Warhammer Wednesday: The New Chaos Defiler

I may be slightly late to the party on this one*, but I become aware that Games Workshop have released a new Defiler deamon engine for Warhammer 40,000.

Seeing this reminded me that there is a scene in my Warhammer 40K novel Iron Hands where Iron Father Gdolkin goes up against a Chaos Defiler. Iron Hands is available to buy as an eBook from Black Library, and here's an extract to give you a taster...

The wall at an angled junction ahead of them had collapsed into the defile, creating a slope of spoil and earth leading up out of the labyrinthine network of trenches. Then the Iron-Father saw a shape looming up over the crest of the trench, between the Iron Hands and the ordinatus, that made their struggle so far seem like nothing more than a combat training session.

The monstrosity rose up before Iron-Father Gdolkin and his battlebrethren like some obscene amalgam of machine and unholy warp entity, a crab-like creature in form, all pistoning claw-limbs, studded with snagging barbs and cruel spikes. Mounted upon this clanking undercarriage was a baroquely forged gun-turret tank-body in which was contained the malevolent entity whose presence leaked from the rusted war engine like acid, tainting the very air around it with vileness. The main gargoylemouthed cannon of the monstrous construct was ably supported by the reaping gun of an autocannon of archaic design. A robotic arm flexed and stretched like living steel, culminating in a mass of mechadendrite tentacles, writhing with an unnatural life of their own.

Above the thorax portion of this oil- and slime-dripping creation of Chaos, a daemonic visage, formed of rust-discoloured steel, stared down on the Space Marines, as if they were nothing more than insects, baleful witchfires burning behind its eye-slits. A ragged plague standard fluttered in the steady wind blowing over the battlefield above the trench line bearing the unmistakable insignia of the Plague God and the name of the blasphemy: Ebolus. It stung Gdolkin's remaining biological eye to look upon it and he could see glyphs of the Lord of Decay forming in the rusty scars covering the metal of the machine. Each joint was emblazoned with the eight-pointed star of the Fell Powers.

Gdolkin shivered involuntarily. The whole horrific fusion of machine and Chaos-spawned daemon drew a toxic miasma of noxious fumes with it, more polluting than the industry-ruined atmosphere of Fornax Orbis Majoris. It clung to the construct like a second skin, and made the air feel greasy. Sooty exhaust turrets coughed yet more foulness into the air from the impossible engine, pounding its pistons inside the machine beast like the beating of some daemonic metal heart.

'Ferrus be with me.' Gdolkin muttered, feeling the power source of his axe thrumming in his right hand... 

To continue reading the story, click here to buy Iron Hands from the Black Library today.

* As in about six weeks late!

Warhammer Wednesday: Best Black Library sales

Today I received my latest royalty statement from Games Workshop. It may be a while since I last wrote for Black Library but I still get a few pounds and pence in royalties each year from sales of my novels and short stories, thanks to the prevalence of eBooks.

I thought it might be interesting to share the best-selling titles, based on earnings. So, here we go...

1) Iron Hands

2) The Relic - published in the Warhammer 40,000 anthology Legends of the Space Marines.

3) But Dust in the Wind

4) Journey of the Magi

5) Paradise - published in the Necromunda anthology Uprising.

Warhammer Wednesday: Journey of the Magi

Now that Christmas is over and we are approaching Twelfth Night, it seemed like the perfect time to plug my Warhammer 40,000 short story Journey of the Magi, in which three wise men follow a star...

On an artificial world far from the light of any sun, three sorcerers of the Thousand Sons emerge from a portal. Together, this trio will face ancient horrors – but the prize that awaits them is worth any danger. Long have these three sought the Godstar, piecing together its location from scattered scraps of knowledge. The immortal guardians of the place sleep, but it is not undefended, and the children of Prospero will pay a heavy price for that which they seek as they delve deep into the ancient mysteries of the necrons. 

You can buy Journey of the Magi here, and you can read more about the story here.

Warhammer Wednesday: Tales from the Grim Darkness of the Far Future

Last week I alerted you to the old Warhammer short stories of mine that are still available to download as eBooks from the Black Library. This week it's the turn of my ever-popular Warhammer 40K tales.

All of the stories feature Space Marines of one kind or another. But Dust in the Wind has Imperial Fists facing off against Necrons, The Relic features Black Templars battling Orks, and Journey of the Magi sees Thousand Sons* versus more Necrons**.

So, if you haven't tried one of my Warhammer 40,000 stories before, why not check out one of these today?

* Yes, I know they're technically Chaos Space Marines.

** I just can't get enough of those undead robots!

Warhammer Wednesday: Inferno! Warhammer 40,000 Collection

The tech-adepts at Black Library have released a new eBundle of Warhammer 40,000 short stories, that first appeared in the pages of Inferno! 

Included in the collection is my not-at-all-festive-honest Journey of the Magi.

Three sorcerers converge on an ancient necron structure in the hopes of retrieving something of great value to all three of them. But they will find that though dormant, the necrons do not give up their treasures easily…

On an artificial world far from the light of any son, three sorcerers of the Thousand Sons emerge from a portal, Together, this trio will face ancient horrors – but the prize that awaits them is worth any danger, Long have these three sought the Godstar, piecing together its location from scattered scraps of knowledge. The immortal guardians of the place sleep, but it is not undefended, and the children of Prospero will pay a heavy price for that which they seek as they delve deep into the ancient mysteries of the necrons.

If you haven't read it already, why not download Inferno! A Warhammer 40,000 Collection today?

The 12 Days of Christmas - Day 4: Journey of the Magi

Not my most overtly Christmassy tale perhaps, but in my Warhammer 40,000 short story Journey of the Magi, three wise men follow a star...

On an artificial world far from the light of any sun, three sorcerers of the Thousand Sons emerge from a portal. Together, this trio will face ancient horrors – but the prize that awaits them is worth any danger. Long have these three sought the Godstar, piecing together its location from scattered scraps of knowledge. The immortal guardians of the place sleep, but it is not undefended, and the children of Prospero will pay a heavy price for that which they seek as they delve deep into the ancient mysteries of the necrons. 

You can buy Journey of the Magi here, and you can read more about the story here.

Warhammer Wednesday: #New40K

In case you haven't heard already, the big announcement from Games Workshop at the weekend was that a new edition* of Warhammer 40,000 is on the way. The news broke with this rather wonderful cinematic trailer.

What I personally found quite exciting about this is that the Necrons** are front and centre, which gives me the perfect excuse to plug two of my short stories that are available as digital downloads from the Black Library, seeing as how they both feature the ancient Necrontyr.

On an artificial world far from the light of any son, three sorcerers of the Thousand Sons emerge from a portal, Together, this trio will face ancient horrors – but the prize that awaits them is worth any danger, Long have these three sought the Godstar, piecing together its location from scattered scraps of knowledge. The immortal guardians of the place sleep, but it is not undefended, and the children of Prospero will pay a heavy price for that which they seek as they delve deep into the ancient mysteries of the necrons.

Investigating a distress signal from an ice-shrouded mining colony, Space Marines of the Imperial Fists find themselves outnumbered and surrounded by the soulless necrons. Facing impossible odds, the Imperial Fists struggle desperately to find a way to survive.

* The ninth!

** Or 'murder-robots' as I saw them described on the Warhammer Community website.

Warhammer Wednesday: Surviving Self-Isolation

If you are self-isolating, and a Warhammer/40K fan looking for something to read, why not download one of these eBooks?

Warhammer 40,000

          

Warhammer

     

Warhammer Wednesday: Journey of the Magi

I am delighted to be able to report that my Thousand Sons short story, Journey of the Magi, is this week's digital eShort release on BlackLibrary.com.

I love what the graphic designer has done with the cover. Very clever.

When I first submitted the outline for the story, I dreamed that it might become a Digital Monday release, but then it was commissioned for Inferno! Volume 4 instead. And yet here we are, some xx months later, and my dream has come true. Such are the twisty-turny ways of Tzeentch.

In case you don't already know what they tale is about, here's the blurb from the Black Library website:

On an artificial world far from the light of any sun, three sorcerers of the Thousand Sons emerge from a portal. Together, this trio will face ancient horrors – but the prize that awaits them is worth any danger. Long have these three sought the Godstar, piecing together its location from scattered scraps of knowledge. The immortal guardians of the place sleep, but it is not undefended, and the children of Prospero will pay a heavy price for that which they seek as they delve deep into the ancient mysteries of the necrons.

You can buy Journey of the Magi here, and you can read more about the story here.

Warhammer Wednesday: Journey of the Magi

A review of my new Warhammer 40,000 story, Journey of the Magi, appeared on Track of Words this week. In summary:

"Come for the sorcerous action, stay for the enjoyably bleak sense of satisfaction."

You can read the full review here, and you can buy Inferno! Volume 4, in which the story appears, here.

Warhammer Wednesday: Inferno! Volume 4

Inferno! Volume 4 is published tomorrow, on 31st October.

Volume 4 is the biggest yet and contains 12 tales in total, include my own Thousand Sons story, Journey of the Magi.

Warhammer Wednesday: Inferno! Volume 4

So this arrived in the post today...

I have a long history with Inferno! - I had a short story published in Issue Zero as well as pieces in Issues #1, #2 and #3, all of which came out 22 years ago, in 1997 - but this is the first time I've had a story published in its modern, paperback anthology format. And it's nice that the editors have included an introduction to both myself and my story*.

Journey of the Magi is another of my sort-of-Christmas-themed stories, but what I am most proud about is that it is my first Thousand Sons story, and yet the word 'Chaos' doesn't appear in it once. It also features one of the races I have returned to again and again over the years - the Necrons.

Inferno! Volume 4 is a hefty beast - the biggest yet - and contains 12 stories in total, which include George Mann's Inferno! debut, and a tale by Guy Haley, who contributed to the Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu anthology that I put together.

Inferno! Volume 4 goes on general release on 31st October 2019.

 Inferno! Volume 4 alongside the other anthologies I've been published in this year.

* Even if they have got the year wrong. ;-)

Warhammer Wednesday: Audio Week 2017

I received a promotional email from the Black Library on Monday that rather took me by surprise. Apparently, this week is Audio Week 2017, and the story - or rather, two stories - serialised for the occasion are Eye of Night and Hand of Darkness by m'colleague Gav Thorpe. Here's the blurb for the two stories:

Now the funny thing about these stories, and the reason for me being prompted to write this blog post, is because the Eye of Night and Hand of Darkness are two creations of mine, even if I only really came up with the names*.

From 1994-96, after leaving university, I moved to Nottingham to become a freelance writer. It was then that I started working for Games Workshop, in a freelance capacity, writing colour text and short stories for the Warhammer Armies books and Warhammer 40,000 Codexes**. During that time I contributed words to the Epic 40,000 game as well as Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves and Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves, and Codex: Tyranids, Codex: Angels of Death, and Codex: Chaos.

It was whilst writing the interlinking stories that appeared through Codex: Chaos that I came up with the aforementioned Eye of Night and Hand of Darkness. The connected tales related the invasion of the planet Purgatory by the forces of Chaos, and at the end Inquisitor Horst discovers that the Hand of Darkness has been taken from its hiding place beneath the planet's crust.

In my mind, the Eye of Night and Hand of Darkness were powerful weapons, although unspecified, and GW took those ideas and ran with them*** when they created the backstory for the game Battlefleet Gothic, placing the alien artefacts at the heart of the story, a story which Gav is clearing continuing now.

It will be interesting to see what he does with those powerful weapons of antiquity next.

* Which, let's face it, aren't that original!

** I know it should be Codicies, but GW call them Codexes.

*** And it's not the only time this has happened.

Warhammer Wednesday: Black Library eBooks

Black Library are pushing their eBooks at the moment. Although I've not written anything for BL for some time now, some of my short stories and novels are available, either individually or as part of various eBook bundles.

If you fancy downloading an Imperial Fists vs Necrons short story, or a Kislevite mercenary novel, then follow this link to the Black Library website and take it from there.

Warhammer Wednesday: Tales from the Black Crusades

Abaddon the Despoiler has returned, and the galaxy will burn…

Tales from the Black Crusades is a collection containing six novels and five short stories telling tales of Black Crusades and other battles featuring the Despoiler and his Black Legion. It's an essential collection of Chaos-tainted tales that includes my ever-popular 40K novel Iron Hands.

But you had better hurry! This is a limited time offer, so grab your eBook bundle from the Black Library today!

Warhammer Wednesday - Eye of Terror: The Chaos Space Marines Collection

One of my old Black Library Space Marine short stories, Liberator, that first appeared in Treacheries of the Space Marines, has seen the light of day again in the new Eye of Terror eBook collection.

You can download yours here, today.

Warhammer Wednesday: Mission Games Workshop - Doncaster

I was in Doncaster over the weekend for the town's first Steampunk festival. As is my wont, on the Friday afternoon, I popped into town to visit the local GW store.

Manager Ciaran was most welcoming, allowing me to take these photographs of the store's fantastic miniatures and dioramas. The Dark Talon attacking the Heldrake has to be one of my favourites and might just end up making it into a short story at some point...

Mission: Games Workshop - Bath

So, guess where three quarters of Family Green were yesterday...

 

 

That's right - the beautiful Georgian city of Bath.

While we were there, we popped into the local Games Workshop store, where we happened to meet up with Terri whom we had last met at the Cribbs Causeway store.

Terri in full-on teacher mode, inspiring the hobbyists of the future.

 

A great time was had by all, as you can see, and having perused the new Chaos Space Marines Codex at length, I now desperately want to write a story about a Mutilator.

So thanks to Terri for keeping us all amused, and to Dave Bradley for the chocolate. ;-)

Warhammer Wednesday: Mission GW - The Plaza and Covent Garden (again)

So, last Friday I was in town for this. I arrived in London a little early and so had time to pop in to both the Plaza and the Covent Garden Games Workshop stores.

The Plaza store had a fantastic Helbrute on display...

...while the Covent Garden store had an inspiring Vampire Counts display.

And while we're on the subject of Games Workshop and Space Marines, have you seen this yet?