Category Archives: Article

Best of Black Library 2024

2024 was a year in which I read fewer Black Library books than ever before (well, since I started Track of Words at least), and Games Workshop continued to make it tricky to be a BL fan (that’s a whole other conversation)…but even so there are still plenty of great BL books for me to look back on and talk about. ‘Best of the year’ roundups are something of a blogger/reviewer tradition, and far be it from me to buck that trend, so here I’ve picked out the three BL books that I particularly enjoyed in 2024. Because I always have a hard time limiting myself to just a few choices (or just a few words), I’ve also come up with a few honourable mentions that are worth talking about too.

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Excerpt From North Is The Night by Emily Rath

Hello and welcome to Track of Words, where today I’m very pleased to offer up an excerpt of Emily Rath’s latest novel North Is The Night, which is out today from Arcadia. Billed as a modern retelling of medieval Finnish saga the Kalevala, this is the first volume of a new duology (although I’m told it works as a standalone story in its own right), and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this excerpt – it’s really evocative, and a brilliant opening to the story. If you’re anything like me, I think you’ll read this and absolutely want to pick up a copy of the book to keep reading.

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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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Behind The Scene: Darkside by Michael Mammay

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post with author Michael Mammay, who’s here today to talk about his new novel Darkside – which is out on the 24th September from Harper Voyager. Book four in the Planetside series, albeit also readable as a standalone story, Darkside sounds ideal for anyone who enjoys both pacy, action-packed military SF and high-stakes, thrilling investigations. Michael has kindly contributed an excerpt from the novel alongside commentary on some of the challenges of writing this book!

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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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Behind the Scene: Exclusive Author Commentary on Fermi’s Progress by Chris Farnell

Hello and thanks for checking out this Behind the Scene post, where today I hope you’ll join me in welcoming author Chris Farnell – author of the Star Trek: Lower Decks Crew Handbook, among other things – who has kindly contributed an excerpt from his four-part science fiction novel Fermi’s Progress, along with an exclusive commentary discussing this scene. When Chris and I started talking about doing this post, it became clear pretty quickly that with a book about a spaceship that blows up every planet it visits, the only possible scene to choose would be the first time this happens! But fun as blowing up planets must be for a writer, there’s a lot that goes into making a scene like this work, and Chris digs into this really well in his commentary about the scene.

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Writer and Editor: Can You Be Both? (Kate Golden Guest Post)

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where today I’m joined by Kate Golden, author of the Dawn of Onyx series, whose second novel A Promise of Peridot is out now via Arcadia Books. I’m always fascinated to hear from anyone who works across multiple writing-related disciplines, and in this case Kate is both a fantasy novelist and a TV and film executive. I was delighted when Kate agreed to write this guest post about the realities of balancing those two aspects of her life, and the end result is a fascinating piece about creativity, passion and the craft of writing. Whether you’re a reader or a writer, and whatever genre(s) you read, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did!

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Behind The Scene: Exclusive Author Commentary On The Last Phi Hunter by Salinee Goldenberg

I’m back with another Behind the Scene post here on Track of Words, where I hope you’ll join me in welcoming author Salinee Goldenberg, whose debut novel The Last Phi Hunter is coming out via Angry Robot on the 9th of April 2024! As always with these BTS posts, Salinee has kindly picked out an excerpt from her novel, and written an accompanying commentary, which this time focuses on the cinematic nature of The Last Phi Hunter. Salinee has chosen an excerpt from a couple of chapters into the book, so read on to find out more about this “mythic dark fantasy”, and in particular its central character pairing!

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Behind The Scene: Exclusive Author Commentary on Toxxic by Jane Hennigan

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post here on Track of Words – I’m joined today by Jane Hennigan, with an excerpt from her new science fiction novel Toxxic (out now via Angry Robot) alongside an exclusive commentary on the subject of sequels and narrators. The follow-up to 2023’s Moths – “a thrilling dystopia, in turns heart-breaking and heart-pounding”, Toxxic “extends the world and the story of Moths, exploring the nature of gender roles and feminism through warm characters in difficult circumstances.” It sounds fantastic, and Jane’s commentary offers a fascinating insight into the thought that goes into a book long before an author actually starts writing – really interesting stuff whether you’re a reader, writer or both!

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10 Years of Track of Words In Numbers

At the start of a new year I always take some time to look back at the previous 12 months of Track of Words in numbers, and this year is no different (I’ve already published my 2023 in Numbers post), except that I’m also marking the anniversary of 10 years running Track of Words! I published my first post (this one, if you want to check it out) on the 27th January 2014, if you can believe it. So with that milestone now passed, and especially as I’m drawing a bit of a line in the sand now after which I’m going to be slowing down on the site (see my Track of Words in 2024 post), I thought it would be fun to do a separate numbers post looking back over a decade of Track of Words.

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