Short Story Review: “Know Thyself” by Andy Smillie (Black Library)

More superb Flesh Tearers from Smillie

Sent to meet with Flesh Tearers Chapter Master Gabriel Seth to discuss a recent incident in which the Flesh Tearers and Space Wolves came to blows, Inquisitor Corvin Herrold boards the flagship of the Chapter, the mighty Victus. But when he discovers a shocking secret, Herrold finds himself a prisoner of Sanguinius’s most dangerous sons, and his audience with the Master of the Flesh Tearers proves more perilous than he could have ever imagined.

Andy Smillie has done it again: he has managed to portray characters that should be mindless, ferocious psychopaths in a nuanced, relatable, and not-unsympathetic manner. What Aaron Dembski-Bowden does in long-form, Smillie has mastered in this shorter-format.

It was really interesting to see how the Flesh Tearers’ command deal with the Inquisition, and their extreme means of conveying unto those who deem them heretics and corrupt what lies at the heart of their character. It’s not pretty, nor is it supposed to be. The Tearers are the way they are, a distillation of the more brutal aspect of their originator Primarch, Sanguinius.

This is a superb short story, and I can’t wait to read more by Smillie. I really must get caught up with Flesh of Cretacia…

More Flesh Tearers by Andy Smillie: Beneath The Flesh, Torturer’s Thirst

[This story was originally published in the Black Library Weekender Anthology 2012: Saturday.]

“Reparation” by Andy Smillie (Black Library)

Dark Eldar, Space Marines, Gladiatorial Combat, and a Mystery

Trapped in the fighting pits of the dread city of Commorragh and forced to battle for their alien captors’ amusement, two Space Marines form an alliance to escape their tormentors – but are they who they seem to be?

This is yet another excellent short story from Andy Smillie. It’s a visceral, intense and action-packed tale of two Astartes from different Legions trapped and forced to fight in the gladiatorial fighting pits of the depraved Dark Eldar. This is a great short story.

“Gotrek & Felix Anthology” & Others (Black Library)

A bumper crop of Gotrek & Felix short stories

In many ways, my interest in fantasy began with Gotrek and Felix – the short snippets you used to find in the Warhammer Armies books and White Dwarf magazine were great fun. Then I discovered the oft-mentioned-on-this-blog early Warhammer anthologies: Ignorant Armies (1989), Wolf Riders (1989) and Red Thirst (1990). Ever since then, I have tried to read everything Gotrek & Felix related. I’ve not done badly, reading all of the main series’ novels, but with the release of the Gotrek & Felix Anthology, I realised that there were actually quite a few other short stories I’d missed – I haven’t really been keeping up-to-date with the Warhammer anthologies. Thanks to Black Library’s extremely-well-managed move into eBooks, I was able to read them all, and bring you this bumper-review. While it did end up feeling just a tad overwhelming to get through all fifteen of these short stories in basically one go, it was nevertheless great fun to spend more time with these characters.

If you’re not familiar with Gotrek & Felix, or Warhammer in general, then this is a series you must read. It’s a great introduction to the setting, and is written with style and humour, and not a little bit of carnage.

Reviewed Herein: Gotrek & Felix Anthology (Various), Red Snow (Nathan Long), Charnel Congress (Josh Reynolds), The Oberwald Ripper (Laurie Goulding), Slayer of the Storm God (Nathan Long)