Dan Abnett
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Series include Gaunt's Ghosts (an amazing starter book for people getting into the 40k fluff), Eisenhorn (fantastic) and Ravenor (OMGAWESOME-ICRIEDBUKKETS). Also, he saved Ollanius Pius from Squat territory. He. Fucking. SavedRUINED Ollanius. Motherfucking. Pius.
Dan is known for fun action writing and for occasional throwing off Warhammer fluff in favor of the rule of Awesome, like Imperial Guardsmen weapon teams toting around Autocannons the size of a howitzer. And being able to fight anything the 40k Universe can throw at them including killing tanks with tennis balls. Unlike a certain molester of pen and paper, this is not done flippantly but mostly for the betterment of the work itself. He does occasionally do some stupid shit though, like letting Vulkan grow back a second fucking head in the space of about half a second...
Suffice to say, his characters are very well developed, and are both distinctive and original; he can write a god-damn action scene better than any; the areas Dan describes sound achingly beautiful; he's a versatile writer and... look, he's won tons of awards for his stuff, many believe he's the best Black Library have got, he's written around 20 books for them and each one is brilliant. His book Titanicus is currently the only book wherein the Adeptus Mechanicus are shown in a competent light, interacting with normal humans realistically and aren't all evil kleptomaniacs. He even made his own (awesome) Space Marine chapter known as the IRON SNAKES, that comes off looking like the Ultramarines if they were actually intelligent, adapted their battlestyle to suit each enemy (they do have a disdain for tanks though), and came across as likeable individuals AND godlike beings. His graphic novels Imperial Gothic, Damnation Crusade, Lone Wolves and Condemned By Fire are pure sex.
TL;DR: Dan Abnett is a godly writer who expresses Humanity, fuck yeah! in the most epic way possible. Perhaps his only weakness is his marked preference for human vs human works. The number of his works that feature Xenos prominently can be counted with your hands. For those who are tired of Chaos, this can be a bad thing.
Dan Abnett has also teamed up with another BL author Mike Lee to make the Malus Darkblade Warhammer Fantasy book series.
Dan Abnett also wrote a book detailing an adventure of Matt Smiths incarnation of the Doctor for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary collection, which is one of 11 books, 1 for each Doctor.
Dan Abnett also wrote the script for the Ultramarines movie. It's a fair assumption that he only wrote for about 45 minutes worth of the (90 minute) movie, as the actions scenes are excellent and the dialogue is solid, but there's a whole lot of silent walks through the desert.
He, along with Sandy Mitchell and Graham McNeil make up the holy trinity of awesome 40k writers. Obviously, Dan takes the role of God. (WHAT DOES THAT MAKE ADB THEN, VIRGIN MARY? They're the Chaos Gods of awesome 40k writers, obviously, with Abnett as Khorne, Mitchell as Nurgle, McNeil as Tzeench and ADB as Slaanesh. Obviously. Given ADB's love for World Eaters, this makes the comparison hilarious.)
He also writes some pretty cool comics with his probably-best ex friend Andy Lanning. The two are known in comic reading circles as "D'n'A". Surprisingly, this list includes IDW's ongoing Transformers series. So maybe, just maybe there is a teeny tiny hope of a Transformers-Warhammer 40k crossover somewhere down the line. Because we've all wanted to see Optimus Prime as a land raider.
It should be noted that his cosmic Marvel comics with probably-best friend Andy Lanning are not at all shit, and are in fact some of the greatest modern Marvel comics. The Thanos Imperative stands out amongst them, and is worth a read even if you have no familiarity with Cosmic Marvel or the Marvel Universe at all. Like, seriously, go get that shit right now. I'm not fucking kidding. It's what got me into comics. D'n'A also wrote the reboot of Guardians of the Galaxy, which now has a movie. Yes. He also helped write the script for the new Aliens Isolation game just so you know.
He also helped write a Judge Dredd comic called Insurrection, not sure on quality but the villains look like Necrons on the cover. [Judge Dredd, Transformers, WH 40K crosssover anyone?] - It's military sci-fi with power armored Mega City 1 Spess Mehreens going Exterminatus-lite on what essentially amount to the heretics of that universe which he wrote based on the 2000AD people asking for a story "like the stuff you do for the other guys" I'm surprised all of you bitches haven't read it.
Not to Say He's Perfect
Abnett has written some fantastic sci-fi, true, but recently there have been a lot of grumblings on /tg/ about the changes he's made to the Horus Heresy fluff. A lot of fa/tg/uys feel that additions such as the Perpetuals, the Cabal, and Enuncia were shoehorned into 40k fluff and don't belong. The change of Ollanius Pius from a badass regular guardsman to an immortal Perpetual has received a mixed response, and a lot of people felt the addition of the Alpha Legion's subplot with the Cabal (You guys gotta' help Chaos to destroy Chaos or else the Emperor will become a god and by the way humanity has to go extinct too sorry guys) was retarded and poorly thought out. Also, Unremembered Empire is generally agreed to be a shit burrito, but much of that was the result of Abnett trying to tie together a long line of shit produced over the course of the Horus Heresy series. The verdict? That's up to you. Abnett's still a kickass writer, but whether or not he's always made the best choices in 40k is up to debate.