Marc Aplin's Blog, page 219
July 17, 2014
Terry Brooks talks about The High Druid’s Blade
Having just finished The High Druid’s Blade by Terry Brooks I can confirm that it is a very good read. I’ve only read four of Brooks’s previous books and despite this latest offering obviously being connected and linked into the events of the others, I felt Brooks did a very good job of giving the […]
July 16, 2014
Unwrapped Sky by Rjurik Davidson
When I had decided to give Unwrapped Sky by Rjurik Davidson a read, I had gone in with certain expectations. Seeing the head of a powerful Minotaur next to an attractive, serious looking woman holding a dagger in each had on the cover, you’d be forgiven if you thought you were picking up a fantasy […]
Marc Simonetti brings Discworld to life!
I’ve raved a fair bit about Marc Simonetti on Fantasy-Faction before. In case you missed those posts, he’s a French artist who has been in high demand by a number of high-profile SFF publishers as of late. What impresses me most about Simonetti’s cover work is that everything he produces absolutely nails the tone of […]
Scott Lynch updates fan on The Thorn of Emberlain
When Scott Lynch and his publishers, Gollancz, told us we may get our hands on The Thorn of Emberlain – the forth book in the Gentleman Bastard sequence – in 2014 we were excited, but always thought it was pretty optimistic. To have just a one year wait between Gentleman Bastard books seemed too good […]
July 15, 2014
Trees in Fantasy – Part Two: Trees as Characters
In the first part of this series we looked at trees as symbolism in fantasy literature. We discussed the role of individual trees in mythologies and creation stories around the world, deforestation as a representation of the declining age of nature, and trees as a symbol of natural magic. As we have seen so far, […]
SyFy orders ‘The Magicians’ Pilot
In news that will either delight or terrify you – depending on your thoughts as to SyFy’s low budget shows – the SyFy Channel has ordered a pilot episode for The Magicians, the hugely popular novel by Lev Grossman. The pilot for the potential one-hour drama, from Universal Cable Productions, was written by John McNamara […]
The Joe Abercrombie YA Experiment is a success!
We all love Joe Abercrombie here at Fantasy-Faction, but when we heard that Lord Grimdark was to give writing a Young Adult novel a shot we couldn’t help but react with the ‘OMG Cat’ face (that one to your right). How could an author known as the modern master of Grimdark Fantasy hope to convince […]
July 14, 2014
The Changing Face(s) of Fantasy – Guest Blog by Adam Dalton
It’s obviously blasphemy to criticise Tolkien, even indirectly, but for me his work is more important in historico-cultural terms than modern literary terms. Before you send me a load of hate mail, yes, yes, I fully accept that current fantasy writers inherit greatly from him and couldn’t write what they did if it weren’t for […]
July 13, 2014
Spotlight on Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets – Guest Post by David Thomas Moore
So, hey. I’m David Thomas Moore, commissioning editor at that there Abaddon Books and editor of Abaddon’s first ever anthology, Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets. And your Marc has asked my smartypants PR Coordinator† Lydia to ask me to do some sort of guest blog thing about it. Which was nice. As you can […]
July 12, 2014
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (spoiler free)
For Robin Hobb, the power to construct such masterful, compelling stories must be innate. With thirteen books set in the Farseer world already written and the next instalment due in August, it’s easy to see how she has become one of those precious, revered fantasy authors that, though we don’t talk about her all the […]
