Also. Damnit. This was supposed to be a short blog post!
Look at that stunning cover and gaze into the helmet of the Rubric Marine, witness his nothingness, his deathless state. Witness the undeniable fact that 'All is dust'.
This little booklet is a collection of 6 short stories meant to give you an idea of what GamesWorkshop and Blacklibrary publish in their fiction range. There's rather a big disparity in contents, with the collection of short stories focussing mainly on 40k fiction. The one Horus Heresy short story could've easily slotted into its 40k setting as there wasn't really much to distinctly set it apart from it. There also was only the one Old World short story to its contents, and that one a Time of Legends tale. Pretty disappointing as I'm one of those odd few who used to love the Old World more.
What can I say, Fantasy has always appealed to me more.
Distant Echoes of Old Night, HH
is written by Rob Sanders, whose writing in Redemption Corps and Atlas Infernal I found very hard to come to grips with and as it was there so it is here. Despite that, both were very viscerally satisfying, and Czevak is a very memorable character, mostly exactly due to Sanders' writing.
It's a typically bad-ass 40k story though and I believe it's better than most but as usual, Rob sanders' writing made it hard for me to enjoy this (A damn ludicrous claim I know) But it simply takes way too much effort to understand and visualize what is being described on the page, something that should be plain pulp. I'm giving way too much attention to something that, frankly, doesn't bear going into in this detail, as it's not even that big of a deal. But I notice it, and mentioning it here makes it clear that something, somewhere is pretty wrong. I'd like to say that it was a mistake setting at the front of the collection, both because of some required experience particularly with chaos marines and because of the difficulty of Sanders' writing, but that might again be because of my particular reading experience. It bears repeating here that English is not my native language. I'm good at it and prefer to read in English but sometimes with a particular writing style, due to unfamiliar composition or uncommon wording, I can still struggle.
That being said, it's been a long while since I had read any Black Library fiction and I must say:
It's good to be back.
Also I mentioned that this story fits into the 40k setting just as well as the Horus Heresy setting but there are of course many details that manage to set it apart. Specifically the use of Chaplains in the Death Guard, which were pretty much done away with after the Heresy in the fallen legions at large, except of course in the Word Bearers.
We follow Death Guard Chaplain Murnau on his descent to a despoiled agri-moon to root out what remains of a company of Iron Fist Space Marines, whose ship has crashed on the moon's surface which the Death' guard's arsenal has managed to turn from a verdant agri-forest into hideously toxic marshes and rotting sludge.
The title references chemical and radiation based weaponry, remnants from the age of chaos that preceded the birth of Imperium, which Astartes in the great Crusade, as a generally honourable sort, wouldn't have used. Of course, for the newly-turned renegade Death Guard chapter, those who will eventually revere the Blight-God Nurgle, using these weapons without compunction before their eventual fall into that god's dominion, manages to strike a darkly ironic tone.
Extinction, 40k
By Aaron Dembski Bowden; one of my favourite writers.
A simply perfect story.
Beautifully written with every part working in perfect economy to give a clear depiction of what's on display while at the same time giving a maximum amount of details with a minimum word count.
Flows easily and majestically and works well enough on its own but was actually designed as a teaser for Aaron's Black Legion series, of which 2 books are out now.
The short story is a collection of viewpoints from Sons of Horus marines that are under assault from every quarter, from every fallen space marine legion, for the crime of leading them into damnation during the Horus Heresy. Murdered where they stand or hunted down like dogs, their violent ends give a glimpse of the monumental rage and hate that is directed at them by their once brother legions.
The short story opens with a quote.
Legions die by betrayal.
They die in fire and futility.
Above all, they die in shame.
They die in fire and futility.
Above all, they die in shame.
And this quote comes into its own as viewpoint after viewpoint comes to its inevitable end. Horrifically brutalised and battered but laughing and raging at their killers all the same, in a desperate effort to hide the pain and shame of their primarch's failure and how that failure has ripped apart the once-proud legion that he once commanded. They are taken to account for his failure and they silently but not without violence, own up to it, because they can do nothing else. The opposing force that is brought to bear is too strong, the foe's numbers too high and the once numerous Sons of Horus will never rise again.
Meanwhile, Ezekyle Abaddon walks the worlds in the Eye of Chaos and gazes impassively at the dying legion, being driven to extinction by those who were once their allies. No longer a Son of Horus himself, his eyes are fixed on the secrets of the worlds that are stranded in the realm of Chaos. Driven by hatred and curiosity, he walks on.
The Master of Mourkain
By Josh Reynolds, a writer I'm not familiar with, though I did once read a short story by him. I also purchased his Fabius Bile Primogenitor edition, which is just flat-out glorious, If someone wants to see some pics, just ask and I'll gladly show. Trust me, it's really worth it.
The Master of Mourkain is a good little warhammer tale of the Time of Legends series.
Time of Legends is the to go to for the storylines dealing with the world-defining events in the Warhammer fantasy universe, such as the forging of Empire by Sigmar, the sundering of the Elves into Dark Elves and High Elves, The war of the Beard, etc. but The Master of Mourkain is set somewhere in the massive storyline of the undead and the vampires: The Rise of high necromancer Nagash and the Blood of Nagash storyline, which was cancelled.
Cancelled due to poor sales apparently. But what do you expect if you're gonna switch formats between novels? Some people might not care about formats but I'm guessing the ones who actually buy paperbacks would, I know I do. Might as well wait for the omnibus at that point.
The Rise of Nagash trilogy is one of my absolute favourites by the way.
Anyway, Master of Mourkain is pretty typical of the Old World.
Dark creatures hide in the shadows, away from the light of man, preying on the good folk of the Empire. This one follows a vampire who's been listening to something in a necromantic ziggurat at the heart of a city, something that has been sending him whispers of encouragement all this time, urging him on to take power and to turn the world into a paradise for the undead, if only he would come and claim it.
As you can guess, it won't play out as expected.
As with the best stories in Warhammer Fantasy, there's the sense of a mysterious and threatening world beyond the confines of what is depicted in the story. It's the feeling you get from reading a good sword and sorcery story. Adventure around every corner and dark monsters in the shadows, humanity living among the echoes of a forgotten, ruined past and deadly secrets and so on.
Pleasant little tale. I might pick up some more Warhammer Fantasy in a while.
For now I'd like to take a moment of silence for the Old World, dead now, murdered by corporate greed, divvied up and cast adrift into chaos, to be brought up again for whenever the time is opportune. Because nostalgia always sells.
Fuck you, Games Workshop.
The Blessing of Iron, 40k
By Anthony Reynolds. This is a space marine tale following an Iron Hands marine named Dolmech who is on a penal world to put down a prisoner uprising. We follow him as he singles out a worker for an unknown purpose. A worker that might be hunted by another party as well.
Mystery, intrigue and death in the shadows. Quite a lot of fun but because of my familiarity with the nightmare universe of 40k the ending was always a foregone conclusion.
The Memory of Flesh, 40k
By Matthew Farrer. This story actually fits neatly with The Blessing of Iron.
The writing style's a bit different and this fits too given the Iron Hands nature and how further down the path towards technologising himself Brother-Sergeant Dolmech has gone. These beings are not human anymore, and the writing felt suitably alien to me.
By the way: The only story in this collection actually about fighting aliens.
I liked how well the two stories work together. A darkly poetic full circle, too.
Perihelion,40k
The last tale is an Inquisition story by Dan Abnett.
Here, in the saga of Gregor Eisenhorn and Inquisitor Ravenor we are at the point after the events in the Ravenor Trilogy where these once allies and friends have come to meet each other again. The now radical Eisenhorn is labelled Diabolus threat Extremis and designated agent of Chaos and as such is actively hunted by the inquisition that he was once a part of.
Now, the title's 'perihelion' is the closest point of orbit of a celestial body around the whatever its orbital focus is around, generally this is a star. Here, Gregor is the celestial body orbiting the once vibrant star of his once close friend, the point of his focus, Gideon Ravenor.
The backdrop to the story is an inquisitorial symposium determined to curate an ancient library that's on the edge of being divided amongst several recipients.
In 40k just as anywhere else (smirk), old libraries have a tendency to attract dangerous esoteric lore and the gathering of inquisitors and their retinues have come to give their judgement.
But soon a bloodbath unfolds.
Abnett leaves you guessing as to who's who as the story unfolds, a restrained filtering in of information and backstory serving to keep the attention where he wants it. An excellent magician performing his tricks.
The story is a reminder that Abnett at his best, really is still one of the best. I'm hard-pressed to label Bowden or Abnett as the best writer in Black Library's stable. Their styles are different, but both are masters at what they do. With Abnett there's usually a remove though, a tendency to have a dampened emotional connection with the story. There's, after all, a reason Gregor's face is paralyzed or that the world of Tanith, is dead and gone. In the hostile universe of 40k emotional attachement is dangerous and we can only ever show the grim outside. The soldiers of Tanith are grim because of their loss, and their trauma is locked tight and deep. Gregor's facial paralysis serves the same purpose.
These things accomodate that barrier, the distance to an emotional catharsis. The characters are grim and filled with purpose, but their emotional pain is only ever hinted at. Abnett shows us the outside in the moments of inner upheaval, but never the true depth of it. It's a great trick and works quite well.
Bowden on the other hand, tends to imbue his characters with emotional melancholy and introspection that hammers home their sense of loss and self-knowledge (howsoever much they might lie to themselves).
I've mentioned before that his Night Lords are the most human space marines I've ever read and though I've been out of it for a while, the statement still holds true.
Ending
So, a good little primer of what you can expect from what Games Workshop puts out there.
I enjoyed going back to an old interest of mine and it reminds me that tie-in fiction isn't something to be sniffed at. I'll likely go back and read some more of it, one of these days.
Cool! Imma read dat book
ReplyDeleteIt is very short, but it's definitely a fun little booklet.
DeleteYou won't be disappointed!