Kim Newman - Drachenfels

[andydecker]

Kim Newman writing as Jack Yeovil - Drachenfels (GW Books, 1989, posted edition Black Library 2001, 269 pages)

Adrian Smith

This was the second novel Kim Newman published. It established his pseudoym Jack Yeovil for shared universe novelizations, also it became one of the corner stones of the fictional Warhammer fantasy universe. Today you can fill a library with Warhammer novels, regardless if it sf or fantasy, but they started small. In 1989 it was just a few novels, and Drachenfels created in many ways the basics of the Old World universe.

While the plot is quite original with its playwright as hero - and in parts reminds one of Corman's Masque of the Red Death -, the novel also introduced Newman's heroine Genevieve the vampire which later became part of his Anno Dracula novels.

Most of those games/fantasy/horror series of the time have been forgotten. Who remembers things like Dark Future, Ravenloft or even all those countless D & D novels like Dragonlance? But Drachenfels soldiered on, despite a long hiatus, and it is in print today.

[enoch]

Most tie-in novels for properties like Star Trek, D & D, Battletech and others are dreadful hackwork, but from the very beginning Games Workshop hired talented writers.  In the early days, almost all of this fiction, even for Warhammer 40,000, more resembled horror than anything else.  Charles Davidson's short story "The Reavers and the Dead," published in 1989, concerns a small boy whose discovery of a dead (?) necromancer's workshop leads to his eventual possession by the spirit of the necromancer, and is very much like the sort of plot Clark Ashton Smith might have used.  C.L. Werner's "The Small Ones" (2003) is about the corruption of a village's children by the forces of evil.  It reminds me quite a bit of The Blood on Satan's Claw in tone.

[andydecker]

May 31, 2022 13:17:05 GMT enoch said:

  C.L. Werner's "The Small Ones" (2003) is about the corruption of a village's children by the forces of evil.  It reminds me quite a bit of The Blood on Satan's Claw in tone.

I have a soft spot for Werner, he did a few good novels for Warhammer. Horror was always a big part of the background, so GWs 'new' label Warhammer Horror a few years ago seemed to be a bit redundant. Warner wrote a novel for it. I looked the story up and I never knew the anthology it appeared in. Which is no wonder, it is too much product.

[enoch]

I particularly like Werner's Witch Hunter books.  To me, they're sort of a cross between Witchfinder General (a.k.a. The Conqueror Worm) and Captain Kronos.  I read one of the Warhammer 40K "horror" novels and was less than impressed -- it wasn't nearly as creepy as Dan Abnett's Legion or some of the other regular fiction.

I wasn't clear whether you ever found the anthology title in which that Werner short story appeared, so here it is:  Way of the Dead (2003).  Years ago, I corresponded with Werner for a while and he's an extremely nice man.

[andydecker]

Jun 1, 2022 5:52:39 GMT enoch said:

I particularly like Werner's Witch Hunter books.  To me, they're sort of a cross between Witchfinder General (a.k.a. The Conqueror Worm) and Captain Kronos.  I read one of the Warhammer 40K "horror" novels and was less than impressed -- it wasn't nearly as creepy as Dan Abnett's Legion or some of the other regular fiction.

I wasn't clear whether you ever found the anthology title in which that Werner short story appeared, so here it is:  Way of the Dead (2003).  Years ago, I corresponded with Werner for a while and he's an extremely nice man.

Thanks for the reference! Werner's Witch Hunter is a lot of fun. I also liked his Brunner the bounty hunter, his tongue must have got cramps as it was planted so firmly in cheek while writing this. But I am biased as I translated some of them.

I sampled one of those Warhammer horror, a novella by Graham McNeill. It was nicely done, he is with Abnett one of the best writers in the 40K range, but why exactly this was more a horror story than regular WH novels is a bit hard to understand. I read some rave reviews about Peter Fehervari in the horror imprint, but I don't know.

[enoch]

Yes, I love the Brunner stuff, as well. Werner has a flair for humor as well as horror and adventure.   I read one of Fehervari's novels and found it just okay, but he certainly does have his devoted fans.

[andydecker]

Jun 2, 2022 7:00:14 GMT enoch said:

 I read one of Fehervari's novels and found it just okay, but he certainly does have his devoted fans.

What is the secret here?

I always find it interesting when more or less new writers 'suddenly' seem to get this hardcore following, and in his case according to all those reviews is seems that he is carving his own niche in WH, but in subtle ways. Which is not an easy thing, especially in shared world writings with such a complicated background.

[enoch]

I didn't think Fehervari's writing was bad at all; I just didn't see what the big deal was.  I just put it down to a difference in taste and style.  His writing obviously speaks to quite a number of people though, so good for him and I wish him success.