Category Archives: Article

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!

Continue reading →

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!

Continue reading →

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!

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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!

Continue reading →

Behind the Scene: Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene article here on Track of Words, where today I’m joined by author Lindsay Straube with an annotated excerpt of her new novel Kiss of the Basilisk – out now in the UK from Arcadia in hardback, audio and ebook. Now this is something a little different to what I normally cover, a book described as a “five-chilli TikTok monster romance fantasy sensation” and whose press release opens with “THIS BOOK IS NOT SAFE TO READ AT WORK”…but what is life without a little variety, and indeed a little spice? Lindsay has kindly contributed an excerpt from the opening of Kiss of the Basilisk, along with commentary discussing her thought process throughout this scene.

Continue reading →

Best of Black Library 2024

2024 was a year in which I read fewer Black Library books than ever before (well, since I started Track of Words at least), and Games Workshop continued to make it tricky to be a BL fan (that’s a whole other conversation)…but even so there are still plenty of great BL books for me to look back on and talk about. ‘Best of the year’ roundups are something of a blogger/reviewer tradition, and far be it from me to buck that trend, so here I’ve picked out the three BL books that I particularly enjoyed in 2024. Because I always have a hard time limiting myself to just a few choices (or just a few words), I’ve also come up with a few honourable mentions that are worth talking about too.

Continue reading →

Excerpt From North Is The Night by Emily Rath

Hello and welcome to Track of Words, where today I’m very pleased to offer up an excerpt of Emily Rath’s latest novel North Is The Night, which is out today from Arcadia. Billed as a modern retelling of medieval Finnish saga the Kalevala, this is the first volume of a new duology (although I’m told it works as a standalone story in its own right), and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this excerpt – it’s really evocative, and a brilliant opening to the story. If you’re anything like me, I think you’ll read this and absolutely want to pick up a copy of the book to keep reading.

Continue reading →

Memory and Writing – Nick Cutter Guest Post

Happy Halloween, and welcome to this Track of Words guest post where I’m joined by horror author Nick Cutter, whose new novel The Queen is out today from Arcadia. Described as “a heart-pounding novel about a young woman searching for her missing friend and uncovering a shock truth”, The Queen sounds like an intriguing read – perfect for the Halloween season! I’m delighted to be able to host this fascinating article from Nick, in which he delves into some of the challenges he faced with this book, of writing about teenage characters as a 40-something author.

Continue reading →

Behind the Scene: The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post where today we’re looking at The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter, which is out now from Titan Books. One of the reasons I enjoy these Behind the Scene posts so much is that every author approaches them differently. For this one, Angela has very kindly contributed an annotated excerpt in the shape of the full fourth chapter, with her commentary interspersed throughout, picking out various moments or ideas throughout the chapter and exploring what went into her decision-making for each one. It’s an intriguing insight into Angela’s writing process, and – I think – really sets up what looks like a fascinating story!

Continue reading →