Upcoming BL Stuff 2025

[Ubiquitous1984]

Great to see more Haley and Cawl on the way.  The Silent King was a letdown imo, but the rest of Haley’s 40K output in recent years has been well worth reading.  Cawl is perhaps my favourite 40K character so it’s great he’s back so soon.  

[Scribe]

8 hours ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

Guilliman Inferior actually, literally, nearly killed me. 

 

Can I even handle knowing what this is?

[darkhorse0607]

2 minutes ago, Scribe said:

 

Can I even handle knowing what this is?

A chatGPT version of Guilliman that Cawl made to talk to 

[Scribe]

5 minutes ago, darkhorse0607 said:

A chatGPT version of Guilliman that Cawl made to talk to 

 

Why must we endure this Heretical Tech Priest...

[grailkeeper]

I'm reading the Remnant Blade now, based off recommendations here.

 

The characters feel a lot more cartoony than ADBs Nightlords. I miss his take on CSM. It made them seem so real.

[darkhorse0607]

1 hour ago, grailkeeper said:

I'm reading the Remnant Blade now, based off recommendations here.

 

The characters feel a lot more cartoony than ADBs Nightlords. I miss his take on CSM. It made them seem so real.

 

I havent finished it yet, and while its not bad bad, it feels very tie-in novel, which is not what I expected. For example when they did the rundown of who had what role, the names were almost verbatim from the roles in Kill Team. I get why they did it, it just felt weird to me, never thought the Night Lords would be so organized 

[wecanhaveallthree]

It is indeed ChatGPT Guilliman and it's just as zany as the Cawl Inferior that Guilliman has. The fact that Cawl made copies of two of the premier leading figures of the Imperium which have BOTH started immediately working on their own weird agendas is just so... so... Warhammer. If you renamed Cawl something like Gearsqueak Quickwhisker, I would wholly and totally accept this as a Skaven plot and strap in for the ride. 

Edited October 16 by wecanhaveallthree
wouldn't you like to know

[The Scorpion]

3 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

I havent finished it yet, and while its not bad bad, it feels very tie-in novel, which is not what I expected. For example when they did the rundown of who had what role, the names were almost verbatim from the roles in Kill Team. I get why they did it, it just felt weird to me, never thought the Night Lords would be so organized 

I agree, but I understand why the writers would do it.
Even without being prompted to make a tie-in, the way that Kill Teams are laid out are just too perfect for inspiration. They are a motley crew with different skills and aesthetics.

Say you gotta write a novel where the cast are Ork Kommandos. Will you come up with 8-10 different characters all by yourself? Maybe, but wouldn't you come up with a better and more distinct character if you made the mental exercise to rationalize why a Burna Boy would come up with the idea of using an oven mitten to hold his skorcha?

Vincent is not the first to do this either. John French's characters in the Horusian Wars novels are based on the minis for the old Inquisitor game, and they come with a lot of flavour.

[grailkeeper]

8 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

I havent finished it yet, and while its not bad bad, it feels very tie-in novel, which is not what I expected. For example when they did the rundown of who had what role, the names were almost verbatim from the roles in Kill Team. I get why they did it, it just felt weird to me, never thought the Night Lords would be so organized 

 

That's something I noticed too actually. The characters are introduced by their specialisation. So and so is the sniper, so and so has the melta, etc etc. It made them feel like toys.

 

 

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

I believe Archmagos will signal the first time that Haley's not had an ongoing series since Dante. The Dante trilogy, Dark Imperium, and the Cawl trilogy have all overlapped. And that's without mentioning Dawn of Fire, which I'm in too good of a mood to do.

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

I haven't read The Remnant Blade yet but I think it's good to have a different interpretation of Night Lords. A shame the writer may have gone to cartoon villan mode. However I think it's important to show different facets of Night Lords and not treat ADB's work as being the only way - or the only correct way - to show then. 

[grailkeeper]

There's a bit in this that seems like a direct copy of an iconic scene in the Astartes fan films.

 

 

 

This scene

 

Spoiler

https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/astartes-40k-pistol-energy-weapon-smoke-screen-gif-22246966

 

Edited October 17 by grailkeeper

[wecanhaveallthree]

Quote

I believe Archmagos will signal the first time that Haley's not had an ongoing series 

 

There is absolutely zero chance Archmagos is the end of the Cawl 'series'. Just going off how quick we're getting this one off the back of Genefather - just over a year later! - these must be selling like hotcakes (and considering their tone is closer to Gotrek and Felix than your usual spaceman pauldron-punching, no surprises there). I don't think it'll end until he's had a team-up or confrontation with every character in canon. 

 

Quote

oh so you're excited for basilio fo X belisarius cawl?

 

Wait, no, that's not-

 

Quote

you're keen for the revelation that belisarius cawl is actually basilio fo?

 

No. NO. NOOOOOOO!

[Tolmeus]

3 hours ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

There is absolutely zero chance Archmagos is the end of the Cawl 'series'

 

I agree with you in part. Yes, I also cannot imagine that Cawl's adventures and ultimately the main story of Warhammer 40k would end after this book (that would not make sense from GW's point of view).

But I refer again to Haley's own words:

"Dark Imperium marks the beginning of a period of my professional lifetime that The Silent King almost marks the end of. Almost, I say, as there is one more book I need to write before the majority of the plot threads and ideas that originated in Dark Imperium are resolved."

 

I would wager that Archmagos is that book ^^

Edited October 17 by Tolmeus

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

May be the end of the of the series, certainly not the character or his adventures. 

 

I hope Fo gets his story wrapped up in The Scouring series. Not keen on him continuing into 40k when we have the mad scientist angle well covered. 

[The Scorpion]

8 hours ago, The Praetorian of Inwit said:

May be the end of the of the series, certainly not the character or his adventures. 

 

I hope Fo gets his story wrapped up in The Scouring series. Not keen on him continuing into 40k when we have the mad scientist angle well covered. 

Abnett has the chance to redeem himself by making the Terminus Decree the Fo bioweapon

 

Re-dislocate the lore in the right direction, and you will regain GOAT status

Edited October 17 by The Scorpion

[wecanhaveallthree]

I always assumed the Decree was Fo's bioweapon after the Talisman of Seven Hammers got retconned in the same space. I preferred the Talisman, but the bioweapon is a perfectly good second: the Grey Knights having to kill themselves and all the other Astartes (and the Primarchs, probably), destroy the Emperor's entire genetic legacy, to save the Imperium? It's got THEMES to it. 

 

I'm not really looking forward to Fo or the Inquisition stuff that feels inevitable. The reveal of Veritus as Sindermann in War of the Beast was one of the best moments in the series. It was fantastic. 

[grailkeeper]

Finding it hard to tell the Night Lord characters apart in remnant blade. I also find it hard to have much sympathy for the protagonist 

[DarkChaplain]

Two new novels and two anthologies on a single day. BL never ceases to amaze in their scheduling.

[Tolmeus]

Had been a prime time once there was the quarterly release time table and once they actually kept that onto to date. Ah, and I would have dearly wished to experience the Black Library Weekender back than. Nostalgia hits

[darkhorse0607]

Do we remember if we have found the release date for Master of Rites? I was expecting the model and book to come out with the rest of the Ultramarines models

[Bestkeptsecret]

12 minutes ago, darkhorse0607 said:

Do we remember if we have found the release date for Master of Rites? I was expecting the model and book to come out with the rest of the Ultramarines models

https://amzn.eu/d/e1F5Emh  9 December, according to the German Amazon. But this is the translated German edition, so the English edition may release in November.

[byrd9999]

It looks like the No Peace Among the Stars anthology is a chance to showcase some new BL authors.

I haven't heard of many of these!

 

Death's Toll by Jon Flindall

The Blooded by David McDougall

The Guns of Enth by R S Wilt

Tally of Slaughter by Mark-Anthony Fenech

The Vengeful Dead by Mike Vincent

The Shot that Kills You by William Crowe

Tears of Raphaela by Richard Swan

Tattershield by William Crowe

The Strength of Symbols by Carrie Harris

Those Without Mercy by Callum Davis

The Last Psyker by Shauna Lawless

Exterminator by Mike Vincent

Nightfall on Stygies by Stark Holborn

Dream of the Locust by Tom R Pike

Beneath the Ashes by Mark Barber

Imperfect Engines by Avalon Irons

 

[darkhorse0607]

I'll pick it up just for the Howling Griffons alone assuming they have one of the stories and its not just the cover art

[The Scorpion]

4 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

I'll pick it up just for the Howling Griffons alone assuming they have one of the stories and its not just the cover art

The "Guns of Enth" is a weird story: it is about the Howling Griffons, but it is also the prequel/sequel to "Recriminant".