Ever wanted to become a published Warhammer author? Now's your chance—and you only need to write 500 words

pcgamer.com:

If you've ever dreamed of weaving grimdark tales of the Imperium and its many foes, or already have a secret folder full of your Fabius Bile x Belisarius Cawl fanfic, your time is now. Black Library—the home of Warhammer novels—has once again flung open its doors and put out an open call for pitches.

All you need to do is send them a scene of a short story you'd like to write (no more than 500 words) and if they like it, they may commission you to do the full thing. From there, anything's possible—short story writers for Black Library often go on to write full Warhammer novels. No other references or portfolios are required, so it really is open to absolutely anyone who thinks they've got the chops to take a crack.

There are some restrictions on your story, however. The theme this year is the meeting of two iconic characters. So your scene has to feature two named figures from either Warhammer 40,000 or Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, both of whom have had a miniature at some point in their history. If that's not an invitation to make your two favourite Space Marines kiss I don't know what is, but I guess you could also write about a cool fight or a tense exchange of words or something, if you want to be all prudish about it.

A slightly odder restriction is that the scene has to take place in one of a handful of locations. For 40k it's Vigilus (an Imperial planet under siege by basically everyone), Commorragh (the nightmarish home city of the Drukhari), or Armageddon (a world known primarily for its endless wars with the Orks). It does feel like that limits your options a bit—Vigilus is fairly generic, but I'm not sure what story you'd write in Commorragh that isn't «Drukhari being snippy with each other» or «a guy getting tortured», and similarly Armageddon feels like the ideal backdrop for «man fights Ork» and little else. But I'm sure fans more creative and lore-savvy than me will have ideas bubbling already.

The options are a bit more interesting for Age of Sigmar, at