Which Black Library author's other work would you read.

[grailkeeper]

For me a large part of why I read Black Library books is because I already love the lore and the setting. Its the reading equivalent of comfort food. There's already a lot of crutches there for authors (and some restrictions). An author doesnt have to tell us what a space marine chaplain does, or what a Rhino looks like. We already know these. 

 

GW authors are of varying quality. Many have written novels outside of BL, either before or after they have come to the black library. Some have written other stuff- for example dan Abnett is a prolific comicbook author. Some have even written non-fiction.

 

Which author's non- black library work would you read based on the strength of the their black library work?

 

For me I can start with the authors whose non-black library work I have already read. I've read many of Dan Abnett's comics and a couple of his novels like Embedded and Triumff. I've also read one of Guy Hayley's novels set in a post apocalyptic Britain. 

 

Ones I would like to read: ADB hasnt written any non BL novels to my knowledge. He's had a couple of indepedent projects online that I have read but I dont think this counts. 

I love Robert Rath. I've said that I'd read the phonebook if he wrote it. I read somewhere that he has written some kind of non-fiction book for the US State Dept. I messaged him on twitter asking where I could rad it, I'm that much of a fan. (He didnt get back to me). 

 

So- based on the strength of their Black Library work which BL authors other work would you seek out? Are there any you have sought out? Anything particularly good/bad/notable?

[Malkydel]

Rob Rath is part of Extra History on Youtube, if I recall correctly. Funnily enough I think I read ADB doing RPG work before I read his 40k stuff (Werewolf: the Forsaken, specifically)

 

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the obvious one; his Shadows of the Apt books are a great twist on fantasy and his Children of Time books are spectacularly conceived.

 

I've heard a lot of good stuff about the stuff BL authors are doing for Aconyte as well.

[grailkeeper]

5 minutes ago, Malkydel said:

 

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the obvious one; his Shadows of the Apt books are a great twist on fantasy and his Children of Time books are spectacularly conceived.

 

 

Thats an excellent point and a big omission by me. I've read loads of his books- initially on ADB's suggestion. I suppose mentally I filed him away as author who was written for BL rather than BL author. Others that might fall under the same category would be anyone (Outside of Abnett) who worked for 2000ad before BL. Simon Spurrier, Pat Mills and Gordon Rennie are all examples. BL fished a lot from that pond in its early days. Kim Newman is another example!

[SvenIronhand]

Abnett and ADB, maybe.

[N1SB]

3 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

I love Robert Rath. I've said that I'd read the phonebook if he wrote it. I read somewhere that he has written some kind of non-fiction book for the US State Dept. I messaged him on twitter asking where I could rad it, I'm that much of a fan. (He didnt get back to me). 

 

 

Robert Rath and I go to the same Warhammer Store.  Next time I run into him, I'll ask for you.  He might've moved, though.

[wecanhaveallthree]

I haven't picked up his recent two books yet (and I totally will), but Matt Ward's Legacy trilogy is really, really good. 

 

E: Ward's writing just perfectly tickles me in the 'modern fantasy' way. It's hard to put my finger on exactly what it is. It's the same 'essence' of, say, Gideon the Ninth or Baru Cormorant or, perhaps most famously, Abercrombie's First Law. That playing with language and expectation, the refutation of 'death of the author' because the author's voice is constantly present throughout the story. In the BL stable, Chris Wraight does this a lot (I always come back to that pages-long tangent about paper on the Throneworld), but Fehervari is a master of it and Abnett's The Magos is, I think, a very good example as well. Ward writes with sincerity. He is unashamed of what he's bringing to the table, and I feel a lot of fantasy authors are often hamstrung because they present characters or stories with half a heart, as though they're a little embarrassed to be bringing up, y'know, nerd stuff.

 

Ward owns it. His world and characters are deeply immersive and, above all, a rollicking good time. There is a raven death god dude who wears a domino mask and a suit and a cane and I was like 'yes, that is exactly what I am here for, let's pretend this story is a loyal Sororitas and I'm a Grey Knight and just smear its blood all over me, babe'. 

Edited November 16 by wecanhaveallthree
WORDS WORDS WORDS

[grailkeeper]

29 minutes ago, N1SB said:

 

 

Robert Rath and I go to the same Warhammer Store.  Next time I run into him, I'll ask for you.  He might've moved, though.

We need a jealousy react. 

[Xin Ceithan]

When I was in University, the guy who ran the resident  comic store suggested DC’s reimagining of “Legion of Superheroes” and Marvels “ Guardian of the Galaxy” both for the over-the-top  space opera and the twists in story and character development.

 

Where I also picked up a TPB of one “Durham Red” because of the awesome art and because vampires vs religious zealots in space, finding I also liked the story and characters quite a lot.
 

It took some time to make the connection - I think I had one of the trade paperbacks accidentally lying on the table when the most recent novel from Gaunt’s Ghosts shipped.
 

Imagine my surprise!
 

I’ll admit that Abnett’s  comic work is rather mercenary - but I can wholeheartedly recommend his current  sci/ fi / Mythos/ true detective work on 2000 AD’s “Brink”

[DarkChaplain]

I really enjoyed Guy Haley's other works. Still mad that Tor didn't continue with his novella series back then (they shifted direction for their imprint). His Richards & Klein books, Crash and Champion of Mars were all very satisfying for me. There might or might not also be a very chunky fantasy trilogy under a pseudonym, which I may or may not have greatly enjoyed for its very thick worldbuilding and character work...

 

Josh Reynolds is a big recommendation from me, as well. His Royal Occultist stories were great fun! Still upset that due to publisher troubles, my shelf is missing the third novel in print. There's a lot of short stories in this cycle that are free to grab on his website, so dig in.

 

I also had a good few spooky nights with David Annandale's Gethsemane Hall. That he didn't get more chances to write full-length novels for Warhammer Horror is a Warhammer Crime.

[Felix Antipodes]

I make it a point to check if a BL author has non-GW stuff out there.  That was how I found Haley’s books (amongst others) which I thought were great.  I had never read any of Tchaikovsky’s output before he did his BL work and am now ploughing through those as well (so many books, so little time).

As for the original question, I would love to read original works from French, Wraight , Rath or Fischer (amongst others) to see what they could come up with outside of W40K or AoS.

[Urauloth]

Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time and his Final Architecture trilogy are some of my favourite books, and while I haven't had time to start reading Shadows of the Apt yet, I'm looking forward to it.

 

Josh Reynolds' Arkham Horror novels are a lot of fun and I'd recommend them. I'm hoping for a Graphic Audio release of Song of Carcosa, because I'd like it in the same format as my copies of the first two books for voice cast continuity.

 

I'd love to see what original work from Wraight would look like. I'd like to see something from Jude Reid as well, and as it happens that exists - short story in the horror anthology Night Terrors Vol 2, which is in my large TBR pile.

[Taliesin]

It really depends on the topic they write about, I would need to see synopsis and sample chapter, just like with other authors.

[grailkeeper]

54 minutes ago, Taliesin said:

It really depends on the topic they write about, I would need to see synopsis and sample chapter, just like with other authors.

You go by the same requirements as most publishers!

[byrd9999]

The only non-BL book I have by a BL author is Nate Crowley's "100 Best Video Games That Never Existed", and it's brilliant.

 

If you like his sense of humour or grew up with 80s & 90s video games, you'll enjoy this. A perfect toilet book to flick through and laugh out loud. So many quotable sentences.