Tag Archives: Josh Reynolds

Ten Years of Black Library

It’s been almost 10 years since I started Track of Words, and over that time I’ve read somewhere north of 400 Black Library books (not to mention goodness knows how many short stories), and reviewed a large proportion of those! As I draw to the end of this 10-year period, I thought it might be interesting to look back at all those BL books and pick out my personal highlights from the last decade. I’ve gone through each year from 2014 to 2023 and, from the books that a) were published that year, and b) I actually read that year, selected a single book as my pick for each year – and I tell you, that was not an easy task!

Continue reading →

Behind The Scene: Exclusive Excerpt From Do Or Die by Josh Reynolds

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post here on Track of Words, where today I’m joined by one of my absolute favourite authors – Josh Reynolds – with an excerpt from the first chapter of his third Zombicide novel Do Or Die. I’ve covered a lot of Josh’s work here on Track of Words, and Zombicide as an IP really feels like an ideal fit for his style – that’s certainly the impression I got from his first novel in this setting, Last Resort. If you’re keen to get a sense of what to expect from Josh’s Zombicide work, this excerpt is exactly what you’re been looking for!

Continue reading →

5 Age Of Sigmar Books That Deserve Sequels (But Probably Won’t Get Them)

For a while now Black Library’s Age of Sigmar range has been focused very much on individual books rather than trilogies or sequels*, but with the announcement of Richard Strachan’s Temple of Silence – the follow-up to Hallowed Ground – it looks like maybe, maybe, that might be changing. This got me thinking about which other AoS novels deserve the sequel treatment, so I’ve picked out five books that I personally loved, and which have been crying out for sequels. Most of these books have been out for quite a few years already, so chances are the window for sequels is long gone, but that doesn’t mean we as readers should stop talking about them, and asking BL for more!

Continue reading →

Like Warhammer? Try This: Aconyte Books

I know a lot of Track of Words readers are big Black Library fans, but what if – like me – you’re keen to look beyond the boundaries of Warhammer and find new fantasy and science fiction worlds to explore? It can be tricky to know where to start, and with so many SFF books published each year choosing a new book or series can sometimes feel a bit intimidating. The answer, I think, is to try something by an author you’re already familiar with – so think of your favourite Black Library authors, and look for some of their non-BL stories! Not every BL author writes for other publishers, but plenty of them do, so you’ve got a ready-made list of writers whose work will give you great entry points to the wider world of SFF.

Continue reading →

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark – Josh Reynolds Guest Review

Hello and welcome to this guest review here on Track of Words, where the fantastic Josh Reynolds – author of (amongst other things) the Royal Occultist series, the Daidoshi Shin books and some of the most entertaining Warhammer stories of all time – is here to talk about A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark. I couldn’t be happier to have Josh on the site as a guest reviewer, not just because he’s one of my absolute favourite authors but because he’s talking about a book that I utterly adore! It really is an incredible book, and Josh has done a great job of illustrating why that is in this clear, concise, persuasive and spoiler-free review.

Continue reading →

Last Resort – Josh Reynolds

Aconyte Books’ range of novels based on the board game Zombicide begins with Josh Reynolds’ Last Resort, an entertaining and action-packed tale of survival against the odds after a zombie apocalypse. Westlake is a career thief, determined to brave the dangers of the zombie-infested Adirondack Mountains in search of ‘the Villa’, a semi-mythical sanctuary controlled by a vicious mafia kingpin. When he’s saved from serious trouble by a ragtag group of survivors led by an ex-FBI agent of his acquaintance, he sees the opportunity to find a crew of sorts to help him reach and access the Villa, if only he can persuade them to help. Luckily for Westlake, the survivors are growing increasingly desperate, and are willing to risk much for the chance to find a safe haven from the zombies.

Continue reading →

The Devourer Below: an Arkham Horror Anthology – edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells

Edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells, The Devourer Below is part of Aconyte Books’ growing range of Arkham Horror fiction and features eight short stories from seven different authors all exploring a sinister presence rising in Arkham. Dangerous deals are being made, threats issued, lives devastated and plots hatched, monsters emerging and reluctant heroes standing up, all in the name of or in defiance of a darkness that few truly understand. From local landmarks to the dark countryside that borders the city, detectives and grieving widows to bootleggers and vagrant children, these stories explore Arkham and its inhabitants in dark, unsettling detail, united by a common theme – sometimes overt, other times implied – of a monstrous, corrupting power and the sinister servants it can call upon.

Continue reading →

QUICK REVIEW: Hochmuller’s Hound (short story) – Josh Reynolds

The title story in the second Casefiles of the Royal Occultist anthology from 18th Wall Productions, Josh Reynolds’ Royal Occultist short story Hochmuller’s Hound sees Thomas Carnacki and his apprentice Charles St. Cyprian up to their knees in mud and blood in the trenches of the Great War. Something has been tearing apart soldiers on the edge of No Man’s Land, and it wasn’t the Germans. When Carnacki and St. Cyprian’s investigations are interrupted by a ferocious German assault on the lines, however, the two men come face to face with more than just a dangerous beast out for blood.

Continue reading →

Death’s Kiss – Josh Reynolds

After 2020’s fantastic Legend of the Five Rings novel Poison River, Josh Reynolds returns with the second ‘Daidoji Shin Mystery’ – Death’s Kiss, from Aconyte Books. Set a few months after the events of the first book, it finds Shin busy overseeing the renovation of the Foxfire Theatre, having purchased it for himself apparently out of boredom. When a friend in the Unicorn clan asks him to look into a murder in the mountain city of Hisatu-Kesu, Shin puts aside the work of managing the theatre’s finances and, accompanied as always by the long-suffering Kisami, sets out to investigate. The closer Shin looks into what seems on the surface to be a straightforward case, the more he comes to understand the political tensions in Hisatu-Kesu, and what the consequences could be if proceedings aren’t handled with care.

Continue reading →

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Josh Reynolds Talks Death’s Kiss

Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where this time around I’m chatting to Josh Reynolds about his latest Legend of the Five Rings novel, Death’s Kiss. The sequel to 2020’s fantastic Poison River, and the second ‘Daidoji Shin Mystery’, Death’s Kiss offers another fascinating glimpse of Rokugani life through the lens of a Golden Age-esque detective story, and it’s great fun! It’s published by Aconyte Books on the 1st June 2021 in global ebook and US paperback, with the UK paperback following in August, and Josh is here to give you the lowdown on what to expect from it!

Continue reading →