Warhammer 40,000

A Genestealer Cults novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky. 

A labourers’ uprising on a forge world conceals an alien menace. A tech-priest infiltrates a strange, but popular, congregation and discovers more than they bargained for!

Find Adrian as @Aptshadow on Bluesky

This anthology of short stories opens with a novella-length tale by Adrian which finds Fusil-Major Rosforth consigned to an unlikely friendship after a career-ending injury. 

The hard-nosed Dawnbringer must now be carried into battle by Slobda, a vicious man-eating ogor drafted into Sigmar’s service, and their problems only mount when the Skaven spill forth into Ghyran in their millions. Rosforth and Slobda find themselves responsible for a desperate band of survivors fleeing the teeming hordes of plague-ridden ratmen, and they’ll put their partnership to the test getting everyone to safety.

On the Shoulders of Giants and Other Stories also includes other tales from the Mortal Realms penned by Noah Van Nguyen, Liane Merciel, and more.

For those new to Warhammer, this should be entirely approachable as a fantasy story, and a good introduction to the setting.

And also – because how often does an author have this opportunity – here’s a picture of some Warhammer figures representing the main characters of ‘On The Shoulders of Giants’ painted up by Adrian himself.

To face a tyranid invasion is a waking nightmare. The skies darken with spores, your mind echoes with alien screeches, and countless weapon-organisms descend upon you with razor teeth and claws.

How much greater would your horror be, to realise that the hive ship above thinks nothing of your fate – that it crushes your resistance and devours your home on instinctual stimulus-response alone, seeking nothing more than the calories your world will yield? Witness a planet consumed, through the eyes of those who defend it – and through the blind, hungry gaze of its conquerors.