William King (born 7 December 1959), also known as Bill King, is a Scottish writer of a number of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

books, most notably in Games Workshop's Warhammer and

Warhammer 40,000 ''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, ...

series, published by Games Workshop's fiction arm

Black Library The Black Library is a division of Games Workshop (formerly a part of BL Publishing) which is devoted to publishing List of Black Library novels, novels and audiobooks (and has previously produced art books, background books, and graphic novels) ...

Career

King wrote '' Trollslayer'' (1999), the first novel published under the Games Workshop's

label. His most memorable characters, Gotrek and Felix, have appeared in a series of novels, beginning with ''Trollslayer'', a collection of previously published and new short stories. His next-most-famous character is Ragnar Blackmane, a

Space Marine The space marine, an archetype of military science fiction, is a kind of soldier who operates in outer space or on alien worlds. Historical marines fulfill multiple roles: ship defence, boarding actions, landing parties, and general-purpose hi ...

from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' game setting universe (although the character was already in existence in the game and background material, King took him and expanded his history in the novel series). In 2010, he signed a three-book deal with Black Library that will focus on elven brothers Tyrion and Teclis. Prior to moving to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, King spent a number of years as a designer for GW, contributing to their game universes (where much of his fiction is also set). He has also written a

tetralogy A tetralogy (from Greek τετρα- '' tetra-'', "four" and -λογία ''-logia'', "discourse") is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works. The name comes from the Attic theater, in which a tetralogy was a group of three tragedie ...

of books featuring the Death's Angels which are available in the Czech Republic, Spain and Germany. He married his long-time girlfriend, Radka, on 24 September 2005, and lives in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

with his family. King's latest work has been '' Illidan: World of Warcraft'' for

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...

, released in March 2016.

Bibliography

Novel series

;'' Gotrek and Felix'' series *'' Trollslayer'' (1999) *'' Skavenslayer'' (1999) *'' Daemonslayer'' (1999) * ''Dragonslayer'' (2000) *'' Beastslayer'' (2001) *'' Vampireslayer'' (2001) *'' Giantslayer'' (2003) ;''Tyrion and Teclis'' trilogy *''Blood of Aenarion'' (2011) *''Sword of Caledor'' (2012) *''Bane of Malekith'' (2013) ;''Macharian Crusade'' trilogy *''Angel of Fire'' (2012) *''Fist of Demetrius'' (2013) *''Fall of Macharius'' (2014) ;'' Ragnar Blackmane'' series * ''Space Wolf'' * ''Ragnar's Claw'' * ''Grey Hunter'' * ''Wolfblade'' ;''Terrarch'' tetralogy *'' Death's Angels'' *'' Tower of Serpents'' *'' The Queen's Assassin'' *'' Armies of the Dead'' (renamed as '' Shadowblood'')

Short stories

* "Green Troops" * "Red Garden" * "Visiting the Dead" * "Skyrider" * "The Price of Their Toys" * "The Laughter of Dark Gods" * "Geheimnisnacht" * "Wolf Riders" * "Dark Beneath the World" * "Uptown Girl" * "Deathwing" (with B. Ansell) * "Devil’s Marauders" * " Skaven's Claw" * "Easy Steps to Posthumanity" * "The Mutant Master" * "In the Belly of the Beast" * "Ulric’s Children" * "Blood and Darkness" * "The Mark of

Slaanesh In Games Workshop's ''Warhammer Fantasy'' and ''Warhammer 40,000'' fictional universes, Chaos refers to parasitic entities which live in a different plane of reality known as '' the Warp'' or ''Immaterium'' in ''Warhammer 40,000'' and as the Real ...

" * "The Ultimate Ritual" (with N Jones) * "The Wrath of Khârn" * "Redhand's Daughter" * "The Guardian of the Dawn" * "The Servants of the Dark Master"

Other works

*''Farseer'' *'' Laughter of Dark Gods'' (short stories anthology) *''The Inquiry Agent'' (a Victorian mystery) *'' Illidan: World of Warcraft'' *'' Warzone: Mutant Chronicles''

References

External links

William King's official blogThe Black Library official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, William 1959 births People from Stranraer 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists British expatriates in the Czech Republic British fantasy writers British male novelists British science fiction writers Games Workshop Living people Writers from Prague Scottish fantasy writers Scottish science fiction writers Warhammer Fantasy writers Warhammer 40,000 writers 20th-century British male writers 21st-century English male writers