Author Archives: Michael

Monthly Roundup – November 2021

Hello, and welcome to my Monthly Roundup post for November, here on Track of Words. Life continues to be up and down a little bit, and I’ve been kept busy this month trying to find a suitable balance between all the things I want to be doing now that I’ve started my new job out in the real world. Nevertheless, this is my tenth post on Track of Words in November, so that’s two up on October – I was aiming for 12 or 13 this month, but 10 isn’t bad. I’m also pretty happy with how these posts have come out, and (pleasantly) surprised that I’ve found both the time and headspace to write six reviews and publish the first ever guest review on the site. In these roundups I’ve repeatedly talked about being hopeful that I can get into a more productive headspace each month, but this time I’m actually quietly confident that I will be able to do that – check out the general update section later on for a few thoughts on what I’ve got planned for December!

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Absynthe – Brendan P. Bellecourt

Already well established in the fantasy world, Bradley P. Beaulieu – writing here as Brendan P. Bellecourt – turns his attention to science fiction with Abysnthe, a wonderfully imaginative novel which blends art deco stylings with retrofuturistic technology and mind bending illusions. Liam Mulcahey remembers little of his time in the Great War, his memories fractured due to a head wound sustained during the fighting, and now years later he works as a mechanic for the wealthy family of his closest friend. When he joins Morgan and his socialite friends at a Chicago speakeasy he meets the beguiling, mysterious Grace, and partakes of the hallucination-inducing spirit absynthe. The visions Liam sees under the liquor’s influence leave him unsettled, but it soon becomes clear that they were much more than simple flights of fancy, as he finds himself caught up in secrets and conspiracies even as his jumbled memories begin to come clear.

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Ronin – Emma Mieko Candon

Over the years there have been a multitude of Star Wars novels, but never before has there been one quite like Emma Mieko Candon’s Ronin, which offers a totally new – and absolutely fascinating – perspective on one of the most famous settings in all of science fiction. Normally I try to write my own precis for each book I review, but in this case I don’t think I can really add anything of value to the publisher’s own synopsis, which does a fantastic job of setting the scene for this alternative interpretation of Star Wars. Unlike many official synopses, it’s both instantly engaging and satisfyingly spoiler free:

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Revisiting Nemesis by James Swallow (Guest Review)

Hello and welcome to this, the first ever guest review on Track of Words, where my good friend Tim is going to talk about revisiting Nemesis by James Swallow, book 13 in Black Library’s epic Horus Heresy series. When I read Tim’s thoughtful, insightful review I knew straight away that I wanted to publish it here on Track of Words – it’s a brilliant piece of analysis in its own right, and I think it works beautifully as a companion piece to my own Revisiting Battle for the Abyss article. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Without further ado then, over to Tim.

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QUICK REVIEW: Judge Dee and the Poisoner of Montmartre – Lavie Tidhar

Judge Dee and the Poisoner of Montmartre, the third of Lavie Tidhar’s Golden Age detective (but with vampires) short stories for Tor.com, sees the eponymous vampire judge and his human companion Jonathan in Paris, remaining in one place for an unusually long time. Even as Jonathan enjoys a measure of stability, not to mention plenty of good French food, he wonders what it is that’s keeping them in Paris, as the normally ascetic judge spends his time attending plays and mingling with Paris’ vampiric population. When a dinner party turns bloody, however, the judge has his work cut out identifying the culprit, given that every vampire in attendance had motive for murder.

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A Master of Djinn – P. Djèlí Clark

P. Djèlí Clark’s debut novel A Master of Djinn builds upon the world already introduced in several fantastic shorter tales – A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Angel of Khan el-Khalili and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 – and delivers more in every sense. More of this wonderful world of djinn, angels and mechanical marvels in 1912 Cairo. More scope, more scale, more danger and adventure, and more of the marvellous agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi from the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities. The streets of Cairo are fired up when the man responsible for a horrifying mass murder proclaims himself to be Al-Jahiz, the legendary mystic who ushered in this new age of magic and wonder, returned from his long absence. As tensions rise, Fatma has the unenviable task of hunting down and stopping a man who, whether he truly is Al-Jahiz returned or not, wields fearsome powers and seems to know exactly how to get the poor and downtrodden of Cairo on his side.

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Revisiting Battle for the Abyss by Ben Counter

Ben Counter’s 2008 novel Battle for the Abyss, the eighth book in Black Library’s vast Horus Heresy series, is widely – albeit certainly not exclusively – considered as one of the weakest novels in the series. I’ve largely steered clear of conversations discussing this particular book, as until recently I had only the loosest of recollections regarding what happened and how much I enjoyed it. However, its poor reputation has nagged at me for a while (you know me, I prefer to look for positives rather than negatives), and an ongoing discussion with a friend about the themes, connections and outliers in the Heresy prompted me to revisit this most reviled of Heresy novels. This article is the result, in which I’m going to discuss my thoughts on the book and make the argument that despite some notable flaws, it’s a book which really doesn’t deserve the reputation it’s acquired.

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Grim Repast – Marc Collins

After a handful of excellent short stories, Marc Collins delivers an exceptional first novel for Black Library with Grim Repast, a new addition to the growing Warhammer Crime range that’s both a gripping, bloody detective story and a bleak exploration of everyday 40k life. In Varangantua’s cold southern district of Polaris, probator Quillon Drask has a reputation that sees him constantly being landed with the darkest, most sinister cases to blight the city. When he’s called to the scene of a gruesome murder, it’s with a grim sense of inevitability that one death leads to another, and Drask soon finds himself chasing a killer and embroiled in a mystery that seems to run through every level of Polaris, both its streets and its society, leaving behind a trail of blood and death.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Jaleigh Johnson Talks Triptych (plus sample chapters)

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where today I’m talking to Jaleigh Johnson about her Marvel prose novel Triptych, which is part of Aconyte Books’ range of Marvel: Xavier’s Institute novels. If you’re a fan of Marvel’s X-Men then this series is the perfect opportunity to learn more about some of the lesser-known characters from the comics, and dig into them in longer-form stories. In the case of Triptych it’s Fantomex’s turn in the spotlight, so read on to find out more about what you can expect from the novel. I’m also delighted to be able to offer a couple of sample chapters from Triptych, courtesy of Aconyte Books, so once you’ve finished the interview you can get a taste of the novel itself!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Ada Palmer Talks the Terra Ignota Series

Hello and welcome to this slightly longer than usual Author Interview, where today I’m delighted to welcome Ada Palmer to Track of Words to talk about her Hugo Award-shortlisted Terra Ignota series, as part of the blog tour for the fourth and final instalment in the series, Perhaps the Stars. With Terra Ignota now complete, I thought it would be a great opportunity to ask Ada about the series as a whole, the world in which these books are set and some of the influences behind these complex, thought-provoking stories. Ada has obliged with some fascinating and richly detailed answers – as I said, this is a somewhat longer interview than normal, but I think it’s well worth putting the time aside to read this and find out more about this incredible series!

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