Black Library Weekly: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Image credit: Games Workshop

Ever see a TV commercial₁ as a kid that stayed with you in some form for the rest of your life? For me, that's the North Shore Animal League, who, back in the 80's, ran a slow black-and-white pan across the kennels of animals waiting to be adopted while Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is" played.

Absolutely brutal, I immediately broke down sobbing. If the aim of advertising is to make an impression, therapy bills be damned, then it was job done I guess.

I had an echo of that this past weekend. As the preorder window slammed open and all us punters stormed in to get our Special Edition copies of Archmagos and Renegades: Harrowmaster, there staring forlornly out of a kennel in the corner were the unsold copies of last week's Vagabond Squadron SE. Wanting to know what love is. Wanting you to show them.

Last week I talked about three factors that might depress demand for a deluxe edition: author, subject, or treatment. For Vagabond Squadron it appears to be some mix of the latter two (less-common faction and somewhat lackluster cover art), but could there be one more factor that may be playing a role? Could consumer fatigue have a hand in this failure to launch?

For the first three months of this year₂, if you bought every deluxe or irregular edition novel you shelled out USD $400. That's Red Tithe, Outer Dark, Fifteen Hours, Shade of Khaine, and Lucius: The Faultless Blade. About $133 a month to keep your library kitted out in style, and there were eight weeks ("breaks") where there was nothing to order.

From April through June, that figure rose by over 50%. Fulgrim- The Perfect Son, Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok, Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work, Era of Ruin₃, Void Exile, Dawn of Fire: The Silent King, and of course the first Space Wolves box set all would put you back $610, or about $203 a month. Six breaks.

July through September? Brace for impact, pal. $840- or more than double what the tally was for the first quarter. The Space Wolves: Spear of Russ Box Set, the Saints of the Imperium Box Set, the Yarrick Box Set, The Lords of Silence, Abraxia: Spear of the Everchosen, Assassinorum: Kingmaker, Voidscarred, and Tomb World. We're up to about $280 a month now. Bam! Five breaks.

And since we're still in the fourth quarter we'll have to do a little extrapolating, but here's what we know. About halfway through we're already well past the entire first quarter of 2025 with a total of $490. Krakenblood, Relentless Dead, Vagabond Squadron, Renegades: Harrowmaster, Hereticus, Archmagos, and Steel Tread. At current pace we'll end the year at just under $1000, a rate of $327 a month. And we've only had one break.

So from $133/mo. to $203/mo. to $280/mo. and ending- during the holiday season when money can be particularly tight- at $327. And remember, that's just for your deluxe releases- this doesn't include any book that didn't get a Limited, Special, or commemorative Edition printing. Did you want to grab Verminslayer or Starseer's Ruin? Death and Duty or The Remnant Blade? Those will add even more. Merry Grotmas, y'all!



How do we feel about this?

I mean in fairness nobody's forcing people to buy every book, so for now I'm going to shelve the collector perspective and just consider the business model. Is there a threshold where consumer fatigue becomes a real factor in sales impacts- or does the extreme artificial scarcity of the deluxe editions mean that it's largely inured from that kind of system shock?

Let's say that for December, the Black Library released a new 2,500-copy Special Edition for each of the eighteen Legions (obviously a bit farfetched, but this is a thought exercise). Would all 45,000 books sell out? Would the combination of ultra-collectors willing to shell out $1,350 to get the whole run combined with folks who more happily (or unhappily) picked and chose their favorites easily clear the hurdle? What impact might it have on other releases?

And ultimately, how much is too much?

Incidentally, if you think asking collectors to spend over a grand in a month for deluxe collectibles seems preposterous, allow me to remind you that earlier this year in a four-week span the Chaos Legion Codex Collector's Editions were released- each priced at $250 and containing a quarter of a medallion that would only be complete if you picked up all four.

Again for the avoidance of doubt I'm not picking up a torch and pitchfork here, but it does raise some very interesting questions about the Black Library's overall strategy and what it feels the market can absorb.

Up for Preorder

I hope that wasn't too wet-blanket. Luckily, we do have something to be excited about this week, which is the Special Edition of Andy Clark's 2021 novel Steel Tread. This is another situation like we saw with Robbie MacNiven's Void Exile, where the publication of a new sequel prompts a reissue of the preceding books. Steel Tread kicked off a terrific annual series of softcover Astra Militarum books that has included Rob Young's Longshot and Victoria Hayward's Deathworlder.

With Steel Tread rolling off the assembly lines, we should expect Demolisher, the successor, any week now.

Image credit: Games Workshop

Déjà Vu All Over Again

What a difference two decades makes, right? When we look at the Black Library titles that have had 20th Anniversary Editions published, so many of them seem like relics of another time. This past year saw the reprinting of Fifteen Hours, by Mitchel Scanlon. Our 40K History of the Black Library series just entered 2002, which featured Graham McNeill's early Ultramarines opus Nightbringer. William King's Space Wolf, itself part of a recent Limited Edition box set. All part of the Black Library's firmament.

And yet, why does Horus Rising by Dan Abnett feel so different? It's every bit as long in the tooth, ringing in its 20th anniversary in six months. Yet for many, there's an immediacy the book carries that few other titles can boast due in large part to its position as the entryway to an entire product line. I'd posit there are plenty of modern players pushing plastic Ultramarines around the table who have never read Nightbringer, but it's hard to imagine there are too many Horus Heresy players who aren't acquainted with Horus Rising.

Now consider how most modern readers break into this incredible slice of lore and worldbuilding, this massive and seminal work that has a credible case for being the single most essential book in the canon:

Image credit: Games Workshop

There it is, in all its glory. A ten dollar mass-market ("airport") paperback, book number one of fifty-four₄.

Can we be honest about two points here?

First, a fifty-four book buy-in is not a viable model for engagement. Let's face it, reading the entirety of the Heresy is like hiking the Appalachian trail. Kickass if you're one of the lucky ones who manage it, but out of reach of the demands of time for the ordinary reader.

And second, the Heresy run is largely regarded as somewhat... variable?... in quality. I don't have to agree with the underlying sentiment to see the humor in this meme recently making the rounds:



And so, as someone just a handful of mass-market paperbacks away from having a complete set of the Heresy₅, I welcome the announcement this past Friday that the Black Library will be reissuing a curated selection of the Horus Heresy in hardcover format- even if it's not really a product for me.

Now I'm a huge fan of author content in my books. Slap an exclusive author foreword or afterword next to a deluxe treatment and you'll sell me on $75 Limited Editions all year long. Alas, despite the amazing opportunity to have the authors pen a reflection on the stories that make up the twelve-volume Saga, it looks like we're just getting new hardcover editions without anything new.

And that's... okay! Not every product is intended for every consumer. Black Library vets might not see a ton of value in the Saga reissues, but every day in the BL communities newer folks are proudly sharing pictures of their starting libraries. They're posting questions like, "what are the essential Heresy reads, and where should I get started."

That's where the Saga is best positioned. As the comic book industry shows us, it's essential to continue to offer on-ramps for the newer reader for your long-running series, lest you appeal only to a slowly dwindling and unreplenishing consumer pool.

And who would want that?

 

Image credit: Games Workshop

Sharing a Six Pack With... David Guymer!

Nope, it’s not Woodchuck Cider, it’s- what else- books! In our occasional featurette for the Black Library Weekly, we bend the ear of Black Library authors to get a half-dozen book recommendations.

David Guymer's first contribution to the Black Library, 2011's The Tilean's Talisman, was a Gotrek and Felix short story that proved just a foretaste of many more to come. While he'd soon be guiding the famous slayer through novel-length adventures (most recently with this year's Verminslayer, reviewed here), he's also been the pen behind tales in the grim darkness of the far future like Angron: The Red Angel and Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First.

Currently Guymer is the staff writer and editor at Warcradle, where he toils in the word mines for games like Dystopian Wars and Armoured Clash (while freelancing for the Black Library and Creative Assembly). In between all of that he made some time to recommend some cracking reads!

Take it away, David! Three Black Library Books He’d Recommend…

Image credit: Black Library

Red Duke, by C. L. Werner

"Black Library has never had any shortage of bona fide horror writers. Josh Reynolds. David Annandale. Kim Newman, back in the day. But it’s C.L. Werner, as a fellow child of the Great Horned Rat, who has also been a not-so-secret favourite of mine. You can argue that his Black Plague trilogy is technically more accomplished and far more ambitious in scope, you could argue too that it has more rats in it, but for sheer Gothic brilliance I still rate Red Duke as his finest work.

"It really is a masterpiece of brooding atmosphere and slow-building dread. Warhammer at its darkest and, not coincidentally, its best."

Image credit: Games Workshop

The Elves, by Graham McNeill

"Is an omnibus cheating? I mean… it’s still one book, right? It’s just one book that happens to have all of Defenders of Ulthuan, Sons of Elyrion and Guardians of the Forest inside. Right? Let’s just say it is. I would never have been able to choose between them anyway, and they all excel in the same way. World-building.

"Whenever I read fantasy (and it’s the same when I write it) I’m looking to lose myself in a world. For me, there can be no meaningful plot or believable characters without a world that lives and breathes around them. Imagine Lord of the Rings set anywhere but Middle Earth. This is what Graham McNeil smashes so spectacularly with The Elves. Whether it’s Ulthuan or Athel Loren, I have never felt so immersed in the Warhammer World.

"The elves we meet are fey and strange. The landscapes are awesome and magical. You almost can taste the Winds of Magic as they blow through Saphery or Athel Loren, or hear the emerald waves crashing against the shores of Eataine. I actually read this as research for Court of the Blind King, and I can only hope that it turned out half as spellbinding."

Image credit: Games Workshop

Death of Integrity, by Guy Haley

"Guy Haley is the writer I always wished I could be. I could have picked any one of a dozen titles and absolutely sold it (and even wrote several paragraphs extolling the brilliance of Arkanaut’s Oath and then Prince Maesa before deleting them both), but it’s Death of Integrity that holds a special place in my heart.

"Guy once told me (possibly in response to me gushing to him about Death of Integrity) that he tries to get at least one piece of real science into every Warhammer 40,000 novel he writes. You may or may not be aware of this, but I trained and worked as a scientist before somehow falling into writing books about toy soldiers, so I’m all in for what is effectively hard SF draped in 40K clothing. This book makes you appreciate the vast emptiness of space in a way that few Black Library offerings even attempt to do.

"And, if that’s somehow not enough for you, there’s a scene in which a Blood Drinker, unarmed and half naked, heroically goes to fight a Genestealer in hand-to-hand combat that sends shivers down my back even thinking about it now…"

Two Non-Black Library Books He’d Recommend…

Image credit: Canelo Action

Blunted Lance, by Max Hennessy

"Have you ever read a book by an author you had not previously heard of and thought: Where have you been all my life?

"This was my experience of Blunted Lance by Max Hennessy, which tells the story of a military family from the Charge of the Light Brigade through the American Civil War and Boer War, to Flanders and the horrors of the Great War. It’s actually book 2 of a series, but honestly, I’m not sure I even realised that until I looked it up again to write about it now. It’s that good.

"I picked it up from my local library as one of the few books I could find about the use of cavalry in modern (ish) warfare. It was research for a book I had been hoping to write, but didn’t, although a lot of it did osmose into Verminslayer and its Freeguild Cavaliers.

"So it wasn’t wasted. If time with a book this good can ever be wasted."

Image credit: Gollancz

Last Argument of Kings, by Joe Abercrombie

"Book 2 of a trilogy and now Book 3? The man’s lost his mind! Bear with me though. All will be made clear.

"I’m probably not alone in finding that I read less than I would like, and far less than I used to. Watching TV is more relaxing after a day at work. Playing a computer game hits those dopamine receptors harder, and can easily occupy you for hours at a time. Reading finds itself pushed the margins of life, even for a writer. And perhaps especially for a writer, who has to look at words all day and doesn’t find looking at better ones at night especially restful.

"Last Argument of Kings was that rare book (one of the first and, if I’m honest, one of the last) where I actually found myself putting off other things in order to read. There can’t be too many people who need telling that Joe Abercrombie is one of the best fantasy writers around, but, for my own money, he’s never been as electric as here, in the closing instalment of his first trilogy."

And Finally, One of His Own Books He’d Recommend…

Image credit: Aconyte Books

Dark Avengers: The Patriot List

"Trying to decide on one book of my own to recommend was even harder than picking the preceding five. They are all special to me in some way. Even the ones that were absolute bastards to write (that’s a whole other article) tend to endear themselves more to more once they have been edited and bound and released into the wild.

"But there are those that are special and there are those that are special. And then there are those that are special, and this is definitely one of the latter. A joy to write, when writing is usually hard toil, punctuated by anxiety and doubt, a creative tonic at a time when I needed it most.

"I came to this project and Marvel after writing a series of particularly challenging books, or trying to write them, on account of also home schooling my then 7 year-old child through the Coronavirus lockdowns. It was a time that left mental scars on me that, if I’m being completely honest with you, I’m still carrying now. This novel then, coming when it did, dealing with the sorts of themes that it did, was absolute cathartic to me. Themes of mental health permeate through the characters of Norman Osborne, Venom, and the Sentry, and even the sociopathic psychiatrist turned super-villain, Moonstone. Bullseye became one of my all-time favourite characters, and made me laugh out loud even as I wrote the stuff coming out of his mouth.

"The book itself is filled with scenes that I still look back on and think, THAT’s how you write a five-way shootout culminating in a speedboat chase, or THAT’s what happens when a mortal hero with a magic sword gets punched by the God of War, or, more to the point, THAT’s how you chart the descent of an undeniably brilliant mind, undone by the complexity of its own flaws.

"If I could convince a reader to pick up just one of my books, it would be this one."

Image credit: Games Workshop

ICYMI

We had a lot going on here this past week for the Black Library, but first I want to talk about the Black Library Readers' Hall of Fame one more time. We've been over the moon at the reception and enthusiasm it's generated, and this Saturday the first set of polls closed on the kickoff round of nominees.

This Saturday all of the results will be tabulated and the winners announced. Not only that, but we'll have the next round of voting get started as well- this time for the books of 1998 and 1999!

Meanwhile, you Black Library history buffs got to enjoy the latest entry in our ongoing 40K History of the Black Library series. We dove into the first half of 2002, which boasted classics like Grey Hunter by William King, The Guns of Tanith by Dan Abnett, and Graham McNeill's Storm of Iron.

Prefer your reads to be a bit more contemporary? Don't worry, we've got you covered there too with our review of Tomb World by Jonathan D. Beer.

Around the horn, Tom of Filmdeg Miniatures had ">an in-depth interview with Chris Wraight, deep diving into the Vaults of Terra series. Jen and Keri of the WH40K Book Club got under the skin of Mike Vincent's The Remnant Blade, and Noah Van Nguyen (Elemental Council, Godeater's Son) shared the latest installment of his T'au fanfiction project.

Image credit: u/Larsator

Krakenbloopers

Krakenblood by Marc Collins was unleashed into the wild last week, and it looks like there may have been a few mishaps reported at the printing press this time around largely involving cover printing orientation.

Image credit: Kevin Ustariz

Problems will always occur and it's good to take note when the seller is willing to make it right. u/Larsator noted that Games Workshop customer service gave him several options, including a replacement copy, a partial refund if he wanted to keep the book as a curiosity or oddity₆, or even a full refund.

Image credit: u/Malzune. No, this image has not been posted upside-down.

UPDATE 11/10: u/Malzune posted the above picture in the Black Library subreddit this morning and I had to add it as I've never seen this particular error before. Krakenbloopers abound! 

We also did see another occurrence of a missing author signature/numbering page, so fingers crossed that gets corrected as well!

Image credit: IDW

Quick Hits

• Paul Kane (Triggers) has a new film book releasing this week, Short Sharp Shocks. Kane's been the talent behind a number of short horror films, and for those interested in the journey from story to script will find a lot to interest them here as he shares his behind-the-scenes experiences.
• The Black Library Nutters Facebook group has kicked off its annual charity drive. You'll have to be a member of the group to see the post, but it's a great opportunity to pick up some Black Library books with proceeds going to a good cause! After a number of folks reported difficulty getting them online, I contributed copies of the new No Peace Among Stars and Death and Duty anthologies.
• James Swallow (Nemesis, Red Fury) has a story, Here Be Dragons, in the brand-new Rivers of London slipcase graphic novel set.
• Adrian Tchaikovsky's (On the Shoulders of Giants, Starseer's Ruin) announced that the podcast he co-hosts, Starship Alexandria, will be releasing a short podcast every day for Advent regarding their favorite television series. Just the thing to listen to after enjoying the latest installment of the Black Library short story subscription!
• Mark Latham (Kovos Falls, Judgement), Jervis Johnson, and Gav Thorpe (Kill Team, Armageddon Saint) are the co-creators for the upcoming Godzilla RPG from IDW. On track for a crowdfunding campaign this March, it was just announced this week!

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

Upcoming but Undated

• Master of Rites, by Rob Young
• Demolisher, by Andy Clark (hardcover and Special)

Upcoming in 2025

• Vagabond Squadron, by Robbie MacNiven (Special Edition and hardcover, 11/15)
• Starseer's Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (hardcover, 11/15)
• Archmagos, by Guy Haley (Special Edition and hardcover, 11/22)
• Eisenhorn: Hereticus Illustrated and Annotated Edition, by Dan Abnett (hardcover, 11/22)
• Renegades: Harrowmaster, by Mike Brooks (Special Edition, 11/22)
• The Twice-Dead King: The Omnibus, by Nate Crowley (paperback, 11/22)
• The Art of Warhammer Video Games, by Andy Hall (hardcover, 11/25)
• Steel Tread, by Andy Clark (hardcover and Special)
• Ashes of the Imperium: The Scouring, by Chris Wraight (hardcover, 12/16)
• Hell’s Last, by Justin D. Hill (paperback, 12/16)
• The Rise of Nagash, by Mike Lee (paperback, 12/16)

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)
• Carnage Unending, by Dan Abnett (paperback, 4/21)

Footnotes

1. Dating myself in the opening line? That's a new PR, Kirkman.
2. Going by date of reveal in the Sunday Preview.
3. Ultimately unreleased, outside of a very few that escaped into the wild. Still, I'm including it because the point is what the Black Library business folks aim to bring to market.
4. Fifty-four books. Riiight.
5. Full disclosure, I'm reading them in order, and I've read eight of them so far. Eight.
6. Not as crazy as it sounds, I have a gloriously misprinted copy of Lord of the Night in my Museum display case which I discussed here.

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