Ian Watson, the British science fiction writer who penned the very first Warhammer 40,000 novels, died on 13 April in Gijon, Spain. He was 82, and just a week short of his 83rd birthday.
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Start organising for freeIn the early 1990s, Watson wrote four novels set in the 40K universe that launched an entire literary franchise. His debut, Inquisitor (1990), published by GW Books, was the very first Warhammer 40,000 novel. It was followed by Space Marine (1993), Harlequin (1994), and Chaos Child (1995), the latter three published by Boxtree. Inquisitor, Harlequin, and Chaos Child form the Inquisition War trilogy. The Black Library, Games Workshop's publishing arm, reprinted the trilogy in 2002, retitling the first volume to Draco to avoid confusion with the Inquisitor tabletop game.
Watson's 40K writing was nothing like what came after. Where later Black Library authors leaned into military precision, Watson's approach was psychedelic, provocative, and fiercely inventive. He once described his process as "hallucinating myself into the 40K milieu" and having "enormous mad fun." His novels explored the setting's strangeness with a literary ambition unusual for tie-in fiction.
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See how it worksBeyond Warhammer, Watson was the author or co-author of 35 novels. His debut sci-fi novel, The Embedding (1973), won the Prix Apollo in 1975 for its French translation. He also wrote the story treatment that formed the basis for Steven Spielberg's 2001 film A.I. Artificial Intelligence, a project originally developed by Stanley Kubrick. Before turning to writing full-time, Watson taught English in Tanzania and Tokyo, and lectured in "Future Studies" at Birmingham Polytechnic.
He is survived by his wife Cristina Macia and daughters Jessica Black and Laura Watson.
Sources: Wargamer | Goonhammer | Wikipedia
