Category Archives: Guest Post

Writer and Editor: Can You Be Both? (Kate Golden Guest Post)

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where today I’m joined by Kate Golden, author of the Dawn of Onyx series, whose second novel A Promise of Peridot is out now via Arcadia Books. I’m always fascinated to hear from anyone who works across multiple writing-related disciplines, and in this case Kate is both a fantasy novelist and a TV and film executive. I was delighted when Kate agreed to write this guest post about the realities of balancing those two aspects of her life, and the end result is a fascinating piece about creativity, passion and the craft of writing. Whether you’re a reader or a writer, and whatever genre(s) you read, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did!

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Behind The Scene: Exclusive Author Commentary On The Last Phi Hunter by Salinee Goldenberg

I’m back with another Behind the Scene post here on Track of Words, where I hope you’ll join me in welcoming author Salinee Goldenberg, whose debut novel The Last Phi Hunter is coming out via Angry Robot on the 9th of April 2024! As always with these BTS posts, Salinee has kindly picked out an excerpt from her novel, and written an accompanying commentary, which this time focuses on the cinematic nature of The Last Phi Hunter. Salinee has chosen an excerpt from a couple of chapters into the book, so read on to find out more about this “mythic dark fantasy”, and in particular its central character pairing!

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Behind The Scene: Exclusive Author Commentary on Simul by Andrew Caldecott

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post, in which I’m delighted to present an excerpt from Simul by Andrew Caldecott, accompanied by an exclusive commentary by Andrew himself. Out now from Jo Fletcher Books, Simul is the second volume of the Momenticon duology, following on from 2023’s Momenticon, which has been described as “a perplexing and brilliant story full of literary and artistic rabbit holes and quirky characters.” The idea behind my Behind the Scene series is to ask authors to talk a bit about a scene or a chapter from their book and give an insight into their thought processes as they wrote it. Here Andrew has more than fulfilled that brief, with a fascinating commentary exploring the concept and purpose of Simul’s opening chapter.

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The Classic Celtic Spread: How I Use Tarot Cards As a Tool In My Writing – Maud Woolf Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where I’m delighted to be joined by Maud Wood – author of Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock, which is out today from Angry Robot! It sounds like an absolutely fascinating novel, but something else that sounds fascinating is Maud’s approach to crafting stories. In this guest post Maud takes us through her use of tarot cards as a writing tool, something I’d never considered before…but which I think makes a lot of sense! Whether you’re a writer yourself or simply interested in what goes into the work of writing a novel, this is a really interesting article.

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On The Nature of Trilogies And Tie-ins – Thomas Parrott Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where today I’m delighted to welcome back Thomas Parrott, whose third Tom Clancy’s The Division novel – Hunted – is coming out in January from Aconyte Books (completing the Operation: Crossroads trilogy)! Tom has kindly contributed a thought-provoking article discussing the journey he’s been on with this trilogy of tie-in novels, which begins with 2022’s Recruited before continuing with Compromised (also 2022) and then onto Hunted, which is out in just a few days (at the time of writing this). I’m always fascinated by writers’ experiences working on novels and series, so to me this is an intriguing exploration of the realities of working on this sort of project, and the work that goes into it!

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Behind The Scene: Exclusive Excerpt From Do Or Die by Josh Reynolds

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post here on Track of Words, where today I’m joined by one of my absolute favourite authors – Josh Reynolds – with an excerpt from the first chapter of his third Zombicide novel Do Or Die. I’ve covered a lot of Josh’s work here on Track of Words, and Zombicide as an IP really feels like an ideal fit for his style – that’s certainly the impression I got from his first novel in this setting, Last Resort. If you’re keen to get a sense of what to expect from Josh’s Zombicide work, this excerpt is exactly what you’re been looking for!

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Five(ish) Stories About Weird Trains – Sarah Brooks Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this extra-special Track of Words guest post; special because I’m delighted to be hosting my very own sister – Sarah Brooks, author of the upcoming novel The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands, coming in June 2024 from W&N Books! I am, as you can probably imagine, very excited about this particular book release, and I can’t wait to read it (at the time of writing, I’ve just got my hands on an advance copy), and to see it out in the wild in 2024. In the meantime though, I’m so pleased that Sarah has agreed to contribute this guest post, in which she’s going to talk a bit about the magic of strange train journeys in fiction, something that will be relevant for anyone interested in The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands! So without further ado, over to Sarah.

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The Future of SFF – Sunyi Dean Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post where today I’m joined by the brilliant Sunyi Dean, author of The Book Eaters and cohost of the Publishing Rodeo podcast. Each year as part of the ToW Advent Calendar I invite an author to write about where they see SFF publishing going in the coming year(s), and with her unique perspective from both her writing and her work on the podcast, I couldn’t think of anyone better-placed to talk about this than Sunyi! If you have any interest in SFF publishing (and if you’re reading this then I’m guessing you probably do), read on for some fascinating thoughts about what might be around the corner for both readers and writers.

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Same Stars, New Views: Writing my Second Novel in an Established Universe – Ren Hutchings Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where I hope you’ll join me in welcoming the fantastic Ren Hutchings, author of the brilliant “accidental time travel” space opera Under Fortunate Stars, back to the site! I absolutely loved Under Fortunate Stars, and it’s always a pleasure to be able to host Ren. She’s previously written a great post about why the idea of a ‘ragtag crew’ remains such enduring appeal, but this time she’s back to talk about what’s coming next for her, and what it’s been like writing further stories in the same setting! So if (like me) you loved Under Fortunate Stars and you’re keen to see more of that universe, you’re in luck – read on to find out more.

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Indie Highlights, From This Year to Next – Lyndsey Croal Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where today I’m very happy indeed to be joined by Lyndsey Croal, author of Have You Decided on Your Question (along with a remarkable number of short stories), who’s here to talk about a whole host of fantastic indie books. I read and loved HYDOYQ earlier this year, so I was delighted when Lyndsey agreed to write something for the site, and share her enthusiasm for indie publishing! Read on for loads of recommendations for great 2023 indie reads, as well as some fascinating-sounding books due in 2024.

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