Black Library Weekly: And the Winner Is...

Rejoice! As Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness's Saturnine box makes its way into the wild, those (like me₁) who picked theirs up this past weekend shed few tears about another relatively bookless week. Few wallets are bottomless, though I can't say the week ahead will be entirely without purchase.

Image credit: IAMTW

The Envelope Please...

I talked a little bit about the Scribe Awards recently in the review of Paragon of Faith and Other Stories, the annual awards for excellence presented by the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. If you're not familiar with the term 'media tie-in,' it refers to writing within an existing property- like Warhammer, for instance!

Awards are presented at the San Diego Comic Con, which as it happens was held this past weekend. Looking over the lists of nominees and winners yields some familiar names.

Tim Waggoner (Skin Man) won the Adapted Novel category for his novelization of Terrifier 2, while James Swallow (Deus Encarmine, Garro: Knight of Grey) took home the award for Audio Drama for Star Cops - Blood Moon. Also winning on the day was Joshua M. Reynolds (Kal Jerico: Sinner's Bounty, Manflayer) for A Bitter Taste: A Daidoji Shin Mystery set in the Legends of the Five Rings universe.

Amongst nominees, George Mann (Shrike, Awakenings) was nominated twice, once for Dark Souls: The Willow King in the Graphic Novel category and then again for Star Wars: The High Republic: Tears of the Nameless for the YA/MG one. Carrie Harris (A Forbidden Meal, The Strength of Symbols) was shortlisted in the Original Novel, Speculative category for Arkham Horror: The Forbidden Visions of Lucius Galloway, and Tim Waggoner was also nominated for Here There be Monsters in the Short Story category.

Finally, Rik Hoskin (In the Mists of Chaos) was nominated for the Wheel of Time in the Graphic Novel category.

Image credit: The Paint Crusader

Passion Abounds

I know I say it often but it bears repeating, the creativity of the community in this hobby of ours never ceases to surprise and delight. I saw this in the wild this week and had to share it, Chaplain Grimaldus, one of the heroes of Helsreach by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.

Image credit: The Paint Crusader

It's not just a terrific paint job of one of the Black Templars' mighty heroes, but take a closer look at that tome on his hip. Is that what I think it is?



It is. It is what I think it is. That's absolutely brilliant.

The artist is The Paint Crusader, and you can find more of their incredible work on TikTok and Reddit.

If that's not enough creativity for you, u/badvoodoo68 shared some of what he's been working on in the Black Library subreddit. Book rebinding is a hobby all its own with plenty of devotees, and this is what's possible when you apply the craft to the Black Library- your own bespoke limited editions!

Image credit: u/badvoodoo68

Image credit: u/badvoodoo68

So if you've ever been tempted to dispose of a cherished tome just because the binding wasn't holding up well, you might well want to consider an alternative- one that would make Fulgrim himself drool.

Calling All Writers

Cold Open Stories was founded in 2019 as a space to give amateur writers a place to hone their craft and tell stories about the worlds they love. They host regular competitions for Warhammer 40,000 tales as well as original worlds, and the most recent competition was a flash fiction (1,000-word maximum) set in The Scouring, the post-Horus Heresy era (which I entered!).

They've now opened up the submission window for their next competition for the Sanctum Librarium anthology collection. Stories should be between 2,000 and 8,000 words, and selected submissions may receive professional editorial assistance. There's also a Discord channel where you can connect with other aspiring writers and get feedback on your work.

Image credit: Cold Open Stories

ICYMI

I added the tenth installment of Goonhammer's long-running series on the history of the Black Library, told from a 40K perspective this past weekend. This time we looked at the year 2000 and what stories appeared in print periodical form.

Incidentally, we're not the only ones looking at Warhammer Monthly right now. The Fluffenhammer Podcast has been doing issue-by-issue explorations of them, with last week's episode looking at issue #8.

Elsewhere, Arbiter Ian and Mira Manga reviewed Know No Fear by Dan Abnett on their podcast, which works out pretty well since we're on a big Horus Heresy kick right now.

Quick Hits

• After more than six years at the helm of White Dwarf, managing editor Lyle Lowery bid farewell. His position was eliminated as part of a Games Workshop restructuring, and he leaves behind some very impressive accomplishments, including overseeing two of the best-selling issues of all time. Last week he sat down with Wargamer to give an interview looking back at the last six years. Thank you for everything, Lyle, you'll surely be missed!
• The modeling world was also saddened to learn that Shunsaku Tamiya passed away at the age of 90. The chairman of Tamiya, he spent his career in our shared hobby and I use their Extra Thin Cement (the "green cap") nearly every single day. He was remembered on Reddit in the Gunpla community, and it's worth a moment to appreciate what he meant to so many.
• Si Spurrier (Fire Warrior, Daemonifuge) is riding high with the release of his new comic series, The Voice Said Kill. A gritty Bayou crime story from Image Comics, Spurrier joined the Off Panel Podcast to talk about the craft of comic creation.
• Will McDermott (Soulless Fury, Lasgun Wedding) has been working on an MMO-style board game from Open Owl Studios called Threshold. Open Owl recently had a Q&A session about the game as it approaches launch.

Writers are Fans, Too!

While I’ll never scorn an author making an honest living selling the fruits of their imagination, I take an extra degree of satisfaction knowing how many of the writers whose stories and words populate the shelves of the Black Library are genuine Warhammer fans first, and Black Library writers second. Here’s a few who shared that love this week. 

Image credit: Victoria Hayward

Here's Victoria Hayward (Nightsider Imperialis, The Feast of St. Luthera) showing off a mini she painted of Major Wulf Khan from Deathworlder. This story combines Astra Militarum heroics with Tyranid body horror and was my read of the year for 2024.

I love dioramas and displays that combine Warhammer miniatures with their Black Library book counterparts, so this was a delight!

Image credit: John French

This next one comes to us by way of Ahriman and Cado Ezechiar writer John French, who painted up his Sanctifier Priest after classic art from John Blanche. Love the appreciation for history here, it looks amazing.

Image Credit: Games Workshop

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the date-set upcoming releases from the Black Library based on the available preorder information we have. As always, take all of this with a grain of salt unless it’s Games Workshop-confirmed.

Going forward, this section will be updated weekly in this column. Any titles that are announced but without a date will be added once a date is assigned it, and anything highlighted in green is something just added this week.

2025

• Broken Crusade, by Stephen B. Fischer (paperback, 8/12) (review)
• Grey Knights: The Omnibus, by Ben Counter (paperback, 8/12)
• The End and the Death: Volume III, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 8/26) (review 1, 2)
• The High Kâhl’s Oath, by Gav Thorpe (paperback, 8/26) (review)
• Final Deployment, by R S Wilt (paperback, 8/28)
• The Legend of Sigmar, by Graham MacNeill (paperback, 9/9)
• Ciaphas Cain: The Anthology, by Sandy Mitchell (paperback, 9/23)
• The Twice-Dead King: The Omnibus, by Nate Crowley (paperback, 9/23)
• Elemental Council, by Noah Van Nguyen (paperback, 10/7) (review)
• Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith, by Jude Reid (paperback, 10/21)
• Double Eagle, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 11/18)
• Death and Duty, by Steve Lyons (paperback, 11/20)
• Interceptor City, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 11/18) (review)
• Hell’s Last, by Justin D. Hill (paperback, 12/16)

2026

• Farsight: Blade of Truth, by Phil Kelly (paperback, 1/27)
• Fulgrim: The Perfect Son, by Jude Reid (paperback, 1/27) (review)
• The Shattered and the Soulless, by Graham McNeill (paperback, 1/27)
• Vaults of Terra: The Omnibus, by Chris Wraight (paperback, 1/27)
• Siege of Terra: The Shattered and the Soulless, by Graham McNeill (paperback, 1/29)
• Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 3/10)
• The Green Tide, by Mike Brooks, Nate Crowley, and Justin Woolley (paperback 3/26)
• Carnage Unending, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 4/26)

That's all for this week, happy reading!

 

Footnotes

1. Looking at the Table of Contents of the new Age of Darkness Rulebook, the reader will note that the lore starts on page 8, then the rules begin on page 154. One hundred and forty-six pages of fluff. That's catnip, y'all. Catnip. 

 

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