Monthly Roundup – September 2022

It’s October already (can you believe it? Only three months left of 2022!), and so it’s time for September’s Monthly Roundup post on Track of Words. It’s felt like quite a busy month for me, but that’s actually translated into fewer posts written and fewer books read than August. Of course it’s not all about volume though; I’m pleased with what I did get written in September, and likewise with the books that I did read. I’ll talk a bit more about reading and non-Track of Words activities towards the end of the article, but as usual I’ll start off with a quick recap of the nine posts that I published over the last few weeks.

September’s posts

As usual with me, it’s been up and down over the last few months – seven posts in July, 12 in August, and nine in September. Happily though, while writing over the last few weeks hasn’t been quite as easy as it felt in August, it’s not been too bad, and I hope you’ve enjoyed (or will enjoy, if you’ve missed any of these) the latest content.

Articles
Two articles in September – my previous Monthly Roundup post as usual, and then something a bit more personal regarding a book that I’ve been meaning to read for years, and not quite feeling able to take the plunge.

Monthly Roundup – August 2022 – there was plenty to talk about for August’s writing, with 12 new posts to go over, including quite a lot of reviews that I was really happy with. Plus the usual general roundup, which included a bit more Black Library talk than usual.

Finally Reading The Shepherd’s Crown – it only took me seven years, but as the title of this article suggests I have indeed finally read the 41st and final Discworld novel. I don’t feel up to writing a review, so instead I’ve written about what Terry Pratchett means to me, why it took me so long to read this book, and how I feel now that I’ve finally finished my all-time favourite series.

Reviews
I bounced around between story lengths and genres for September’s reviews, with two quick short story reviews, a creature feature novella, a fantasy murder mystery and a sapphic, piratical space opera. Loads to enjoy!

Lepidopterophobia by Dan Abnett – a brilliant short story that forms part of Abnett’s ongoing Inquisition Cycle, this fits between the novels Pariah and Penitent and features Medea Betancore facing her greatest fear. Which you may be able to anticipate, given the (remarkably difficult to spell) title. It goes without saying that Abnett is a master of world building, but this story really reinforces that fact.

Sea Hunters: Shonisaurus by William Meikle – what’s not to like about a short, sharp blast of creature feature action in which a group of sturdy, sweary sailors hunt sea monsters for money? Featuring aquatic dinosaurs, doomed rich brats and heavy-drinking Scottish and Irish sailors, this is unapologetically pulpy and tremendous fun, and Meikle is one of the best in the business at combining the pulpy fun with strong, genuinely engaging characters. I can’t wait for the next in the series.

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard – I’d been meaning to read more by de Bodard for ages so this came at the perfect moment for me. Featuring pirates, mindships, beautiful Vietnamese-inspired world building and a warm, deeply believable romance, this is a different brand of space opera to what you’ll often see (there’s very little time spent on explaining away technology, and much more tea drinking) and I absolutely loved it.

Carapace by David Goodman – pacy, action-packed military science fiction featuring a newly-sentient giant robot suit of armour, you say? Exploring questions of identity and autonomy as well as robot-powered combat? Count me in! I had a feeling I was going to enjoy this short story, and I was absolutely right – I can’t recommend this enough, it’s really cleverly done and deeply thought-provoking…while also featuring some great action moments.

The Flower Path by Josh Reynolds – this is the third novel in Josh’s Daidoji Shin Mysteries series set in the world of Legend of the Five Rings, featuring a slacker aristocrat who’s surprisingly skilled at getting to the bottom of murder mysteries. Set this time in a theatre during opening night, with Shin having to find a poisoner before the performance ends, this is another deeply satisfying story for anyone who enjoys the gentler pace of Golden Age-style detective stories.

Interviews
While August was packed full of interviews, September was a little lighter on this front, but the two that I did publish were – in my humble opinion – pretty damn good, especially for Black Library fans. The second part of my in-depth chat with Matthew Farrer included some fantastic insights for anyone who wants to write 40k stories, while my latest Author Spotlight dug into some of the themes behind ‘Grimdark’ fiction in general.

Matthew Farrer Talks Urdesh: Part Two – for this second instalment we chatted about story structure, pacing, perspective-hopping and the fine art of portraying Space Marines in action, and it’s fascinating stuff! If you haven’t already read the first part of this interview, definitely check that out and then make sure you come back to this for the second half.

Author Spotlight: Steven B. Fischer – Steve’s debut Black Library novel is due out later this year, so I thought it was about time we found out a bit more about him as a writer. We talked about his influences, what he likes to write, and what his take is on the ‘Grimdark’ genre, and we also snuck in a little tease of what to expect when Witchbringer is released.

General update

From a Track of Words perspective September was a decent month, and I’m pretty happy overall with the posts that I wrote and published. Looking back though, it’s noticeable to me that I seem to have fallen out of the habit of arranging and preparing interviews or putting together articles – the Shepherd’s Crown article was very much a last-minute addition, and not something I’d been planning on writing. I find these things go in cycles, so I’m sure I’ll eventually get back into the habit of writing other types of content, but for the time being I seem to be mostly in the mood for writing reviews. I did set out to write fewer reviews and more interviews/articles this year, but hey – priorities can change, right?

I also feel like I had a few weeks in August of really enjoying writing and being nicely productive, but since then I’ve been more like just going through the motions. Obviously I’m still trying to make sure I do the best I can with everything I write, but it isn’t coming quite as naturally. I don’t have any particular techniques for getting myself back into the swing of things (although I’m open to suggestions if anyone else does!) so I guess I’ll just try to work through it, and write myself back to productivity. In the coming weeks I’ve got a couple of books to read and review for my friends over at Grimdark Magazine, so I’ll see if I can’t use those to help me get back into good habits – I usually try to put something together here on Track of Words too, any time I do a Grimdark Magazine review.

Away from Track of Words, I went to a couple of interesting book-related events in September, which I’m glad I made time for. Firstly I went to a book signing with Silvia Moreno-Garcia at Forbidden Planet, which was her first ever in the UK! I don’t often bother with getting books signed, but I’ve loved everything of Silvia’s I’ve read so far, and I knew I would be in London anyway that day. I only brought one book with me to get signed (the lady in front of me in the queue brought an entire suitcase, so I feel like we balanced out nicely!) but I succumbed to temptation and bought another book there, as I’d previously only had it as an ebook. I know we’re not supposed to judge books by covers, but Jo Fletcher Books have consistently knocked it out of the park with these particular covers!

The second event was a talk and a signing, with the wonderful Rob Wilkins – Terry Pratchett’s PA turned business manager – in conversation with Kat Brown in the beautiful surroundings of St James’s Church in Piccadilly. Rob’s official biography of Sir Terry was published the very same day, and this was an incredible opportunity to hear him talk about how he came to work with Terry and what their relationship was like, and tell stories of working with the great man. As I said in my Finally Reading The Shepherd’s Crown article, Pratchett was – and still is – a hugely important writer for me personally, and I have an emotional attachment to his work like nothing else. There were a couple of moments during the talk when I genuinely thought I wouldn’t be able to speak to Rob afterwards for the tears, but I just about managed to cope!

It was a genuinely lovely event, with all of the different elements – the location, Kat as the compere, Rob himself, and a great audience – combining to create something really special. As we waited to get our books signed after the talk, the organisers cleverly brought us into the queue one row at a time, so a few of us who were sitting in the same area naturally congregated and struck up a conversation about the evening, and our relationships with Pratchett and the Discworld. It was a lovely end to the evening, and I really enjoyed chatting to other fans who were there because they love Discworld as much as I do. To top it all off, Rob kindly signed my copy of The Shepherd’s Crown, which I had just (finally) finished the night before.

I can’t write one of these roundups without at least briefly talking about my reading progress for the month, so let’s quickly cover that now. My total of 10 books read/listened to in September was a little bit less than usual, but I still think it was pretty good! Those 10 (four audios, five physical books and one ebook) took me to 113 in total for the year, with the gender split (as far as I can tell) being 53% female, 45% male and 2% male/female partnership. I reviewed three of the 10 books, plus my article talking about reading The Shepherd’s Crown, with the rest all being purely for fun/personal interest. And books like Pratchett’s I Shall Wear Midnight (my third time through, I think!), A Three Dog Problem by SJ Bennett and A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor really were a lot of fun. The last two in particular, both in audio, were just the sort of gentle, easy reads that I think I needed.

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Ok, well I think that’s it for this month’s roundup. If there’s anything you’d like me to cover in these articles in future please do let me know. I hope you had a good September, with lots of great books and plenty of time to enjoy them, and hopefully we’ll all have a great October!

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