What do you think?
Rate this book
Warhammer 40,000
Ghosts of Iron
A Warhammer 40,000 story
On a devastated world, a tech-priest and her band of followers seek refuge in a damaged Titan. But will it prove their salvation, or their doom?
READ IT BECAUSE
Get inside the head of a desperate tech-priest who has lost everything she knows – even as she gets into what passes for the head of a Battle Titan…
THE STORY
On the world of Sareme, the dream of Mars is dead. Forge-temples have been destroyed, and the tech-priests who watched over the world are dead – all but one. Magos Calliope Vartothex lives still, and leads a ragged band of injured and desperate followers, united by a single to survive. In the ravaged desert wastes outside Forge Avarna, they find salvation – a deactivated Titan of the Iron Kings. If they can bring it under their control, Calliope and her comrades may still achieve victory. Yet Fury of Mars has its own machine-soul, and may not be so easily swayed…
On a devastated world, a tech-priest and her band of followers seek refuge in a damaged Titan. But will it prove their salvation, or their doom?
READ IT BECAUSE
Get inside the head of a desperate tech-priest who has lost everything she knows – even as she gets into what passes for the head of a Battle Titan…
THE STORY
On the world of Sareme, the dream of Mars is dead. Forge-temples have been destroyed, and the tech-priests who watched over the world are dead – all but one. Magos Calliope Vartothex lives still, and leads a ragged band of injured and desperate followers, united by a single to survive. In the ravaged desert wastes outside Forge Avarna, they find salvation – a deactivated Titan of the Iron Kings. If they can bring it under their control, Calliope and her comrades may still achieve victory. Yet Fury of Mars has its own machine-soul, and may not be so easily swayed…
33 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 11, 2019
About the author
Marc Collins
30 books76 followersMarc Collins is a speculative fiction writer from Glasgow, Scotland, covering diverse topics from Norse werewolves to the grim darkness of the far future. When not working in Pathology, he enjoys a dram and pondering our transhuman future, inspired by writers such as Iain M Banks.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 11, 2019
Thoroughly enjoyed the eshort and the grim setting Marc Collins has displayed with the vain hope forced upon Calliope. The dynamics between characters was great and the descriptive writing allowed me to picture it perfectly.
November 11, 2019
A great debut that follows very much in the footsteps of Spiritus in Machina from Inferno! Volume 2, taking a different perspective on the standard Mechanicus story we typically see.
November 19, 2019
On the forge world of Sareme, as the forges are overrun by hereteks and the Great Rift sears the skies, Magos Domina Calliope Vartothex seeks out the silent bulk of the Warlord Titan Fury of Mars. Accompanied by the last failing remnants of her skitarii allies, Calliope holds the final, faint chance of survival for the Adeptus Mechanicus on Sareme, which rests upon her ability to connect with the Fury of Mars’ ancient Machine Spirit.
A classic tale of a few desperate Imperial souls searching for survival against the overwhelming forces of Chaos, this also deals with the duality at the core of the Mechanicus. For all her Omnissiah-forged gifts and strength, Calliope is still human but perhaps it’s that humanity which will allow her to succeed. Collins gives character and personality to Calliope and her followers, and a grim sense of unease to the once-glorious Titan, bound up in a lingering feeling of sadness at what’s been lost.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/11/...
A classic tale of a few desperate Imperial souls searching for survival against the overwhelming forces of Chaos, this also deals with the duality at the core of the Mechanicus. For all her Omnissiah-forged gifts and strength, Calliope is still human but perhaps it’s that humanity which will allow her to succeed. Collins gives character and personality to Calliope and her followers, and a grim sense of unease to the once-glorious Titan, bound up in a lingering feeling of sadness at what’s been lost.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/11/...
November 26, 2019
An excellent first outing from this author.
This is a throughly enjoyable short story that captures the spirit of the Adeptus mechanicus perfectly. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
This is a throughly enjoyable short story that captures the spirit of the Adeptus mechanicus perfectly. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
February 17, 2020
“The dream of Mars is war. War to preserve knowledge, war to safeguard what we have remembered. It is the war that built the iron skeleton of the Imperium, around the forges which burned through the darkness of Strife. It is carried in the heart of every Magos and every war engine.”
January 25, 2020
A fun look at Skitarii and Titans. Although, once again I'm not sure if GW actually knows how the inner workings of their creations are laid out. That was MUCH tooo big & roomy in there.
November 26, 2020
A very strong debut, one which showed that Marc can only go forward and upwards. His characters are distinct from each other and they speak with their own voices not. The Titan and the landscape are characters in their own right which is another strong point. The syntax is spot on, there is a sense of rhythm, there are no superfluous words or indulgence. This is the kind of cinematic story which keeps you hooked to the very end.
January 31, 2025
A fantastic Mechanicus story about a forgeworld a wee bit too close to the Cicatrix Maledictum when it ripped the galaxy in half. We know what happens when regular humans, even the enhanced ones of the Mechanicus, get exposed to too much warp all at once.
But what happens to a Titan, with all of it's godlike sensors, looks directly into the warp?
But what happens to a Titan, with all of it's godlike sensors, looks directly into the warp?
February 19, 2021
Fairly interesting
This book encapsulates a good snapshot of the adeptus mechanicus as well as a kind of outside looking in titanicus view overall a fun and enjoyable read
This book encapsulates a good snapshot of the adeptus mechanicus as well as a kind of outside looking in titanicus view overall a fun and enjoyable read
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews