Upcoming BL Stuff 2026

[Casual Heresy]

4 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

@Casual Heresy

 

A few books got leaked early, I'm thinking in particular of the leather bound version of Era of Ruin that was found monthsbin advance. As someone who knows more about the indusrty, what do you think happened there?

My guess that was down to thieving gitz. 
 

It happens, people see a chance and swipe some like in any other industry. And there is a market for early copies of popular books. Hell when the last few Harry Potter books were going to press, they hired private security to patrol the building and search bags of people leaving. 
 

Warhammer is much better known now so plenty of people will know what they’re seeing and that someone will buy it. 

[grailkeeper]

20 minutes ago, Casual Heresy said:

My guess that was down to thieving gitz. 
 

It happens, people see a chance and swipe some like in any other industry. And there is a market for early copies of popular books. Hell when the last few Harry Potter books were going to press, they hired private security to patrol the building and search bags of people leaving. 
 

Warhammer is much better known now so plenty of people will know what they’re seeing and that someone will buy it. 

Makes sense. I had thought about the Harry Potter thing. 

 

I remember the seller saying they found the book in a charity shop, but maybe I'm mistaken or they were lying.

[Casual Heresy]

Interview up on WarCom today with Rhuairidh James for his upcoming debut novel Death Rider. 

 

Can a Commissar really restrain the Death Korps? Ask the author of Death Rider

 

Sounds like this will be a very interesting book.

[grailkeeper]

I'm pretty sure Rhu was the one who came up with the Regimental Standard.

[wecanhaveallthree]

Quote

...What follows is a brutal journey where Valian has to confront the nature of both the Death Korps of Krieg, and himself. 

 

Quote

I think sometimes there’s temptation, when you have a Commissar as a main character, to shy away from the grisly realities of their job. There’s a sequence in Death Rider where Valian, our Commissar, has to decide if he’s going to be a ‘Commissar’ or not, and makes his decision. I think what happens next is going to stick with people who read the book for a long time. 

 

I don't want to sound trite or snippy, but nor do I really want to couch my reaction as anything but 'so like every other Krieg novel, then?' and 'so like every other Commissar in every other novel, then?'. One of the best things about Honourbound (and Imperial Creed) is the discussion around the type of Commissar they are, they've seen and what ideals they believe in and want to aspire to. What 'do you want to be a Commissar or not' always boils down to is 'is the character nice or not', and usually always features the conflict between their duties, their beliefs and the situation they're required to face. What, exactly, is the conflict within a Krieg regiment? If the Death Korps are broken, no amount of executions are going to bring them back to the line. Krieg is literally 'executions: the planet', where every failure is met either with direct death or being sent out into the radioactive wasteland to be training for the people who got it right. They're not called the DEATH KORPS because they have such a premium on life, after all. 

 

I appreciate the work James does, but this is pitched like the most paint-by-numbers small-scale story possible. Maybe I'm just still mad about Straight Silver, but this interview hasn't told me anything about what this book is trying to say or do. Valian wants to get his regiment to the evacuation. They don't want to go. I guess if I wanted to read Dead Men Walking again I'd probably just read Dead Men Walking. 

 

Happy to be proven entirely wrong, but James won't be the first to falter on taking the step from high-concept high-octane shorts to full-length novel.

 

Let's hope it's a megabanger and I have to come back and eat crow and admit that 'what if WW1 cavalry officer IN SPACE' was actually a good idea and that I need to get over Straight Silver (NEVER).

[grailkeeper]

I'm quite looking forward to this. I've only read his short stories, and his War Com work which was largely uncredited. But he used to be so witty on social media. HIs short story was excellent. A bit odd he hasnt produced more of them before going to a full novel but I have high hopes. 

[Bobss]

On 1/14/2026 at 8:16 AM, Nagashsnee said:

BL hasnt really declined, it has evolved alongside GW into an actual corporate entity. 

 

The 'glory days' just like the WD fat bloke era (and god i miss it) also go hand in hand with them being a smaller company both in capacity, structure and profit. The more GW grew and expanded and became an actual for profit for shareholders company (with shareholders being actual investors) . Having people leak or authors talk about things WITHOUT central planning and talking points was always going to go the way of the dodo.

 

Having sub studios (and again i miss the old FW and would wish them back if i could) that often worked AGAINST the main studio was again doomed.  From all available information the fires of Cyraxes disaster of a entire imperial armor being written for a ruleset the main studio was phasing out is the king of waste of funds and time that just doesnt fly in the new type of company GW is.  Looking at it from a purely structure standpoint FW made no sense, why are they independent? Why are they not supporting the main sales push? Why why why...  

 

BL open days if they had them now would be souless sale expos. Marketing dictates what we will be told and how we will be told it, not authors, not BL. Cross company sales synergy is the altar that all things will be laid on. And NO ONE at GW wants Josh Reynolds talking bad about the chaos behind the scenes, never mind at the bar of the hotel the event is hosted on (not saying he ever did, but BL open days had allot of post pint chats).  Everything must be happy and good at all times, all books are the best books, all LE are worth it and everything is always going to plan. 

 

There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

 

They want you going to warhammer community, they want constant content and updates on the site, they want complete control on when information goes out just like any big corpo would. And its not a bad thing, its how the game is played,

 

This is a great post. This argument will be rehashed, and maybe even more observations will be added in later years, but you have gotten to the essence of the matter in about 200 words better than I ever could. I could play devil's advocate and argue your post is totalising and vibes-driven and, as you say, I could claim, 'everything [is] happy and good at all times, all books are the best books, all LE are worth it and everything is always going to plan', like a few users have done to my doomsaying around 2022, but I agree with you completely. In summary, BL is in the state a lot of us perceive it to be because... it_just_is. It is the sum of (human) decisions and actions going on behind the scene. I particularly reject the idea this is due to $ - insofar as I care, no business in history has been run completely and utterly with what is best for profitability in mind at all times and at all scales.

 

It's sad, it's lame, it's annoying, it's dispiriting, it's just meh. All of it. Meh meh meh.

Edited yesterday at 02:52 PM by Bobss
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[Krelious]

The one thing that annoys me of the corporate entity is how they just go radio silence on things and then you get it when you get it. Like we got the first scouring novel and have no idea who is writing the second one or when we can expect any kind of news on it, theres been 0 word from ADB for 3+ years on anything. It would be cool if we knew what our favourite authors were up to or if we got some kind of road map or even like an author pod cast. It would just in general be interesting to get some kinda feel of what to expect or get teased on what to expect. 

[TheVoidDragon]

On 1/22/2026 at 6:17 PM, wecanhaveallthree said:

 

 

I don't want to sound trite or snippy, but nor do I really want to couch my reaction as anything but 'so like every other Krieg novel, then?' and 'so like every other Commissar in every other novel, then?'.

 

 

I thought the same thing. It still sounds alright to me and I'll give it a read, partly because I'm interested in seeing how the Tau are depicted, but it sounds pretty formulaic as a Krieg + Commissar story, really. 

[Jareddm]

On 1/22/2026 at 10:14 AM, grailkeeper said:

I'm pretty sure Rhu was the one who came up with the Regimental Standard.

Wait, really? Was that something stated somewhere?

[grailkeeper]

10 minutes ago, Jareddm said:

Wait, really? Was that something stated somewhere?

No, but based on his writing and imagination I'm pretty sure it's him. He did work on that sort of stuff for them.

[Lord Marshal]

Apostle pre-order next week, alongside an audiobook of Death of Integrity.

[darkhorse0607]

Instant buy for both, I don't care if Apostle turns out not to be the best, I just want more Chaos stuff and I never read Death of Integrity the first time so I'll grab it for the Novamarines alone

Edited 2 hours ago by darkhorse0607