Author Archives: Michael

QUICK REVIEW: The Last Voyage of Elissa Harrow – Denny Flowers

Denny Flowers’ Necromunda short story The Last Voyage of Elissa Harrow does what it says on the tin…and a bit more. SPOILERS abound in both the story and (to a lesser extent) this review for those who haven’t read at least Low Lives (YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!), as this picks up after the novella’s denouement to find Elissa horribly injured, possibly delusional, attempting to cross the sump on a makeshift raft. Land, and safety, seem a long way off, there are dangers beneath the surface of the toxic lake, and Elissa knows she can never really go home…but something drives her to keep moving forward.

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QUICK REVIEW: Beneath the Rust – Graeme Lyon

A prequel to Code of the Skies, Graeme Lyon’s Age of Sigmar short story Beneath the Rust looks back to the youthful exploits of Borri Kraglan and Harek Steelfist beneath the Rusted Wastes of Chamon. The Kharadron of Barak-Nar have entered into a business arrangement with the Stormcast Eternals of the Sigmarite Brotherhood, but the initial work on a Stormkeep has revealed tunnels running deep beneath the surface, which need exploring before work can continue. The Kharadron and Stormcast delve into the tunnels together, but what lies beneath the surface will test them sorely and come to define Borri’s and Harek’s future.

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RAPID FIRE: Graham McNeill Talks Sons of the Selenar

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 legendary Black Library author Graham McNeill about his new Horus Heresy novella Sons of the Selenar, which is the first novella in the Siege of Terra series that’s concluding the Heresy as a whole. The Limited Edition hardback of this novella has been released and subsequently sold out, but whether you grabbed a copy of that or you’ve been waiting for the standard release, read on to find out more about what you can expect from the latest exploits of the Shattered Legions.

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Black Library Pre-Order Tracker

It can be hard to keep track of upcoming Black Library releases – there’s the occasional Warhammer Community article looking at previews/reveals; and the wider book trade, with websites like Amazon often updated with some information well in advance of books being published (although these are extremely unreliable). The Coming Soon page on Warhammer Community is long gone. Wouldn’t it be great if there was ONE place you could check which consolidated all of that information, and clearly laid it out to help you plan ahead and decide what to buy and when? Well as it happens, I’ve put together a spreadsheet containing all of the information I can find. I’ve embedded it into this article, and I keep it as up to date as possible, so check back any time to see what’s coming up.

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Yearly Roundup – 2020 Goals

Welcome to the third and (probably) final part of my Yearly Roundup for 2019. After covering 2019 in Numbers and my 2019 Highlights, this time I’m flipping things around and looking ahead to the rest of 2020 to talk a bit about what I’m hoping to achieve this year with Track of Words. I’m not planning on drastically changing anything – it’s still going to be the usual mix of spoiler-free and relatively short reviews, author interviews and occasional blog posts/other articles. I don’t just want to deliver more of (exactly) the same, however, so the idea is to pick up where I left off in 2019 and continue to branch out a little, covering a wider range of authors and stories in terms of both reviews and interviews.

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The God Game – Danny Tobey

Equal parts American high school drama, augmented reality AI adventure and modern social commentary, Danny Tobey’s The God Game is a breakneck thriller about choices, consequences and the facades we hide behind. For Charlie and his friends, navigating high school brings with it a host of pains and problems, but at least they have each other – the Vindicators, a tight-knit group of talented misfits. When they’re introduced to the G.O.D. Game, a secretive AI program created in the image of the Almighty, joining in seems like harmless fun. As they get deeper into the game, however, they come to realise that there might be some truth to its outrageous claims: “Win and all your dreams come true™! Lose, you die!”

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The Spider Dance by Nick Setchfield – via the British Fantasy Society

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything for the British Fantasy Society, but I’m delighted to say that my latest book review is now live – for The Spider Dance by Nick Setchfield, a tremendously enjoyable occult thriller from Titan Books. You can read that review by clicking on this link, but I want to take a moment to add a few more informal thoughts about this book here, to accompany the link. Of course, if you would rather skip straight to the review then feel free to head over to the BFS website – I don’t mind, honest!

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Wreck and Ruin – Danie Ware

Danie Ware’s second Sisters of Battle novella for Black Library, Wreck and Ruin picks up shortly after The Bloodied Rose and pits Sister Superior Augusta and her squad against a deadly new enemy. Returning home after the events on Lautis, the Sisters find their services commandeered by Inquisitor Istrix, who orders them to join her on the ravaged, abandoned forge world of Lycheate. They are to accompany her on a hunt for the dangerous psyker Scafidis Zale, but amongst the rusting steelworks and its shady denizens Augusta finds her trust in the hardline, secretive Inquisitor tested and her faith challenged anew.

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The Measure of Iron – Jamie Crisalli

Marking Jamie Crisalli’s first longer-form Black Library story (after a couple of short stories), The Measure of Iron is an action-packed Age of Sigmar novella exploring the Warcry setting. Dominar Syzek Govius of the Iron Golems leads his warband on a quest to find glory and honour, seeking out suitable components to forge a weapon fit for the Everchosen himself. More used to his old role as a forge-master than leading a warband, if Syzek is to succeed then he’ll have to survive not just the dangers of the Eightpoints and its inhabitants but also the attentions of his own warriors.

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Yearly Roundup – 2019 Highlights

For the second of my Yearly Roundup articles for the year just gone – after the first one, which looked at 2019 in numbers – I’m taking a look at some of my highlights from the last twelve months. It’s been another busy year, that’s for sure, but a year which has brought with it a couple more interesting milestones, some really great interactions with readers and writers in the science fiction and fantasy community, and an awful lot of tremendously entertaining reading. With that in mind, I’ll talk about some of my personal highlights from running Track of Words before looking at the year in Black Library, and then some of the best stories I read over the course of the year.

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