Heretic Tomes
Heretic Tomes is a branding launched by Black Library in January 2010. It had originally been announced during Black Library Live! 2009 and in September on Black Library 's blog[2] and Facebook page[3]. It was instituted to brand certain books of Black Library 's print on demand (PoD) range which in the opinion of the company no longer accurately reflected the Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 universes.[1]
"'As previously announced at this year's Black Library Live!, Black Library will be launching a range of Print on Demand titles in January 2010 to bring back classic and fan-favourite novels, graphic novels and artbooks that have been out of print for many years. Most of these titles will be brought back through this special service whilst a few will have minor edits to reflect changes to the background of the Warhammer and Warhammer 40000 worlds.
There are a few books that we are planning to bring back in to print however, that were written in a different time and place, when the worlds of Warhammer and 40K were different from what they are now, and that editing these books would undermine the story, the author's intention and the fact that they are artefacts of their time. Rather than keep these books out of print in the face of unprecedented reader demand, Black Library will once again make these books available under the Heretic Tomes banner.[...]
"
- Posted by Christian Dunn on the Black Library blog on 04 September 2009[2]
It should be noted that this new branding did not apply to the whole Print on demand range, some older books "where some of the details didn't capture the flavor of the background, [would] undergo rewriting and editing before being re-released".[1]
Christian Dunn, then Range Development Editor for Black Library running the e-book, Print on Demand and audio ranges, in February 2010 elaborated on the concept in an interview:[1]
"'we are branding some of the books within the PoD range as 'Heretic Tomes'. One of the great opportunities with PoD is to bring back older titles - some of which even pre-date Black Library - that no longer accurately reflect the Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 universes. These are the kind of novels that we wouldn't want to put on the shelves of a Games Workshop or bookstore because anybody unfamiliar with Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 might get the wrong idea and come away with an inaccurate picture of our fictional universes. They're all still great stories though, so badging them as Heretic Tomes allows us to get the books back into the hands of fans but also tip them off that the background and IP might be a bit different from what they're used to. [...] There are a few titles in our back catalogue that despite being very good stories in their own right, didn't accurately capture the Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 background. Some of these titles couldn't be re-edited to fit the background without fundamentally altering the plot and these will be released under the Heretic Tomes branding
"
- Christian Dunn[2]
The first Heretic Tome was Space Marine by Ian Watson which at the point of introduction of the term had been out of print for over 15 years.[1] As far as we are aware, only three novels in total ever received this branding, the above-mentioned Space Marine, Pawns of Chaos[6] and Farseer[7]. All of these were marked with the logo shown above.
Contrary to what many readers believe there is no indication that the Inquisition War Trilogy (Novel Series) was actually ever published under the label Heretic Tome (but then it was also never available as a Print on demand book as far as we know). The print versions precede the introduction of the branding (2004 and 2009 respectively) so the label Heretic Tome would not even have been launched yet. There are no known instances of any Warhammer books receiving the label.
Current status
It is currently not clear what happened to the Heretic Tomes branding. It does not seem as if Black Library still uses it.
In March 2015 Space Marine was still sold with the Heretic Tomes label[5], currently no later instances of the use of the label on a book are known. In 2016 the branding still appeared in the Print on demand FAQs on the Black Library homepage but since then the whole FAQ has disappeared[4]:
"'Why do some Print on Demand titles have a Heretic Tomes logo on them?
Some of the titles in our back catalogue no longer accurately reflect the fictional universes of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 and would require extensive rewriting to bring them up to date. Rather than keep these titles on the shelf, we’ve decided to reprint them but make it quite clear that these books are not to be considered an accurate portrayal of the Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 universe.
"
- Black Library Print on demand FAQ[4]
So it seems as if the branding was quietly dropped around 2015 or 2016 after only having been used for three novels.
Known Warhammer 40,000 novels released as Heretic Tomes
Sources
- 1: SF Signal: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Christian Dunn on Black Library's New Print on Demand Book Line (saved archive page, dated 28 February 2010, last accessed 29 February 2020)
- 2: The Black Library Blog: HERETIC TOMES - THE TRUTH REVEALED! (saved archive page, dated 11 September 2009, last accessed 29 February 2020)
- 3: Black Library: Heretic Tomes - The Truth Revealed! (Posted September 4, 2009) (last accessed 29 February 2020)
- 4: Black Library: Frequently asked questions: Print on demand (saved archive page, dated 02 November 2016, last accessed 29 February 2020)
- 5: Black Library: Space Marine (saved archive page, dated 18 March 2015, last accessed 29 February 2020)
- 6: Black Library: Pawns of Chaos (saved archive page, dated 02 January 2012, last accessed 29 February 2020)
- 7: Black Library: Farseer (saved archive page, dated 02 January 2012, last accessed 29 February 2020)
