Every so often, in accordance with the prophecies, the custodians of the Black Library throw open their doors and invite submissions from all comers. Aspiring writers send in short samples and story ideas that bring to life a dark corner of the Warhammer universes.
Submissions are welcomed from anyone and everyone, and – while the focus is a little less on trials by combat – the process is as exacting as Astartes selection.
Marc Collins applied in 2018, and the Black Librarians liked him and his work so much that his first short story, ‘Ghosts of Iron’, was published just a year later. Since then, he’s had many more published, and Marc graduates to his first full novel, Grim Repast, later this year.
“The submission process was very exciting,” Marc tells us. “The feedback I got helped me to see what the story needed to grow and develop. Editorial could not have been more encouraging or more supportive.
“What I would say to anyone who is trying the Open Submissions is don’t be discouraged. Every time I didn’t get through, I learned something about my writing. I looked at what worked and what didn’t, and I tried to apply that to future submissions. My skill increased as I polished and tweaked,” he explains.
“Remember that it isn’t a competition, it’s an audition. What matters is that you make sure you follow all the guidance, bring your A-game, and above all make sure you’re writing something that you feel passionately about. Find that part of Warhammer that makes you happy.”
Grim Repast is a Warhammer Crime novel set in the sprawling metropolis of ancient hives that form Varangantua, following a Probator* named Quillon Drask who has a knack for picking up strange cases.
“Crime fills a niche that has been wanted for so long in Warhammer, a commitment to ‘domestic Warhammer’,” Marc says. “Seeing things from the ground level without immense existential threats bearing down on the plot gives a lot of freedom for quirky salt-of-the-earth stories. These characters aren’t Space Marines or Inquisitors. They’re ordinary people, law enforcers and law-breakers, just trying to get by in the world.”
While we’ve seen other approaches to hives cities over the years, notably on Necromunda and Chris Wraight’s Vaults of Terra, “Varangantua is a playground built for these stories alone”.
“This bespoke setting, with so many writers mucking in, has allowed it to grow in weird and interesting ways,” says Marc. “It’s allowed me to mine deep into my own love of crime stories and to extrapolate what I like about those into a little corner of the galaxy. Varangantua and the southern districts of Polaris really bring to mind the Scottish crime stories that I grew up with.”
With Grim Repast out soon, Marc’s now on the hunt for other strange stories to tell in the darker recesses of Warhammer.
“I’d love to get back to the Genestealer Cults and the Adeptus Mechanicus. I enjoy writing about zealots, and I’ve had ample opportunity to with the Black Templar stories. But I love the weird little corners of the setting – and few factions get weirder than them. Likewise, I would enjoy writing something about Chaos, especially around big set-piece events like the Abyssal Crusade or the Dominion of Fire,” he says.
“For me, Warhammer – especially Warhammer 40,000 – has this utterly unique character. Everything is wonderfully bleak and utterly baroque. A fine line between complete creative joy and utter existential despair.”
Marc’s debut novel Grim Repast is out soon, and you can check out a few of his other hits in Sabbat War, The Shapers of Scars, and Inferno! Volume 5.
* That’s a high-ranking Enforcer. In the grim darkness of the far future, there are still police officers.