William King has signed “a major new deal… for an undisclosed five-figure sum” with the Black Library for a Warhammer 40K series, in a deal negotiated by agent John Jarrold. The Macharian Trilogy will be based within the Imperial Guard, and will debut in 2012. It follows King’s “return to Black Library with a Warhammer trilogy featuring high elf characters Tyrion and Teclis—the first volume of which, Blood of Aenarion, will be published in December 2011.
Scottish-born King is “one of Black Library’s best-selling authors, with sales in excess of half a million books. He started writing for Games Workshop in 1988, and later he worked in the design studio. His swords and sorcery series Gotrek & Felix and his Space Wolf novels have become a staple in the Black Library range. His short fiction has appeared in Interzone, Zenith, and a Year’s Best SF collection. He currently lives in Prague.