Category Archives: Highlight

Behind the Scene: The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post where today we’re looking at The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter, which is out now from Titan Books. One of the reasons I enjoy these Behind the Scene posts so much is that every author approaches them differently. For this one, Angela has very kindly contributed an annotated excerpt in the shape of the full fourth chapter, with her commentary interspersed throughout, picking out various moments or ideas throughout the chapter and exploring what went into her decision-making for each one. It’s an intriguing insight into Angela’s writing process, and – I think – really sets up what looks like a fascinating story!

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RAPID FIRE: Denny Flowers Talks Above and Beyond

Hello and welcome to this Rapid Fire author interview, where I’m delighted to be joined once again by the excellent Denny Flowers, to talk about his latest Black Library novel – Above and Beyond. Denny’s previous novel, Outgunned, was one of my favourite BL books of the last few years – you can read my review of it and my interview with Denny about it if you’d like to know more – so I was thrilled when the sequel, Above and Beyond, was announced. I love this sort of 40k story, which steps away from the big names and the big battlefields to explore lesser-seen perspectives on the setting, so it was great to chat to Denny again about what we can expect from the new book, what it was like revisiting these characters, and how Denny found working on a sequel to such a well-received novel.

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It’s My Duty, I’m A Missionary – David Niall Wilson Guest Post

Welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where I’m joined by David Niall Wilson – author of the upcoming novella When You Leave I Disappear (coming in August 2024 from Shortwave Publishing). Described as “a literary horror novella in which a bestselling author’s imposter syndrome draws her into a darker and darker world from which she may never escape”, When You Leave I Disappear sounds intriguing, and I was delighted when David agreed to write this guest post exploring the strength of horror fiction as a medium for exploring stories which blur the lines between fiction and reality. Without further ado then, over to David.

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The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands – Sarah Brooks

First things first, I’m unusually biased here, as the author of The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands – Sarah Brooks – is my sister. With that caveat in mind though, I want to talk a bit about this book, which I absolutely, unapologetically loved. Inspired by a real-life passage on the Trans-Siberian Express, The Cautious Traveller… is the story of a perilous journey from Beijing to Moscow on a grand and powerful train, heavily protected against the dangers of a vast, largely unknown expanse – the titular Wastelands. Among the crew and passengers on the train are a trio of viewpoint characters, each with secrets to hide and their own unique perspectives on the train and the Wastelands. As the journey progresses though, the strength and safety of the train are challenged, while passengers and crew alike are confronted with the Wastelands at its most dangerous.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Nadi Reed Perez Talks The Afterlife of Mal Caldera

Welcome to this Track of Words author interview, in which Fabienne chats to Nadi Reed Perez about her fantasy novel The Afterlife of Mal Caldera, which is out now from Titan Books. In The Afterlife of Mal Caldera, debut author Perez introduces us to a potential afterlife which takes the form of a giant party. The story is philosophical and pulpy at the same time, centred around the very real characters, whether alive or dead. The eponymous Mal is selfish, deeply hurt, funny – and charming. Nadi Reed Perez is a voice to watch, and we had the chance to catch up with them to discuss music, writing and debuting.

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Track of Words Reviews: What to Expect

Over the years here on Track of Words I’ve written over 1,100 reviews and counting, and for a long time I’ve been meaning to put together a quick article to talk about what you can expect if you check out one or more of my reviews. At the time of writing this I’ve also just posted my first deliberately shorter book review (which I’ve called ‘In Brief’, as the start of a new type of review), which reminded me that I really ought to clarify what you can expect from the different types of reviews too. So what I’ll do here is give a quick overview of my general style of writing and the things you can expect to see or not see in my reviews, then break down the different review types as well. Hopefully this will be useful!

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Black Library: ‘New 40k’ Reading List

After decades of remaining more or less static, these days the Warhammer 40,000 setting is evolving before our eyes, and many of the new and upcoming novels from Black Library are helping to shed light on these new developments in the lore. It’s not always clear how the various stories fit into the ongoing timeline, however, and Black Library as usual doesn’t seem inclined to provide anything in the way of an official reading order. I’ve put together this reading list to try to fit together where all of the recent books go in the ‘new 40k’ timeline – it’s entirely unofficial, and I can’t guarantee that I’ll have got everything right, but hopefully it will be a useful resource to anyone interested in keeping up with Warhammer 40,000 fiction.

NOTE: until such time as BL produces an official resource, I’ll do my best to keep this reading list up to date with new releases as and when they’re published. This version of the article was created in January 2021, but I’ve added books in here and there along the way – the last minor update was in August 2022.

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A Traveller’s Guide to Peter Fehervari’s Dark Coil

With the release of the short story Altar of Maws (May 2023), Peter Fehervari’s catalogue of Warhammer 40,000 fiction – known informally as The Dark Coil – currently totals 18 stories. Every piece of 40k fiction is linked by taking place within a single shared universe, but The Dark Coil goes way beyond that. These stories share much deeper connections, between them forming a web of characters, locations, themes and recurring motifs that is gradually becoming more and more apparent as additional stories are published. One of the joys of reading Fehervari’s work is in unpicking these subtle connections, but it can be daunting to know where to start looking.

Welcome, then, to A Traveller’s Guide to the Dark Coil.

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Black Library Pre-Order Tracker

It can be hard to keep track of upcoming Black Library releases – there’s the Coming Soon page on Warhammer Community but that has big gaps and isn’t updated very often; the occasional Warhammer Community article looking at previews/reveals; and the wider book trade, with websites like Amazon often updated with some information well in advance of books being published. Wouldn’t it be great if there was ONE place you could check which consolidated all of that information, and clearly laid it out to help you plan ahead and decide what to buy and when? Well as it happens, I’ve put together a spreadsheet containing all of the information I can find. I’ve embedded it into this article, and I try to keep it as up to date as possible, so check back any time to see what’s coming up. Continue reading →