Marc Aplin's Blog, page 174
July 26, 2015
Michael J. Martinez Interview
That last time we talked to author Michael J. Martinez he had just released his debut novel, The Daedalus Incident, which introduced us to a dual-universe story full of 18th Century sailing ships in space and ancient Martian warlords. Flash forward only two years and he’s completed the trilogy with The Venusian Gambit, as well […]
July 25, 2015
Exile: The First Book of Ever by James Cormier
I read this book as part of Mark Lawrence’s Self Published Challenge. James Cormier’s Exile pleasantly surprised me. I’ve never had any luck with reading self-published work, although I know there’s some good stuff out there, so my expectations were low. Fortunately, Cormier’s story grabbed my attention right away, and within a chapter I realized […]
July 24, 2015
The Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato
I think it can safely be assumed that healers have a certain reputation in fantasy works: they’re good for saving people’s lives but not much else. If someone in a group needs to play the part of a damsel in distress, a healer is the easiest one to fill that role. After all, healers are […]
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Official Trailer
The Hunger Games films have been ‘pretty good’. I wouldn’t say ‘Harry Potter Good’, but I’ve enjoyed them enough that I’m going to be amongst the first queuing outside the cinema to see the final part in the series. Jennifer Lawrence’s character, Katniss, has risen from a tribute puled from poverty to the leader of […]
Anthony Ryan’s New SteamPunk Trilogy Signed!
Yesterday we posted the excellent news that Adrian Tchaikovsky had signed a new book deal with Tor.com, well today we’ve heard of another of F-F’s friends, Anthony Ryan, who has landed a new major book deal too! Most fantasy fans will know of Anthony as a result of his hugely successful Raven’s Shadow trilogy. The […]
In The Beginning – Advice On Starting An Epic Fantasy Novel
I’ve known John Wordsworth for a number of years and in addition to being one of the nicest guys in publishing he is also one of the most talented. Formerly John ran, what I consider, one of my favourite genre labels in the UK: ‘Headline Science Fiction & Fantasy’. They weren’t around very long, but when […]
July 23, 2015
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Sword & Sorcery tale snapped up by Tor.com
Good news Tchaikovsky fans! Adrian has had a novel-length sword and sorcery tale snapped up by Tor. com. We’re pretty excited about this and with Tor.com too. Essentially, this future-thinking and future-feeling idea of focusing on the publishing of work digitally through the web could well be how almost all fiction is published in the […]
July 22, 2015
Unicorns! edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
My regular readers know that I’ve recently revisited some old-school fantasy by re-reading the Thieves’ World books. And one of the anthologies in the shared-universe fantasy series was called Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn, in reference to a pub by that name that served as a focal point of activity in the legendary city of […]
The history in your fantasy
My third book, titled Ruin, is published in the UK on 16th July. Now, that may not mean much to a lot of you guys, but to me, it’s OUTRAGEOUS! I began writing back in 2002 as a hobby, and to see my first series be picked up by Tor UK and now reaching its […]
July 20, 2015
The Book Of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe
“We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. When soldiers take their oath they are given a coin, an asimi stamped with the profile of the Autarch. Their acceptance of that coin is their acceptance of the special duties and […]
