Upcoming BL Stuff 2026

[DarkChaplain]

So.... where is my third Annandale Yarrick novel at, BL? The model is going to be the first purely 40k mini I'll be buying in what feels like forever.

At least give me a hardcover book to put in my shelf next to Chains of Golgotha, Imperial Creed and The Pyres of Armageddon!

[theSpirea]

It's mainly the communication. Monday shorts gone, Advent gone, Audio Dramas gone, plenty of series just ended without any communication, atrocious communications when it comes to the whole SoT, especially the LE f*** ups.

Crime and Horror dead. The BL Celebration was one big joke and has been since it was moved to online only due to Covid.

Subjective but quality of covers, especially fonts they use is something I used to do in Photoshop 15 years ago.

BL website gone, forcing people to some s** app?

Quality control of LEs is questionable but to be honest here, it was never that great to begin with but it's getting worse. Some of the SoT are falling apart, misspelled titles on LEs, missing logos, etc

 

[Bestkeptsecret]

https://amzn.eu/d/08LuLLug

 

According to the German Amazon, False Gods by Graham McNeill, the German version in paperback is coming out in June 2026. That means the standard hardcover and the collector's edition will come out in May 2026. I am basing this on the fact that the Horus Rising German paperback edition is coming out in April 2026, but we got the standard hardcover and collector's edition in March. So, if Amazon is saying that the paperback edition of False Gods releases in June, so maybe the standard hardcover and the collector's edition releases sometime in May.

[darkhorse0607]

I, for one, look forward to Helsreach 2: The Reachening

 

"I will die on this world... Again."

[Felix Antipodes]

Do we even know who the faceless people running the BL section even are?  In the early days there were people like Christian Dunn, Marc Gascoigne, and later Laurie Goulding, who were the public faces of BL.  Even Nick Kyme seems to be more author than editor nowadays - for all we know anyway.

I don’t believe BL has declined quality wise, it just gives the impression that nobody cares anymore behind the scenes.  Their output has always been shrugged off as ‘tie-in fiction’ or ‘in-house advertisement for GW, a tax write off’.  Maybe this has become a self fulfilling prophecy?  Why interact with the customer when they will buy anything we put out?

The recent decision to scrap the website and retreat behind a pay wall hasn’t steadied nervous minds about the future of the imprint.  Especially since they can’t even stick to their own plans (nothing changes until the 18th of March when sales cease on the website) but the latest pre-orders were not put up, presumably to try and force customers to use the new app. 

[Nagashsnee]

14 hours ago, theSpirea said:

It's mainly the communication. Monday shorts gone, Advent gone, Audio Dramas gone, plenty of series just ended without any communication, atrocious communications when it comes to the whole SoT, especially the LE f*** ups.

Crime and Horror dead. The BL Celebration was one big joke and has been since it was moved to online only due to Covid.

Subjective but quality of covers, especially fonts they use is something I used to do in Photoshop 15 years ago.

BL website gone, forcing people to some s** app?

Quality control of LEs is questionable but to be honest here, it was never that great to begin with but it's getting worse. Some of the SoT are falling apart, misspelled titles on LEs, missing logos, etc

 

I generaly agree with you. 

 

For the communication and marketing tho its just BL evolving along with GW into a true souless mega corp. Mc Donals CEO eats burger level they are not but that is the path GW and Bl are on.  Speaking to fans and communications will be dictated and controled by suits.   Same with covers and app, its suits being suits to be replaced by suits.  GW in general just doesnt WANT designers be it mini/lore/writers interacting unscripted with the public, almost no corp does. 

 

Quality is however a true head scratcher at their prices. 

 

None of this is meant as a excuce, but its hard to lay it all on BL, they are a department of GW, and will be just as affected by GW changes in the last 20 years as FW or anything else. It has positives and negatives. 

[DukeLeto69]

There was a time when it *felt* like BL mattered to GW. It *felt* like they were invested. We then had structural changes where BL was put under control of the studio (that was when some of the authors, notably Abnett, stopped working with them for a while) then that seemed to get reversed. Following that there was a bit of a renaissance that saw imprints like WH Horror and WHCrime that were in part attempts to get BL fiction to a broader audience and not solely on the sci fi shelves (or online equivalents).  
 

I can only assume from a commercial stand point, this failed and has been quietly dropped.

 

This *seems* to coincide with the Amazon deal and what I assume to be a shift in focus regarding “fiction” to a different media in terms of how much it matters to the business. From a shareholder POV (and therefore Board and business strategy POV) that makes sense as the capital return on film and TV (and the wider exposure that will give to bigger audiences, ie marketing and cross selling) is going to be a LOT bigger than a pseudo publishing arm selling books (and ebooks).

[Felix Antipodes]

The studios still control BL and its output.  To quote from the recent Scouring Timeline article on WarCom:

 

“To mark Black Library Celebration, we spoke to the lore writers of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy to find out how they are working hand-in-hand with Black Library authors on the series, and nailing down the timeline of this tumultuous era.”

 

If we are looking at this from a commercial point of view, GW/BL (nearly always) sell out their entire print run within minutes of pre-orders going online.  From their perspective, as long as they make a profit, all is good.  Maybe it’s the ebook side not pulling their weight sales wise?

 

I find it intriguing that most of this weeks’ BL pre-orders are still available (on the Oz site at least) with only the rerelease of Deathwatch currently sold out.

[DukeLeto69]

10 minutes ago, Felix Antipodes said:

The studios still control BL and its output.  To quote from the recent Scouring Timeline article on WarCom:

 

“To mark Black Library Celebration, we spoke to the lore writers of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy to find out how they are working hand-in-hand with Black Library authors on the series, and nailing down the timeline of this tumultuous era.”

 

If we are looking at this from a commercial point of view, GW/BL (nearly always) sell out their entire print run within minutes of pre-orders going online.  From their perspective, as long as they make a profit, all is good.  Maybe it’s the ebook side not pulling their weight sales wise?

 

I find it intriguing that most of this weeks’ BL pre-orders are still available (on the Oz site at least) with only the rerelease of Deathwatch currently sold out.

 

Oh I know the studio have always worked with BL but there was a time where they were independent divisions/departments and a time where the studio was in direct control of BL. No idea on set up now. 

Let’s be honest here…GW’s business practice (which also applies to BL physical books) is based on limited quantities with high prices driving fast sell out due to FOMO.

 

The print runs for physical books are small.

 

And washing your face (ie covering costs and making a bit of profit) is not the same as having the potential to drive substantial growth in revenues and securing new customers - which is what they hope the Amazon deal will do.

 

So where are you going to focus most effort? Where will shareholders expect you to focus most effort?

 

Book sales are tiny in comparison to potential revenue from films and TV (and exposure to a larger audience).

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

It is a shame that Crime & Horror just seemingly stopped.

[Lord Marshal]

False Gods' reprint gets its cover.

 

[darkhorse0607]

Why. Do. We. Continue. To. Downgrade. The. Cover. Art.

 

Also they just redid False Gods' cover like last year or the year before? To bring it more in line with the Heresy models

 

 

WHY BLACK LIBRARY

[The Scorpion]

Now this cover is going to become some weird collector's edition in 10 or so years.

[darkhorse0607]

They put all the effort into tying it into the current Heresy miniatures... for what?

 

 

Also who are we betting writes the tie in novel for 11th? Im kind of hoping for Haley since its Blood Angels. Or Ill get on the hopium early and wish for ADB, because you know, its Armageddon 

[DarkChaplain]

I expect Haley, with his Blood Angels and Orks track records.

[Nagashsnee]

Is it blood angels tho? They put quite a few ultramarines into the trailer.  I could easily see anyone writting it and having the pov be either BA/U/ORKS, or even mainly Ultramarines showing up to BA already enganged. 

 

The fact that the trailer went out of its weight to highlight ultramarines in vehicles, on foots, even a character i think? Doesnt scream BA book to me. It screams they barely got the suits to agree to let BA share the spotlight. 

[DarkChaplain]

The box set is clearly featuring Blood Angels, so while a novel might feature others, if it's a tie-in, it'll have to primarily deal with BAs.

 

Might be interesting to have some callbacks to Tycho and co, actually...

[Nagashsnee]

1 hour ago, DarkChaplain said:

The box set is clearly featuring Blood Angels, so while a novel might feature others, if it's a tie-in, it'll have to primarily deal with BAs.

 

Might be interesting to have some callbacks to Tycho and co, actually...

 

The box art has at least one ultramarine, the trailer has a ton of ultramarines the lore breakdown in the article says

 

''and Opera'dadtion Imperator, a coalition of Space Marines from many Chapters, surges towards the beleaguered planet.’ And

 

‘The Blood Angels have a long history of defending Armageddon, and they’re back alongside strike forces from the Salamanders, Ultramarines, Space Wolves, and a dozen more’.

 

None of the units are BA specific, and everything so far stresses that this is a multi chapter operation. The book COULD lean into the BA, but also COULD lean any other direction. The cinematic trailers in previous editions have always been based on whats in the box, I don’t see any reason to assume this one is not. Its too early to know, i just think we should be honest with the possibilities. 

 

But they want people to read about the minis as they are presented, starter sets are geared toward newbies,  i cant see them comissioning so much blue animation for no reason, or the book pivoting away from it. They want you excited and painting what you see/read. 

 

 

Edited March 26 by Nagashsnee

[Felix Antipodes]

I don’t really care who gets the gig writing the edition tie-in - I just want a quality piece of writing, which we haven’t had for awhile with these efforts.

 

As for what units they focus on, I’m hoping for a wide lens that gives us some decent characters from across the entire Imperial (and Ork) spectrum involved in this latest flashpoint in the Warzone, not just focussing on the latest models.  Won’t happen of course, but one can dream…

[darkhorse0607]

27 minutes ago, Felix Antipodes said:

I don’t really care who gets the gig writing the edition tie-in - I just want a quality piece of writing, which we haven’t had for awhile with these efforts.

 

As for what units they focus on, I’m hoping for a wide lens that gives us some decent characters from across the entire Imperial (and Ork) spectrum involved in this latest flashpoint in the Warzone, not just focussing on the latest models.  Won’t happen of course, but one can dream…

 

It cant be worse than Leviathan. I am as Ultramarines as it comes and I didn't even finish that one

[Nagashsnee]

6 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

It cant be worse than Leviathan. I am as Ultramarines as it comes and I didn't even finish that one

Indomitus was as bad if not worse for me.  

 

[Tolmeus]

I agree to both of you @darkhorse0607 and @Nagashsnee on account of the edition books. Read both of them and they were boring with lots of potential missed. 
8th edition book (Dark Imperium by Guy Haley) on the other hand was quiet to my taste. He just gets it to write good and meaningful dialogue and a fitting atmosphere IMO. The action scenes maybe not so much, at least in the DI triology, but than again it is mostly against Nurgle demons and these were written more humorous than fearful (compared to Lords of Silence).

 

I agree with both of you, @darkhorse0607 and @Nagashsnee, regarding the edition books.

I’ve read both and found them boring, with a lot of potential left untapped.

The book for the 8th Edition (Dark Imperium by Guy Haley), on the other hand, I really enjoyed. He simply knows how to write good, meaningful dialogue and create the right atmosphere, I think. The action scenes perhaps not so much, at least in the DI trilogy, but then again, it’s mainly about Nurgle daemons, and these were portrayed as more humorous than terrifying (compared to Lords of Silence).

 

[Tolmeus]

On 3/26/2026 at 7:54 AM, DarkChaplain said:

Might be interesting to have some callbacks to Tycho and co, actually...

*cough* You mean like Leviathan did it's callbacks to the Ultramarine veterans of the first Tyranic war? *cough* 

[grailkeeper]

Maybe ADB? He's written a lot about Armageddon already and he is head of narrative.

[darkhorse0607]

4 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

Indomitus was as bad if not worse for me.  

 

 

I won't lie. I forgot that one even existed
 

 

*edit

 

Also, according to Audible there will be two different versions of Horus Rising (I had been checking because I was afraid they'd automatically replace my Toby Longworth version with the Keeble one like they've done with narrator changes in the past). Both narrators/cover arts are listed 

Edited March 27 by darkhorse0607