Comments on: Franchise Heaven http://damiengwalter.com/2009/11/12/franchise-heaven/ Writer of weird fiction, Guardian columnist and writing teacher. Sat, 19 May 2012 15:18:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Gavin http://damiengwalter.com/2009/11/12/franchise-heaven/#comment-584 Gavin Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:34:28 +0000 http://damiengwalter.wordpress.com/?p=921#comment-584 As a spotty youth and Warhammer 40,000 player, I once casually picked up a tie-in novel called "Inquisitor" from my local GW store. This book was written by Ian Watson, and that book introduced me both to him and to a much wider world of SF than the diet of Star (Trek|Wars) that I'd hitherto been feeding on. So I have a lot of affection for that book, Ian Watson and franchise fiction in general. It can be a good gateway to greater things. I have been working my way through the Black Library's "Horusy Heresy" series, which seems to more or less obey Sturgeon's Law like everything else. Dan Abnett's work very definitely stands out from some of the others, but as a collective project it's all very impressive indeed, and the sort of thing that probably isn't even possible unless you have a major franchise and a company like GW backing you up. As a spotty youth and Warhammer 40,000 player, I once casually picked up a tie-in novel called “Inquisitor” from my local GW store. This book was written by Ian Watson, and that book introduced me both to him and to a much wider world of SF than the diet of Star (Trek|Wars) that I’d hitherto been feeding on. So I have a lot of affection for that book, Ian Watson and franchise fiction in general. It can be a good gateway to greater things.

I have been working my way through the Black Library’s “Horusy Heresy” series, which seems to more or less obey Sturgeon’s Law like everything else. Dan Abnett’s work very definitely stands out from some of the others, but as a collective project it’s all very impressive indeed, and the sort of thing that probably isn’t even possible unless you have a major franchise and a company like GW backing you up.

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