Marc Aplin's Blog, page 196
December 12, 2014
Chris Evans Interview
Chris Evans, author of the Iron Elves series, has once again delved into the realms of fantasy, this time with Of Bone and Thunder. This story of war and camaraderie takes place in a conflict that echoes the Vietnam War if it had been filled with dragons, magic, and dwarves. Sound interesting? We thought so […]
We learn new Star Wars character names…
Get ready to meet Finn, Rey, Kylo and Poe. No… they’re not Teletubbies, they’re the characters we’ll be meeting in 2015’s new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, produced by J.J. Abrams. The names of the characters played by John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe) and Daisy Ridley (Rey) were revealed via some retro style playing […]
December 11, 2014
Winner of the August 2014 Writing Contest: Seven Deadly Sins
We’ve been getting such good feedback for the short stories our members have submitted in our Monthly Short Story Competition that we have decided to post them on the main site at a rate of one a week. Today we will be looking at the winner from our August 2014 contest. The Seven Deadly Sins […]
December 10, 2014
Guest Blog by Ryan Graudin: Creating A Sense of Danger
The setting of my YA novel THE WALLED CITY is based on a real place called the Kowloon Walled City, a neighborhood that existed in 1980s Hong Kong. It was only 6.5 acres in area and housed over 33,000 people at its height in 1987. The reason so many people flocked to this small space, […]
December 9, 2014
Fantasy-Faction Take Part in Quercus Books’s #GreatestGift Christmas Campaign
Who enjoys being filmed? No one, right? Certainly not me… the moment a camera is pointed in my direction I’m likely to bolt in the other direction. However, when I was contacted by my friends over at Quercus and Jo Fletcher Books about their The greatest gift is the passion for reading Christmas Campaign, I […]
December 8, 2014
Underground Fantasy – Part Two: Dungeons, Tombs and Mazes
The first part of this series on underground fantasy looked at caverns as settings and pathways to worlds below. Next we will explore dungeons, tombs and underground mazes to ascertain the root of their popularity. A dungeon is traditionally a room or cell where prisoners are held. Often associated with medieval castles, the setting is […]
December 7, 2014
A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett is angry. You’ll like him when he is angry. That is the gist of foreword by Neil Gaiman and as you read through the collected works of non-fiction in A Slip of the Keyboard you will see the anger. What is more, you might even develop the same rage (if you didn’t have […]
December 6, 2014
Five Reasons You Didn’t Fail NaNoWriMo
So no doubt your social media streams have been filled over the last few weeks by people celebrating their NaNoWriMo success. Undoubtedly, there’s a lot of high-fiving and statuses being liked. There’s probably even someone who already has their (unedited) masterpiece up for sale on Amazon. And whilst this can all be very exciting if […]
Guo tackles Book of the New Sun covers…
You may remember that earlier this year we brought to your attention the artwork of Jian Guo, who had won a competition to design the new Chinese Lord of The Rings covers. Although it was Guo’s first novel cover, he was well known amongst the Deviant Art community for the unique art style that he’d […]
December 4, 2014
Fantasy Makes History Cool
I’m a history major at heart, so one of the things I love seeing in fantasy is how authors draw on real-world history to fuel their worlds. Whether it be historical events, people or cultures, it always keeps me intrigued. Fantasy, perhaps more so than any genre besides historical fiction, has a chance to delve […]
