[Bastard]

Quick question... do I need to have some basic knowledge of the Warhammer universe, the game, etc. before reading these works?

Still trying to form my reading plan, but the Black Library site is a mess at the moment, so might need a bit help when I'm done. I'm a real stickler to reading things in order, and I know many have mention that one can pretty much read any of the series inside Warhammer without problems, but even so I need some sort of order to go through that I'm comfortable with.

Another aside. Is there a volume/omnibus out there that also collects some of the standalone novels? I think overall those would be the hardest for me to fit in when I'm done forming my reading plan.

I've read through many of the threads here and did a bit of research around the internet, really haven't found the answer I'm looking for.

[Rob B]

From what little I've gathered, many of their titles are in long-running series or trilogies.

Here's the Warhammer 40,000 Wiki: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page

This great article at SF Signal (http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/06/5-reasons-why-you-should-read-a-black-library-book/) might be helpful, too.

[CaleuxDeiNeosus]

For those seeking to read the Warhammer 40k books in any kind of chronological order. I think the best place to start would be the Horus Heresy series. Reading those gives you a pretty good idea of mankind's place in the universe around 30k and since not a great deal changes over the next 10k years, the Horus Heresy series makes a good bedrock to build up from. After that, a reader pretty much has branches that they can follow. You can follow the Space Marine branch and read all the books about Space Marines (there are a great deal), you can read the Imperial Guard branch (many, but not as many as the Space Marines), and then there's my personal favorite, the Inquisition branch. Here's a list of most of the books:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Black_Library_novels