The story
History
The publishing company takes its name from the fictional Black Library that appears in the setting of Warhammer 40,000. The fictional Black Library is where the Eldar race keeps their collected knowledge of Chaos and the Necrons.
The Black Library was founded in April 1997 by Andy Jones and Marc Gascoigne to publish Inferno! magazine, a bi-monthly digest-sized anthology of short stories, comic strips and features from the Warhammer worlds. Inferno! was a test bed for new artists and authors and allowed Games Workshop to 'test and learn' by trying new formats of fiction and illustration to explore the depths of Warhammer and Warhammer40,000. Black Library began as a small team at Games Workshop who brought together INFERNO! magazine. Inferno!'s success spawned Warhammer Monthly comic books, and then from September 1999 a lengthy series of fantasy and science fiction novels. Their first art book, Inquis Exterminatus was published in May, 1999. Black Library's catalogue now runs to well over two hundred titles, with a Warhammer and a Warhammer 40,000 novel appearing every month.
In October 2003 BL Publishing started a sister imprint, Black Flame, which applied the same pulp styling to novels featuring New Line Cinema characters such as Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, and 2000 AD comics' Judge Dredd and others. In 2006, Black Flame produced the novel for the New Line Cinema's feature film Snakes on a Plane. In the summer of 2005 BL Publishing announced another fiction imprint, Solaris Books, that will publish original science fiction and fantasy. Solaris Books has subsequently been sold to Rebellion who also own Abaddon Books.
Background
Short stories and other pieces of fiction were created for the White Dwarf magazine, for Warhammer 40,000 rulebooks and gaming guides, for other publications, such as the Citadel Journal, and for each of their official websites. Later, these evolved into larger novels and other works.
A series of Warhammer 40,000 comics were first created for the Games Workshop magazine, Warhammer Monthly as short background filler. In 1999, the first miniature and game tie-in was released as a joint project of Warhammer Monthly and its publisher, the Black Library. This model was the bounty hunter Kal Jerico of the "Specialist Game" Necromunda.
Including rules and a certificate of authenticity, the Black Library created many more limited edition miniatures and expanded the small comics into larger collections while adding many new ones. These novels and graphic novels are accompanied by cross-promotional articles that connect the characters from the novels to the Warhammer 40,000 miniatures game.
While Warhammer Monthly was discontinued in 2004 (although still listed at the Black Library website), there was a short lived continuation under the title Warhammer Comics. However, with the discontinuation of these magazine projects, the Black Library still continues to produce graphic novels and collections that expand upon the fiction behind the tabletop game.
Gaming with the Black Library
The works produced by the Black Library detail the interactions of the Warhammer 40,000 armies: Chaos Space Marines, Daemonhunters, Dark Eldar, Eldar, Imperial Guard, Necrons, Orks, Space Marines, T'au, Tyranids, and the Witch Hunters. They are collaborated efforts between the authors of the Warhammer 40,000 game rules and the writers of the background.
Read the full text
These works expand on the storylines, characters, armies, and organisations discussed in the Codexes. Combined with contributions to White Dwarf magazine of articles, stories, and rules, and miniature lines produced by both Games Workshop and Forge World, they expand upon the fictional world of the original Warhammer 40,000 game and its other companion games. The column "Chapter Approved" of White Dwarf is a forum for collaborations between authors, model makers, and the rulemakers, allowing for the characters to have their own place amongst Warhammer 40,000 battles.
Alongside of the Warhammer 40,000 game was a short-lived game called Warhammer Warriors. The system was created by Rick Priestley and based on the playing style of LostWorlds. Many of the characters released for the miniature game were given rules and a "gaming book" to be used in playing against others. This series ended before many of the novels were published and production of cross-promotional books was discontinued.
Fiction of the Black Library
Most of the stories take place thousands of years after the fall of the Emperor of Mankind at the hands of his favoured son Horus, once loyal but corrupted by Chaos. Many millennia have passed since then but the Imperium is still at war with the Chaos Space Marines, along with many new enemies.
The majority of these stories are written in the perspective of humans, primarily those of the Imperial Guard, the mechanic/scientist-mystics of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the female warriors of the Sisters of Battle, the holy Inquisition, and the superhuman Space Marines, although some have been written from the perspective of corrupt Chaos-worshipping humans, as well as the alien Eldar and T'au races. They span the complete Warhammer 40,000 universe.
From Wikipedia’s article on Black Library, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3