Marc Aplin's Blog, page 140
May 17, 2016
Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis
In my life, I’ve found that there are a few different sorts of books I wind up reading. Some are gifts. Some are books I explicitly sought out. And some are books I discovered randomly, requesting from the library and renewing and re-renewing until I’ve forgotten the reason I requested them in the first place. […]
May 16, 2016
SPFBO 2: One Reader’s Initial Thoughts
I’m one of Fantasy-Faction’s readers for this year’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO). And now that I’ve read the first chapters of all the books in our set, I thought I’d share my observations. First of all, I want to say up front that the standard is high. In itself, that doesn’t surprise me. I […]
May 15, 2016
Learning from Script and Screen
It’s important for a writer to learn about their craft wherever they can, for most this takes the form of studying the work of successful authors or flicking through a creative writing textbook. But one less obvious source is the script and screen. While today’s progression normally follows a successful book being adapted for a […]
May 13, 2016
When Good Turns Bad: The Reversed Hero’s Journey
The typical “hero’s journey” is a structure that can be found not only in fantasy fiction but also in many other genres. You can analyse the twists and turns of this journey in great detail – even break it down into archetypal elements like ‘the mentor’, ‘the helper’ and ‘the threshold’. In essence, however, the […]
May 12, 2016
Hidden Treasures: Azanian Bridges by Nick Wood
Hidden Treasures is a series that reviews small press and digital first SFF. Okay, so this is technically science fiction rather than fantasy. But even if you’re a die-hard fantasy fan, don’t let that put you off. Azanian Bridges will make you think – hard – as all good sci-fi does. Yet at the same […]
May 11, 2016
Harry Potter Should Have Kissed Some Boys: An Argument For Queer Characters In Main Stream Fantasy
Harry Potter should have kissed some boys. Or Hermione should have kissed some girls. Even just some passing lip-action between any of the main cast would have been sufficient. Even just an obvious and mentioned crush would have been better than the great hunk of nothing we were dealt. Not fantastic for representation of a […]
Dominion Cover Reveal & Extract
A lot of Fantasy-Factioners will have read and enjoyed Peter McLean’s Drake by now. If you’ve not, it’s about an anti-hero named Don Drake who is forced to carry out an assassination to pay his debt to a demon. There is a catch to this transaction though, and very quickly Drake finds himself facing death at […]
May 9, 2016
Saint’s Blood by Sebastien De Castell
How do you kill a Saint? Falcio, Kest and Brasti are about to find out, because even Tristia’s most powerful Saints are turning up dead and the entire country is convinced it’s a sign that the Gods themselves opposes Aline’s ascension to the throne. Now the Dukes are using the murders as an excuse to […]
May 8, 2016
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson
Tor’s novella series was started in 2015, with the aim of promoting this shorter medium. The line includes both established authors and those just making their debut, and has included a number of authors from diverse backgrounds. The resulting line is full of interesting and different stories from authors both familiar and new. This column […]
May 7, 2016
SPFBO 2: Cover Up?
We’ve had a look at the covers to all 30 books on the Fantasy-Faction list for the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off and picked our favourite three. Why did we do this? Because Mark Lawrence asked us to, that’s why. Why he did that…you’ll either know by now or will find out soon! A great cover […]
