“Sabbat Worlds Anthology”, edited by Dan Abnett (Black Library)

Short Stories set in and around the Gaunt’s Ghosts systems

Across the Sabbat Worlds, a bitter conflict is fought, a conflict that can only end in victory or annihilation. The innumerable forces of the Arch enemy attack without mercy, and planet after planet burns with the flames of war.

Yet even amidst this nightmare, the Imperial Guard stand stoic against their foes. The Phantine Air Corps battle the enemies of mankind across burning skies, while the Gereon resistance tries to break the foothold of Chaos on their beleaguered world and the legendary Gaunt’s Ghosts fight in the most violent and bloody of warzones.

Edited by Gaunt’s Ghosts creator (and frequent Horus Heresy author) Dan Abnett, this anthology “opens the gateway to the Sabbat Worlds”, featuring eight brand new stories from some of the Black Library’s best-known authors including Abnett himself, New York Times best-selling author Graham McNeill, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Sandy Mitchell, Nik Vincent, Matt Farrer and Nick Kyme. Each short story is preceded by a short intro by Abnett, which locates the stories in both the worlds he’s created and also the timeline of the military campaigns set in the Sabbat Worlds (a handy addition for anyone who, like myself, sometimes forgets salient details of novels released in the mid-1990s).

As with previous anthology reviews, I’ll deal with each story individually, then sum-up at the end. I’ll try to avoid as many spoilers as possible.

“Apostle’s Creed”, by Graham McNeill

Life with the Apostles – hard flying aces, they are tough, detached and extremely aloof. The distance they create between themselves and other fliers is not only arrogance, it is also through necessity, as Larice discovers in this tale.

Larice is still getting to know the ways of her new unit, trying to fit into the squadron’s habits and ways, despite it being a squadron that doesn’t want people to fit in with it.

Great writing, as can be expected from McNeill, but I’m still not sold on long aerial dogfight scenes (which were a serious weakness in the Star Wars: New Jedi Order series). I did, however, really liked this, which made me wonder why I didn’t love Double Eagle when I read it all those years ago...

It’s a story about the effect war has on the idealistic, how loss can manifest itself in many forms. And, of course, dogfights.

Mr McNeill has a surprising fondness for the word “viffing”…

“The Headstone and the Hammerstone Kings”, by Matthew Farrer

A story set in the aftermath of an invasion, on a planet that is no longer on the frontlines. Delicate and controversial clean-up operations concerning the enemy’s “woe machines” (nasty contraptions with innumerable ways of killing and maiming the unwary and enemy) are underway, and the economic forces of the region want a piece of the action and are suspicious and jealous of the Mechanicum forces who have a monopoly on the salvaged tech. Meanwhile, an insurgency has its own plans for the machines.

Farrer’s latest work seems to be characterised by ambiguity – “Faces” in Fear The Alien and now this one. It’s a good style, and makes a difference from straightforward short stories, but because of the length, I sometimes wonder if being less ambiguous might be a better thing. It’s a good read, nonetheless.

“Regicide”, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

After the glowing introduction from Abnett (in which Bowden’s work is described as “pant-damaging pieces of writing awesomeness”), what follows is a truly superb story, and possibly the best in the collection.

Set twenty-five years before the Gaunt’s Ghosts timeline, Bowden takes us back to the beginning of the crusade, to first contact with the Blood Pact. The perspective is that of the Warmaster’s Argentum, his personal bodyguards. Also, it’s Warmaster Slaydo, not Macaroth as it is in Gaunt’s novels. Slaydo is brilliantly rendered, and it’s not hard at all to believe that such a general would instil such loyalty in his men.

His prose drag you on through the story, and you go willingly. Bowden’s description of events and characters is enough to paint a vivid picture without distracting from the tale being told. He also has a bit of a dark sense of humour, which is entirely welcome.

Utterly brilliant and satisfying, if this story doesn’t make you buy the author’s other work… well, I just wouldn’t believe you have good taste.

“The Iron Star”, by Dan Abnett

This is the first Gaunt’s Ghosts novella in the anthology, and it’s quite a different type of story than you might expect. Like a drug-fuelled dream sequence (if filmed, it might be in the style of The Sopranos or Max Payne), this is set in the aftermath of Only In Death, which preceded Blood Pact.

It’s a strange read, but it became clear relatively early on what was going on, and it’s well constructed and written. An original story, from an unusual perspective, it adds something very different to other Gaunt’s Ghosts stories.

“Cell”, by Nik Vincent

Resistance fighters are staging an insurgency on an Archenemy-occupied world, Reredos. Vincent gives us a glimpse into the brutal, short lives of guerrilla resistance fighters and their struggles against the occupying enemy (presented as truly repellent animals), and clandestine forces within. The insurgents are not only trying to keep their life and creed alive, but do anything to hinder the operations of the occupying forces.

It’s a great story, and the author has a gift for portraying the hostile and tense atmosphere. (Don’t want to give anything else away, so I won’t go into any more detail.)

The story has a lot in common with Traitor General, which covers a lot of the same insurgency-themes and an ill-equipped force’s struggles against an occupying force.

“Blueblood”, by Nick Kyme

This story takes the Imperial Guard Volpone 50th “Bluebloods” and brings them front and centre. A long-standing, bitter rivalry has existed between the Bluebloods and Ghosts since their first appearance in Ghostmaker.

Regara, the regimental leader of the Bluebloods at the centre of this story, is an arrogant, quite obnoxious bastard. It makes for a refreshing change in perspective to be rooting for a regiment that are arrogant in the extreme.

His distaste for his assignment, his non-Volpone colleagues, his location, everything (shared by his subordinates) is palpable. This is a man with high standards and a very high opinion of himself. Nonetheless, the garrison is slowly going crazy: guardsmen suddenly turning on their comrades, and the Bluebloods take it upon themselves to solve the mystery and put a stop to the madness. They are led to discover a cunning and unexpected plot, one that could hold dire consequences for the Sabbat Crusades as a whole.

Kyme realises the world and characters deftly on the page, and his prose draw you on through the story. The Volpone are aristocratic, but anything but foppish. They have a cold, viscious streak that breeds results but also resentment.

It’s a very good story, with a great ending and a great sense of the characters he’s created – one thinks the events of the story might in some way change the regiment’s outlook, but if it does it is only minutely.

“A Good Man”, by Sandy Mitchell

Sandy Mitchell writes a WH40k series – the Ciaphas Cain novels – that many perhaps think would not appeal, let alone belong in the universe. Mitchell’s novels are written with a subversive humour at its core, and I eagerly wanted to see what he would do in this setting. While “A Good Man” is not as overtly funny as the Cain novels, it has a charm all its own.

The story is set on Verghast, in the aftermath of events chronicled in Necropolis, the third Ghosts novel. A munitorum scribe, Linder, has been sent to Verghast to help restore the place to working order. He is set the task of sifting through and organising and repairing reams of paperwork that have been backed up, damaged, lost, misfiled, and so on. It takes a special mind to do this without going nuts, and Linder is exactly the right person – he is fussy, slightly prissy, and fastidious in his work. A friend has gone missing, however, and he is drawn into the Arbites investigation, complete with some surprising and – for a scribe – unconscionable accusations.

All the great elements of a classic noir crime thriller are here – a dame, a hard-working cop, a betrayal, and a tricky case to crack. Mitchell’s done a great job of writing a story with a different feel for the WH40k universe, and has once again shown us the broad scope of his considerable writing talent.

“Of Their Lives in the Ruins of their Cities”, by Dan Abnett

This is the entirely new Gaunt’s Ghosts novella. As Abnett’s introduction suggests, this is a pretty special story, and one that can easily be spoiled by too much description.

Needless to say, Abnett keeps getting better with each new Ghosts story. Blood Pact is one of my favourite books from 2009, and this story – set early on the Tanith First & Only’s history, is written to the same, very high standard. I can’t wait for the next Ghosts novel, and this has only made me more eager to find out what happens next. Equally, the story’s made me want to re-start the series over again (it’s over a decade, after all, since I last read the first few novels).

This is an excellent sci-fi short, with expertly portrayed action, excellent characters (admittedly benefiting from familiarity), and a great premise. Abnett’s writing is brilliant, of course, with a real eye for detail, pacing, characterisation, and atmosphere.

Superb.

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Overall, this is a great collection of short stories, in a setting that many fans of Warhammer 40,000 fiction will be familiar with. To see how some of the Black Library’s best authors have approached the worlds, units and characters created by Abnett is both interesting and entertaining, adding another layer to an already intricate and well-realised universe. Dan should be both proud of his overall creation, and also pleased that he’s influenced so many writers.

I’m not as keen on short stories as I used to be. I’ve become far more enamoured by full-length novels – the chance to sink into a narrative, get to know the characters… it appeals to me (something I’ve exactly not kept hidden, considering this blog…). Short stories always seem insufficient and sometimes incomplete. Black Library shorts, however, still hold considerable interest for me. Not only are they of top quality, but they remind me of the Inferno! years, when I would eagerly await the latest bimonthly collection of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000-related fiction (indeed, I think I may still have my favourite issue lying about, somewhere). This was before the first Gaunt’s Ghosts or Gotrek & Felix novel was published, but it fired my interest in fantasy and science fiction at the time, and I’ve retained a strong fondness for the settings ever since. It was in Inferno! that I first stumbled across Gaunt’s Ghosts, and I’ve been an ardent follower of Abnett’s ever since. To get two more shorts in this anthology was great, and also nostalgic.

The other work in here is also excellent, and should certainly appeal to all fans of the series. I think we know that many people will get this for Abnett’s two contributions, but there is so much in here to interest fans of the WH40k universe. If you give these authors and their stories a chance, you will not be disappointed and, if it makes you seek out other novels by the authors herein, then it will have fulfilled a great purpose.

Not perfect, but still highly recommended, The Sabbat Worlds anthology will help tide you over until the next Gaunt’s Ghosts novel is released, as well as expand your image and understanding of the setting Abnett has created – a setting that has been hugely influential to all authors currently writing fiction set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Long may he continue to inspire others, and long may some of his comrades in this collection continue to entertain humble sci-fi fans the world over.

“Blood Pact”, by Dan Abnett (Black Library)

With the paperback release of Abnett’s Blood Pact coming up in the not-to-distant future (October 2010), I thought I’d re-post my earlier review of the hardback, with just a couple of tweaks, in case you missed it the first time. Almost a year on from reading, I still think fondly of the book, which is certainly among not only the best in the series, but also one of my favourite sci-fi novels, ever. I can still remember most of it and how much I enjoyed reading it. Abnett is, without doubt, the Black Library’s best author – his writing is as good as, if not better than, most other science fiction published today, and I can’t recommend his work highly enough.

(A small warning: there are a couple of minor references to earlier volumes in the series, so if you’re afraid of spoilers, then you might not want to read this too carefully.)

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Far from the front, trouble comes for the resting Tanith First & Only

Pulled back from the front line, the men of the Tanith First await news of their next deployment. But when an enemy prisoner is brought in for interrogation, Gaunt is drawn into a murderous web of intrigue.

Who can be trusted, and what exactly does the prisoner know that makes him so valuable? The fate of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade rests upon the answers, and Gaunt must find them out before he is eliminated.

Kicking their heels on Balhaut, far from the warfront, the Tanith First & Only are awaiting their next deployment. After the bloody events of Only In Death, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt is recovering well, and getting used to his new augmetics. While he finds himself slipping with ease into the calmer life far removed from the battlefront, the same cannot be said for his men: experts at the conduct of war, unequalled in their given specialty (infiltration, scouting, and being generally sneaky), it turns out they don’t do well as a garrison force. As Commissars Hark and Ludd (Gaunt’s junior officers) discover, the more time spent with nothing-in-particular to do only makes restless Guardsmen go crazy, pushing the envelope and boundaries of what is allowed and acceptable behaviour from Imperial forces.

All is going moderately well until Gaunt is called in by Section (the HQ of the Commissariat on Balhaut) to take part in the interrogation of a high-level prisoner. As events escalate to violence, Gaunt must navigate through the web of intrigue (on both sides of the conflict) to discover what is so valuable about the prisoner’s knowledge. Without knowing who can be trusted, he has to rely on his wits and a small core of the Ghosts to survive and get to the bottom of things. The legacy of the Gereon campaign (the subject of Traitor General and The Armour of Contempt) makes him distrusted by his superiors, and the Inquisition is sniffing about the Ghosts, looking for anything damning. Gaunt just needs to stay alive, keep his prisoner from being killed, and discover the truth that, supposedly, could help decide the fate of the Crusade. As Gaunt hunkers down, the various factions looking for him and his companions draw nearer, culminating in an explosive, gripping and bloody finale.

Each new Gaunt’s Ghosts novel is an event for me. Each time Abnett turns his attention back to Gaunt and company, he goes some way to reimagining the science-fiction war novel. He has been referred to as the “master of war”, which is certainly accurate: no other author can bring you into the mindset of the grunts on the ground, while retaining a keen eye on characterization, character development, and superb story-telling. Whenever there is a switch in perspectives, you really get a sense of the person’s character and voice; and Abnett manages to keep things fresh and exciting each and every time (the only novel of his that I couldn’t really get into was Double Eagle, a stand-alone).

For Blood Pact, things are a little different in terms of style. For one, it’s is a slower novel – the action only really starts quite a way into the book. The novel has a more thriller-like feel to it, as the story is slowly unravelled for the reader. From the very beginning, I was hooked (it can sometimes take a couple of chapters for me to become truly taken with Black Library releases), and the plotting is expertly crafted for maximum effect and reading addiction. There’s a fair amount going on in every chapter – and, if it’s been a long time since you’ve read any of the previous Ghosts novels, it might take a moment to remember who all the characters are – but the pace is balanced and there is never a lull in the story.

The second big departure is the more nuanced approach to the Imperials and Chaos/Archenemy forces. The Blood Pact soldiers of the title aren’t portrayed as mindless minions – rather they are presented in a more three-dimensional manner, as Abnett gives us a deeper glimpse into their mindset. Eyl, in particular, is a clinical, sociopathic adversary for Gaunt, frighteningly focused, with the perspective of a true believer. That the Imperials have taken an agent of Chaos prisoner, rather than execute him on the spot is also a new take on the galactic crusade that forms the backdrop of the whole series (not to mention the complete Warhammer 40k oeuvre), and allows the author to take a look at the Imperium’s approach to non-combat warfare. Indeed, the author’s approach to the whole Warhammer 40k universe feels very different from other authors who take up the task of writing about it – things are more nuanced as a whole, deeper, and often far more intelligent and original, relying more on his own imagination than the information and background laid out by the army books. I wouldn’t be surprised, actually, if Abnett’s novels have gone a long way in redefining the universe he writes about.

Abnett’s sense of humour comes through well, without coming across as forced, out of place, or over-done – it is almost Pratchett-esque, in fact, made up as it is of amusing asides and sarcastic remarks, slightly impish in nature; the interactions between different troopers and members of the regiment, as well as Ayanti Zweil and Dr Kolding adds further colour to the novel. Considering it’s set in a fictional, dark and brutal future, it all feels very realistic, and Abnett’s skill at writing sympathetic characters will make you care about each and every one of the Ghosts.

It’s difficult to go into much more detail about the novel without ruining the story, so I won’t go into the plot any more. Needless to say, Abnett has written another winner – perhaps the best so far – and any fan of his writing should snap this up ASAP. His writing is broad in scope, with a keen eye for human nature and the effects war can have on the individual – not to mention the effects of social re-entry away from the battlefield.

Blood Pact should definitely appeal to readers of the Black Library’s wider catalogue, but also to fans of science fiction as a whole. Abnett’s noir-tinged war tales are exciting, engaging, and far more enjoyable than anything else in this genre. I also can’t help thinking that this is how good the writers of Battlestar Galactica wish their show had been (I was not a fan of that series).

Military sci-fi at its peerless, superior best. Highly recommended.

Series Chronology: First & Only, Ghostmaker, Necropolis, Honour Guard, The Guns of Tanith, Straight Silver, Sabbat Martyr, Traitor General, His Last Command, The Armour of Contempt, Only in Death, Blood Pact

Abnett’s Other WH40K novels: Eisenhorn Trilogy, Ravenor Trilogy, Double Eagle, Horus Rising & Legion (Horus Heresy series)

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For those interested in the Sabbat Worlds setting, I just want to draw your attention to another Black Library release: the Sabbat Worlds Anthology, also released in October 2010, features a new Gaunt’s Ghosts short story, alongside other contributions from the Black Library’s stable of established and up-and-coming  authors. Here’s the cover art and the blurb from BL’s website:

Across the Sabbat Worlds, a bitter conflict is fought, a conflict that can only end in victory or annihilation. The innumerable forces of the Arch enemy attack without mercy, and planet after planet burns with the flames of war. Yet even amidst this nightmare, the Imperial Guard stand stoic against their foes. The Phantine Air Corps battle the enemies of mankind across burning skies, while the Gereon resistance tries to break the foothold of Chaos on their beleaguered world and the legendary Gaunt’s Ghosts fight in the most violent and bloody of warzones.

This anthology opens the gateway to the Sabbat Worlds like never before, featuring new stories from some of the Black Library’s best-known authors including Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill, Aaron Dembski-Bowden and many more.

I’m currently reading the Fear the Alien anthology between novels (review should go live perhaps by the end of next week), but as soon as I’m done with that, I’ll get started on this collection. It’ll be interesting to see how other authors work with Abnett’s setting, and of course the new Gaunt’s Ghosts story is a real draw.

[I really hope Dan’s novels are among those that are released as eBooks when Black Library finally gets around to publishing in this format – apparently this October]