Silver Nails is the last book in the Vampire Genevieve series, at least publication-wise, as it collects all the short stories that Newman wrote during his stay in the Warhammer universe. Despite being part of the Genevieve series two of these actually don't have Genevieve in them as a protagonist. However, both of these excursions; The Ignorant Armies and The Warhawk, feature characters that will meet or have met Genevieve in other adventures.
There are various possible reading orders but I'll keep that for the next post. The short stories, in the order as they are presented here, follow the in-universe chronology, so it's a serviceable order to read them in any case.
Red Thirst
Glinka Claes' Moral Crusade sweeps the land.
Gambling, whoring, swearing and other vices are outlawed, and every transgression is severely punished with iron rod and articles of faith. Under the cover of law and night "sinners" are press-ganged into slavery for their crimes and transported west in convoys.
The mercenary Vukotich finds himself among them, but as soon as the opportunity presents itself he'll find a way to escape into the wilds together with the young girl that is shackled to him. But little does he know that the frail thing only has the appearance of a girl, and that it harbours dark secrets, and an even darker thirst.
If man and monster are to stay ahead of their pursuers they'll have to find a way to work together, and put aside their mistrust and fear. And when they, over the course of their escape, uncover an evil plot to lay the empire of man low, what then will they do? Monster and man, would they both be served by stopping this evil design, or would one of them rather work it in hand?
Yeah, it's a bit of a massive info dump but I couldn't really help myself. Newman usually puts a lot of different elements in even the slightest of short stories, and you can't really (or shouldn't) sum these up in a few sentences. I could've just said that Vukotich and Genevieve escape enslavement and, over the course of their escape uncover a plot to lay the empire low, and distrustful as Vukotich is of Genevieve, can he allow himself to work together with a Vampire, a creature best served by the fall of man, but... I think that would lessen the mood somewhat, don't you think?
Either way, something rather interesting is that the villain here is a Cathayan (I think), who showcases a strange and different magic system than you'd usually find in the Old World, but that does have its roots in Chaos. It hardly works hand in hand together with the Warhammer World, since Cathay was quickly rendered off-limits to the authors and sculptors at GW, but then the Genevieve novels do stand apart of them somewhat, anyway.
Red thirst is a decent short story, though it misses a lot of the heart that usually can be found in the Genevieve canon. There's little to no actual horror here, but as these stories tie in to Drachenfels, there's no real objections from me when you lump it under Warhammer Horror regardless. I'm a completionist above all things, anyway.
Chronologically this is the first story in the Genevieve timeline, but in my opinion it should be read only after you've read The Ignorant Armies one, as that one stands more or less alone, but is tied firmly to this one by the Vukotich character, who is hugely relevant there. He's of course relevant here as well but there are elements in this one that'll be more clear and more emotionally rewarding if you've read IG first. Red Thirst also has some neat foreshadowing to the Detlef/Genevieve relation in Drachenfels.
The Ignorant Armies
To the north of the Empire, in the forests of Kislev, a young man silently reminisces on the events that led him and his retainer in pursuit of the warlord who razed his family's mansion to the ground, who murdered his family and kidnapped his younger brother, Wolf.
Relinquishing his hereditary title and the claim on his lands, Johann has been giving chase to the warlord's forces, in a desperate bid to save his brother, or, if Wolf is beyond saving, to take vengeance on the monster who upset the course of all their lives.
And now the hunt draws to a close, and soon Johann, Vukotich, and the warlord will meet on the plains where champions clash and lead their ignorant armies in never-ending war for the bloodthirsty joy of the Chaos Gods.
The Ignorant Armies was Newman's first Warhammer story, and it doesn't even focus on Genevieve at all, instead focusing on Johann and the mercenary Vukotich, the last of whom will also appear in the Red Thirst short story, which takes place about 30 years earlier.
Wolf will also have a small cameo in the Drachenfels story. Which means that this one takes place after Red Thirst and before Drachenfels proper. We'll follow Wolf and Johann around in Beasts in Velvet too. So much for how this one ties in to the rest.
The story itself is very, very good. Newman, as usual, sets out his pieces quickly and seeds his ideas and story-tools well in advance, without giving too much away beforehand.
Now, if this was a modern Warhammer story, the conclusion would be a foregone one: 10 years is a long time to be in the thrall of the servants of Chaos. See, for instance, Dan Abnett's classic Warhammer story, Riders of the Dead... or, really, any later Warhammer tale with characters captured by Chaos forces.... or... ooh, like Dark Apostle; an insanely dark and brooding Chaos tale in the 40k setting, also has a large part of its run-time dedicated to one such character. But as it is, the conclusion to this story is rather surprising.
Looking back one can see the neat foreshadowing, that is nonetheless quite invisible the first time. The highpoint of the narrative, the scene itself, is a glorious but dark miracle. And as usual, Newman is excellent in his delivery, adding force to something that, in a less skilled writer, might've come off as silly or blatantly contrived. I think this is my favourite one in here.
The horror is adequate, though the intriguing strangeness of the scenes, the central idea and the setting easily drowns out allegiance to horror this story might have.
No Gold in The Grey Mountains
A small band of criminals have taken up residence in the ill-rumoured castle Drachenfels and have been using its ruined grounds to stage their robbing of the nearby road.
When a travelling coach arrives, expected to be bearing a load of taxed gold from a nearby mine they find instead of the promised gold a little girl, rich, by dress and manner. Turning a bad situation into a good one they take the girl with them with the idea of selling her back to her family for ransom.
But when they arrive in their walled lair they find that something old and hungry is in there with them, stalking in the shadows.
This one takes place somewhere in the years between the vanquishing of Constant Drachenfels by Genevieve and Oswald in the Drachenfels prologue and the main story of Drachenfels. It follows the Lady Melissa, who will harbour Genevieve in the cloister in Drachenfels proper and will have a starring role in the Ibby the Fish Factor.
It's another very good story that is very much enmeshed in horror, and that could stand apart from reading the Genevieve series quite well.
The reading pace is fast and quite interesting as a lot of details get effortlessly squirreled away in every sentence, forming a rich layer to the story. It has wholly believable and interesting characters and twist and turns to the tune of an exciting narrative.
Ieuw, I hate it when I write like this. I find it appalling. But that doesn't make my assessment of the story any less true though.
The Warhawk
The streets of Altdorf are unquiet once again, as another Pattern-Killer stalks its streets, or rather, haunts its skies. With a body count of seven and rising, The Warhawk is Altdorf's most profligate killer since the Beast's reign of terror, and the corpses haven't even finished piling up.
Rosanna Ophuls joins Harald Kleindeinst on the case, but the killer has been expecting this and is about to incorporate both investigators in his diabolical plans.
As the 'another' should indicate, this one takes place after Beasts in Velvet, and features Harald Kleindeinst and Rosanna Ophuls. It's sadly the last story to follow them around and doesn't tie much into the rest of the Genevieve-storyline. Its ending is also a bit abrupt and though not completely unsatisfactory, one can't help wishing there was just a little bit more to tie it all off a little better.
But. Holy damn, there's a big surprise in here: a damn cross-over with Gotrek and Felix. With Gotrek having an actual speaking role, and with Felix, looking on worriedly from the sidelines, having a quiet flirt with Rosanna.
Gotrek actually shows up to give Harald some information on the Warhawk killer's antecedents. This doesn't feel forced either, although I do wonder if this can be constituted as canonical still, since Gotrek and Felix's Journey is such an extensive one, and has been chronicled in detail. Man... I really wish there could be a complete and definitive collection that puts everything in perfect order.
Anyway, the story itself treads the line between silly and grotesque, with the nastiness of the actual killings themselves easily swaying one to place it on the side of horror. It's also a lot of fun to read about the two investigators again and a few off-hand comments might also clue you in on at least one of the last open threads left dangling at the end of Beasts in Velvet. It wasn't really necessary to do this as Beasts still stands on its own after The Warhawk concludes, but I'm glad for the information nonetheless.
The Ibby the Fish Factor
Genevieve Dieudonné has returned to Altdorf, but though it's only been little under 2 decades since she'd been declared a hero of the Empire, humans have short lifespans and even shorter memories, and where once she'd been welcomed with cheers and shouts of joy, now there is only violence and the promise of true death for the Undead. For a new faction has popped up, and this time Vampirekind is being targeted directly.
Ibrahim Fleuchtweig, also known as Ibby the Fish, warchief of the Fish gang, has allegedly been murdered by a vampire, and Antiochus Bland, head of the Anti-Vampire movement has ideas on how to use the murder for his own ends.
Meanwhile, Detlef Sierck, aging but still quite genius, and writer of pieces of theatre, sonnets and other assorted writings, is about to come face to face with his Undying Lady once more, as she has came to him for help.
Because there is assassination attempt afoot, and if the plot against Vampirekind is to be thwarted, Detlef and Genevieve will have to be the ones to stop it.
The very last of all of Newman's stories in the Warhammer setting, both in the internal chronology and publication-wise, Newman wrote it because he wanted to give Genevieve and Detlef a happy ending. It's an enjoyable tale, though maybe a little flighty. The horror this time is nonexistent, but who really cares? If you're still reading these stories you're not just solely here for the horror, and you've probably come to care for these characters. If so, this one will be a fun one to read. There's love, action and death, all the ingredients needed for a page-turner.
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