Marc Aplin's Blog, page 151
January 29, 2016
The Top 15 Tweets & Top 7 Blog Posts from Robert Jackson Bennett
Top 15 Tweets The Twitter-feed of Robert Jackson Bennett is a wondrous, but dangerous place to spend time. If you follow Robert in addition to another 1000 or so people, the normality and reason of the masses will likely dilute the strangeness and zaniness of Robert’s feed to the extent there will be no lasting damage […]
Cover Reveal: Joe Abercrombie’s ‘Half A War’
When Joe Abercrombie announced that he would be working on a ‘Young Adult’ series of novels a few years back, no one really knew what to expect. Would the books turn out to be watered down versions of his First Law novels? Would they end up being too tame for current readers to enjoy? Too […]
January 28, 2016
The Death of Dulgath by Michael J. Sullivan
Hadrian had never witnessed Royce laughing in good humor. When he laughed, babies cried. I was reading Michael J. Sullivan’s latest Riyria novel, The Death of Dulgath, when I realized why I like these novels so much: they remind me of the books that drew me to the fantasy genre in the first place – […]
MIGHT EVIL PREVAIL? FANTASIES THAT THREATEN AN UNHAPPY ENDING
In fantasy novels, the ‘good’ characters are usually facing overwhelmingly bad odds. Whether it’s a dark lord, a corrupt monarchy, a horde of living dead or an army of supernatural beings, an evil force is always looming, and it’s up to our out-numbered and out-gunned heroes and heroines to stop it. As readers, we’re waiting […]
January 27, 2016
Cover for Lucy Hounsom’s Heartland
Fantasy-Faction contributor Lucy Hounsom’s debut novel, Starborn, attracted a huge amount of praise last year upon its release. Fans of coming-of-age stories by authors such as Trudi Canavan took to review sites and social media to rave about Lucy’s memorable characters, incredible worldbuilding and movie-like pace. That particular book is released in paperback tomorrow (January 28th), […]
Cover Reveal for Jay Kristoff’s Nevernight
Wayyyyyyyyyyy back in 2012 I was lucky enough to be sent an advanced copy of a strange fantasy/martial arts/steampunk-hybrid called Stormdancer. I enjoyed that book and gave it a favourable review, but the beautiful prose, the complex story, the kickass female lead and Jay Kristoff’s seamless ability to merge/cross genres led me to believe he would go on […]
Frances Hardinge wins Costa Award
For the first time since Phillip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass in 2001, a Children’s book has won The Costa Book Award. That book is The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge and it is the seventh novel from the author who has made a career writing fantastically diverse and unusual books where important issues and ideas are […]
January 26, 2016
Interview with Robert Jackson Bennett
I’m rather excited today, because I get to bring you an interview with Robert Jackson Bennett. For those who are unfamiliar with Robert’s work or fancy a bit of a recap, RJB is an American author who had his first novel – Mr Shivers – published at the age of 25. Despite his youth (still only […]
January 25, 2016
Secret Mistborn Novella – Jan 30th!
This post has been updated as Brandon Sanderson has released further details about Mistborn: Secret History following the launch of The Bands of Mourning. The story begins a few weeks ago when Amazon accidentally leaked the last few pages of The Bands of Mourning online. Within these final pages was a Postscript from the author. It […]
Secret Mistborn Novella – Today!
This post has been updated as Brandon Sanderson has released further details about Mistborn: Secret History following the launch of The Bands of Mourning. The story begins a few weeks ago when Amazon accidentally leaked the last few pages of The Bands of Mourning online. Within these final pages was a Postscript from the author. It […]
