Eisenhorn (Series)

Eisenhorn is a series of novels and short stories by Dan Abnett, following the adventures of Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn. It originally debuted in 2001 alongside the release of Games Workshop's 48mm model RPG game, Inquisitor. The series is predominantly written in the first person.

Creation
The series was pitched by Abnett when he was given material from the game in-development as inspiration for his Gaunt's Ghosts series of novels. As he explained in 2016 to the Backwards Compatible podcast:"I think I was 3 or 4 books into the Gaunt’s series and just writing those and the then-head of the Black Library sent me a portfolio of photocopies and rules from the Inquisitor game that was going to be produced. This is obviously going back aways. And he sent to me simply because he thought I might be interested in and inspired by the images in Gaunt. And it showed the detail – the elaborate detail – of imperial life. It was, and I have used it. But at the time I looked at it and leafed through it – it was half complete, as I said photocopies and bits and pieces, brilliant spot illustrations and stuff like that. And I rang him straight back up and said ‘Can we not write a novel about this stuff rather than using it elsewhere because this is great!’ And he said ‘well, yeah, we can but we need to make it look deliberate rather than random. If we can get a novel together by the time the game comes out, I’ll be able to get it past the people upstairs as part of an imaginary marketing strategy.’ And so I did, and basically just wrote the first Eisenhorn novel, Xenos, I just wrote it in the sheer white fun of just writing it. I wouldn't go so far as to say I didn't know what I was doing or where the plot was going, but it was very much I have a basic idea and I'm just going to go for it. And I did, and it proved to be enormously successful to such the extent that the Eisenhorn books are regarded as a bit of a primer to get you into 40K."

The Series
The series was intially released as three novels with intermediary short stories; however the series is internally dated, and the following list puts the Eisenhorn texts in chronological order: Subsequent to the conclusion of Hereticus, Abnett wrote the Ravenor series of novels and short stories, utilising several recurring characters from the Eisenhorn series. Then in 2011 he published Pariah, the first novel of the Bequin series, subtitled 'Ravenor vs Eisenhorn'. Subsequent texts intersect with these series:
 * 'Master Imus's Transgression' (2011), audio and short story. Set when Eisenhorn is an interrogator.
 * 'Regia Occulta' (2011), audio and short story. Set in M223.M41
 * Xenos (2001), novel. Set in M240.M41.
 * 'Missing in Action' (2002), short story. Set in M241.M41.
 * 'Born onto Us' (2012), short story.
 * Malleus (2001), novel. Set in M343-45.M41.
 * 'Backcloth For A Crown Additional' (2003), short story. Set in M355.M41.
 * 'The Strange Demise of Titus Endor' (2010), short story. Set some time after Malleus.
 * Hereticus (2002), novel. Set in 386.M41.
 * 'Thorn Wishes Talon' (2004), short story and later audio (2011). Set after Ravenor Returned and before Ravenor Rogue.
 * 'Perihelion' (2012), short story. Set after Ravenor Rogue and before Pariah.

Adaptation
In 2014 it was announced that there would be a video game adaptation of Xenos, published by Pixel Hero Games. The game was eventually released in 2016, first on on PC and later on mobile platforms. Mark Strong voices Eisenhorn, and the game retains the first person mode of the novels through continuous narration. The promotional trailer shows the aged, mechanically-assisted Eisenhorn from the end of Hereticus, as if remembering back.