Category Archives: Article

Black Library: Getting Hold of Limited Editions

For many fans of Warhammer fiction, the swanky Limited Editions, Special Editions and Mega Editions that Black Library produces are must-have items, but actually getting hold of them before they’re all snapped up by other fans (or scalpers) can feel stressful and difficult. They are, after all, limited in number, with demand usually (if not always) exceeding supply, and so most of them tend to sell out very quickly. In this article I’m going to offer up some suggestions for what to do if you want to get your hands on one of these books, and how you can give yourself the best possible chance of success. I’m aiming this mostly at anyone who’s looking to get hold of their first LE, but even if you’re a long-term BL fan there might be something useful here for you to take away.

Continue reading →

Black Library: ‘New 40k’ Reading List

After decades of remaining more or less static, these days the Warhammer 40,000 setting is evolving before our eyes, and many of the new and upcoming novels from Black Library are helping to shed light on these new developments in the lore. It’s not always clear how the various stories fit into the ongoing timeline, however, and Black Library as usual doesn’t seem inclined to provide anything in the way of an official reading order. I’ve put together this reading list to try to fit together where all of the recent books go in the ‘new 40k’ timeline – it’s entirely unofficial, and I can’t guarantee that I’ll have got everything right, but hopefully it will be a useful resource to anyone interested in keeping up with Warhammer 40,000 fiction.

NOTE: until such time as BL produces an official resource, I’ll do my best to keep this reading list up to date with new releases as and when they’re published. This version of the article was created in January 2021, but I’ve added books in here and there along the way – the last minor update was in August 2022.

Continue reading →

Yearly Roundup: 2021 Goals

I’m not much of a fan of new year’s resolutions in general, but I do like to have goals to work towards, so in this third Yearly Roundup post – after my 2020 in Numbers and 2020 Highlights articles – I’m going to talk a bit about what I want to achieve for Track of Words in 2021. This is my eighth year running the site, and while there have been a few ups and downs along the way I’m grateful for all the enjoyment that I’ve got out of it so far. Hopefully I can continue to enjoy myself in 2021, and at the same time keep producing content that you can enjoy and appreciate.

Continue reading →

Aconyte Books – January 2021 Releases and 2020 Recap

It’s time for me to take a look at the cool new novels coming this month from Aconyte Books, but this time I’m doing something a little different, because it’s the start of not just a new year, but the second year that Aconyte have been publishing new books! As well as taking a look at the two new novels released today, I’m also going to include a quick recap of everything Aconyte published in 2020, split out by the various IPs/worlds that are featured. If you haven’t yet taken the plunge with Aconyte, this should be a great place to start – I’ll include links to all of my reviews and author interviews so you can find out more about anything that catches your eye.

Continue reading →

Yearly Roundup: 2020 Highlights

Last year I put together a few different Yearly Roundup posts for 2019, and I’m now doing the same for 2020 – I’ve already done a 2020 In Numbers article, and today it’s time to take a look back at some of my personal highlights from last year. Obviously 2020 was A YEAR so in some respects it feels weird to be talking about highlights, in light of all the madness that’s transpired recently. I think it’s important to look for positives though, rather than focusing on all the horrible stuff, especially as reading and working on Track of Words were two of the main things that got me through last year!

Continue reading →

Yearly Roundup: 2020 in Numbers

Another year gone by (and what a weird year it’s been), and it’s time once more to take a look back at another year of running Track of Words – my seventh year! I’m going to follow the pattern I started last year, of splitting things across several articles, starting with a look at some of the numbers for 2020 pulled from my website’s stats. I’ll take a look at the overall visitor numbers and give a quick breakdown of the content I published in 2020, then finish off with the most popular articles (across a few categories) on Track of Words over the last year. All being well, I’ll then take a look in a couple of separate articles at some specific highlights, referring back to the goals I set for 2020, and look ahead to what 2021 might hold.

Continue reading →

Monthly Roundup – December 2020

Welcome to December’s Monthly Roundup here on Track of Words, the final article I’m going to post in 2020! As usual I’ll take a look back over the last month in terms of what I’ve been writing about on ToW, and what I’ve been reading. For the second month running I’ve posted a review, author interview or blog article every day this month (it’s become something of a tradition for each November and December), so there’s lots to talk about here. I’ll take a quick look at each piece of content and provide links out to all of them so you can take a longer look if you’re interested, then write up a few overall thoughts for a general update on the month’s reading and writing.

Continue reading →

A Guide to Guy Haley’s Prince Maesa Stories

Over the last couple of years, one of my personal highlights in Black Library’s Age of Sigmar range has been Guy Haley’s slowly-growing series of stories featuring Prince Maesa and Shattercap. Haley has written a lot of 40k and Horus Heresy stories but relatively little for Age of Sigmar, however this ongoing saga of an aelven Wanderer in search of a way to bring his lost love back to life – told across multiple stories and different mediums – is well worth checking out. As it’s not a novel, however, I sometimes wonder if it falls under the radar for a lot of readers, especially as BL hasn’t provided any guidance on how everything links together or in what order to read the different stories.

Continue reading →

Top 20 Books of 2020

I’ve already published a few articles in which I look back at my favourite Black Library stories of 2020 for all the Warhammer fans out there, but as the year is very nearly finished it’s now time for a wider roundup of all the best SFF/horror books in general that I’ve read this year. I would normally do a top 10, but I couldn’t resist making this the ‘top 20 of 2020’ so I’ve doubled the usual number of books…which, to be fair, did make my life easier as I’ve read so many great books this year! Narrowing the list down to 10 would have been really tricky, and even getting it down to 20 required a few sacrifices.

Continue reading →

5 Great Worlds of IP Fiction

If you’re a regular reader of Track of Words you’ll know how much I enjoy IP (or tie-in) fiction – stories which expand and develop fantasy and science fiction worlds that already exist in board games, video games, films and other media. I’ve tended to read a lot of Warhammer fiction from Black Library, and I know a lot of ToW readers are BL fans too, but there are all manner of fantastic IPs out there as well, bringing their worlds to life with great fiction. Over the course of the last year or two I’ve been dipping my toe into a few other IPs and really enjoying the results, so in this article I’m going to pick out a few recommendations for anyone who’s keen to try exploring a new world or two.

Continue reading →