Marc Aplin's Blog, page 162
October 16, 2015
The Weight of a Crown by Tavish Kaeden
In The Weight of a Crown, Tavish Kaeden may have written the most ambitious book to appear in Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. Told primarily from the points of view of four characters, book one of the Azhaion Saga features a realm that is finally enjoying peace after centuries of conflict. But under the surface, […]
Wolfhound Century TV Series?
OK, so this week’s news is not likely to cause the kind of mass-excitement that the recent announcement of a Kingkiller Chronicles Movie/TV/Video Game production did, but we think that the signing of Peter Higgins’s Wolfhound Century by a television studio is at very least something to keep an eye on. Interestingly, the production company that has signed the series […]
October 15, 2015
Genre of the Impossible
For a while now there has been an emphasis on realism in our fantasy, which has created some exciting new stories and series, including some personal favourites. However, as the trend for ever more ‘real’ fantasy grows stronger, I hope there will always be a place for the impossible and the mysterious in our genre. […]
3rd Book by Peter Newman signed!
Fantasy-Faction has made no secret of our love for Peter Newman and his work. We’re not entirely sure how such a delightful fellow writes such dark novels, but we’ve theorised that because he is so nice he needs to spend about 2/3 hours a day acting quite the opposite, evil almost, and it is during this […]
October 14, 2015
Review of Saga: Volume 5
There is so much to say about Saga. It’s a series that transcends multiple genres at once while exemplifying the best of those genres. It’s written in a no-nonsense, funny and modern style that is easy to get in to. There’s no pretention; Saga knows exactly what it is and doesn’t give a fuck. It […]
October 13, 2015
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Illuminae was a good time from beginning to end. The plot itself is fairly straightforward – teenagers break up, teenagers’ planet gets invaded, teenagers barely escape onto improvised evacuation ships with a fraction of their population, teenagers are on separate ships, rogue AI (maybe), plague, hacking, and conscription, and it’s all in SPACE! If you’ve […]
The Cake is a Lie: Why Winning Isn’t Always a Happy Ending
Sometimes I suspect I’m not truly American, because I harbor a dark secret. Unlike most of my countryfolk, I don’t much care for the neat, syrupy, happy ending. It just doesn’t do it for me. Oh, sure, we all need some escapism. Life can be awful, and in reality every life is a tragedy because […]
October 11, 2015
The NaNoWriMo Phenomenon
November is coming. The non-writer (or very, very new writer) may only associate this with the imminent holiday season. However, there is another event that happens every November that can simultaneously cause a Christmas-like excitement as you tremble in fear: National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. […]
October 10, 2015
What Remains of Heroes by David Benem
We’re all well aware that, as the old saying goes, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. But after reading What Remains of Heroes, book one of A Requiem For Heroes by David Benem, I couldn’t help but think back to my first glance at the cover and how it had taken me several […]
October 9, 2015
Has the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off Changed Your Opinion of Self-Published Books?
As you’ll know from Marc’s articles and Mark Lawrence’s tweets, as well as many of the blog posts out there on the subject, there has been, and still is, a ‘competition’ going on for Self-Published books called the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO). A kind of X-factor for fantasy books, but without the sad stories and […]
