Upcoming BL Stuff 2026

[Felix Antipodes]

I’m beginning to wonder if we, the fans, may have created our own purgatory where BL is concerned.  

Because they release relatively low print runs we fight like junkyard dogs for the scraps they deign to throw our way.  Books rarely last minutes let alone weeks.

Why change their ways when they almost always sell out of their product with no real need to listen to the consumers?

[Lorehunter]

2 hours ago, Lord Marshal said:

I'm mostly flabbergasted we haven't seen Solomon yet, particularly with the Alpha Legion coin for this month.

 

I've never been impressed with the post-Covid BL Celebrations, so the sad drip of reveals doesn't feel that out of the norm (though I could be remembering wrong), but the lack of a model is pretty jarring - especially when we know it's coming. Has me wondering if it'll even be tied to Black Library at all.

 

We have one more day, assuming he doesn't get revealed today. They just dropped their BL Celebration article for today (an interview about the Scouring), so it may come later today or may be tomorrow's final goodie. 

 

I'm intrigued by the lack of an eShort subscription this time around. Paired with the lack of an Advent Calendar last December, it raises some interesting questions about the direction of the BL in terms of new talent development and story acquisition. Is this a course correction, I wonder- perhaps they have all the stories they need right now for the current pipeline model- or a de-emphasis on that particular medium. 

[DarkChaplain]

Today's BL Celebration offering appears to be a Scouring timeline without any sort of announcement of book 2, and instead we get a "we might axe this, too"-style line in the article. Lovely.

[Lorehunter]

7 minutes ago, DarkChaplain said:

Today's BL Celebration offering appears to be a Scouring timeline without any sort of announcement of book 2, and instead we get a "we might axe this, too"-style line in the article. Lovely.

What line are you referring to?

[DarkChaplain]

Quote

Here are a few extracts from our Scouring master timeline – it’s unlikely that all of these events will appear in either novel or gaming book form, but they give a hint of things to come.

 

It's pretty much expectation management and a pre-emptive excuse for when the things on their MASTER TIMELINE doesn't get covered because they either bungle things up or decide halfway through that they need to change course, as has happened numerous times with BL over the past decade alone (see: Time of Legends, the dreaded 30s, The Beast Arises, arguably Dawn of Fire, Crime, Horror with its quadrilogy that never got its fourth and final volume, the audio box sets that never happened or got rejigged into short novels etc).

 

It's especially bad because they're already letting us now they might not even bother with either books or HH supplement coverage - which, again, is saying a lot if this is their MASTER timeline of the BIG things they ostensibly internally planned to cover...

[Lord Marshal]

A surprise two-part novel (released as a set) from Dan Abnett, simply titled Hive.

 

 

Quote

The planetary governor has fallen amidst scandal and treachery, and the city chokes under the oppressive austerity of Imperial life while roving Adeptus Arbites patrols enforce the Lex Imperialis without so much as a hint of pity. The newly crowned replacement has a lot to contend with – not least that they are an outsider to this rough and dogmatic city – and already whispers of rebellion reach the upper spires.

 

Who are the people planting seeds of anarchy beneath the sprawl of Sacramentus? Could they topple the new governor’s regime before it gets moving? Are they even the greatest threat lurking below?

 

 

Nice art too:

 

Edited Friday at 01:58 PM by Lord Marshal

[Casual Heresy]

Something new and potentially interesting from Dan Abnett (not Pandaemonium before anyone gets their hopes up!)

 

Revealed: Dan Abnett’s latest novel sees a hive city teetering on the brink

[skylerboodie]

not on my bingo card for Dan's next drop. Will read it, but wish it was something for the Scouring or other big hitter storyline, personally.

[darkhorse0607]

I'm actually looking forwards to this as long as the release isn't wonky. I'm a sucker for world-building books (see the more Ultramar politics parts of Unremembered Empire), so if this is what it says on the tin then I'm really looking forwards to it

[Casual Heresy]

Just now, skylerboodie said:

not on my bingo card for Dan's next drop. Will read it, but wish it was something for the Scouring or other big hitter storyline, personally.

 

Personally I'm happy to see something new and original from Abnett. We know he'll have new entries in his own series and the Scouring eventually. But it's been a very long time since we've had something from him that hasn't been connected to previous works.

[Lorehunter]

RIGHT INTO MY VEINS, DAN. 

 

This is something well beyond what I'd hoped we'd get this week. 

8 minutes ago, skylerboodie said:

not on my bingo card for Dan's next drop. Will read it, but wish it was something for the Scouring or other big hitter storyline, personally.

Not getting a teaser for the next Scouring book was a surprise to me, because it's such low-hanging fruit. The time between Master of Rites reveal and release was around 9 months, so it's not like they can't play the long game. 

[cheywood]

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

[DarkChaplain]

I have concerns. For one, it's a two-part novel - that gives me flashbacks to The End and the Death of Editing. Is it a two-parter because it needed to be, or because they let Abnett write and hold back on cutting the fat?

 

Then it also feels kind of like... Crime? Just not Crime. Not Varangantua. It's Abnettgantua instead. Which makes me wonder if it was originally planned as a Crime novel/series that got changed when they axed Crime. I guess it'll depend on how many things Dan sneaks in that directly link this to Eisenhorn and Gaunt, huh.

 

But at least it's something that ought to be worth reading. Only took them five days of celebrating a busload of nothing (and I suppose Layak) to get to this.

[darkhorse0607]

My favorite part of BL celebration is DarkChaplain descending farther and farther into the salt

[LemartesTheLost]

34 minutes ago, DarkChaplain said:

I have concerns. For one, it's a two-part novel - that gives me flashbacks to The End and the Death of Editing. Is it a two-parter because it needed to be, or because they let Abnett write and hold back on cutting the fat?

 

I'm willing to bet money that this is another example of Kyme being unable to say "No, Dan. Wrap it up." once he hit page 475 or whatever the page limit is for a standard hardback. 

[wecanhaveallthree]

Quote

Then it also feels kind of like... Crime? Just not Crime. Not Varangantua. It's Abnettgantua instead.

 

That was my immediate thought as soon as I saw this. 'Hot damn, a new Crime novel! Abnett swinging at the upper tiers of Varangantua!' 

 

With that in mind, what Abnett has consistently done is write incredibly engaging and immersive cities. I'm always taken back to the acid rain city, pure neon cyberpunk, in Ravenor, or the trains, guild-halls and vids of Necropolis. The weird sprawl of the Magos and its outskirts. If he wants to write a thousand pages of what would usually go into an RPG handbook, hey sure, I got no problem with that. Mastercrafted worldbuilding is forever a guilty pleasure.

 

I'm also rather keen to see a book focused specifically on the leadership of a Hive. We often see the nobility at a far remove, and the mechanisms that keep a Hive ticking over are necessarily obscured. We have governors as antagonists, as supporting characters, but have we ever had a straight-up political thriller? House of Cards IN SPACE? I will 100% pick this one (two) up because I want to continue supporting BL putting out non-standard novels (more Crime, more Horror, more von Shard if need be, more FEHERVARI). That I wholly trust Abnett to give me a delicious world to enjoy (if, perhaps, the warning sirens of an overbloated narrative) certainly is weighed greater than my fear of a story that might only be middling.

 

Also I'm going to buy twenty copies so Abnett keeps writing HIVE! and the masses must wail and gnash their teeth as Pandaemonium disappears further over the horizon.

[SteveAntilles]

28 minutes ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

 

 

 

With that in mind, what Abnett has consistently done is write incredibly engaging and immersive cities. I'm always taken back to the acid rain city, pure neon cyberpunk, in Ravenor, or the trains, guild-halls and vids of Necropolis. The weird sprawl of the Magos and its outskirts. If he wants to write a thousand pages of what would usually go into an RPG handbook, hey sure, I got no problem with that. Mastercrafted worldbuilding is forever a guilty pleasure.

Did you read Interceptor City? It's airplane fights. IN A HIVE.

[darkhorse0607]

Since I guess the articles are done for the day, and today was the last day of the Celebration (normally they don't do anything on Saturdays iirc)

To recap:

 

-2 new novels (Layak and Hive)

-Rynn's World SE

-Readers choice voting 

-Article about what we may see during the Scouring

 

Are we all sufficiently Celebrated out?

[DukeLeto69]

4 hours ago, Lord Marshal said:

A surprise two-part novel (released as a set) from Dan Abnett, simply titled Hive.

 

 

 

Nice art too:

 

Thank the maker…finally something new from BL to get excited about! And not a Space Marine story too!!!! Excellent.

[System Sound]

41 minutes ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

Are we all sufficiently Celebrated out?

I think we mined a sufficient amount of salt... 

 

Also, you telling me Abnett couldn't come up with a better novel name than "Hive"? 

Edited Friday at 06:40 PM by System Sound

[Tolmeus]

47 minutes ago, darkhorse0607 said:

To recap:

 

-2 new novels (Layak and Hive)

-Rynn's World SE

-Readers choice voting 

-Article about what we may see during the Scouring

 

Are we all sufficiently Celebrated out?

My man, you are forgetting the most important part: Horus Rising in two fantastic new versions

[darkhorse0607]

2 minutes ago, Tolmeus said:

My man, you are forgetting the most important part: Horus Rising in two fantastic new versions

 

So I had actually typed that out, but couldn't bring myself to do it

 

But speaking of which

 

They're doing another audio version of Horus Rising as well, with Keeble replacing Longworth as the narrator.

 

Just so everyone knows where their priorities are, and why more books don't get audio releases (I'm still mad about Ghost Legion)

[Tolmeus]

3 minutes ago, Tolmeus said:

My man, you are forgetting the most important part: Horus Rising in two fantastic new versions

That said: Following the announcement of Abnett’s new duology, I’m glad to see some positive vibes here again. The criticism of Black Library so far has been justified, and I, too, am longing for some good new reading material. It’s a shame, though, that the only thing we seem to have in common at the moment is our ability to make snide remarks about the marketing (as I said, even if they are justified).
That's is in no way meant to be offensive, just a sad obersavtion when one (me) misses the ealier euphoria compared to the time of the ongoing Horus Heresy series )

[Taliesin]

Well, something interesting announced here, definitely will buy The Hive, looks very interesting , especially as the rather sparse article specifically mentions Adeptus Arbites, one of my favorite factions.

[theSpirea]

The Hive sounds and looks great, finally a BL book I'm excited about. But it still hurts, it could have been a nice fit for the Crime imprint. But we know Abnett can't really play well in multi-author series and always has to shove his ideas in there, so it's probably a good thing it's not set there after all.