Warhammer Horror

[Sandlemad]

We have details on the new Warhammer Horror line! The article was posted on WHC and seems to have been removed but has been confirmed by authors on twitter and ctrl-c'd/ctrl-v'd on dakka.

 

EDIT: Article's back up on WHC now, as pointed out by Brother Casman: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/07/04/oh-the-horror/

 

 

 

 

At Black Library Live last month, the coming soon seminar revealed something intriguing: the logo for a new line of books, tantalisingly entitled ‘Warhammer Horror’. The editors were tight-lipped about other details, so we set out to investigate…

The Warhammer settings have always been dark and macabre places, filled with terrors and malign forces – daemons, dark sorcery, unquiet spirits, human sacrifice and monstrous gods. It would be difficult to imagine a more perfect setting for a horror series!

While it’s certainly true that many Black Library novels have included terrifying characters and foes, their focus has always been on the grand narratives and battles of those worlds, rather than the terrifying existence of simply inhabiting those settings. After all, it’s tricky for a story to be too terrifying when your lead protagonist literally Knows No Fear.

Warhammer Horror fills that niche. It’s a chance to explore the darker side of the Warhammer universe – and believe us, there’s plenty of dark to explore…

You may have seen the Warhammer Adventures line aimed at younger readers that we talked about recently. Warhammer Horror is a similar idea for a very different audience, a range of titles written for more mature readers that delves into the rich legacy of darkness and terror at the heart of the Warhammer universes. We spoke to the Black Library editors about the new range, and here’s what they had to say:

Warhammer Horror embraces the macabre and the disturbing, and will bring you tales of fantasy and the far future the likes of which you have never seen before.

There has always been horror at the heart of the worlds of Warhammer, from daemonic abominations to baleful magicks and alternate hellish realms; from spectral warriors to mutant alien monstrosities and the creeping dread that inhabits all mortal minds. Here, for the first time, these dark and forbidding overtures are brought to terrifying realisation in a new imprint that focuses wholly on stories that will scare and delight.

Warhammer Horror treads a path into unsettling and unnerving places, engaging with more mature themes that are not for the faint or tender of heart. Visceral, psychological, supernatural, we plan on delving deep into the underbelly of the Warhammer worlds, exploring what is truly frightening and then offering it up to you, dear reader… if you’re brave enough?

The Black Library team also gave us some tantalising hints about the titles that will launch the Warhammer Horror range when it premieres next spring.

First up is Maledictions, a horror anthology featuring stories from existing Black Library authors and new faces with a background in horror writing. Graham McNeill, Cassandra Khaw, Alec Worley and David Annandale are among the contributors, and stories will be set both in the cold vastness of the 41st Millennium and the magic-infused Mortal Realms.

Horror-based short stories have a long history, from spooky tales told around a campfire to the sinister works of Edgar Allan Poe and the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft – which had no small influence on the conception of the Chaos Gods in Warhammer. Maledictions will build upon this legacy of spine-chilling short fiction to tell tales that could only be Warhammer stories… but not like any we’ve told before.

Portmanteau pieces, which tie together stories from multiple narrators with a linking thread, are another staple of horror, both in written fiction and film – all the way back to Scheherazade’s tales of vengeance and monsters in the One Thousand and One Nights, in fact. The Wicked and the Damned is an example of just such a work, with some uniquely Warhammer 40,000 twists. On a misty cemetery world, three strangers are drawn together and tell uncanny tales of their narrow escapes from death… but in a universe of twisted reality and thirsting gods, can they trust even their own recollections? The three stories are written by Josh Reynolds, Phil Kelly and Ian St. Martin, and tie together in surprising and compelling ways in a classic horror format.

The third of the initial releases is a Warhammer 40,000 audio drama by Alec Worley, entitled Perdition’s Flame. A disgraced Vostroyan Firstborn in penal servitude, mentally scarred by the horrors he has seen, relates his tale in an atmospheric and blood-curdling story that draws on a tradition of audio horror, including radio plays and, more recently, popular podcasts that tell chilling stories in the audio format.

These initial releases will be quickly followed up by some classic Warhammer horror from the world-that-was. Way back in the mists of time, Jack Yeovil – a pen name for world-renowned horror expert and author Kim Newman – wrote the terrifying novel Drachenfels and a series of follow-ups based around the experiences of the vampire Genevieve.

Each of these four books will see re-release as part of the Warhammer Horror line, with brand new introductions by the author and, for the first time, Newman’s real name on the covers. If you’ve never read these novels and short story collections, or only dimly remember them from the distant past, you’re in for a real treat, as they delve into the grimness of life in the Old World and tap into the rich vein of dark horror running through that setting.

We’ll have more information about Warhammer Horror later in the year – including your first glimpse at the covers of the new titles. For now, we’ll leave you with some words from Josh Reynolds, one of the authors involved in the new range, and an ardent fan of horror.

Josh: I’ve always liked a good horror story, whether it’s on the screen or on the page. So, as you might imagine, I was pretty pleased to be invited to contribute to the new Warhammer Horror imprint. While I’ve written a good number of horror stories in my career, the chance to take settings as viscerally horrifying as these, and actually dig down deep into the guts of what makes them tick, was impossible to pass up. I was given the opportunity to pull back the curtain a bit and peer into the dark underbelly of both the Mortal Realms and the 41st Millennium, and see what nightmares I could shake loose…

 

I think this is seriously the best thing to hit BL in ages.

 

"Mature themes" while acknowledging that horror can be "[v]isceral, psychological, supernatural": YES

New anthologies involving new faces and 2000AD veterans: YES

Portmanteau pieces stretching beyond the typical novel or isolated short story formats: YES

Audio-drama inspired by old school radio drama and horror podcasts: YES

Reprints of Kim Newman's old horror books: YES

CASSANDRA KHAW APPLYING HER UNIQUELY GORY SENSIBILITIES TO 40K: YES

[Triszin]

oh, this sounds amazing, I've been craving this

[DarkChaplain]

Didn't expect Cassandra Khaw to be one of the initial lineup. I know she expressed interest in writing 40k one of those days, though. For what it's worth, her Hammers on Bone and A Song for Quiet were pretty neat, if a bit obvious in places (being Tor publications and all that).

 

The Wicked and the Damned sounds pretty cool, too, with Josh and Ian St. Martin aboard, but seeing Phil Kelly in there makes me shudder with dread of a wholly unintended kind....

 

Cool to hear that, apparently, we'll be getting a full re-release of The Vampire Genevieve, though! I got a beautiful copy of the old omnibus, but seeing it back in print is fantastic. I've collected a couple of Kim Newman's Anno Dracula books (where a similar but different Genevieve also stars), and if the reprints look cool, I'll probably buy them anyway.

 

I wonder if Peter Fehervari will get one in soon after. I was hoping he'd be in the initial lineup...

[Sandlemad]

In fairness Ferhervari could still appear in Maledictions, we don't know who the other authors are.

 

I agree about Kelly but honestly the thrill of that multiple narrators form is such that I don't mind. In a BL context I suppose this is vaguely similar to what they did with The Beast Arises or the old Fateweaver SMB anthology or that dual Night Lords/Salamanders audio by ADB and Kyme. Not without precedent - the whole 'holographic storytelling' concept that has been applied to the heresy books - but having it manifest in this particular form is exciting. Kelly's story will presumably be sandwiched between the two others so it might gain from that.

 

I haven't read those books by Khaw but I loved her 'Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef' novellas. Clever, exceedingly gory and with a great black humour. Made me hungry, which was quite an achievement considering the subject matter. If she can bring that strong sense of place to her 40k stuff she'll definitely be doing well.

[DukeLeto69]

Peter Fehervari's third novel is on the way and quite likely (though not confirmed) to be coming under the Horror brand/imprint.

[Volt]

I kinda have to question the Black Library's ability to actually write decent horror because of how censored they are (anything remotely sexual is avoided like the plague) and over-reliance and saturation of death in pretty much all Black Library books that reduce mortal danger to a nonchalant status quo. Horror that is purely "big bad thing coming to kill you" is nothing but worthless schlock like much of modern Hollywood "horror" and I doubt they're going to pull off anything more meaningful such as Frankenstein or The Invisible Man. Hopefully there will be more to it, but given the prevalence of Bolter Porn in the BL I don't really have any high hopes for something beyond "and then the big fearsome monster slew Johnny the peasant in a terrible manner and we all felt quite startled". 

[Knockagh]

I kinda have to question the Black Library's ability to actually write decent horror because of how censored they are (anything remotely sexual is avoided like the plague) and over-reliance and saturation of death in pretty much all Black Library books that reduce mortal danger to a nonchalant status quo. Horror that is purely "big bad thing coming to kill you" is nothing but worthless schlock like much of modern Hollywood "horror" and I doubt they're going to pull off anything more meaningful such as Frankenstein or The Invisible Man. Hopefully there will be more to it, but given the prevalence of Bolter Porn in the BL I don't really have any high hopes for something beyond "and then the big fearsome monster slew Johnny the peasant in a terrible manner and we all felt quite startled".

I agree with you, to a degree! I can’t think of authors in BL who could carry off a spooky thriller but I can think of loads who could fill 300 pages with grossly gory acts interspersed with battle scenes and asinine angry interactions between brutal people. I’m not the slightest interested in the that type of book and I think trying to gauge forums (dangerous I know) most are looking for more polical intrigue, more about the cultures and societies that make up the 40k universe, more of the history beyond the Heresy. There is so much that people have been asking for and a stock of authors who have proven they can do that type of thing.

It seems horror is a lazy plan, it’s a blood for the blood god bolter porn yawn fest. That will do its best to shock you with gore. No thanks.

But I might be proven wrong....

[DarkChaplain]

Having read Josh's "horror" stories, Annandale's Gethsemane Hall, Fehervari's novels and short stories, and more, I can safely say that they can all write more than gorefests. Annandale especially feels like he's been a tad hamstrung by the regular focus on action with Black Library novels, but he still carries around big, heavy faith-related themes and glimpses of cosmic horror.

 

Keep in mind that they explicitly said that it won't be simply a bolter gore fest but instead dive into darker themes and psychological stuff. Gore is to be expected, but when it comes as a side effect of more complex themes, I don't see a problem with it.

 

For what it's worth, Cass's Hammers on Bone and A Song for Quiet were more Lovecraftian than gratuitously gory - there was some pretty gruesome stuff in the novellas, but the focus lay elsewhere.

[bluntblade]

That's good. I like my sci-fi horror more along the lines of Annihilation and Alien than Resident Evil.

[Volt]

Having read Josh's "horror" stories, Annandale's Gethsemane Hall, Fehervari's novels and short stories, and more, I can safely say that they can all write more than gorefests. Annandale especially feels like he's been a tad hamstrung by the regular focus on action with Black Library novels, but he still carries around big, heavy faith-related themes and glimpses of cosmic horror.

 

Keep in mind that they explicitly said that it won't be simply a bolter gore fest but instead dive into darker themes and psychological stuff. Gore is to be expected, but when it comes as a side effect of more complex themes, I don't see a problem with it.

 

For what it's worth, Cass's Hammers on Bone and A Song for Quiet were more Lovecraftian than gratuitously gory - there was some pretty gruesome stuff in the novellas, but the focus lay elsewhere.

Lovecraft isn't really horror though, at least not in a modern context. Lovecraft qualifies as horror because from his POV, he was writing horrifying tales of race mixing allegory and a growing sense of nihilism in the new industrial age- he was backwards even for his own time. In the modern sense his work is good because Lovecraft was a walking thesaurus and weaves words with greater beauty than Shakespeare IMO, it's his poetic purple prose that makes him notable. Making Chaos more Lovecraftian is a fan request from simply because it adds mystery, but actual Lovecraft horror is pretty weak and not an ideal to aspire for. 

[Sandlemad]

 

Having read Josh's "horror" stories, Annandale's Gethsemane Hall, Fehervari's novels and short stories, and more, I can safely say that they can all write more than gorefests. Annandale especially feels like he's been a tad hamstrung by the regular focus on action with Black Library novels, but he still carries around big, heavy faith-related themes and glimpses of cosmic horror.

 

Keep in mind that they explicitly said that it won't be simply a bolter gore fest but instead dive into darker themes and psychological stuff. Gore is to be expected, but when it comes as a side effect of more complex themes, I don't see a problem with it.

 

For what it's worth, Cass's Hammers on Bone and A Song for Quiet were more Lovecraftian than gratuitously gory - there was some pretty gruesome stuff in the novellas, but the focus lay elsewhere.

 

Lovecraft isn't really horror though, at least not in a modern context. Lovecraft qualifies as horror because from his POV, he was writing horrifying tales of race mixing allegory and a growing sense of nihilism in the new industrial age- he was backwards even for his own time. In the modern sense his work is good because Lovecraft was a walking thesaurus and weaves words with greater beauty than Shakespeare IMO, it's his poetic purple prose that makes him notable. Making Chaos more Lovecraftian is a fan request from simply because it adds mystery, but actual Lovecraft horror is pretty weak and not an ideal to aspire for. 

 

 

I think defining genres is tricky, particularly around the fuzzy edges, but regardless of what box we want to put Lovecraft in, he's been an influence on a lot of core horror writers as well as fantasy or 'weird fiction' types. To my mind he's an influence largely for that cosmic horror nihilism you mention and parts of the Cthulhu mythos window-dressing rather than his prose or the visceral stuff influenced by his own starkly hysterical racism.

 

In the BL horror context, that Lovecraft is an influence on at least Khaw, Fehervari and Reynolds is a sign that there's a variety of authors working in a breadth of horror modes and aspiring to more than 'xxxtreme gory murderfest'. Other BL writers have also said they're horror readers: Fehervari for example did a pretty excellent interview where he talked about the horror influences on his work and made it pretty clear that he aims for for more than just gory violence but psychological depth, ambiguity and exploration of horrific metaphysics. Much more than a Saw-style splatterhouse or a simple 'spooky thriller'.

 

Granted this is just an early-days marketing blurb but they really seem to have gone out of their way to emphasise that blood and guts is not the only path they're going to take it down.

[DukeLeto69]

While there is no reason that "horror" stories cannot take place on the battlefield, what I am taking from this horror imprint is that BL will use it to tell tales AWAY FROM THE FRONT LINE. If that is the case then this is excellent news indeed.

 

It really opens up opportunities to tell more "slice of life" stories about ordinary folks trying to live their lives in the dark millennium and actual horror that is the Imperium. It provides opportunities to explore "domestic 40k" to allow us to really get a feel for life for people other than soldiers and super warriors.

 

A lot of people, including me, have been wishing for years that 40k books were more expansive and not simply about WARhammer. That is the reason why myself and others are so keen on the Inquisition books and Matt Farrer's Arbites books.

 

As others have said "horror" is a very wide ranging term and it does appear that they may use that to encompass all different types of stories which is great.

[Knockagh]

I’m guessing here, but I think the desire for a horror series has come from the authors. I haven’t heard any call for it from the fans on forums but i get the feeling from some authors they feel somewhat held back by BLs policy of constraint as they are aware they have (or used to have) a large audience amoung the kids.

A mixture of BL giving new freedom to its authors and a change in the demographic of BL readership has created a space for something different and the authors I think have pushed for this.

It’s similar to comics dropping the comics code. Hence marvel and dc have adopted more adult themes.

Personally I don’t think it’s a positive step but as stated I will give it a go. BL clearly are putting it to one side so they won’t abandon their standard novels

I do enjoy Lovecraft as much as any dystopian sci fi fantasy fan, but as Volt says I wouldn’t consider this to be modern horror. But I way prefer Howard’s Conan / King Kull stories they are to me a perfect yard stick for 40k fiction.

It certainly will be interesting to see where the authors take us, if I’m right that this is author driven rather than company driven its success or failure will be pretty decisive for BLs relationship with authors in the future.

[A D-B]

I’m guessing here, but I think the desire for a horror series has come from the authors. I haven’t heard any call for it from the fans on forums but i get the feeling from some authors they feel somewhat held back by BLs policy of constraint as they are aware they have (or used to have) a large audience amoung the kids.

 

...and the authors I think have pushed for this.

 

...

It certainly will be interesting to see where the authors take us, if I’m right that this is author driven rather than company driven its success or failure will be pretty decisive for BLs relationship with authors in the future.

 

For the record, again, no one's particularly censored. It's not author-driven. It's just a cool imprint to tell horror stories in 40K. Thinking of it as "Finally, the gloves get to come off" is the exact wrong way to look at it. It isn't that. Fair warning, I realise it's being seen as the opposite of Warhammer Adventures, but it's not. It's horror stories.

 

If you read a lot of 40K, and compare it with plenty other fiction too, the whole "censor" angle is really just fan assumption and/or a great derogatory soundbite. I've asked and asked, several times, and none of the authors I talk to have any stories of censorship or things they've been trying to do but weren't allowed "because of the kids". Just stuff like "Don't use the F-word" and a sentence here and there. 

 

Again, this is just horror stories. Saying they're for a mature audience doesn't mean they're more mature in every meaning of the word, or that everything else is held back. It's marketing for horror stories. Plenty of horror films aren't for kids; that doesn't mean that all other films hold back. It's really just that simple.

[b1soul]

...don't use the F-word and none of that sexy stuff, yeah? I think that's about the extent of BL's censorship

[Lord_Caerolion]

Even the sex thing seems more just "don't write any porn", given what occurred in the Night Lords series. It's fine to have it happen, so long as it just kinda glosses over what happens.

[DarkChaplain]

There've been plenty of instances where it was clear to the reader that they were straight-up banging between paragraphs or chapters. Even the now pretty ancient Darkblade novels had sexual encounters, looking at the pleasure cults and what not. Heck, Eisenhorn had a good few nights on a lengthy train ride with his doctor not-really-girlfriend, and Alizebeth was literally a prostitute before joining up.

 

It seems pretty much alright for those things to be apparent to the reader, as long as they're only implied and not actually described in the act.

[Gederas]

There've been plenty of instances where it was clear to the reader that they were straight-up banging between paragraphs or chapters. Even the now pretty ancient Darkblade novels had sexual encounters, looking at the pleasure cults and what not. Heck, Eisenhorn had a good few nights on a lengthy train ride with his doctor not-really-girlfriend, and Alizebeth was literally a prostitute before joining up.

 

It seems pretty much alright for those things to be apparent to the reader, as long as they're only implied and not actually described in the act.

And let's not forget Ciaphas Cain, the most sexed-up mortal in the entire franchise :lol:

 

Like, he knows that a (at the time) tech priest trainee's mechadendrite attached to the base of her spine above her buttocks, and the wording made it clear that he didn't learn that one in casual conversation.

 

 

In any case, I'm excited for horror novels in the Warhammer verses. This is gonna be good.

[b1soul]

Has there ever been a sex scene in BL?

 

...and I hesitate to equate "sex scene" with "porn"

[Canadian_F_H]

Horror as a genera seams like an obvious venture for black library that in hind sight, probably could have and should have happened a while ago.

 

I'd say this has a high probability of being good, and a reasonable chance at being successful (never can tell with the fickleNess of fandoms lately, but it "should" succeed.)

[b1soul]

I'm waiting for Warhammer Erotica

[Volt]

 

I’m guessing here, but I think the desire for a horror series has come from the authors. I haven’t heard any call for it from the fans on forums but i get the feeling from some authors they feel somewhat held back by BLs policy of constraint as they are aware they have (or used to have) a large audience amoung the kids.

 

...and the authors I think have pushed for this.

 

...

It certainly will be interesting to see where the authors take us, if I’m right that this is author driven rather than company driven its success or failure will be pretty decisive for BLs relationship with authors in the future.

 

For the record, again, no one's particularly censored. It's not author-driven. It's just a cool imprint to tell horror stories in 40K. Thinking of it as "Finally, the gloves get to come off" is the exact wrong way to look at it. It isn't that. Fair warning, I realise it's being seen as the opposite of Warhammer Adventures, but it's not. It's horror stories.

 

If you read a lot of 40K, and compare it with plenty other fiction too, the whole "censor" angle is really just fan assumption and/or a great derogatory soundbite. I've asked and asked, several times, and none of the authors I talk to have any stories of censorship or things they've been trying to do but weren't allowed "because of the kids". Just stuff like "Don't use the F-word" and a sentence here and there. 

 

Again, this is just horror stories. Saying they're for a mature audience doesn't mean they're more mature in every meaning of the word, or that everything else is held back. It's marketing for horror stories. Plenty of horror films aren't for kids; that doesn't mean that all other films hold back. It's really just that simple.

 

When I mention sex, I don't mean something petty and crude like a sex scene which is ultimately serving little purpose greater than being pornography. But rather injecting the real horrors of war, such as having the good guys dragging women and men out of their homes to be beat, looted,a nd possibly even killed: the moral debasement of mankind in warfare, where either horrific atrocities are committed because the few that degenerate to such debasement are abetted by the apathy of the many.

 

Or just getting more personal with the butchering of innocents, as one thing that seems to plague the BL is disassociation with the civilians in the universe due to them mainly being set pieces instead of being main characters. When I speak of "mature content" I don't mean just throwing T&A into it for pornography, but addressing and incorporating the real horrors of warfare into 40k that 40k mainly lacks, as it presents a fairly clean cut version of warfare compared to reality, which lessens any attempt 40k makes at being horrifying by lacking those necessary atrocities to really pack that emotional punch.

 

I want to feel the anguish of a father as he watches his children get killed before his eyes to be used as protein gruel by Iron Warriors because he failed to meet the work quotas. The confused terror of a woman being dragged into the shadows by some Guardsmen she believed had come to liberate her - and the utter revulsion and shock of one of their comrades witnessing the debasement of men and women he once called friend, yet failing to intervene out of fear and apathy. Or the panicked chill and impotent rage of a man unjustly sentenced for a crime he did not commit; hauled off to be converted into a servitor. 

 

It's a viewpoint we never get, but is absolutely crucial as it helps us truly care and empathize with the victims of the Grim Darkness of the Forty-First Millennium instead of just glazing over short blurbs of agony that are forgotten with the same brevity. Hopefully Warhammer Horror might offer some of that, not just involving monsters, but the simple cruelty of life, government, and cultural status quo's being the boogeyman.

[Sons of Horus]

This news is great! I've always found the "horror" aspects of 40k to be the most appealing to me. Stuff like the first halves of The Emperor's Gift and Fear to Tread just captured the terrifying atmosphere of the 40k universe.

[Lord_Caerolion]

I'm waiting for Warhammer Erotica

 

Love Can Bloom gets a print release...

[b1soul]

Sex scenes, even graphic sex scenes, can serve a higher literary purpose than to titillate orthe reader...really depends on how they're used