Marc Aplin's Blog, page 205
October 8, 2014
Self-Published Fantasy and Me
When it comes to music, my collection of indie and underground albums equals or surpasses that of my major label collection. I own literally thousands of creator-owned, independently published comics. Some of my favorite movies are low-budget independent releases. But I have completed exactly one self-published novel. And it wasn’t easy to see it through […]
Lev Grossman vs Mainstream Television
Sometimes, writing for Fantasy-Faction, I forget the extent to which the mainstream media looks down their nose at Fantasy fiction. Although George R.R. Martin’s recent success has opened a number of doors for fantasy authors in recent years, I’m sure that any Press Officer from any publishing house will tell you it remains damned difficult […]
October 7, 2014
The Liar’s Key – early US/UK cover preview
Mark Lawrence’s The Broken Empire trilogy won awards not only for its poetic prose and boundary-pushing story, but also for its exceptional cover art. Mark has always offered up his cover designer, Jason Chan, a lot of praise and, being the good guy that he is, helped promote the artist wherever he can – there seems to be […]
October 6, 2014
The One Tree by Stephen Donaldson
Any of you read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant? Fantasy royalty? Seminal work? They are an unusual series of books. In a good way. A saga, really, nearly forty years in the making. The saga is composed of three trilogies (the last actually a quadrilogy, only completed last year!): The First-, Second- and Last Chronicles […]
Interview with V.E. Schwab
This week I was lucky enough to interview an author that will inevitably be challenging for one of the top spots on 2014’s ‘best SFF book of the year’ lists in the UK. That author is V.E. Schwab and the book I’m thinking of specifically is Vicious, which we awarded 9/10 in this review. Although Vicious is […]
October 5, 2014
Perfect Beginnings…
There is no doubt that the first sentence of a novel is important; it’s the hook that draws the reader in. And, when it comes to fantasy and science-fiction, this opening line requires even more care: these words become the first steps a reader takes in your alternate reality, dimension, planet or timeline. Get it […]
October 4, 2014
Fantasy & Ebooks: Big in China!
When you think of China it’s likely that images of dragons, spirits, magic, combat, swords and alternative states of consciousness come to mind; all the ingredients of a successful fantasy novel. This is likely to contrast heavily with the second image you’re likely to get, the birthing place of the majority of our affordable electronics […]
October 3, 2014
The Rain Wilds Chronicles by Robin Hobb (Spoiler Free Review)
Spoilers follow for Hobb’s first, second and third trilogies. No spoilers for the Rain Wilds Chronicles. After the impressive Tawny Man trilogy, Robin Hobb once again switches the action back to Bingtown and the Rain Wilds, the vivid, dangerous southern regions home to the nautical dramas of the Liveship Traders. A continuation of those events, […]
The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley: ARC Review
The first book of the ‘Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne’ trilogy was one of the reasons I started reviewing books. It resonated with me in a such big way and I dug it so much I felt like I had to give something back and simply buying the book was not enough to show my […]
October 2, 2014
Black Butler: Book of Circus
The Black Butler anime adaptations are based off the original manga by Yana Toboso. The first season was likely going to be the only season, based on the storyline. Then it got very popular. And the second season was…a sad attempt to leach off the fandom. And now we have a ‘third’ season: Book of […]
