Marc Aplin's Blog, page 162
November 12, 2015
Swords and Scoundrels by Julia Knight
Swords and Scoundrels is the first book of the Duellists Trilogy following the lives of siblings Kacha and Vocho, master duellists thrown out of the guild and into adventure. Think daring swordfights and witty banter, think nefarious plots and manipulative villains, think betrayal and love, there’s also a lot of clockwork powering the whole thing. […]
November 11, 2015
iPods in Narnia
Okay, so there weren’t iPods in Narnia…but there are in ancient Egypt. Sort of. If you read Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles. A lot of fantasy writers find it tricky to balance the more fantastical elements of their world with the myriad of cool, real-world gadgets their characters can access these days. Riordan is one of […]
November 10, 2015
The Traitor by Seth Dickinson
The Traitor is a great example of modern political fantasy – as such, it’s entirely new to me. I’ve not read A Song of Ice and Fire so cannot view Dickinson’s book in comparative terms, as other readers seem to be doing. Instead I came to it as someone who prefers to read the kind […]
November 9, 2015
A Look At Secondary Characters
It’s often said that characters are the heart of the story, and most of the time people are referring to the central protagonists when they say this. It’s only natural; the central figures are the most prominent in the novel, the ones that people remember. But this article is about the supporting players, the secondary […]
November 8, 2015
Song of Susannah by Stephen King
Wow, did this series get super weird. I don’t even know where to begin with Song of Susannah (SOS as I like to think of it). Considerably shorter than Wolves of the Calla, SOS is a fast-paced can of craziness with the main aim of setting up the climax of the series. It’s fun, it’s […]
November 7, 2015
The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick
The changeling’s decision to steal a dragon and escape was born, though she did not know it then, the night the children met to plot the death of their supervisor. I can remember vividly the feelings of wonder and amazement I had on reading The Iron Dragon’s Daughter for the first time. Here was a […]
November 6, 2015
Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews
I make no secret of the fact that I am a huge, HUGE fan of the husband and wife writing team that is Ilona Andrews. They write, I read. Sweep in Peace is their second book in a self-published series that started as serial postings on their blog. I did not read it there. I […]
From Short Form To Long Form
I recently heard that Paul Meloy, one of the genre’s finest short story writers, was releasing a novel through Solaris Books. After so many years writing successful short stories and releasing collections, I was curious as to why Paul chose now to write his first novel and whether he faced any challenges moving from short form to long form. […]
November 5, 2015
‘Drake’ Cover Reveal
Fantasy-Faction are excited to bring to you the exclusive cover reveal of Peter McLean’s Drake. Those of you who keep up with the Angry Robot Open Door Submissions Period will know that Peter was one of those who was successful from the last round, so it’s pretty cool that around the time of NaNoWriMo and in the run up to their […]
November 4, 2015
Five Favourite Wizards – Guest Blog by Stephen Aryan
bBattlemage is an epic fantasy story where overt magic is front and centre, with powerful men and women able to change the very course of the war that has swept across a large part of the world. It is influenced by many modern and classic fantasy novels and I wanted to share some of my […]
