You've heard of the Oscars and the Emmies, the Tonies and the Grammies... but what if I told you there was a prestigious and exclusive prize even better than all of those? Better, perhaps, than even hitting the "EGOT" of all four?
We here at Goonhammer have the honor to unveil the first-annual Goonhammer Book Awards- or 'the Goonies' for short!
Now before you scoff at this audacious claim, think about it... there are around 750 movies made here in the US each year. That's a
lot of actors, directors, screenwriters, production staff who (conceviably) could be eligible to win an Oscar. For the Black Library and other IP media tie-in books, however, the club is far more exclusive!
And prestigious? Sure beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but until we see an Emmy sitting in a glass case at Warhammer World then the Goonies are where it's at. Of course, with something this momentous it would be hubris indeed to do it alone, so that's where we're gonna need your help.
That's right,
you- the reading public- are the ultimate jury for picking the winners of the Goonies! In each of our seven awards categories (six for Warhammer, one non), the Goonhammer bookworms (
Lennoon,
Saffgor,
Saelfe,
lynnding-library,
Togepi, and I- all the writers who reviewed books last year) have narrowed down the field of nominees.
Polls will be open all week, then we'll be back on January 31st to announce all of our winners. And with that, on with the show!
While the Fantasy and Age of Sigmar properties tend to get only about a third of the pie in terms of new releases, there was nevertheless plenty to read for fans of the Mortal Realms this year.
Our nominees for Best Age of Sigmar Novel are...
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Abraxia, Spear of the Everchosen by Chris Thursten
Notes: As one reader put it
1, "not since a Realmgate War novel has a book done so much to involve itself in the game world, heavily nodding to all other manner of media AoS has produced." (Review
here.)
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Starseer's Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Notes: "Starseer’s Ruin stands on its own and is a terrific gateway book to the amazing property. Combine that with Tchaikovsky’s incredible character work and the delight of seeing unlikely pairs come together to tackle adversity, then throw in a terrific villain in the darkly comedic mold of classic Skaven antagonists, and you’ve got an absolute gem of a book." (Review
here.)
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Ushoran, Mortarch of Delusion by Dale Lucas
Notes: "This is a gripping story, and requires very little Age of Sigmar lore background to fully enjoy. While the release date for the standard edition hasn’t been announced yet, if the scheduling of
Leontus: Lord Solar (similarly launched first in a limited edition) is anything to go by, the tale of the Summerking will be a cracking Summer read." (Review
here.)
Image credit: Games Workshop[/caption]
Book: Ashes of the Imperium by Chris Wraight
Notes: The leadoff hitter for the new series based on the post-Heresy Scouring era, Wraight brings the excellent sense of political intrigue he displayed in the Vaults of Terra series to set up what's to come.
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Dropsite Massacre by John French
Notes: "In short? For what it is- an action story-
Dropsite Massacre is a masterpiece. I don’t use that word lightly, but it’s clear that French understood the magnitude of the assignment that had been handed him and harnessed the peak of his powers." (Review
here.)
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Krakenblood by Marc Collins
Notes: "
Krakenblood is a standout book, one whose tale is outshined only by its telling. I had two great impressions in reading this book... the first one [being the quality of the writing, and the second being that] I have read few books that so respire with the soul of their Legion or Chapter than this one." (Review
here.)
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Tomb World by Jonathan Beer
Notes: "
Tomb World is a very good book- and with a bit more editing it could well have been a
great one. Even still, it’s terrific fun and a serious contender for my Book of the Year. Beer is quickly becoming one of the more dynamic talents in the Black Library as he refines his craft from book to book." (Review
here.)
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Vagabond Squadron by Robbie MacNiven
Notes: MacNiven's in his element when writing enigmatic and esoteric Space Marine Chapters, like the Exorcists in Oaths of Damnation or the Carcharodon trilogy. Here he changes tack with a superb war story featuring the Navy and Imperial Guard. It's both more grounded (ha!) and richer in emotional depth.
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Voidscarred by Mike Brooks
Notes: Romance? In
my Warhammer? It's more likely than you think- especially if you're diving into Brooks' swashbuckling tale of Aeldari Corsairs up against a pack of Ork Freebooterz.
Image credit: Games Workshop[/caption]
Book: Ashes of the Imperium by Chris Wraight
Notes: Production issues notwithstanding with the cover medallion, the first-ever "Premium Edition" wasn't numbered or autographed but did contain plenty of lush treatment like a foil-embossed leatherette cover, ribbon bookmark, and additional illustrations throughout.
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Fulgrim, The Perfect Son by Jude Reid
Notes: "One of the nicest things about this design,"
I wrote at the time, "wasn’t something that translated well in photographs- its satin finish. The book is absolutely sumptuous in person with a rich magenta hue, and the 'it’s nicer than I expected' comments rang through the Black Library community on Reddit."
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Krakenblood by Marc Collins
Notes: Like
Fulgrim, the official Games Workshop pictures of this one didn't do it justice. "I’m not even a Space Wolves guy,"
I wrote, "but I’ll be making space for this one soon in the display cases of the Black Library Museum."
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: The Lords of Silence, The Illustrated and Annotated Edition by Chris Wraight
Notes: The Illustrated and Annotated Edition series may have started with Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn trilogy, but they made a terrific choice in expanding the range to include this one. It's a great bridge product between casual reading and deluxe edition collection (discussed in our review
here), filled with additional author commentary and illustrations throughout.
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Saints of the Imperium: The Box Set by David Annandale, Andy Clark, and Danie Ware
Notes: 2025 was a banner year for Box Sets, with Annandale's Yarrick joining two of the Space Wolves and
Saints of the Imperium. While all look terrific on shelf,
Saints paid particular homage to its subject with gorgeous red, screen-printed covers of their individual subjects along with ribbon bookmarks and a slipcover case.
Image credit: Games Workshop
Book: Trollslayer, the Mega Limited Edition by William King
Notes: Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it! We'd gone most of the year without a sign of a Mega Limited Edition release, only to have Gotrek come in off the top rope. Metal coins, leatherette coasters and axe-shapred bookmark- and that's all before we even look at the stunning treatment of the book.
Image credit: Andi Ewington[/caption]
Andi Ewington. Andi made his debut with this year's Red Gobbo novella,
Da Red Gobbo's Last Stand (reviewed
here).
Image credit: Avalon Irons
Avalon Irons. Avalon had stories placed in two different eShort weeks this past year. The Iron Warriors story
The Only Way is Through appeared in April's Heretic Astartes Week (review
here), while
Imperfect Engines was my 'best in show' for May's Cult Mechanicus Week (review
here). The latter was also printed in November's
No Peace Among Stars anthology.
Tom R. Pike. Tom's
Worm of Valhalla was a new story contained in this year's
Death and Duty anthology, while
Dream of the Locust debuted in Cult Mechanicus Week before seeing print in
No Peace Among Stars.
Image credit: Games Workshop
Mike Vincent. Mike made his entry into the Black Library with 2024's
The Vengeful Dead, a Red Talons short story for Space Marine Successors Week. He'd pen two more before landing his first novel,
The Remnant Blade (reviewed
here).
Image credit: Games Workshop
R S Wilt. Like Mike Vincent, Wilt worked his way through to a debut novel in 2025 after a succession of short stories, starting with 2022's
The Pharisene Paradox for Black Library Horror Week. Also like Vincent, he seems a bit camera-shy. All the same, he was the most recent author in the Astra Militarum series with
Final Deployment (reviewed
here).
Image credit: Russell Zimmerman
Russell Zimmerman. Russell's Death Guard tale
Seven Ships was my "best in show" for Heretic Astartes Week, and
Resounding was included in the
Death and Duty anthology.
The Black Library has been built over the years by the love, passion, and craft of an amazing number of extraordinary talents. This is, after all, a universe that rang in its fiftieth year and is going stronger than ever.
All of these gentlemen have made huge contributions to the worlds we love, but only one can be our inaugural Lifetime Achievement AWard winner!
Dan Abnett. Dan is one of the Black Library's most storied talents, with his Eisenhorn trilogy and Gaunt's Ghosts series being the point of entry for many readers over the years. And as evidenced by
Interceptor City's third-place Black Library Book of the Year placing this year, he's still wielding a wicked pen.
Aaron Dembski-Bowden. Aaron's Night Lords trilogy is another enduring fan-favorite, considered by many to be at the pinnacle of the Black Library. From
Helsreach to
Black Legion and beyond, Aaron has crafted stories with tremendous depth and an uncommon soulfulness.
William King. It's extraordinary how much of the early Black Library took its form at the tip of King's quill. On the 40K side his Space Wolves trilogy was an early, formative classic while the Gotrek & Felix series gave Warhammer Fantasy fiction so much of its flavor.
Graham McNeill. Graham's steady efforts at pushing out the margins of the property still resonate today.
Storm of Iron and his Uriel Ventris series gave a fuller definition to Astartes on both sides of the divide, and the tragedy of
Fulgrim is considered essential Heresy reading for those newly approaching the series.
Chris Wraight. Chris has given shape and form to the very Imperium itself. His Vaults of Terra and Watchers of the Throne series expanded the universe's political dimension, and the choice to have him kick off the new Scouring series with
Ashes of the Imperium was no accident.
Image credit: Titan Books[/caption]
Book: Alien: Perfect Organisms by Shaun Hamill
Notes: The theme of artist as observer is explored in grim detail by Hamill here as he talls a tale of artistic obsession running into brutal lethality in this book set in the Aliens universe.
Image credit: Random House
Book: The Fallbacks: Dealing with Dragons, by Jaleigh Johnson
Notes: Set in the Forgotten Realms world of Dungeons & Dragons, New York Times bestseller Johnson's rag-tag gaggle of misfits have conquered dungeons- but can they do the same with dragons?
Image credit: Catalyst Game Labs
Book: Outfoxed by Bryan Young
Notes: "I can give a full-throated recommendation of this book... there is a metric ton to love here. Great character work, tense action sequences, serious stakes, and all of it calibrated to be easy inspiration for the tabletop gaming we enjoy." (
From our review by lynnding-library).
Image credit: Aconyte Books
Book: Thunder's Edge: Echoes of Memory by Sarah Cawkwell
Notes: "From the almost-innocent robotic titan ‘Junior’ to the techno-mercantilist Izt, the irrepressible Suffi An to the more stoic Connor, and the crew of the FSS Orlando, Cawkwell’s story was enjoyable but it was the players who stole the show. There’s a lot of heart in this book." (Review
here.)
Image credit: Catalyst Game Labs
Book: Violent Inception by Russell Zimmerman
Notes: This novella was serialized across four issues of
Shrapnel, the Battletech fiction magazine. Spanning the Succession Wars to the Clan Invasion, Zimmerman pens an epic saga that began in 2024 and concluded just this past year.
[poll id="83"]
And that's it! Thanks for joining us for this exciting event and casting your votes. We're excited to see who will win and will be back in two weeks to announce our winners. Best of luck to all!
Footnotes
- Zufos Fatebreaker on Bluesky, who provided an excellent counterweight to my more new-reader take.
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