine (it never stopped seeing my older MOBI files) so maybe a corrupt files somewhere?

 

[Mazer Rackham]

1 hour ago, Felix Antipodes said:

Thanks for the heads up.  When did they dump mobi files?  I hadn’t received any notification from amazon about it but will chase it up.

 

It was a good while ago now. I got a notification through because I'm signed up to KDP. Could be my misunderstanding. Glad you sorted a workaround - could well have been a duff file. I know my Kindle point-blank refuses to read Mobi's as I've been pratting around with them and Calibre for [REDACTED].

 

I Can't Say.

 

 

[grailkeeper]

https://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/subscription-space-marine-successor-chapters-eshort-subscription-2024-eng-2024.html?fbclid=IwAR2ifSUCyRPdtn7xAlJdSM54dn-q1lbkEttjkUhBhrewwGGwgPr9gfRfT_g

 

Link to them.

 

Any of them any good? I'm trying to be more positive about authors online, which means being a bit picker about what I read.

[The Scorpion]

I liked the Vengeful Dead: the Red Talons are depicted being as cunning and calculating as they are vengeful spiteful :cuss. Solid entry. It is the author's first time in Black Library, and so it reads a bit amateurish at times, but it makes up for it with several phrases of very good prose here and there.

If he's allowed to write more, I'd say he will become a good addition to Black Library.