Teaser

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. Yet there are as many ways to fight, and many reasons to wage war, as there are people willing to do so. From across the galaxy, legions march and warriors struggle. here are but a handful of their stories . . .

Review

Much like last year’s Only War, Galaxy of Horrors serves two functions. For those who prefer their books in paperback, it gathers together a whole bunch of stories originally released in digital format only, meaning that there’s now no excuse for having missed out on recent short fiction offerings. At the same time, it pulls those stories together from across the Warhammer 40,000 universe, with a variety of factions on display, and a wide array of authors too. This makes it the perfect gateway into Black Library for newer readers.

Galaxy of Horrors is divided into five sections, the first of which centres on the forces of the Astra Militarum. Naturally, I found this the strongest part of the collection. Most of the stories in here tie in to a recent novel. ‘Transplants’ is a prequel to Rob Young’s Longshot, ‘Hell Fist’ to Justin Woolley’s Catachan Devil, ‘The Trial of Lucille von Shard’ to Denny Flowers’ Outgunned, and Steve Lyons returns to the Death Kortps of Krieg with ‘Less Than Human.’ All of these are good supporting stories for the novels, while also standing alone. Victoria Hayward’s ‘Blood Sands’ is not directly (I believe) linked to her upcoming debut novel, but does make me even more excited for it. The best of these stories, however, is Rhuairidh James’ ‘The Sum of Its Parts’ which takes a unique approach to chronicling the life of a single tank. I look forward to reading more of James’ work in the near future.

The second section focuses on the powers of Chaos, and was for me the weakest section. Nevertheless, among the numerous stories two are worthy of special note. ‘A More Perfect Union’ by Rich MocCormick is a pleasant teaser for his newly-announced novel Lord of Excess. Mike Brooks, meanwhile, offers a very interesting story of life in the most grim dark of schoolgrounds with ‘The Brightest and Best.’

The next section consists of three Adepta Sororitas tales, each penned by Danie Ware, who has quickly established herself as the go-to woman for the Sisters of Battle. Let’s be honest here, more Sister Augusta is always a welcome treat. This mini-trilogy is followed by a section that concerns the loyalist Space Marines. Much to my surprise, this section included my favourite story of the collection, ‘The Reward of Loyalty’ by Tom Chivers. This appears to be Chivers’ first Black Library story, but hopefully the first of many, as the brutality of its conclusion really gets to the heart of what the universe is all about.

It is only in the final section that we have the xenos as protagonists, and even here it is only a single story. Yet Robert Rath’s The Bleeding Stars is a very good story, and fleshes out (no pun intended) the long history of the Necrons. With the Horus Heresy winding down next year, there is surely room for a new deep history series, and if more is not done with the ancient necrontyr, it will be a missed opportunity.

Though there are a few misses along with the hits, Galaxy of Horrors live sup to its name, and serves as the perfect appetiser for longer grim and dark tales from many of its authors.

Book Stats

• Contains 19 Stories
• First published in 2023
• Published by Black Library
• Grimdark SF
• 515 Pages