Author Archives: Michael

Writing Resources on Track of Words

While Track of Words was originally conceived as a site purely for book reviews, over the years it’s expanded to include author interviews, blog posts, and various (hopefully) useful resources for readers and fans of science fiction, fantasy and horror. In the last couple of years I’ve also published quite a few articles and interviews aimed at anyone interested in writing SFF and horror, and I’ve got plans for lots more in this vein. With that in mind, I thought it might be useful to have a single source for all these resources, where I can link out to everything that I’ve created so far and keep updated as and when new resources become available.

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RAPID FIRE: Guy Haley Talks Flesh and Steel

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

In this instalment I spoke to ever-prolific Black Library author Guy Haley about his new Warhammer Crime novel, Flesh and Steel, which is available to pre-order as of the 26th September. If you’re interested in a bit of ‘domestic 40k’, with a look at one of the most interesting factions in the setting, this looks like being the next book to check out!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Nate Crowley Talks Notes From Small Planets

Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

This time I’m talking to the delightful Nate Crowley about his new book Notes From Small Planets, a travel guide to some of the most entertaining, sharply-observed science fiction and fantasy worlds imaginable. It’s published today by Harper Voyager, and if you have any interest in SFF – especially if you’re in need of a good laugh – then I really can’t recommend this enough!

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No Good Men – Warhammer Crime Anthology

Taking its place in the first wave of Black Library’s Warhammer Crime releases (alongside Chris Wraight’s Bloodlines and Alec Worley’s Dredge Runners), short story anthology No Good Men explores some of the different ways in which Imperial justice is loosely interpreted on the mean streets of Varangantua. Eschewing the usual battlefields and familiar tabletop characters in favour of ordinary citizens simply trying to survive the brutal realities of Imperial life, these stories all explore Varangantua’s atmospheric, cyberpunk-esque stylings and the towering inequalities corroding the heart of the Imperium. As the title suggests, there are no heroics here – just regular people doing what it takes to get by, whether that falls within the remit of the law or not.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Tim Waggoner Talks Writing in the Dark

Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

This time around I spoke to veteran horror writer Tim Waggoner about his new book Writing in the Dark, a guide to writing horror stories which is packed full of advice, suggestions, exercises and inspiration from Tim’s decades of writing experience. It’s available to order now from Raw Dog Screaming Press, and if you have any interest in writing horror then this is the book for you!

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RAPID FIRE: Graham McNeill Talks Fury of Magnus

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

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Writing for Black Library – Pitching Warhammer Horror (Part Two)

Welcome to the second part of Writing for Black Library – Pitching Warhammer Horror, in which another seven fantastic authors talk about writing horror short stories and pitching Warhammer Horror stories in particular. If you haven’t already, I would recommend you first check out these two interviews: Alec Worley Talks Pitching Warhammer Horror and part one of Writing for Black Library – Pitching Warhammer Horror. Assuming you’ve read both of those, check this out for loads more great advice, ideas and suggestions that I hope will prove helpful whether you’re preparing a pitch for this year’s Black Library open submissions window or you’re just interested in writing horror stories in general.

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RAPID FIRE: Mike Brooks Talks Brutal Kunnin’

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

For this interview I spoke to the prolific Mike Brooks about his new Warhammer 40,000 novel Brutal Kunnin’ – the first ever Black Library novel to be written from an ork’s perspective! It’s available to pre-order as of Saturday 12th September, so if you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like inside an ork’s head while he’s getting stuck into a good fight…now’s the time to find out!

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Notes From Small Planets – Nate Crowley

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you crossed a travel guide with a load of well-trodden sci-fi/fantasy tropes and the wild imagination of a born storyteller…it turns out you’d get Nate Crowley’s Notes From Small Planets! Spanning eight fictional worlds, from the high fantasy Mittelvelde to the hard sci-fi SPACE¹ and so much more in between, it’s both a loving homage to and merciless satire of the highs and lows of genre fiction. Coming from a writer capable of work as dazzlingly diverse as revolutionary zombie novel The Death and Life of Schneider Wrack and alternative gaming history 100 Best Video Games (That Never Existed) it’s exactly as bonkers and brilliant as you’d imagine.

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Writing for Black Library – Pitching Warhammer Horror (Part One)

With the Black Library Open Submissions window themed around Warhammer Horror this year, I asked over a dozen fantastic authors for their thoughts on what makes a great horror short story, and their advice on writing and pitching a Warhammer Horror story to Black Library. I’ve already published the results of one conversation in my article Writing For Black Library – Alec Worley Talks Pitching Warhammer Horror, and I’ve gathered together the thoughts of the remaining authors to give you as broad a range of opinions, ideas and advice as possible to help you plan your submission this year. There’s way too much for just a single article, so I’ve split things into two parts, of which this is the first!

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