Category Archives: Interviews

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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The Last Eight Years with John French – Part One

Hello and welcome to the first instalment of an extra-special author interview, where I’m delighted to welcome the fabulous John French back to the site to mark the 2,000th post on Track of Words! Author of the Ahriman series, the Horusian Wars, the Cado Ezechiar series, a host of Horus Heresy and Siege of Terra novels, and so much more, John has been a friend of the site for a long time. In fact, if you go way back to July 2016 John was the very first author I ever interviewed (about his Tallarn stories in the Horus Heresy)! With that in mind, to mark the milestone of post number 2,000 I sat down with John for an in-depth, retrospective interview looking back at his work and his career over the last eight years since we first spoke.

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RAPID FIRE: Jude Reid Talks Creed: Ashes of Cadia

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview, where today I’m delighted to be chatting to the brilliant Jude Reid about her debut novel for Black Library – Creed: Ashes of Cadia. With the paperback edition recently landing, now is a great time to take a look at this excellent addition to Black Library’s ever-growing range of Imperial Guard novels, which introduces the character of Ursula Creed and returns the action to the surface of Cadia itself! Read on to find out more about this great book and its characters, Jude’s writing process, and loads more.

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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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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Matthew Ward Talks The Fire Within Them

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview, where today I’m delighted to welcome back Matthew Ward, whose novel The Fire Within Them – book two in the Soulfire Saga – is out now! I’ve spoken to Matthew about his books multiple times (you can find them all here) and it’s always an intriguing experience, but this time I thought I’d take a slightly different approach. We covered the usual questions about The Fire Within Them, but the main focus of the interview involves the magical elements at the heart of the Soulfire Saga. Having read book one, The Darkness Before Them, I was fascinated by this setting and the magic at its core, so this seemed like the ideal opportunity to ask Matthew to tell us more!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Austin Grossman Talks Fight Me

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview, where today I’m joined by Austin Grossman to talk about his brand new novel Fight Me, which is due out on the 23rd of May from Penguin Michael Joseph. A superhero story unlike any I’ve read before, Fight Me is a fascinating read, exploring unusual perspectives on heroes and villains, power and consequences, and I was thrilled to be able to chat to Austin and delve into some of the themes running throughout the book! So read on to find out more about the cast and themes of Fight Me, along with observations on the appeal of superhero stories, the nature of villains and heroes, the reasons for wanting super powers, and loads more!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Laura R. Samotin Talks The Sins On Their Bones

Thanks for visiting Track of Words, where today I’m delighted to present this exclusive interview with author Laura R. Samotin, discussing her debut novel The Sins On Their Bones (which is out now from Random House Canada)! I jumped at the chance to read this book and chat to Laura, after Genoveva Dimova included it in her ‘12 Debuts To Look Forward To In 2024’ post last December, and I’m so glad I did – it’s a fantastic read, set in a fascinating fantasy world full of dark magic and complex, wounded characters. There’s so much to talk about with this book, so keep reading to find out more about the characters, the magic, Laura’s writing process, and loads more.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Chris and Jen Sugden Talk High Vaultage

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, this time double the value with two authors – Chris and Jen Sugden, talking about their new novel High Vaultage, which is out now from Gollancz! Set in the same world as their fantastic podcast Victoriocity, High Vaultage is a fun, genuinely funny blend of retrofuturism and historical science fiction set in a wildly inventive version of Victorian Britain complete with a sprawling London, oddly cheerful automatons, a vast horde of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s engineer followers, and an assassination-immune, mostly-machine Queen Victoria. Whether you’re a fan of Victoriocity or (like me) High Vaultage is your introduction to this wild new world, read on to find out more about how this novel came about, what it’s like writing a novel in the same world as a podcast, and loads more.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: James Logan Talks The Silverblood Promise

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview, where today I’m very pleased to welcome James Logan to talk about his debut fantasy novel The Silverblood Promise, which is out now from Arcadia Books! Like many readers I love a good Epic Fantasy series, and The Silverblood Promise kicks off The Last Legacy in style – it has everything I want in this sort of story, and I absolutely loved it. Given that, I jumped at the chance to chat to James for this interview – so read on to find out all about this brilliant book from characters, world building and influences to magic, themes and the writing process.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: John Wiswell Talks Someone You Can Build A Nest In

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview where today I’m delighted to welcome the excellent John Wiswell, to talk about his fascinating new novel Someone You Can Build A Nest In – which is out now from Arcadia Books (UK)/DAW Books (US). This really is an intriguing book packed full of talking points, and I roped in my good friend (and increasingly regular Track of Words contributor) Fabienne Schwizer to help narrow things down to a manageable number of questions. So read on to find out more about Someone You Can Build A Nest In, its brilliant cast of characters, some of the themes explored throughout the book, and plenty more – and prepare to really want to read this book!

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