Christmas Day and it is the last day of my Advent Calendar #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #AdventCalendar2023 sussexheritage.blogspot.com/2023/12/adve...

Detail of cutout work, with s colorful flower and encaged heart

Title page in black and white Bible on the right with a pasted-in ornament on the left

Merry Christmas!

Sometimes the best gifts are surprises! Here's a Dutch Bible with an elaborate, lacy decoration in front. The banderole below proclaims that all is loneliness without you (aka God?).

#NewberryLibrary
i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01...
Post #AdventCalendar2023

Vu que le 22 , je fêtais Noël à #DisneylandParis , aujourd'hui j'ai un cadeau supplémentaire : une Porter qui sent le Bacon ! #moersleutel #AdventCalendar2023

TBR: Most Anticipated Books of 2024 The last couple of years I’ve written articles looking ahead to the following 12 months and picking out upcoming books I’ve been looking forward to reading…so let’s carry on and do the same th...

I hope you're all enjoying the holidays, however you celebrate them! On the 25th and final day of the ToW #AdventCalendar2023, here's a roundup of the books I'm most looking forward to reading in 2024. Any of these on your TBR lists for next year?

Detail of a drawing with lacy floral layer, and part of a man holding a sword with brown pants, a red jacket and a blue shirt with a heart on it, and a pink ribbon underneath...

Lacy sausage with a man with a word and hat in hand, with the label "Nach meiner Wurst die Maedel dürst"

Sausage Calendar!

The girls all thirst after it! Apparently. From the other raunchy German friendship album in our collection! That cut work and pink ribbon!

#NewberryLibrary (Case MS 5471) #AdventCalendar2023 #ChristmasEve December 24 Day 24/24

Thirsty for more? www.newberry.org/blog/18th-ce...

On The Nature of Trilogies And Tie-ins – Thomas Parrott Guest Post Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where today I’m delighted to welcome back Thomas Parrott, whose third Tom Clancy’s The Division novel – Hunted – is coming out in Ja…

ToW #AdventCalendar2023 day 24: with HUNTED, his third #TheDivision novel from @aconytebooks.bsky.social, coming out next month, @parrotttom.bsky.social is here to reflect on the journey of writing this tie-in trilogy, and the work that went into it! Fascinating reading...

Verso page, slightly cut out in apple shape

Recto of page, STILL blank!

Supercharged Friendship Album Calendar?
It's ... the ... Final Cut-Out...

How does our cute little couple end up? Since this page stayed blank, it looks like it's up to our imagination!? 😁

#NewberryLibrary (Case MS 5485) #AdventCalendar2023 December 23 Day 23/24

Advent Calendar Day 23 So glad Christmas's haven't been like this for the close family I have posted about in this Advent Calendar but it did affect one of my ance...

Advent Calendar Day 23. Your ancestors wouldn't have been in the Workhouse at Christmas would they....oh, yes they were #FamilyHistory #AdventCalendar2023 #Genealogy sussexheritage.blogspot.com/2023/12/adve...

Ten Years of Black Library It’s been almost 10 years since I started Track of Words, and over that time I’ve read somewhere north of 400 Black Library books (not to mention goodness knows how many short stories), and review...

ToW #AdventCalendar2023 day 23: I've been reviewing for 10 years, and in that time I've read over 400 #BlackLibrary books! It wasn't easy, but I've picked out my personal favourites from the last 10 years, one per year from 2014 to 2023 (plus some excellent honourable mentions)!

Blank verso of elaborate cutout

Couple seated at a table, kissing, in decorative flower cutout, and birds in the corners

Supercharged Friendship Album Calendar? Part Quatre!

What illicit activity IS our little cutout couple up to this time? The album has just been cataloged, so you can come find out for yourself...

#AdventCalendar2023
December 22
Day 22/24
#NewberryLibrary (Case MS 5485) #newacq #canoodling

Advent Calendar Day 22 Yesterday I mentioned the Trivvies and one of the Trivvie things we shared was writing fiction and we chose a character and wrote short cha...

Advent Calendar Day 22 carries on from yesterday but with a Christmas theme as we draw ever closer to the 25th #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #AdventCalendar2023 sussexheritage.blogspot.com/2023/12/adve...

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Lorraine Wilson Talks The Last to Drown Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview, where today I’m talking to the fantastic Lorraine Wilson about her upcoming novella The Last to Drown, which is coming out in February 202�...

ToW #AdventCalendar2023 day 22: here's a great interview with @rainewilson.bsky.social about her intriguing-sounding novella THE LAST TO DROWN, coming in Feb '24 as part of the #LunaNovella series from @lunapress.bsky.social! Really looking forward to reading this...

Black cutout web bookmark over text

Detail of black cutout web bookmark over text

Spidermark Calendar!

The glorious 2022 pop-up book about friendly spiders by Tomás Saraceno and a host of paper engineers comes with a bonus cutout bookmark on a gossamer thread!

#AdventCalendar2023
December 21
Day 21/24

#NewberryLibrary
i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01...

Behind The Scene: Exclusive Excerpt From Do Or Die by Josh Reynolds Hello and welcome to this Behind the Scene post here on Track of Words, where today I’m joined by one of my absolute favourite authors – Josh Reynolds – with an excerpt from the first c…

ToW #AdventCalendar2023 day 21: check out this 'Behind the Scene' excerpt from DO OR DIE by @jmreynolds.bsky.social (via @aconytebooks.bsky.social), complete with exclusive introduction from Josh discussing his thoughts on how to kick off his latest #Zombicide adventure (hint: it includes a dog)!

Advent Calendar Day 20...an insight into me #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #AdventCalendar2023 sussexheritage.blogspot.com/2023/12/adve...

Bonsoir les amis 🤗

On a enfin la 2eme main pour notre petit #SonicTheHedeghog, encore 4 cases pour ce #calendrierdelavent et nous aurons fini 😁.

Bonne soirée à toutes et à tous.

#AdventCalendar #AdventCalendar2023 #SEGA

Six folded paper sheets in various tones of white and blue with central woodcuts and some manuscript notes

Uncut Wrapper Calendar!

These folded sheets from late 16th to 17th c. Milan are (mostly) empty on the inside, but have plenty of punch from the recto woodcut paper dealer marks! #WoodcutWednesday
#AdventCalendar2023
December 20

#NewberryLibrary
i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01...

Five(ish) Stories About Weird Trains – Sarah Brooks Guest Post Hello and welcome to this extra-special Track of Words guest post; special because I’m delighted to be hosting my very own sister – Sarah Brooks, author of the upcoming novel The Cautious Tra…

ToW #AdventCalendar2023 day 20: here's a great guest post from @sarahbrooks.bsky.social (my sister), author of the upcoming THE CAUTIOUS TRAVELLER'S GUIDE TO THE WASTELANDS (coming in June '24 via W&N), exploring the enduring power of strange train journeys in short fiction!

Woodcut base dated 1809 with white, black, pink, and diamond patterned fabrics.

Detail of gauzy black fabric with a woodcut lion frame

Mix and Swatch Calendar!

Rudolph Ackermann's early 19th c. ladies magazine, the Repository of arts, literature, commerce, fashions, and politics, included regular fabric swatches like these cut-out beauties from 1809!

#NewberryLibrary (Case A 51 .787)
#AdventCalendar2023
Day 19/24
#TextileTuesday

Best of Black Library 2023 Following on from my Best SFF Books of 2023 article, this time I’m turning my attention to Black Library in particular (as I always do), and picking out the best BL books that I’ve read over the l...

ToW #AdventCalendar2023 day 19: it's time for my annual BEST OF BLACK LIBRARY roundup, featuring the five #BlackLibrary books I enjoyed the most this year. I haven't read every 2023 BL book, but I've read plenty...and these five were all brilliant!

Fortune telling wheel, full page

Fortune telling wheel, showing NR 41

Fortune telling wheel, between numbers

Wheel of Fortune Calendar!

The numbers going by in those little cutout windows correspond to your fortune in this clever 1603 emblem book!

#NewberryLibrary
i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01... #MovableMonday #AdventCalendar2023 December 18

Advent Calendar Day 18 Dad aged 4 My father was Robert Frank White.  Was he named Robert for his grandfather and Frank for his Father?  Those two names don't appea...

Advent Calendar Day 18 is about my father. #AdventCalendar2023 #FamilyHistory #Genealogy sussexheritage.blogspot.com/2023/12/adve...

The Future of SFF – Sunyi Dean Guest Post Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post where today I’m joined by the brilliant Sunyi Dean, author of The Book Eaters and cohost of the Publishing Rodeo podcast. Each year as part of th�...

ToW #AdventCalendar2023 day 18: where do you see SFF publishing going next? I invited author/podcaster Sunyi Dean to write about this topic, and the result is a fascinating article exploring reading and buying habits, cross-genre adoption, author transparency and loads more!

Advent Calendar Day 17 Thomas White and Elizabeth Linkins Time for a little bit about the next generation back on Dad's maternal side.  First are his mother's pare...

Advent Calendar Day 17 tells a a little bit of information about my great grandparents on my Dad's side #AdventCalendar2023 #FamilyHistory #Genealogy sussexheritage.blogspot.com/2023/12/adve...

Two white, bearded silhouettes on black background

White bearded silhouette over Bible text in English

Personal Jesus Calendar

These very specific, bearded silhouettes seem to have been a thing in 19th-century Germany and America!

#AdventCalendar2023
December 17
Day 17/24

#NewberryLibrary
i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01... and i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CA

Same Stars, New Views: Writing my Second Novel in an Established Universe – Ren Hutchings Guest Po... Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where I hope you’ll join me in welcoming the fantastic Ren Hutchings, author of the brilliant “accidental time travel” space opera Under Fort...

ToW #AdventCalendar2023 day 17: @voidcricket.bsky.social is here to talk about setting more stories in the #UnderFortunateStars universe, what we can expect from AN UNBREAKABLE WORLD (coming in Spring 2025 via @solarisbooks.bsky.social), and the benefits of writing sidequels!

Advent Calendar Day 16 Alfred Crouch and Blanche Elizabeth Braban Blanche was born in 1880 and died in 1972.  Alfred was born in 1873 and still alive in 1939. His ...

Advent Calendar Day 16 is about my father's "foster" parents. #AdventCalendar2023 #FamilyHistory #Genealogy sussexheritage.blogspot.com/2023/12/adve...

Indie Highlights, From This Year to Next – Lyndsey Croal Guest Post Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where today I’m very happy indeed to be joined by Lyndsey Croal, author of Have You Decided on Your Question (along with a remarkable number of �...

ToW #AdventCalendar2023 day 16: here's a guest post from the brilliant @lyndseycroal.bsky.social - author of HAVE YOU DECIDED ON YOUR QUESTION (out now via @shortwavebooks.bsky.social) - looking back at a year of fantastic indie reads (and ahead to some great-sounding 2024 releases)!

Blank verso of tulip shaped cut-out!

Recto with illumination of couple about to dance in a tulip like cutout

Supercharged Friendship Album? Part Trois!

Today's illicit activity? Hand holding and ... DANCING!

#NewberryLibrary #newacq
#AdventCalendar2023
December 15
Day 15/24

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: CL Farley Talks The Invisible Girl Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview, where today I’m welcoming CL Farley to the site to talk about her upcoming novella The Invisible Girl, which is due out in February 2024 a�...

ToW #AdventCalendar2023 day 15: I spoke to @clfarley.bsky.social about her upcoming novella THE INVISIBLE GIRL, due out in Feb from @lunapress.bsky.social as part of the #LunaNovella series! Check it out to find out about this "surreal and eerie" post-apocalyptic novella!