Category Archives: Highlight

Behind the Scene: This Machine Kills Billionaires by T.R. Napper

Hello and welcome to Track of Words, and this Behind the Scene post with Cyberpunk author extraordinaire T.R. Napper, whose new book This Machine Kills Billionaires is out now! For this article, we’ve got an excerpt from the opening of The Hidden God, a novella which forms the heart of Napper’s new book, followed by a commentary looking at why the novella starts off in exactly that way. If you like your sci-fi stories on the thoughtful and powerful side, I really can’t recommend Napper’s work enough – so I hope you enjoy this!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Peter McLean Talks Paved with Good Intentions

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview, where I’m joined by the brilliant Peter McLean to talk about his latest Fantasy novel, Paved with Good Intentions – which is out now in paperback from Arcadia Books. It’s always a pleasure to have Pete on the site, and I’ve absolutely loved reviewing and chatting to Pete about his War for the Rose Throne books, so when I found out he’d written a standalone novel set in the same world I knew I had to read it! Suffice it to say, I thought Paved with Good Intentions was fantastic, and a brilliant companion to the Rose Throne series. If you want to know more about what to expect from it though, we’ve got you covered with this interview.

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Behind the Scene: Godstorm by Solitaire Townsend

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post here on Track of Words, and welcome too to author Solitaire Townsend, whose debut Fantasy novel Godstorm is out now from Bedford Square Publishers! For this article Solitaire has kindly provided an annotated excerpt from the second chapter of Godstorm, with commentary setting the scene and giving a bit of insight into what’s going on in this scene, and what to expect from the novel as a whole. If you like a bit of alternate history with your Fantasy, definitely check this out!

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Behind the Scene: The Blackfire Blade by James Logan

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post here on Track of Words, where today I’m joined by the excellent James Logan for an annotated excerpt from his second novel, The Blackfire Blade – which is published on the 6th November by Arcadia in hardback, audio and ebook. Book two in the Last Legacy series, and sequel to The Silverblood Promise (which was fantastic – and you can read my interview with James about it), this promises to expand the setting of the series beyond what readers have seen before, and that’s very much the focus of this post. I’m always curious to see what writers choose for a Behind the Scene excerpt, and I hope you find this as interesting as I did!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: E. J. Swift Talks When There Are Wolves Again

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview where today I’m joined by the brilliant E.J. Swift to talk about her wonderful new novel When There Are Wolves Again, which is out now in hardback and published by Arcadia. Described by Lavie Tidhar as having ‘perfectly merged literary and speculative fiction’, it’s a book about rewilding and the importance of connections with nature, but also about coping with the challenges of family and the ups and downs of life, and it’s absolutely fantastic! I loved it, so I was delighted to have the chance to put this interview together. I hope you enjoy it.

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Behind the Scene: A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post, where today I’m welcoming author Melissa Blair to talk about her fantasy series The Halfling Saga, and in particular the first novel in the series. A Broken Blade is described as a “thrilling high-fantasy BookTok sensation about assassin Keera’s epic quest to bring down a tyrant king”. It’s the first instalment in the Halfling Saga, but intriguingly all four volumes in the series are being published at the same time – and are out now from Arcadia Books! Melissa has very kindly contributed an annotated excerpt from Chapter One of A Broken Blade, introducing the character of Keera and talking us through some of her aims for the chapter, and her decision making around what to include.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Grace Chan Talks Every Version of You

Hello and welcome to Track of Words for today’s author interview with the fantastic Grace Chan, in which we’re going to be talking about her debut novel Every Version of You – out now from Verve Books. Set in Australia in the not-too-distant future, Every Version of You is a darkly fascinating exploration of identity, environment and technological impact, the sort of book that hooks you in and leaves you thinking about it for a long time afterwards. I was delighted to have the chance to chat to Grace about this intriguing book – I hope you enjoy this interview, and I really recommend picking up Every Version of You!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Adam Oyebanji Talks Esperance

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview – please join me in welcoming the fantastic Adam Oyebanji who’s here to chat about his brand new novel Esperance, which is out now from Arcadia Books! Back in 2022 I read Adam’s debut novel Braking Day, a fantastic ‘generation ship’ story that absolutely blew me away (here’s my review), and I’d been looking forward to his next SF novel ever since. I knew it was going to be great, and I was right – so I’m delighted to have the chance to chat to Adam about Esperance, about blending SF and mystery, and loads more!

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RAPID FIRE: David Guymer Talks Verminslayer

Hello and welcome to this Rapid Fire author interview, where today I’m joined by Black Library author and Track of Words regular David Guymer to talk about his latest Age of Sigmar novel – Verminslayer. It’s been a while since David’s last novel-length contribution to the fan-favourite Gotrek Gurnisson series (or as I like to call it, the Nounslayer series), with the previous four novels coming from the pens of the excellent Darius Hinks and Richard Strachan. With the release of Verminslayer though, I had the chance to ask the really important questions: what can we expect to see in this latest instalment, from the author of Kinslayer, Slayer and Realmslayer? What was it like returning to such a beloved character? Who’s Gotrek’s new companion? And of course, what makes the skaven such great antagonists in this series?

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Writing an Eco-Change Epic Fantasy (While Living Through One) – David Hair Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post courtesy of David Hair, author of the Talmont series – book two of which, The Drowning Sea, is published in the UK by Arcadia in hardback and ebook. To help celebrate the release of The Drowning Sea, David has very kindly written this post discussing the themes and inspiration behind the Talmont series, in particular the influence of climate change on this story. If you like your fantasy on the Epic side and you’re on the lookout for a new series, this is well worth checking out!

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