Young Adult fiction in 40k

[DogWelder]

I've been wondering if it would be possible to do Young Adult style stories in the 40k setting. Literally all fiction produced by Black Library consists of characters at the very least in their mid-50s to hundreds of years old.

 

Have there been 40k books mainly from the perspective of teenagers or individuals in their early 20s? 

 

Perhaps we might see some of this in the future now that the franchise is expanding a great deal. Maybe a story about a group of teenage psykers running away from Imperial authorities to find a place where their gifts are celebrated or something like that. 

[Scribe]

So to a chaos cult to be worshipped before they melt down and become a portal for daemons, or captured by the ][ to be turned into a battery for the gold chair?

 

Sure.

[deathspectersgt7]

How about creating your own . You seem to have the knack for writing stories .

[Commander Dawnstar]

The only one that comes to mind at the moment is Andy Clark's Imperial Knights series (the short story Becoming, Kingsblade and the upcoming Knightsblade). The primary protagonists are two novice Knight pilots taking part in their first real conflict and a more experienced older sister, and it's definitely a story of adventure, heroism and young adults being forced to step up to the plate in time of crisis.

[Lord Marshal]

Most Space Marine already stories have the depth of YA fiction anyway.

[DogWelder]

So to a chaos cult to be worshipped before they melt down and become a portal for daemons, or captured by the ][ to be turned into a battery for the gold chair?

 

Sure.

 

Something like the former. Perhaps they manage to make their way to Sortiarius and become Sorcerors in service to the Thousand Sons. Or some of them even get taken as potential recruits for the Thousand Sons.

[b1soul]

Dante by Guy Haley and Space Marine by Ian Watson come to mind

 

...both heavily feature juvenile SM aspirants

 

I think the story of a teen inducted into a Deathcult,the Officio Assasinorum, a Chaos cult, anInquisitorial retinue etc. has extreme Grimdark potential

[N1SB]

I have 3 thoughts on Young Adult fiction in the 40k universe.

 

1st, now that you raised the issue, I'm surprised that there isn't.  I think many if not all of us have pointed out GW has done or made something that deliberately caters to pre-teen or teenage customers, that they're obviously going after that demographic in marketing.  Why not novels?  Not a full Horus Heresy range, but just a series.

 

2nd, on what the Young Adult series could be:

 

Most Space Marine already stories have the depth of YA fiction anyway.

 

Considering they're the 40k poster-child and, in the lore, Space Marine neophytes are recruited when they're teenagers, I do think Space Marines are an ideal fit for Young Adult fiction.  Maybe they already are meant to be such, as said above, sometimes I can't tell.  But I'm seriously thinking of the equivalent of the Hunger Games being how they choose the best Young Adults to turn into Space Marine neophytes through combat or Divergent where...the tests mark out which are the best Young Adults to turn into Space Marine neophytes, etc.

 

(On that note, Ian Watson's Space Marine was kinda like that, focusing on the early days of its 3 young protagonists from different backgrounds.)

 

3rd, I actually misunderstood the topic title initially and thought this thread was about Young Adult fiction IN rather than ABOUT the 40k universe, like what 40k citizens would read when they were teens.  I seriously think it'd be really funny for a Regimental Standard-like novels, written with the most Jingoistic and uber-patriotic overtones, about young Commissar Cadets.

 

It would follow a group of misfit orphans, boys and girls that get enrolled into the Schola Progenium as Commissar Cadets, and fall in love...with Serving The Emperor.  These Commissar Cadets would go on misadventures and learn important life lessons in each novel, like understanding what true happiness means and that it's about Serving The Emperor, that to lead others means having to master oneself first and Serving The Emperor, and that there is no "I" in "team" when it comes to Serving The Emperor.  A very diverse range of topics to teach and inspire children in the 40k setting.

 

 

I think a Space Marine neophyte origin story is what GW would want to do, but Commissar Cadets would be way more fun of a read.

[Brother Lunkhead]

L. J. Goulding's "The Heart of the Pharos", and "Dark Hunters: The Last Detail" by Paul Kearney come to mind.

 

Also...

 

How about creating your own . You seem to have the knack for writing stories .

 

I second that idea 

[Kinstryfe]

As much as I'm not a typical fan of the genre, it seems like Necromunda could have the potential as a setting, focusing on young gangers in the underhive.

 

I also kinda want to see a story about Ork yoofs in the YA style...

[Indefragable]

@Not 1 Step Backwards:

 

Your 3rd comment is amazing.

[b1soul]

The Emperor = Big Brother...and all children love Big Brother.

 

There's probably and organisation called The Emperor's Youth

[Knockagh]

Do you mean vampires and kids falling in love? Pleasssseee no. That would be a heavy straw for the camel.

 

BL fiction is already cleansed to a degree to suit most age groups. I think that’s a good thing.

[Fire Golem]

@Punishing Pete you wouldn't have to read it.

[Warpmiss]

I always thought YA fiction meant what kind of audience it was written for and not the age of the characters in the stories.

 

I'd love to see more stories focusing on more down-to-earth characters, though. A teen being conscripted for the Astra Militarum could be a great story.

[Sons of Horus]

The HH novel Descent of Angels might count

[Perry]

Plenty of younger characters in the Gaunts Ghosts books, plus a storyline in the latter books about children growing up with the regiment and latter fighting for it.

 

What about 15 Hours? Young lad joins the Guard and ends up on the frontline whilst being looked after by some veterans.

[Kelborn]

King's Ragnar novels.

They are not comparable to, let's say, Wrath of Iron or the Night Lords trilogy.

 

If I'd recommend something for a younger reader, it would be this.

[RobMac]

One of the main characters in Red Tithe, Skell, is around 15 years old, and there's also a fresh-faced Arbitrator called Rannik, who is about 19 or 20. Hell of an age to experience an attack by both the Night Lords and the Carcharodons...

[Xisor]

Pedantically, I'd be happy to keep piling on "Literally all fiction produced by Black Library" as being blatantly untrue. Mostly, almost, figuratively... all suitable. Unless that's the newfangled 'literally' to mean 'not literally', but I'ma curmudgeon that way.

 

I digress.

 

I'm broadly surprised it hasn't been done either (so to speak; there's bits, here another, but it's hardly the 40-odd a year). Either referenced in-lore, or as described in this thread. It's something 40k (and Fantasy) has traditionally been a bit weak on - 'properly' fleshing out all the humdrum details you'd associate with war.

 

People's fascination with different types of ration. Obsession with uniform types and fit. Praising heroes, constant references to 'obscure but pop-culture' military victories and losses that are contextless outside of the main culture. (E.g. a particular Schola is obsessed with the works of St Belveric and Companions, and their graduates have a fatuous parable for every disciplinary situation, and then some.)

 

Similarly, meals, kid's dreams, common hobbies, pass-times, obsessions, fashion, exchange of recipes, new foods, strange dialects, obscure references. Stuff that, in passing, breathes life into the rest of the story.

 

Hell, it's usually only Inquisition stories that stick out in my memory this way (specifically: Czevak eating an egg and waggling his spoon at people) and that's still only the most cursory passsing detail.

 

40k does a huge amount right, but sometimes the galaxy can feel a little bit small!

 

I think a solid bit of YA stuff would probably rectify that.

 

----

 

For what it's worth, Gav's Phoenix Lords books have done this surprisingly nicely. Same with his and Andy Chambers' Path of the... Eldar novels. They're not quite normal young-adult stories, but they're certainly riddled with all sorts of coming-of-age/struggling-to-fit-in/learning that aren't starting off to small, but also not escalating into 'mindless' battle stories. (Obviously most battle-focussed ones aren't mindless, but in contrast to 'breaking new ground'.)

[b1soul]

Are we defining YA fiction as fiction with YA chatacters or fiction written for a YA readership?

[mc warhammer]

is there anything as comparably...dark...in YA? the dark materials series has some powerful stuff and a similar criticism of bureaucracy and organised religion

[b1soul]

Does The Giver qualify as Grimdark?

[Daddywarcrimes]

I've been wondering if it would be possible to do Young Adult style stories in the 40k setting. Literally all fiction produced by Black Library consists of characters at the very least in their mid-50s to hundreds of years old.

 

Have there been 40k books mainly from the perspective of teenagers or individuals in their early 20s? 

 

Perhaps we might see some of this in the future now that the franchise is expanding a great deal. Maybe a story about a group of teenage psykers running away from Imperial authorities to find a place where their gifts are celebrated or something like that. 

 

If it counts, Space Marines are mentally about 12 years old.  Their psychological development is forcibly stunted when they are removed from society and immersed into a world completely dominated by other posthuman children. 

 

Gav Thorpe's "Path of the Eldar" series features characters who are much older but effectively act like high school kids, if that counts.

[Phoebus]

Isn't it more accurate to say that Space Marines' normal human development stops at the beginning of their indoctrination, and that they progressively become something else? It's not like they have a 12-year-old's emotional maturity or cognitive capacity throughout their period as Neophytes, much less by the time the Apothecaries and Chaplains get to initiating them into full brotherhood. By the time their transformation is complete, Space Marines are properly post-human. They are not so much stunted as they are operating - in terms of thinking process, range of emotional responses, etc. - on completely different wavelengths from normal human beings.

 

EDIT: I second your "Hunger Games" idea, Not 1 step backwards.

Edited November 20, 2017 by Phoebus