# New Horus Heresy cover



## March of Time (Dec 4, 2009)

It's hammer time.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Looks good but it would be great if someone found a bigger resolution.


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## BlackGuard (Sep 10, 2010)

There's always one. >_>

Anyway, nice to see Vulkan doing the dramatic "NO!" pose. Should be interesting.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Found a bit larger and clearer picture of it.










This would make it the first ever official art work of Vulkan then! And I gotta say, I think he looks pretty epic.

For those of you who aren't sure on the plot for _Vulkan Lives_, this is from Nick Kymes blog.


> Q. Vulkan Lives. Other than the obvious, what can we expect from this?
> 
> Without giving the story away, it’s a two pronged narrative in which a double storyline interweaves with the other. It features several primarchs, most prominently Vulkan and Konrad Kurze, and as such the story examines the relationship between these two characters, chipping away at the psyche of both. There’s the return of some classic characters from the series (not all mine, it has to be said) and very little of the story itself is set on Isstvan V, although the resonance of what happened there does inform e narrative to a large degree. ‘Vulkan Lives’, ‘Scorched Earth’ and ‘Promethean Sun’ all connect. And my final little reveal is that this novel leads in to Dan’s ‘Unremebered Empire’, which directly follows it on the schedule and sets up a major story thread in that book.


All but confirms the link between these two comments by Perturabo and Angron in _Angel Exterminatus_ and _Betrayer_ respectively.
_Angel Exterminatus_:


> ‘The Cavea Ferrum was nothing more than an intellectual exercise for the Firenzii, but I saw how it could be turned to defensive purposes, its geometries used to lure an unwary enemy into a foolish assault, trapping them in a way that would allow no escape.’
> ‘It’s impressive,’ said Kroeger. ‘Are there any others like it?’
> ‘Yes, there is one other,’ said Perturabo, almost reluctantly.
> Forrix hid his surprise. He had not known that Perturabo had crafted another such labyrinth, but in the frenetic aftermath of massacre of their brother Legions, there was much he did not know of his primarch’s activities.
> ...


_Betrayer_:


> Angron’s face wrenched again, at the mercy of misfiring muscles. ‘What primarch ever needed guarding by lesser men?’
> ‘Ferrus,’ Lorgar said softly. ‘Vulkan.’
> Angron laughed, the sound rich and true, yet harsh as a bitter wind. ‘It’s good to hear you joke about those weaklings. I was getting bored of you mourning them.’
> It was no joke, but Lorgar had no desire to shatter his brother’s fragile good humour. ‘I only mourn the dead,’ Lorgar conceded. ‘I don’t mourn Vulkan.’
> ‘He’s as good as dead.’ The World Eater smiled again. ‘I’m sure he wishes he were.'


I think we can quite safely assume that a large portion of the novel, if not the main plot line, will be Vulkan imprisoned within the maze by Curze and trying to escape, whilst possibly being hunted by the Night Haunter. If this is done well, it could be fantastic and have some very tense scenes.

Despite my mild dislike of _Promethean Sun_ and Kymes other Salamanders work, I'm still very much looking forwards to this.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Yes I agree. The plot seems to good for anyone to mess up.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

I really like it, especially Vulkan's grief at that dead Salamander. Question though, is this an actual novel or a novella?


LotN


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## March of Time (Dec 4, 2009)

Lord of the Night said:


> I really like it, especially Vulkan's grief at that dead Salamander. Question though, is this an actual novel or a novella?
> 
> 
> LotN


This is a Novel that gets released in August.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Does anyone else despise the title? It would be like calling book #2 (_False Gods_) _Horus gets poisoned!_ or #18 (_Know No Fear_) _Watch out!_ or #16 (_The Outcast Dead_) _I'm gonna fuck with the timeline!_ or #13 (_Nemesis_) _Waste of time!_... Oops didn't mean to turn that into a rant. But you get my point.

Aside from that the assumed plot (of Vulkan being trapped in a maze) sounds dull and uninspiring and going by Kyme's previous HH work, I am not looking forward to this.

Decent artwork though.


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## March of Time (Dec 4, 2009)




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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> Does anyone else despise the title?


Nope, it's a fecking shite title in my opinion.

The artwork however, is muthafrappin awesome :so_happy:


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> Does anyone else despise the title? It would be like calling book #2 (_False Gods_) _Horus gets poisoned!_ or #18 (_Know No Fear_) _Watch out!_ or #16 (_The Outcast Dead_) _I'm gonna fuck with the timeline!_ or #13 (_Nemesis_) _Waste of time!_... Oops didn't mean to turn that into a rant. But you get my point.
> 
> Aside from that the assumed plot (of Vulkan being trapped in a maze) sounds dull and uninspiring and going by Kyme's previous HH work, I am not looking forward to this.
> 
> Decent artwork though.


Yes now that I think of it, it reads like those sensationalist 1950 Spider-Man comic titles. It's just missing a ! at the end.

I'm primarily not a fan of the subtitle, _Unto the Anvil_. Doesn't click with me, it's just one of their vague don't give up mottoes.

The plot though I think is very interesting especially since it involves Curze.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> Does anyone else despise the title? It would be like calling book #2 (_False Gods_) _Horus gets poisoned!_ or #18 (_Know No Fear_) _Watch out!_ or #16 (_The Outcast Dead_) _I'm gonna fuck with the timeline!_ or #13 *(Nemesis) Waste of time!*... Oops didn't mean to turn that into a rant. But you get my point.


It's no more so than some other titles. _Horus Rising_, Horus rising to become Warmaster; _Flight of the Eisenstein_, the ship Eisenstein making a flight; _Legion_, the Alpha Legion; _Mechanicum_, about the Mechanicum; _Prospero Burns_, exactly what it says on the tin (at least the end of it was).

Not every title is convoluted or has some hidden meaning. Some of them cut through that and tell you exactly what to expect, like _Vulkan Lives_ and I appreciate that sometimes.

Oh and _Nemesis_ was not the best HH novel but it was most definitely not a waste of time. It explained exactly why the Emperor and Horus weren't sending killers after each other the entire Heresy, what the Assassins were doing in the Heresy and the power games going on at Terra between Malcador and Rogal Dorn. All things we needed to know, and it was an entertaining story with some very interesting characters, and Spear was just badass in every way.


LotN


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Lord of the Night said:


> It's no more so than some other titles. _Horus Rising_, Horus rising to become Warmaster; _Flight of the Eisenstein_, the ship Eisenstein making a flight; _Legion_, the Alpha Legion; _Mechanicum_, about the Mechanicum; _Prospero Burns_, exactly what it says on the tin (at least the end of it was).
> 
> Not every title is convoluted or has some hidden meaning. Some of them cut through that and tell you exactly what to expect, like _Vulkan Lives_ and I appreciate that sometimes.
> 
> LotN


I don't think we don't need to be told via a title that Vulkan survived Istaavan. It could be depicted via the cover or it could be mentioned in the summary at the back. 

All the titles you mentioned have this edginess to them (minus flight of the E). They're powerful and quick. 

Vulkan lives would sound like a newspaper headline from the 1930s if it only added an exclamation mark at the end. 

Maybe a title something along the lines of '_Defiance_' or '_Tempting Fate_' would have been better. 



Lord of the Night said:


> Oh and _Nemesis_ was not the best HH novel but it was most definitely not a waste of time. It explained exactly why the Emperor and Horus weren't sending killers after each other the entire Heresy, what the Assassins were doing in the Heresy and the power games going on at Terra between Malcador and Rogal Dorn. All things we needed to know, and it was an entertaining story with some very interesting characters, and Spear was just badass in every way.LotN


The sheer audacity that a mere 'herp derp mirror attack' bomb-assassin could take out the Emperor made me instantly hate the book and brand it as unofficial-never happened.

I envy your ability to like literally everything BL publishes, I do not mean this as an insult. It's hard just liking ADB/Abnett's work and the occasional rare gem (Wrath of Iron for example) as they tend to take their time writing new books.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Malus Darkblade said:


> _Vulkan Lives_ would sound like a newspaper headline from the 1930s if it only added an exclamation mark at the end.
> 
> Maybe a title something along the lines of '_Defiance_' or '_Tempting Fate_' would have been better.


It's a decent title, I admit not the best but it's still one that has meaning. Vulkan Lives... how? How did he survive Istvaan? How did he end up in Curze's labyrinth? What does this mean for the Salamanders? Etc.

The former title there sounds like a ship name, not a story title, and the latter is too general and doesn't possess a connection to the story.



Malus Darkblade said:


> The sheer audacity that a mere 'herp derp mirror attack' bomb-assassin could take out the Emperor made me instantly hate the book and brand it as unofficial-never happened.
> 
> I envy your ability to like literally everything BL publishes, I do not mean this as an insult. It's hard just liking ADB/Abnett's work and the occasional rare gem (Wrath of Iron for example) as they tend to take their time writing new books.


Spear is an example of the Omnipotence Paradox. Could God make a rock so heavy even he could not lift it? Same thing here really. Spear was designed to redirect the Emperor's own power back at him, so the question becomes Could the Emperor's own power be powerful enough to destroy him? Spear couldn't kill the Emperor, but the Emperor might have been able to.

I get that it does look like I enjoy all of BL's work, but I don't in truth. There are authors and novels that I have not cared for. Most recent example being The Great Betrayal, aside from the 20k Dragons issue everyone seems to love that novel and I was bored relentlessly by it. Reason: I don't like Dwarf POVs except for Gotrek Gurnisson. But yeah I do like Nick Kyme and James Swallow so it appears like I do love the majority of BL's output and yeah that's probably true, but I don't like 100% of the output.


LotN


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## darkreever (Apr 3, 2008)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> Does anybody else despise the title?


Yes, I most assuredly do; both the title and the sub bit.

The title leaves so little to the imagination, you'd be hard pressed to find out the title had another meaning even with Lux helping you. And the sub bit just reeks of Kyme, so when I read it I expect the Salamander bits to be all fire and flames and burning, and quite possibly feel like 40k with some primarchs running around.



Lord of the Night said:


> _Horus Rising_, Horus rising to become Warmaster;


Except its not, on one hand it is Horus rising to the new role he was given but on the other you its the rise of the Luna Wolves to the Sons of Horus, elevating them from legiones astartes of the Emperor to warriors who's loyalty is to their primarch.

_


Lord of the Night said:



Flight of the Eisenstein

Click to expand...

_


Lord of the Night said:


> , the ship Eisenstein making a flight;


This one has to be a joke, since its more than just the fact that the Eisenstein went somewhere. You blatantly ignore why its doing what its doing and from where it began, and the significance of all that.

But then again your trying to, badly, prove a point by being rather ignorant so not terribly surprising.



Lord of the Night said:


> _Legion_, the Alpha Legion;


Really? From the word 'legion' we knew it was all about the Alpha Legion? Because at the time its not like there aren't eighteen legions, plus the titan legions, plus the custodian legion.

And I'm assuming your basing all these off the titles alone.



Lord of the Night said:


> _Mechanicum_, about the Mechanicum;


I'll give you that there was no mistaking that this one was about the Mechanicum, but the fact that it was about the Mechanicum during the Heresy era is more than enough to intrigue.



Lord of the Night said:


> _Prospero Burns_, exactly what it says on the tin.


Again, gotta agree; going by nothing but the title this one does imply the sacking of Prospero



Lord of the Night said:


> Not every title is convoluted or has some hidden meaning. Some of them cut through that and tell you exactly what to expect, like _Vulkan Lives_ and I appreciate that sometimes.


I'd honestly argue that to be false, even something like Prospero Burns can, in its own way, have a hidden meaning (the sacking of Prospero being an allusion to the destruction of prosperity in the Imperium.)

And even the books with less clever titles at least try, this one most certainly does not.



Lord of the Night said:


> and the latter is too general and doesn't possess a connection to the story.


Actually with a title like 'Tempting Fate' an alternate meaning could likely be reffering to Kurze. Assume its set during the Age of Darkness, then Kurze might be tempting fate in hunting another primarch after nearly being killed in conflict with Johnson.


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## Stephen_Newman (Jul 14, 2009)

This looks cool. Naming of the title could be better. Personally I would have gone with soething along the lines of _The Great Escape_ (Obviously not that eact title) with the sub-heading of _An Odyssey of one_.

Not a huge fan of Kyme's contributions to the heresy although I have never read a copy of Promethean Sun so I only have a couple of short stories to go on.


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## Fire Tempered (Dec 16, 2010)

Great cover, shitty title, will probably be shitty book( i ve read all his HH work,all salamanders novels(havent read short stories) and Promethean Sun), and only decent thing was Firedrake, which was ok, in some parts even good. 

PS: i forgot, Fall of Damnos was good, but mostly because of Necron's pov. I think that's his best work up to date. Shame, cause I really like Salamanders, and chose them as my army, when I started WH40k few years back.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

darkreever said:


> The title leaves so little to the imagination, you'd be hard pressed to find out the title had another meaning even with Lux helping you.


Ha, that made me laugh quite a bit.

But yeah I'm not overly keen on the title either, agree that it sounds like a Marvel/DC title.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

darkreever said:


> This one has to be a joke, since its more than just the fact that the Eisenstein went somewhere. You blatantly ignore why its doing what its doing and from where it began, and the significance of all that.
> 
> But then again your trying to, badly, prove a point by being rather ignorant so not terribly surprising.


But the basic plot is just that. The Eisenstein making a flight, which can read also as escape. And also, I don't care for your choice of words there. I'm trying to prove a point with what information I have, and my point is simply that not every title in the HH series is deep with great meaning, nor do they need to be. Yes there is more than just the Eisenstein making it's flight, but that is the key premise of the story. The ship's flight from Istvaan.



darkreever said:


> And I'm assuming your basing all these off the titles alone.


No, all I'm saying is that not every single title has to be layered in deep meaning and that _Vulkan Lives_ is not the first simple title in the HH series. Could it have a better title? Yeah more than likely. Can I think of one? No because I don't know the story, and despite all the theories here nobody here does, so I can't judge whether or not the title is truly that simple. Perhaps it has deeper meaning than we think, until we've read the story we can't be sure. _Vulkan Lives_ could actually mean a lot of things, it could explain exactly what happened to him on Istvaan, it could give a hint that he did survive the Heresy at least, it could be the overlying theme of the story that his Legion does not believe he is dead and is searching for him despite being ordered otherwise, and etc.



darkreever said:


> And even the books with less clever titles at least try, this one most certainly does not.


Again, perhaps there is more meaning to this title than we know. I don't know, nor does anyone else here. Only Kyme knows that, and whoever he's shown it to.



darkreever said:


> Actually with a title like 'Tempting Fate' an alternate meaning could likely be reffering to Kurze. Assume its set during the Age of Darkness, then Kurze might be tempting fate in hunting another primarch after nearly being killed in conflict with Johnson.


I admit that title could suffice for a short story but I don't see it being able to be the title of a full novel. Novels and short stories need different kinds of titles, some titles just scream short story and Tempting Fate does, at least for me.


LotN


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## Khyzer (Dec 22, 2012)

I personally prefer ADB's style of using epithet for how each protagonist primarch views the Emperor. Lorgar views the Emperor as "The First Heretic" for denying godhood and the existence of other gods, then Angron viewing him as a "Betrayer" for denying him his death with his brothers and sisters upon Nuceria.

This little insight into the views of the Primarch we are about to delve into is a nice little tease before starting a novel. 

"Vulkan Lives" is a little to straight forward for me, I prefer titles to provide a thinking point, something to consider if you will...

But hopefully "Vulkan Lives" is about more then just Vulkan's survival. It is suppose to lead into "Unremembered Empire" so I think its safe to assume he will end up on Ultramar.


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## Zondarian (Nov 17, 2007)

Am I missing something here? Because I didn't think the book was out yet, so we don't really know how appropriate the title is. Undoubtably some of the titles in the dries have been simplistic. Primarily the Flight of the Eisenstein was about the flight of the Eisenstein. Horus rising was primarily about Horus rising. Fulgrim was about....well you get the picture. 

As Reever has correctly pointed out there have been sub-contexts and themes in these books, but lets not pretend Vulkan Lives is the first simplistic title in the series. Without reading the book we don't know what themes will be explored within the book or how one
dimensional the title will actually be.


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Zondarian said:


> As Reever has correctly pointed out there have been sub-contexts and themes in these books, but lets not pretend Vulkan Lives is the first simplistic title in the series.


It's the first one that's made me go "meh" though :laugh:

I am however looking forward to the Sallys getting some love though


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Tawa said:


> I am however looking forward to the Sallys getting some love though


Same here. This will be the first novel that focuses on them and I am looking forward to seeing what Vulkan was like. Before and after Istvaan, as I imagine watching his Legion be butchered will have affected him quite a lot.


LotN


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Lord of the Night said:


> Same here. This will be the first novel that focuses on them and I am looking forward to seeing what Vulkan was like. Before and after Istvaan, as I imagine watching his Legion be butchered will have affected him quite a lot.


I can't imagine it would have done him any favours :crazy:


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## Brother Subtle (May 24, 2009)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> Does anyone else despise the title? It would be like calling book #2 (_False Gods_) _Horus gets poisoned!_.


Hahahahahaha. Have some rep for my lolz. I liked that.


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## Liliedhe (Apr 29, 2012)

The title definitely has more meaning than the obvious...



> From Angel Exterminatus:
> 
> Fabius grinned and wagged a scolding finger before his face.
> ‘You Salamanders make such terrible liars,’ said Fabius, running a cracked and grimy fingernail along the line of Tarsa’s jawline, over his cheek to his eyes. ‘I blame Vulkan.’
> ...


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

How is that more than the obvious? Unless my sarcasm detector is a bit off.


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## Liliedhe (Apr 29, 2012)

Vulkan Lives isn't merely a description of the plot of this book. It is a mantra, a straw the Salamanders cling to. It's their, I don't know, Kyrie eleison, or whatever. 

Sure, the book will deal with where Vulkan is after Isstvan - but it also seems to deal with the fact the Salamanders don't know that and likely won't find out in this book (Vulkan might even die in it). It is contrasting the perspective of the Primarch who lives (but might prefer being dead) and the Salamanders who cling to a belief that has no proof at all and what that makes them do. Or not.


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## Good Minton (Sep 1, 2010)

I feel that perhaps a simple question mark would have saved all this. 

Vulkan Lives?

Though we are getting into Brian Blessed territory if its changed around 'Vulkans Alive?!'


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Good Minton said:


> I feel that perhaps a simple question mark would have saved all this.
> 
> Vulkan Lives?
> 
> Though we are getting into Brian Blessed territory if its changed around 'Vulkans Alive?!'


Complete with a new record from Queen? :laugh:


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## DeathJester921 (Feb 15, 2009)

Liliedhe said:


> Vulkan Lives isn't merely a description of the plot of this book. It is a mantra, a straw the Salamanders cling to. It's their, I don't know, Kyrie eleison, or whatever.
> 
> Sure, the book will deal with where Vulkan is after Isstvan - but it also seems to deal with the fact the Salamanders don't know that and likely won't find out in this book (Vulkan might even die in it). It is contrasting the perspective of the Primarch who lives (but might prefer being dead) and the Salamanders who cling to a belief that has no proof at all and what that makes them do. Or not.


If Ferrus Manus's death is anything to go by and also what we know of Sanguinius's death, I'm sure the Salamanders would know if their primarch was dead.

Anywho, I like the title. Certainly isn't any worse than Horus Rising, Galaxy in Flames, The Flight of the Eisenstein, etc etc. Sure more went on in those book than just what the title suggests, but we can't count this one out because of the title. More will be going on than just finding out that, obviously, Vulkan is still alive.


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## Loli (Mar 26, 2009)

What matters is the art work is cool end of.


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

Nick Kyme.... fuck..... why? Thats like Graham McNeil writing _Know no Fear._ And Kyme's novels were mediocre at best compared to the Omnibus for the Ultramarines.

Nice artwork though. I concur


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