Category Archives: Guest Post

Surprise! (or I Bet You Did See that Coming) – Matthew Ward Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where today I’m joined by the fantastic Matthew Ward, author of The Darkness Before Them – book one in the Soulfire Saga, coming out from Orbit on the 7th November. With this, his fourth novel with Orbit (after the fantastic Legacy Trilogy), coming so soon, Matthew has very kindly contributed a fantastic post on the topic of surprises in fiction, something that as readers I think we’re always hoping for, and very happy to see. Whether you’re a reader interested in understanding why literary surprises work, or a writer keen for insight into how to make them work, there’s loads to enjoy here – so read on to find out more!

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Does Low-Stakes Mean No Stakes? – Keith W. Dickinson Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where today I’m delighted to welcome author Keith W. Dickinson to talk about low-stakes fantasy stories – or, to be specific, whether these stories are actually as low-stakes as they seem! Keith’s own low-stakes fantasy novella, Glunda The Veg Witch, is coming out very soon, described as “a tale of heroism and hotpots”, so what better time to talk about this subject than now? Keep reading after the end of Keith’s post to check out the synopsis for Glunda, to find out more about it!

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Behind the Scene: Excerpt from Storming Heaven by Miles Cameron

Book two in The Age of Bronze series, and the sequel to 2022’s fantastic Against All Gods, Miles Cameron’s Storming Heaven is out now – and I’m delighted to present an excerpt from this brand new novel for your enjoyment. Not only that, but Miles has very kindly contributed some additional commentary on this excerpt, first setting the scene and then discussing the historical inspiration behind some of the featured characters. Storming Heaven is out now from Gollancz, so read on to get a taste of what to expect, then you can go ahead and order your copy once this has whetted your appetite.

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Spotlight on James Swallow’s Original Fiction

Hello and welcome to this Original Fiction Spotlight, where today I’m welcoming the brilliant James Swallow to the site. If you’re a fan of sci-fi worlds from Warhammer 40,000 to Star Trek then chances are you’ll have come across James’ excellent IP fiction – I’ve certainly read and reviewed my fair share of his 40k stories! In the spirit of these spotlight articles though, today we’re looking at James’ original fiction. If you weren’t already aware, outside of IP fiction James has a fantastic catalogue of thrillers to his name, with a six-book series from Bonnier Zaffre and two standalone novels from Welbeck Publishing. As part of my ongoing ‘Spotlight On…’ series, I’ve invited James to give us the lowdown on his original fiction, so warm up your TBR list and get ready to find out more about these great thrillers.

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Spotlight on J.S. Collyer’s Original Fiction

If you’re a regular Track of Words reader then you will probably be familiar with SF author J.S. Collyer from her excellent Black Library short stories, which are well worth reading. If you’ve enjoyed those stories though, she has a whole host of original fiction available too (including a short story right here on Track of Words), which you should definitely seek out as well! As part of my ongoing series of ‘Spotlight On…’ guest posts, today I’ve invited J.S. Collyer onto the site to tell us a little bit about her original fiction – including free short fiction available on her website, a fast-paced SF novel trilogy, and a range of short stories published in various anthologies. If you’re on the lookout for some new SF or speculative fiction, read on and fill your TBR list!

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Spotlight On Justin Hill’s Original Fiction

You might be familiar with Justin Hill for his Black Library fiction (written as Justin D. Hill), but outside of the worlds of Warhammer he has a considerable backlog of original work too, all exploring various aspects of contemporary and historical fiction. His seven books cover all manner of periods and locations from 11th century England to 20th century Eritrea, and characters from Viking kings to Chinese poets. As part of an ongoing series of guest posts in which I invite authors onto the site to tell us about their original fiction, Justin is here to talk a little bit about each of his novels, what inspired each of them, and what went into their writing. The stories behind these books are fascinating, featuring rapid evacuations, overseas volunteering, meeting the descendents of royalty and more, so settle in to add some books to your TBR list!

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Spotlight On Danie Ware’s Original Fiction

Regular Track of Words readers will probably be familiar with SFF author Danie Ware from her excellent IP fiction, but like many writers Danie also has a rich catalogue of original fiction with novels published by Titan Books and Fox Spirit Books, and short stories in all sorts of anthologies (there’s even a short story of Danie’s available to read for free right here on Track of Words!). As part of an ongoing series of ‘Spotlight On…’ author guest posts, I’ve invited Danie onto the site to tell us more about her original fiction, and in particular which books she recommends as starting points. So settle in, and get ready for some new books to hit your TBR list!

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Spotlight On Guy Haley’s Original Fiction

As journalist, critic, editor and author, Guy Haley has been involved in SFF publishing for well over 20 years, in that time writing over 50 novels and novellas, as well as countless short stories. You might be familiar with Guy’s work in the worlds of Warhammer, but over the years he’s written plenty of original fiction too – seven novels and two novellas for publishers including Angry Robot, Solaris and Tordotcom. After a long hiatus he’s recently returned to writing his own material – his most recent was the short story The Cure, published in Grimdark magazine in April (I thought it was great, and reviewed it here).

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Demystifying the Pitch: Bone Armour by Victoria Hayward

I’m thrilled to be joined by the fantastic Victoria Hayward who’s very kindly written something a little different for Track of Words, with an intriguing article deconstructing one of her successful short story pitches, and providing a fascinating insight into this lesser-seen aspect of the writing process. Bone Armour was published in Grimdark Magazine, and I absolutely loved it – it’s a genuinely bleak, brilliant, unconventional science fiction story – so I was delighted when Victoria offered to write about her pitch for it. Writing story pitches can seem like something of a dark art, so this article is perfect for anyone interested in pitching their own stories, or indeed anyone who just enjoys a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the writing process. Oh, and keep reading for a short excerpt from Bone Armour too!

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Lavie Tidhar – Paradigm Shift

Hello and welcome to Track of Words, where today I’m absolutely delighted to welcome the fantastic Lavie Tidhar with a guest post taking a broad view over the science fiction genre as a whole – a sort of sci-fi state of the nation. A genre-spanning author of so many fantastic books, and editor of the wonderful The Best of World SF anthologies (both of which are available now from Head of Zeus), I can’t think of anyone better placed than Lavie to speak about current trends in SF fiction and publishing. If you’re at all interested in science fiction, whether as a reader or a writer, there’s bound to be food for thought in this excellent post.

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