Marc Aplin's Blog, page 136
July 8, 2016
David Gemmell Legend Awards: Short List
It’s that time of year again… The shortlists for 2016’s Gemmell Awards have been announced and voting will open at midday (GMT) today (Friday 8th July). Great to see so many of Fantasy-Faction Community’s favourites in the lists. Check them out: Legend Award (best novel) The Dread Wyrm by Miles Cameron (Gollancz) Son of the Black Sword by Larry […]
July 7, 2016
Another Point (of View) – Part Two: Third Person
Last time, as you recall, or maybe you don’t, we looked at narration in the first-person. It has, as a writing style, many good points and some pitfalls. Well, third-person is no different in terms of advantages and disadvantages. It is different in relation to tone, information and connection. If you want to write a […]
July 6, 2016
The Circle by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren
The majority of the books I read, whether fantasy or another genre, were written in English and published in either America or Britain. It is, therefore, a wonderful surprise when I stumble across a book that has been translated from another language and springs from another culture. It gives me a chance to broaden my […]
July 4, 2016
Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards
Scourge of the Betrayer is a book that’s been lurking amidst the dusty, long-forgotten recesses of my Amazon wish list for over three years. Now that I’ve finally gotten around to finishing it I’m kicking myself for having waited so long. It was social media that recently put the series back on my radar: after […]
July 3, 2016
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
If you read the Harry Potter series and thought, “This is a pleasant little story and all, but I just wish everyone at Hogwarts was a blood-thirsty sociopath and the instructors should stop wasting everyone’s time with all these pointless classes and just teach the students how to f— and kill one another.” Then I’ve […]
July 1, 2016
Writing Fantasy Battles – A Look At Strategy
You’ve seen the blood spray through the air, you’ve felt the crash judder through your arm as the enemy hits your lines, but have you ever thought about the big picture? Have you ever thought about the mechanics of a battle, the interplay of different units that determines the outcome, whether the cavalry should ride […]
June 30, 2016
13 more hours of Game of Thrones….
The countdown has begun… Game of Thrones show creator David Benioff has told the world: “It’s two more seasons we’re talking about[.] From pretty close to the beginning, we talked about doing this in 70-75 hours, and that’s what we’ll end up with. Call it 73 for now.” We’ve already had 60 hours, so this means that […]
June 28, 2016
The Last of a Kind: Extinction in Fantasy
We often hear about extinction in the real world – whether it’s a dodo that’s already died out, a rhinoceros that’s on the brink of extinction, a bluefin tuna that’s well on its way there, or more rarely, a Bermuda petrel that provides a glimmer of hope, reappearing after years of being thought extinct. The […]
June 27, 2016
Roses and Rot by Kat Howard
Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers. Please read with caution if you’ve yet to finish the book. This is the thing about fairy tales: You have to live through them, before you get to happily ever after. That ever after has to be earned, and not everyone makes it that far. There are stories […]
June 25, 2016
2016 Locus Award Winners Announced!
Yesterday the Locus Science Fiction Foundation announced the winners of the 2016 Locus Awards during the Locus Awards Weekend in Seattle, WA. The awards are chosen by a survey of readers in an open online poll that runs from February 1 to April 15 each year. This year the ballots contained an amazing group of […]
