''Inferno!'' (originally ''Carnage'') was a bi-monthly magazine published from 1997 to 2004 by

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...

's publishing division,

Black Library The Black Library is a division of Games Workshop (formerly a part of BL Publishing) which is devoted to publishing List of Black Library novels, novels and audiobooks (and has previously produced art books, background books, and graphic novels) ...

, which was initially just the name of the team brought together to work on ''Inferno!''. 10th anniversary interview
, with

Marc Gascoigne Marc Gascoigne (born 5 July 1962 at Temple Ewell with River, near Dover, Kent) is a British author and editor. He is the editor, author or co-author of more than fifty books and gaming related titles, notably various ''Fighting Fantasy'' books, ...

It presented fiction, artwork, and comics set in the

fictional universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes may ...

's of Games Workshop's

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

s. These initially included ''

Warhammer Fantasy Battle ''Warhammer'' (formerly ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' or just ''Warhammer Fantasy'') is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley; it was published ...

'', ''

Warhammer 40,000 ''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, ...

'', and '' Necromunda'', and later added the ''

Mordheim ''Mordheim'' is a tabletop game published by Games Workshop in 1999. It is a variant of the company's Warhammer Fantasy game set on a warband or "skirmish" scale. Mordheim was designed by Alessio Cavatore, Tuomas Pirinen, and Rick Priestley. Besi ...

'' and ''

Gorkamorka ''Gorkamorka'' is a tabletop skirmish wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is set on the desert world of Angelis in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, and prominently features Orks. The player takes control of a group of warriors with the object ...

'' settings.

Publication

Rick Priestley and Andy Jones of ''Warhammer'', and author

, developed the idea for the

which produced the magazine ''Inferno!'' as a result beginning in July 1997. ''Inferno!'' was launched with a trial "issue zero" as a section in the Games Workshop house magazine ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'' (issue 210). Issue 1 of the actual magazine was launched shortly afterwards under the editorship of Games Workshop staffer Andy Jones. The magazine settled into a standard format of two fantasy and two science fiction stories per issue, with ancillary features such as standalone artwork, comics, cutaway diagrams of fictional machines from the stories, maps of fictional battles, and mocked-up books, dossiers, or correspondence by characters in the settings. With the exception of one early comic series, ''Inferno!'' published individual, complete stories, not serials.

Creators

''Inferno!'' had a policy of accepting unsolicited submissions and publishing new authors. Many writers who went on to publish novels for Black Library, such as C.L. Werner and Ben Counter, began their professional writing careers with short stories in ''Inferno!'' The magazine also published stories by established science fiction authors such as Barrington J. Bayley and

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

Warhammer Monthly

The success of ''Inferno!'', along with the lessons learned and the contacts made during its early days, led to a spin-off comic, ''

Warhammer Monthly ''Warhammer Monthly'' was a comics anthology published by Games Workshop's publishing arm, Black Library, from March 1998 to December 2004, running to 86 issues in total. The final two issues were published bi-monthly under the name ''Warhammer Com ...

''. This produced longer comic stories in an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

format common in British comics like '' 2000 AD'' (with whom it shared a lot of creators). As

puts it "It became obvious very quickly that the occasional comic strip in Inferno! along with the short stories was OK, but very soon what we needed to do was a proper comic, so about a year after Inferno! kicked in, Warhammer Monthly made its debut."

Novels

Black Library's novel range also started life in ''Inferno!'', "we had stories that were immediately thought of, at least internally by us, as pilots, tasters for a novel range"

Cancellation

''Inferno!'' was cancelled in November 2004 after publishing 46 issues.

Relaunch

In 2018, Black Library relaunched ''Inferno!'' as a quarterly anthology series. The new ''Inferno!'' runs 300-400 pages and features serial and one-off short stories from both veteran Black Library authors and new writers. Each new volume has been accompanied by a limited time reprinting of issues of the original magazine: Issues 1-5 with Volume 1, 6-10 with Volume 2, 11-15 with Volume 3, and 16-25 with volume 4.

Notes

References

''Inferno''
at the ''

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** ''Locus Award' ...

'' Index to Science Fiction

External links

''INFERNO!'' #46
Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1997 Magazines disestablished in 2004 Speculative fiction magazines published in the United Kingdom Wargaming magazines Warhammer 40,000 Warhammer Fantasy {{italic title