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http://www.vectormagazine.co.uk/article.asp?articleID=42

Some really fascinating info and insight into the company and its handling of its IP in general, including stuff about people who are still important players today, like Kirby.

Now that is interesting. Thanks for pointing it out!

Nice, I'm glad they address the reprints of the old books changing characters as GW sees necessary to fit in the context of the gameworld. I had noticed this back around 1999 and wondered if anyone else did. Granted, if you read Ian Watson's Inquisition War books now, they're definitely dated in the 40k universe. You can tell they were written at a time when the 40k 'verse was relatively undeveloped. I didn't care much for them, but I know other folks who did.

I also really appreciate his discussion of Abnett's work, which, like it or hate it, has done a lot to advance the Black Library.

Great link, many thanks, Ragnar.

My favorite bit:

Charles Stross recalls, 'I remember being sent an invitation to a day-long seminar and being trucked down to Nottingham on a coach to sit in on a session at which [Bryan Ansell] and his minions explained how the spiky space wombles' ethos (which could be summed up as Total! Maximum! Violence! Now!) worked, and how we weren't to take any liberties with their intellectual property. Which they gloated over eerily and at length.'

"Spikey space wombles." Teehee.

That was an interesting read!

Very interesting article, thanks!

Funny thing, just over the weekend I was visiting my parents and describing the Eisenhorn Omnibus to my dad, saying Abnett's writing style reminded me a lot of Bernard Cornwall in his Saxon series. Then I read Gaunts Ghosts = Sharpe in space.

Nailed it!

A very interesting article.

I had no idea so many notable authors had written for GW, never having read any of the books I assumed they were bashed out by hacks.

Oh, don't get the article wrong - many of these books were written by hacks. But, yeah, there have been some prominent names in there, too.

Heh, thats a cool read. I never knew what GW did before my time and didn't know they used to sell D&D stuff. Neat facts learned everyday on this site.

Thanks for posting; was a really interesting read!

For my own part, I love the proliferation of the BL books. Not all are great but when I travel for work the first place I turn is a BL Omnibus.

Ozymandias, King of Kings

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

" cough .. DH cogh..."


@$#% kirby.

Really interesting. I don't think I realized how much the Warhammer universe actually WAS influenced by 16th cen. Germany (other than aesthetically). And it was nice to see a full history of the company from a creative perspective. Good crack.

Edit: And it was interesting to see how GW got the 'too corporate' label so early in its lifespan, and how that got fueled. Fascinating.

Thanks for the link Mann.

That was a very enjoyable read. Although for those of us not familiar with fantasy/sci-fi authors, the never-ending list of author names started to make my head spin about halfway through.

Whats this? Something interesting enough to read in Dakka Discussions?

The audacity of some mods!

Very cool article. Thanks for posting that.

Though I do think it is somewhat incomplete.

Such history lessons as Bryan Ansell being responsible for the creation of 40K through his "Laserburn" game, which is the obvious grandfather of rogue trader instead of Rick Priestly... Laserburn gave rogue trader its gritty feel that became much more refined later on to not be so gritty in 40K.

Stuff like that.

"Less character development, and more violence."


Heh. And yet Abnett's books still outsell all the others.

Very nice article. Thanks for the link. It makes me a bit less embarrassed to occasionally read a BL novel, for some reason.

Another Ian Watson "Inquisition War" book would be well-received by me. The ending of that series was a completely baffling cliffhanger. It was chugging along, "weird but interesting," and then... WHAM! The main character dies and everyone else just kind of wanders off.

"Total! Maximum! Violence! Now!"


I think that may have to be added to the Dakka page headers collection.

@ Yakface-agreed.

Totally coolsynopsis into GW history. loved reading the article. Where would 40k be now if Terry Pratchett had written for them I wonder...............

akira5665 wrote:Where would 40k be now if Terry Pratchett had written for them I wonder...............

Riding along on the back of four elephants on the shell of a giant turtle? Just a thought...

that was fun, thanks for the link.

Sniff... somewhere there's an unpublished Dark Future book. Sniff.