Have you ever dreamed of seeing your name on the cover of a Black Library novel? Have you got a brilliant story rattling around your skull that you just know will be an incredible addition to the Warhammer canon? Do you want to force someone at Games Workshop to read your Lieutenant Titus/Marneus Calgar slash fic?
You’re in luck. Games Workshop occasionally opens the doors to the Black Library and lets the serfs of the Imperium gander at the wonders within. That’s us. We’re the serfs. I guess that makes Kevin Rountree the Emperor in this metaphor?
The Black Library Wants You
Every few years, the Black Library – that’s the name of Games Workshop’s publishing imprint as well as the fictional house of tomes hidden in the Warp – opens its doors for submissions. That time is now.
There are always stringent rules and requirements for these events, so you can’t just send in that not safe for work Slaanesh cult ‘celebration’ that’s been in your notes app for 18 months. Romance is not prohibited, but 2025’s submissions need to involve two characters, no more and no less. Get your keys out of that bowl and your mind out of the gutter, that’s ruled out most Slaaneshi parties.
Your story cannot be more than 500 words – that means you’ve got fewer words than I’ve written in this article to tell your tale – and the setting is limited, too. If you opt for a Warhammer 40K story, it must be set on Vigilus, Armageddon, or Commorragh. If you’re more of an Age of Sigmar creative, it must be set in Hammerhal Aqsha, the Eightpoints, or Shadespire. I assume that means something to Sigmar players.
Games Workshop specifies that both characters must be from the same universe, so no crossover episodes.
These settings provide plenty of room for fans to wiggle within, covering almost every army in the game. That’s important, because your two characters must have had miniatures made for them at some point in Games Workshop’s history. If you want to imagine a conversation between that old Wizard with an AK-47 mini from the ‘80s and his familiar, go for it. Tyrion and Trazyn? Uh-uh.
Of course, homebrew characters should be fine, provided you can point to a model that represents it. Erik da Red could appear in the Ork Wreckas Kill Team for all intents and purposes, so long as your descriptions sort of match.
Has Games Workshop Made A Huge Mistake?
I feel for the person who has to read through these submissions, because the premise of two characters meeting opens the door for the most lurid fan fiction imaginable. I dread to think how many Guilliman and Yvraine sex scenes are going to be submitted, let alone those with OCs being railed by an Astartes.
Even away from the sex, weird romance is going to be on the cards for a lot of submissions with this specific criteria. Sure, they suggest apeing verbal sparring of ancient robots or the more brutal meeting of two powerful entities on the battlefield, but they’ve opened the doors to so much more. Remember the old lore for Illiyan Nastase’s parentage? Yeah, stuff like that, but in excruciating detail.
I’m sure the winner will write something normal, like two Orks debating the best way of roasting a captured Guardsman a lá The Hobbit, or A Samuel Beckett-esque conversation between two prisoners in a Commorragh torture chamber praying for death. But you just know that some poor employee will have to read through thousands of ships, lovemaking scenes, and worse to get to the good stuff. Or, you know, maybe they’re into that and Games Workshop is looking to enter the romantasy genre after the success of BookTok.
Either way, shoot your shot. Just don’t make it too lewd, for all our sakes.
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