Runo Knows...Let the Galaxy Burn
I've been a bit remiss lately what with all the hijinks going on around these parts lately - beautiful women, beautiful weather, eye searing blasts of intense energy - and, honestly, while I need to finish up some GamersInfo stuff, I was up entirely too late drinking entirely too much because I can't help but stress out, at times, about things that I cannot control and should not even stress out about at all.
So in combination with that "too much Smithwicks" and "cannot sleep" I decided to take on what is, perhaps, my most ambitious "Runo Knows" yet - the short story collection entitled Let the Galaxy Burn, an omnibus of Warhammer 40K short stories. 38 of them, in fact, and in my typical fashion I'll try to at least write a blurb on each one in this collection edited by Marc Gascoigne and Christian Dunn.
(I'm going to need more 100 calorie cupcakes for this!)
The book is broken down into several sections. I'll break the stories down similarly.
We are the Space Marines, the Champions of Humanity.
Ben Counter - you may remember him from the Soul Drinkers Omnibus - starts off the set with a story about the Black Templars entitled "Words of Blood". This Space Marine chapter supposedly never retreats, but they're put into a situation where they must. A solid beginning story, in my opinion, and honestly it got me much more interested in that chapter of the Marines (enough so that I bought the Codex for them).
The Dark Angels are represented in "The Black Pearl" by Chris Pramas, a solid offering by the Green Ronin dude. (Hi
righteousfist!) Then I had to go buy that codex, too. I'm really very weak.
"Angels" by Robert Earl covers the Space Marines from another angle. "Unforgiven" by Graham McNeill (primarily of the Ultramarines Omnibus) is another Dark Angels story, with a predictable angle to it if you know anything about the Dark Angels.
The section ends with "In the Belly of the Beast" by William King, with scouts of the Space Wolves exploring a space hulk under the orders of a rogue trader. Other than the fact that they're working with a rogue trader - an aspect of the universe that was more emphasized when the game was called, after all, Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader but not so much now - it's fairly predictable. It's not bad, but you can almost guess what happens right at the very beginning.
Suffer not the Alien to Live.
Whew! One down!
"Hellbreak" by Ben Counter follows a commissar versus Dark Eldar. I actually really dug this story; often times it seems like the Dark Eldar are just excuses to come up with inventive tortures and whatnot, but this story was just fun. I thought, at least.
"Small Cogs" by Neil Rutledge covers some Imperial Guard attempting to hold off an Eldar raiding party - unlike most, more traditional stories in that vein, this one has some interesting looks into the smaller aspects of battles such as that. Again, enjoyable for what is perhaps the differences in it from what you might expect.
Dan Abnett's "The Fall of Malvolion", about the various reactions to a tyranid invasion, however is less than excellent. I've really liked his other work, but this one emphasizes the more - and I hesitate to use this word - "defeatist" parts of fighting enemies like the 'nids, and I just find it gets old after a bit.
"Children of the Emperor" (Barrington J. Bayley) has a lone Imperial Guardsman who crash-lands on a planet to discover mutants. It starts off a bit unevenly, I thought, but ended strong.
"Deus Ex Mechanicus" starts off in a way that I'm sure I've read before, but I don't have any Andy Chambers work elsewhere in this blog - on the other hand, it involves Necrons, so it might be in that codex. Again, it seems pretty obvious to the reader what's going on, but has typical "the Imperials don't see it" kind of viewpoint. Frustrating. Whatever.
"Business as Usual" by Graham McNeill covers some characters from the Ultramarines Omnibus; it's actually kind of cool to go back and see what happened to Snowdog later. Not a bad story overall if, again, it's a bit predictable.
Only in Death Does Duty End.
"Salvation" by Johnathon Green has a rare Ultramarine - one not in armor. At least, for a bit - kind of fun story.
"Hell in a Bottle" by Simon Jowett is actually a pretty cool premise - one I won't give away right here - and while, yes, it has that frustrating "Oh come on, can't you see what's going on?!" by part of the way through it, it still manages to work. I kind of laughed at the end! I don't know what that means.
"Tenebrae" by Mark Brendan is kind of like "The Fall of Malvolion" except with Chaos and more closely following a governor - but it's still one of those "inevitable decline that can only be ended by suicide" kind of stories that just makes me say "meh".
"Daemonblood" - another story by the prolific Ben Counter - has the on-going battle between a corrupted Space Marine and a Sister of Battle. Like his other stories (at least until this point), it's pretty good, though it kind of felt like a bit of a deus ex machina type ending.
"Know Thine Enemy" by Gav Thorpe has the Salamanders chapter defending against Eldar. Unlike some other stories like this it doesn't feel as predictable - up until the end I was as curious as the Space Marines were/should have been as to what was going to happen. It reminded me a bit of some of the "Dawn of War" scenarios.
Innocence Proves Nothing.
"Nightmare" by Gav Thorpe - you know what's coming. Sure. Whatever.
"Ancient History" by Andy Chambers on the other hand gives an interesting view into the life of a sailor on an Imperial Guard vessel. A hint - it sucks.
"The Tower" by CS Goto was a story I enjoyed entirely too much! It almost makes up for how much I ragged on him in the Tales of the Dark Millenium write-up. Obsessive-compulsive Administratum officials, assassins, it's comedy in a bottle!
"Loyalty's Reward" by Simon Jowett is pretty much a "mafia in 40K" kind of story - not bad. As you may have noticed, I like the "odd" kind of stories a lot.
"Raptor Down" by Gav Thorpe is, oddly enough, the sequel to another story later in the book. Uh - okay. And seems a bit related to Double Eagle, by Dan Abnett.
For the Emperor!
(If you've played Dawn of War, do you hear the Marines yelling that when you read it?)
"Defixio" by Ben Counter - Imperial Guard in a lone tank against orks! Yay! Orks and Guard! Two great tastes that go great together! And a new appreciation for the Savlar Chem-dogs.
Alex Hammond's "Ancient Lances" follows a Rough Rider as he attempts to return home; the whole time I read it I kept thinking "how is that the Rough Riders ever survive in 40K?" Then I stop thinking so much.
"Ork Hunter" (YAY ORKS AND GUARD!) by Dan Abnett is set on Armageddon and this time gave me a new appreciation of the Jopall Indentured. Fortunately they don't have codexes like the Marine ones for Guard units. All in the Imperial Guard codex. Whew. (Yes, I seem to like whatever Guard unit I've read most recently.)
"The Raven's Claw" by Jonathan Curran - yes, yes, we all know what the psyker is saying. Only the idiots in the story don't seem to know. Again - whatever.
"Emperor's Grace" by Alex Hammond has the Catachan Jungle-fighters (nope, still not a huge fan) dealing with a too-observant commissar.
"Acceptable Losses" by Gav Thorpe is the before-mentioned prequel, airplanes in space and all that.
Burn the Heretic, Kill the Mutant, Purge the Unclean
Second to last section!
"Pestilence" by Dan Abnett. Fairly interesting story about Chaos and plague - which can definitely be done poorly.
"Suffer not the Unclean to Live" by Gav Thorpe follows a priest in the slums - kind of boring, if you ask me.
"The Lives of Ferag Lion-Wolf" by Barrington J. Bayley I thought was kind of funny.
"Playing Patience" by Dan Abnett is a Ravenor story, one of Eisenhorn's companions and star of his own book(s) now. It took me a while to get caught up with what was going on in it, but it's not bad. Solid, like Abnett's other work.
Kill Them All!
"Snares & Delusions" by Matthew Farrer reminds me a good bit of "The Raven's Claw" only with Chaos & Eldar instead of Imperial-based. It's kind of cool to have the Eldar be good guys.
"Apothecary's Honor" by Simon Jowett has a bit of a "did you forget what you were supposed to do?" bit to this story of the Avenging Sons. And, honestly enough, it didn't make me more interested in the Avenging Sons chapter, really. Though in a way I was satisfied with the ending in a "ha! That'll learn ya" kind of way. Also, the main character is named Korpus, but I kept reading it as Korbus (one of my guildmates) and thinking "don't let him play a healer in WAR!"
Andras Millward's "Unthinking Justice" is, in a way, another one of those "if you'd asked more questions..." kind of stories, but does have a decent twist.
"Battle of the Archaeosaurs" by Barrington J. Bayley was another humorous tale, I thought, this one about dinosaurs versus Titans! I kept wanting to yell "EXTERMINATUS!" at the end of it (not to give away anything) but then again I probably had too much caffeine in my bloodstream at that point.
"The Wrath of Kharn" by William King - a Chaos vs. Chaos clash with everyone's favorite Khorn-ite, Kharn the Betrayer. Who could resist that title? Me.
Finally, "Into the Maelstrom" by Chris Pramas - hey, I'd been wondering what had happened to the Tyrant of Badab. And here he is.
Whew. Okay, guys, but my eyes hurt. Enough of this, I'm driving south!
So in combination with that "too much Smithwicks" and "cannot sleep" I decided to take on what is, perhaps, my most ambitious "Runo Knows" yet - the short story collection entitled Let the Galaxy Burn, an omnibus of Warhammer 40K short stories. 38 of them, in fact, and in my typical fashion I'll try to at least write a blurb on each one in this collection edited by Marc Gascoigne and Christian Dunn.
(I'm going to need more 100 calorie cupcakes for this!)
The book is broken down into several sections. I'll break the stories down similarly.
We are the Space Marines, the Champions of Humanity.
Ben Counter - you may remember him from the Soul Drinkers Omnibus - starts off the set with a story about the Black Templars entitled "Words of Blood". This Space Marine chapter supposedly never retreats, but they're put into a situation where they must. A solid beginning story, in my opinion, and honestly it got me much more interested in that chapter of the Marines (enough so that I bought the Codex for them).
The Dark Angels are represented in "The Black Pearl" by Chris Pramas, a solid offering by the Green Ronin dude. (Hi
righteousfist!) Then I had to go buy that codex, too. I'm really very weak.
"Angels" by Robert Earl covers the Space Marines from another angle. "Unforgiven" by Graham McNeill (primarily of the Ultramarines Omnibus) is another Dark Angels story, with a predictable angle to it if you know anything about the Dark Angels.
The section ends with "In the Belly of the Beast" by William King, with scouts of the Space Wolves exploring a space hulk under the orders of a rogue trader. Other than the fact that they're working with a rogue trader - an aspect of the universe that was more emphasized when the game was called, after all, Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader but not so much now - it's fairly predictable. It's not bad, but you can almost guess what happens right at the very beginning.
Suffer not the Alien to Live.
Whew! One down!
"Hellbreak" by Ben Counter follows a commissar versus Dark Eldar. I actually really dug this story; often times it seems like the Dark Eldar are just excuses to come up with inventive tortures and whatnot, but this story was just fun. I thought, at least.
"Small Cogs" by Neil Rutledge covers some Imperial Guard attempting to hold off an Eldar raiding party - unlike most, more traditional stories in that vein, this one has some interesting looks into the smaller aspects of battles such as that. Again, enjoyable for what is perhaps the differences in it from what you might expect.
Dan Abnett's "The Fall of Malvolion", about the various reactions to a tyranid invasion, however is less than excellent. I've really liked his other work, but this one emphasizes the more - and I hesitate to use this word - "defeatist" parts of fighting enemies like the 'nids, and I just find it gets old after a bit.
"Children of the Emperor" (Barrington J. Bayley) has a lone Imperial Guardsman who crash-lands on a planet to discover mutants. It starts off a bit unevenly, I thought, but ended strong.
"Deus Ex Mechanicus" starts off in a way that I'm sure I've read before, but I don't have any Andy Chambers work elsewhere in this blog - on the other hand, it involves Necrons, so it might be in that codex. Again, it seems pretty obvious to the reader what's going on, but has typical "the Imperials don't see it" kind of viewpoint. Frustrating. Whatever.
"Business as Usual" by Graham McNeill covers some characters from the Ultramarines Omnibus; it's actually kind of cool to go back and see what happened to Snowdog later. Not a bad story overall if, again, it's a bit predictable.
Only in Death Does Duty End.
"Salvation" by Johnathon Green has a rare Ultramarine - one not in armor. At least, for a bit - kind of fun story.
"Hell in a Bottle" by Simon Jowett is actually a pretty cool premise - one I won't give away right here - and while, yes, it has that frustrating "Oh come on, can't you see what's going on?!" by part of the way through it, it still manages to work. I kind of laughed at the end! I don't know what that means.
"Tenebrae" by Mark Brendan is kind of like "The Fall of Malvolion" except with Chaos and more closely following a governor - but it's still one of those "inevitable decline that can only be ended by suicide" kind of stories that just makes me say "meh".
"Daemonblood" - another story by the prolific Ben Counter - has the on-going battle between a corrupted Space Marine and a Sister of Battle. Like his other stories (at least until this point), it's pretty good, though it kind of felt like a bit of a deus ex machina type ending.
"Know Thine Enemy" by Gav Thorpe has the Salamanders chapter defending against Eldar. Unlike some other stories like this it doesn't feel as predictable - up until the end I was as curious as the Space Marines were/should have been as to what was going to happen. It reminded me a bit of some of the "Dawn of War" scenarios.
Innocence Proves Nothing.
"Nightmare" by Gav Thorpe - you know what's coming. Sure. Whatever.
"Ancient History" by Andy Chambers on the other hand gives an interesting view into the life of a sailor on an Imperial Guard vessel. A hint - it sucks.
"The Tower" by CS Goto was a story I enjoyed entirely too much! It almost makes up for how much I ragged on him in the Tales of the Dark Millenium write-up. Obsessive-compulsive Administratum officials, assassins, it's comedy in a bottle!
"Loyalty's Reward" by Simon Jowett is pretty much a "mafia in 40K" kind of story - not bad. As you may have noticed, I like the "odd" kind of stories a lot.
"Raptor Down" by Gav Thorpe is, oddly enough, the sequel to another story later in the book. Uh - okay. And seems a bit related to Double Eagle, by Dan Abnett.
For the Emperor!
(If you've played Dawn of War, do you hear the Marines yelling that when you read it?)
"Defixio" by Ben Counter - Imperial Guard in a lone tank against orks! Yay! Orks and Guard! Two great tastes that go great together! And a new appreciation for the Savlar Chem-dogs.
Alex Hammond's "Ancient Lances" follows a Rough Rider as he attempts to return home; the whole time I read it I kept thinking "how is that the Rough Riders ever survive in 40K?" Then I stop thinking so much.
"Ork Hunter" (YAY ORKS AND GUARD!) by Dan Abnett is set on Armageddon and this time gave me a new appreciation of the Jopall Indentured. Fortunately they don't have codexes like the Marine ones for Guard units. All in the Imperial Guard codex. Whew. (Yes, I seem to like whatever Guard unit I've read most recently.)
"The Raven's Claw" by Jonathan Curran - yes, yes, we all know what the psyker is saying. Only the idiots in the story don't seem to know. Again - whatever.
"Emperor's Grace" by Alex Hammond has the Catachan Jungle-fighters (nope, still not a huge fan) dealing with a too-observant commissar.
"Acceptable Losses" by Gav Thorpe is the before-mentioned prequel, airplanes in space and all that.
Burn the Heretic, Kill the Mutant, Purge the Unclean
Second to last section!
"Pestilence" by Dan Abnett. Fairly interesting story about Chaos and plague - which can definitely be done poorly.
"Suffer not the Unclean to Live" by Gav Thorpe follows a priest in the slums - kind of boring, if you ask me.
"The Lives of Ferag Lion-Wolf" by Barrington J. Bayley I thought was kind of funny.
"Playing Patience" by Dan Abnett is a Ravenor story, one of Eisenhorn's companions and star of his own book(s) now. It took me a while to get caught up with what was going on in it, but it's not bad. Solid, like Abnett's other work.
Kill Them All!
"Snares & Delusions" by Matthew Farrer reminds me a good bit of "The Raven's Claw" only with Chaos & Eldar instead of Imperial-based. It's kind of cool to have the Eldar be good guys.
"Apothecary's Honor" by Simon Jowett has a bit of a "did you forget what you were supposed to do?" bit to this story of the Avenging Sons. And, honestly enough, it didn't make me more interested in the Avenging Sons chapter, really. Though in a way I was satisfied with the ending in a "ha! That'll learn ya" kind of way. Also, the main character is named Korpus, but I kept reading it as Korbus (one of my guildmates) and thinking "don't let him play a healer in WAR!"
Andras Millward's "Unthinking Justice" is, in a way, another one of those "if you'd asked more questions..." kind of stories, but does have a decent twist.
"Battle of the Archaeosaurs" by Barrington J. Bayley was another humorous tale, I thought, this one about dinosaurs versus Titans! I kept wanting to yell "EXTERMINATUS!" at the end of it (not to give away anything) but then again I probably had too much caffeine in my bloodstream at that point.
"The Wrath of Kharn" by William King - a Chaos vs. Chaos clash with everyone's favorite Khorn-ite, Kharn the Betrayer. Who could resist that title? Me.
Finally, "Into the Maelstrom" by Chris Pramas - hey, I'd been wondering what had happened to the Tyrant of Badab. And here he is.
Whew. Okay, guys, but my eyes hurt. Enough of this, I'm driving south!