Black Library Weekly: I am Not a Number, I am a Free Man

Image credit: Games Workshop

Like an 'election surprise,' voters went to the polls this Saturday with some rather bombshell information about Chris Wraight's Ashes of the Imperium. On Friday, the Black Library announced on their Facebook page that the 'Premium Edition' copies going up for sale would be unsigned and unnumbered, and that if they sold through the initial run they'd look to do another at some point "in the future."

Last week I talked about some of the recent moves from Games Workshop showing that they're at least trying to get a handle on some of the collector frustrations with the Black Library's deluxe offerings. These included:

Increased transparency- being more open with concerns about scalpers and bots, as well as measures implemented to counter them
Increased security- a Captcha on the webstore to help thwart bots
Increased vigilance- canceling suspicious orders and returning the inventory to stock for others to order
Increased supply- Ashes of the Imperium had looked like it was going to be limited to 3,500 copies- a thousand more than expected.

Well, it looks like that increased supply may end up being even greater than we'd anticipated, especially if there's a future print run. Reports from Black Library online communities made it clear that this was one of the easiest deluxe editions in awhile, particularly in contrast with the Siege of Terra books.

From the outside looking in it's difficult to pinpoint a specific cause. Could the demand be the same but the supply been increased? Could the supply have remained the same but demand tanked (possibly due to scalpers reading the writing on the wall)? Could consumer fatigue be playing a part, coming in the midst of an incredibly demanding fourth quarter for the collector? Some combination, perhaps?

Without the data that Games Workshop has, all we can do is speculate. But however you slice it, having copies available for the readers and collectors who want them is a good thing., right?

Of course, there's always a trade-off.

Image credit: Games Workshop

Sacrifices Must be Made

In this case, the unshackling of Ashes of the Imperium's strict rationing came from the excising of the limitation page from the book. That means no limited numbering, no author's autograph. In effect, Ashes of the Imperium is something of a hybrid book, an 'unlimited limited' edition.

In this it's in good company. I've talked about Wraight's The Lords of Silence being reissued this year in the Illustrated and Annotated Edition (review), and how I've felt that was terrific 'starter book' for new collectors wanting to enjoy the fun of building their library up as it offers a very nice treatment at an attractive price point. While the Premium Edition of Ashes of the Imperium was USD $5 more than most deluxe editions are priced at ($80 instead of $75), its greater availability means more collectors will have the opportunity to secure one.

While there's some variation (Age of Sigmar collectors, for instance, tend to have an easier go of things than 40K and Horus Heresy), consider how daunting the whole buying experience has historically been. Us veterans of the long war have endured window after window opening and closing within the blink of an eye, having to set alarms and reminders and structure our lives around being available at a specific time week after week.

Now imagine a novice. Would this experience leave them more likely or less likely to commit to collecting Black Library books as a hobby, do you think?

The longevity and lifeblood of any hobby is in no small part determined by its ability to acquire new participants to replace (and surpass) its level of attrition- those people, for any number of reasons, who are exiting the hobby. If you look at recent Black Library offerings through that lens, it paints a fairly exciting picture:

Affordable 'deluxe editions' of The Lords of Silence and Dan Abnett's Hereticus in the Illustrated and Annotated Edition product line
The announcement of a hardcover reprinting of twelve essential books of the entire Horus Heresy in the 'Horus Heresy Saga'
An upmarket- but more broadly available- 'Premium Edition' kicking off the next Horus Heresy-tied story line, The Scouring, with Wraight's Ashes of the Imperium

I mean, taking that all into account does it not look like the Black Library might be expanding their outreach to newer fans? It certainly does to me.

Image credit: Disney

The Truth is Out There

But there's reasons to think this was adaptive and not intentional. I'll pause here to give everyone a moment to get their tinfoil hats ready, because we're about to do a little Fox Muldering on all this.

Once again I'm dating myself with my pop culture references (no cap), but fans of the X-Files will remember scenes involving an entire government warehouse full of things that weren't supposed to officially exist.

If Games Workshop has a version of that, I have to imagine that somewhere in there is a box that contains 3,499 sequentially-numbered limitation pages, each signed by Chris Wraight.

Why 3,499 and not 3,500? That's because it appears that one deluxe copy of Ashes of the Imperium somehow escaped into the wild, where on 03 October it sold on eBay for £125 (approximately USD $163). I covered this interesting development in my column that week, and it's only become more interesting in light of recent developments. One of the photos shared in that listing is the image on the left:

On the right? A signed, limited edition of Wraight's Brotherhood of the Storm novella from 2012 for signature comparison_1,2.

So you tell me:

Was Ashes of the Imperium always intended to be a numberless, autograph-less 'Premium Edition?'
Did Games Workshop decide to "de-limit" Ashes of the Imperium and take a hobby knife to the limitation pages? Perhaps in response to the 'leak'?
Is there a box with 3,499 excised limitation pages somewhere in Games Workshop's, X-Files-style warehouse?
Or maybe is there 3,499 signed, numbered Ashes of the Imperium copies in that X-Files warehouse, and this is a new print run (since the limitation pages were already bound in the older books)?

Dating myself with cultural references to the X-Files? Hold my beer...

Up for Preorder

With the availability this coming Saturday of Andy Clark's Demolisher, the last of the previously-announced new Black Library book titles will be released into the wild. That's it and that's all, the pipeline has run dry. With the usual slowdown around the holidays the next big reveal of new and upcoming books is likely to be the Black Library celebration coming in February.

Demolisher, the new sequel to 2021's Steel Tread, is being released in a Special Edition that's essentially a palette swap with the recently-available Steel Tread Special Edition. For a premium product with a premium pricetag, I can't help but feel that this seems a bit... uninspired?

I'm usually in favor of recycling, but...

In an alternate universe Games Workshop released Steel Tread with the back end of the Leman Russ tank on the cover and kept the Demolisher one the same, so when you staged them side-by-side you got to see the complete tank.

The Jay of that universe would be not only be making space in his Black Library Museum to stage the books in a display cabinet, but he'd be opening his wallet for $70 more to buy and build a Russ model to go with it. Then he'd be hopping in his private jet and flying to Toronto to enjoy game from his private suite in Scotiabank Arena, cheering on the Leafs as they steamrolled their way to hoisting their first Cup since '67.

But alas, I live in this universe, not that one. My Leafs aren't winning shit this year, and both of these Special Editions will instead stock the library, spine-facing, in the "Clark, Andy" section.

More's the pity.

And if Warhammer Fantasy is more your thing, the Black Library is continuing to release earlier content under their The Old World branding. The latest issue is the Rise of Nagash omnibus by Mike Lee. Collecting the original Nagash trilogy from 2008-11 (Nagash the Sorcerer, Nagash the Unbroken, and Nagash Immortal), it also contains the short story Picking the Bones from 2012.

Image credit: Games Workshop

Sharing a Six-Pack With... Danie Ware!

This year saw Danie Ware back in circulation in the Black Library as her novel The Triumph of St. Katherine was reprinted in the Saints of the Imperium Box Set this past September. Not only that, but her short story The Devouring Void- originally part of the Tyranid Invasion eShorts Week in 2023- was brought to paper in the Darkness Eternal anthology (review).

I asked Danie to share six of her book recommendations, and she certainly delivered!

Three Black Library Books She’d Recommend…

Image credit: Games Workshop

Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work, by Guy Haley. "Have a huge affection for the Archmagos, and this is truly a cornerstone work. Take Aliens and explode the plot to deification levels. Throw in science, quantum physics and a bit of old school magick, set it to a soundtrack of gunfire and humming servo-motors, then weave it through with Cawl himself, from his earliest beginnings, to his chuckling arrogance, to his masterwork. Truly a character of legend, and done full justice!"

Image credit: Games Workshop

Day of Ascension by Adrian Tchaikovsky. "What do you get when a Clarke winner writes a Warhammer book? You get a whole new perspective, a seamlessly threaded narrative, and a completely different cadence to the prose. Faultlessly done, offering all the empathy for the rising xenos, and leaving little for the masters of the holy Forge World. A very smooth and easy read, and as flawlessly executed as you’d expect₃."

Image credit: Games Workshop

Requiem Infernal, by Peter Fehervari. "Imagine Warhammer crossed with The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and you’ll get the idea. This is a subtle and mesmerising smoke, a dream all twisted together, hint and dance, darkness and horror. From very human viewpoints, it shows the true depth and insidious terrors of the Enemy, while raising fascinating questions of faith, so often presented as an absolute."

Two Non-Black Library Books She’d Recommend…

Image credit: Knopf

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. "Absolutely beautiful book, very precise, very human, very insightful, and very gentle. A book about the magic of little things, how tiny moments and touches can spin into something so important, how the smallest of objects

becomes precious. A book about how things interconnect, how a word can carry across miles and generations, something as simple as the name of a dog. And a book about youth and age and memories, how moments become so important when they're gone for ever. Also takes on a whole new cadence after a genuine pandemic, and facing the end of the world."

Image credit: Bloomsbury

Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke. "One of my favourite books of all time. Beautiful, dreamlike, melancholy and utterly compelling. The setting is so powerful you can live and feel it, the lead character so gentle, sincere and innocent that you find yourself both loving and wanting to defend him. And the narrative backstory unfolds so flawlessly that it carries you like the tides."

And Finally, One of Her Own Books She’d Recommend…

"Outside of 40K, I have recent a self-pub called Lugan Vision Quest, which is the ultimate realisation of an image/story that wouldn’t leave me alone. Take a tough (if somewhat creaky), fifty-something biker, and throw him through a drug-trip/portal into a maddened, derelict fantasy world. Team him up with a priest of the Elemental Dark, a lad who thinks he’s Chosen, and a very old enemy, then stand back and watch the fun. What could possibly go wrong?

"Within the Warhammer canon, I’m best known for Sister Superior Augusta, and her intrepid squad. Tasked with a picking a fave from their ongoing narrative, I opted for the one story that’s told from the xenos PoV. It's Da Big Mouf, where we see the Sisters through the eyes of Space Hulk dwelling orks, specifically Grimdak (no pun). He’s da smart ork, da loota wiv da shoota, and he was HUGE fun.

"While writing, I dug out an old marching song (something I wrote for my Orc and Goblin army, back in Norwich and more than twenty-five years ago), and added it to the narrative as a deliberate dark/crude refection of the Sisters’ combat-hymnals. Funny how these youthful things can come back and bite you in the bolter!"

Image credit: Jay Kirkman

A Sticker Situation

It's the Black Library equivalent to a scratch-off lottery ticket. When an order for a new deluxe edition book arrives, you crack open the shipping box and pull out the shipping paper. Nestled inside is a second box, one that contains whatever Limited or Special Edition book you've ordered wrapped in colored tissue paper bound at the front with a sticker whose design is unique to that release.

And stuck to that second box? A post-it note demoting the book's number.

Oh sure, you don't need the post-it note. After all, once you extract your book from its creche you can see your number just fine on the limitation page. To be sure, not all numbers are created equal. Perhaps there's an amusement at landing book #0666. Wayne Gretzky (or Nena) fans will be well chuffed at scoring #0099, while Misfits fans will be delighted to open up #0138.

Giggled a bit when you scored book #0420? You know who you are. Maybe you're a Glasgow Celtic fan and #1888 is a little slice of paradise, or alternately a Glasgow Rangers fan excited to see a number that corresponds with the number of Premiership titles you've won since your club's founding in 2012 (#0001). The possibilities are endless!

Over the last few months, I've noticed that the post-it note stickering has been inconsistent. Some books have had them, others not. A ping of the Black Library community seems to have shown mixed results, but it really came to a head for me this weekend when I picked up my order from my local Warhammer store:

Voila! One box had the post-it note, the other did not. Not only that, but while it's not evident from that photo unless you expand it, the boxes were of different sizes with the box for Archmagos (with post-it) being a full half-inch longer than the one for Harrowmaster (no post-it). The books? They're the same size.

The variance suggests differences in packaging, perhaps at different facilities or at different times. The difference in post-it note presence also suggests variance in either time, place, or degree of QA.

I'm not drawing any conclusions here- I'm happy to have simply gotten my books- but the difference is interesting for those who enjoy scrutinizing such things.

Image credit: Games Workshop

ICYMI

It was a double-feature of book reviews this week as we covered John French's masterful Dropsite Massacre and Da Red Gobbo's Last Stand by Black Library newcomer Andi Ewington.

Meanwhile on Warhammer Community, there was another of their short-segment author interviews, this one with Chris Wraight. Not only that, but there was also a fast fiction piece as part of the Heroes of the First Founding series, A Curbing of Excess, featuring Ferren Areios.

Around the horn this week, Mira Manga ">shared an in-depth chat about Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor's Legion by Chris Wraight, but with Arbiter Ian they've also done a ">Book Club review of Helsreach by Aaron Dembski-Bowden!

Meanwhile, Jen and Keri of the WH40K Book Club are right out of the gate with their review of the new Space Wolves novel by Marc Collins, Krakenblood.

This Week's Pickups

One of the things our community of Black Library collectors enjoys doing is sharing what the warp has brought to their doorstep. It's been a fruitful week for continuing to build my library, so I thought I'd share.

It was a fruitful harvest this week as I not only picked up the two new Special Editions mentioned above, but also a small collection of hardcover books that were offered at half of the cover price.

Image credit: Jay Kirkman

Image credit: Jay Kirkman

As much as I appreciate the deluxe edition books, it's hard to deny that there's something magical too about the standard-edition hardcover, and finding them at that price made this acquisition a no-brainer. My Age of Sigmar library has come a long way since my first read (Gary Kloster's Skaventide), but has a long way to go. Deals like this one do a lot of work.

Image credit: Creative Assembly

Quick Hits

'Hidden treasure' stories are always exciting to me when they come from non-GW sources. For example, if you preorder the Collector's Edition of Dark Heresy from Owlcat Games you'll get a new Night Lords novella from Aaron Dembski-Bowden. Well, looks like David Guymer (The Last Son of Dorn, Realmslayer) has penned a short story for Creative Assembly's Total War: Warhammer III. All you need to do is log into Creative Assembly (you can do this using any number of gaming platforms, such as Steam, or create a new account) and Six Sacrifices is yours! Those who have been yearning for more Old World fiction should run, not walk to grab this one.
If Dropsite Massacre wasn't enough John French for you, make sure to check out Candles of Opening, a new short that just went out in his newsletter. It's part of his Letters from an Unknown Land series, comprised of snippets of in-world diary entries and missives, and I'd imagine will be uploaded to his site before long.
And for a double dose of Danie Ware, she's penned a piece on how we can use manga and comics to help engender a love of reading in kids. She's got a raft of recommendations here too for the young (and young at heart) of all ages, from Captain Underpants to Lumberjanes, Artemis Fowl to Blue Lock. "In short," she writes, "let your kids decide. Guide them, of course, but remember that comics are reading, manga is reading, old genre books are reading, audiobooks are reading₄. So if your kid (or anyone else) wants to read the thing, just let them."
Graham McNeill's (Storm of Iron, Heldenhammer) latest project- an original graphic novel of Vikings and demons, is approaching the halfway mark for its Kickstarter campaign. It's around 20% funded, so make sure to check it out!
I've referred to Tim Waggoner (Skin Man) as 'the hardest working man in horror,' because every time I turn around he's got something else coming out. This week he's announced that he's got a short story included in the upcoming Creepshow anthology from Monstrous Books. I loved the original Creepshow movie in particular as a kid- "The Crate" in particular was absolutely terrifying- so this looks like a lot of fun.

Image credit: DK Books

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

Upcoming but Undated

(None)

Upcoming in 2025

The Art of Warhammer Video Games, by Andy Hall (hardcover, 11/25)
Steel Tread, by Andy Clark (Special Edition, 11/29)
Steel Tread, by Andy Clark (hardcover, 12/6)
Master of Rites, by Rob Young (hardcover and Special, 12/6)
Ashes of the Imperium: The Scouring, by Chris Wraight (hardcover, 12/6)
Hell’s Last, by Justin D. Hill (paperback, 12/6)
Demolisher, by Andy Clark (hardcover and Special, 12/13)
The Rise of Nagash, by Mike Lee (paperback, 12/13)

Upcoming in 2026

Farsight: Blade of Truth, by Phil Kelly (paperback, 1/27)
Fulgrim: The Perfect Son, by Jude Reid (paperback, 1/27) (review)
Siege of Terra: The Shattered and the Soulless, by Graham McNeill (paperback, 1/27)
Vaults of Terra: The Omnibus, by Chris Wraight (paperback, 1/27)
Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 3/10)
Carcharodons: Void Exile, by Robbie MacNiven (paperback, 3/10) (review)
The Green Tide, by Mike Brooks, Nate Crowley, and Justin Woolley (paperback 3/24)
The Ghost Legion: The Pillar of Dreams, by Mike Brooks (title translated from German) (4/7)
Carnage Unending, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 4/21)

Footnotes

0. If upon seeing the title of this week's column your mind immediately went to, I'm on the run, I kill to eat then we're a part of the same tribe.

I don't consider myself a 'journalist,' but I do feel an obligation to at least try to be responsible with what I present here.
Can we talk about that print run of 5,764? In 2012?? With handwritten numbering???
Longtime readers will remember that last week, Victoria Hayward (Deathworlder, The Feast of St. Luthera) chose this book in her Six Pack as well. Great minds think alike, and all that...
This last point is surprisingly controversial. I'll confess to having been something of a 'page purist' myself before I started exploring audiobooks, and my position has greatly softened as my appreciation of the medium has grown.
It's not cheap, but I already ordered mine awhile back so I've no use for the promo code that came out for Warhammer+ subscribers. As an Easter egg to the first interested reader considering going for it, code OWLRXNi5 will give you 25% off!

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.

Tags: 40k | Warhammer 40k | black library | warhammer fantasy | books