Marc Aplin's Blog, page 112
April 30, 2017
Tough Travels: Assassins
Back in 2014, Nathan Barnhart created a weekly feature called ‘Tough Travels’, which he hosted over on Fantasy Review Barn. Inspired by The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones – a tongue-in-cheek parody of the fantasy genre – it would spotlight a different trope every week, and invite other bloggers to compile their […]
April 29, 2017
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
I think it’s safe to call Guardians of the Galaxy one of the real breakout hits of 2014. If you had told me 10 years ago that a movie about a D-List Superhero team, featuring a giant tree man and a raccoon with machine guns, would’ve ended being so incredibly popular… I probably would’ve been […]
April 28, 2017
The Gemmell Awards for Fantasy: Shortlist 2017
Voting on the shortlists closes on Friday 2nd June. Cast your votes on the David Gemmell Awards official website HERE. The awards will be presented on the 15th July 2017, at the Edge-Lit 6 event in Derby. Be there or be…not there? Elsewhere? Somewhere? Blood has been spilled. Blades have been dulled. Bones have been […]
A Perfect Blend: The Seven by Peter Newman
Seven is a magical number. Indeed, a 2014 survey found that seven is the world’s favourite number. Perhaps that is why the world of film and books has known so many sevens; from seven brides to seven brothers, from the secret seven to the magnificent seven, from the seven sons of Feanor to the se7en […]
April 27, 2017
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Welcome to the inaugural column for the new series “Fantastic Literature.” As part of this series, I hope to explore new and new-to-me writers and works of literary fiction that include genre elements. Just like the bookshelves in most bookstores, the two categories are often considered to be miles apart. And fans of each category […]
April 26, 2017
Raw (2017): Disturbingly Brilliant Body Horror
Here on Fantasy-Faction, we’re committed to bringing you (yes, you!) the best original content we possibly can. To accomplish this, we’ve recently recruited a range of insanely talented new contributors, whose interests and areas of expertise cover various aspects of the genre. This means that while the usual brilliant fantasy reviews, interviews, cover reveals and articles […]
April 25, 2017
Books & Booze: The Lions of Al-Rassan
Warning: Contains Stage 9 Book Adoration Let’s just get this out of the way, and then maybe we can level with each other. I loved The Lions of Al-Rassan. Now, if you have a problem with that, you can meet me outside in three minutes and I’ll introduce you to my wrath via a broken […]
April 24, 2017
Sieges and Siegecraft, Part Two: Defenders
Shore up the defences, man the walls and get those supplies inside! Last time, we looked at siegecraft from the attackers’ side; this time, we’re on the defensive. There are a number of reasons why someone would choose to defend a specific location: to protect property or the lives of inhabitants; to secure a strategic […]
April 23, 2017
Disabilities in SFF (Redux): More or Less than ‘Fine’?
Quite some time ago, I wrote a pretty vague and largely naive (in that I missed a lot) article about disability in SFF. It was exclusively about physical disabilities and was, generally, written by someone who only vaguely knew what he was talking about. I referenced The Wild Hunt author, Elspeth Cooper as she talked a little about […]
April 20, 2017
Introducing ‘Cruising the Cosmere’!
Show of hands: how many of you started reading Brandon Sanderson’s books with no idea of what the Cosmere would be? When I picked up Mistborn way back before his first Wheel of Time book came out, my entire goal was to get a sense of the writing style of this Sanderson guy who was […]
