Once a Killer cover

Once a Killer

In the sprawling hive city of Varangantua, crime lords and gangers, law enforcers, and vigilantes live cheek-by-jowl – killers, thieves, and worse from all echelons of society doing what they can to survive.
In Once a Killer, Always a Killer by Mitchel Scanlon, Sanctioner Kirian Malenko goes after a former pit fighter on a killing spree, but knows more about the killer than he cares to admit, Chains by Jonathan D. Beer sees a cartel and a gang lord go head to head for the release of a valuable prisoner, and in Slate Run by Mike Brooks, a bodyguard gets more than she bargained for when she is hired for a gilded function… These collected tales of murder, betrayal, and corruption also contain stories from Nick Kyme, Denny Flowers, Jude Reid, Gareth Hanrahan, and Victoria Hayward. Welcome to Varangantua – watch your back.

Jonathan D. Beer

Jonathan D. Beer is a science fiction writer living in Edinburgh, UK. His work in the Warhammer 40,000 universe for Black Library includes the novels The King of the Spoil and Dominion Genesis, and a range of short stories.

Mike Brooks

Mike Brooks is the author of The God-King Chronicles epic fantasy series (THE BLACK COAST, THE SPLINTER KING and THE GODBREAKER); the Keiko series of grimy space-opera novels (DARK RUN, DARK SKY and DARK DEEDS); and various works for Games Workshop’s Black Library imprint, including BRUTAL KUNNIN, ALPHARIUS: HEAD OF THE HYDRA, and THE LION: SON OF THE FOREST. He was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, and moved to Nottingham to go to university when he was eighteen, where he still lives with his wife, cats, and snakes. He worked in the homelessness sector for fifteen years before going full-time as an author, plays guitar and sings in a punk band, and DJs wherever anyone will tolerate him. He is queer, and partially deaf (no, that occurred naturally, and a long time before the punk band).

Victoria Hayward

Victoria Hayward is a historian by training, publicly funded artist and mother of birds. She is the author of ‘The Carbis Incident’ and ‘The Siege of Ismyr’ for Black Library and is a contributor to the academic anthology ‘Travel Writing in an Age of Global Quarantine.' When not writing SFF she works in science communication, helping academics tell stories about their research whether it be on black holes or the palaces of despots. She spent one weird summer working in Westminster which has absolutely nothing to do with her interest in writing about dystopian bureaucracies.

Denny Flowers

Denny Flowers is a writer of Warhammer 40k, Age of Sigmar, and Necromunda fiction. He submitted his first Black Library story during open submissions in 2018.

Nick Kyme

Nick Kyme hails from Grimsby, a small town on the North East coast of England known for its fish (a food, which ironically he dislikes profusely). Nick moved to Nottingham in 2003 to work on White Dwarf magazine as a Layout Designer. Since then, he has climbed to the heady heights of Writer and Layout Designer, and has had three short stories published in Inferno in that time.

Mitchel Scanlon

Mitchel Scanlon is a British writer of science fiction novels and comics. He wrote novels for the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, and novels featuring 2000 AD character Judge Anderson. A native of Wales, he began work for the Black Library on scripting the Hellbrandt Grimm comic series that ran in Warhammer Monthly. Since then, he has worked on producing novels for the publishing imprint.

Gareth Hanrahan

Gareth Hanrahan’s three-month break from computer programming to concentrate on writing has now lasted fifteen years and counting. He’s written more gaming books than he can readily recall, by virtue of the alchemical transmutation of tea and guilt into words. He lives in Ireland with his wife and three children.

Jude Reid

Jude lives in Scotland and writes horror stories in the narrow gaps between full-time work as a surgeon, wrangling two kids and trying to wear out a border collie. She is a fan of Zombies, Run and ITF Tae-Kwon Do, co-writes and co-stars in the podcast audiodrama Tales from the Aletheian Society, and drinks a powerful load of coffee.