Category Archives: Article

Monthly Roundup – May 2023

Hello and welcome to May’s Monthly Roundup post here on Track of Words. After a couple of months in which I really struggled for motivation and headspace, and therefore didn’t have a lot to talk about in my roundups, I’m pleased to report that May went pretty well, and has definitely felt like an uptick all around. As always I’ve put together a quick recap of everything I posted this month, and then this time around I’ve also written a quick reading update, some thoughts on several book events I recently attended – including Comic Con, and the brilliant Black Crow Blogger Brunch – and some cool book news and recommendations.

Continue reading

Working With Reviewers

Every book blogger and reviewer I know wants to read and talk about as many books as possible, but the simple truth is that we all have far too many books we want to read, and nothing like enough time in which to read them all. If you’re an author then, how do you get your book into the hands of reviewers who have the interest, motivation and time to be able to read your book and write about it? That’s what I want to tackle with this article. I obviously can’t speak for all reviewers, but I can offer some suggestions based on my own experiences, which I think will stand you in good stead for encouraging reviewers to want to read your book.

Continue reading

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!

Continue reading

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).

Continue reading

Monthly Roundup – April 2023

Hello and welcome to the April 2023 Monthly Roundup on Track of Words. After talking quite a lot in the last instalment about how slow March was for me (particularly in terms of writing) I was hoping I’d have more to talk about this time around. As it happens though, April has in fact been even slower, not least because I’ve spent more than half of the month unwell. I do have a few pieces to talk about from what I posted in April so I’ll go through those as usual, and talk a little about the month’s reading, but once again I’ll keep things quite short overall.

Continue reading

Monthly Roundup – March 2023

Hello and welcome to my Monthly Roundup for March 2023 here on Track of Words. It’s been a slow month for me personally, and this post you’re reading is only the sixth thing I’ve published in all of March – not since April 2022 have I posted so few times in a month. I’ll talk a little bit later on about why I think things have been so slow, but in short I simply haven’t had the energy, headspace or motivation for working on the site over the last few weeks. Or at least, to get things actually finished. I do have a few pieces in various states of completion so hopefully I’ll have more to talk about in April. I’m still struggling for motivation even as I write this though, so I think I’ll keep things pretty short for this instalment.

Continue reading

Monthly Roundup – February 2023

Welcome to my Track of Words Monthly Roundup post for February 2023. I hope February has treated you well – it’s been a little quieter for me than January was, but still pretty good overall. For this roundup I’ll do my usual recap of the last few weeks’ posts, after which I’ll continue with the style of article I adopted last month – talking very briefly about how I got on with my reading before concentrating mostly on interesting goings-on in the world of SFF. I enjoyed putting last month’s roundup together, and I hope it was interesting – do let me know what you think!

Continue reading

Like Warhammer? Try This: Aconyte Books

I know a lot of Track of Words readers are big Black Library fans, but what if – like me – you’re keen to look beyond the boundaries of Warhammer and find new fantasy and science fiction worlds to explore? It can be tricky to know where to start, and with so many SFF books published each year choosing a new book or series can sometimes feel a bit intimidating. The answer, I think, is to try something by an author you’re already familiar with – so think of your favourite Black Library authors, and look for some of their non-BL stories! Not every BL author writes for other publishers, but plenty of them do, so you’ve got a ready-made list of writers whose work will give you great entry points to the wider world of SFF.

Continue reading

Black Library Celebrations

Every year Games Workshop puts on what it calls a ‘Black Library Celebration’, which is supposed to be an opportunity for fans to…well…celebrate all things Black Library, but every year it ends up a bit of a damp squib (or should that be a damp squig?). This year, rather than bemoan another missed opportunity and another day of website chaos, I thought I’d do something different and put together my own small celebration of all the things I personally think are cool about Black Library fiction. I’m going to talk about why I read BL stories and what I get out of it, then pick out some highlights from recent years in terms of book reviews, articles and author interviews, all of which I think genuinely celebrate Black Library.

Continue reading

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!

Continue reading