Black Library Weekly: Hark, the Bearers of the Word Approach!

Image credit: Games Workshop

Once upon a time the idea of a 'snow day' brought tremendous excitement. No school, building snow forts and having snowball fights, then coming in for a cup of hot cocoa and getting to read for hours on end.

Now in the Year of Our Lord 2026 with "Snowmageddon" blanketing much of the States, it means being trapped in the house with five little monsters who punctuate the aforementioned activities with bickering, arguing, and/or trolling one another relentlessly- because the bored mind of a child refuses to stay bored for long.

All the same, we managed to stock up on the essentials ahead of time. With plenty of bread, milk, and chloroform we should get through it just fine. And of course, I still have plenty to read.

Even more exciting, after a welcome break we have another Black Library novel coming up for order as David Annandale's Apostle finally breaks orbit and prepares to land. It didn't necessarily surprise me that it didn't have a Special or Limited Edition available, since I'd expect those treasures to be held in reserve until next month's Black Library Celebration. Nevertheless, the lack of a deluxe edition for this one feels as much a miss as Mike Vincent's The Remnant Blade a few months ago.

C'mon James Workshop, Night Lord- and Word Bearer-centered novels aren't especially common. It would be nice to give us heresy enjoyers a bit of shelf candy, too! Of the trio of books that we've had teased in the last couple months, if we're looking at deluxe editions for the Celebration that really leaves only Death Rider and the Age of Sigmar sequel First Marshal, the follow-up to Evan Dicken's 2024 release Lioness of the Parch.

I'm not gonna say no to a deluxe edition of either, but considering we've had four Death Korps Special Editions in a row (Dead Men Walking, Krieg, Siege of Vraks, and the latest The Relentless Dead, all by Steve Lyons), I'm not as stirred by the prospect of another as I might be for something new.

Of course, I'm also expecting some complete surprises for the event as well. Either way, we'll know soon enough!

Image credit: Games Workshop

Image credit: Games Workshop

Found in Translation

Speaking of Black Library Celebrations, last week I provided a rundown of the offerings of the last few years, to help give us an idea of what we might expect. While I didn't include the foreign translations, a look at their covers did give me pause for thought. Am I the only one who's ever wondered exactly how these get translated?

I mean, it sounds like it's a pretty straightforward process, right? Plug Interceptor City into your translation software of choice and you'll end up with La Cité des Intercepteurs. Facile, non? Sure the order of words is a little different, but "The City of Interceptors" is close enough. Same thing with, say, Hell's Last in German, which becomes Die Letzten der Hölle, or "The Last of Hell."

But what do we make of Stunde der Jagdpiloten, or "Hour of the Fighter Pilots?" Perhaps Abfangjägerstadt was already taken? As someone fascinated by language and linguistics, these little areas of not-quite-alignment (or 'meaning approximation') always intrigue me, and if anyone has insight on these I'd love to hear it!

ICYMI

The Black Library Readers' Hall of Fame continues its glorious mission, walking through the entire history of the Black Library and selecting- with your help- those books that have had "cultural, historical, or aesthetic" significance to the body of stories we all know and love.

This past week we inducted two more books into the Hall, Matthew Farrer's Crossfire and the Ciaphas Cain debut, For the Emperor by Sandy Mitchell. There was much rejoicing:

Remember, you the reader get to vote on these too, so make sure to head over and cast your votes before the polls close at the end of the week!

Speaking of polls, polls closed yesterday for the Goonhammer Book Awards, the first-ever edition of what we look forward to making an annual tradition. We had seven different categories, from Best 30K/40K Book to Best Black Library Debutant- and even a Lifetime Achievement Award! Voter turnout has been immense, and it's been a real roller coaster all week as we watched the polls in action and leads change hands back and forth. We'll be announcing the winners this coming Saturday (1/31), so make sure to check that out!

Finally, for more traditional Black Library fare, we also reviewed Robbie MacNiven's excellent Vagabond Squadron. This was a marked departure from his typical Astartes-centered fare, and it allowed him to really flex a different set of writer's muscles.

Meanwhile at Warhammer Community, we had several highlights to enjoy this week.

Image credit: Games Workshop

First was an interview with Rhuairidh James, author of the upcoming Death Rider. He talks a bit about the book, which focuses on a Commissar of the Death Korps of Krieg. WARCOM has been increasing its author coverage over time, and it's great to see. This is the first full-length novel by James, who previously had written the novella Da Gobbo Rides Again as well as a few short stories.

While locked behind the subscription paywall, WarhammerTV's Scribes & Scriveners show sat down with Jude Reid (Fulgrim: The Perfect Son, Daemonbreaker). Not only that, but none other than Robert Rath (Assassinorum: Kingmaker, The Infinite and the Divine) appeared on the show Battle Report. Rath fielded a Necron army lead by none other than both Trazyn the Infinite and Orikan the Diviner in this 1,000 point showdown, taking on a host of Salamanders.

Finally, WARCOM Has started a new irregular series called Pages from the Black Books, which are curated selections of content from the classic Horus Heresy Black Books series. This week's installment covered the Thramas Crusade, with last week's highlighting the wild, wonderful Night Lords!

Around the auspex, we also had plenty of activity from other Black Library reviewers as well.

Cinderfall Gaming continued its short-form video reviews, taking a look this week at Adrian Tchaikovsky's -vwPrnbE">Starseer's Ruin as well as ">Ephrael Stern, the Heretic Saint by David Annandale. What I enjoy about these is that they review the audiobook version of the stories, talking about not only the story's content but how well the narrator conveys the tale. In the Starseer's Ruin, for instance, he spends a few moments talking about voice-actor Richard Reed's other Age of Sigmar work, as well as noting his role as Hadrael in WarhammerTV's Angels of Death.

Meanwhile, the WH40K Book Club dropped its latest review, a look at Tomb World by Jonathan D. Beer. One of the things I love about this podcast is that they waste little time in diving right in, opening each episode with the question "did we like the book?" (For Tomb World, their impressions were a bit... mixed.)

Over at Arbitor Ian's Precinct House it was Horus Heresy time, with Ian and Mira Manga diving into the oft-maligned ">Battle for the Abyss by Ben Counter as well as Dan Abnett's ">Legion.

Novels of the Lost Primarchs: A Hypothetical

One of the more fascinating tidbits of Warhammer lore involves the two "Lost Primarchs," of which next to nothing is known. Indeed, there was even a presentation in the academic Warhammer Conference in 2024 that used it as a lens to analyze the concept of 'individual incompleteness.'

As a mental exercise over on the Black Library subreddit, u/PolicyOver9613 posited an interesting question: if Games Workshop released novels for the Lost Primarchs in the same style as the rest of the books in the Primarchs series, would you buy them even if there was no actual content inside?

It's a fascinating question, one that touches upon our "fear of missing out," the desire for a "complete" collection, and the perceived value-per-dollar of our hobby spending. For me, I think I'd have to view these as a hobby purchase rather than a library one, since they aren't exactly "books" in the readable sense. That puts them in budgetary competition for things like coins, models, and other collectible or decorative items that I use to accentuate the books themselves in my Black Library Museum.

But does it mean I'd buy these? Don't get any ideas, James Workshop, but... I can't say I'd rule it out. Anyway, food for thought!

Image credit: Head Of Zeus Publishing

Quick Hits

Graham McNeill (Storm of Iron, False Gods) has co-authored Superia: Dawn of the Spirits with Alimran Abdinov. In a world made up of elemental spirits and steampunk tech, "a mercenary, a thief, an academic, a watchman, and an aristocrat’s daughter, they have lived worlds apart until now. As forgotten secrets of magic are unveiled, they find themselves at the heart of a conspiracy to return ancient spirits to the world." The book is the opening gambit in what's being billed as "transmedia" venture which will include games and- yes- NFT's. Don't' cash out your 'Bored Apes' just yet, but with McNeill at the quill it's an intriguing concept.
Grimdark Magazine has an ongoing project where they have screen actors do readings of short stories. The most recent installment had actor Al Barclay (Slow Horses, The Crown) reading The Face of the King by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Talk about chocolate meeting peanut butter!
Not enough Tchaikovsky for you? The man is on an absolute tear right now, with book four of the Tyrant Philosophers series now up for preorder. Pretenders to the Throne of God will release on 10 March, and as always while I've linked to the Amazon page I'd encourage everyone to consider ordering it through their local independent bookseller if they can!
Calling all authors! Flame Tree Publishing has an open call for short story submissions for its next anthology centered around the theme of "vampires." It will be edited by Marie O'Regan and Black Library alum Paul Kane (Triggers).
Finally, Carrie Harris (The Strength of Symbols, A Forbidden Meal) is giving away signed bookmarks featuring art from the Lady Lovely Locks YA book series from RP Teens.

Image credit: Games Workshop

Coming Attractions

Here’s a list of the known 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.

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 (or updated) this week. Books that are underlined are previously unpublished titles.

Upcoming but Undated

Death Rider, by Rhuairidh James
First Marshal, by Evan Dicken

Current PODs in Production

Era of Ruin, by various (POD Special Edition, window end 12/24)
Anarch, by Dan Abnett (POD hardcover, window end 1/12)
Blood Pact, by Dan Abnett (POD hardcover, window end 1/12)
Salvation's Reach, by Dan Abnett (POD hardcover, window end 1/12)
The Warmaster, by Dan Abnett (POD hardcover, window end 1/12)

Upcoming in 2026

Apostle, by David Annandale (hardcover, 2/14)
Death of Integrity, by Guy Haley (audio, 2/14)
Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 3/10)
The Green Tide, by various (paperback 4/7)
Carcharodons: Void Exile, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 4/7) (review)
The Ghost Legion: The Pillar of Dreams, by Mike Brooks (title translated from German) (4/7)
Carnage Unending, by various (paperback, 4/21)
Legends of the Waaagh!, by various (paperback, 5/19)
Yarrick: The Omnibus, by David Annandale (paperback, 5/19)
Horus Rising, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 6/2)
Tomb World, by Jonathan Beer (paperback, 6/30)
The Remnant Blade, by Mike Vincent (paperback, 6/30)
Voidscarred, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 6/30)
Krakenblood, by Marc Collins (paperback, 7/14)
Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 7/14)
Starseer's Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (paperback, 7/14)
Siege of Terra: Flames of Betrayal, by James Swallow (paperback, 7/28)
Archmagos, by Guy Haley (paperback, 8/11)

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