Marc Aplin's Blog, page 100

Small Press, Big Stories: Mrs. Claus Anthology – Cover Reveal

Summer’s gone, days spent in the grass and sun. And with the drop in temperature come pumpkin spice lattes, fireworks, and eventually Christmas! So with that in mind, it’s more than time to get your seasonal TBR pile set and maybe have something to read while you’re waiting for Santa to make off with the […]

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost – What Does It Mean?

When Lord of the Rings enthusiasts are not burning wedding bands in fiery pits in their backyard—checking for Black Speech inscriptions—they are frequently found uttering the clever sayings of their favorite fantasy author. Who can blame them? Tolkien, a philologist by trade, is known for many wondrous, existential musings. Yet one proverb is clearly quoted […]

Agent Harry Illingworth Interview

You’ll recall, last month, I produced a little article about a big event – Fantasy in the Court. Now, being truthful, a lot of that was Harry Illingworth’s wonderful words. I merely sprinkled stardust around it and got a in a few photographs I’d taken. Harry has graciously agreed to dispense more of his wisdom […]

COVEN QUEEN by Jeramy Goble – Cover Reveal

I was so thrilled to finish my “family-friendly,” metaphysical, space-fantasy trilogy, The Akallian Tales, last year. But, towards the end, I struggled to focus a bit. A new idea kept poking at my brain, trying to steal my attention. I’d read books one and two of A Song of Ice and Fire previously, and had just […]

Keeping the Fun in Science Fiction – Guest Blog by Joseph Brassey

Islands sit suspended in an endless heaven, drifting amidst clouds and storms, high above a distant abyss below. Cities crouch upon the edges of cliffs, their walls jutting out into the empty air, and enchanted skycraft hurtle through the heavens, their magnificent wings catching the light of sunsets as the blue-white glow of their exhaust […]

How To Self-Publish

This one has been bubbling up for a while… Over the last few months, various discussions have erupted around the subject of self-publishing, specifically how it should be done. There have also been a few blog posts on the subject. There’s been a lot of banter. Mostly friendly, but it has got heated in places. […]

How The Belgariad Taught Me To Write A Cyberpunk Dystopia – Guest Blog by Ferrett Steinmetz

Full confession: I thought my new novel The Uploaded was a dystopian novel about the miseries that happen five hundred years after humanity perfects brain-uploading. But my publisher Angry Robot told me it was something different. “You wrote a cyberpunk family drama, Ferrett!” I looked up, baffled, from my chocolate milk – the only drink […]

Publishing and LGBT Erasure or My Issues with Robo-Boobs

I always knew someone would tell me to add a Sexy Lady Robot to my book. When I first starting writing my novel, Echo of the Larkspur, I set out to write a story that was first and foremost about love. Love between a male human and an omnipotent, genderless robot that identified as male, […]

IT – 2017 Movie Review

This is barely a review. It’s a personal mind vomit of my thoughts after seeing IT for people who have either read the book and or seen the original miniseries, and I want to cover some of the differences and what I think worked and what didn’t. Anything too….spoilery will be near the end in […]

Cover Reveal for MOTHER OF HERETICS by T. A. Miles

I exist in a brightly lit darkness, and so do my characters. I write horrific monsters, in decaying or threatened environments, harassing gender-ambiguous lovelies who fight back.  Especially featuring that theme is my current Enthraller trilogy, which is part of the overarching series, Bastards of the Gods. Enthraller is a story that was inspired by […]