Category Archives: Article

Black Library Advent Calendar 2019

As usual, now that we’re into December (somehow – where has 2019 gone?) Black Library are starting to release loads of new short fiction as part of their latest Advent Calendar series. Between the 1st and 24th of December, we’re going to see one new short story or audio drama every day, and as is my tradition I’ll be writing a review of each one to go along with it. This year the series is split evenly between short stories and audio dramas, along with two brand new novels getting digital-only premieres on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

In this article I’m going to provide a roundup of what information has been made public so far regarding these stories, consolidating the details provided by Warhammer Community along with what’s available elsewhere online (i.e. Amazon) and giving you everything you need in one place. Each day I’ll update the information below with the name and description for the latest story, as well as a link to my review. For now, here’s a quick run through of how the stories are split out, based on the information Black Library have provided so far:

Keep reading…

Monthly Highlights – November 2019

Somehow it’s the end of November already, which means it’s time for me to take a look back at what I’ve been reading for the last few weeks in another Monthly Highlights roundup. It’s been a phenomenal month packed full of brilliant books, so narrowing things down has been tricky – I could happily have included several more novels, not to mention short stories and audio dramas. In the end I settled on two novels and a few novellas, while I’ll also talk very briefly about the Black Library Weekender which took place earlier in the month.

Keep reading…

Where to Find a Little Humour in Black Library Fiction

Reading Nate Crowley’s fantastic 40k novella Severed I was reminded that Warhammer fiction isn’t generally known for its humour. The clue is in the title, really (WARhammer), and certainly Warhammer 40,000 is renowned for being properly dark. The commonly-used term grimdark comes from a core tenet of 40k, after all – “in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war”. In amongst the grim, the dark and the downright nasty, however, I think there’s room for a bit of humour now and then, and certain authors – Nate included – seem to have the knack for adding a little (or a lot, in some cases) of levity into some ot their Warhammer stories.

Keep reading…

The Black Library Weekender 2019 – Roundup

The 2019 Black Library Weekender – the sixth such event, held at the Belfry Hotel in Nottingham – has come and gone, and I’m gradually getting back to normality, a little lighter in the wallet but filled with energy and excitement off the back of a great couple of days. In this article I’m going to try and give an overview of how the event felt (to me) and why I enjoyed it so much, including a few highlights of the seminars I made it to and some comments on the upcoming titles announced at the end of the event. There’s lots to cover, so if you’re only interested in certain areas feel free to click the links below and head straight to a particular section.

Keep reading…

Monthly Highlights – October 2019

October has come to an end, another month packed full of excellent books to talk about, so it’s time for my latest Monthly Highlights post here on Track of Words. This month I’m going purely for books (no audio dramas or short stories this time around) as my top picks from what I’ve been reading, although I’m also going to talk a little bit about an awesome event I attended in London, for a little added variety. I’ve picked quite a mix of books, from various publishers, but all of them have really caught my imagination and I’m keen to recommend every single one of them!

Keep reading…

The Black Library Weekender 2019 – How to Prepare and Avoid Spoilers

The 2019 Black Library Weekender is fast approaching, and looking at the schedule there’s an impressive range of seminars lined up for the weekend, covering multiple settings and series, writing skills, audio dramas…there’s a lot of variety. With so many topics on offer, not only are there going to be some tricky decisions to make regarding which sessions to attend, but it’s not going to be easy to make sure you’re up to speed on all of the books being discussed. In this article I’m going to go through the schedule and talk a bit about how to prepare for each of the sessions – i.e. which books to try and make sure you’ve read beforehand so that you know what’s being discussed and can avoid spoilers.

Keep reading…

Monthly Highlights – September 2019

After last month’s bumper collection of my highlights from July and August, it’s back to a single month for the latest roundup of the best things I’ve read of late. September was a busy month for my reading schedule, so I had plenty to choose from! I spoke last month about broadening out my reading a bit, and I’ve certainly done that (including a couple of non-SF titles that I won’t cover on Track of Words), but this month all but one of my highlights have been Black Library releases – there’s been a lot of good stuff coming out of BL recently, even if their marketing hasn’t always done such a great job of publicising it.

As with last month I’ll go through each of my highlights in turn, talking a little about why I enjoyed each one so much and linking out to my reviews. If you read through to the end you’ll also see a quick section where I look ahead to some of the books (and a book-related event) that I’m particularly looking forward to in October. Without further ado, then – let’s get straight on with the highlights. I’ll start with the one non-BL book that I’ve picked out.

Keep reading…

Monthly Highlights – July and August 2019

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Monthly Highlights post, but I think it’s time to resurrect the concept and get back in the habit – so I’m starting off by looking back at the last two months! I’m going to pick out a few of the best books I’ve read in the second half of the year so far and talk a little about each, linking back to my reviews, then do the same thing for short stories as well. I love a good short story! I’ll quickly touch on some interesting news regarding submitting stories to Black Library, then finish with a look ahead to a few things I’m particularly looking forward to in September.

Keep reading…

Writing for Black Library – Summer of Writing 2019

The 2019 Black Library open submissions window has been officially confirmed – with the tagline “comrades in arms”, no less, as part of a summer of writing – and it’s running from the 26th August to the 23rd September. Check out my article Black Library Open Submissions – 2018 Recap for a look back at 2018’s open submissions window, including thoughts on some of the authors who successfully made it through, but in this article I’m going to talk a little about the guidelines for the 2019 window, and provide some useful resources for anyone interested in submitting including nterviews with some of the authors who successfully made it through and had stories published by Black Library.

Keep reading…

Writing for Black Library – Open Submissions 2018 Recap

Back in early 2018, Black Library announced an open submissions window – a fixed period of time during which the public was actively encouraged to submit pitches for stories set in the various worlds of Warhammer. BL don’t generally accept submissions outside one of these specific windows, and this one proved VERY popular! Ever since it closed there’s been speculation from fans about when the next such opportunity would arise…and now we know that it’s going to run between the 26th August and 23rd September 2019.

Keep reading…