Marc Aplin's Blog, page 160
December 2, 2015
Interview with Peter McLean
Fantasy-Faction makes no secret of our love for UK Publishing House Angry Robot… Want some reasoning? OK, how about: Kameron Hurley, Wesley Chu, Adam Christopher, Anne Lyle and Chuck Wendig to get us started… Angry Robot specialise in taking risks on books that can’t be defined as ‘a copy of x’ and discovering new talent. […]
December 1, 2015
Our Lady Of The Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Our Lady of the Ice is my latest attempt at broadening my perspective and understanding of the ‘Young Adult’ genre. When I started out on this journey, after the Young Adult Literary Convention, a few years ago I thought that within a few books I’d easily be able to define what makes YA ‘Young Adult’ […]
November 30, 2015
What Photography Teaches Us About Writing
Before a photographer takes a photo, a lot of considerations run through her mind: composition, metering, white balance, light sensitivity, aperture size. She does this because she knows it will make a better photo – more than that, it will make a photo that says something, that conveys a message or a mood to the […]
November 29, 2015
The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher
The Aeronaut’s Windlass is the latest offering from the talented Jim Butcher. I have been a fan of Butcher’s work for a long time, as I’m sure many of you reading this are too. It felt strange to be picking up a book with his name on that didn’t feature a particular Chicago based, professional […]
November 28, 2015
Grandmothers of Fantasy
It’s often said that, until the past two or three decades, both fantasy and SF were completely male-dominated genres. To a large extent this is true, but not entirely. For this article, rather than focus on a specific classic author or book, I thought I’d take a brief overview of some of the women who […]
November 27, 2015
The Seat of Magic by J. Kathleen Cheney
The Golden City was a wonderful historical fantasy murder mystery set in an alternate Portugal where selkies and sirens (called sereia) secretly roam the streets and magic can be used to alter the flow of history. Its sequel, The Seat of Magic, does just what a good sequel ought to: It raises the bar without […]
November 26, 2015
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 […]
November 25, 2015
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 […]
