Category Archives: Interviews

Author Spotlight: David Goodman

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Spotlight interview, where today I’m joined by the brilliant David Goodman to talk about Clarkesworld-published short stories, turning cool concepts into full, engaging stories, the different challenges of writing short fiction and novels, the realities of submitting novels, and loads more! I’ve read and loved both of Dave’s short stories in Clarkesworld Magazine, and I was hugely impressed by their depth of world building, great (and unusual) characters and smart themes, and how they remained very human and relatable despite their sci-fi nature. I can’t wait to read more of Dave’s writing, and I jumped at the chance to chat to him for what turned out to be an in-depth and (I think) incredibly interesting interview!

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RAPID FIRE: David Guymer Talks Grombrindal

Hello and welcome to this Rapid Fire interview here on Track of Words, where I’m very happy to be joined by Black Library author David Guymer to talk about his fantastic Age of Sigmar novel Grombrindal: Chronicles of the Wanderer. Released in October 2023 in audiobook, ebook and hardback (if you’re lucky enough to find one) editions, this is an unusual book in that it actually contains six short stories and a (short) novel, all exploring one of the most famous characters in Warhammer history. I loved it, so I was keen to talk to David about how this book came about, what the writing process was like, and (because I’m mean like that) whether David has a favourite from among these tales of Grombrindal.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Mike Shackle Talks The Last War

Hello and welcome to this Author Interview here on Track of Words, where today I’m welcoming the brilliant Mike Shackle back to the site to talk about his epic, dark fantasy trilogy The Last War. With the third volume – Until the Last – having been released in 2022 the trilogy is now complete, so it seems like a good opportunity to chat to Mike and look back at the whole thing now that it’s done and dusted. If you haven’t started this great trilogy then this is the perfect introduction as Mike starts off by giving an overview of what to expect, before talking about his experience of writing and publishing these books over the last few crazy years.

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Author Spotlight: S.A. Tholin (SPSFC 2021 Winner)

Hello and welcome to this Author Spotlight interview here on Track of Words, where today I’m thrilled to be joined by the fantastic S.A. Tholin, author of the brilliant Primaterre series of science fiction novels, and recent winner of the first-ever Self-published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC)! I’ve been a fan of Sofie’s writing for a while now, and I loved Iron Truth, her novel that won the SPSFC, so it’s long past time that we chatted for an interview. In this Author Spotlight we talked about her Primaterre series and what readers can expect from its blend of science fiction and horror, the realities of life as a self-published author, the impact of winning the SPSFC, and loads more. So kick back and enjoy the interview, then make sure you check out Iron Truth and the Primaterre series!

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RAPID FIRE: Steven B Fischer Talks Witchbringer

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where today I’m very happy to welcome back Steven B. Fischer to talk about his brilliant new Warhammer 40,000 novel Witchbringer. Steve and I chatted recently for an Author Spotlight interview and it was super interesting (you can check that out here), and the little glimpse we got into Witchbringer was more than enough for me to want to chat about the novel in more detail. With that in mind, in this interview Steve gives a great overview of what to expect from Witchbringer, including what it was like exploring the Scholastica Psykana and the nature of being a psyker in the Imperial Guard, keeping character conflict at the heart of the novel, looking for light in the middle of a grimdark universe, and loads more. Oh, and the relative merits of psychic powers in the real world!

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SFF Community Spotlight: Nick Borrelli from Out of This World SFF

Hello and welcome to this SFF Community Spotlight interview on Track of Words, where today I’m joined by the excellent Nick Borrelli from Out of This World SFF for a chat about the life of an SFF blogger and reviewer. If this is the first of these interviews you’ve come across, the idea is that they give me an opportunity to talk to and promote the work of some of the passionate, dedicated people who contribute towards the online SFF book community and help make it the thriving space that it is right now. Nick is a great reviewer and one of the most supportive, enthusiastic members of the community I know, and I’m keen to celebrate the brilliant work he does!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Mike Brooks Talks The God-King Chronicles (and a Busy 2022)

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where today I’m welcoming Mike Brooks back to the site to chat about his epic fantasy trilogy The God-King Chronicles, which is now complete with the recent release of book three, The Godbreaker. It seemed like the perfect time to look back on the trilogy as a whole, what readers can get out of it, what inspired these stories and the world in which they’re set, and how Mike feels now that it’s all done. But that’s not all! It’s been a busy year for Mike in terms of book releases, so once we finished chatting about The God-King Chronicles we moved onto discussing several of Mike’s Black Library novels that have been published this year, featuring Chaos Space Marines, Orks and…more Chaos Space Marines.

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SFF Community Spotlight: Shazzie From Reader@Work & Fantasy Book Critic

Hello and welcome to the first SFF Community Spotlight interview here on Track of Words, where today I’m chatting to the brilliant Shazzie from Reader@Work and the Fantasy Book Critic team. The idea behind these interviews is to talk to some of the fantastic people who help make the online SFF book community such a fun, thriving space, to find out more about them and to celebrate all the great work they do. I’m planning on talking to bloggers, reviewers, podcasters, and hopefully publishing professionals too. For this first instalment I wanted to kick things off by talking to a really positive, passionate reviewer, and I couldn’t think of anyone better than Shazzie, who writes great reviews, is a fantastic advocate for authors, and is just an all-round enthusiastic presence online.

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Author Spotlight: Steven B. Fischer

Hello and welcome to this Author Spotlight interview where today I’m chatting to Steven B. Fischer, who may be familiar to Track of Words readers from his Warhammer 40,000 short stories in Inferno!, and his upcoming Black Library novel Witchbringer. With his novel still a little way off, I thought it was a good time to get to know Steve as an author – what he likes to write, how writing for Black Library compares to working on his own IPs, and what it is that appeals about grimdark fiction in particular. We also chat a bit about Witchbringer, just to give you a sense of what you can expect when it arrives later in the year!

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Matthew Farrer Talks Urdesh – Part Two

Hello and welcome to the second part of my in-depth interview with author Matthew Farrer, where we’re taking quite a detailed (but still mostly spoiler-free) look at his Urdesh duology for Black Library. In the first part (which you can read here) Matthew talked about the journey that these books went on (they weren’t originally commissioned as a duology!), and what it was like contributing novel-length stories to the Sabbat Worlds series. In this second part we’re going to look in a bit more detail at some of Matthew’s writing process for these books, from structure and pace (by way of the Discworld) and perspective-hopping to how to really portray the speed and power of Space Marines in motion (by way of Captain America), and what it was like collaborating with both the BL editors and fellow author Dan Abnett.

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