Marc Aplin's Blog, page 198

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Teaser Trailer. We were at the reveal!

Today the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer was released. And it is impressive! Before you read farther, go watch it! Do it! Amazing right? If the trailer is any indication this movie should be amazing! But we, as Star Wars fans, have been burned before. My friends and I attended the midnight showing of […]

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

A few days before I started reading Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor, I picked up Patrick Rothfuss’s novella, The Slow Regard of Silent Things. Though the stories were different, there was a similarity in the way both books defied convention – there’s no brooding antihero, no large-scale conflicts, not even a tangible plot outside of […]

A Question Of Technology

When people think of the fantasy genre the concept of technology isn’t usually at the forefront of their minds. They’ll be thinking of the magic, the monsters, the castles and townships out of the past, so it’s understandable that thoughts of science and progress are pushed to the side. But so long as somebody in […]

Jurassic World Trailer released 2 days early!

When I was a kid dinosaurs were huge. Not literally, well, yes, literally – kinda – I guess they were extinct, but… ah, you know what I mean: popular. So, when Jurassic Park came out in the cinemas I and everyone else in my school begged our parents to take us to the cinema. Although […]

Maleficent – Movie Review

Maleficent shows us how far the modern fantasy genre has come, and not just in terms of the subject matter and frequency of adaptations either, but also in terms of support from the big studios and from audiences. One of the reasons why fantasy stories resonate so well with us is that many of our […]

Faeries and Folklore – Part Three: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Last time we looked at how faeries have evolved, through some of their integral folklore as well as the genre as a whole. Some changes have been marked, others more subtle. The same goes for the faeries who constantly bask in the spotlight, one way or another; famous or infamous in folklore and stories written […]

Ursula K. Le Guin’s Show-Stopping Speech

On November 19, Ursula K. Le Guin received the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, celebrating her lifetime of achievement. The author of A Wizard of Earthsea, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lathe of Heaven, The Dispossessed, and many, many more books, science fiction and fantasy fans have long known […]

Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone

In a genre that is dominated by the gritty and dark following the recent popularity of Game of Thrones, Max Gladstone delivers an impressive tale with an ultimate message of hope. Yes, there are problems in the world and they may seem unbeatable, but there is always a chance for a happy ending if someone […]

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron

I can’t resist all things dragon. I admit it. When I saw that Rachel Aaron/Bach had a new series out about a dragon society in the midst of a future dystopian but magically-infused world, I just had to get my hands on it. Mild-mannered Julius Quetz (short for Quetzalcoatl) is a 24-year-old dragon living with […]

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell

Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell: a partnership fated to succeed from the start. Gaiman’s modest, restless prose teamed with the trademark art of Riddell results in a frank and glorious narrative that blends elements of well-known fairy tales to create a haunting new story. Refreshingly, no names are mentioned, but it’s clear that Gaiman’s protagonist […]