Monthly Roundup – February 2023

Welcome to my Track of Words Monthly Roundup post for February 2023. I hope February has treated you well – it’s been a little quieter for me than January was, but still pretty good overall. For this roundup I’ll do my usual recap of the last few weeks’ posts, after which I’ll continue with the style of article I adopted last month – talking very briefly about how I got on with my reading before concentrating mostly on interesting goings-on in the world of SFF. I enjoyed putting last month’s roundup together, and I hope it was interesting – do let me know what you think!

February’s Posts

This month I’ve written eight posts, including (as usual) this one you’re reading right now. That’s spot on in terms of the number I’m aiming for, and while I haven’t published any interviews this month I think I’ve managed a good balance between reviews and articles. If you missed any of these when they went out, now’s the time to get reading.

Articles

I go through phases of hardly writing any articles, and then somehow end up with other months where suddenly I’ve got loads of ideas and all sorts of things to write about, or ask other people to write about. I ended up working on three articles in February (plus this one), including a brilliant guest post and a rare couple of Black Library-related posts.

Demystifying the Pitch: Bone Armour by Victoria Hayward – if you’ve ever wondered what a successful short story pitch looks like, or if you’re just interested in getting a behind the scenes glimpse of life as a writer, this post is definitely for you. Victoria’s story Bone Armour – published in Grimdark Magazine – is seriously good, and it’s fascinating to see her pitch and learn a bit about why she put it together the way she did.

Black Library Celebrations – I’m always a bit disappointed by the official ‘Black Library Celebration’ that Games Workshop puts on each year, but this time rather than grumble about what I didn’t like, I thought I’d put together my own celebration instead. So in this article I talk a bit about why I enjoy reading BL fiction, and pick out loads of BL-related reviews, interviews and articles that I think highlight some of the great work that goes into creating great fiction set in the worlds of Warhammer.

Like Warhammer? Try This: Aconyte Books – I’ve been meaning to write a few articles like this for a while, and finally put the first one together, in which I offer a suggestion for where to start if you’re a Black Library reader who wants to branch out and try other things. My recommendation is always to pick your favourite BL author and look for what else they’ve written, and this particular article focuses on authors who have also written novels for Aconyte Books, in settings ranging from Arkham Horror to Zombicide.

Reviews

I started off the year a little slow in terms of writing reviews, but they’ve been coming thick and fast in February with three full-length reviews and one review roundup. I couldn’t have been happier with the three books I chose to review, either!

In the Coils of the Labyrinth by David Annandale – I’m slightly surprised that this is David’s first Arkham Horror novel, as the setting is so perfectly suited to his style, but it was certainly worth the wait! This is a subtle, slow-burn horror story, blending the natural fear of illness with (largely) low-key supernatural elements to great effect.

The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi – part fantasy and part parable, set in a fascinating Africa-inspired world, this is the tale of a young boy’s journey to becoming a man, and to learning the dark truths behind the suffering of his city and its people. I love a novella, and this is a brilliant example of the format – smart, thoughtful, and deceptively powerful.

Secrets in Scarlet edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells – I really don’t think you can beat an anthology with a strong theme, and this collection of Arkham Horror short stories brings together tales set all over the world (not just Arkham, Massachusetts) based around the hunt for dangerous occult artifacts and the shady, mysterious characters who are desperate to get their hands on them.

Short and Sweet – February 2023 – in this review roundup I talk briefly about What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher, Legion by Dan Abnett, and The Book of Eve by Meg Clothier. I really enjoyed the first two (Legion was a re-read), but sadly I didn’t get along with the third, and it was my first DNF of the year. I don’t think it’s a bad book – quite the opposite, in fact – it just really wasn’t for me.

My February

At the time of writing this I’ve read 11 books so far in February (well, 11 and a half technically, as I got a little over halfway through The Book of Eve before putting it down), which combined with my eight posts means it’s felt like a pretty good, productive month. I think I managed a good mix of books to review and books purely for fun (including a trio of Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway novels, which are really enjoyable), and I’ll be working on my review of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Untamed Shore pretty soon. I don’t think I’m going to write a full review for Dan Abnett’s The End and the Death v1, but maybe I’ll talk a bit about it in my next Short and Sweet review roundup.

If you want to check out all the books I read in February, and keep up with what I’m reading in general, you can find me on Goodreads here.

Reading and writing aside, I haven’t kept as busy with book-related events in February as I did in January, but I did go to see a brilliant talk with Ben Aaronovitch and Caimh McDonnell at Waterstones Trafalgar Square. I’ve seen Ben talk quite a few times before, but I don’t think I’ve ever laughed this much at a book talk before – I confess I haven’t read any of McDonnell’s books, but he was a lot of fun to listen to, and really brought out the best in Aaronovitch. I’m definitely looking forward to picking up The Stranger Times at some point, especially as it’s set in Manchester, a city I know and love.

Looking past February and ahead to later in the year, I’ve arranged to spend a weekend in June with some friends to celebrate my 40th birthday, and the 40th of another friend in the group. We all met at Black Library Weekenders, and we’ve built a really strong friendship group off the back of our shared interest in BL and Warhammer, so it just seemed right for us to hang out in Nottingham for this celebration – we’re staying at the Belfry, which is where all of the BL Weekenders have been held, so it’s going to feel like our own mini Weekender! If you’re around over the 23rd to 25th June this year, and you can make it to Nottingham for some or all of that time, drop me a line and come join us!

In the SFF community

In last month’s roundup I tried something different to what I’d done before, and took a look at some of the SFF highlights I’d come across in January. That was a lot of fun, so I’m going to keep doing the same sort of thing – do let me know if this is something you enjoy reading about, or if there’s anything else you’d like me to cover.

Let’s start off with new stuff, in the shape of a few announcements about new/upcoming books that I came across in February.

A Stroke of the Pen by Sir Terry Pratchett: a new collection of 20 “recently rediscovered” Pratchett short stories is coming in October 2023! I was puzzled by this at first, given that Sir Terry didn’t want any of his unfinished work to be published, but it turns out these stories were all written pre-Discworld, under a pen name. I think it’s best to go into this book with reasonable expectations – it’s not like this is another Discworld book, after all – but nevertheless I’ll definitely be buying it!

New Matthew Ward novel announced: according to Matthew’s agent John Jarrold, The Darkness Before Them is due to be published (by Orbit, who published his Legacy Trilogy) in November. No word yet about details/cover etc., but hopefully they won’t be too far off. Looking forward to this, although I really ought to finally read Legacy of Light beforehand!

Tordotcom Publishing: I always keep an eye on what Tordotcom are up to, and this month they announced The West Passage – both written and illustrated by Jared Pechaček – which looks amazing! It’s described as a “delightfully mysterious and intriguingly weird medieval fantasy”, and it’s due out in Summer 2024.

Aconyte Books: I spotted two new cover reveals in February – for Watch Dogs Legion: Cold Reboot by Robbie MacNiven and Mockingbird: Strike Out by Maria Lewis. Both cool covers, but that Cold Reboot cover is particularly nice!

Next, a few other bits of interesting SFF-related news that caught my eye.

Under Fortunate Stars: Ren Hutchings’ excellent time-travelling space opera novel is getting a new cover ahead of its paperback release in May. It’s a nice variation on the original cover, and I think it’s going to look lovely in paperback. I loved this book, so definitely pick it up if you haven’t already read it.

Clytemnestra burning: it’s not SFF so perhaps a little bit off-topic, but this bonkers piece of news is quite incredible. A truck carrying 35,000 copies of Costanza Casati’s upcoming historical fiction/fantasy/retelling Clytemnestra caught on fire, destroying all of the books! Talk about a sign from the gods…

Locus magazine’s reading list: every year Locus produces a list of recommended titles published the previous year, and their 2022 list is now available. There’s a lot to take in here as it’s a LONG list, but it’s broken down in various ways – format, genre, story length, etc. – to make things a bit more manageable. If you need a little inspiration for your reading, Locus has probably got you covered!

AI short story submissions: it’s really quite depressing, but we’re starting to see SFF magazines being affected by a surge of AI-generated (or at least AI-assisted) story submissions. So far I’ve only seen Clarkesworld and Grimdark Magazine talking about closing their doors (hopefully only temporarily) to open submissions, but it’s going to be (bleakly) interesting seeing how other magazines are affected. Personally I think it’s too soon to be panicking and predicting the death of the SFF short story, but these are certainly worrying times.

Lastly, a few snippets from Black Library.

Open submissions: speaking of open subs, BL’s latest window has recently closed – and while I’m sure they won’t talk openly about it (because this is BL/GW) I would love to know if they were affected by AI-assisted/generated submissions! Good luck to everyone who submitted a story though – I’ll look forward to seeing some new short stories at some point in the future, featuring Space Marines from various successor Chapters!

Book of the Year: voting is now open for the best Black Library book of the last 12 months (running February 2022 to January 2023), although the WarCom article doesn’t mention a closing date for the vote so if you want to cast your ballot, you’d better be quick just in case! I was really torn between Nate Crowley’s Ghazghkull: Prophet of the Waaagh! and Outgunned by Denny Flowers, but I suspect Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Echoes of Eternity will probably win.

The End and the Death volume 1: I can’t talk about BL in February without at least mentioning the mess that was the Black Library Celebration, and the two big new books going on sale – particularly Dan Abnett’s Siege of Terra novel The End and the Death volume 1. I’m grateful that I don’t bother with the special/limited editions any more, because the GW website that morning really did seem to collapse under the weight of demand, and I know a lot of big-time BL fans missed out. There must surely be a better way of handling these big-ticket books. Still, at least TEATD v1 is now out – and I must confess, I binge read it and really enjoyed it. Now I’m just really, really hoping BL doesn’t make us wait too long for the next part!

Recommendations

With the news and highlights done, all that’s left is to quickly pick out a few reading and listening recommendations for you to check out. I hope there’s something here that appeals!

Equinox by David Towsey: I read this brilliant dark fantasy novel last year and loved it, and it’s now out in paperback too! The central concept revolves around the idea that each body in this world is inhabited by two separate people – day and night siblings, one of whom is awake during the day, and the other during the night. It’s such a cool idea, and makes a great backdrop to a creepy tale of witchcraft and nasty goings on.

Dracula Daily: you might well already know about this, but I only just heard about it this month when a friend told me about it. You can sign up here, and between the 3rd of May and the 7th of November you’ll receive an email on each day that something happens in Dracula, containing that day’s section of the book. This way, you can “read the book via email, in small digestible chunks – as it happens to the characters.” Such a cool idea!

Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott (audiobook): this is technically a book about writing, aimed at readers who want to become writers, but it’s so sharply-observed and laugh-out-loud funny that I think anyone interested in books in general will enjoy it. I was literally laughing out loud as I was listening to this, and now I really want to read some of Ann Lamott’s novels!

I’m not sure if these count as recommendations yet, as I haven’t read them myself, but in February I was sent review copies of three great-sounding SFF novels: The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (out now), The Dark Lands by Markus Heitz (27th April), and The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell (11th May). I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve read them!

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There you go then – another month, another Monthly Roundup done and dusted! Thanks for sticking with me this far, if you’re still reading this. I’d love to know what you think of these roundups, and in particular the new format I’ve adopted this year, so please do let me know in the comments or over on Twitter. I’ll keep thinking about how I can make these articles as useful as possible, however that works out.

In the meantime, I hope you had a good February and here’s hoping we all have a great March! Happy reading.

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