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Sunday, November 21, 2010

Hammer & Bolter volume 1

The Black Library recently started adding e-books to their catalog of products which they offer, one of them is a new bi-monthly publication called the Hammer & Bolter. The first volume is a free download and contains seven articles; five 40k, and two fanatasy and an interview with Nick Khyme. There are two elements which I would like to discuss in terms of these downloads: ease of downloading and the fiction itself.
Lets start with ease of download. There are supposed to be three ways to view, nook, kindle and Mac's e-book app. To put the e-book on my computer seemed almost impossible despite the blurb on the BL site. So i then attempted to put it on my ipod touch. I had the Kindle app on my ipod touch so I didn't see that it would be a problem. However I had to add the e-book app to my ipod touch and then add it to my ipod.
I only read the three 40k stories: "The Death of Titus Endor", "Primary Instinct" and "Phalanx". All three were very good. "The Death of Titus Endor" is a sad tale about the end of Eisenhorn's once friend Titus Endor. He seems to be working a case , but there are complications that arise. "Primary Instinct" is a story about the Silver Skulls hunting eldar on a planet with a crashed spaceship. "Phalanx" is the first two chapters in the next Soul Drinkers novel. Apparently it will be serialized in the Hammer & Bolter. It is a good start to this novel, with some intriguing developments in the storyline.
One of the stories is an excerpt for Prospero Burns, and while I eagerly await reading this novel, I would like to go into it fresh without any teasers. I stayed away from the Warhammer fantasy stories on general purpose. For the most part, i just don't enjoy that setting. For a free publication, it is worth it if you have the capability to read it. However I'll have to check out the next episode to see if it will continue to be.

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