A note on method

The underlying method I’m using here is a cultural anthropological approach that I originally used in my MA Thesis back in 2008-10. The principal is the same: construct a historiography of the key titles and works, wending a way backward through the layers of popular culture that preceded RT’s publication. Once this overarching map is laid out, move forward through the different media streams, tracing the influence and connections between them. Similar to a Social Network Analysis, here we chart the influences chronologically, as they’re drawn into the collective sphere that will become W40K in time.

A number of characteristics are relevant to keep in mind when reviewing any of the media ‘artifacts’ (and I’ll use artifact here, as is generally understood in the field, for any discrete piece of media that gets looked at). These characteristics include:

  • Popularity
  • Reach/Sales
  • Critical Appeal – low reach, high impact titles
  • Range – UK titles over US ones, frex
  • Aesthetic

Also, the same title may be counted twice depending on how it is represented in different forms of media. Frex, Starship Troopers could show up twice, once for the book and once for the film, as they are very different properties, with different aesthetics and interpretations, but both will have had an influence. Same for Dune, Judge Dredd in all its incarnations, etc.

Appendix W /2

The memetic influences that went into the development of Warhammer 40,000 extend across multiple media, in the decades leading up to Rogue Trader’s publication in 1987. Broadly speaking, those sources of influence include:

  • Science Fiction
    • MilSciFi
    • “Dying Earth”
    • Dune
  • Movies & TV
    • Star Wars
    • Blake’s Seven
    • Space: 1999
    • Starlost
  • Music
    • NWOBHM
  • Comics
    • 2000AD
    • Judge Dredd
    • Heavy Metal
    • Alien Legion
  • Tabletop Games
    • Roleplaying
      • D&D
      • Judge Dredd
      • Stormbringer
    • Wargaming
      • Laserburn

We’ll get into each in turn over the coming weeks…

Bookshelf (so far)

Had some requests for a top 25 favorite books. Started making it, but it was hard to keep on track; things naturally went off the rails. Here’s the list so far:

  • Surface Detail, Iain M. Banks, 2010
  • Virtual Realities, SR Sourcebook, 1991
  • How to Become a Really Good Pain in the Ass, Chris DiCarlo
  • Daemon, Daniel Suarez
  • Excession, Iain M. Banks
  • Code, Charles Petzold
  • Street Samurai Catalog, SR Sourcebook, 1989
  • Technology Matters, David E Nye, 1996
  • At Home in the Universe, Stuart Kaufmann
  • How We Became Posthuman, N. Katherine Hayles
  • The Landscape of History, JL Gaddis
  • Dependency Road, Dallas W. Smythe, 1981

There’s others I’ve referenced, but not in the context of the “bookshelf”. I”ll post them under the line, for reference purposes, and will make updates as necessary.

  • House of Chains, Erickson
  • Deadhouse Gates, Erickson
  • …and many more

Inception

Needed to find a place to collect my various social media posts, threads, and projects. TikTok’s built in features for curation aren’t quite enough, and there’s a need to bring them all together.

There’s a few copyright-related reasons too. TikTok is a little fast and loose, and I’m noticing a need to get the intentional content locked down before it’s mentioned there. So this will be the initial site for much of the media related content.

Finally, this will be the digital archive and repo for a lot of the posts and publications that I can bring together, and point to as it’s created and published on new platforms.

Baby steps, and a long time coming, but it’s starting to come together.

Dr. Implausible, Aug 24, 2021