Monolith

Warhammer 40,000

by Chris Dows

On the world of Ophel Minoris, a warband of Chaos Space Marine Raptors has laid siege to the mysterious Monolith structures that dot the surface. Their purpose is unclear. The local Astra Militarum defenders have been overrun, and their distress call for reinforcements has been answered by Sergeant Zachariah of the Elysian 158th. Doing what they do best, the drop troops under his command will take the fight to the enemy on the ground or in the skies themselves, if needs be...

Read it because
It's man against twisted, corrupted Space Marine in the heart of a warp-funnelling monolith. A handful of Imperial Guardsmen take on a host of deadly Raptors in a fight to the finish.

Genres: Science Fiction

31 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 19, 2015

About the author

Chris Dows is a professor of creative writing at the University of Lincoln.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Chaos Space Marines... Emperor's Throne!"

This e-short was a blast of a funny read!
Is all-out action and carnage when Sergeant Zachariah of the Elysian 158th, his drop troops and a lonely Cadian survivor, clash in the air early and on land later against a warband of Chaos Space Marine Raptors of the Dark Disciples trying to destroy the monolith of the title, an ancient artifact with the same properties of the Cadian Pylons (to keep back the warp energies of the near Eye of Terror from the world).

Well fleshed characters, cheesy dialogues, non stop gory action, lots of twists and the Astra Militarum (Imperial Guard) soldiers were so outclassed in power by their Chaos foes that reading this short tale was like watchin' "Save Private Ryan" (the Cadian outpost survivor!)... in space and directed by Robert Rodriguez! XD

[Andrew Alvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent albeit somewhat confusing short. My main question remains, what exactly IS this monolith?

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

***1/2: an action-packed prequel to the audio drama trilogy, jammed with breath-taking aerial sequences.

[Anthony Giordano · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Day 3 of the first week of the Summer of Reading 2015 brings us an Imperial Guard (sorry, Astra Militarum) tale focusing on Elysian Drop Troops. I hadn't realized, heading in, that this is actually Dows' second tale featuring Elysian Sergeant Zachariah, the first being The Mouth of Chaos, which appeared in Hammer and Bolter 22.

This might actually be one of my shorter reviews, since the premise here is pretty thin, even for a short story. There is the titular monolith, a mile high monstrosity whose function is never clearly stated. Held for years by a Cadian detachment, it is being overrun by Chaos Space Marines of the Blood Disciples Chapter. It falls on Zachariah and his Drop Troopers to dive in and take it back.

What Monolith might not have in setting, it makes up in execution. Dows is a writer who obviously did some homework involving the skydiving aspects. Well, to be honest, I've never gone skydiving; but the mechanics of the opening drop sequence gave me a genuine feeling of immersion.

In fact, the opening few pages are some of the best that I've read in a recent Black Library publication. This doesn't mean that the rest of the story is sub-par; but it does follow a distinctly by-the-numbers narrative."


You can read the full review here:

http://hachisnaxreads.blogspot.com/20...

[Michael Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third short story in Black Library’s Summer of Reading, Monolith sees Chris Dows return with a second tale of Veteran Sergeant Zachariah and his Elysian Drop Troops (see Hammer & Bolter 21 for the first – The Mouth of Chaos). Here we see Zachariah and his squad attempting a daring high-altitude drop to reinforce a beleaguered Cadian outpost situated at the summit of the titular monolith, facing off against the Traitor Marine Raptors of the Blood Disciples. Forced to fight in the air and on the ground against superior opponents, things look bleak for the Elysians.

Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...