The Mutant Master

Credits

References

  • A novella by William King.
  • Can be found in the following books-magazines :
    • In numerous other (digital) publications (mostly collections) from Black Library.
  • In his introduction to the 2013 edition of Trollslayer(Black Library Classics), William King revealed that :
    • He wrote Geheimnisnacht as a one-off story, in 1988, in which Gotrek was meant to die at the end, but later revised it based on his liking for the characters (Gotrek’s fake death in the story was initially written as permanent) . The story led to the commissioning of another by Games Workshop, and then another, which led to Wolf Riders and The Dark Beneath the World.
      The success of these three stories led to King being commissioned to write a full-length novel, which he approached by writing three novella-length stories in episodic format, which became The Mark of Slaanesh, Blood and Darkness, and Skaven’s Claw.
    • However, Games Workshop Books closed unexpectedly, and the publication of the novel was delayed until 1999, when it also included The Mutant Master and Ulric’s Children, which had previously been published in Inferno! magazine. The novel also added the prefacing excerpts from Felix’s journal.
    • The Mark of Slaanesh and Blood and Darkness were eventually published as part of Trollslayer, while Skaven’s Claw became the first chapter of the subsequent novel Skavenslayer.
  • In his introduction from the 2019 edition of Trollslayer(20th Anniversary Edition), William King revealed that :
    • Fast forward about seven years to 1998 (I think), and Andy Jones approached me at a convention in the US with the news that GW was returning to the fiction business and would be producing a new magazine, Inferno. That’s where ‘The Mutant Master’ and ‘Ulric’s Children’ come from.
  • Note :
    • This post includes only what has to do with it and not the whole interviews, intros, etc.