Category Archives: Article

TBR: SFF Books Coming in 2023

Last year I put together a TBR list of science fiction and fantasy books I was particularly looking forward to reading in 2022, and yep…I thought I’d do the same this year! It’s always fun to look ahead and think about what looks particularly exciting, and it’s useful to have a list like this to refer back to as the year progresses. From last year’s list, only nine of the ten books have actually been published yet, so I’ve cheated a bit and included the unpublished one from 2022 on this list too. Of those nine though, I did read seven (and a half)…which is pretty good going I think, and I’d say that they mostly (if not entirely) lived up to expectations.

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Lavie Tidhar – Paradigm Shift

Hello and welcome to Track of Words, where today I’m absolutely delighted to welcome the fantastic Lavie Tidhar with a guest post taking a broad view over the science fiction genre as a whole – a sort of sci-fi state of the nation. A genre-spanning author of so many fantastic books, and editor of the wonderful The Best of World SF anthologies (both of which are available now from Head of Zeus), I can’t think of anyone better placed than Lavie to speak about current trends in SF fiction and publishing. If you’re at all interested in science fiction, whether as a reader or a writer, there’s bound to be food for thought in this excellent post.

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David Towsey – One David To Another: Three Films That Influenced Equinox

Welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where today I’m joined by the fantastic author David Towsey who’s going to talk about three films by a single director that had an impact on his brilliant novel Equinox. Published by Head of Zeus, Equinox first came out in May 2022, and the paperback edition is due in February 2023 so it feels like a good moment to look back at this fantastic fantasy novel! I haven’t read anything quite like it, with its fascinating central concept of day and night siblings – each body inhabited by two distinct personalities, one present during the day and the other at night – and I loved its blend of fantasy and horror, and the attention to detail in its setting. It’s always interesting to get an author’s thoughts on some of the inspirations behind their work, and in this post David takes an unusual but really cool approach to talking about what inspired his novel.

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Aliette de Bodard – Favourite Media in a Pandemic Year

Hello and welcome to this guest post on Track of Words where I’m thrilled to welcome the fantastic Aliette de Bodard – author of The Red Scholar’s Wake and so much more – to the site, to talk about the games and TV shows that she’s been turning to over the last year. I recently read (and reviewed) The Red Scholar’s Wake and was blown away by its rich setting, brilliant characters and totally engrossing central romance; it’s space opera in a way I’ve not come across before, and I loved it! I was delighted when Aliette agreed to write this article – it’s always great to get an insight into what your favourite authors are enjoying, and I always appreciate some new recommendations for media to consume, love and be comforted by!

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Gav Thorpe – Coming Up For Air

Hello and welcome to this guest post here on Track of Words where I’m delighted to be joined by veteran Black Library (and Angry Robot) author Gav Thorpe, who’s written a fascinating article looking back at how things have changed over the course of his career, and how he’s approaching writing Warhammer fiction now in order to avoid burning out. For anyone with even a faint interest in Black Library and Warhammer, Gav really needs no introduction, having written so much and been involved from the very beginning! I can’t think of anyone better placed to write about the changing realities of life for a Black Library author over the years, and I think this article is going to be of interest to a lot of BL (and SFF in general) fans, and to other writers too.

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Best SFF Books of 2022

Every year I put together an article talking about the best science fiction and fantasy novels I’ve read over the last twelve months (here’s 2021’s article), and this year is no different – welcome to my Best SFF Books of 2022 article! Over the years I’ve tweaked how I approach this task, and this year I’ve decided to keep it nice and simple. No honourable mentions, no exhaustive top 20, just the 10 books that I’ve enjoyed reading the most in 2022. As usual, I’ve restricted myself in this to books published in 2022, so you won’t find any old classics here (or even books published only a year or two ago) – just great books that were released this year. The only criteria I went by were that they had to be SFF books (or SFF/horror crossover) – whether aimed at adults or a YA audience – and they had to be books that I enjoyed so much I would wholeheartedly recommend them.

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Shauna Lawless – The Rise of Historical Fantasy

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post where I’m delighted to hand the reins over to the fantastic Shauna Lawless – author of The Children of Gods and Fighting Men (Head of Zeus/Ad Astra, 2022) – to talk about historical fantasy, and some of the best recent examples of the genre. Featuring some fascinating insights into what historical fantasy actually is and why it appeals to us as readers, observations on what drew her to the genre as both a reader and a writer, and loads of recommendations for great historical fantasy novels – both recent releases and classics – this is a brilliant primer for a justifiably popular genre.

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Ren Hutchings – Why We Love Ragtag Crews

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where I’m joined by the fantastic author Ren Hutchings to talk about ragtag crews in fiction, and why they’re so popular. Ren’s brilliant novel Under Fortunate Stars is one of my absolute highlights of 2022 (you can read my review of it here), a gripping space opera full of great characters and exploring some really smart ideas, so I was delighted when she agreed to write this guest post. If you too like a good character-driven science fiction (or any fiction, really) novel then read on to explore some of the reasons why these sorts of character groupings are so much fun, check out the list of recommendations at the end for more books to look out for, and make sure you pick up a copy of Under Fortunate Stars!

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John French – New Stories, Old Truths

Hello and welcome to New Stories, Old Truths on Track of Words, where I’m handing the reins over to author John French to tell us a bit about some of the ways he’s using his website to build a new fictional world, and give readers something a little different to look forward to. I’m a huge fan of John’s Black Library fiction, with his Ahriman series being a particular favourite, so when I spotted some new original fiction showing up on John’s website, along with some really insightful articles, I had to find out what was happening! Whether you’re a Black Library fan or just interested in SFF and the craft of writing, I really recommend you check out John’s website to see what he’s up to.

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Amanda Bridgeman – 10 Lessons From 10 Years in Publishing

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where I’m joined by the excellent Amanda Bridgeman – author of books such as The Subjugate, The Sensation, and Pandemic: Patient Zero – to talk about some of the realities of life as a professional writer. As an avid reader and someone who’s fascinated by the publishing industry, I love hearing authors talk about what their careers are really like and what the challenges are, so I was delighted when Amanda kindly offered to share some of her own insights gathered over many years of experience as an author. Whether you’re a writer yourself or just a keen observer of the industry like me, there’s loads of interesting things to think about in this article!

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