Iron Resolve – Steve Lyons

Steve Lyons’ Imperial Guard novella Iron Resolve is a gripping tale of duty and bravery as the proud, disciplined Mordian Iron Guard battle feral orks on the forest world of Kallash. Young trooper Lucius Myer, fighting in his first campaign since leaving Mordian, arrives wounded at an understaffed, overworked command post turned medical facility believing it offers safety away from the horrors of war, only to find himself defending it against endless waves of ferocious xenos. As the Mordians mount a hasty but fierce defence, Myer has to face his fears after all if he has any hope of surviving.

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Where to Start With Black Library: Sisters of Battle

Welcome to the first in a new series of Where to Start With Black Library articles on Track of Words, in which I’m going to try and demystify the process of getting into reading Warhammer fiction. With literally hundreds of Black Library books, short stories and audio dramas available, and new stories being released every week, it can be hard to know where to start, whether you’re brand new to Warhammer or you want to find out more about certain series, factions or characters. Hopefully I can help with that!

In this article I’m going to look at the Sisters of Battle, one of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 factions, and offer up some suggestions of great stories you might want to check out. The best place to start with these stories will depend on various factors, far too many for me to cover succinctly, so I’m going to suggest a few different lengths and mediums to give you options to choose from. Where possible I’ll stick to stories I’ve read and enjoyed myself, and link out to reviews where they’re available.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Last Voyage of Elissa Harrow – Denny Flowers

Denny Flowers’ Necromunda short story The Last Voyage of Elissa Harrow does what it says on the tin…and a bit more. SPOILERS abound in both the story and (to a lesser extent) this review for those who haven’t read at least Low Lives (YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!), as this picks up after the novella’s denouement to find Elissa horribly injured, possibly delusional, attempting to cross the sump on a makeshift raft. Land, and safety, seem a long way off, there are dangers beneath the surface of the toxic lake, and Elissa knows she can never really go home…but something drives her to keep moving forward.

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QUICK REVIEW: Beneath the Rust – Graeme Lyon

A prequel to Code of the Skies, Graeme Lyon’s Age of Sigmar short story Beneath the Rust looks back to the youthful exploits of Borri Kraglan and Harek Steelfist beneath the Rusted Wastes of Chamon. The Kharadron of Barak-Nar have entered into a business arrangement with the Stormcast Eternals of the Sigmarite Brotherhood, but the initial work on a Stormkeep has revealed tunnels running deep beneath the surface, which need exploring before work can continue. The Kharadron and Stormcast delve into the tunnels together, but what lies beneath the surface will test them sorely and come to define Borri’s and Harek’s future.

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RAPID FIRE: Graham McNeill Talks Sons of the Selenar

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

In this instalment I spoke to legendary Black Library author Graham McNeill about his new Horus Heresy novella Sons of the Selenar, which is the first novella in the Siege of Terra series that’s concluding the Heresy as a whole. The Limited Edition hardback of this novella has been released and subsequently sold out, but whether you grabbed a copy of that or you’ve been waiting for the standard release, read on to find out more about what you can expect from the latest exploits of the Shattered Legions.

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Black Library Pre-Order Tracker

It can be hard to keep track of upcoming Black Library releases – there’s the occasional Warhammer Community article looking at previews/reveals; and the wider book trade, with websites like Amazon often updated with some information well in advance of books being published (although these are extremely unreliable). The Coming Soon page on Warhammer Community is long gone. Wouldn’t it be great if there was ONE place you could check which consolidated all of that information, and clearly laid it out to help you plan ahead and decide what to buy and when? Well as it happens, I’ve put together a spreadsheet containing all of the information I can find. I’ve embedded it into this article, and I keep it as up to date as possible, so check back any time to see what’s coming up.

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Yearly Roundup – 2020 Goals

Welcome to the third and (probably) final part of my Yearly Roundup for 2019. After covering 2019 in Numbers and my 2019 Highlights, this time I’m flipping things around and looking ahead to the rest of 2020 to talk a bit about what I’m hoping to achieve this year with Track of Words. I’m not planning on drastically changing anything – it’s still going to be the usual mix of spoiler-free and relatively short reviews, author interviews and occasional blog posts/other articles. I don’t just want to deliver more of (exactly) the same, however, so the idea is to pick up where I left off in 2019 and continue to branch out a little, covering a wider range of authors and stories in terms of both reviews and interviews.

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The God Game – Danny Tobey

Equal parts American high school drama, augmented reality AI adventure and modern social commentary, Danny Tobey’s The God Game is a breakneck thriller about choices, consequences and the facades we hide behind. For Charlie and his friends, navigating high school brings with it a host of pains and problems, but at least they have each other – the Vindicators, a tight-knit group of talented misfits. When they’re introduced to the G.O.D. Game, a secretive AI program created in the image of the Almighty, joining in seems like harmless fun. As they get deeper into the game, however, they come to realise that there might be some truth to its outrageous claims: “Win and all your dreams come true™! Lose, you die!”

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The Spider Dance by Nick Setchfield – via the British Fantasy Society

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything for the British Fantasy Society, but I’m delighted to say that my latest book review is now live – for The Spider Dance by Nick Setchfield, a tremendously enjoyable occult thriller from Titan Books. You can read that review by clicking on this link, but I want to take a moment to add a few more informal thoughts about this book here, to accompany the link. Of course, if you would rather skip straight to the review then feel free to head over to the BFS website – I don’t mind, honest!

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Wreck and Ruin – Danie Ware

Danie Ware’s second Sisters of Battle novella for Black Library, Wreck and Ruin picks up shortly after The Bloodied Rose and pits Sister Superior Augusta and her squad against a deadly new enemy. Returning home after the events on Lautis, the Sisters find their services commandeered by Inquisitor Istrix, who orders them to join her on the ravaged, abandoned forge world of Lycheate. They are to accompany her on a hunt for the dangerous psyker Scafidis Zale, but amongst the rusting steelworks and its shady denizens Augusta finds her trust in the hardline, secretive Inquisitor tested and her faith challenged anew.

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