Warhammer Wednesday: Empire at War

Empire at War is the latest Warhammer Chronicles omnibus to be published by the Black Library.

Here's the blurb from the back cover:

The Empire is the largest and most powerful realm in the Old World. Founded by the warrior-god Sigmar, it is built up of city-states and provinces that are now bound together under the rule of the Emperor Karl Franz. Only through the actions of its valiant heroes has it repelled the numerous invasions brought against it. And in the far north stands Kislev, one of the Empire’s staunchest allies and the first bastion against the rampaging Chaos hordes beyond…

This omnibus edition collects together three tales of heroism and sacrifice focusing on the dour but courageous Winged Lancers of Kislev, the doughty rank and file of the Imperial halberdiers and the pious warrior-priests of the Sigmarite faith. Also included are an array of short stories focusing on the many fighters of the Empire.

As well as featuring novels by Dan Abnett, Nick Kyme and Darius Hinks, Empire at War also includes a reprint of a short story of my own featuring the Kislevite mercenaries known as Badenov's Band, who were the stars of my first published novel The Dead and the Damned.

Warhammer Wednesday: Inferno! classic reprints

Black Library have released the next batch of classic Inferno! reprints. Each issue is a facsimile of the original magazine, available to print on demand for two weeks only, and you can purchase them as a single collection that will get you issues 26-35!

The period covered by this collection just happens to be the time when I was at my most prolific, in terms of making contributions to Inferno! magazine. Of these ten classic issues, six contain short stories or comic strips by Yours Truly, and they are...

Inferno! #26 - Firestarter! – Necromunda short story

Inferno! #27 - The Nagenhof Bell – Warhammer short story

Inferno! #28 - The Executioner’s Tale – Warhammer comic strip

Inferno! #29 - Bad Medicine – Necromunda short story

Inferno! #32 - The Miner’s Tale – Warhammer comic strip

Inferno! #34 - Mark of the Beast – Warhammer short story


To order the collection of ten issues*, or just the edited highlights, follow this link.

* These issues are available to order until 6:00pm GMT on Saturday 18th July 2020.

Warhammer Wednesday: Old Inferno! Reprints

The Black Library are offering reprints of some of the original Inferno! magazines, which some of my short stories first appeared in.

On offer this time around are issues 16-25, but if you want to order one you'd better hurry - they're only available for the next two weeks.

The stories of mine, from the turn of the millennium, that you'll find in the issues are one Badenov's Band tale, called The Plague Pit, and a pair of Nathan Creed Necromunda stories - Mama's Boys and Boyz in the Hive.

And don't forget, as reported last week, Inferno! Volume 4 is published at the end of the month, and includes a brand new Warhammer 40,000 story by me called Journey of the Magi.

Short Story Saturday: Wonderland

I was delighted to receive my contributor copies of Wonderland today, an anthology of short stories inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

When editors Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane invited me to contribute something to the anthology they told me that they were looking for stories set within the Wonderland universe, so, of course, I pitched them a story set in a quasi-medieval universe, inspired by the poem Jabberwocky. Fortunately they loved it, as did Titan, and so The Hunting of the Jabberwock seventh story of nineteen in the book.

Wonderland, the anthology, with another Alice-inspired book in the background.

The funny thing is, the pitch was a re-working of a synopsis I first sent to the Black Library that was rejected 19 years ago. It was originally supposed to feature the Kislevite mercenary Torben Badenov and his band*, which just goes to show that a good idea is never wasted.

The Hunting of the Jabberwock is a much better story with the Warhammer elements removed, and I am very pleased with how it's turned out. It is also in good company, as the anthology includes brand new stories by the likes of M. R. Carey, Alison Littlewood, James Lovegrove, George Mann, Lilith Saintcrow, Cavan Scott, Robert Shearman, and Rio Youers.

Wonderland is published by Titan Books on 17th September, and I believe there will be a mass signing at this year's FantasyCon in Glasgow, although I won't be there.

Are you ready to go back down the rabbit-hole... again?

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!"

* Does anyone remember the Jabberwock featured in the original WFRP bestiary?

Tie-in Tuesday: Inferno! is back!

In the June of 1997, issue #210 of White Dwarf magazine was published and contained within was a strange pull-out called Inferno! "Issue Zero". It was a teaser for a forthcoming bi-monthly short story magazine, being put out by a new branch of Games Workshop, the Black Library. One of the stories contained within the taster copy of Inferno! was The Hounds of Winter, by Your Truly.

Skip forward 21 years and Inferno! is coming back this week, in the form of a short story anthology, and to celebrate Black Library are making the early issues of the original Inferno! available again through their Print on Demand service. Which means that you can get your hands on hard-to-get-hold-of short stories of mine, including the ever-popular Salvation - a story of Ultramarines, Tyranids and humanity that appeared in Inferno! #1 - and the first ever Nathan Creed Necromunda story Bad Spirits, which appeared in issue #3, not to mention the Kislevite mercenaries versus vampires slug-fest that is Dark Heart, in issue #5.

To find out more, simply follow this link. But don't hang around - this offer is only available for one month!

And in case you're wondering, I wrote a total of 13 short stories for the original incarnation of Inferno! - five Torben Badenov stories, five Nathan Creed stories, two Space Marines stories, and one Warhammer fire wizard story - along with various comic strips and other pieces.

Warhammer Wednesday: The Magos

I must admit, I am slightly confused as to why Black Library is celebrating 20 years since its founding this year, in 2018, when its 20th anniversary was actually last year*. But no matter the reason, on Saturday 24th February, Games Workshop and Warhammer stores around the world will be holding a celebration of all things Black Library.

As well as being a celebration of 20 years(?) of fantastic adrenaline-fuelled fiction from the worlds of Warhammer, the brand new Inquisitor Eisenhorn novel, The Magos is being released on 24th February 2018. Games Workshop and Warhammer stores will have a host of special merchandise to commemorate this special occasion, including an exclusive resin Citadel miniature of Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn, based on the classic Clint Langley** artwork depicting the Inquisitor in his younger days.

I hope to be able to drop into the London Warhammer store on the day but I have another commitment on the 24th February, but more about that later.

In other news, this week is National Storytelling Week. I'm trying to tell a new story of my own at the moment, but it's proving a little tricky to fit in around everything else I have to do. But there's a deadline looming and that's usually all the motivation you need.

* And I should know, seeing as how the first piece of fiction published by the Black Library was my Warhammer short story, the Badenov's Band tale The Hounds of Winter.

** Clint Langley produced the cover art for my very first novel, the Badenov's Band adventure The Dead and the Damned.

Warhammer Wednesday: Dark Heart

Here's one from the archives (a.k.a. my old blog Unnatural History) but strangely pertinent, given my current project...

Having created the Kislevite mercenary Torben Badenov and his hard-bitten band of mercenaries for the story ‘The Hounds of Winter’ I decided that there could be some mileage in the characters, and so set about pitching further ideas to the editors of ‘Inferno!’ magazine.

The next to be taken up was ‘Dark Heart’ (although I originally proposed it as ‘Red Sky in the East’, which no-one really got), my first attempt at some vampire fiction. In the story, Torben and his friends have to prevent the resurrection of an evil vampire lord and meet a new companion along the way.

For this story I employed a conceit which I thought worked rather well. Throughout the tale (which is otherwise told in the third person past tense) I inserted brief passages of first person present tense text. These helped form one of the twists of the tale.

I also tied ‘Dark Heart’ to the first Badenov story in terms of how the two tales began. ‘The Hounds of Winter’ begins: ‘Running. He had to keep running.’ And ‘Dark Heart’ starts off with the line: ‘The wolves are running again.’

‘Dark Heart’ later formed one of the chapters of my first novel ‘The Dead and the Damned’ (as did ‘The Hounds of Winter’) but was re-written in the process, which saw the first person present tense passages changed into the third person past tense like everything else, and reduced their effectiveness considerably.

I always planned for one of the characters from the story, the Countess Isolde, to return in a later Badenov novel which, as yet, is still unwritten (and unlikely to be). However, she has lived again since (as it were) in my most recent Fighting Fantasy gamebook ‘Howl of the Werewolf’, just as the reading public has yet to hear the last of another popular creation of mine, Nathan Creed. (But more on that one another time...)

‘Dark Heart’ first saw print in Issue #5 of ‘Inferno!’ and was then re-printed in the anthology ‘Realm of Chaos’ (2000), as well as appearing in a slightly altered form in ‘The Dead and the Damned’ (2002).

Little did I know it at the time, but after the publication of ‘Dark Heart’ I was to enter my own long dark teatime of the soul, with nothing else of mine appearing in ‘Inferno!’ for over two years. In that time I remained in print with various magazine articles and the like being published, but, for the time being at least, there was a prolonged hiatus in my fiction writing. Fortunately, this uncreative time in my life came to an end when another Badenov story saw print in ‘Inferno!’ Issue #20. (But more about that another time too...)

S is for Simon Davis

Simon Davis will be known to regular readers of 2000AD for his work on strips like Sinister Dexter, Damnation Station and Ampney Crucis Investigates. However, he is also an award-winning portrait painter.

What you may not know is that he provided an illustration for my Badenov's Band short story Mark of the Beast. Simon’s unique style certainly proved a fitting and dynamic choice for the man-versus-beast image, and I only hope that one day the opportunity arises to work with him again. So, on with the interview...

1. How did you start out as a professional artist?

I trained in graphic design and worked as a general illustrator for design companies after leaving college.

2. What was it that gave you your big break and led to what you are doing now?

My first big break in comics was writing to Simon Bisley via 2000AD and receiving great advice and encouragement from him. It took a while for me to be of a standard to be 'publish-able' but thankfully David Bishop gave me a Dark Judges strip to do in 2000AD. I think that must have been the early '90s.

3. What is your preferred method of working? Which medium suits your style best?

I use gouache (an opaque water-based paint) for comics and oil for portrait painting.

4. You have created and illustrated all manner of famous comic book characters. Which are your favourites?

I loved my time doing Sinister Dexter as I feel that was the first time I really got into my stride with an on-going title. It was great to work with Dan too. I really love working with Ian Edginton too and Ampney Crucis is a character I'm really enjoying. It was born out of my love of 'golden age' crime fiction and Ian's got a fantastically generous way of working so if I want to include something in the story, usually he can incorporate it in some way... it's just basically great fun!

5. How does working for 2000AD compare to working for Black Library?

Both are similar in the fact that it's easy-going and great fun. Working in mainly Black and White for Warhammer was a nice change and a good discipline.

6. What is the appeal of working creatively within the Warhammer setting?

It was great because as a student I used to play Warhammer 40k quite a bit so it was great to be able to come full circle and work for Games Workshop.

7. How did you set about illustrating The Mark of the Beast for Inferno! magazine?

It was an illustration I really enjoyed doing... having a figure in the foreground, the beast behind and then the burning effigy behind proved to be a challenging composition.

8. Of which piece of work are you most proud?

Some of my Crucis covers for 2000AD I think worked quite well.

9. Is there anything you haven’t illustrated that you would still like to?

Maybe an Orc story... or something to do with Hellboy!

10. What are you working on at the moment?

I'm concentrating on portrait painting at the moment, a few covers for 2000AD and then more Ampney Crucis.

Thanks to Simon for taking the time to answer my questions. You can find out more about his work (and achievements) here.

My short stories #2: The Hounds of Winter

Here's one from the archives (a.k.a. my old blog Unnatural History) presented here to mark Black Library's 15th birthday this week...

Having written a short science fiction story for Issue #1 of the brand new ‘Inferno!’ magazine, published by the fledgling Black Library, the editors asked me to pitch them a fantasy Warhammer tale. It was for the promotional Issue Zero, which was to appear inside an upcoming copy of the Games Workshop hobby magazine White Dwarf. The pitch was taken up and ‘The Hounds of Winter’ ended up seeing print before ‘Salvation’.

It was something of a ghost story (inspired, amazingly enough, by the title of a song from the album ‘Mercury Falling’ by Sting) with the Kislevite mercenary Torben Badenov and his band re-enacting an ancient battle against the forces of Chaos. It was later re-printed in the anthology ‘Realm of Chaos’ (2000).

When I was writing the story, I considered it to be a one off. It’s amazing, when I think about it now, but at the time I didn’t think about the future prospects of the characters I’d created. As it turned out, Badenov and his band were to appear in ‘Inferno!’ magazine on a further four occasions and were the stars of my first full-blown novel.

But more about that another time...

Warhammer brought to (e)Book

More and more out of print Black Library novels and short story collections are now becoming available thanks to the miracle of eBooks. My first novel, The Dead and the Damned, is already available but the latest Warhammer eBook release is Way of the Dead.

Way of the Dead was first published in 2003 and features my own short story Mark of the Beast, which in turn features Badenov's Band, who are the heroes (or at least protagonists) of The Dead and the Damned.

If you've enjoyed The Dead and the Damned, and you'd like to read another Badenov's Band story without buying the rest of the collection, you can buy Mark of the Beast by itself here.