Marc Aplin's Blog, page 166
October 4, 2015
Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
I was a little surprised how much I liked this book. A race of birds? Songbirds that fly in and out of people’s lungs? Sky vessels and squallwhales? There’s plenty of quirkiness to go around, and while it might catch some readers off guard, I found it utterly charming and entrancing! The worldbuilding was fresh […]
October 3, 2015
Preparing For NaNoWriMo
How can it be less than a month until November? It seems like only yesterday that it was summer and yet November conjures images of cold nights, frosty mornings, fireworks and most importantly, NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month has long been a fixed event in writers’ diaries as professional and amateur alike gather for a […]
October 2, 2015
The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids by Michael McClung
At 210 pages, The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids isn’t trying to be the next bookshelf-bending epic fantasy that changes the way you think about the genre. Instead, it’s a straight-forward adventure noir featuring a touch of action, a bit of mystery and a wealth of interesting characters. Told in the first-person perspective of […]
What I learnt from Mark Lawrence’s SPFBO
About a month back, after fighting our way through 27 novels as our contribution to Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, we were able to announce our ‘champion’, Priest (Ratcatchers #1) by Matthew Colville. I’d like to spend a little time today talking about what I’ve learnt during this process so far, in relation to the state of Self-Published Fantasy Novels, and offer […]
October 1, 2015
Kingkiller Chronicles Movie, TV Show & Video Game…? YES PLEASE! :-)
It was announced today that a deal had been made for the rights to Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles. Those who keep up-to-date with SFF book/movie news will know that this isn’t actually the first time that the Kingkiller rights have been snapped up – in fact, 20th Century Fox even ‘confirmed’ a TV series at […]
September 30, 2015
Magic-Price by C. L. Schneider
Like most people who frequent the pages of Fantasy-Faction, I read a lot. I have many favourite authors who have released several books or even several series. Being a writer myself, I have also started to delve into independent authors work. One such author is C. L. Schneider, who approached me and suggested I try […]
Angry Robot want your Manuscripts… Again!
In 2011, a genre writer came across the Angry Robot Open Submission window and sent in the manuscript he’d been working on. He made a friend via the AbsoluteWrite forums who had done the same and the two of them shared e-mails and Skype conversations about how painful the wait was and how high/low their […]
September 28, 2015
Fantastical Biology – Part Nine: Fantasy Insects
Insects represent more than half of all known living organisms on our world. They’re found in nearly all environments, even in the ocean. And yet, it’s so rare to see them in fantasy fiction, even if it’s just swatting away an annoying fly. This just means there’s lots of room for insects to crawl into […]
September 27, 2015
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
If you’d asked me ten years ago what I thought of fantasy, I’d have told you I wasn’t a fan anymore. That’s changed now (thanks to Abercrombie and Lynch), but at the time I’d grown weary of reading about the young man in a menial job who turns out to be the Only One capable […]
The Traitor: A Quiz
Dear Fantasy Faction, Hi! I’m Seth, author of The Traitor Baru Cormorant (or The Traitor in the UK), an epic geopolitical revenge fantasy about a brilliant and ruthless young woman’s mission to tear down an empire — by becoming the imperial throne’s most trusted agent. Baru’s gift and curse is her understanding of power. She […]
