"Freedom will be bought with blood."

Visitors to the Black Library recently will have seen the following image beckoning them to click on it:

"Falling black feathers?" HH fans might say. "Well, unless that's a continuation of the story of that rascally Prince Of Crows - and Aaron would have certainly told us something if that were the case - then that must be something to do with those cussed ornery birds in the Raven Guard."

Further investigation will reveal a banner saying 'FREEDOM WILL BE BOUGHT WITH BLOOD" and featuring this Beatle-esque chap looking glum:

why do u h8 me tho

And, if you watch the Youtube clip on the page, which shows zooming views of what will probably be the cover art for this thing, as well as SFX to make it more XTREME, you can catch a clearer glimpse of the guy:

That certainly looks like a Raven Guard insignia. And... could those be the turbines of a jetpack behind him? Gosh, who could that be? Rogal Dorn??

...Anyway, the BlackLibrary.com page which all this is on is titled 'Ravenlord', which rather puts the damper on further speculation. The cost on the site listed is £30, which is what the 'limited edition novellas' usually cost. So it's probably a new Raven Guard novella called 'Ravenlord', probably by Gav Thorpe, probably about Corax fighting Word Bearers or Sons Of Horus or Iron Warriors (those enemies in the video are hard to see). Currently, Horus Heresy releases fall into two categories: "I'll buy this first day" and "I'll buy this first day, but I'll feel annoyed about it." This one could go either way... roll on 2nd May.

So what's on the way for PurpleHeresy? Having finally posted my horrendously long (apologies to anyone who managed to read it) 'A Thousand Sons' review, I'm - coincidentally - halfway through my 'Deliverance Lost' review/readthrough. Spoilers - I'm enjoying it just as much as I did first time around. 8/10 isn't out of the question. I've also taken the plunge and ordered the first of the horribly expensive Forge World books with rules for fighting the battles of Isstvan III. It's full of background and gorgeous pictures apparently, so... perhaps I'll do a review of that when it arrives.

I'm looking forward to getting Volume II of the HH Audio Drama Scripts and also the short audio story compilation 'Echoes Of Ruin'. Eventually. Those aren't too high on my list at the moment.

Finally, the newest official addition to the HH novel release schedule is 'The Damnation Of Pythos', apparently. See Amazon for its far-off 'official' release date. And some pretty great cover art...

"Yes, feed me more bolter shells!"

Amazon also helpfully provides a brief synopsis: some Shattered Legion survivors find themselves on Pythos and start trying to establish a safe haven for refugees from that event that's making the galaxy burn and stuff. But then something apparently goes wrong (?). Anyway, this will certainly have something to do with the Damnation Cache which was important for some reason in C Z Dunn's 'Pandorax'. We're not even close to the formation of the Grey Knight Grandmasters, so it seems unlikely this book will include their intervention to save Pythos as described in 'Pandorax'... so what WILL actually happen? Due to the Legions involved, and the author, I think we could assume that this will be a continuation in some way of 'Veritas Ferrum', the short audio drama. Not really sure how this will fit in with the HH series as a whole, and I haven't really seen much David Annandale stuff. Maybe it'll be good. There's still probably a few HH things to come before we get to this, though...

Oh, and John French has a Sigismund audiobook coming soon, it seems:

Pretty cool cover, if nothing else...