William King returning to Black Library

[Bob the Gunslinger]

On the Black Library blog, they have an article about William King, author of Space Wolf and Gotrek and Felix, writing a new trilogy for them. Mr. King is one of their best authors and has been on sabbatical for 5 or more years, so this is pretty exciting news.

[Noble713]

His original material on the Siege of Terra remains one of my favorite pieces of 40k fluff.

[Falkenhayn]

Is he publishing on the 40k side or for Fantasy?

[Imperial Overlord]

Is he publishing on the 40k side or for Fantasy?

Fantasy, according to the blog.

[white_rabbit]

He's writing a trilogy of books on Teclis and Tyrion, set before the current timeline.

So its basically Teclis and Tyrion facing off against the Witch King and various Dark Elf shenanigans. Which Bill King wrote the background for anyway.

Its well on its way apparently.

Personally, I'm happy he's back, and it's just going to be an extra bonus if he does some other work. Farseer's story was fun, and Bill King in the Heresy series would be awesome, since he's the guy who wrote the background for the final battle of the Heresy as well.

[Serafina]

Wow, that's good news.

Interestingly, 200 years before the current time is right at the Great War against Chaos under Magnus - and a War in Ulthuan.
So, a lot of material to work with.

[Steel]

Wow, that's good news.

Interestingly, 200 years before the current time is right at the Great War against Chaos under Magnus - and a War in Ulthuan.
So, a lot of material to work with.

I believe its mentioned in one of the Gotrek and Felix books that Teclis was at the siege of Praag... 200 years before the 'present day'. So that might be featuring.

Wonder what would happen if he decided he wanted to take over the Gotrek and Felix books again.

[Bedlam]

Wonder what would happen if he decided he wanted to take over the Gotrek and Felix books again.

I dont think there would be a problem, he created them and I think GW would happely give them back. The only problem might be if he decides to have the other author's books cease to exist in continuity although as that series started up 10+ years later there's plenty of space to continue on his own stories before the later books.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

The only problem might be if he decides to have the other author's books cease to exist in continuity although as that series started up 10+ years later there's plenty of space to continue on his own stories before the later books.

I don't think that would be a problem at all. Considering what William King is said to have planned for the remaining Gotrek and Felix books, I really, really want to see him write them as he'd intended. Nathan Long's not a bad writer, but his Gotrek and Felix books are a far cry from William King's.

[white_rabbit]

Lets face it, its scraping the bottom of the barrel at the moment.

I mean, Zombie slayer ? For fucks sake, Gotrek fought a Bloodthirster and lived, Felix (with help) killed Skajalandir the Dragon.

Zombies are mooks to Gotrek, hell, Chaos Warriors are mooks to the guy.

[Steel]

Lets face it, its scraping the bottom of the barrel at the moment.

I mean, Zombie slayer ? For fucks sake, Gotrek fought a Bloodthirster and lived, Felix (with help) killed Skajalandir the Dragon.

Zombies are mooks to Gotrek, hell, Chaos Warriors are mooks to the guy.

Why did Bill King stop writing the series originally? What was the original plan for the story arc if any?

The current crop of books aren't bad as such, and got better, but I didn't feel they were quite as good as the previous set. I dont think it would be a good idea to swap back authors though.

[andrewgpaul]

From what I heard (second-hand), Black Library were basically too stingy. He's spent the last few years in Prague writing his own novels, which are apparently pretty successful in Czech. He couldn't get a decent publishing deal in the UK, partly, as he put it, because Black Library's rates were so low, no other publisher felt the need to offer anything better.

I never did ask him what his plans were for the series as a whole, but it's obvious that Gotrek dies at some point - the novels were presented as excerpts from Felix's in-universe published works. Obviously Nathan Long partially retconned that, by saying that Felix's brother published his journals (i.e. Bill King's novels) without permission in the 20 years he was away.

As for the title, I presume Gotrek will be slaying something a little beefier than regular Zombies; Dragon- and Daemonslayer were followed by Beastslayer, after all, which is also a bit of a comedown, title-wise.

There's also Bloodborn in June by Nathan Long, with an "Ulrika the Vampire" subtitle on the preview cover - a spin-off from Vampireslayer, by the looks of things. If Kim Newman won't write any more Genevieve novels, that'll be the next-best thing.

[white_rabbit]

As for the title, I presume Gotrek will be slaying something a little beefier than regular Zombies; Dragon- and Daemonslayer were followed by Beastslayer, after all, which is also a bit of a comedown, title-wise.

Beastslayer is a little more vague I agree, and after all, the big bad in question was Arek Daemonclaw, Arch-champion of Chaos.

Even if its some sort of giant frankenstein zombie of doom, I can't see the Zombie in Zombieslayer living up to that.

Bill King has written multiple novels in his own setting, which as has been mentioned, have done very well in pretty much every country other than an english speaking one goddamnit.

bloody publishers.