A few days ago I posted on the publication history (for Warhammer anyway) of Games Workshop books 1989-1991. I was surprised by the response of the post and heard from a number of other bloggers who were had very fond memories of these books and others who had missed them entirely.
I was reminded of the existence of two short stories by a mysterious blogger only known as G.S.Shaw. A quick delve into my White Dwarf magazine archive quickly located the issues (WD117 and WD136) and I was pleasantly surprised!
The first story was 'No Gold in the Grey Mountains' by Jack Yeovil a.k.a Kim Newman. Newman is now a well known and respected author and critic of all things fantasy and horror. He even pops up on those '100 greatest/worst/most memorable' TV shows that are on occasionally. Check out his wikipedia entry here if you're interested in finding out more about his work.
As some of you of you will know, 'No Gold in the Grey Mountains' was one of the stories first published in Wolf Riders and has been republished by the Black Library since. It was also used as a 'taster' story presented in White Dwarf issue 117 just before Ignorant Armies was published. I present that here in its original form.
The second story was published much later as is by the late Barrington J. Bayley. This tale, called the Magician's Son, was also intended to be a taster for a new (and unpublished) anthology. Sadly, this book and its short stories never saw the light of day; though there are a few clues here and there about what this anthology may have included. Kim Newman has mentioned both 'Warhawk' and 'Ibby the Fish Factor' were both written during this period (though were rejected, apparently) as were the remaining three short stories from Troll Slayer; The Mark of Slaanesh, Blood and Darkness and the Mutant Master if I remember correctly.
If any other bloggers out there have any further information about short stories and novels of this period I (and I am sure many others, considering the popularity of the Warhammer Novels post) would love to know more.
Anyway, I am presenting the short stories on my Scribd account. Here are the links. So why not do yourself a favour, if you've never read these stories before (or even if you have) download to your tablet, print out on paper or whatever and experience the Warhammer world as it used to be...
Enjoy your reading, Orlygg!
No-Gold-in-the-Grey-Mountains
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Must have read the Magicians son many times over, a firm favourite particularly for the goblin skirmish . Also I think it is a good example of how to play an elf character in WHFRP which I think is relevant to current activities.
ReplyDeleteYep, 'The Magician's Son' is definitely the story to which I alluded in my previous comment. I haven't read it for about twenty years, but boy did I remember it! Back then I used to get my WDs from a little oak-panelled tobacconists that also sold GW and other random gaming stuff (like ICE's MERP). The shop (and the panelling) are long gone now, of course! Anyway, thank you very, very much! I'll keep a weather eye on the ebay for that particular issue.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember another story about a riverboat pursued by Tzeentchian pirates, but I can't remember what issue that was in at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure there's a page missing in your PDF of The Magician's Son! Page 30 jumps to 34 and the text doesn't marry up. Hope you can fix it as I was really enjoying it!
ReplyDeleteI've just checked the WD and it too is missing a page of the story. How strange..! I have a second copy and that seems complete.
DeleteI'll scan that one up later and replace the old one.
Hi Orlygg. I see you have put up the complete version of The Magician's Son on Scribd, thanks very much! I missed WD136 for a reason long forgotten so I have never read it before. By the way, don't know if you realise this but the original link doesn't lead to the complete version.
ReplyDeleteYes, my magazine was missing a page when i posted it up. I thought i had fixed it though...
DeleteThe link says that the document has been deleted rather than leading you to the new upload. No problem with document itself but I'm sure you would prefer it if it was as easy to link to as possible.
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