This past Saturday kicked off my local Warhammer store’s Anniversary Celebration. Each Warhammer store has one each year on the anniversary of their own founding, which means that they’re spread out across the year.
The Celebrations are mainly just another promotional opportunity for the retail outlets- no cake, no punch, just lots of goodies you could earn by spending increasing amounts of money. A faux-leather dice-rolling cup. Brushed metal dice. A double-sided playmat. A divorce, if you got too carried away.
I don’t remember what the levels were, only that to get one of everything you needed to spend USD $330 or more. In Warhammer stores, that’s frighteningly easy to do. In addition to preordering one each of the two Anniversary promotional minis, I picked up the Mandrakes Kill Team, a box of Neurogaunts for my son Declan, the Hive Secundus box for Necromunda- and The Light of the Emperor and Other Stories.
This was the item that had me and two of my children setting up camping chairs outside the store two hours before it began. “The Light of the Emperor is an extremely limited release,” my store rep had warned me. “If you’re not early, you’re late.” He was right.
Forty-five minutes after we set up, another person showed up. Then another, and another. Well before the store was ready to open, all four books were spoken for.
Achievement unlocked, target acquired.
The book itself is a fairly modest thing: five short stories, and an excerpt of The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks. About 120 pages in total. Here’s a quick look at the contents.
Starstruck, by Denny Flowers
I’m curious as to the timing on this one, since this short story was reprinted only last month in the Blood of the Imperium anthology. Originally part of Black Library Character Week in 2023, this story features Flight Commander Lucille von Shard (Outgunned, Above and Beyond) in a white-knuckle flight through a swarm of Tyranids.
The Light of the Emperor, by Darius Hinks
More Tyranid action is in store for the book’s second short starring Apothecary Biologis Vultis of the Ultramarines by Leviathan author Darius Hinks. This story debuted in White Dwarf 491 (August 2023).
The Eyeless Mask, by Liane Merciel
Another reprint from 2023’s Black Library Characters Week, this one sees the Blacktalons from author Liane Merciel’s titular novel (and WarhammerTV show) doing a bit of wetwork to take a Tzeentchian cult leader off the board.
False Dawn, by Christopher Allen
Freeguild Captain Ephrenna Brynn and her soldiers are up against an Ork menace, only to find that there’s a greater threat brewing in the city itself. Allen’s tale was originally released as part of 2023’s Black Library Dawnbringers Week, and first saw print last October in the On the Shoulders of Giants and Other Stories anthology.
Primacy, by Marc Collins
Primacy was author Marc Collins’ first go with Eidolon, the Lord Commander Primus of the Emperor’s Children. Printed in 2023 as part of the Black Library Celebration collection, Collins’ would a year later see the publication of his novel Eidolon: The Auric Hammer (which took second place in the Black Library Book of the Year voting). Here Eidolon has to navigate something every bit as lethal and treacherous as his blade: office politics.
None of these stories are new debuts, nor would this very limited release be a proper vehicle for one. If anything, I’d like to see it used to breathe a little life into any of the many ‘orphans’ in the Black Library, eShorts that have never seen a paper printing. Still, it’s a nice little collection that’s well-priced at $18, $2 less than if you were to buy all of these stories digitally.
Because of its exclusivity, The Light of the Emperor and Other Stories is seeing brisk trade on the secondary market, with copies trading hands for around $40-60. Very, very rough napkin math tells me that if there are 548 Games Workshop stores and if each only gets 4 copies, the ceiling on this is a little over 2,000- on par with a Limited Edition release.
Of course, hard to imagine only four punters in Nottingham are going to be satisfied with that, so who can say for sure. In short, it’s mainly going to be exclusive shelf candy, so if you’re keen for it better invest in a camping chair or two.
Preordering Next Week
Nothing! Lucius, the Faultless Blade gets an audiobook release, but other than that it’s another mercifully quiet week in the wake of all the recent Emperor’s Children goodness.
Reid on Fulgrim
Fair play to the Black Library for getting more author content out in front of us, particularly on the non-paywalled YouTube platform. Don’t get me wrong, Scribes & Scriveners is terrific stuff for those of us WarhammerTV subscribers, but more accessible content is always good, too.
This week Warhammer debuted a short feature we hope becomes a regular thing, the Black Library Author Interview. It’s bite-sized, less than 5 minutes long, but features Jude Reid talking about how she went about writing Fulgrim.
Not only that, but Warhammer Community posted a written interview with Reid that goes even further into some of her thoughts on writing Fulgrim and his Legion.
I truly hope this is a sign of things to come with the Black Library, as it’s a real delight to hear from the folks bringing these amazing stories to life.
Upcoming Titles Teased- auf Deutsch
Last month I posted a list of upcoming Black Library titles you could see as upcoming preorders on Amazon. A sharp-eyed poster on the Black Library Reddit similarly found some gems this week on the German site. Thank you for your service, u/TheSpiraea!
As with all such data collection, take it with a grain of Salz, err, salt. But here are the two listed, along with translations of the writeup:
Vagabonds of the Void (Paperback, August 5, 2025): In the cold darkness between the stars, the Carcharodon Astra go hunting. These Space Marines are the outcast protectors of the Imperium, merciless raiders who hunt the enemies of humanity on the fringes of the galaxy. But there are times when they must leave their isolation behind and emerge from the depths.
Such a duty now lies before Bail Sharr and the Third Company of the Carcharodons.The remote forge world of Diamantus faces a threat of apocalyptic proportions: a twisted and mutated Space Hulk, infected by the forces of Chaos and commanded by the monstrous datagnostic Voldire, a disciple of the terrible demigod Vashtorr the Arkifan. The battle-weary Carcharodons stand side by side with the Adeptus Mechanicus against their foes.
As terrors and nightmares descend around them, the Space Marines must reconsider their place in this new Empire and destroy the Hulk before Diamantus is lost.
Ferren Areios: Master of Rites (Paperback, September 9, 2025): Over a decade ago, the Imperium lost control of the Khorsari Expanse. Hidden behind warp storms on the edge of the Great Rift, their worlds were invaded by the Death Guard, their inhabitants slaughtered by the servants of the Plague God.
But these are the worlds of Ultramar, and their protectors are not far behind.
Ferren Areios, Captain of the Sixth Company of the Ultramarines, has been dispatched to reclaim the worlds of the Khorsari Expanse and free them from the corruption of the Death Guard. But as the Plague Marines entrench themselves and the body count grows, Ferren realizes the limits of his Chapter. Trapped in the realm of the Plague God, the fleet fights not only to reclaim the worlds, but also to protect Ferren’s humanity.
Note that these are listed as Paperback releases. It may be that they get a simultaneous hardback release, or even a Limited/Special Edition, none of which is typically carried on the Amazon site. Time will tell.
ICYMI
It’s been a good week for lore content here on the Goon! In case you missed it, we did a full review of the Heretic Astartes Week eShort Subscription as well as dropping the latest installment in our ongoing series chronicling the history of the Black Library from a 40K perspective.
Other content I enjoyed includes a review of the Sanctus Reach video game, a review of the latest edition of the Twilight: 2000 role-playing game, and this terrific overview of the Sanctus Reach campaign book.
Quick Hits
- Not directly Black Library related, but do yourself a favor and go watch this banger. If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times, the creativity of this fandom is extraordinary.
- David Guymer sat down with Track of Words this week to discuss Verminslayer and writing Gotrek. ToW is one of my favorite sites and every interview is a must-read!
- James Swallow (Flight of the Eisenstein, Garro: Knight of Grey) has a new Star Trek novel coming up, and according to Space.com it sounds like a cracker. Every diehard science fiction fan loves a good yarn revolving around spooky missing spaceships, derelict alien craft, and abandoned deep space vessels being discovered, and this upcoming “Strange New Worlds” novel seems to carry that satisfying DNA of Hollywood classics like “Alien” and “Event Horizon.”
- Author Nicholas Kaufmann (A Child Foretold) was kind enough to share his thoughts with us on our recent piece on Meta and AI. In his most recent newsletter, he expands on what it’s like to see your work get tossed into the “AI slop machine.” Well worth a read!
- Kim Newman, author of a number of early Warhammer stories (as “Jack Yeovil”) contributed a piece to the Arthur Conan Doyle Society, Is Doyle’s Terror Terrifying? Due to newspaper-like formatting I don’t have a direct link to the piece, but look at the right-hand column.
Writers Are Fans, Too
Finally, we’ve got some incredible painting this week from Jude Reid and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s study in yellow. I love to see how the writers of our stories are also painters of miniature, because it reveals just how much love for the worlds goes into the words we read.
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