Universes In Review - Introduction (Being Part I of III).

Being also an introduction to an introduction.

Right it's Friday and nothing has been posted yet, so I'll waffle for a bit. Anyone mind?

There will likely be a short intermission before my next full book review is up. The rather imposing tomb collecting Matthew Farrer’s Enforcer trilogy from the Black Library has landed on my doormat, and it will take a few days to get through the 750ish pages. So far it is going well and is an enjoyable, immersive read. Half way through the first book, so only time, and more reading will tell, I’ve got high hopes though. As much as I could say here I’ll try and keep it all for the proper review later. But before I drop that particular piece on you I thought some ground work might be in order..

What I thought I’d do over my next two posts is try and give a bit of a (very) sketchy background to the two main universes that Black Library support as the publishing arm of Games Workshop (tie-in comics are produced by Boom! Studios). And at this point some of you will skip the rest of this, and subsequent posts with a yawn, either dismissing it as tie-in fiction, or for being related to Games Workshop. Don’t (Although it is your choice to be fair). At least flick your eyes over the next two postings from me, covering each universe. Have a look if nothing else.
Those of you who weren’t experiencing the urge to skip will fall into three camps. People who are interested and with everything still to learn, those who know a bit and want more, and those with experience of what I’m going to talk about and will put me right when I wonder, and hopefully pick up anything I miss with comments. Hopefully the first two groups will read something interesting and informative, and the third group will read something they already know, rather than something new I’ve made up.

The two main universes, (there are various ancillary worlds but they’ll wait for another time) are Warhammer, and Warhammer 40,000 (40K for short), being dark fantasy and grimdark sci-fi respectively. Warhammer was released in 1983 with it’s SF sibling coming screaming and bloody into the world in 1987. Both took what was standard genre background and twisted it to some degree or another. There is certainly a feeling of Moorcock’s Elric and Eternal Champion stories resonating through the worlds, something different from the norm, although, citing a single source is a massive disservice- the influences the worlds draw from is vast, impressive and, at times, surprising. From their release to the present day both universes have undergone evolution and refinement, producing a richer and richer background.

While the books provide enough of the world to get to grips with the material it is no substitute for a rough idea of what’s going on, as 27 odd years of world building has lead to a lot of odd things being created (and destroyed). So, before the next post goes up, covering Warhammer, does anyone want anything in particular discussed? I'm likely to have blind spots as to what new readers want to know, so feel free to highlight whatever comes to mind. If not it is just going to be me waffling on again. Hopefully with a little more substance, and possibly a lot more length, but I'll try to keep it reasonable.