Marc Aplin's Blog, page 158

Fantasy-Faction Turns Five!

Fantasy-Faction began as Marc Aplin’s way to geek out about the fantasy books he’d discovered way back in 2010. His first adventure into the world of fantasy was The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. He could not believe that a book could put you through so many emotional states and have you care so […]

Snakewood Cover Reveal, Map & Extract!

Publishing giants Orbit have been in touch to tell us about a book they think we should be excited about. It’s called Snakewood, it’s by Adrian Selby and it’s a grimdark/gritty fantasy novel that meets many of today’s favoured trends. Having read and enjoyed the sample (it’ll follow the cover and blurb, my friends, don’t you […]

How Writing Is A Lot Like Fighting – Part 1: Introduction

I recently read The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson and there was a lot to like about it. With this in mind, I’ve been keeping an eye on the numerous guest blogs and interviews that Seth has been doing to promote his book and have found his path to publication both inspiring and food for thought. […]

Gail Z Martin’s ‘The Shadowed Path’ Cover Reveal

The vast majority of Fantasy-Faction readers will know of Gail Z Martin. I first came across her The Chronicles of The Necromancer series back in 2008/2009 and was quickly gripped by the epic story she wove together. Since then, Gail has only improved as an author, the quality of her writing now ranking amongst the […]

The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston

The Shards of Heaven is the debut novel of professor and Writers of the Future winner Michael Livingston. It’s a historical adventure fantasy that asks how heirs to Julius Caesar—already in possession of tremendous power—would wield the godlike powers of heavenly artifacts, and how those decisions would have affected ancient Roman history. The novel picks […]

Signal To Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

And that was that. You don’t get to rewind your life like a tape and splice it back together, pretending it never knotted and tore, when it did and you know it did. Didn’t he get that? They’d never be friends again. Never care like they cared, never dance like they danced. Time had sucked […]

Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski

I tore through Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski in about two hours, which should give you an idea of its readability. The book drew me in right away, with no unnecessary exposition. It opens with our young heroine, Marin, standing at the edge of a windswept cliff with an ominous old man. I […]

Dragon Hunters Cover Reveal & Notes from Marc Turner

We here at Fantasy-Faction are delighted to be revealing the cover of the latest Chronicles of the Exile novel by Marc Turner today. When I was first invited to do the cover reveal for the novel called  ‘Dragon Hunters’ I was of course hoping for some kind of badass Dragon to be involved… and I certainly wasn’t disappointed… […]

Cold Iron by Stina Leicht

“Perfection lacks opportunity for growth. Learn the value of error, especially the errors of others. Do not equate good luck with virtue, and do not indulge in superiority. Above all, remember that the powerful make only one type of mistake – deadly ones.” Cold Iron, the first book in the new Malorum Gates series, is […]

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

The popularity of Noelle Stevenson’s 2012 webcomic Nimona led to its release as a printed graphic novel earlier this year, which immediately leapt to the top of the New York Times’ bestseller list. Charming in its playful deconstruction of genre tropes and visual humour, the young adult (YA) comic may initially appear to be a […]