Category Archives: Article

Best of Black Library 2020 – Horus Heresy

It’s almost the end of 2020, so I’m taking a look back at the Black Library stories I’ve read this year and choosing a few highlights for each of the main settings – and this time it’s the turn of the Horus Heresy. Take a look at my 40k roundup if you haven’t already, but for this article I’ve picked out the three Heresy stories I’ve enjoyed reading the most during 2020. As I mentioned in the 40k article, these are just my own choices based on what I’ve read this year – I’ve limited myself to Heresy stories (both the main range and the Siege of Terra) that I’ve read in 2020, and which were published this year too.

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Reading for Review and Reading for Fun

There was a time, a few years ago when Track of Words was still in its infancy, when I made a point of writing reviews for every book I read. That was great, but it did lead to some reviews which don’t sit quite so comfortably alongside the science fiction and fantasy that make up the majority of what I cover. These days, for various reasons, that’s no longer the case; instead, I only review some of the books I read, and not only does this keep me happy, but I’m actually reading more! With that in mind, I thought it might be interesting for this article to talk a bit about the differences between reading for the purpose of reviewing, and reading just for fun.

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Cover Reveal: Hochmuller’s Hound by Josh Reynolds

I’m delighted to be able to exclusively reveal the fantastic cover for Josh Reynolds’ new short story anthology Casefiles of the Royal Occultist Volume Two: Hochmuller’s Hound, due out from 18th Wall Productions on the 21st December! I’m a huge fan of Josh Reynolds’ writing (I’ve reviewed over 50 of his stories) and I love his Royal Occultist series, so it’s really exciting to be able to offer this first glimpse of the latest anthology. Read on to see the cover itself, hear some of Josh’s thoughts on the artwork, and find out a little bit more about the anthology itself.

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Best of Black Library 2020 – 40k

It’s almost the end of 2020, so I thought it might be fun to take a look back at the Black Library stories that I’ve read this year and pick out a few personal highlights – in this article I’m looking specifically at Warhammer 40,000 stories, but I’ll do the same thing at some point for some of the other settings as well. These are just my own choices, based on what I’ve personally enjoyed reading the most, and I’ve based my selections on stories that were released in 2020 and that I read during this year (so for example I’ve had to miss off a few short stories that I read in anthologies in 2019 but which subsequently got standalone e-short releases in 2020).

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Black Library in 2021: Online Preview Reaction

With no Black Library Weekender in 2020 – for obvious reasons – the ‘Coming Soon’ seminar that usually closes the event was replaced by an online Black Library preview from the Warhammer Community team. You can check out all the reveals, and re-watch the whole stream, over on the Warhammer Community website, but in this article I’m going to offer up some of my reactions to the preview and the books announced. I’ll give an overview of the preview to begin with, then go on to cover what was announced for each of the main ranges, including a little bit about which of my predictions/hopes proved accurate.

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From Humble Beginnings 2: Age of Sigmar Short Stories That Deserve Their Own Series

As I discussed in my article 40k Short Stories That Deserve To Be Series, it’s common in Black Library fiction for characters to be introduced in short stories before going on to have their own series. In the previous article I looked specifically at Warhammer 40,000 stories and characters, but this time I’m going to pick out some Age of Sigmar stories in the same vein. While AoS has much less of a back catalogue (so far) than 40k, by virtue of only being around for a few years, a few new names have already started to become well-known (and loved) – Hamilcar, Gardus, Maesa – alongside some familiar names from the World That Was…but it’s going to be interesting to see which ones go on to become the next batch of recurring characters.

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December 2020 Releases From Aconyte Books

A new month means a new batch of cool new novels from Aconyte Books, so today I’m taking my usual look ahead to what’s coming in December, and back at what was published in November. Even after just a few months of releasing books, Aconyte are already one of my favourite publishers, and I’m really enjoying exploring the different IPs that they’re publishing stories in, all of which have (so far) been pretty new to me. I’d very much recommend you check out some of their new releases – read on to find out a bit more about the latest few! I’ve included links to reviews and author interviews where available.

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Monthly Roundup – November 2020

Welcome to November’s Monthly Roundup here on Track of Words, where I’m taking a quick look back over the last month in terms of what I’ve been posting on ToW, and what I’ve been reading. I’ve posted a review, interview or article every day this month, so hopefully there’s been plenty of interest – but I appreciate it might be tricky to keep track of everything! I’ve been making weekly ‘here’s what you might have missed’ posts over on my Ko-Fi page to help with that, but hopefully this article will be useful too. Of the 30 articles published in November (including this one) a few were covered in last month’s update, but otherwise the remaining 24 are all linked out to below.

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The Black Library Online Preview – Hopes and Predictions For 2021

There might not have been a Black Library Weekender this year (it’s 2020 after all – what do you expect?!), but on Saturday 5th December there’s going to be an online Black Library preview, replicating the ‘Coming Soon’ seminar that usually closes each Weekender. I thought it might be interesting to look ahead to the online preview and speculate a little on what’s going to be announced for 2021. It’s all guesswork at this point, but a bit of speculation is always fun, and I’ve thrown in some of my hopes for 2021 as well (i.e. things I’m not expecting to be announced, but that I’d love to see).

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Win a Signed Book and Support Mind – For Better Mental Health (Now Closed)

NOTE: we raised £160 with this raffle, which I’m delighted with! Thank you so much to everyone who donated.

The Black Library Events Anthology 2019/20 is a great collection of Warhammer short stories, and I’m offering a copy signed by all six authors (plus most of the Black Library editors) as a prize to raise money for Mind, a wonderful charity offering mental health support to those who need it in England and Wales. I also have a second, unsigned copy for a second prize! To stand a chance of winning, all you need to do is donate £5 to Mind between the 26th November and the 10th December.

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