The Black Library is a division of Games Workshop (formerly a part of BL Publishing) which is devoted to publishing novels and audiobooks (and has previously produced art books, background books, and graphic novels) set in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 fictional universes. Some of Black Library's best known titles include the Gaunt's Ghosts and Eisenhorn series of novels by Dan Abnett and the Gotrek and Felix series by William King and Nathan Long.
The authors of these novels, graphic novels, and comics created original storylines and characters that are based on playable armies in the main Warhammer 40,000 game and its many spin-offs (such as Inquisitor or Epic). These works are then promoted with contributions of stories, plot synopses, and rules in the White Dwarf magazine and at the official Games Workshop website. The result is a fusion of tabletop gaming with science fiction and fantasy writing.
History The publishing company takes its name from the fictional Black Library that appears in the setting of Warhammer 40,000.10th anniversary interview , with Marc Gascoigne The fictional Black Library is where the Eldar race keeps their collected knowledge of Chaos and the Necrons.
The Black Library was founded in April 1997 to publish Inferno! magazine, a bi-monthly digest-sized anthology of short stories, comic strips and features from the Warhammer worlds. Black Library began as team at Games Workshop brought together to INFERNO! magazine. Inferno!'''s success spawned Warhammer Monthly comic books, and then from September 1999 a lengthy series of fantasy and science fiction novels. Their first art book, Inquis Exterminatus was published in May, 1999. Black Library's catalogue now runs to well over two hundred titles, with a Warhammer and a Warhammer 40,000 novel appearing every month.
In October 2003 BL Publishing started a sister imprint, Black Flame, which applied the same pulp styling to novels featuring New Line Cinema characters such as Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, and 2000 AD comics' Judge Dredd and others. In 2006, Black Flame produced the novel for the New Line Cinema's feature film Snakes on a Plane. In the summer of 2005 BL Publishing announced another fiction imprint, Solaris Books, that will publish original science fiction and fantasy. Solaris Books has subsequently been sold to Rebellion who also own Abaddon Books.
Background Short stories and other pieces of fiction were created for the White Dwarf magazine, for Warhammer 40,000 rulebooks and gaming guides, for other publications, such as the Citadel Journal, and for each of their official websites. Later, these evolved into larger novels and other works.
A series of Warhammer 40,000 comics were first created for the Games Workshop magazine, Warhammer Monthly as short background filler. In 1999, the first miniature and game tie-in was released as a joint project of Warhammer Monthly and its publisher, the Black Library. This model was the bounty hunter Kal Jerico of the "Specialist Game" Necromunda.
Including rules and a certificate of authenticity, the Black Library created many more limited edition miniatures and expanded the small comics into larger collections while adding many new ones. These novels and graphic novels are accompanied by cross-promotional articles that connect the characters from the novels to the Warhammer 40,000 miniatures game.
While Warhammer Monthly was discontinued in 2004 (although still listed at the Black Library website), there was a short lived continuation under the title Warhammer Comics. However, with the discontinuation of these magazine projects, the Black Library still continues to produce graphic novels and collections that expand upon the fiction behind the tabletop game.
Gaming with the Black Library The works produced by the Black Library detail the interactions of the Warhammer 40,000 armies: Chaos Space Marines, Daemonhunters, Dark Eldar, Eldar, Imperial Guard, Necrons, Orks, Space Marines, T'au, Tyranids, and the Witch Hunters. They are collaborated efforts between the authors of the Warhammer 40,000 game rules and the writers of the background.
These works expand on the storylines, characters, armies, and organisations discussed in the Codexes. Combined with contributions to White Dwarf magazine of articles, stories, and rules, and miniature lines produced by both Games Workshop and Forge World, they expand upon the fictional world of the original Warhammer 40,000 game and its other companion games. The column "Chapter Approved" of White Dwarf is a forum for collaborations between authors, model makers, and the rulemakers, allowing for the characters to have their own place amongst Warhammer 40,000 battles.
Alongside of the Warhammer 40,000 game was a short-lived game called Warhammer Warriors. The system was created by Rick Priestley and based on the playing style of LostWorlds. Many of the characters released for the miniature game were given rules and a "gaming book" to be used in playing against others. This series ended before many of the novels were published and production of cross-promotional books was discontinued.
Fiction of the Black Library Most of the stories take place thousands of years after the fall of the Emperor of Mankind at the hands of his favoured son Horus, once loyal but corrupted by Chaos. Many millennia have passed since then but the Imperium is still at war with the Chaos Space Marines, along with many new enemies.
The majority of these stories are written in the perspective of humans, primarily those of the Imperial Guard, the mechanic/scientist-mystics of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the female warriors of the Sisters of Battle, the holy Inquisition, and the superhuman Space Marines, although some have been written from the perspective of corrupt Chaos-worshipping humans, as well as the alien Eldar and T'au races. They span the complete Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Novels and short fiction line
The Inquisition Trilogies Dan Abnett began a series of trilogies involving the Inquisition, beginning in 2001 with the Eisenhorn trilogy: Xenos, Malleus, and Hereticus. In the omnibus edition, released in 2004, there are two short stories placed between these novels to connect them together.
A second trilogy began in 2004, around the time the Eisenhorn omnibus came out, known as the Ravenor trilogy: Ravenor, Ravenor Returned and Ravenor Rogue. The Ravenor omnibus was released in 2009, also with two connecting short stories.
Abnett revealed in the foreword to the Ravenor omnibus that he was planning a "trilogy of trilogies", and the third set, its title confirmed in an interview with Abnett as the Bequin trilogy - started in October 2012 with Pariah: Ravenor Versus Eisenhorn.
Plot The Inquisition (The Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition) is an organisation in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. They act as the secret police of the Imperium, hunting down any and all threats to the stability of the God-Emperor's realm. In the first trilogy, the titular character is Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn, a member of the Ordo Xenos (a division of the Inquisition devoted to hunting aliens, though they also uphold the Inquisition's creed of prosecuting "enemies of the state"), as he begins his descent into radicalism and association with daemonhosts and dark sorcery. The second trilogy is focused around Eisenhorn's former student, Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor, also of the Ordo Xenos, as he battles a powerful nemesis and seeks to defeat a conspiracy involving high Imperial officials. The third trilogy (comprising Pariah and Penitent, with the third unreleased book titled Pandemonium) centres on Alizebeth Bequin, an "untouchable" (anti-psychic, or psychic blank) who had been a long-time, trusted member of Eisenhorn's inner circle.
Warhammer 40,000 gaming Eisenhorn was made as an official model for the Inquisitor spin-off game. Unlike Inquisitors for the main Warhammer 40,000 game, the Inquisitor version of Eisenhorn is equipped with many beyond the normal standard items: he is equipped with a Power Sword, a special "rune" staff, a "duelling" pistol, grenades and flak armour. He also has the ability to use telepathy.
While the main Warhammer 40,000 games does include two inquisitorial armies (Daemon Hunters and Witch Hunters) official rules for the Alien Hunters of the Ordo Xenos to which Eisenhorn belongs have not been published. Rules for him and Daemonhosts are included in the official Inquisitor rulebook, and generic rules for him and Daemonhosts are included in the Daemonhunters army codex.
Gaunt's GhostsGaunt's Ghosts are currently collected into three "sequences": The Founding, The Saint, and The Lost. The Founding includes the novels First and Only, Ghostmaker, and Necropolis. The Saint includes the novels Honour Guard, The Guns of Tanith, Straight Silver, and Sabbat Martyr. The Lost includes the novels Traitor General, His Last Command, The Armour of Contempt, and Only in Death,. The planned fourth sequence "The Victory" includes "Blood Pact" and "Salvation's Reach".
Plot The Gaunt's Ghosts series follows Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the army of Tanith from the creation of the Tanith Regiment of the Imperial Guard and its abandonment of their planet before the destruction of it at the hands of invading Chaos legions. The stories follow the many adventures of the Tanith "First and Only" regiment as they seek to prove themselves. Things are complicated by dissension against their commander, Gaunt, for not letting them die alongside their brethren at the destruction of their planet.
Warhammer 40,000 gaming After the success of Gaunt's Ghosts, lines of Gaunt's Ghosts based miniatures were produced by Games Workshop. Unlike the previous models, these were not limited edition sets. The production covered both the main characters of Abnett's works (like the title character Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and also created a generic Imperial Guard variant called the Tanith First and Only. Rules were originally published for these miniatures in "Chapter Approved" column of White Dwarf UK 269/US 268 and later collected in the Chapter Approved edition for 2003.
With the creation of the 4th edition Imperial Guard codex, the previous rules for the Tanith First and Only were removed and they were instead a "variant" army created using "doctrine" (variations to traditional army rules). While Colonel-Commissar was given specific rules in the Imperial Guard codex, the other special characters, according to the official Games Workshop website, still use the rules presented in Chapter Approved and provide additional modelling types and rules to create more characters based on the Gaunt's Ghost series.
Space WolvesSpace Wolf, by William King, with additions from Sons of Fenris, describes the Space Wolves and Ragnar Blackmane in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The Space Wolf Omnibus is a collection composed of Space Wolf, Ragnar's Claw, and Grey Hunter. Space Wolf: The Second Omnibus by William King and Lee Lightner contains the novels, Wolfblade, and Sons of Fenris (by Lightner rather than King) and Wolf's Honour.
Plot The Space Wolves series follows the history of Ragnar Blackmane, a young warrior who has to prove himself in combat who later becomes a fierce leader of the Space Wolves. Not only does he battle against the enemies of the Imperium, he also battles against their fellow Space Marines, the Dark Angels, which stems from a long time feud about which is the superior chapter.
Warhammer 40,000 gaming Ragnar Blackmane is a special character for the Space Wolves Space Marines chapter. He is unique in the fact that he has a limited edition promotional model produced by the Black Library and a standard piece produced by Games Workshop. The model produced for the Black Library pits Ragnar Blackmane against the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marine Madox.