Category Archives: Article

Best SFF Books of 2023

It’s December 2023, which means it’s time for me to take a look back at all the SFF books I’ve read this year and pick out a few of my favourites. I’m sticking with the same format as I went with for last year’s Best SFF post, so I’ve chosen ten fantastic SFF books that I’ve loved this year and listed them in the order I read them (so don’t think of this as a ‘top 10’). As always with these articles I’ve selected only books that were published this year, so some of my absolute favourites didn’t make the list – but even so, it was tough narrowing things down to just 10 books! What’s interesting this year is that quite a lot of these books are relatively low-key and not-very-fantastical – which I love, as it just goes to show the breadth of SFF as a whole!

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Behind The Scene: Exclusive Excerpt From Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post, in which I’m delighted to present an exclusive excerpt from Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty – out now in the UK, and due out in the US on the 9th January 2024, both from Head of Zeus. If you like the idea of dark (dare I say grimdark) fantasy inspired by the Mahabharata, then this is probably going to be the book for you, and to give you a sense of just what to expect Gourav has very kindly contributed some additional comments to go alongside this excerpt!

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Exploring New Worlds – Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this guest post here on Track of Words, where today I’m thrilled to welcome Esmie Jikiemi-Person, winner of the inaugural Future Worlds Prize and author of the upcoming The Principle of Moments (out on the 18th January from Gollancz)! Esmie has very kindly put together a fantastic post about the value of looking for new authors to read and new worlds to explore, featuring a trio of up and coming SFF writers whose novels she recommends checking out. So if you’re on the lookout for new reads (and let’s face it, who isn’t?) then this is for you – and if you’re keen to know more about The Principle of Moments too, keep reading!

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Writing For Traveller – David Guymer Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words, where today I’m pleased to welcome back the always-excellent David Guymer with a fantastic guest post talking about something of a new venture for him! Chances are you’re familiar with David’s writing from his many Black Library stories, or his great work with Aconyte Books, but now he’s venturing into new SF territory with a series of short stories set in the world of Mongoose Publishing’s Traveller. Whether you’re a long-time Traveller fan or this is the first you’ve heard of it, David’s got you covered with this guest post – so read on to find out how this new venture came to be, and what you can expect from this new short story series, Sindal Sunrise.

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Eight Books I Rate – Eliza Chan Guest Post

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post where today I’m joined by the brilliant Eliza Chan, author of the upcoming Fathomfolk (coming early 2024 from Orbit), who’s here to share her excitement about a whole host of great fantasy books! I’m delighted to have Eliza on the site – I’ve been a fan ever since reading her short story Knowing Your Type (creepy teddy bears…really creepy teddy bears) in 2019, and I’m really looking forward to her debut novel. If you’re on the lookout for some new additions to your TBR, whether recent releases or upcoming titles, you’ve come to the right place. I know I’m going to be picking some of these up based on Eliza’s recommendations!

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Behind The Scene: Exclusive Excerpt from Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell

Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post, where today I’m delighted to present an exclusive excerpt from Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell – the first novel in a new series set in the world of the Greatcoats! I’ve included the publisher’s synopsis at the end of the post, but before then there’s loads to enjoy – first a quick note from Sebastien setting the scene for the start of the novel, and then the excerpt from the (brilliant) first chapter of the book. Play of Shadows is due out from Jo Fletcher Books on the 28th March 2024, so read on to get a taste of what to expect, then get your pre-orders in!

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Track of Words Advent Calendar 2023

Hello and welcome to the Track of Words Advent Calendar 2023! Over the course of the next 25 days I’ll be posting author interviews, articles, guest posts and more celebrating the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, some posts written by me and others contributed by a host of fantastic authors. Make sure you keep checking back each day to see what’s what – there’s loads of great content coming up, some looking back over the last 12 months and some looking ahead to next year and onwards.

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Monthly Roundup – November 2023

Hello, and welcome to my November Monthly Roundup post – I can’t quite believe it’s almost December, and therefore almost the end of 2023, but here we are! It’s been a strange month, as I’ve tried to put together some interesting posts for November while spending a lot of time behind the scenes working on the Track of Words Advent Calendar for December. Hopefully this month’s posts have been fun, and I really hope you enjoy what I’ve got planned for next month! In the meantime, for this article I’ve compiled my usual roundup of recent posts along with a bit of an update on the month’s reading. I haven’t spent a lot of time in November looking at what’s going on in the world of SFF publishing so I’ve skipped my usual news section, which means this is a slightly shorter post than usual.

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Exclusive Excerpt From In The Shadow Of Their Dying by Anna Smith Spark & Michael R. Fletcher

Hello and welcome to Track of Words, where today I have an exclusive excerpt for you from the upcoming novella In The Shadow of Their Dying by Anna Smith Spark and Michael R. Fletcher, coming in March 2024 from Grimdark Magazine. Featuring two big names from the Grimdark fantasy scene, and excellent cover art by Carlos Diaz (design by Shawn T. King), this looks like one to watch for all you Grimdark fans out there. Read on for the cover and official synopsis for In The Shadow of Their Dying, and then an exclusive excerpt to give you just a little taste of what to expect.

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40k Reading Order: Minka Lesk – Justin D. Hill

Hello and welcome to this 40k Reading Order article – there’s a whole range of these articles here on Track of Words, but for this one I’m focusing on Justin D. Hill’s fantastic Minka Lesk series of Cadian Shock Troops stories. Black Library’s Cadians range has grown a lot recently, and there are loads of options for where to start, but the Minka Lesk series is really the backbone of the whole range. At the time of writing there are eight stories in this series – four novels and four short stories (although I’m also going to mention a few additional short stories that subtly tie in with the Minka Lesk series) – and with Justin’s generous help I’ve put together a comprehensive list of the whole lot, based on their in-universe chronological order.

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