Black Library Big Brother

[grailkeeper]

Black Library is giving fans the chance to vote on which out of print books should be brought back. There are 6 options each for fantasy and 40k and one will be selected from each.

Which do you think guys should get voted in to the Black Library Big Brother house? My vote goes for Ian Watsons Space Marine. I never thought thatd go back in print.

 

Edit:

 

Linkhttps://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/08/15/returning-classic-novels-your-vote-counts-aug-15gw-homepage-post-4/

 

Options:

Brothers of the Snake Dan Abnett

Lord of the Night Si Spurrier

13th Legion Gav Thorpe

Soul Drinker Ben Counter

Space Marine Ian Watson

The Emperors Gift ADB

 

 

Riders of the dead Dan Abnett

Zavant Gordon Rennie

Masters of Magick Chris Wright

The Burning Shore Robert Earl

Defenders of Ulthuran Graham McNeill

Drachenfels Jack Yeovil

Edited August 15, 2017 by grailkeeper

[Cleanse And Purify]

Space Marine for sure. In many ways, I wish 40k was more similar to the version presented in that book than what it has become. And it's certainly an interesting read and explores some themes that present 40k kinda pretends don't exist.

[Olis]

Got a link?

[Sandlemad]

Link here: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/08/15/returning-classic-novels-your-vote-counts-aug-15gw-homepage-post-4/

 

Space Marine, no doubt. A fancy new edition of Lord of the Night would be great and The Emperor's Gift could actually do quite well to introduce folks to 40k but for sheer grubby insanity mainlined directly to your brain, it has to be Space Marine.

[Olis]

Waitaminute... that A D-B book is OOP? Voting for that one, definitely. And Zavant. Because Gordon Rennie. (Not that it is relevant here.)

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

What? Brothers of the Snake is OOP?

 

Dan Abnett. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/VXQHAaI.gif

[Phoebus]

I loved The Emperor's Gift, but I thought it was odd that such a (comparatively) recent book was a choice. Even Brothers of the Snake was published "just" a decade ago.

 

For me, it was a tough call between Simon Spurrier's Lord of the Night and Ian Watson's Space Marine. I went with the latter, but am regretting the choice just as much as if I'd gone for the other.

[DarkChaplain]

Lord of the Night and Zavant.

 

The Emperor's Gift is so recent, I cannot possibly consider it a classic on the same level as the rest.

[Cleanse And Purify]

Seems odd that it's OOP at all honestly.

[Olis]

Agreed. Odd indeed. Unless someone can shed more light on this, though... (Aaron? Laurie?)

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I voted for SM . :)

[A D-B]

Waitaminute... that A D-B book is OOP? Voting for that one, definitely.

 

I loved The Emperor's Gift, but I thought it was odd that such a (comparatively) recent book was a choice. 

 

The Emperor's Gift is so recent, I cannot possibly consider it a classic on the same level as the rest.

 

Seems odd that it's OOP at all honestly.

 

Agreed. Odd indeed. Unless someone can shed more light on this, though... (Aaron? Laurie?)

 

Imagine my surprise.

 

I'm, ah, not entirely comfortable with such a significant moment of my back catalogue being in a vote (that it clearly won't win, against some ancient OOP classics, there). I mean, I didn't know it was OOP to begin with, and several of those books have zero chance against the main 2-3 in that list, so... it's moments like this where your publisher does make you feel a little unappreciated. But it's a decent reminder that BL doesn't owe you a living, you're a freelancer, and you should also be focusing elsewhere professionally-speaking. This is IP work, and the way the cookie crumbles. Not many other BL authors rely purely on BL for their coin - not the longtime writing pros like Jim and Dan, at least. Stuff you have no control over, like this, is a big part of why.

 

This is the way licensed work goes, at times. Ups and downs, strikes and gutters. More of the former than the latter, and BL has been lovely to me like 95% of the time and cut me a mile of slack, so I don't have much right to complain. I'm surprised, but not annoyed or anything.

Edited August 16, 2017 by A D-B

[DarkChaplain]

I just realized that both The Emperor's Gift and Pariah released back in 2012, 5 years ago. TEG has a few months head start, granted, but it seems pretty funny to me that one of them is put up as a classic now when the other... still hasn't gotten its sequel and likely won't for another year or two if we're lucky.

 

That being said, TEG was a lovely novel (as much as it can be with rampaging daemon primarchs and shameful events being covered, at least). I'm glad for my hardback. Has it really been 5 years since I read that one? Time sure flies.

[Taliesin]

Not to pile on, but Emperor's Gift has been out of print for nearly two years now.

I wanted to buy the regular hardback in 2015 and it was already OOP. E-book was the only thing I could get so I got a secondhand copy off ebay in good state.

 

Cadian Blood has been out of print for a long time as well.

Edited August 15, 2017 by Taliesin

[Cleanse And Purify]

Huh. How very odd. I mostly get ebooks, and already had a hardback copy anyways, but seems quite odd to put it OOP so soon. It was a very good novel too, as I recall, despite some of the stupid fan controversy that ensued in its wake.

[deathspectersgt7]

Space Marine got my vote. 

[plastic_slug]

Sorry, not getting the love for Space Marine. While I realize it is an early piece of 40K fiction, the question I ask is whether it was a good one? I found it pretty whackadoodle at the time, and the around 25 years since have not been kind to it. I think it's value is as a curiosity, rather than something you point to as an exemplar of the 40K literary universe. Not something I would recommend to a new reader at all. 

 

Soul Drinker and Lord of Night were good choices, but didn't get my vote. The Soul Drinkers series started off great; I could really feel for why the Soul Drinkers would feel wronged so severely they would go renegade. Unfortunately, I think the series got weaker as it went on.

 

My vote went to The 13th Legion by Gav Thorpe. I think it was some of his better work (did/do not care for his Eldar stuff at all). It had some great characters and action, even prompting (most) of them to get their own 40K miniatures and rules! It wrapped up some threads about events of the end of the second war on Armageddon in its final book, and nothing in it has really been retconned out of existence. So here's to the Last Chancers getting the opportunity to see the light of day again!

[Kelborn]

I just realized that both The Emperor's Gift and Pariah released back in 2012, 5 years ago. TEG has a few months head start, granted, but it seems pretty funny to me that one of them is put up as a classic now when the other... still hasn't gotten its sequel and likely won't for another year or two if we're lucky.

 

That being said, TEG was a lovely novel (as much as it can be with rampaging daemon primarchs and shameful events being covered, at least). I'm glad for my hardback. Has it really been 5 years since I read that one? Time sure flies.

 

Same here. I just had my hardback copy in my hands today while arraying my bookcase. Feeling old right now.

 

Form those 40K novels, I already got The Emperor's Gift, Brotherhood of the Snake and Lord of the Night.

I heard a lot of good things about Space Marine, so this will probably get my vote as it's missing in my collection. ^^

 

No offense towards BLs decision but when I read the headline, I had other novels in mind, i.e. Bill Kings first Ragnar novel or First and Only by Dan. I'd never had Soul Drinkers or The Emperor's Gift in mind or Brotherhood of the Snake.

 

Though I enjoyed all three (read BotS about 5 times until now), I'd rather had those novels in mind, which gives the audience a good overview about the setting. Something like a good to-start-with-novel for "newbies".

Edited August 15, 2017 by Kelborn

[Knockagh]

I loved The Emperor's Gift, but I thought it was odd that such a (comparatively) recent book was a choice. Even Brothers of the Snake was published "just" a decade ago.

 

For me, it was a tough call between Simon Spurrier's Lord of the Night and Ian Watson's Space Marine. I went with the latter, but am regretting the choice just as much as if I'd gone for the other.

Agree Emperors Gift much too recent.

 

Glad to see Zavant is getting good support. Fingers well and truely crossed

[DarkChaplain]

Huh. How very odd. I mostly get ebooks, and already had a hardback copy anyways, but seems quite odd to put it OOP so soon. It was a very good novel too, as I recall, despite some of the stupid fan controversy that ensued in its wake.

 

Keep in mind this is the same publisher that did re-issues of the three Gotrek & Felix omnibus volumes alongside the new fourth, with entirely new cover art for all of them and a style-change in the format (with foil and what not), just for the three re-issued omnibuses to go out of print by the next month or two. All of them.

[Petitioner's City]

Wait pariah is on this list too?

[Cleanse And Purify]

Nope it was just published around the same time as Teh Emprahs Gift.

 

Also, Space Marine was awesome, repent thine blasphemy, heretic! I especially liked the part where they celebrated the successful implantation of their Omophagea by eating a feast of inedible minerals and toxic materials. Oh, and the implication that all the normal desires a young man might have are instead rewired into a lust for violence, which means the young neophytes occasionally have to be allowed to go on murder sprees before their hormones settle and they become sufficiently disciplined.

 

Also it gave use stuff like Rhetoricus the crippled soldier-scholar, leading young Marines in chants such as oratore est cadere, and so on. It was such vintage 40k, and it solidified many of the tropes we still find joy in today.

[Roomsky]

Much as I'd like to replace my copies of Space Marine, 13th Legion, and/or Lord of the Night with editions that don't look like someone mistook them for oddly-colourful Shamwows, I've never been able to get my hands on a copy of Brothers of the Snake, so that has to get my vote. (My Emperor's Gift is thankfully pristine)

 

Don't know a thing about the Old World stuff, though I'm excited to read whichever wins.

[Reldn]

I had to cast my vote for Space Marine. Love that book.

[Marshal Loss]

Voted for Lord of the Night.