Is there room in the far future for a "love story"?

[darknation]

I've been told that Love can Bloom, yes.

[Ishagu]

Even on a battlefield :-P

[Slave to Darkness]

http://pro.bols.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/100-a-glimmer-of-hope3english2.jpg

[Arkangilos]

Extract from The Carrion Throne: "...A few pict-books - The Authorised History of Astra Militarum Auxiliary Regiments in the Geres Subsector Vol. XXIIA, a disease symptom primer from the spire's Departmento Contagio, and a romance set on the reputed paradise world Krieg with the convoluted title My Wish to Generate Children with You is only Exceeded by My Devotion to Him..."

 

So there are KLISHEE Romance Novels for lonely housewives and guardsmen far from their homeplanets WITHIN the Universe itself.

...so I don't see why a proper novel about a romantic partnership couldn't turn out quite interesting. Especially as it would demand a huge amount of world-building for civilian Life in the Imperium.

"My Wish to Generate Children with You is only Exceeded by My Devotion to Him"

 

I'm not going to lie, I want to read it.

[Slave to Darkness]

Why do I have the urge to re write Romeo and Juliette and give it the Necromunda makeover it needs. 

[RandomMarine]

I'm pretty sure that dead men walking is the only 40k love story I can think of

[Ishagu]

There are hints of romance in various books but it's never the focus.

[bluntblade]

My favourite 40K love story is the one where two Space Wolves serfs go to make out behind the bulkhead and get mangled into psyker-weapons by a Thousand Son.

[bluntblade]

 

 

There are plenty of examples in the Black Library publications: Eisenhorn, Ravenor, the Night Lords series, Cain, subplots in Gaunt's Ghosts, the Horus Heresy, Helsreach, and so on.

 

 

Ah, yes, but those are all subplots. Not the actual story in and of itself.

 

That's because stories about *only* romance are as boring as any other story that focuses exclusively on one aspect of the human condition to the exclusion of all others. I don't want to read bargain-bin doe-eyed "romance" stories set in 40K any more than I want to read vacuous 'splosionfest bolterporn set in 40K - there's a reason many of the books in that list there are widely considered to be among BL's best output, and it's exactly because the best of them use the broader framework of the plot to tell *many* stories(or, as you say, "subplots", a phrase I've always found odd in that it seeks to diminish some of the most important aspects of a good story).

 

More female characters is great, more female *perspectives* is great, and more complex stories that take in the whole of the human condition are great. Fraught, weepy, tortuous drrrrRRRAAAAHMMmah romance stories though are rubbish no matter what setting they use as a backdrop.

I refer you to the axiom that any story can be done well. Sure I don't want Nichlas Sparks in 40K (though could someone please mock up a poster) but if an author really pulled out the stops it could work.

[Plaguecaster]

There is Commissar Cain who has multiple relationships throughout the different branches of the Imperium (tech priest, planetary governor, inquisitor and in the Guard) though most of the actual good stuff is usually a side note by the Inquisitor Amberley (who really comes off as a jealous ex in most of the notes )

 

Seems to be most Commissar novel actually feature relationships since Guant ghost's series has quite a lot once you start the 3rd book Necroplis, most of which get really serious in the middle of a war zone (Caffran and Criid etc)

Edited August 26, 2017 by Plaguecaster

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Not just Caffran and Criid, but Gaunt and Merity Chass, and Gaunt and Ana Curth the medic (which is all mostly implied rather than shown if memory serves). I will say though that most 40K romance ever was Eisenhorn and Alizebeth Bequin. They wanted to be with each other so much, but doing so would probably kill Gregor in the process.

[Plaguecaster]

^^^^^^

Gaunt's ghosts has so many it's not funny just didn't want to spoil all of them as some get pretty interesting

[bluntblade]

Not just Caffran and Criid, but Gaunt and Merity Chass, and Gaunt and Ana Curth the medic (which is all mostly implied rather than shown if memory serves). I will say though that most 40K romance ever was Eisenhorn and Alizebeth Bequin. They wanted to be with each other so much, but doing so would probably kill Gregor in the process.

Casablanca in the grim darkness? Actually, I'd totally buy that. Casablanca's fantastic.

Edited August 26, 2017 by bluntblade

[toaae]

There was a romance subplot in the Night Lord series by ADB. I thought it added a nice, human touch to a story about super-human serial killers with daddy issues.

[Lay]

Dead Man Walking has perhaps the most 40k-ish romance subplot. It's so very, very bleak.

[Leif Bearclaw]

Why do I have the urge to re write Romeo and Juliette and give it the Necromunda makeover it needs. 

Have you read Fleshworks (hope I got the name right)? It's a Munda novel with romance more central to the plot than pretty much any other BL book I've read. Follows a Delaque spy who's in a secret relationship with a Van Saar technician. A lot of shenanigans in the book derive from them trying to keep the affair secret (as well as the hunt for their mutual friends bionic parts, it's not a 'normal' bbok).

[Slave to Darkness]

 

Why do I have the urge to re write Romeo and Juliette and give it the Necromunda makeover it needs. 

Have you read Fleshworks (hope I got the name right)? It's a Munda novel with romance more central to the plot than pretty much any other BL book I've read. Follows a Delaque spy who's in a secret relationship with a Van Saar technician. A lot of shenanigans in the book derive from them trying to keep the affair secret (as well as the hunt for their mutual friends bionic parts, it's not a 'normal' bbok).

 

I need to read that book!!!

[Laughingman]

In the old Necromunda novels,  Kal Jerico has a number of romantic encounters. The last book in particular Lasgun Wedding has some NSFW moments in it.

[Sandlemad]

The 1990 edition of the Deathwing anthology included "Lacrymata", a story about a romantic relation between an astropath and a Navigator.

 

Didn't end well though...

 

 

Old-Four-Arms

 

That was a fantastic story. Strong horror elements too ("All those who died! This ship sails on their blood!") but at its core the whole plot is set in motion by and concerns itself with the romantic relationship between the astropath and the navigator. It's done sensitively and well; I don't think a boltgun is raised in anger throughout.

 

Still remorselessly grimdark, still engaging directly with the horrors of the warp, but dealing with two sad, broken characters finding some solace in each other. It even deals with the class differences better than some non-40k romances; they're both psykers but as a navigator he's a tolerated and privileged member of an interstellar aristocracy and she's basically a bonded servant.

 

It doesn't end well but yeah, I think it's solid proof that you can have an interesting 40k story that seriously engages with its central conceits and still has a romantic relationship as the core of the narrative, not just a subplot or character detail.

[Interrogator-Chaplain Ezra]

There was a romance subplot in the Night Lord series by ADB. I thought it added a nice, human touch to a story about super-human serial killers with daddy issues.

And one of the better ones I've seen in any story.

[ERJAK]

Wait...is Celestine/Greyfax not canon?

[totgeboren]

Perhaps a Beauty and the Beast, a story about forbidden love? Could be between a Chaos Spawn and a lady inquisitor, where she seeks a way to turn him back to normal?

 

Or just Beauty and the Beast with tentacles would work too.

 

Or just tentacles. And bolters.

Edited August 29, 2017 by totgeboren

[Chaplain Killmer]

Wasnt there an inquisitor Draco with a callidus Meh'lindi (not sure about the spelling of the characters)? 

[Arkangilos]

Wait...is Celestine/Greyfax not canon?

Where did this even come from?

[Mileposter]

I can totally get behind an Imperium love story taking place so long as it wasn't a Space Marine. There's already a lot of material that provides the fodder for bad romance to occur (bad as in unhealthy, not as in poorly written). Nearly every citizen of the Imperium is under some sort of intensity in their lives - whether it be because Comissarate, Imperial Work Orders, Inquisitorial Shenanigans, or the Xenos set us up the bomb - and sparks inevitably fly more often under pressure.

 

As far as Xenos go... I really can only see Eldar or Tau, and each certainly have their hurdles in universe. Necrons don't care, Chaos can't commit, Tyranids love you long time, and I really don't want to see a romance 'get Orky'.