Category Archives: Article

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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A Lot of Very Short Chapters

I’ve recently read a couple of books which were written with a lot of short chapters – and when I say short chapters I mean very short chapters, from a few pages to just a few words. They’re two very different books, both written with a clear idea of what they want to achieve but doing something quite different, and it’s been an interesting experience reading them in fairly close succession. I thought it might be fun to explore this experience a bit, in particular the ways in which I responded to each of the two books and their use of short chapters – there were some similarities, and plenty of differences – and in the process hopefully clarify things in my own mind too.

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5 Age Of Sigmar Books That Deserve Sequels (But Probably Won’t Get Them)

For a while now Black Library’s Age of Sigmar range has been focused very much on individual books rather than trilogies or sequels*, but with the announcement of Richard Strachan’s Temple of Silence – the follow-up to Hallowed Ground – it looks like maybe, maybe, that might be changing. This got me thinking about which other AoS novels deserve the sequel treatment, so I’ve picked out five books that I personally loved, and which have been crying out for sequels. Most of these books have been out for quite a few years already, so chances are the window for sequels is long gone, but that doesn’t mean we as readers should stop talking about them, and asking BL for more!

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Exclusive Excerpt: The Darkness Before Them by Matthew Ward

Matthew Ward’s The Darkness Before Them comes out from Orbit on the 7th November, kicking off a brand new fantasy series – the Soulfire Saga. I’m really looking forward to this new series, and very happy to support the release of this new book. I’ve already chatted to Matthew for a teaser interview about it, and as part of the blog tour for the book’s release Matthew wrote a fascinating guest post exploring the concept of surprises in fiction (something The Darkness Before Them promises to contain plenty of), and why they’re so effective. That’s not all, however. As the SECOND instalment in my contribution to the blog tour, I’m delighted to present an exclusive excerpt from The Darkness Before Them, to give you a taste of what to expect.

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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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Monthly Roundup – October 2023

Hello, and welcome to my Monthly Roundup post for October 2023. It’s going to be a slightly shorter post than usual, as (for reasons I’ll touch on a little bit later) I posted much less in October than I normally do, and I just don’t have quite as much to talk about compared to previous months. Nevertheless, I’ll do the usual recap on everything I did post in October, then include a quick update on how things went this month (both generally, and in terms of reading specifically), before finishing off with a few thoughts on SFF-related goings on over the month. So read on, and please do let me know if you’ve got any questions or comments.

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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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Take a Break, Take It Easy

What do you do as a book blogger when you’re feeling burned out, or you’re ill, or life is just getting in the way? Ideally, you take a break. Go easy on yourself, remember that this is something you do for fun and not for money, and spend some time doing whatever else you do to relax and unwind (yes, I know you probably read to relax, usually – more on this later). It’s not always that simple though, is it? Maybe you’ve made commitments, or you want to keep up your site stats and social media engagement, or it just feels weird to not always be thinking about reviews, articles, and so on. Sound familiar? Trust me though – taking a break is almost always the right thing to do.

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Monthly Roundup – September 2023

Hello, and thanks for checking out September 2023’s Monthly Roundup post. If you haven’t read one of these roundups before, here’s how it’s going to go – first up, I’ve got a quick recap on everything I posted in September (which was mostly reviews, this month), so check that out to see if you missed anything. After that, I’ll talk a bit about my September as a whole, give a quick reading update, then finish off with a roundup of the coolest SFF-related news that I spotted over the last few weeks, and a couple of final recommendations. So read on, and please do let me know if you’ve got any questions or comments.

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Monthly Roundup – August 2023

Hello and welcome to August 2023’s Monthly Roundup post here on Track of Words. We’re two thirds of the way through the year – isn’t that crazy?! I had a relatively quiet August, much like last month, although it’s been a little different to usual as I’ve focused a lot of my reading on the nominations for the Best Newcomer Award at the British Fantasy Awards, for which I’m a member of the jury. That’s been an interesting experience in its own right, and later on I’ll talk a little bit (in general terms – I can’t be too specific) about what it’s been like, after my usual recap of the month’s posts. So read on to see if there’s anything you’ve missed over the last few weeks.

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