Galaxy of Horrors

by Denny Flowers, Rob Young, Justin Woolley

A Warhammer 40,000 Anthology

The 41st Millennium is a dark and terrible era where you will find little comfort or hope. Forget the power of technology and science. Forget the promise of progress and advancement. Forget any notion of common humanity or compassion. There is no peace amongst the stars, for in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.

READ IT BECAUSE
Featuring stories by some of Black Library's best-loved authors, this huge collection of Warhammer 40,000 tales is the perfect companion to any righteous – or ruinous – crusade among the stars.

THE STORY
The galaxy teams with life as species beyond number fight, hide and flee for survival. From foul xenos breeds to the spawn of Chaos itself, the 41st Millennium is host to innumerable horrors eking out meaningless existences, and pain and suffering are all untold trillions will ever know.

But there are pinpricks of hope among the stars, bastions of civilisations beset on all sides – and they fight for freedom, glory, conquest, or brotherhood. These tales of heroism and horror paint a dark picture of the far future, in which there is room for one thing – war.

This anthology contains:

Defenders of the Imperium
– The Trial of Lucille von Shard, by Denny Flowers
– Transplants, by Rob Young
– Hell Fist, by Justin Woolley
– Blood Sands, by Victoria Hayward
– The Sum of Its Parts, by Rhuairidh James
– Less Than Human, by Steve Lyons

Followers of Chaos
– Fool's Ruin, by Mike Brooks
– A More Perfect Union, by Rich McCormick
– Sacred Hate, by David Annandale
– The Brightest and Best, by Mike Brooks
– It Bleeds, by David Guymer
– A Small Cog, by Mitchel Scanlon

The Bloody Rose
– Blasphemy of the Fallen, by Danie Ware
– The Skull Forge, by Danie Ware
– The Nature of Prayer, by Danie Ware

Warriors of the Adeptus Astartes
– Aria Arcana, by Peter Fehervari
– Confession of Pain, by Jon Flindall
– The Reward of Loyalty, by Tom Chivers

The Enemy Beyond
– The Bleeding Stars, by Robert Rath

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Short Stories, Anthologies

516 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 11, 2023

About the author

Denny Flowers is a writer of Warhammer 40k, Age of Sigmar, and Necromunda fiction. He submitted his first Black Library story during open submissions in 2018.

Reviews

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Precisely what you'd expect from an anthology like this. Some excellent, some mediocre, and a select few that you wish were fully fleshed out.

[Alberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me sorprendió. Hay buenas joyitas escondidas en este compendio y el que lo hizo supo escoger relatos cortos de diferentes facciones. Pudiera decir que es incluso una buena introducción al universo de Warhammer siempre y cuando se lea con una wiki a la mano o una buena traducción con notas explicativas al pie de página como las de Proyecto Scriptorum

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

What's up with this title? I mean if you as a publisher have a line of books that are explicitly called warhammer horror and then you bring out a book called galaxy of horrors; I don't feel bad about assuming this was part of that line off books. Was this supposed to have been a horror collection but did they change their minds but not the title? Anyways the first story already tells you this is not a horror collection but rather a bundle of stories focussing on the horror of the warhammer 4OK setting, the horror of the wars of the future, the horror of the management of human life of the future and the horror of existence in such a future. The problem is though, most, if not all warhammer 40K books already do that.

I won't go into detail about every story but I will shout out to those I really liked; "the sum of its parts" by Rhuairidh Jams is the best of the bundle. telling the story of a Leman Russ battle tank long existence was a fresh take in the warhammer 40K context. Secondly, "a small cog" Mitchel Scanlon was a good POV from a adaptus mechanicus character and lastly Hellfist" by Justin Woolley was a fun twist on the whole veteran tells the raw recruit a story about the enemy by having it be orks that tell the story. Bonus call out, "the bleeding stars" by Robert Rath is a shame that it is not part of a larger book, what is there is great but it is just a morsel of a bigger treat.

On the bad side; I wasn't that into the ones by the bloody rose, three stories interconnected felt a bit out of place in what is otherwise a bundle of stories not interconnected. Regardless of that I felt like these wanted to push it to horror and at this point I had already settled on the "this is the nature of this universe that is horror" interpretation. Most other stories I liked the premise but not the ending, in particular this was the case for "sacred hate" by David Annadale and "a more perfect union" by Rich Mccormick.

There was none that I really did not like but with exception of "the sum of its parts" none that really stood out for me. To be fully honest, if I had not read the full lenght Hell fist book, that one would not have been that fun for me to read. Perhaps the fault lies with me on this and I know I too am better a setting up a premise then giving the finale; but this was not what I was hoping for.

[Esoteric Anthropologist · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty decent. Sadly, it was not actually horror stories.

The stories are of varying quality, but most are good, although there were a couple of moments where it seemed the authors didn't know the setting that well. In the longest story the protagonist checks a las rifle's magazine for ammo (they don't have magazines), and in another an Adeptus Dialogus understood binary (which other books state they've never been able to decode).

[Atiwit O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A set of short stories that serve as a good introduction to 40K galaxy of horror. I like most of these stories, however many of them focused either on the force of the Imperium or Chaos Space Marine factions.

I recommend it to anyone interested in a book of short stories with a non-connected plot set in the 40K universe.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tend to go for 40K fiction when it keeps the Grimdark motif and this book has it in spades. A great collection of stories. My favorite being The Sum of Its Parts which embodies 40k and a galaxy that's constantly at war perfectly. The Reward of Loyalty is really good too.

[Javier Jimenez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good stories some bad