Author Archives: Michael

Aconyte Books Roundup: May 2021

Welcome to my Aconyte Books roundup for May, where I’m going to take a look at the two new books being published this month – a pair of Marvel: Heroines novels featuring fantastic characters drawn from the pages of Marvel comic books. I’ll also take a quick look both back at what was published in April and ahead to what’s due in June, before picking out a book from the ever-growing Aconyte back catalogue to talk about a bit more. As usual I’ll include the publisher’s synopsis for the two new novels, and this month I can link out to reviews and author interviews for both books!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Alisa Kwitney Talks Rogue: Untouched

Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview – today I’m chatting to Alisa Kwitney about her new Marvel prose novel Rogue: Untouched, which is part of Aconyte Books’ ever-growing Marvel: Heroines range. Tackling a modern origin story for a well-known and much-loved X-Men character, this is a fun and fresh comic book adaptation that nicely hits that YA/adult crossover sweet spot. It comes out as a global ebook and US paperback on the 4th May 2021, followed by a UK paperback edition on the 22nd July, so read on to find out more about it!

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Monthly Roundup – April 2021

Hello and welcome to another Monthly Roundup article here on Track of Words – somehow April is already over, and we’re now a third of the way through 2021! In terms of reading I had a great month, split pretty evenly between reading for review and purely for fun, even if I slowed down quite a bit over the last few days as I got away from London and had a bit of time by the seaside. I’ve kept pretty busy on Track of Words too, with 15 posts since my last monthly roundup, weighted quite heavily towards reviews. I didn’t set out to write loads of reviews, it just happened that way!

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QUICK REVIEW: The Angel of Khan el-Khalili – P. Djèlí Clark

One of several fantastic stories set in an alternate early-twentieth century Cairo, P. Djèlí Clark’s The Angel of Khan el-Khalili is a standalone tale (featuring none of the other stories’ characters) exploring secrets, grief and worker rights. Late at night, when most of Cairo is long asleep, young Aliaa visits the market in search of an angel, hoping to bargain for a miracle. There she finds the Angel of Khan el-Khalili, and asks for its aid in healing her sister who has been grievously injured in a fire at the factory where they both work. The angel’s price seems small at first, and Aliaa pays it willingly, but it’s not long before she realises the cost to her own soul.

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QUICK REVIEW: Galene of Ulgu – Timandra Whitecastle

Timandra Whitecastle makes her debut for Black Library with Galene of Ulgu, a tale of the Daughters of Khaine in the Mortal Realms. Far from her home in the shadowed mists of Ulgu, witch aelf Galene and her sisters march to the aid of Greywater Fastness in the realm of Ghyran, defending against the sinister forces of Nagash. After suffering a terrible defeat which sees her sisters turned against her in death, Galene finds herself in the company of another survivor, a human captain of the Freeguild. Injured and terribly outnumbered, the two of them nevertheless set out to strike back against the necromancer leading the undead invaders.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Cath Lauria Talks Elsa Bloodstone: Bequest

Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where today I’m talking to Cath Lauria about her new novel Elsa Bloodstone: Bequest, which is part of the Marvel: Heroines range of prose novels from Aconyte Books. It’s due out as a global ebook and US paperback on the 4th May 2021, followed by a UK paperback edition on the 22nd July. If you fancy exploring the Marvel universe in the company of a smart-mouthed, gunslinging, badass monster hunter (and who wouldn’t?) then definitely check this book out – it’s a lot of fun, and Elsa is one Marvel character I would love to read more about!

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40k Reading Order: Ultramarines and Iron Warriors – Graham McNeill

Welcome to this 40k Reading Order article, where today I’m actually looking at two series which intersect and overlap, both by Graham McNeill, as part of an ongoing set of articles in which I’m providing recommended orders for various Black Library series. The Ultramarines series – (mostly) featuring Uriel Ventris – and the Iron Warriors series – featuring Warsmith Honsou – can be read separately, but fit together brilliantly to form one larger whole, and between them they include almost 30 stories. Graham has kindly provided his suggested (in-universe chronological) reading order for the whole lot, so if you’ve ever wanted to read these series but haven’t known where to start, look no further than this article!

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Rogue: Untouched – Alisa Kwitney

The third volume in Aconyte Books’ Marvel: Heroines series, Alisa Kwitney’s Rogue: Untouched offers a modern origin story for one of Marvel’s most famous X-Men. In Peck, Mississippi, population 1,063, Anna Marie (or Marie, as she prefers) works diner shifts to try and earn enough to get out and make a better life for herself. Life is tough for a young woman on her own, not least when she has a history of strange things happening around her, but little does Marie suspect that latent mutant powers are to blame for many of her difficulties. Things start to change, however, when she meets charismatic Cajun thief Remy and rich businesswoman Lucretia, both of whom seem to understand what she’s been through, and learns for the first time about her mutant nature. An unexpected new opportunity quickly turns into more trouble than ever before, but if only she can find a way to survive she might at last be able to choose who she wants to be.

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QUICK REVIEW: Debtless – Chen Qiufan (translated by Blake Stone-Banks)

Translated into English from the original Chinese by Blake Stone-Banks, Chen Qiufan’s short story Debtless explores bleak but powerful questions of wealth inequality, corporate control and memory manipulation in a sci-fi tale of asteroid mining and the impossibility of debt repayment. In a world where memories, debts and earnings are genetically encoded into people’s DNA, working brutal shifts in deep space mining facilities is a particularly dangerous way of attempting to repay a debt. Square Head stays relatively safe as his specialty is data analysis rather than hands-on work, but as he starts experiencing unusual dreams and his fellow miners begin to die around him at an increased rate, he finds the realities of his life changing around him.

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Fugitive Telemetry – Martha Wells

After briefly veering into full novel territory with 2020’s Network Effect, Martha Wells’ brilliant Murderbot Diaries series returns to its novella-length roots with Fugitive Telemetry, the sixth book in total and the fifth novella in the series. Set (slightly confusingly) between Exit Strategy and Network Effect, it’s essentially a detective story as Murderbot turns investigator in the wake of an unexpectedly dead human turning up on Preservation Station. Concerned that the death might be a sign that GreyCris are attempting to strike at Doctor Mensah, Murderbot begrudgingly agrees to work alongside station security – who seem equally unhappy about the arrangement – to investigate the murder.

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