The Hunt For Vulkan

The Adeptus Astartes carry the battle to the orks' home world, led by a mighty armoured warrior of legend. Tearing itself apart from within, the Imperium is still virtually powerless to resist the ork advance. When the Adeptus Mechanicus reveal they have discovered the orks’ point of origin, the Adeptus Astartes start to gather their forces for a massive assault on their enemy’s home world. But what the Imperial forces need is a figurehead, a hero from legend to lead them – a primarch. Meanwhile, on the planet Caldera, a mighty armoured warrior fights tirelessly against the orks – is he the saviour the Imperium seeks?

The captivating, all-but-forgotten story of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and the search for a planet that never existed For more than fifty years, the world’s top scientists searched for the “missing” planet Vulcan, whose existence was mandated by Isaac Newton’s theories of gravity. Countless hours were spent on the hunt for the elusive orb, and some of the era’s most skilled astronomers even claimed to have found it. There was just one problem: It was never there. In The Hunt for Vulcan, Thomas Levenson follows the visionary scientists who inhabit the story of the phantom planet, starting with Isaac Newton, who in 1687 provided an explanation for all matter in motion throughout the universe, leading to Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier, who almost two centuries later built on Newton’s theories and discovered Neptune, becoming the most famous scientist in the world. Le Verrier attempted to surpass that triumph by predicting the existence of yet another planet in our solar system, Vulcan. It took Albert Einstein to discern that the mystery of the missing planet was a problem not of measurements or math but of Newton’s theory of gravity itself. Einstein’s general theory of relativity proved that Vulcan did not and could not exist, and that the search for it had merely been a quirk of operating under the wrong set of assumptions about the universe. Levenson tells the previously untold tale of how the “discovery” of Vulcan in the nineteenth century set the stage for Einstein’s monumental breakthrough, the greatest individual intellectual achievement of the twentieth century. A dramatic human story of an epic quest, The Hunt for Vulcan offers insight into how science really advances (as opposed to the way we’re taught about it in school) and how the best work of the greatest scientists reveals an artist’s sensibility. Opening a new window onto our world, Levenson illuminates some of our most iconic ideas as he recounts one of the strangest episodes in the history of science. Praise for The Hunt for Vulcan “Delightful . . . a charming tale about an all-but-forgotten episode in science history.”—The Wall Street Journal “Engaging . . . At heart, this is a story about how science advances, one insight at a time. But the immediacy, almost romance, of Levenson’s writing makes it almost novelistic.”—The Washington Post “A well-structured, fast-paced example of exemplary science writing.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In the wake of the Dropsite Massacre at Isstvan V, the survivors of the Salamanders Legion searched long and hard for their fallen primarch, but to no avail. Little did they know that while Vulkan might have wished himself dead, he lives still. As the war continues without him, all eyes turn to Ultramar and Guilliman's new empire there, and Vulkan's sons are drawn into an insidious plot to end the Heresy by the most underhand means imaginable.

In the thirty-second millennium, the Horus Heresy is ancient history. After centuries of peace, the Imperium is thrown into peril as a new threat menaces the galaxy, the rise of the ork empire. Epic omnibus including the first four novels of The Beast Arises series: I Am Slaughter; Predator, Prey; The Emperor Expects; and The Last Wall ‘The Beast Arises’ is an epic Warhammer 40,000 series from Black Library. Spanning twelve volumes, the story covers a galaxy-wide conflict between humanity and a massive ork invasion. It is the thirty-second millennium, and the Heresy is but a distant memory. After centuries of peace, the Imperium is thrown into panic as worlds everywhere are menaced by orks. In a relentless tide of slaughter, ork attack moons destroy planet after planet with gravity weapons of unstoppable power. On Terra, the High Lords are paralysed by the scale of the threat, and fail to take any effective action. With entire Space Marine Chapters missing or destroyed, does anyone have the will and the power to rise to the Imperium’s defence?

For mankind to survive, a last-ditch attempt to destroy the ork menace must succeed. The Imperium’s attempts to defeat the ork menace seem doomed to failure; it is only a matter of time before the greenskins triumph, and mankind is wiped from the face of galactic map. Yet there is some cause for hope – the Imperial Fists Chapter is reformed, and a few Sisters of Silence yet survive. Supported by the full military might and technology of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Space Marines head to the orks’ home world one final time. This time there will be no retreat, no surrender. They must succeed… or die in the attempt.

The attempt to hunt down and kill the orks' leader has ended in failure and catastrophe. The Imperium is reeling from the loss of so many beloved heroes, and the military forces of mankind have been reduced to tatters. Koorland now knows that brute force is not the answer - but how else can the orks be fought? In a radical move, he creates small, mixed Chapter units of Adeptus Astartes - compact teams that will hit the enemy hard and fast, and with deadly accuracy. With armour painted the black of mourning, the new strike teams become known as the Death Watch. But will this be enough to tip the balance, or does the Imperium need to discover new means to defeat the orks?

Reborn in the fires of Nocturne, Vulkan prepares for his final journey. With the choice between vengeance and duty, what will the primarch's destiny be? Reborn in body and spirit beneath Mount Deathfire, the primarch Vulkan gathers his most trusted sons and prepares for the final part of his journey. The Legions shattered at Isstvan V have stalled the Warmaster’s advance across the galaxy, but fresh cracks are spreading through the alliance between the Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard, along with mysterious rumours of the return of Ferrus Manus. Haunted by a sense of destiny unfulfilled, Vulkan must choose between joining their war of vengeance against the traitors, or following his own barely understood path all the way to the Throneworld itself.

Koorland, the last son of Dorn, finally confronts the Beast in battle. The first attempt to attack the orks’ home world has failed, but the Imperium is not defeated yet. New, more flexible fighting teams of Adeptus Astartes have been assembled – the Death Watch. Allies from the Imperium’s past have also pledged their support – the legendary Sisters of Silence, female warriors with anti-psyker powers. With new troops, and revised tactics, Koorland leads a second attack against the orks’ home world. This time, the attack goes better, and Koorland is able to confront the Beast in battle. But the creature is truly a monster, more than a match for even a primarch. How can the last son of Dorn possibly prevail?