Josh Reynolds no longer works for BL

[DukeLeto69]

 

I do “speak” 1-2-1 with a few of the authors and it seems that experience of working with BL is generally positive (and very positive on an individual editor/writer basis) but the fact remains you are working for a big corporate client that have certain requirements.

 

The general consensus is that if you want to be wholly original then don’t write tie-in fiction. The authors find ways to subvert (or really insert their ideas) but are careful as writing to brief.

 

They also know that sales = clout! Bigger you are the more chance of getting a pet project green lighted.

 

I honestly think the last two years and immediate future are the most interesting and exciting BL have been. I do think GW have given BL more latitude to experiment and see/prove if different fiction can find an audience/sales.

 

If the GW expansion into moving pictures and the Story Forge is a success this would in turn probably support even more literary experimentation by BL (I hope)!

Has there been any suggestion to say that the new direction is paying off?

I know in my local GW store BL books aren’t really pushed at all. The guys will chat away about what books they have read but their knowledge of them is no where near their gaming or modelling knowledge. Staff are encouraged to paint or play I’m don’t know if they are encouraged to read.

I know I would hate it if BL went back to the bad old days.

My GW store experience is similar. The managers are particularly enthusiastic & knowledgeable about the TT game but less so re BL. That “might” reflect their remuneration package of course!

 

I believe BL sales tend to be relatively static. They “wash their face” but are not a core P&L division in the GW business. As I said above I am HOPING the move into moving pictures may generate additional interest and therefore corporate support, for more fiction...

 

Eg if the Eisenhorn TV series in development with Frank Spotniz (sp? X Factor guy) actually comes to fruition then you can bet the Eisenhorn, Ravenor and Bequin books will get a sales boost.

[Sandlemad]

 

Fabius is a good example of this. It’s probably his most well known and highly regarded work at this point, but Josh mentioned he didn’t really like the character of Fabius Bile. His ability to write so well about things he has minimal personal attachment to is really remarkable.

 

This is the thing with him, isn't it. It's not exclusive to him of course, I vaguely recall ADB saying he was fairly indifferent to the Word Bearers initially but he made excellent hay with that. It's something that BL seems to occasionally remember, just not very consistently. Look at the primarch novels, started off with 'new' authors doing things but that's faltered in favour of e.g. Wraight doing two (solid and ok) books on subjects he's covered well elsewhere. Or Swallow having dibs on Mortarion...

 

@DukeLeto: Yeah, that's the concern about Fehervari as well! He's been pretty mis-marketed, though he's also been open about his editors' patience as well. BL only just seems to be realising what they have in him and even then only just.

[aa.logan]

Apocalypse is worth reading; I’d say that there is a two or three page passage that’s worth the price of the book alone-

 

I’ve mentioned in threads about Josh that his books are generally good but have parts that are insanely engaging- the first chapter of the Palatine Phoenix is another one- that make the whole book worthwhile on their own.

[SpAcEGhOsT095]

The Lamenters and Sly Marbo vs. Snikrot.

Both rejected.

While other garbage is green lit.

I have to hand it to GW. Just when I think I've found the bottom, they dig deeper.

[Noserenda]

Id keep an eye out for the 99p sales right now too, grabbed Apocalypse for that little and loved it. Hopefully its something less universally on sale than Horus Rising this week :D 

[StrangerOrders]

 

 

Fabius is a good example of this. It’s probably his most well known and highly regarded work at this point, but Josh mentioned he didn’t really like the character of Fabius Bile. His ability to write so well about things he has minimal personal attachment to is really remarkable.

 

This is the thing with him, isn't it. It's not exclusive to him of course, I vaguely recall ADB saying he was fairly indifferent to the Word Bearers initially but he made excellent hay with that. It's something that BL seems to occasionally remember, just not very consistently. Look at the primarch novels, started off with 'new' authors doing things but that's faltered in favour of e.g. Wraight doing two (solid and ok) books on subjects he's covered well elsewhere. Or Swallow having dibs on Mortarion...

 

@DukeLeto: Yeah, that's the concern about Fehervari as well! He's been pretty mis-marketed, though he's also been open about his editors' patience as well. BL only just seems to be realising what they have in him and even then only just.

 

I find it hilarious that ADB is one of the most communicative writers for the setting, goes into great length about his views and is supremely popular to the point of worship in many circles.

 

Yet alot of his points seem to fly clear over the heads of alot of the fanbase in my experience, his increasing desire to horribly murder Lorgar despite being the one that made him popular (and his stated desire to make Lorgar have a horrible epiphany while 'dying like a dog') is sharply contrasted by the amount of fans that I've seen that think Lorgar is unambiguously right and discount any evidence against the reliability of what he says.

 

I often wonder how he feels about that.

 

Granted, apparently Josh hates Astartes so maybe I was identical to one of those fans all along *X-Files Music plays in the background* 

[MegaVolt87]

BL editors asleep at the wheel. If they just greenlit one pet project, I bet he would have wrote two pulp books they wanted for every pet project. He gets his passion projects out, BL gets the pulp in a quick turn around. I'll have to read apoc, though a few weeks to write it and its still good apparently is crazy. Also, why get rid of him if the WFB re-boot is happening? Crazy. 

[cheywood]

I don’t think ‘hates’ is the right word at all, but I believe he’s mentioned he struggles to write Astartes at times. Not having a relationship or innate psychic connection to Josh I’m unsure as to his exact feelings. Edited May 17, 2020 by cheywood

[DarkChaplain]

I honestly think the last two years and immediate future are the most interesting and exciting BL have been. I do think GW have given BL more latitude to experiment and see/prove if different fiction can find an audience/sales.

 

If the GW expansion into moving pictures and the Story Forge is a success this would in turn probably support even more literary experimentation by BL (I hope)!

 

 

Honestly, they've only been due to Warhammer Horror and Crime for me. Looking back, I've spent more time (re)reading classic books from BL than new ones. Between G&F, Cain, Gaunt etc, I've only really kept up with the HH and occasional excursions elsewhere. And a lot of the time, I felt lukewarm on what I read, including the Heresy. I like their big audio drama push, and Haley's Primarch novels have been excellent. But just flipping through the catalog again, there's been a lot of stuff released, but not much that I really got excited over in the end (or indeed finished). Doesn't help that I can't get into Necromunda.

 

It's been quite a long time since I last thought I'd have to get in on this or that novel right away and make way on my reading pile, besides Horror. And thinking on it, the last reveal events didn't exactly excite me either.

 

They certainly did let loose a little, but there's still been a surprising amount of tie-in marketing stuff, and certainly no shortage of Marine fiction. There's also been a substantial amount of reissues and omnibuses - which, honestly, have excited me more, especially when it comes to WHFB omnibuses collecting stuff that was quickly out of print in its day.

[Fedor]

The moving into a less static setting with the new edition worries me for BL as that seems likely to result in an increase in tie-in type books and ones where it is authors being commissioned to expand already quite detailed gw studio plots.

 

On authors like Josh maybe not getting more niche projects greenlit because of sales issues, i feel the inertia of a significant amount of the fanbase towards trying new authors and the heavy leaning into a cult-like worship of a select very few that you see in most GW forum/social media spaces online (outside of ones specifically about BL like this forum ) has very probably had a negative overall impact over the years.

[b1soul]

I actually think Josh is one of those authours with a cult-like following, just a smaller than one than some of the bigger BL authours. Quite a few readers swear by his Fabius work and praise his other stuff too.

 

People are gonna have favourite authours, and BL has a small number of true talents IMO.

[Gongsun Zan]

Honestly, I've found Josh to be very average. Fulgrim and the first Fabius Bile novel did nothing for me, and I've abandoned reads of at least three of his other books. His prose is readable but unexceptional (which I guess is to be expected at the rate he churns out novels), and I feel that he has a very strong "tell-don't-show" approach to storytelling - he has some interesting ideas he wants to get across, but I find he sets up scenes / characters solely for the sake of talking about these ideas, which is a bit distracting to me. 

 

I also wasn't sold on the first few chapters of Apocalypse - the first scene with the Space Marines felt very cringey, and there was more than one occasion where I felt the book could have spent more time in the oven. I might return to it someday, but I'd probably give Dark Harvest a go first before I decide whether its worth revisiting. 

 

That said, I do think he does have some talent, and I hope leaving BL will allow him the space to develop his stories on his own time rather than having to rush commission after commission. 

 

I'm also curious as to what the commission/pitch structure in BL is like. It seems to me that Haley and Reynolds seem to churn out a lot more tie-in works than other authors - do the rest of the lesser known authors (say people like Annadale, St Martin, MacNiven, etc.)  get more of their pitches approved, or are they just fussier with their projects? 

 

I also don't think its fair to lay all the blame on BL if Josh can't get the sales he needs. He's had 7 years with the company (with a lot of output), and I recall Soul Wars and Dark Harvest being pushed fairly hard (by BL standards). Hill, Brooks and Harrison also seem to be supported decently well by BL, so I also don't think its an inner-circle thing as much as some people are suggesting. It could well be that the larger fanbase refuses to read anything that isn't ADB or Abnett (I see a lot of this on Reddit), or that AOS/WFB just doesn't sell as well as 40k. Whatever the case is, hopefully striking out on his own will help him reach a broader audience. 

Edited May 18, 2020 by Gongsun Zan

[mc warhammer]

no need to point out mileage varies, but i find his prose is beautiful and economical. it was this excerpt i came across online that got me over the line to try his stuff:

 

His brothers sang, and Ramos felt the wraithbone flex and bend, growing and strengthening as it spread through the Vesalius. Like an insect in its chrysalis, awaiting the day it could be free of its old shell. Too, he could feel the ship’s agitation as its crew went to war. He felt every stray bolter round as it struck wraithbone, and the warm spray of blood. He could hear the reverberations of their chanting, in the dark places of the lower decks. He could see the garish shapes of his once-brothers, as they reacted to the violence and moved to isolate the tribal bays and access corridors. And he could see one other thing besides.

 

Something impossible, and radiant.

 

It came among them, as they sang. A great presence, heavier than the world around it, so that it seemed to draw in all light and heat. It stalked golden through the lower decks, and its song, so like and yet unlike their own, pulsed strongly in the depths. It was familiar, that presence, painfully so. Ramos had the nagging sensation that he had felt it before, and whenever it drew too close, their song faltered.

 

‘It is looking at us, brother,’ Esquor said, as he ceased singing. ‘I can feel it. It senses us, and wishes to find us.’ He shook his head, and his eyes were full of pain. ‘It is him, brother. But not as he is. As he was.’

 

‘I know,’ Ramos growled. Fulgrim. No, not Fulgrim – the dream of Fulgrim. The ship whispered of it, of him, and that whisper carried through the wraithbone like a scream.

 

for me, the best depiction of a primarch's affect on his gene-sons i've read to date.

[caladancid]

Honestly, I've found Josh to be very average. Fulgrim and the first Fabius Bile novel did nothing for me, and I've abandoned reads of at least three of his other books. His prose is readable but unexceptional (which I guess is to be expected at the rate he churns out novels), and I feel that he has a very strong "tell-don't-show" approach to storytelling - he has some interesting ideas he wants to get across, but I find he sets up scenes / characters solely for the sake of talking about these ideas, which is a bit distracting to me. 

 

I also wasn't sold on the first few chapters of Apocalypse - the first scene with the Space Marines felt very cringey, and there was more than one occasion where I felt the book could have spent more time in the oven. I might return to it someday, but I'd probably give Dark Harvest a go first before I decide whether its worth revisiting. 

 

That said, I do think he does have some talent, and I hope leaving BL will allow him the space to develop his stories on his own time rather than having to rush commission after commission. 

 

I'm also curious as to what the commission/pitch structure in BL is like. It seems to me that Haley and Reynolds seem to churn out a lot more tie-in works than other authors - do the rest of the lesser known authors (say people like Annadale, St Martin, MacNiven, etc.)  get more of their pitches approved, or are they just fussier with their projects? 

 

I also don't think its fair to lay all the blame on BL if Josh can't get the sales he needs. He's had 7 years with the company (with a lot of output), and I recall Soul Wars and Dark Harvest being pushed fairly hard (by BL standards). Hill, Brooks and Harrison also seem to be supported decently well by BL, so I also don't think its an inner-circle thing as much as some people are suggesting. It could well be that the larger fanbase refuses to read anything that isn't ADB or Abnett (I see a lot of this on Reddit), or that AOS/WFB just doesn't sell as well as 40k. Whatever the case is, hopefully striking out on his own will help him reach a broader audience. 

 

Black Library seems to market whichever author currently strikes their fancy, versus ability or sales based.  Some new authors get hardbacks or promotions, others do not.  And I would challenge you to find rhyme or reason there.

 

Some authors get away with openly disdaining fans, others are critiqued for posting a list of rejections online (if that played a part in him leaving per other speculation in this thread).

[StrangerOrders]

I actually think Josh is one of those authours with a cult-like following, just a smaller than one than some of the bigger BL authours. Quite a few readers swear by his Fabius work and praise his other stuff too.

 

People are gonna have favourite authours, and BL has a small number of true talents IMO.

I don't know what you could possibly mean... Rushes to hide Cult brands and hooded robes.

 

Jokes aside, I have always found that his none-Fabius work isn't very well known or thought of.

 

Also can't really say to what degree I like Apocalypse and to what degree it stands out for me because of how little I'm enjoying most Primaris stuff (I tend to skip the Primaris PoV stuff when rereading Dark Imperium). Although I kind of liked their small role in Regents.

 

He did write my unambiguous favorite story in the setting though, The Palatine Phoenix.

 

I do think he is pretty good, but tbh? Thats a pretty small body of work to say he is my favorite writer from. I still have to say I enjoy Wraight, Abnett and French more on the whole, just by virtue of their having a bigger volume for me to gauge as a whole.

 

Thats probably the most irksome thing about this, I will never find out if he could have been my favorite as opposed to the guy that just happened to write three topics that  happened to resonate with me/ 

[Lord_Caerolion]

I'll have to chime in and say that, in my opinion, he's the one author who's really gotten the Dark Eldar/Drukhari right. A lot of DEldar fans rave about the Path Of series they got, but I found them pretty terrible. Reynolds, however, got that right blend of sadism, arrogance, and charisma that made them more than Evil Space Elves talking about how much they liked torture and being evil.

 

Not to mention, he understands that Harlequins are interpretive dancers, not "character who tap-dances/skips instead of walking, and does jigs when standing still".

[mc warhammer]

when did he wtite the dark eldar? was it during the fabius novels?

[StrangerOrders]

when did he wtite the dark eldar? was it during the fabius novels?

The GREAT Lukas the Trickster book features Sliscus and Malys and boy are they fun.

 

Sliscus basically got offended over something and the premise of the book is him reacting by doing the DEldar equivalent of Christmas in July on Fenris.

Edited May 18, 2020 by StrangerOrders

[mc warhammer]

ok, adding it to the list. cheers

[Lord_Caerolion]

Basically, Duke Sliscus gets bored, so declares that it must be approaching Midwinter ("no it isn't", from his courtesan), "I haven't been to a midwinter celebration in the longest time" ("yes you have"), so he decides to hold "a midwinter feast of such artistry that generations to come shall gnaw their vitals in envy that they were not invited. No. No, better than a feast. A hunt, I think. Yes, a midwinter hunt" ("It isn't midwinter"). "It is if I say it is".

 

And, my favourite exchange in the whole novel:

 

'Aurelia, your mind is as crooked as ever. It has always been the whetstone against which I sharpen my own not-inconsiderable intellect'. He rubbed her cheek, leaving shallow scratches.

Malys snorted. 'Flatterer.' She frowned suddenly and touched her cheek. He wondered if she had detected the harsh taste at the back of her throat already. She licked her lips. 'Poison?' she asked.

'Nothing dangerous. Not for such as we, my lady.'

She slapped him, hard enough to draw blood. 'Ask first.' She licked the taste of him from her fingers. 'As sweet as ever, I see.'

Edited May 18, 2020 by Lord_Caerolion

[Fedor]

His drukhari writing reminded me a lot of Mike Lee's Dark Elves in his old Malus Darkblade series.

[Sandlemad]

I'll have to chime in and say that, in my opinion, he's the one author who's really gotten the Dark Eldar/Drukhari right. A lot of DEldar fans rave about the Path Of series they got, but I found them pretty terrible. Reynolds, however, got that right blend of sadism, arrogance, and charisma that made them more than Evil Space Elves talking about how much they liked torture and being evil.

 

Not to mention, he understands that Harlequins are interpretive dancers, not "character who tap-dances/skips instead of walking, and does jigs when standing still".

 

Yeah, apart from the short story 'Mistress Baeda's Gift', that's about the only worthwhile DE-centric work in the BL roster. He made their whole plot a comedy of manners with poison and backstabbing! I'd consider him by a significant margin the BL writer with the greatest talent for black humour. Wraight can be funny (e.g. in Lords of Silence) and ADB has a good few zingers but Reynolds outpaces them.

[Knockagh]

He did well with dark Eldar in lukas the Trickster too. BL is crying out for an author who can handle DE.

 

On the general storytelling quality I’ve certainly got infinitely more enjoyment out of BL over the last two years or so. The drudgery of the mid to late heresy nearly finished me and the 40k content was pretty awful. There’s still loads of holes but there always will be.

I’m not into horror, I think the market is completely saturated with Lovecraft wannabes at the minute, it seems very in at the moment. Thats a reason I think Josh will regret leaving BL to enter a saturated market of authors writing similar things. He will scramble for air. BL has a flavour of its own and that’s what so much of the last two years have given me.

[Bobss]

I didn't finish Lukas because the basic premise didn't really interest me, but it was a superb book to be sure. Lukas' antics and how they fit into the Rout, coupled with a brief history on how the VIth's warrior culture was needed to curtail their viciousness (think the brotherhood of the War Hounds) and a few titbits surrounding the ins and outs of Fenris were very telling. Likewise, Duke Sliscus and his parties were fabulous, and I can't wait to see this ramped up to 11 during the Commorragh sections of Manflayer

 

Another thing I love about Reynolds' writing is how he doesn't bulldoze other people's works. In Primogenitor and Clonelord there is constant reference to things like Fulgrim's ascension on Iydris. I thought Angel Exterminatus was a pretty bad book, but it's a milestone in the chronicles of the Emperor's Children so you can't mince it. Likewise in Apocalypse there are callbacks to Argel Tal, the Ashen Circle, Monarchia etc.

 

Palatine Phoenix is the strongest Primarchs novel to date because it digs into the psyche of the titular Primarch the best, while giving us a heavy dose of early-Great Crusade goodness. It doesn't disrupt any main-series Horus Heresy novel and exists in its own bubble. We see a bunch of dudes from the Fabulous Bill series, but it doesn't try to be a prequel, and instead exists as a single tale that leaves a lasting impression of Fulgrim. I loved The Great Wolf and Warhawk of Chogoris, but let's not pretend they are anything other than prequel/gap-filler material for Chis Wraight's main body of 30k work

Edited May 18, 2020 by Bobss

[Knockagh]

Man I hated Palatine Phoenix. Bored me rigid.