‘Stratagem’ – Nick Kyme, ‘Luna Mendax’ – Graham McNeill (Black Library)

When the power went out the other night, I was lucky enough to have enough juice left in my phone to read a couple of short stories while I waited for everything to turn back on, Which it did, eventually, about an hour after I’d finally gone to sleep… I learned, the hard way, that my doorbell does a little ‘test ring’ when the power comes back. Dammit.

But anyway, I’m digressing… It wouldn’t feel like a week without a couple of ‘Black Library’ short stories here so I found a couple and… Here they are ;o)

A bit of a mixed bag this time round. I think I said, fairly recently, how I don’t like the idea of ‘Horus Heresy’ short stories that exist just to fill in a gap in the timeline, whether it needs filling in or not. One of the following stories comes across a little like that, the other has a little more purpose about it.

‘Stratagem’ – Nick Kyme

One of the great things about the Horus Heresy series is learning about the characters and events that shaped the 41st millennium, and few heroes are more pivotal than these two: Sergeant Aeonid Thiel and Rouboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines. As well as these iconic heroes, we will also see the beginnings of what will become one of the most important books in the galaxy.

I’m a fan of Roboute Guilliman and will never say no to a tale with him in it. But while the story is engaging enough, I couldn’t get away from the fact that it’s clearly an Easter Egg for Warhammer 40,000 rather than a meaningful part of the actual ‘Horus Heresy’ timeline. Not a bad tale then but I struggled to see the point of it as anything other than a ‘nice to have, fill in a gap’ moment. Maybe one for Ultramarines fans only then although having said that, I can’t help wonder if the ‘Codex Astartes’ has a dedication to Sergeant Aeonid Thiel just after the title page…

‘Luna Mendax’ – Graham McNeill

Returning from a secretive mission to Caliban at the command of Malcador the Sigillite, the Knight Errant Garviel Loken finds sanctuary in one of the abandoned bio-domes of Luna. Scarred by betrayal and bewildered by the changing face of the galaxy, the weary warrior is almost unsurprised when he is visited by the long-dead Tarik Torgaddon – is this a sign of a fractured and exhausted mind playing tricks on itself, or truly the spirit of a departed friend?

Any ‘Horus Heresy’ tale that starts off with a Space Marine doing a spot of gardening is a tale that has my undivided attention. Well played ‘Luna Mendax’, well played ;o)

Now this was more like it, a necessary piece of development for an established key player in the series. Loken needs a break but given everything that has happened to him, he also needs a little reminder of why he is fighting, that and a nudge to get back in the game. And McNeill knows that there is no better friend to deliver all that than Tarik Torgaddon. Whether Torgaddon is a spirit, or a figment of Loken’s imagination, is an interesting question to ponder but either way, it’s good to see these two back together. Loken needs a friend and Torgaddon was always that friend. What we get as a result is a thoroughly engaging back and forth dialogue between two friends, the ‘Horus Heresy’ needs that every now and then ;o)