Marc Aplin's Blog, page 209
September 13, 2014
Half A King by Joe Abercrombie
Introduction Fantasy is a genre often slated for being stale by those with reading interests outside of it. Popular authors are pointed at and told they just repeat the same kind of book over and over. However, as the majority of you will know, when genre authors do break away from the formula that has […]
September 11, 2014
The Vorrh by Brian Catling
“My name is Muybridge and here’s the answer to the letter you sent my wife.” The trigger pulls, the muzzle flashes, the bullet cracks, and Major Harry Larkyns is dead – shot at point-blank range in an act of pre-meditated vigilantism. This event is not fiction. It happened in California on October 17th, 1874. The […]
ELRIC GETS NEW COMIC ADAPTATION!
Elric of Melniboné, one of the original grey characters in fantasy, is all set for an epic new comic adaptation. The hugely popular novels, written by legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock, begin with a weak albino character that has pumped himself full of drugs in order to keep himself alive and maintain his seat on the Ruby Throne. Being as […]
September 10, 2014
Revisiting Thieves’ World Anthologies
Readers of Fantasy-Faction are likely to be familiar with Scott Lynch and his Gentlemen Bastards books. Lynch has a style that is a pleasure to read, and has given us some very memorable characters. But Lynch has also accomplished a highly engaging bit of worldbuilding, and created a place in which “Fafhrd and the Grey […]
September 9, 2014
John Hornor Jacobs Interview
John Hornor Jacobs, author of Southern Gods and The Twelve-Fingered Boy, recently debuted the first book in his first fantasy series, The Incorruptibles. In-between his busy release, con attendances, and of course work on the next book in the series, he was nice enough to answer a few questions about his worlds, his writing, and […]
Author Graham Joyce 1954-2014
Fantasy-Faction is very sad to learn that author Graham Joyce passed away today, September 9th 2014. Born in 1954, Graham was a much loved member of the British fantasy and horror community. This past weekend many, many authors spoke of the ‘Graham-shaped hole’ that was felt by all at the FantasyCon convention. As members of […]
Abercrombie’s ‘Half A War’ Cover & Progress Report…
The cover art for Joe Abercrombie’s third and final book in the Shattered Sea trilogy, Half A War, has been released. This completes the set of US covers, all shown below: I know a lot of people have voiced confusion over the covers, but I quite like them. Not only do they stand out and offer […]
September 8, 2014
The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers
Tim Powers may be familiar to many as the author of the novel On Stranger Tides (on which a Pirates of the Caribbean movie was based), but to me he’s the writer of The Anubis Gates, a book I first stumbled across in my local library way back in 1987, and again a year or […]
September 7, 2014
The Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb (Spoiler Free Review)
Spoilers follow for Hobb’s first and second trilogies. No spoilers for the The Tawny Man trilogy. The Tawny Man, Hobb’s second trilogy relating the story of Fitzchivalry and third overall, is perhaps the most often under-looked of all her works. The Farseer Trilogy was an astonishing set of books, introducing fantasy’s favourite bastard, Fitzchivalry, (not […]
British Fantasy Award Winners
HUGE congratulations to the British Fantasy Award winners who were announced today, Sunday 7th September 2014 at FantasyCon 2014 in York. For those unfamiliar with the award, the British Fantasy Awards are conducted by the British Fantasy Society who seek recommendations from their members and those who have attended their previous year’s convention. A shortlist […]
