"Old Soldiers" Has An Audio Preview (And You Should Absolutely Check It Out!)

Folks who regularly stop by this blog are probably aware of the fact that I have written a slew of space marine fan stories for the grimdark future of Warhammer 40K. And if you're one of the readers out there who has enjoyed The Final Lamentation (my story of a Lamenter savaging a Black Legion ship), Blackest Knights (a story of Kill Team Errant for the Deathwatch), or even my Waking Dogs series (featuring a renegade World Eater), then I wanted to take a moment to let you know about my sci fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers.

Not just that, but it now has an audio reading for the first two chapters from Altered State Adventures!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

A New Update (While I Work On Some More 40K Nonsense)

For folks who haven't come across this book before, Old Soldiers is a novel of mine that's been out for some time. In this book we follow Pollux, one of the myrmidon, who is attempting to survive in a world that was not meant for him. A genetic experiment who was one of hundreds of different doomsday weapons created by humanity, these gigantic, albino shock troopers weren't meant to survive their clash with the alien Hyperion... but some of them did. Ghosts of their former selves, the myrmidon have become relics of the past, mostly forgotten by the world they fought for. Pollux is just about to get his life together, when assassins come for him, and the woman he's formed a connection with.

Their bullets weren't enough, though. And when he gets the remnants of his squad back together, they'll tear apart the city until they find the answers that have been buried for far too long.

So grab your copy if you haven't yet!

And I bring this up this week because this is the second piece of mine that's been dramatized by Altered State Adventures. The first one of mine the channel put together was my Warhammer 40K Knight story Broken Heroes, whose video is approaching 10K views as of this reading...

So, you know, go check that out if you haven't!

I've Got Some New Stuff on The Horizon!

While I'm currently getting ready for my last event of 2025, once I pack up and get back home I have plans to settle down and to work on the next installment of the Gav and Bob series, which tells the tale of the Imperium's Bravest Ogryn! I don't know if I'm going to manage to get the next installment done by Sanguinala this year, but I'm going to do my best!

And for folks who haven't come across this series yet, check out this playlist over on A Vox in The Void!

And, of course, if you want to help me make a little extra scratch for the holidays, you can read my contributions to the series directly on Vocal.media:

- Gav and Bob Part IV: The Emperor's Hand

- Gav and Bob Part V: Faith and Martyrs

- Gav and Bob Part VI: The Laughter of a Thirsting God

Lastly, if you've already read these stories, consider sharing them around on your social media site of choice! It's tough to get eyes on these stories, but the more folks who cheer for Gav, the more of these stories I'll be able to put together... so raise your voice, because it matters!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Table Talk. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Hungry For More Warhammer 40K Content? Well, You're In Luck!

It's time for another Table Talk update! And while I've got a lot of things going on behind the scenes, this week I wanted to draw folks' attention to a very specific plate that I'm spinning. Because I mentioned this a while back in Gathering The Grimdark (Tying My Warhammer 40K Shorts Together), but I wanted to give my regular readers an update on progress!

And if you haven't read any of my tales of the grim darkness of the far future, the full list can be found at the end of this article.

I've been waiting to start on these for a while, now...

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Expanding My Current Series Offerings (Ogryns and Renegades)

First things first, while I love the grim darkness of the far future (and adding my own little touches to it), one reason these stories come so slowly from me is that these aren't an independent endeavor. When I write one of these stories, it's because I'm working with someone else (usually, though not exclusively, the YouTube channel A Vox In The Void, whom you should follow if you haven't), so I have to take their workload and schedule into account. As a result, folks tend to only get these stories from me a few times a year.

But after some talks, I have the next two installments figured out, and I'm currently working on the first of them!

This tale is something that I'm sure regular readers will be excited for... a new Gav and Bob story! As we draw closer and closer to our own Winter holiday, we're also approaching Sanguinala. And since it's become something of a tradition now, both Paul and myself thought it would only be appropriate for Gav to have a new adventure during one of the holiest days of the Imperium's calendar.

And while I don't want to say too much about our boy Gav's latest adventure (though it is a Warhammer Christmas story, so be prepared for elves to be involved somehow!), I also got the greenlight for yet another tale which will mark the triumphant return of the Old War Hound himself, Crixus!

The third tale in what I guess I'm now calling the Waking Dogs series (the first two are below), this tale will feature Crixus in a fight for his life aboard a World Eater vessel. Turned loose in the gladiator pits, he will face trial by combat... but will he be fighting alone? And what horror awaits in the bowels of the ship that his erstwhile brothers will loose on him after all the death and destruction he has sown among their ranks? Stay tuned and find out in Waking Dogs: War Hounds!

And isn't THAT just a pair of tales?

While I still have quite a lot of other projects that I'm working on, these are the current pieces of fiction I'm planning on finishing up while I try to push the Azukail Games YouTube channel over the finish line to get it monetized. Once that happens it will be time for me to break ground on the audio drama series Windy City Shadows, which will take place in the world of the Chronicles of Darkness! If you haven't heard about it, I did an AMA for it a while back, and I could use all the help folks can give me to help make it into a reality!

My Grimdark Tales (Many of Which Have Audio Drama Versions)

- Waking Dogs- A World Eaters Tale: When Crixus awakens from the haze of the Butcher's Nails, he decides he has had enough of being a dog for one warband after another. The old Warhound is awake, and he means to put down the rest of the World Eaters like the rabid dogs they are.

- Broken Chains- A World Eaters Tale: Crixus settles a grudge with his former brother sergeant... and a part of him that he'd long forgotten is rekindled in the soul of this vengeful renegade.

- Blackest Knights: The debut tale of Kill Team Errant, this squad of Blackshields assists a captured inquisitor, only to find this situation is larger, and more dire, than they'd anticipated.

- The Final Lamentation: When the Black Legion takes a Lamenter prisoner, they quickly realize that the cursed luck of his legion is also their problem when he's present on their ship.

- Field Test: An inquisitor claims to have a secret weapon that can wipe out an entire ork waaaaugh... but no weapon seems to be in evidence. Just her retinue; a Catachan, a tech priest, and a hollw-eyed young man who may be far more than he seems.

- Broken Heroes: A scouting party is trying to recover an experimental piece of ammunition... but they find something far more dangerous when they're surrounded by a swarm of enemies, and they stumble upon an ancient bunker where a terrible weapon has waited to finish what it started.

- Gav And Bob, Part IV: The Emperor's Hand: An adventure of the Imperium's Bravest Ogryn, Gav Smythe finds himself on a world in the midst of a war. When he crosses paths with a strange, black sword, he hears the voice of the Emperor, and knows what he has to do.

- Gav And Bob Part V: Faith And Martyrs: Gav is brought to a shrine world where he speaks with a Canoness Confessor of the Sisters of Battle. She will be the one who weighs his sanity, and his soul.

- Pyramid Scheme- A Leagues of Votann Story (Part One and Part Two): When the Ironbeards hear of great wealth on a jungle moon in an uncharted corner of the sector, they rush in to try to earn a big payday... the danger that awakens, though, might mean they never survive to spend it!

- 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, Warhammer 40K Edition: The second installment of my 50 two-sentence horror stories project, this one was quite popular before the algorithm started excluding Vocal links from being shared. Still, check it out if you're looking for some short, snacky scares!

What's Next on Table Talk?

That's it for this installment of Table Talk! What would you like to see next? I'm listening for your comments and votes!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archives, as well as the YouTube channel for Azukail Games. Or, to check out books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, my hard-boiled noir series featuring the street beasts of NYC in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, or my recent short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Bue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, as well as on Pinterest where I'm building all sorts of boards dedicated to my books, RPG supplements, and greatest hits. Lastly, to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little donation can have a big impact.