u/AndreiWarg

Context: Gaunt has been relieved of command of his Ghosts and has entered the war theatre as a Comissar. He has found 7 troopers attempting to desert, got them arrested, and after interrogating them got them a spot in the supply depot. Comissar Ludd is discussing this fact with him afterwards.

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"Shouldn't they just be... shot?" Ludd asked.

Gaunt pretended to search his coat pockets. 'I don't know. Should they? I can't find my Instrument of Order.'

'You know what I mean.'

'If we start executing,' Gaunt said 'Van Voytz will be fighting this war on his own. From what I've seen and what I've been told, the Imperial forces at the Second Front are plagued with fear and lack of resolve. Punishment has its place, Ludd, but what's needed here is a way to give the Guard some focus. Some resolve.'

'Because they've lost it?'

'Because they've never had it. These boys have no experience of war, nothing to insulate themselves with. Under other circumstances, the officer class and the comissariate would whip some spirit into them and get them through the first weeks of doubt and fear until they found their feet. But the officers are no more experienced, and there aren't enough comissars. Summary execution is a commisar's most potent tool, Ludd. Used to effect in a situation involving a veteran unit, it reminds the men of their commitment. Used on units of fresh-faced boys, it destroys what little spirit they have. Worse, it confirms their fears.'

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I love how Abnett is always able to add nuance and this sort of fresh, realistic, humane look to the genre. Especially since a lot of other authors went the other way, and especially the meme lore goes hard in the "hurr durr BRUDER" direction. You can find similar excerpts in Eisenhorn about the Inquisition and Chaos corruption.

Howdy lads,

I have been listening to Stoner Rock for a while. And I have realised that yes, I love the tasty riffs, I love the weed lyrics and I just enjoy the vibe of the genre to the fullest. However, weirdly enough, the guitar solos are what make or break the bands that I will listen to. If the solos suck, or just aren't there at all, I feel like the band is missing that last spice for their recipe.

For me, I have come to realise I especially like when the solos feel triumphant, especially when they erupt into a last second power chord. I thought about, why do I most like solos like in EW - Satanic Rites of Count Drugula, or 1000mods - Loose? And then I thought about it more, and realised that I seriously fucking love the last solo of Black Sabbath - War Pigs. It has that same feeling of triumph, rebellion, or however else you want to call it.

What are your favourite guitar solos? Why do you like those in particular? Feel free to drop the link, I am really looking forward to the responses.

I don't know about you guys, but in the Czech Republic we have a fond appreciation for certain old sitcoms. Stuff like Step by Step, Married... with Children and The Nanny.

You can find these on specific TV channels any day of the week. And they are just incredibly comforting, especially for people born around the Velvet Revolution that were there for their first run. There is just something about them that is so good. They are pretty well made for their time, consistently funny in their own style and an easy watch.

Anybody else enjoy this type of TV shows?

Hello,

I got a beat up Kindle as a dad present on Christmas. Since then, I have finally come to fulfill my dream of reading through the 40k books. I have very much enjoyed Eisenhorn, Ravenor, and devoured Helsreach. Then I decided to get into my Gaunt's Ghosts.

I am currently on book 7: Sabbat Martyr (i.e. end of The Saint omnibus). And I just have to give Dan Abnett his fething props. This has been an incredible ride so far. I am massively enjoying it and tearing through pages, I think I went through the 7 books in about 2 months now.

People tend to critique Abnett, and the BL as a general, as tending to be a bit pulpy and formulaic. I feel like that is kinda missing the point. Abnetts' work has imo very similar qualities to the works of Gibson like Neuromancer. Sure, the ending is very abrupt and almost tacked on as "shit, I gotta finish now". Sure, you can probably imagine the structure of the "main" storyline sequence for every Abnett book.

What is incredible about Abnett though is how he paints the world. He intentionally uses the structure to support nuances and different flavours based on the characters he is using. Eisenhorn is cold, very matter of fact and mostly focused on Eisenhorn. Makes sense, since the books are theoretically his memoirs. He is also quite a self absorbed person, and gets called out on it pretty hard. Then in The Magos, he opens up, and the book looks at other peoples POVs as well. Ravenor is very detached, almost a side character to a lot of the story. Again, stylistically makes a ton of sense, since as a crippled powerful psyker he mostly interacts with the world disconnected to his body, often wearing the bodies of his companions.

Gaunt's Ghosts is a war story. War operations tend to happen in the same way really. A conflict starts, soldiers get sent to it, a battle is fought, a ton of people die, then something either ends the battle, or the soldiers get replaced with somebody else. However, there is a lot of humanity in what happens between the start and the end. We all love our shooty shooty bits, but Abnett gives us so much more flavour. Always a small extra challenge (Munitorium clerks can piss off). Always a different setting (WW1 with Chocobos? D-Day with transport ships? You betcha.). Tiny tidbits about small characters. Returning cast from previous books, just as a nudge. People die, get maimed or reassigned. Ongoing unresolved storylines, character development (fething Cuu) and a ton of cultural flavor, both from the Ghosts as well as the world we are currently visiting.

I also particularly love how unexpectedly religious The Saint omnibus is. It's ironic, knowing what The Emperor wanted, how much impact Saint Sabbat has had on the story so far. GG shows us a very cynical approach for a pretty long dive, and then suddenly Sabbat is all too real and it wonderfully contrasts a lot of the usual cynical atheism I see around 40k. And I am saying this as an atheist. It feels like if St. George showed up for the storming of Normandy beaches. And you can feel the difference between the religious fanatism of Helsreach and the human way Vervunhive is experienced.

And it flows so well. I can devour 30 pages in one toilet break. I have not had a point during reading where I would be like "yeah, I think I need to concentrate more on this".

TL;DR: I have enjoyed GG since the beginning, but The Saint omnibus is insanely well written. I feel like the books deserve way more props, even though they are a classic of the genre at this stage.